Due to some technical difficulties I haven’t been able to bring you my usual review/preview edition of the College Football Blog over the last couple of weeks. I decided against airing reruns of the Steve Harvey Show via streaming video, and instead figured I would just wait out the delay and then write one big catch-up blog. Unlike Chip Carey, my first comment to you isn’t going to be “Don’t worry, folks, you didn’t miss anything.” Weeks 9 and 10 of the College Football season were frigging intense to be sure. So now, here are a couple of belated reviews of the last two weeks. And you won’t even be bombarded with Frank TV promos in between each paragraph. Very not funny.
Week 9 Review
Recap: Things heated up immediately in Week 9 as the first edition of the BCS Rankings was released. Whatever you think of the BCS as a whole, I think most would agree that the rankings are of more use than the AP Poll. From here on out we can talk about rankings that actually mean something, regardless of whether you’re a fan of that or not. Week 9 was pretty much all about conference play. Things got sorted out in some cases but in most of the conferences things got even more jumbled up. There were a few upsets but there weren’t that many nail biters. Not one game went into overtime in week 9. There were, however, a couple of huge matchups, and in this week at least, the games turned out to be competitive and entertaining.
The Big Ones: There were 4 matchups of ranked teams in week 9, including a pair of matchups between top 10 teams, and each game featured at least 1 team ranked in the top 10 of the BCS. #8 Texas Tech--who came into the week undefeated at 7-0--faced essentially their first tough challenge in week 9, as they went up against #23 Kansas on the road in Lawrenceville. This figured to be a bit of a shootout, pitting star quarterbacks Graham Harrell and Todd Reesing against each other. Kansas has remained highly ranked this season mostly due to their stunning 12-1 season a year ago. They hadn’t done much of anything so far other than beat 5 bad teams and lose on the road to 2 good ones (South Florida and Oklahoma). But they were still thought to be a team that might be able to beat one of the other contenders in the Big XII, especially at home. In fact, the Red Raiders came into the game favored by just 2 points over the Jayhawks. Kansas has clearly improved greatly as a program under Fat Mangino, but the Red Raiders came into the game 9-1 all-time against Kansas and 5-0 in Lawrence, and they made it seem just like old times against the Jayhawks in week 9.
Early on it looked like the expected shootout was on, as the two teams traded scores in a 1st quarter that ended tied at 14-14. But from there the Red Raiders left Kansas in the dust. Tech would run off a string of 7 touchdowns, scoring the next 42 points in the game, before the Jayhawks scored a meaningless TD with less than 4 minutes to go in the 4th quarter. Tech outscored Kansas 21-0 in the 2nd to take a 35-14 lead to halftime and then outscored them 21-0 again in the 3rd to take a 56-14 lead to the 4th. The QB matchup turned out to be one-sided. Harrell put up silly numbers, completing 34 of 42 passes for 386 yards, 5 touchdowns and no picks. He also ran for a touchdown. Reesing meanwhile struggled, going just 16 for 26 for 154 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions. Michael Crabtree caught 9 passes for 70 yards and a pair of TD’s. Tech had just one turnover while turning the Jayhawks over 5 times, and the Red Raiders outgained Kansas by 241 yards, 556-315. They were up 63-14 after the backup QB threw a TD pass before that mercy score by Kansas in the final minutes brought the final score to 63-21, a 42 point victory for Tech over the #18 team in the country on the road. Sure, Kansas isn’t Texas or Oklahoma or even Oklahoma State but this was by far Tech’s most impressive win of the season, as they moved to 8-0 on the year.
Down in the Southeast a couple of SEC teams with National Title hopes squared off in what amounted to an elimination game. Both #7 Georgia and #13 LSU had used up their mulligans for the year. Each team came into their battle down on the Bayou with 1 loss. The winner of this game would still have a chance to achieve all of their original goals. The loser would see any hope of reaching the National Championship Game die. LSU may have won the NC with 2 losses last year but this season it was already clear that a 2-loss team had virtually zero chance of making it to the BCS Title Game. For LSU a loss would also do great damage to their hopes of even making it to the SEC Championship Game. With 1 conference loss already and Alabama still undefeated in conference play, another loss would put LSU 2 games behind the Tide. If they could win this game they would go into their contest with Bama in a few weeks with a chance to take the lead in the West with a win over the Tide. But it seemed unlikely that Bama would lose to LSU and another SEC team so the Tigers really needed to win. A loss for Georgia wouldn’t be quite as big a deal in terms of their SEC Championship hopes because they would still go into next week’s game against Florida with a chance to take the lead in the East with a win. Essentially it was already determined that next week’s Cocktail Party would decide who would represent the East in the SEC Championship Game.
Neither of these teams had played up to the level expected of them going into the season and it was clear that people were still not sure what to think of either team. The line in Vegas started out with the Tigers as 3-point favorites but by game time they were actually 2-point underdogs at Tiger Stadium. Georgia ended up giving their best performance of the season to date, although they were far from perfect. This game had a decidedly un-SEC feel to it, as the two teams combined for 940 yards of offense and 90 points. Getting off to a good start would be seemingly huge for the Dawgs, and they got off to about as good a start imaginable, as Darryl Gamble intercepted Jarrett Lee on the first play from scrimmage and returned it 40 yards for a touchdown. LSU responded with a TD march to tie the score but the Dawgs answered with an impressive TD drive of their own and scored again early in the 2nd to go up 21-7. LSU scored the next 10 points and the Dawgs got a long field goal at the end of the quarter to take a 24-17 lead to halftime. Georgia took control of the game in the middle of the 3rd quarter, although several times in the second half the Dawgs appeared to have insurmountable leads and then LSU would make it interesting again. A 49-yard TD strike from Matt Stafford to AJ Green gave the Dawgs a 31-17 lead midway through the 3rd and then Knowshon Moreno got loose on a 68-yard TD scamper to give Georgia a 3 TD lead with just under 4 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter. However, LSU took the ball and breezed down the field and scored to cut the lead to 14 in just over a minute’s time. When Stafford scored on a 7-yard run with less than 11 minutes to play in the 4th quarter to make it a 21-point game, Georgia again appeared to have this one wrapped up, but LSU flew down the field again, scoring with only 2 minutes coming off the clock to cut it to 14 points with over 8 and a half minutes remaining. Finally with LSU attempting to make it a 1 score game late in the 4th, Gamble picked off his second pass of the game, and this time he went 53 yards for the score, his second pick six of the game, to put it away with under 4 minutes remaining. Actually, LSU scored again less than a minute later but eventually the clock ran out and Georgia ended up with a 52-38 win. Moreno ran for 163 yards on just 21 carries but with both teams able to move the ball so effectively the key to the game had to be the turnovers. Georgia did not turn the ball over, while LSU turned it over 3 times, all of those coming on Jarrett Lee interceptions, 2 of which were returned for touchdowns by Gamble. Gamble, by the way, was only starting at LB this game due to starter Dannell Ellerbe being injured.
Back to the blood sport tournament that is the Big XII in 2008. #1 Texas had made it through the first two rounds of their 4-week gauntlet against the top Big XII contenders, beating Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl in week 7 and blowing out Missouri at home the week before to get to 7-0. Now it was #6 Oklahoma State’s turn to come into Austin and try and knock off the Horns. Mike Gundy’s team had been getting a lot more respect ever since their upset of Missouri on the road in week 7, and they came into this game 7-0. Still, the Redheads hadn’t beaten Texas since 1997, they entered the game just 2-20 all-time vs. the Horns, and they were 12-point underdogs on the road. But Okie State proved themselves again on that Saturday, even though they were unable to come away with a win.
This one was expected to be high scoring, as all Big XII games are, and the two teams combined for 920 yards and 54 first downs. However, the Horns and Cowboys only combined to score 52 points. The game was scoreless until the Horns finally got in the end zone late in the 1st quarter, and when Texas scored early in the 2nd to go up 14-0, Ok State was in pretty big hole and you wondered if the Horns would pull way out ahead and cruise to victory. But the Cowboys answered with a TD drive to get on the board, and after Texas scored again to go back up by 14, Ok State got a huge TD just before half to head to the lockers down just 21-14 and very much in it. Texas went back in front by 14 midway through the 3rd but the Cowboys scored to cut it back down to 7 with 3 minutes remaining in the quarter. Then on the ensuing Texas drive, Colt McCoy proved to even his most ardent slurpers that he was human, throwing a pick that gave the Boys the ball at their own 42. The 4th quarter began with Ok State running for 5 yards to the Texas 18 on 1st down to bring up a 2nd and 5. It looked like they might go in to score and tie the game but the Texas defense caused Ok State to lose yards on the next 2 plays and they were forced to settle for a field goal that made the score 28-24 with 13 minutes left in the game.
The Horns began their next possession at their own 22 and they couldn’t afford to give the ball back to Oklahoma State. Texas responded with an impressive, long, clock eating drive. They converted on a 3rd and 11 from midfield and then on 3rd and 3 from just inside the 20, getting a first down at the Ok State 14. Texas appeared to be going in for a TD to put the game away as McCoy ran for 5 yards down to the 9 on first down. The Longhorns had run 14 plays and taken 7 minutes off the clock but they called a timeout prior to a 3rd and 6 from the 10 and perhaps that gave Oklahoma State’s defense a chance to get enough energy up for 1 more big play. They needed to stop the Horns here and force a FG to stay within 1 score of tying it up. Surprisingly, they did even better. McCoy took the snap and decided to try and run for the first but Orie Lemon caught him and stripped the ball from the QB. An uncharacteristically careless play by McCoy had given Oklahoma State the ball back down by just 4 points. It wasn’t the end of the world for the Horns, as Oklahoma State would have to drive from their own 10 with only 5:27 left on the clock, needing a touchdown, on the road against the #1 team in the country. Ok State got 1 first down but when Zac Robinson was stopped for a 1-yard gain on 3rd and 7 at their own 30 yard line, the Cowboys faced a 4th and 6 from their own 30 yard line. They had to go for it and Robinson went to his best weapon, Dez Bryant, but the Longhorn defense tackled him for a loss of 3 and UT had the win sealed. At least it seemed that way. Oklahoma State called their first timeout with 1:50 to go and the Longhorns facing a 3rd and 9 from the Cowboys’ 26 yard line. If Ok State could hold them here and force a field goal try they would still be alive. But McCoy hit Jordan Shipley for 20 yards and a 1st and goal at the 6. Now it was over.
Or was it? The Longhorns ran for 3 yards down to the 3 and then for 1 yard to the 2. Ok State called their 2nd timeout with 47 tics left. On 3rd and goal from the 2, the Redhead defense stopped a Texas run at the 1 yard line. They called their final timeout with 35 seconds left. The Horns elected to go for it on 4th and goal from the 1 rather than kick a field goal and risk a block. If they scored a TD it was over; if they got stopped, Ok State had to go 99 yards in 30 seconds with no timeouts. McCoy threw incomplete on 4th down and the Cowboys took over at the 1 with 33 seconds left. Throwing from his own end zone, Robinson hit his man Bryant for a huge 23 yard completion on first down. Then Robinson ran for 13 yards and another 1st down at the 37. Then Robinson hit Bryant for 14 yards and a first down at midfield before spiking the ball to stop the clock with just seconds remaining. There was time for one final play and Robinson heaved a Hail Mary pass towards the end zone but it was batted down and the Longhorns survived with a 28-24 win. Despite the 2 mistakes late in the game (not to mention an interception at the Ok State 5 yard line in the 3rd quarter that was negated on another bogus roughing the passer penalty), McCoy led his team brilliantly again, going 38 for 45 for 391 yards and 2 TD’s. Cowboys running back Kendall Hunter was impressive, running for 161 yards and a TD on 18 carries while also catching 1 pass for 31 yards. But the player of the game was Shipley, who caught 15 passes for 168 yards and a TD, and also ran once for 17 yards.
While the SEC battle and the Big XII bout with #1 Texas were both highly anticipated matchups, clearly the biggest game of week 9 was Saturday night’s showdown between the two powers from the Big Ten, Penn State and Ohio State. Joe Paterno took his 8-0 and #3 ranked Nittany Lions into Columbus to face the two time defending Big Ten champion Buckeyes at the Horseshoe, a place PSU hadn’t won at since 1978. Penn State had lost 7 straight at Ohio Stadium since 1993 by an average of 21 points per game. But many people felt that this year’s Penn State team was different. In fact, PSU came into the came favored by 1.5 on the road. But Ohio State was looking to save their season which had been severely damaged by Beanie Wells’ injury in week 1 and suffered a near fatal blow in week 2 with their 35-3 loss at USC. Throughout the year while overall the games had been as exciting as ever, the Saturday night primetime headliner matchups had consistently turned out to be one-sided affairs. But this time it was different.
If you need to see over 900 yards of offense and 40+ points from each team to be entertained then you wouldn’t have liked this one. But if you appreciate a good old fashioned defensive struggle as much as a new age barn burner you would have loved this game. The two defenses dominated the action early, as the game remained scoreless through the middle of the 2nd quarter. Finally, PSU QB Daryll Clark found Graham Zug behind the secondary for a 49 yard gain down to the Ohio State 19 and the Lions kicked a field goal to go up 3-0 with just over a minute and a half left in the first half. The Buckeyes got a big return on the ensuing kickoff and they managed to get a field goal of their own to tie the game up at 3-3 as the clock expired. The Buckeyes began their first possession of the second half on their own 9 yard line but they were finally able to put together a decent drive. The Buckeyes converted on a pair of 3rd downs and drove inside the PSU 20 yard line before Wells was stopped for no gain on 3rd and 3 from the 19, forcing a field goal try. Aaron Pettrey kicked a 36 yarder good to put the Buckeyes up 6-3 with 3 and a half minutes left in the 3rd. Penn State responded with a decent drive of their own, moving into Buckeye territory as the 4th quarter began. The Buckeye defense bowed up and Penn State’s drive stalled at the 28. On 4th and 3, the Nittany Lions decided to try and tie it up with a 45 yard field goal, but Kevin Kelly missed and the Buckeyes took over still holding the lead. At this point you thought Ohio State was going to pull it out over the Lions at home again. The dream of Joe Pa’s final perfect season was going to end at the Shoe.
Penn State had held Wells in check all game but he now began to have some success. He carried for 5 yards and then 4 yards to bring up a 3rd and 1 at the Ohio State 37. Pryor then took off and got the first down with a 4 yard run to the 41. Wells went for 8 yards on the next play to take the Buckeyes to midfield. On 2nd and 2, the Lions stopped Wells short of the first down at the 50 yard line, bringing up a 3rd and 1. The Buckeyes had a 3-point lead and the ball at midfield as the clock ticked under the 11 minute mark in the 4th quarter. They needed only 1 yard for a first down into Penn State territory. On 3rd and 1, Pryor took the shotgun snap and took off immediately looking to pick up the first down on a designed run. Just as Pryor reached the 50 yard line he was met by PSU safety Mark Rubin. Rubin was going to be able to keep Pryor from making a big play but the freshman QB would have been able to fall forward for the first down. However, Pryor lost his hold on the ball and a mad scramble ensued. When the dust settled all the way back at the Ohio State 38 yard line it was Penn State who was awarded the ball. This would end up being the clear turning point in the game.
Now it looked very likely that Penn State was going to at least tie the game if not take the lead, but all of the sudden backup QB Pat Devlin was in the game instead of Daryll Clark. It turned out that Clark had a concussion of some level of severity and the Lions would have to go the rest of the way with the rarely used Devlin under center. It didn’t matter. Evan Royster got the Lions down to the goal line with his legs, and on 3rd and goal from the 1, Devlin went over center. It took nearly a minute but the side judge finally put his arms up to signal touchdown, as the Lions went on top 10-6 with just over 6 and a half minutes remaining. Things went from bad to worse for the Buckeyes, as they mishandled the ensuing kickoff and had to start at their own 7. They went 3 and out and punted the ball back to PSU with 4 and a half minutes left on the clock. The Nittany Lions moved quickly into Ohio State territory and the Buckeyes began to spend their timeouts. Finally the PSU drive stalled at the 18 with 1:11 on the clock. Kelly hit a 35 yard field goal to put the Lions up by a touchdown. The Buckeyes were still alive but they needed to go 80 yards in a minute and 7 seconds with no timeouts. Pryor found Ray Small for completions of 23 and 14 yards to move the Buckeyes to the PSU 43. With the clock running out, Pryor scrambled to buy time and then threw on the run towards the right corner of the end zone. He had a man down there but Lydell Sargeant intercepted his pass at the goal line as time expired. Penn State hung on for a 13-6 win to stay undefeated and end the Buckeyes’ fantasies of redemption in a 3rd consecutive BCS Championship Game. While Pryor’s fumble was clearly the biggest play in the game, the key to Penn State’s win was their defense’s ability to hold down Beanie Wells. They held Wells to just 55 yards rushing on 22 carries and he never had a gain of more than 8 yards on any one carry. The victory gave Penn State a clear path to an undefeated season, with no game left on the schedule anywhere near as daunting as this one.
Four Ranked Teams Go Down to Unranked Teams: As usual a handful of teams in the top 25 fell to unranked opponents, only this time we were dealing with the BCS rankings so it meant a little bit more. The highest ranked team to lose to an unranked foe in week 9 was #16 South Florida, who lost to Louisville on the road, 24-20. Louisville took control in the second quarter, scoring to go up 14-3 with less than a minute remaining until halftime. But the Bulls managed to get a FG just before the half and they scored a TD late in the 3rd to cut the deficit to 14-13. Matt Grothe’s second TD pass of the game with under 10 minutes to go in the 4th put the Bulls on top 20-17. USF appeared to have saved itself but Louisville marched right back down the field and scored on a 24 yard TD pass to take a 24-20 lead. The Bulls began their next drive at their own 47 but the Cardinals forced a punt. The Bulls got the ball back with 3 and a half minutes to go but this time Grothe was picked off at his own 27 and the Cards ran the clock out and came away with the 24-20 win. The loss dropped the Bulls to 6-2 and virtually guaranteed that the National Champion would not come out of the Big East.
One of the more disappointing performances of week 9 was the one turned in by the #22 Northwestern Wildcats. They were 6-1 and needed only to win at Indiana against a horrible Hosier team to get to 7-1 heading into their games against Minnesota and Ohio State. Clearly the Cats were looking ahead, and as teams with long histories of losing so often do, Northwestern remembered who they were in week 9 and gagged. Indiana took a 14-9 lead to halftime and went up 21-12 with 4 and a half minutes left in the 3rd quarter. NW scored to cut the score to 21-19 with 2:27 left in the 3rd and you thought they would find a way to get a field goal over the final quarter to avoid the upset but they never did. The Wildcats turned the ball over 5 times while never turning over the Hoosiers; missed an extra point; and got just 6 points out of 3 drives inside the Indiana 15. Northwestern had one final chance with 2 and a half minutes left, taking over at their own 20. Starting QB CJ Bacher was knocked out of the game, and on 2nd and 1 from the 29, backup Mike Kafka made one of the worst plays that this author has ever witnessed in a Division I-A or FBS football game. Kafka dropped back to pass and held on to the ball too long. As he was being brought down to the turf Kafka panicked and fired the ball away indiscriminately even though he was not close to being outside of the tackles. That was hardly the only problem with his decision and throw. The biggest problem was that he threw the ball backwards towards the right corner of his own end zone. The ball rolled out of bounds at the 5 for a 24 yard loss and that was about all she wrote. For good measure, Kafka fumbled on the next play and the Hoosiers recovered to seal the 21-19 stunner.
#18 Georgia Tech has been one of the surprise teams of this season and they came into week 9 at 6-1 under new coach Paul Johnson. Locally no one thought there was much of a chance that Tech would stumble at home against Virginia. But with a big game against FSU looming the week ahead, the Jackets suffered a set back with exactly the type of losses that has held down the program throughout the decade. Early on it looked like things would indeed come easily for Tech against UVA, as they outscored the Cavaliers 14-3 in the opening quarter. But from that point on UVA had the upper hand. UVA scored a TD in the 2nd quarter to cut the lead to 14-10 and then scored early in the 3rd to take a 17-14 lead. The Jackets finally got back on the board with a field goal to tie it up midway through the 4th. But the Cavaliers went 70 yards in 8 plays for a TD to go up 24-17 with 3 and a half minutes to go. The Jackets moved the ball to midfield and had a 1st down but Josh Nesbit was intercepted at the 43 and Virginia ran out the clock to hang on for the 24-17 win, their 4th in a row after a 1-3 start. This was no fluke; UVA had 6 more first downs than Tech (23-17); outgained the Jackets by 137 yards, 396-259, and controlled the ball for 8 more minutes than Tech.
The other game featuring a ranked team falling to an unranked team took place in the Big East. It wasn’t so much that #17 Pitt lost at home to Rutgers in week 9 that was surprising, as Pitt has consistently lost games like this under the Wanstashe. What was surprising was the score, which was 54-34 in favor of the Scarlet Knights. In their previous 3 games, Rutgers had scored a total of 39 points, and they hadn’t scored more than 21 points in any of their 6 games against FBS competition. They had scored 12 points or less in 4 of those games. The Rutgers offense has been pathetic in the first year of the post-Ray Rice era and QB Mike Teel has been simply dreadful all season. He had been, that is, until week 9. Going into the game at Pitt, Teel had thrown just 3 TD’s all season while being intercepted 7 times. On that Saturday he would throw 6 TD’s—double the number he had thrown in 7 games to that point—and just 1 INT. Teel passed for 361 yards and threw TD passes of 79 and 60 yards. After the Panthers opened the scoring with a TD, Rutgers scored 20 unanswered points and took a 34-24 lead into halftime. Pitt cut it to 34-31 midway through the 3rd quarter but the Knights responded with a pair of touchdowns to put the game away and they went on to win it by 20, 54-34.
Five Significant Upsets: 5 teams that were at least 7.5 point underdogs won in week 9. Indiana was a 7.5 point underdog against NW at home but they stunned the gagging Cats, 21-19. Rutgers was a 9.5 point underdog on the road against Pitt but they blasted the Panthers by 20 points, winning 54-34. In terms of the spread, the biggest upset of the week was UVA’s 24-17 win at Georgia Tech. Virginia was actually a 14 point underdog in that contest. In all honesty, the Jackets should never have been a two touchdown favorite over Virginia.
There were 2 other significant upset wins by underdogs in week 9. Northwestern got some strong competition for most disappointing performance of the week coming out of Nashville. The Vanderbilt Commodores came into week 9 at 5-2, needing only to win at home on homecoming against the Duke Blue Devils in order to become bowl eligible for the first time since 1982. They Devils were 9.5 point underdogs coming into this one. This was an ugly game. Vandy turned the ball over 3 times and missed a pair of field goals. Duke turned the ball over once, had just 28 yards rushing on 36 attempts, and missed 2 field goals. The game was scoreless until the Blue Devils got in the end zone with less than a minute to go before halftime. They extended their lead to 10-0 in the 3rd and held the Dores off the board until they finally got in the end zone early in the 4th quarter to cut the lead to 3. Vandy got the ball right back and marched from their 13 to the Duke 25 but Bryant Hahnfeldt missed from 45 yards and the score stayed 10-7. Vandy went for it on 4th and 6 from their own 19 with 4 and a half minutes on the clock and threw incomplete. They actually got the ball back still down only 3 points and marched to the Duke 39 with 2 minutes remaining. But then Mackenzi Adams threw deep and was intercepted at the 1 and Duke ended up hanging on to win 10-7.
The other significant upset victory was monumental, not because the spread was all that large, but because of the particular team that pulled off the upset. During the decade, few teams in college football have been as consistently awful as the Idaho Vandals. They came into this season just 16-66 since the start of the 2001 season and they have won as many as 4 games just once in their previous 7 seasons, and never more than that in any of those years. Last year they were 1-11, 0-11 against FBS competition, with their only win coming against Cal Poly at home by 7 points. Going into week 9 the Vandals were 1-7, 0-7 against the FBS, with their only win coming against Idaho State by 15 at home. Heading into week 9 they had lost 23 in a row against FBS opponents dating back to October of 2006. Homecoming for Idaho was scheduled for week 9, and the Vandals were 11 point underdogs against visiting New Mexico State. Idaho managed to score first, going up 7-0 on a 54 yard TD run early in the 1st quarter. But NMS scored a pair of TD’s in the 2nd to go up 14-7. You would have expected the Vandals to fold from here but instead they tied the game up right before the half. The score would stay tied late into the 3rd quarter until Tino Amancio nailed a 52 yard field goal to give Idaho the lead. The Vandals held on to the lead and Amancio drilled a 51 yarder with 1:29 to go in the 4th to increase their lead to 20-14. The Aggies drove into Idaho territory with 20 seconds to play but they never got past the 42. Time ran out on NMS and Idaho had a 20-14 victory, their first over an FBS team in 2 calendar years.
Number of Unbeaten Teams Shrinks from Nine to Eight: The only team to lose for the first time in week 9 was Oklahoma State. The Cowboys had been 7-0 going into week 9. They fell 28-24 on the road at #1 Texas to fall to 7-1. That lowered the number of unbeaten teams in the FBS from 9 to 8. 4 of the remaining unbeatens were from BCS conferences and 4 were from non-BCS conferences. Utah was idle in week 9 and thus remained unbeaten at 8-0. Boise State stayed perfect, winning at San Jose State on Friday night. The Broncos had a 20-6 lead midway through the 2nd and they led 20-9 at the half but the Spartans scored on a 60 yard run to cut the lead to 20-16 early in the 3rd. Boise State got a field goal to make the lead 7 points heading to the 4th but the Spartans remained within a touchdown of tying the game until the Broncos kicked another FG with 5:50 to go that made it a 10 point game. The Broncos added a TD with a minute left to make the final score look better. They won it 33-16 to improve to 7-0 on the season. Tulsa kept their perfect season going with a win over Central Florida in the final game of week 9. The game was played on Sunday night and was a rematch of 2 of the last 3 Conference USA Championship Games. Last season UCF had beaten Tulsa in the regular season and again in the conference championship game. This time Tulsa scored the first 14 points but the Knights came back with 19 unanswered to take a 5 point lead into halftime. However, the Golden Hurricane scored just 56 seconds into the 3rd quarter to go back up 21-19 and they had the lead for good. They outscored UCF 35-0 in the second half on the way to a 49-19 win. They outgained the Knights by 249 yards, 436-187, winning by 30 to get to 8-0 on the year. Ball State was the other team from a non-BCS conference that made it out of week 9 with their record still flawless. The Cardinals hosted Eastern Michigan in week 9 and won fairly easily. They led just 3-0 after 1 and 10-0 at the half but they scored a pair of TD’s early in the second half to put the game away. They went on to win 38-16 to improve to 8-0 on the season.
With their huge 13-6 win over Ohio State at the Horseshoe in week 9, Penn State improved to 9-0 as they headed into a bye week. Elsewhere in week 9, Alabama and Tennessee squared off in this year’s edition of the “Third Saturday in October” rivalry and the Tide won to remain without a loss on the season. This was Bama’s second straight win over the Vols, the first time they have accomplished that feat since way back in 1991-92. Bama dominated UT, achieving 13 more first downs than the Vols (23-10), outgaining them by 193 yards (366-173), and controlling the ball for 11 more minutes than Tennessee. Bama led 13-3 at the half, took a 22-3 lead to the 4th quarter, and led 29-3 before the Vols scored a meaningless TD late in the 4th. Bama went on to win 29-9 to get to 8-0 on the year. The other two teams still undefeated after week 9 were both out of the Big XII South. Texas’ 28-24 win over Oklahoma State at home in week 9 got them to 8-0 on the year. Texas Tech was now 8-0 after their 63-21 win at Kansas in week 9.
Still Two without a Win: There were 2 teams still without a win on the season going into week 9 and at week’s end their were still 2 winless teams. Tyrone Willingham led his Washington Huskies against his former team in week 9, as they hosted Fat Charlie and the Fighting Child Molesters. Things didn’t go well for Coach Ty and his boys. They got thumped 33-7. And this wasn’t any ordinary thumping; Washington got dominated. ND outgained Washington by 335 yards (459-124), had 16 more first downs (25-9), and held the ball for 15 more minutes. The Irish led 17-0 at the half, took a 27-0 lead to the 4th quarter, and led 33-0 before Washington scored a meaningless TD with just under 3 minutes to play to spoil the shutout. Leading 24-0 in the 3rd quarter and facing a 4th and 13 from their own 37, the Irish ran a fake punt and it worked for 35 yards. That about summed up the day for Coach Ty and the Huskies. The loss dropped them to 0-7 on the year. North Texas was the other team that finished week 9 still without a win. The Mean Green got smoked at home by Troy in week 9, losing 45-17. They turned the ball over 4 times while never turning Troy over and they were outgained by 209 yards. The loss dropped NT to 0-8 on the season.
Number of Teams without a Win vs. FBS Competition Cut from 8 to 6: Including Washington and North Texas there were 8 teams yet to win a game against an FBS team this season going into week 9. By the end of the week that number had been lowered to 6. Idaho had been 1-7 on the year, 0-7 against the FBS going into week 9 but they beat New Mexico at home, 20-14, for their first win against FBS competition in 2008. Elsewhere, Kent State won over an FBS team for the first time in week 9. The Golden Flashes were 1-6, 0-6 against FBS teams going into their game at Miami (Ohio) in week 9. Kent State trailed the Redhawks 7-3 at the end of 1, but they would score the next 44 points in this contest. They outscored Miami (OH) 28-0 in the 2nd quarter to take a 31-7 lead into half time. Kent State outscored the Redhawks 16-0 in the 3rd and led 47-7 going to the 4th quarter. They went on to win 54-21 for their first victory vs. FBS competition this year.
Six teams were still without a win over FBS competition at the end of week 9, including Washington and North Texas who were winless overall. Washington State (1-7, 0-7), Syracuse (1-6, 0-6), and Western Kentucky (2-6, 0-6) were all idle in week 9 and thus remained winless against FBS teams. SMU got handled again on the road in week 9, this time by Navy, losing 34-7. Some of the numbers from this game were mind-blowing. Navy outgained SMU by 260 yards (404-144), they had 15 more first downs (23-8), and they had a 25 minute edge in time of possession (42:32-17:28). Navy outgained SMU 404 to -13 on the ground. The Midshipmen jumped out to a 20-0 1st quarter lead and lead 27-0 at the half on the way to the 34-7 win. The loss dropped the Mustangs to 1-8 on the season, 0-8 vs. FBS competition.
Notable Scores from Week 9
Tem 14, Ohio 10 (Hideously ugly game.)
WV 34, Aub 17 (Bad loss for SEC; worst job of tackling I have ever seen by Aub team.)
Boise St. 33, SJS 16 (Broncos stay unbeaten.)
Conn 40, Cin 16 (Cinci loses their 2nd game.)
Ind 21, NW 19 (NW chokes for 2nd loss.)
UNC 45, BC 24 (BC loses 2nd game.)
Wis 27, Ill 17 (Wisconsin gets first Big Ten win.)
BSU 38, EM 16 (BSU stays unbeaten.)
Texas Tech 63, Kan 21 (Texas Tech stays unbeaten.)
Minn 17, Pur 6 (Minn goes to 7-1.)
CM 24, Tol 23 (CM moves to 5-0 in the MAC.)
Fla 63, Ken 5 (Gators demolish Cats to get to 6-1.)
Okla 58, KSU 35 (Sooners get to 7-1.)
BYU 42, UNLV 35 (Cougars survive to move to 7-1.)
Duke 10, Vandy 7 (Another awful loss for the SEC and for Vandy.)
Fresno St. 30, Utah St. 28 (Bulldogs narrowly escape the upset.)
Cal 41, UCLA 20 (Bears whip instate rival.)
FSU 30, VT 20 (Seminoles roll to get to 6-1.)
UVA 24, GT 17 (UVA stuns Tech for 4th straight win, handing GT their 2nd loss.)
Louisville 24, USF 20 (Bulls lose their 2nd game.)
UGA 52, LSU 38 (UGA moves to 7-1 with biggest win of the season, dealing LSU their 2nd loss.)
Mich St. 35, Mich 21 (Spartans snap 6 game losing skid against rivals and 8 game skid in Ann Arbor.)
Kent St. 54, Mia (OH) 21 (Kent St. gets first win vs. FBS.)
Rut 54, Pitt 34 (Another bad loss for Pitt.)
Tex 28, Ok St. 24 (Tex stays unbeaten while dealing Okie State their first loss.)
Navy 34, SMU 7 (SMU stays winless against the FBS.)
ID 20, NMS 14 (Idaho wins first against FBS team.)
TCU 54, Wyo 7 (TCU moves to 8-1 with blowout of Cowboys.)
Missouri 58, Col 0 (Now that’s an ass whipping.)
Miss 23, Ark 21 (Nutt busts the Hogs.)
Troy 45, NT 17 (NT remains winless.)
Bama 29, Tenn 9 (Bama stays unbeaten.)
PSU 13, Ohio St. 6 (PSU remains perfect on the year while Ohio State losses for 2nd time.)
ND 33, Wash 7 (Washington remains winless.)
USC 17, Ari 10 (USC takes care of business to get to 6-1.)
Tulsa 49, UCF 19 (Tulsa remains unbeaten.)
Week 10 Review
Recap: There weren’t very many big matchups in week 10, but the biggest game of week 10 turned out to be the best game of the year so far. There were the usual upsets, disappointing losses, and surprising wins, but there were also a number of wild finishes. 5 different games went into overtime in week 10. Week 10 was one of the more entertaining weeks of this college football season.
The Big Ones: There were just 2 games between ranked teams in week 10, one turned out to be a complete blowout, the other was easily the game of the year to this point. The huge game in the SEC in week 10 was this year’s edition of the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. This season the stakes were as high as ever, as #6 Georgia and #8 Florida met up in Jacksonville in what amounted to an elimination game in terms of the hunt for the National Championship, and it would almost certainly determine which team would represent the SEC East in the conference championship game. The winner of the game might not be all that much closer to playing in the BCS Championship Game but the loser would have no shot at playing for a National Championship. As far as the SEC East, both teams came into the game 4-1 in the SEC and the winner would have a 2 game lead over the loser due to holding the tiebreaker. The loser would need the winner to lose both of their last 2 conference games and neither team was at all likely to do so. You could pretty much call this the SEC East Championship Game. This game is always of great importance to Bulldawg and Gator fans, and in recent years it has often been a big game as far as determining the champion of the SEC East, and it has also been important on a national level a number of teams recently. But this year in particular the Georgia-Florida game had been circled as one of the games that would likely be of great significance ever since fans started to look towards the 2008 season at the end of last year. Nearly everyone agreed that the two SEC teams that looked the best going into this year were the Gators and Dawgs and many felt that they were both National Championship contenders. Consider this: Georgia was the preseason #1 in both polls but the Gators were picked by the media to win the SEC Championship. Obviously the two rivals matchup on a neutral field was expected to be on of the biggest games of the year, and many thought both teams would come into the game undefeated. As it turned out, both teams had a slip up during the course of the first 9 weeks of the season, but as expected both teams entered their matchup the day after Halloween ranked in the top 10 in the BCS with their SEC and National Championship aspirations still within reach.
Of course there was another reason why many in the media had been looking forward to the game and boy did they let everybody know what that was during the week leading up to this game. The Georgia end zone celebration from the previous year’s game was discussed ad nauseum by the talking heads during the days prior to the game. The theory held by seemingly every single member of the sports media was that Georgia would pay for their stunt or taunting or low class behavior or whatever it was they had done. Many were saying that the Gators would pay Georgia back by hammering them and that Mark Richt would wish he never called for that touchdown celebration. As it turned out, the Gators did deliver an ass kicking to UGA but not as a result of the Bulldawgs’ end zone celebration of the year before. Had Georgia been significantly better than Florida, they might have beaten the Gators again, and the payback theory would have been rendered moot. But it was the Gators who were significantly better than the Dawgs, and thus they ended up killing Georgia, but instead of seeing this as a fairly natural result, everyone assumed it was because of that celebration.
Anyway, Georgia hung around with Florida for a while in the game, but they continuously shot themselves in the foot they way they had all year, and eventually the Gators took over and put a beating on the Dawgs the likes of which hadn’t been seen in this rivalry since the days of Spurrier vs. Goff. Georgia took the ball to the Gator 10 on their second drive and they had a chance to take the lead early but they missed a 37 yard field goal try with a little over 5 minutes to go in the 1st quarter. On the ensuing Florida drive, a Georgia interception of Tim Tebow on 3rd and 6 from the UGA 27 was wiped out by an illegal hands to the face penalty. Instead of it being Georgia’s ball, the Gators had a 1st down at the 13. They scored a few plays later to go up 7-0 with 20 seconds to play in the opening quarter. Georgia responded with a field goal to get on the board but then the Dawgs decided to try an onsides kick and it failed, giving Florida the ball at the UGA 41. The Gators took the gift and went in for their second TD to put the Dawgs in a 14-3 hole. Georgia came back with a nice drive and they had a first and goal at the 6 but they ended up having to settle for the field goal again and kicker Blair Walsh managed to bang a 27-yard try off the goal post to keep the score 14-3 going to halftime.
The Gators got the ball first in the 3rd quarter but the Georgia defense forced a punt and the Bulldawgs drove back into Florida territory. But on first down from the 30, Matt Stafford was picked off by Joe Haden at the Florida 11 and he returned it 88 yards to the UGA 1. Florida scored on the next play to make it 21-3. The Dawgs went 3 and out on their next possession, and when Tim Tebow hooked up with Louis Murphy on a 44 yard TD strike to make it 28-3 Florida, the outcome was decided. Unfortunately for the Dawgs and their fans, they would end up having to deal with more than regret over missed opportunities and disappointment over the loss. Over the remainder of the game the Dawgs played some of the worst football they have played at any point during the Mark Richt era. It was pretty embarrassing. On the next Georgia possession, Stafford gave Knowshon Moreno a perfect pitch on a toss play and he fumbled it at the UGA 30 and the Gators returned the ball to the 10. Two plays later Tebow scored his third rushing touchdown of the game to make it 35-3. On the next UGA possession the Dawgs moved the ball into Gator territory but Stafford was intercepted again at the 41. The Georgia defense held the Gators this time and forced a punt. The Dawgs then moved from their own 15 to the Florida 33, but on 1st down Stafford was intercepted for the 3rd time in the half, and Ahmad Black returned it 64 yards from the Gator 11 to the Georgia 25. On the next play Tebow hit Percy Harvin for a 25 yard touchdown strike to make it 42-3. The ensuing kickoff was returned 64 yards by Richard Samuel to the Gator 34, but Stafford completed a pass for no gain and then threw 3 straight incompletions to turn it over on downs. Some guy named John Brantley came in and led Florida on a 6 play, 66 yard drive for a touchdown to put Florida up 49-3. The Dawgs scored a meaningless touchdown on a drive engineered by backup QB Joe Cox. Florida got the ball back and as the clock dwindled down they called a couple of timeouts, stopping the clock with 44 seconds and 30 seconds left in the game. Members of the sports media would point to these timeouts as Urban Meyer’s way of paying Georgia back for their end zone celebration the year before. I’ve got no problem with it all, but I’ve got to say that if I’m Georgia, and I believe that the end zone celebration helped energize the team on way to their win over the Gators the year before, it was definitely worth having to stay out on the field for a few more minutes trailing 49-10. It’s not like anyone would have felt better in the locker room. This one was going to sting for a while regardless. Some over imaginative people might think that the Gators were running up the score against Georgia to pay them back, but anyone who watched the game and has any sense at all would realize that the Gators really couldn’t have scored less if they tried. How could they help it when the Dawgs continuously gave them the ball in UGA territory? They even brought in John Brantley but Georgia still couldn’t stop them. This had nothing to do with revenge. Let me clarify: the Gators and their fans may have felt a great sense of revenge but Florida’s great desire for revenge had nothing to with the 49-10 score. The 49-10 score was due to the fact that Florida is one of the best, if not the best team in the country, they are playing better than any team in the country at this point, and Georgia played almost certainly their worst game under Mark Richt.
While the Cocktail Party proved to be more like a 1980’s Super Bowl than an all-time classic, the other game between ranked teams in week 10 more than made up for it. The main event in week 10 was the primetime showdown between #1 Texas and #7 Texas Tech in Lubbock. Texas had been going through a gauntlet of heavy weight title bouts over the last month. Thus far they had survived and stayed unbeaten and now the end was in sight. For the 3rd time in the last 4 weeks they would square off in a battle of unbeatens against a fellow Big XII opponent. In week 7 they had beaten #1 Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl; the next week they blew out #11 Missouri at home; and in week 9 they got past #6 Oklahoma State at home. They had gotten through the first 3 rounds of their 4 round death match but they would have to get it done on the road this time. Many had doubted that the Horns could make it through their 4 week trek without a loss, saying that it would simply be too hard to maintain the necessary level of energy, emotion, and focus in order to win a game of this magnitude 4 weeks in a row. After pulling a way in their win over Oklahoma and destroying Missouri from start to finish, the Horns had allowed Oklahoma State to stay in the game against them before hanging on for a 4 point win. In week 10, the Longhorns finally looked to be a little drained. They were not able to match Texas Tech’s energy and intensity for much of the night. The Red Raiders were in control for much of the game and in many ways they significantly outplayed the Longhorns, but Texas again showed themselves to be a team of championship caliber, rallying late and nearly stealing the game away from Tech on pure guts and heart.
The game played out like a heavy weight title bout, with the challenger coming out looking to prove himself and controlling the champ early; the champion keeping himself alive; the challenger then having the champ on the ropes in the later rounds; the champ fighting back as one would expect and suddenly looking like he might survive after all; and the two fighters wailing on each other in desperation in the late rounds, with the champ delivering a possibly decisive blow to the challenger, but then just as the challenger appears on the verge going down late in the final round, he gets a wild roundhouse punch by the champ’s guard and hits him square on the chin, putting him down for the count to take away his title.
Tech got the ball first in this one and moved from their own 19 to the Longhorn 35, but Graham Harrell was sacked for a 9 yard loss on 3rd and 4 and they had to punt. It worked out okay, as Jonathan LaCour’s punt was downed at the 2, pinning Texas right at their own end zone. The Longhorns ran the ball on their first play, and the Red Raider defense busted through and stopped Chris Ogbonnaya from getting out of the end zone for a safety. This was a hell of a statement. Despite their consistent success over the last 8 years, Texas Tech had never really been taken seriously as a championship caliber team. They belief had always been that they were just a gimmicky, run and gun, offensive team that couldn’t tackle or stop anybody on defense and didn’t really care about the other side of the ball. On this play, Texas Tech sent a message that this year was different, that they were for real, as the Red Raider defense--not Graham Harrell and the famous Mike Leach offensive machine—scored the first points of the night. And the safety would also give the ball back to Tech. This time the Red Raiders moved to the Texas 12 before the drive stalled and they settled for a short field goal to make the score 5-0. Texas had much more reasonable field position to start their second possession but the Tech defense was able to get pressure on Colt McCoy and the Horns got only 1 first down and ended up gaining only 5 yards and had to punt. This time it was Texas Tech who would be pinned deep in their own territory, as Justin Tucker’s punt was downed at the 4 yard line. On 3rd and 8 from the 6, Harrell completed a pass of 46 yards to Edward Britton, moving Tech into Longhorn territory again. 7 plays later they had a 1st and goal at the 3 and then Baron Batch scored on a 3 yard run on the final play of the 1st quarter to complete a 10 play, 96 yard TD drive that put the Red Raiders up 12-0 on the #1 team in the country.
Things continued to go against the Longhorns. A block in the back penalty on the ensuing kickoff forced Texas to start the drive at their own 8. On 3rd and 2 from the 16, McCoy tried to run for the first and was stopped for no gain and Texas had to punt. A brilliant 67 yard punt by Tucker reversed the field position and backed the Red Raiders up to their own 17 but Harrell moved Tech right back into Texas territory. On 3rd and 14 from the Texas 32, Harrell found Lyle Leong for 14 yards to get the first down at the 18. On the next play, Harrell hit Eric Morris on an 18 yard touchdown pass to make the score 19-0 Red Raiders. The Longhorns needed a spark, and as usual, Jordan Shipley was there to give it to them, taking the ensuing kickoff out of the end zone and out to the 40 yard line. However, McCoy’s pass on 3rd and 3 was broken up and Texas had to punt again. If the Red Raiders went down and scored another touchdown it would be pretty close to desperation time for Texas. Once again, Tucker did a good job on the punt, driving Tech back to their own 14. Harrell went right back to work and found Michael Crabtree for 15 yards on the first play of the drive, but Texas Sergio Kindle stripped Crabtree of the ball and the Longhorns recovered at the Tech 29. A huge play, and one that might turn the entire game around. Texas got a 1st down at the 16, but if there were any lingering doubts over whether the Red Raiders were serious about doing this thing, they were erased on the following 3 plays. On 1st and 10 Ogbonnaya was thrown for a loss of 3. On 2nd down McCoy was sacked for a loss of 3. And then on 3rd and 16 from the 22, McCoy was dropped for a sack and a loss of 4 to force the Longhorns to settle for a field goal. Hunter Lawrence was good from 43 to get Texas on the board but you had to feel that the Red Raiders had dodged a bullet.
Next, the Longhorn defense would come up big. The ensuing kickoff went out of bounds, giving Tech the ball at the 40. The Red Raiders quickly moved into Texas territory and had a 1st down at the 20. With the clock winding down in the first half, Texas Tech appeared on the verge of going ahead by 23 points, but the Texas defense forced Harrell to throw incomplete on 3rd and 4 and Tech settled for a short field goal to make the score 22-3. There was just 1:37 left in the half when Texas began their next possession at their own 20. After a 4 yard loss on 1st down, you thought maybe Texas should just run the clock out and try to regroup at halftime. But on 2nd and 14 from the UT 16, McCoy dropped back to pass and then took off running and for the first time all night he had some room to roll. McCoy went for 27 yards and a first down at the Texas 43. A few plays later they had a first down at the Tech 46 but then a horrible 15 yard personal foul penalty on the Horns pushed them all the way back to their own 39 where they faced a 2nd and 25. An incompletion on 2nd down left the Horns with a 3rd and 25 from their own 39 with just 35 seconds left in the half. It looked like the Red Raiders would take their 19 point lead into the half, but on 3rd and 25, McCoy found Malcolm Williams for a 44 yard completion down to the Texas Tech 17. Moments later on 3rd and 13 from the 20, Ogbonnaya took a pass from McCoy and made it close to the first down marker but Tech ended up stopping him 1 yard short at the 8. Facing a 4th and 1, Texas elected to kick the short field goal and Lawrence hit from 25 yards to make the score 22-6 as the time elapsed in the first half.
Texas got the ball first in the second half but they got just 1 first down and gained only 14 yards before being forced to punt. Once again, Tucker came through, booming a punt of 61 yards that the Longhorns coverage team downed at the 1. Texas Tech played it safe and ran the ball 3 straight times but Texas stopped Shannon Woods 2 yards shy of the first down maker on 3rd and 3 and the Red Raiders had to punt. LaCour had to punt out of his own end zone and he got away a hasty, line drive kick. Shipley came up huge for Texas again. He caught the punt at the 45 and took it to the house for 6. However, he had gotten a block at the very beginning of the return, and a flag went down, signaling that Shipley’s play would be nullified. But the head referee announced that the flag would be waived off, that the block had been legal, and that the TD counted. It was 22-13. The Red Raiders moved into Texas territory on their next possession but then the drive stalled and they had to punt. LaCour punted this one just inside the 20 at the 19 and Texas took over. But just when it looked like the Horns had the momentum and they were coming back, the Texas offense had its worst series of the night. After an incomplete pass on 1st down, the Horns were flagged for a false start penalty and then they got moved back 7 more yards for a hold. On 2nd and 22 from the UT 7, McCoy dropped back and threw under pressure and Dainel Clairbonnet intercepted at the 18 and returned it into the end zone for Texas Tech touchdown. The extra point put the Red Raiders back up by 16, 29-13.
McCoy had made an uncharacteristic mistake and now he was going to have to bring his team back from a 16 point deficit in the final quarter and a half of this game in order to keep their perfect season intact. Their next drive began the 20 and they moved into Texas Tech territory at the 44, but the Red Raiders continued to get pressure on the QB, and 1st down McCoy was sacked for a 7 yard loss. That derailed the drive and the Longhorns ended up punting. The Red Raiders took over at their own 22 and got called for a personal foul on 1st down and ended up going 3 and out. LaCour made sure to put some more loft in his kick this time and Shipley made the fair catch at the Texas 42. On 2nd and 7 from the 45, McCoy fumbled the ball. He was able to fall on it to retain possession but the play lost 8 yards. On 3rd and 15 from the 37, the Longhorns got bailed out by the Red Raiders on a pass interference penalty that gave them a first down in Tech territory. A few plays later McCoy and Malcolm Williams hooked up on a 37 yard touchdown completion to bring the score to 29-19. The Longhorns lined up to go for 2. This was a pretty big play, as it would be a 2 score game if Tech could stop Texas. The Red Raider defense came up big again, breaking up McCoy’s pass attempt to keep it a 10 point game.
On the first play of the 4th quarter, Harrell threw a 34 yard pass to Britton for a 1st down at the Texas 34. A few plays later the Red Raiders had a 1st down at the 12. But then on 3rd and 7 from the 9, Harrell made one of his few poor decisions of the game. He dropped back to pass and held the ball too long and Kindle made another big play, sacking Harrell for a 16 yard loss to bring up a 4th down all the way back at the 25. Now Matt Williams’ field goal try would be from 42 yards and the Longhorns blocked it. The Horns had the ball back and they were still down by just 10 points but another personal foul penalty backed Texas up to their own 9. There was 11:14 on the clock and the rowdy Red Raider crowd was on its feet again. At that moment, McCoy made a play to save his team. On 1st down from the 9, McCoy dropped back and went deep for Malcolm Williams. Williams beat the Red Raider coverage, made the catch, and went 91 yards for a TD. Just like that the Longhorns were within a field goal and there was a full 11 minutes left in the game.
As Texas Tech began their next possession at their own 20, it was becoming clear that the Red Raiders were probably going to have to score in order to win this game, they weren’t going to be able to hold on to this lead, it would take more than 29 points to pull this thing off. Harrell got to work, completing passes for 22 and 15 yards on the first two plays of the drive. The Red Raiders got to the Texas 35, and then on 3rd and 2, Woods carried the ball for 3 yards and a 1st down at the 32. A few plays later the Red Raiders faced a 3rd and 1 at the Longhorn 12 yard line. This was a crucial play. If Texas didn’t hold the Red Raiders to a field goal they would be in serious trouble. Baron Batch took the ball and banged ahead for a gain of 2 and a 1st and goal at the 10. The Red Raiders were a play or two away from putting the first nail in Texas’s coffin. But then a mistake. On the next play, Harrell threw one up for his playmaker Crabtree but the star receiver was called for offensive pass interference. This was a major blow, as Tech now had 1st and goal from the 25. Harrell threw 3 straight incompletions to bring up 4th down. This time Mike Leach sent out the left footed kicker Donnie Carona and he was able to boot the 42 yarder through to make the score 32-26. This was big because it meant the Longhorns would have to score a TD to tie and then take the lead but it was really a victory for the Texas defense, as a touchdown and a 10 point lead for Tech would have been huge.
Texas began their next drive at their own 20, trailing by 6, with 5:45 remaining on the clock. The crowd did its best to help out the Red Raider defense but McCoy moved his team down the field anyway. On 3rd and 5 from the 25 McCoy hit Brandon Collins for a 14 yard completion and a first down. Foswhitt Whittaker then crossed up the defense for a 21 yard scamper into Red Raider territory. McCoy went to Shipley for 10 and another first down at the Texas Tech 30. McCoy ran for 5 yards and then Ogbonnaya rushed for 6 and a first down at the 19. Texas was in no hurry. The Longhorns were completely confident that they were going to score and thus they seemed content to let some of that time run down to make it harder for Texas Tech to answer. McCoy hooked up with Shipley for 8 yards and then ran for 6 yards and a first down out of bounds at the 5. Whittaker was stopped for a 1 yard gain at the 4 on 1st down, but on 2nd down, Vondrell McGee scored from 4 yards out to tie the game up at 32-32. Lawrence kicked the extra point through to give the Longhorns their first lead of the night, 33-32, with just over a minute and a half left in the game.
Now it was Harrell’s turn. Tucker’s kickoff traveled to the end zone in the air, but Jamar Wall brought it out and produced a solid return, taking the ball out to the 38 where Tech took over down 1 with 1:29 on the clock. The Red Raiders had just one of their timeouts remaining, but there was really no need for them to doubt whether they could at least get into position for a field goal try. They had moved the ball against the Texas defense all game long and if they could move the ball at least about 35 yards here they would have a good shot at a game winning field goal. On 1st down Harrell dropped a pass off to Batch for 8 yards and then went to Detron Lewis for a 5 yard gain and a first down just across midfield. Harrell hit Lewis again for 11 yards on the next play as Tech was steadily moving the ball down the field. On the next play Harrell hit Britton for 10 more yards and another first down. Tech still had some time on the clock and they were already on the edge of field goal range at the 28 but they still seemed to rush things a bit on the next play. Harrell took the shotgun snap with 15 seconds to play, dropped back, stepped up as if he might try and run for a few yards but then as he crossed the 30 he decided to toss the ball on the run to Britton who was open near the sideline at the 20 yard line. But again, the whole thing was rushed, and the ball ended up bouncing off Britton and going back away from the sideline a few yards behind him in the air. Suddenly there was freshman safety Blake Gideon and he was in perfect position to catch the ball as it came down into his arms at the 17. Let me break in here and say that as this was going on I had time enough to think “Wow, Texas did it. They won, they made it through the 4 game gauntlet undefeated and they’ll most likely finish the season undefeated and play for the National Championship.” To me, the game appeared over, and even Musbarger gave a classic “Innerceptiaaan!” But then suddenly the two officials came in signaling incomplete. Somehow he had not been able to come up with the interception. Tech was still alive, there was 8 seconds left, and they still had a timeout. They were in range for a 45 yard field goal try but they had time enough to try and get closer. They had gotten a new life and with the clock stopped on the incompletion they could now slow down a bit and not rush it. Harrell took the snap in the shotgun and dropped back to the 36. He could not afford to take a sack, but he stood in the pocket for a couple of seconds and then threw down field towards the right sideline. Michael Crabtree was being double covered and he broke off a deep out at the 5 and came back for Harrell’s lob and reached up and made the catch just in bounds at the 6. At that point there was 4 seconds on the clock but rather than just going out of bounds to set up 23 yard field goal to win the game, Crabtree stayed in bounds, turned, pulled himself free from Curtis Browns grasp and scooted across the goal line into the end zone for the touchdown with 1 second left on the clock. Had Brown been able to get a hold of Crabtree enough to bring him down; had Crabtree lost his balance even slightly and Brown been able to hold him up for a second and then bring him down, Tech may not have been able to get one of the officials to call a timeout before the clock hit zero. But once Crabtree got loose from brown at the 4 and a half yard line with 3 seconds left, he was in the clear, and he crossed into the end zone with 1 second left to take the chance of a missed field goal, a blocked kick, a bad snap, etc. out of the equation. The fans rushed the field spontaneously as soon as Crabtree scored and the officials scrambled to try and get them back off the field. Goal posts started going down and I wasn’t sure they were going to be able to stop the rush before it was too late. That would be a problem, because there was still 1 second left. Not only that, the officials wanted to make sure that Crabtree hadn’t gone out of bounds. Eventually they were able to get the students off the field and they went to the video and it was clear that Crabtree had somehow, remarkably, stayed in bounds. When the head referee announced that the touchdown would stand, the students immediately began storming the field again. Once more the officials managed to get them back off the field and Tech kicked the extra point but the officials assessed Texas Tech 2 personal foul penalties on the kickoff, meaning they were going to have to kick off from their own 7 yard line. This I thought was going to be very interesting. To be honest, I thought there was a possibility that we might seem something similar in nature to the Stanford-Cal, Big Game, Band on the Field play. I totally expected the fans to run onto the field as soon as the ball was kicked. If Texas Tech kicked it deep, Texas might only need to return it 70 yards for a TD. If they squibbed it, what if the kicker booted it too hard and it went out of bounds and Texas would have one untimed play to either try a long field goal or throw a Hail Mary? In the end it was uneventful, as Tech kicked it 35 yards or so and Texas tried a few laterals but got nowhere and when Franklin Mitchem was tackled at the Texas 46, the game was over and the students rushed the field for the 3rd and final time.
So that’s how it went. #7 Texas Tech 39, #1 Texas 33. The game of the year so far. Texas Tech had to rescue the win from the jaws of defeat in the end but statistically they significantly outplayed Texas. The Red Raiders outgained Texas by 205 yards (579-374), had 13 more first downs (31-18), and controlled the ball for nearly 14 more minutes (36:53-23:07). Harrell completed 36 of 53 pass attempts for 474 yards, 2 touchdowns and no interceptions. Britton caught 7 balls for 139 yards and Crabtree grabbed 10 for 127 yards and a TD. McCoy went 20 for 34 in the air for 294 yards, 2 TD, and 1 INT. Malcolm Williams caught 4 passes for 182 yards and 2 touchdowns. Shipley caught 6 passes for 42 yards, returned 3 kickoffs for 75 yards, and returned 1 punt for a 45 yard TD. Texas had just 80 yards rushing on 28 carries.
Six Ranked Teams Go Down to Unranked Opponents: In week 10 there were 6 teams ranked in the top 25 of the BCS standings that lost to unranked teams. #25 Connecticut played host to unranked West Virginia in week 10 and they ended up getting beat 35-13. Things started out going well for the Huskies as they outscored WV 10-0 in the 1st quarter and led 13-7 at the half. But they collapsed in the second half, getting outscored 28-0, as the Mountaineers scored 21 points in 5 minutes and 8 seconds during the latter part of the 3rd quarter. Inexplicably, the Huskies only gave Donald Brown 19 carries, and they committed 5 turnovers, including 3 interceptions. Pat White threw for 121 and a touchdown and ran for 109 and 2 touchdowns.
#24 Oregon traveled to Berkley in week 10 to play Cal and they ended up losing 26-16. The Ducks scored first in this one but they missed the extra point and Cal outscored them 16-0 the rest of the first half. Cal took a 19-16 lead to the 4th quarter and they scored a TD with 8:57 left to go up 10 and went on to win it 26-16. The Bears got the win despite turning the ball over 5 times, including losing 4 fumbles. Oregon helped Cal out as well, turning it over 3 times, and having a punt snap go through the back of their end zone for a safety.
#18 Tulsa probably should never have been anywhere close to 18th, regardless of the fact that they were 8-0 against a bunch of shitty teams. But anyway, #18 Tulsa thought they would just stroll into Fayetteville and keep on rolling but they got cut down by the Arkansas Razorbacks, 30-23. Arkansas jumped out to a 17-0 lead in the 1st quarter but Tulsa scored a couple of TD’s to cut the deficit to 17-13 midway through the 2nd, with a missed extra point keeping them from getting within a FG of tying it. Arkansas added a FG but Tulsa scored with 3:08 to go before halftime to tie it up at 20-20. The Hogs got a field goal late in the half and took a 23-20 lead into halftime. Late in the 3rd quarter, Tulsa kicked a field goal to tie the game again at 23-23 but Dennis Johnson took the ensuing kickoff back 96 yards for the eventual game winning touchdown. Tulsa came into the game averaging 56.6 points a game but Arkansas held them to just 3 points in the second half and shut them out in the 4th quarter. Tulsa actually gained 528 yards of offense but they only put up 23 points, turning the ball over 3 times. Arkansas looked to be about to put the game away late in the 4th as they had the ball at the Tulsa 15 but Casey Dick was picked off in the end zone and the Golden Hurricane were still alive, down just 7 points with 3:04 to play. They flew down the field and had a first down at the Arkansas 12. On 1st down, Tulsa ran for 7 yards down to the 5. They ran for a gain of 1 on 2nd down and then lost 3 yards on 3rd and 2 to bring up a 4th and 5 from the 7 with 47 seconds left. On 4th down, David Johnson’s pass fell incomplete and Tulsa turned it over on downs. The Hogs ran the clock out to seal the win, 30-23.
#17 Minnesota has been one of the better success stories in college football this season, as they have gone from being perhaps the worst team from a BCS conference last season to the top 20 of the BCS this year. But in week 10 they lost a heartbreaker at home to another surprising team, Northwestern, 24-17. The Wildcats went up 10-0 on the Gophers early in this one before Minnesota answered with 14 unanswered points to take the lead in the 2nd quarter. NW scored with 5:33 left in the 2nd to retake the lead, 17-14, and then Minnesota got a field goal just before the half to tie it at 17-17. The two teams went scoreless in the 3rd, as Minnesota kicker Joel Monroe missed from 20 yards out. Early in the 4th, Minnesota went for it on 4th and 4 from the NW 30 and threw incomplete to turn the ball over on downs with the score still 17-17. The game remained deadlocked at 17 late into the 4th quarter. The teams appeared destined for OT as NW downed a punt at the Minnesota 14 yard line with just 47 seconds on the clock. The Gophers’ kicker had missed from 20 earlier in the game and had a long of 42 on the year, so Minnesota would have to get fairly deep into NW territory to be able to be in position for a game winning FG. Still, they came out throwing. After two incompletions, Adam Weber completed a pass for 12 yards on 3rd and 10 to give the Gophers a first down at their own 26. He then ran for 3 yards to the 29 and they called a timeout with 26 seconds left. On 2nd and 7 from the Minnesota 29, Weber dropped back to throw and fired a pass down field that went off a receiver’s hands, hit an NW defender, and was snagged out of the air and intercepted by Brendan Smith at the 48 and Smith took it to the house for a touchdown to put the Wildcats on top with 12 seconds to play. I give Tim Brewster props for turning around that Minnesota program but I think you gotta put this disaster on him. So much for Gophers in the Rose Bowl. Oh well, the Big Ten’s probably better off without Minnesota going to the Rose Bowl.
The highest ranked team to lose to an unranked opponent in week 10 was #15 Florida State, who lost a heartbreaker on the road at Georgia Tech, 31-28. For Tech, the win snapped a 12 game losing streak against FSU that dated back to 1975. FSU led 10-3 after the 1st quarter but then Tech scored 21 unanswered points in the span of 4 minutes and 13 seconds early in the second quarter to take a 24-10 lead. FSU scored the final 10 points of the half to cut the deficit to 24-20. The Jackets scored the only points of the 3rd quarter on a 66 yard TD run by Jonathan Dwyer that increased their lead to 31-20. Tech appeared to have the game in hand as FSU faced a 4th and 3 from the Tech 45 with less than 7 minutes to play, but Christian Ponder threw to Bert Reed for a 6 yard gain and a first down at the 39. On the next play, backup QB D’Vontrey Richardson hooked up with Preston Parker on a 39 yard TD strike and then Ponder completed a pass to Greg Carr for the 2-pt conversion that cut the deficit to 31-28 with 6:04 remaining. Tech began their next drive at their 25, and on the first play, backup QB Jaybo Shaw was intercepted at the FSU 41. The Seminoles only needed a FG to tie the game up but they found themselves facing a 4th and 11 from their own 40. But Tech jumped offsides to make it 4th and 6 and then Ponder found Bert Reed again for 9 yards and a first down in GT territory. The clock continued to run down as FSU moved closer and closer to the end zone. They only needed a FG to tie but they could go for the win with a TD. On 3 consecutive plays Jermaine Thomas ran for 7 yards, 10 yards, and 12 yards to give FSU a 1st and goal at the Tech 6. Antone Smith ran the ball down to the 3 on 1st down. Then with less than a minute to play, Marcus Sims took a handoff on 2nd down and goal from the 3 and as he collided with defenders at the 1 the ball popped loose and Tech recovered in the end zone with 45 seconds on the clock. The Jackets hung on for the 31-28 win.
Earlier in week 10, #23 South Florida lost to an unranked opponent for the second week in a row, this time falling at Cincinnati on Thursday night, 24-10. The Bearcats led 10-7 after the 1st and 17-7 at halftime. USF made it a 1 score game with a FG in the 3rd but Cinci scored a TD early in the 4th to go up by 14. USF had went on a long drive and had a 1st and goal at the Cincinnati 2 but then a false start penalty pushed them back to the 7, they gained only 1 yard on the next two plays, then Matt Grothe threw incomplete on 3rd down and again on 4th down to turn it over on downs, still behind by 14, with less than 8 minutes to go. The Bulls got the ball back quickly and moved right back down into the red zone, but Grothe threw incomplete on 3rd and 5 from the 8 and then on 4th and 5 from the 8 and Cinci took over again with their lead still intact. They ran out the clock to finish off the 24-10 win.
Six Significant Upsets: 6 teams that were at least 7 point underdogs won in week 10. Arkansas was a 7 point dog at home against undefeated Tulsa and put an end to the Golden Hurricane’s perfect season dreams, winning 30-23. Northwestern was a 7.5 point underdog on the road at Minnesota in week 10 but they won 24-17 on a 48 yard INT return for a TD with seconds remaining in the 4th quarter.
Marshall was a 7 point dog at home against Houston in week 10 but they never trailed on their way to a 37-23 thumping of the Cougars. The Herd scored the first 13 points of the game and led 16-3 at the half. Marshall scored a pair of TD’s late in the 3rd to put the game out of reach, up 30-3. Houston turned the ball over 3 times while the Thundering Herd never turned it over and led 37-9 before a couple of late TD’s by Houston made the final score look a little better.
The Syracuse Orangemen were 11 point underdogs at home against Louisville in week 10, and their 28-21 victory was easily one of the more surprising results of the season. Last year Syracuse won on the road against Louisville, 38-35, as a 37 point underdog in one of the biggest upsets of the decade. This one wasn’t that big but Syracuse has only 2 conference wins over the last 2 seasons and both have come against Louisville. This year’s game started out as expected with Louisville driving down and scoring to take an early 7-0 lead but the Cuse tied it up on a Curtis Brinkley TD later in the 1st and took the lead on a long TD pass right before halftime. Antwon Bailey scored on a 39 yard TD run early in the 3rd quarter to make it 21 unanswered points for the Orange. Louisville scored to get within a TD late in the 3rd but Cameron Dantley’s second TD pass of the game with 5:16 to go in the 4th quarter made it 28-14 and put the Cardinals 5 and a half feet under. The Cards scored a quick TD and got the ball back with 33 seconds left but Hunter Cantwell’s pass was intercepted at the Cuse 33 and the Orangemen ran out the clock to ice the win.
ULM was an 11 point underdog at home against SBC power Troy in week 10 but they stunned the Trojans, 31-30, handing them their first conference loss of the season. ULM took the first lead in the game with a TD midway through the 1st quarter but they missed the extra point. Then Troy fumbled the ball deep in their own territory and had to fall on the ball in the end zone for a safety to make it 8-0 in favor of Louisiana-Monroe. However, Troy responded with 17 unanswered points and they led 17-8 at halftime and appeared to have things under control. But in the 3rd quarter, Kinsmon Lancaster came out and fired a pair of TD passes to put the Warhawks back on top, 22-17. Dujuan Harris scored on a 45 yard TD run later in the 3rd to put Troy back on top and the game went to the 4th quarter with the Trojans leading 24-22. Early in the 4th ULM kicked a 48 yard field goal to go ahead by a point, 25-24, but Dujuan Harris hauled in a 29 yard TD pass from Levi Brown to put Troy ahead 31-25 with less than 5 minutes to go. ULM got the ball back at their 28, needing a TD, and backup QB Trey Revell proceeded to lead the Warhawks on a 72 yard march, accounting for 70 of the yards himself, 41 through the air and 29 on the ground. On 3rd down and 6 from the Troy 7, Revell hit JJ McCoy on a crossing route for the touchdown to put ULM ahead with just 34 seconds remaining. Troy returned the ensuing kickoff all the way to the Warhawk 46, but ULM forced Troy into a 4th and 3 from the 39 with 5 seconds left, and Sam Glusman’s 56 yard field goal went begging, giving ULM the 1 point victory.
The North Texas Mean Green are perhaps the worst team in the FBS but they should never have been 18 point underdogs on the road against Western Kentucky in week 10. But they were and they won 51-40. This was a wild one. The two teams combined to score 35 points in the first 8 minutes and 46 seconds of the game. NT led 21-14 at the end of the crazy 1st quarter but the only scoring in the 2nd quarter was a FG for the Mean Green that gave them a 24-14 lead at the half. Suddenly in the 3rd quarter the two teams combined to score 20 points over the course of 39 seconds. After NT scored a TD to go up 31-14 with 8:05 left in the 3rd, WK came back with a pair of quick TD’s to cut the lead to 31-27 with 7:26 left in the 3rd, missing the PAT after the second TD. Western Kentucky scored again with just 1:20 to go in the 3rd to take a 34-31 lead but NT scored less than 2 minutes later to go back up 37-34 early in the 4th. The PAT attempt was blocked to keep WK within a FG. The Hilltoppers scored on a 1 yard TD run with 9:54 left on the clock to go on top 40-37, but the PAT was blocked, and the Mean Green brought it back for a safety to cut the deficit to 40-39. NT hung in there and with 2:27 left in the game, Giovanni Vizza found Casey Fitzgerald for a 27 yard TD pass to give the Mean Green a 45-40 lead. They went for 2 and didn’t get it. WK nearly came back and won on a last second score, but Tobe Nwigwe intercepted David Wolke’s pass at the NT 3 yard line, and just for good measure he returned it 97 yards for a TD with no time on the clock to make the final score 51-40. Out of the last 6 touchdowns scored in this game, only 1 was followed by a successful extra point; 1 PAT was missed; 2 more were blocked (1 of those returned for a safety); there was a failed 2-pt conversion; and no PAT was attempted following the final touchdown of the game. I’m sorry but that’s just fucking weird.
Number of Unbeaten Teams Shrinks From Eight to Six: At the start of week 10 there were 8 teams still without a loss; by week’s end only 6 teams remained unbeaten. 2 teams lost for the first time in week 10. Tulsa came into week 10 with an 8-0 record but they fell to Arkansas on the road, 30-23, to fall to 8-1. Texas was 8-0 going into their week 10 game at Texas Tech but they lost 39-33 to fall to 8-1.
6 teams were still unbeaten when week 10 came to a close. PSU was idle in week 10 and thus remained unbeaten at 9-0. Ball State was also idle in week 10 and thus they remained unbeaten at 8-0. Texas Tech moved to 9-0 with their dramatic 39-33 win over Texas in week 10. Bama won 35-0 over Arkansas State in week 10 to get to 9-0 on the season. Bama led 7-0 after 1, went to the half up 14-0, took a 28-0 lead to the 4th quarter, and wound up winning 35-0 for their first shutout since 2005. The Tide had 10 more first downs than Arkansas State (21-11) and outgained them by 199 yards (357-158). Boise State also got a shutout victory in week 10, crushing New Mexico State 49-0 on the road to stay unbeaten and move to 8-0. The Broncos led 7-0 after 1, took a 28-0 lead into halftime, had a 42-0 lead going to the 4th, and wound up winning 49-0. Boise State had 15 more first downs than the Aggies (26-11) and outgained them by 345 yards (495-150)!!! Utah also made it through the week unbeaten, but barley, escaping with a 13-10 win over New Mexico on the road to go to 9-0 on the season. Louie Sakoda put the Utes up 3-0 on a 43 yard FG with a little less than 6 minutes left in the 1st quarter of this one and that was the only scoring of the 1st quarter. On the next Utah possession, the Utes drove back into NM territory but on 4th and 7 from the 38 Sakoda (who handles place kicking and punting duties) threw incomplete on a fake punt and the Lobos took over on downs. Early in the 2nd quarter, James Aho lined up for a 41 yard field goal to try and tie the score but the Utes blocked it. Aho hit a 38 hard field goal with a little less than 6 minutes left in the half that did tie the game at 3-3. Sakoda hit a 38 yarder of his own as time expired in the 2nd quarter to give the Utes a 6-3 lead that the half. The Utes finally got in the end zone in the middle of the 3rd quarter to take a 13-3 lead, but the Lobos responded with a TD scoring drive to cut the deficit to 13-10 going to the 4th quarter. The Utes drove back into the red zone and had a 1st and goal at the 8 but Brian Johnson was intercepted in the end zone. Later in the 4th quarter New Mexico drove from their own 9 to the Utah 48 but Brad Gruner threw incomplete on 3rd and 3 and then on 4th and 3 and the Utes took over with 3:46 to play. Utah was forced to punt but Sakoda pinned the Lobos at their 1 with only 1:58 to play. NM managed to move the ball out to midfield but the clock hit triple zero with the Lobos still at the 48 yard line and Utah getting the win, 13-10.
Only One Lonely Team Still Without a Win: There were two FBS teams still without a win on the season going into week 10 but by then end of the week there was only 1 winless team remaining. North Texas had been 0-8 on the season coming into week 10 but they won 51-40 on the road over Western Kentucky to move to get to 1-8 with their first victory of the season. The only team that was still without a victory on the season at the end of week 10 was the Washington Huskies. It had been announced earlier in the week that coach Tyrone Willingham would not return following this season and then on Saturday the Huskies went out and lost 56-0 on the road at USC. Washington trailed 21-0 after 1, 42-0 at the half, 49-0 going to the 4th, and wound up losing 56-0. It could have been way worse. USC outgained Washington by 301 yards (485-184). The loss dropped Washington to 0-8 on the season.
Number of Teams Without a Win Against FBS Cut From Six to Four: Going into week 10 there were still 6 teams that did not have a win against an FBS team this year including Washington and North Texas. At the end of the week that number was down to 4. Other than North Texas, the only team that won its first game vs. FBS competition in week 10 was Syracuse. Going into week 10 the Cuse was 1-6 on the year, 0-6 vs. FBS teams, but they won 28-21 over Louisville for their first win against an FBS team this season, moving to 2-6 on the year, 1-6 vs. FBS teams. There were 3 teams still without a win vs. FBS teams at the end of week 10 other than Washington. SMU was idle in week 10 and thus stayed 1-8 on the year, 0-8 vs. the FBS. Western Kentucky entered the week 2-6, 0-6 vs. FBS teams, and they lost to NT, 51-40 at home, to stay winless against the FBS, falling to 2-7, 0-7 vs. FBS teams on the year. The other team was the Washington State Cougars. Washington State lost 58-0 on the road to Stanford to fall to 1-8 on the year, 0-8 vs. FBS teams. Washington State trailed 10-0 after 1, went to halftime down 31-0, trailed 51-0 going to the 4th, and ended up losing 58-0. Stanford outgained the Cougars by 231 yards (456-225).
Five Games Require Extra Sessions: After not one game went to overtime in week 9, there were 5 different OT games in week 10. Miami won 24-17 at UVA in OT during week 10. Virginia was going for its 5th straight win and for a while it looked like they might get it, as they took a 17-10 lead with 5 minutes left in the first half and maintained that lead late into the 4th quarter. Miami went on a 15 play, 95 yard drive late in the game, converting a 3rd and 13 early in the drive, and scoring the tying TD with 55 seconds left on a 3rd and 15 from the from the 26, when Jacory Harris threw up a desperation heave that was hauled in by Laron Byrd despite being mugged by a Virginia defender. Virginia moved the ball quickly into Miami territory to try and setup a field goal try but they fumbled and the Canes took over at their 32. Miami was then able to get into position for a 51 yard field goal try to win it in regulation but Matt Bosher didn’t have enough leg and the game went into OT tied at 17. The Hurricanes had the ball first and Harris threw a touchdown pass to Aldarius Johnson on a 3rd and 5 from the 9 to put Miami up 24-17. On Virginia’s first play of their possession, Cedric Peerman broke into the open field and had a first down but Miami defenders hit him and jarred the ball loose and recovered the fumble to win the game.
There was another overtime game in the wacky ACC in week 10, as Duke pushed Wake Forrest to the limit on the road, before the Demon Deacons finally won 33-30 in OT. WF blocked a punt for a safety to take 9-7 lead in the 1st quarter and they led 12-7 at the half. A 2 yard TD run by Brandon Pendergrass put Wake up by 12, 19-7 midway through the 3rd quarter but Duke came back, scoring a pair of TD’s over the next 5 minutes and 58 seconds to take a 1 point lead. They went for 2 and missed and Wake kicked a 44 yard field goal to retake the lead, 22-20, going to the 4th quarter. Duke drove inside the WF 5 yard line early in the 4th but had to settle for a 20 yard field goal which put them back in front by a point. Moments later, Riley Skinner fired a 20 yard TD pass and then threw a pass to get a 2 point conversion, putting the Deacons up by a TD, 30-23, with a little over 10 minutes to play. The Dukies then put together a scoring drive, with Thaddeus Lewis finding Clifford Harris in the end zone for a 20 yard TD pass to tie the game at 30 with 6:48 left on the clock. Duke nearly won in regulation but Nick Maggio missed a 41 yard field goal as time expired to send the game into OT. Wake got the ball first in OT and had to settle for a 28 yard field goal try and Shane Popham booted it through to give the Deacons the lead. On the second play of Duke’s possession, Lewis fired deep down the field and Eron Riley intercepted at the 2 to seal the win for the Deacs, 33-30.
Navy won in OT in week 10, as once again Temple found themselves on the short end of the stick in a close game. After losing 12-9 in OT to Connecticut, losing 30-28 to Buffalo on a Hail Mary pass earlier this season, and 7-3 to Western Michigan, the Owls blew a 20 point lead in week 10 and lost 33-27 to Navy in overtime. Navy scored the first touchdown in the game to go up 7-0 early in the 1st but the Owls tied it up later in the quarter and the score remained tied at 7 into halftime. Then Temple outscored the Midshipmen 14-0 in the 3rd quarter to take a 21-7 lead into the 4th. A 16 yard TD scamper by Kee-Ayre Griffin a minute and 20 seconds into the 4th quarter made it 27 unanswered points by the Owls and gave Temple a 27-7 lead with 13:41 to play. The Owls missed the extra point and that was a sign of the things to come. Navy then finally put together a solid drive, going 78 yards over 4 minutes and 25 seconds and scoring on a 22 yard touchdown pass to make the score 27-14 with 9:16 to play. Temple was only able to get 1 first down on their next possession before punting the ball back to Navy and the Midshipmen marched deep into Owl territory again. On 4th and goal from the 1, Eric Kettani went in for a 1 yard TD run to make it a 1 score game with just under 3 minutes to play. The Owls blocked the extra point to make themselves feel a little bit better about things, keeping it a 7 point game. Temple got the ball back needing to run out the clock and converted a 3rd and 5 to force Navy to call each of its last two timeouts. With the clock running under a minute to play in the game, Temple snapped the ball on a 3rd and 11 from their own 43 yard line and gave the ball to their halfback Kee-Ayre Griffin. Griffin was hit at the line by Ross Pospisil and fumbled the football. Clint Sovie scooped up the ball at the 42 and ran all the way into the end zone for a touchdown to tie the game at 27 with 37 seconds on the clock. This is probably as close to a “Miracle at the Meadowlands” type of play as you will ever see. Temple took the kickoff and took a knee to send the game into overtime. Temple lost the coin toss and had to play offense first in OT and they moved inside the 10 and had a 3rd and goal at the 1. Griffin got the carry again but again he was hit at the line by Pospisil and stopped for no gain. The Owls went for it on 4th and goal from the 1 and Adam DiMichele’s pass fell incomplete, leaving the Owls with no points out of the possession. Navy only needed a field goal to win it and Temple nearly forced them to make that kick when Ricky Dobbs was stopped a yard short of the first down on a 3rd and 3 from the 18 but the Owls were flagged for a facemask penalty. That gave Navy a 1st and goal at the 8 and Dobbs ran down to the 1 and then after being stopped for no gain on 2nd down he scored from 1 yard out on 3rd down to gave Navy the stunning 33-27 comeback win.
The final game of week 10 also went into overtime, as Conference USA foes Central Florida and East Carolina needed overtime to determine a winner in an ugly game. The Knights controlled the game early, taking a 3-0 lead in the 1st quarter, and scoring on a 54 yard bomb with 1:40 left before halftime to go up 10-0. The Pirates finally got on the board with a short field goal midway through the 3rd after missing two field goals earlier and they then went with a surprise onsides kick and recovered it. But they fumbled it back to Central Florida at the 39 moments later. UCF took a 10-3 lead into the 4th quarter and they looked to be in good shape, as ECU was really struggling on offense and the Knights were content to run the clock and play field position. But as Central Florida was preparing to punt from inside their own territory with 5 and a half minutes to play, the Pirates got good penetration on the line and UCF punter Blake Clingan panicked and took off running to his right. He came up 8 yards shy of the first down marker and ECU took over in Central Florida territory at the 46. The Pirates drove down deep and Norman Whitley went in on 1st and goal from the 2 to tie the game at 10-10 with 1:51 to play in the game. The two teams traded punts and then UCF took over at their 31 with 43 seconds left. Michael Greco ran for 13 yards on 1st down but he fumbled and the Pirates recovered at the UCF 46 with 33 seconds left. On the very next play, Rob Kass was intercepted by Johnell Neal and the game went to OT tied at 10-10. UCF got the ball first in OT and on their first play Michael Greco was picked off at the 16 yard line. ECU gained 3 yards and then lined up for a 39 yard field goal. Ben Hartman kicked up and good to give ECU the win, 13-10.
One of the wildest games of week 10 was the only 1 of 5 overtime games that needed more than 1 overtime session to determine a winner. Pittsburgh was on the road playing Notre Dame at South Bend in week 10 coming off their disappointing loss to Rutgers the week before. The two teams traded field goals in the 1st quarter and the game stayed tied at 3-3 until late in the 2nd quarter when the Irish scored 2 touchdowns in the final 1:27 of the half, with Jimmy Clausen hooking up with Michael Floyd for both scores to give ND a 17-3 halftime lead. The Panthers closed the deficit to 7 with a TD early in the 3rd but ND took a 17-10 lead to the 4th quarter. Pitt scored to tie the game at 17 with 11 minutes to go but Notre Dame went back in front on a touchdown pass from Clausen to Golden Tate with just over 5 and a half to play in the game. Pitt began their next drive at their own 30 and flew down the field, going 56 yards on 4 plays for a 1st down at the ND 14. LeSean McCoy ran for 4 yards on 1st down but after back to back incompletions by Pat Bostick the Panthers were facing a 4th and 6 from the 10 with 2:27 on the clock. On 4th down, Bostick hit Jonathan Baldwin on a 10 yard touchdown pass to tie it up at 24 with 2:22 to play. Notre Dame began their next drive at their own 25 and a pass interference penalty and a defensive holding penalty on the Panthers gave ND a couple of 1st downs. But then on 2nd and 10 from the 41, Notre Dame was flagged for offensive pass interference. On 2nd and 25 from the 26 Clausen got the ball to Kyle Rudolph for a 21 yard gain and the Irish called a timeout with 52 seconds to play. On 3rd and 4 from the ND 47, Armando Allen was stopped a yard short of the first down at the 50 yard line. The Irish took a calculated risk and called timeout with 40 seconds on the clock and then went for it on 4th and 1 from midfield. Clausen tried to get it with a QB sneak but Pitt stopped him shy and took over at the 50 yard line with 32 seconds remaining. Now the Panthers had a shot to win it in regulation but Bostick threw incomplete on 1st down and then on 2nd and 10 was intercepted at the 27. ND let the clock run out and took it to overtime with the two teams tied up at 24.
ND won the coin flip and made Pitt take the ball first in OT. The Panthers got a 1st and goal at the 10 but the Irish stopped them at the 5 and Pitt settled for a 22 yard field goal by Conor Lee that put them ahead 27-24. The Irish could now win it with a TD and they got a 1st and goal at the 10. Allen ran for 7 yards to bring up 2nd and goal from the 3 but he was stopped for a 1 yard loss on the next play and then Clausen threw incomplete to bring up 4th down. Brandon Walker kicked a 22 yard field goal to tie it at 27 and send the game to a second overtime. This time ND had the ball first and they got a 1st and 10 at the 11, but on 3rd and 7 from the 8 Clausen threw incomplete and Walker kicked a 26 yard field goal to put ND up 30-27. Now Pitt could win with a touchdown, but on 3rd and 1 from the 16 McCoy was stopped for no gain and Lee came on and kicked a 33 yard field goal to tie it again at 30. Pitt was on offense first in the 3rd OT and they got a 1st down at the 13, but then on 3rd and 6 from the 9, Bostick threw incomplete and Lee came out and kicked another field goal, this one from 26 yards to put the Panthers up 33-30. Again Notre Dame could win with a touchdown, but on 3rd and 9 from the 24, Clausen was sacked for a 5 yard loss and Walker had to try another field goal. This one was from 48 yards out and he hit it to tie the game again and send it to a 4th overtime. Notre Dame had the ball first in the 4th session and they got 6 yards on a couple of runs but then Clausen threw incomplete on 3rd and 4 from the 19 and Walker had to come out for another kick. This time it was from 38 and he hit it okay but it missed just wide left. So, Notre Dame had cracked first and now Pitt needed just one more field goal to win it. McCoy ran for 18 yards and a 1st down at the 6, and then after a 1 yard run on 1st down, Lee came on for a 22 yard field goal try. Lee was good again and the game was finally over. Pitt got the win in 4 OT’s, 36-33. LeSean McCoy ended up rushing for 169 yards after gaining only 5 yards on 3 carries in the 1st half, and he gained 101 yards in the 4th quarter and the 4 overtimes. Brandon Walker was 4 for 5 on field goals for ND but Conor Lee was 5 for 5 and that made the difference.
Big Ten Teams Play Down to the Wire: Week 10 featured a number of fantastic finishes in the Big Ten. There were 4 Big Ten conference battles in week 10 and Indiana took on Central Michigan. All 5 of these games were decided by a touchdown or less. One of the great games was the Northwestern-Minnesota game at the Metrodome, tied at 17-17 at the half, and still tied until Brendan Smith intercepted Adam Weber and took it 48 yards for a touchdown with 12 seconds left to lead NW to a 24-17 win.
Michigan and Purdue played a shootout in West Lafayette in week 10. Michigan scored two touchdowns early to go up 14-0 but Purdue answered with a pair of touchdowns of their own to tie it up at 14-14 going to the 2nd quarter. Then Michigan scored a couple more TD’s to go up by 14 again but Purdue scored right before the half to cut the deficit to 28-21 on Kory Sheets’ 2nd TD run of the game. Sheets caught a pass for a TD to tie the game early in the 3rd quarter and then he ran the ball in from 5 yards out for his 4th TD to put the Boilermakers ahead for the first time, 35-28, with just 4 seconds left in the 3rd quarter. Michigan came right back with a score to tie the game again but Justin Siller threw a 4 yard TD pass to Greg Orton to give Purdue a 42-35 lead with 7:14 to play. Michigan wasn’t done, they went on a 14 play, 68 yard drive, converting a pair of 4th downs, and scoring on a 1 yard run on 3rd and goal to tie the game with 1:20 to play. Purdue took the kickoff and started at their own 27. Siller threw for 18 yards on the first play of the drive for a 1st down at the 45 and then threw for 20 yards and a 1st down at the Michigan 35. 2 plays later on 2nd and 7 from the 32, the Boilermakers pulled off a rare feet, successfully running the hook and ladder for a touchdown. Siller completed a pass to Orton at the 26 and he flipped to Desmond Tardy who took it the rest of the way to the left corner of the end zone to put Purdue up 48-42 with 25 seconds to play. The PAT was blocked and Michigan didn’t quit, moving the ball to the Purdue 47 with time for one finally play. Their Hail Mary pass fell incomplete and Purdue had the win, 48-42, snapping their 5 game losing streak against the Wolverines. For Michigan the loss marked yet another low point in their history. With their 7th loss of the season, Michigan was assured of its first losing season since 1967. Their streak of 40 consecutive non-losing seasons was tied for the 4th longest in history. The loss also guaranteed that Michigan will be staying home for the bowl season, ending their streak of consecutive bowl seasons at 33, which had been the nation’s longest active streak.
Illinois hosted Iowa in week 10 and for most of the game the two teams were locked in a low scoring battle before a flurry of late scores. Illinois led 7-0 at the end of the 1st quarter and took a 10-6 lead to halftime. Iowa cut the score to 10-9 with a FG midway through the 3rd before Juice Williams hit Fred Sykes for a 50 yard TD bomb to give Illinois a 17-9 lead with 5:32 to go in the 3rd. Early in the 4th, Illinois sacked Ricky Stanzi and forced a fumble and Dere Hicks scooped it up at the 7 and ran it in for a TD to give Illinois a commanding 24-9 lead. But Iowa would mount a comeback. Stanzi led the Hawkeyes down the field and fired a 26 yard TD pass to cut the lead back to 8 with 11:42 on the clock. Iowa got the ball back and with less than 3 minutes on the clock, Shonn Greene scored on a 5 yard TD run to make the score 24-22. Iowa went for 2 and got it to tie the score at 24 with 2:46 to play. The crowd at Memorial Stadium was stunned but Juice Williams led the Illini on a drive into Iowa territory converting a pair of 3rd downs with pass completions to move his team from the 20 to the Iowa 24. Matt Eller kicked a 46 yard field goal to put Illinois back on top with 24 seconds to play. Iowa got the ball back but Stanzi was intercepted on their first play and Illinois hung on for the 27-24 win.
Wisconsin played at Michigan State in week 10 and for a while it looked they were going to follow up their win over Illinois in week 9 with a road win in week 10 but they ended up giving another one away with physical and mental mistakes. The Badgers led 7-0 after 1, went to halftime with a 10-6 lead, and had a 17-13 lead going to the 4th quarter. John Clay scored on a 32 yard run to put Wisconsin up by 11 with 9:19 to go in the game. However, on the ensuing Michigan State drive, the Badgers were called for a delay of game penalty and head coach Bret Bielema lost it and was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. Those 20 yards helped Michigan State on a 64 yard drive that ended in a 2 yard TD run by Javon Ringer. The Spartans failed on their 2-pt conversion try to leave the score 24-19 with 8:13 to play. Wisconsin went 3 and out on their next possession and Michigan State drove into Badger territory again. The drive stalled at the 33 and Brett Swenson nailed a 50 yard field goal to cut the score to 24-22 with 5:16 to play. The Badgers moved the ball on their next possession and appeared to be on the verge of putting the game away. Wisconsin moved into Michigan State territory and broke a long that would have given them a 1st and goal at the 4 but the play came back due to a hold. The Badgers were in field goal range but a false start penalty took them back to the 40 and they had to punt. Michigan State took over at their own 17, down 2, with 1:17 on the clock and no timeouts. Brian Hoyer found Blair White for 20 yards and then hit him again for 32 yards into Wisconsin territory. Michigan State wanted to get the ball closer and with the clock ticking down, Hoyer threw over the middle to BJ Cunningham but he was tackled after only a short gain and the Spartans scrambled to get the field goal team onto the field as the clock ticked under 20 seconds. As Michigan State was trying to line up, the Badgers inexplicably called a timeout, stopping the clock with 12 seconds left. That allowed Michigan State to be able to setup their field goal without rushing onto the field with the clock running and worrying about getting set. Swenson kicked the 44 yarder right down the middle to give the Spartans their first lead of the game, 25-24, with 7 seconds left, and they went on to win it. Along with the questionable clock management, Wisconsin committed 12 penalties for 121 yards, lost a fumble, and missed a short field goal.
Indiana hosted Central Michigan in week 10 and the Chippewas won in Bloomington despite being without star QB Dan LeFevor, as the Hoosiers lost to a MAC team for the second time this season. The two teams alternated scoring touchdowns throughout the first 3 quarters, with Indiana going up by 7 on 4 different occasions, and CM tying them up all 4 times. Indiana went ahead again on a 3 yard TD run with 32 seconds left in the 3rd but this time the PAT was blocked, leaving the score 34-28. CM got a 48 yard field goal early in the 4th quarter to get within 3, and then got the ball back and drove down the field again, with backup QB Brian Brunner scoring on a 1 yard QB sneak to give the Chippewas their first lead of the game with 8:52 to play. They missed the extra point to keep it a 3 point game but the Hoosiers never really threatened again and CM won it, 37-34.
Notable Scores From Week 10
Marsh 37, Hou 23 (Big upset win for the Herd.)
Cin 24, USF 10 (Bulls fall to 1-3 in the Big East.)
WV 35, Conn 13 (WV wins their 5th straight.)
CM 37, Ind 34 (CM beats Ind without LeFevor; Hoosiers 2nd loss to MAC this year.)
Mich St. 25, Wis 24 (Another Badger collapse.)
NW 24, Minn 17 (Late pick 6 results in Gophers’ 2nd loss.)
Mia 24, UVA 17 (OT) (UVA’s 4 game win streak ends.)
AF 16, Army 7 (AF beats Army for 18th time in last 20 meetings.)
Pur 48, Mich 42 (Pur scores on hook and lateral to snap 5 game skid vs. Mich; Mich streaks of 40 straight non-losing seasons and 33 straight bowl seasons come to an end.)
Kan 52, KSU 21 (Kan beats KSU for 3rd straight year, 1st time since 88-90.)
Ark 30, Tulsa 23 (Hogs deal Tulsa their first loss of the season.)
WM 31, EM 10 (WM beats EM for 14th time in last 17 meetings.)
Pitt 36, ND 33 (4OT) (Panthers out last the Irish in a 4-OT thriller.)
Ken 14, Miss St. 13 (Cats get blocked extra point to hang on for 1 point win.)
Missouri 31, Bay 28 (Tigers hang on to avoid upset loss to Bears.)
Bama 35, Ark St. 0 (Bama stays unbeaten.)
Cal 26, Ore 16 (Cal wins big Pac-10 game over Ducks.)
Fla 49, UGA 10 (Gators demolish Dawgs to knock UGA out of NC hunt and take control of SEC East race.)
GT 31, FSU 28 (Tech snaps 12 game skid vs. FSU with first win over Seminoles since 1975.)
WF 33, Duke 30 (OT) (Deacons narrowly avoid another bad loss.)
Ok St. 59, Iowa St. 17 (Cowboys roll to go to 8-1.)
Ill 27, Iowa 24 (Important win for Illinois in their quest for bowl eligibility.)
Navy 33, Tem 27 (OT) (Midshipmen stun Owls with late comeback and OT win.)
NT 51, WK 40 (NT gets first win of the season; WK still winless against FBS.)
Stan 58, Wash St. 0 (Yikes; Wash St. still winless vs. FBS.)
BYU 45, CSU 42 (Cougs pull out another one to go to 8-1.)
ULL 49, FIU 20 (Lou-Laf gets to 4-0 in SBC.)
Boise St. 49, NMS 0 (Boise State cruises to remain unbeaten.)
USC 56, Wash 0 (USC goes to 7-1; Huskies remain winless on the season.)
ULM 31, Troy 30 (Big upset win for ULM, dealing Troy its first SBC loss.)
Cuse 28, Louisville 21 (Cuse stuns Louisville again for first win vs. FBS this year.)
SC 27, Tenn 6 (UT falls to 3-6, 1-5 in SEC, loss leads to Fulmer’s resignation at year’s end.)
Okla 62, Neb 28 (Okla wins old Big Eight rivalry to get to 8-1.)
TCU 44, UNLV 14 (TCU gets to 9-1.)
Tex Tech 39, Tex 33 (Tech stays unbeaten and hands #1 Texas its first loss of the season in game of the year.)
S Miss 70, UAB 14 (Damn.)
Utah 13, NM 10 (Utes survive in Albuquerque to stay unbeaten.)
Ore St. 27, ASU 25 (Beaves get to 4-1 in Pac-10, ASU falls to 2-6, 1-4 in Pac-10.)
ECU 13, UCF 10 (OT) (Pirates win ugly game to get to 3-1 in C-USA.)
Ranking every World Series in MLB history
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Scandals, scapegoats, superstars and, yes, the Yankees. Sam Miller judges
every October since 1903.
3 years ago
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