Six
Teams Still Undefeated
by Mike Mitchell
10/23/05
2:15 am edt
Texas slammed Texas Tech 52-17 to knock the Red Raiders from
the unbeaten ranks. All the other undefeated teams managed to
keep their perfect records intact, though Georgia and Alabama
barely survived.
The Longhorns lead was only 17-10 in the second quarter but they
took advantage of a blocked punt and an endzone interception
to extend the lead to 31-10 at halftime.
For the second week-in-a-row, Alabama needed a last-second field
goal for the victory. This week, it was a 33-yarder with 8 seconds
left that lifted the Tide over Tennessee 6-3 and gave 'Bama its
second win over the Vols since 1994. Tennessee won 9 of the previous
10 meetings.
Georgia lost QB D.J. Shockley to a sprained knee in the second
quarter of their 23-20 win over Arkansas. Junior Joe Tereshinski
finished the game under center and will likely start next week
against Florida where a win would clinch the east division title.
Tereshinski was 5-of-9 for 91 yards as the offense finished with
just 217 yards, well below their average of 454 per game. The
Razorbacks had been allowing 424 per game
USC had no trouble with Washington, humiliating the Huskies 51-24
as Reggie Bush scored on an 84-yard punt return and Matt Leinart
threw four touchdown passes.
UCLA clocked Oregon State 51-28 to keep the Bruins on course
for a conference championship showdown with USC at the Coliseum
on December 3rd.
On Thursday night, Virginia Tech won its 15th consecutive regular
season game and notched its 10th straight ACC victory, downing
Maryland 28-9.
Oregon improved to 4-1 in the PAC-10 and remained mathematically
in the PAC-10 hunt by beating Arizona 28-21 on a 4th quarter
fumble return for a touchdown. But starting quarterback Kellen
Clemens was lost for the season with a broken ankle in the third
quarter and backup Dennis Dixon went out with an injury on the
Ducks' next possession. Oregon finished the game with Sophomore
Brady Leaf, brother of Ryan Leaf, at QB.
Stanford surprised Arizona State with a 45-35 ambush and the
Cardinal is now 3-1 in conference play. Stanford opened a 45-7
lead before the Sun Devils closed the game with 28 unanswered
points.
Auburn is no longer unbeaten in conference play as they missed
five field goals in a 20-17 overtime loss at LSU. Among the misses
were a 49-yarder at the end of regulation and a 39-yard attempt
in overtime that clanked off the left upright. LSU improved to
4-1 in the SEC west, 5-1 over-all, and gets a crack at Alabama
on November 12th in Tuscaloosa. Auburn fell to 5-2 over-all but,
at 3-1 in the conference, is not entirely out of the division
title picture. They get Alabama in the Iron Bowl at Auburn on
November 19th.
One week after beating Florida State 26-21, Virginia managed
just 5 points against a North Carolina defense that had surrendered
69 points to Louisville in its last outing back on October 8th.
The 7-5 loss dropped the Cavaliers to 2-3 in the ACC coastal
division and lifted the Tar Heels to 2-1 but just 3-3 over-all.
Florida State, meanwhile, rebounded from last week's loss at
UVa with a 55-24 romp at Duke. The 'Noles are now 4-1 in the
ACC Atlantic (6-1 over-all) and a half-game up on Boston College.
The Eagles (6-1, 3-1) visit Virginia Tech on Thursday night.
With Hurricane Wilma advancing toward Florida, the Georgia Tech-Miami
game and the West Virginia-South Florida games were postponed
to later dates. The Yellow Jackets and 'Canes will now hook-up
on November 19th while the Mountaineers and Bulls were rescheduled
for December 3rd.
Tulane's game at Central Florida was moved up from Saturday to
Friday due to the worries about Wilma. The Green Wave, who have
now had three games rescheduled by hurricanes, lost 34-24.
Meanwhile, Southern Miss capitalized on early UAB punt defense
mistakes to take a 17-0 lead and held on for the 37-28 win in
Birmingham on Friday. The Blazers fell to 3-4 over-all, 1-3 in
conference play.
Central Florida, whose only loss in its last five games was at
Southern Miss, is now 4-3 over-all and 3-1 in CUSA's east division.
Southern Miss (4-2, 3-1) is the only other team in that division
with just one conference loss.
Tulane and UAB were the computer's preseason picks to play for
the CUSA title. After Friday night losses, those schools are
in danger of missing the bowl season altogether.
On Saturday in CUSA, Tulsa and UTEP each notched victories to
stay atop the west division. The Golden Hurricane is 4-1 in the
conference after a 20-13 over visiting SMU. The Miners improved
to 3-1 with a 31-3 whacking of Marshall after the Herd entered
the contest at 2-1. East Carolina also lost its second conference
game, a 27-24 setback at Memphis.
CUSA saw five teams leave the league in the offseason and six
teams enter to fill their void.
In other Saturday action, Northwestern shocked Michigan State
with a 49-14 rout on the Spartans' home field. The Wildcats are
3-1 in Big 10 play after that victory.
Three of the other four teams in the Big 10 that began the weekend
with just one conference loss picked up victories as well. Ohio
State trounced Indiana 41-10; Penn State ripped Illinois 63-10;
Wisconsin downed Purdue 31-20.
Iowa, however, suffered a second conference loss and saw its
22-game home winning streak come to an end as Michigan downed
the Hawkeyes 23-20 in overtime. Last weekend, the Wolverines
beat Penn State 27-25 on the last play of the game. Iowa had
not lost a home game since September 14, 2002 when rival Iowa
State did the trick 36-31.
In the Big 12, Colorado and Missouri are now tied for the north
division lead after the Buffaloes romped past Kansas 44-13 and
the Tigers beat Nebraska 41-24. Those results leave Colorado
and Missouri with identical records of 5-2, 3-1 as a potential
November 5th showdown looms in Boulder.
In Missouri's win over the Cornhuskers, QB Brad Smith accounted
for 246 yards rushing and 234 yards passing.
Louisville, the preseason favorite to win the Big East, won 46-22
at Cincinnati for its first conference win. But the Cardinals
are just 1-2 in league play and sit behind West Virginia (3-0),
Rutgers (3-1), Pittsburgh (3-1) and South Florida (1-1). Connecticut
is 1-2.
Rutgers held off Connecticut 26-24. Pittsburgh rallied past Syracuse
34-17 to keep the Orange winless in league play at 0-4.
In the Mountain West, TCU controls its own destiny. The Horned
Frogs are 5-0 in the conference after a 48-10 blitzing of Air
Force. Colorado State stayed a game back in the loss column with
a 39-31 win over Wyoming. The Rams visit TCU on November 5th.
In the MAC, Western Michigan knocked Bowling Green QB Omar Jacobs
out of the game in the first quarter and proceeded to bully the
Falcons 45-14. BGSU was up 6-0 when Jacobs was driven to the
turf and fumbled on an attempted pass play. The Broncos returned
it for a score and the rout was on. It was 31-6 before the Falcons
scored again.
Just two weeks ago, in Western Michigan's last game, they fell
60-57 at home in five overtimes to lowly Ball State as the Cardinals
won for the first time all year. Ball State was averaging just
8.5 points per game entering that contest. This week at Bowling
Green, WMU was facing a team that was averaging 39.5 ppg.
BGSU (4-3, 3-1) still leads the MAC east as the only team with
fewer than two conference losses.
Toledo continues to sit alone atop the MAC west. A 38-15 win
over Buffalo puts the Rockets at 6-1 over-all, 4-0 in league
play. Central Michigan and Northern Illinois are a game back
in the loss column. The Chippewas were idle while the Huskies
downed Kent 34-3.
The WAC still has three teams that are undefeated in conference
play. Boise State beat Utah State 45-21 for its 29th consecutive
conference victory. Fresno State baked Idaho 40-10. Nevada was
idle.
The Broncos host the Wolf Pack next Saturday and visit the Bulldogs
on November 10th. Fresno State travels to Reno to face Nevada
on November 26.
Idle Louisiana-Monroe continues to lead the Sun Belt at 3-0 but
three teams are chasing the Indians with just one conference
loss. Arkansas State beat FAU 3-0 in overtime and is now 3-1.
Troy is 2-1 after escaping FIU 18-13 on Friday night. North Texas'
40-14 loss to Louisiana Tech was a non-conference game so the
Mean Green stays 2-1 in league play.
Middle Tennessee entered the weekend 1-1 but likely fell from
the conference title chase with a 13-10 upset loss at home to
Louisiana-Lafayette. It was the first conference win of the season
for the Ragin' Cajuns.
The Mighty Quinn: Brady Quinn threw a school record
6 touchdown passes as Notre Dame clobbered BYU 49-23. The Irish
broke a four-game home losing streak in which all of the losses
had come in the final minute. Charlie Weis was the first Notre
Dame coach in 109 years to lose his first two home games but
he now has the Irish at 5-2 and still in contention for a BCS
bowl bid.
Rice Is Nice On Any Day: Army halted an 11-game
losing streak with a 20-0 pasting of Akron. Rice assumes sole
possession of the nation's longest losing streak after the Owls
fell 41-9 to Navy for their 12th straight loss. It's the first
time that the longest losing streak doesn't at least partially
belong to either Army or Central Florida since Buffalo ended
an 18-game losing streak on November 25, 2003.
Oops, I Did It Again: Washington State lost its
fourth straight after a 3-0 start and remains winless in PAC-10
games at 0-4. The Cougars gave it a valiant effort, rallying
from a 28-10 halftime deficit to California by scoring the first
28 points of the second half for a 38-28 fourth quarter lead.
But a week after blowing a 21-point lead over UCLA, the Cougars
did it again. California tallied the last 14 points of the game
to escape with a 42-38 win and avoid losing their third straight
game.
Derailed: Purdue has fallen off the tracks. The
Boilermakers lost their fifth consecutive game, falling at Wisconsin
31-20.
Close, But No Cigar: Baylor (4-3, 1-3 Big 12) is
now 0-15 all-time versus Oklahoma but they came close on Saturday,
losing in double-overtime 37-30. The Bears completed an 11-point
comeback in the fourth quarter on a 55-yard TD pass and 2-point
conversion with 1:17 left to tie it in regulation. The teams
traded field goals in the first overtime, but Oklahoma scored
a touchdown on the opening possession of the second overtime.
An incomplete fourth-down pass sealed Baylor's fate. It was the
second overtime road loss of the year for Baylor which is now
just 1-39 in Big 12 road games.
The win pushed Oklahoma (4-3) above the .500 mark for the first
time this year and boosted the Sooners' conference mark to 3-1.
Still Winning: Texas Tech has been kicked out of
the club but six members still remain undefeated: USC, Texas,
Virginia Tech, Georgia, UCLA and Alabama.
In case you were wondering - at this point last season, there
were still seven undefeated teams - Auburn,
Boise State, Miami (Fla.), Oklahoma, USC, Utah and Wisconsin.
Still
Losing: Army
dismissed itself from the winless brigade but four teams stay
on that ubiquitous list; Buffalo, New Mexico State, Rice and
Temple.
At this point last year, UCF was the only winless team.
1-AA Schools Strike Out: For the second consecutive
week, no games were played between 1-AA schools and their higher-classified
brethren over the weekend. For the season, fifty such games have
taken place and the 1-A teams are 48-2. Since the beginning of
the 2003 season, 1-A teams have won 160-of-178 such games or
89.99 percent.
Streaks: USC extended the nation's longest winning
streak to 29 with the 51-24 win at Washington. They have now
won 40 of their last 41 games. USC also owns streaks of 23 straight
home wins and 19 consecutive PAC-10 victories. The 29-game over-all
winning streak is the longest in PAC-10 history, breaking their
own record of 25 games set in 1931-1933.
Texas has won 14 straight games after its 52-17 win over Texas
Tech.
Virginia Tech has 15 consecutive regular season wins and 10 straight
conference victories.
Boise State owns nation-leading streaks of 28 straight home wins
and 29 straight conference victories after their 45-21 win at
Utah State.
Auburn had its 13-game conference winning streak snapped at LSU
in a 20-17 overtime loss.
Iowa had its 22-game home winning streak broken in a 23-20 overtime
loss to Michigan.
Army's losing streak was ended at 11 games with a 20-0 shutout
victory at Akron.
Rice extended its losing streak to 12 games with a 41-9 home
defeat at the hands of Navy.
New Coaches: The 2005 season began with 23 coaching changes.
San Jose State has not beaten a 1-A team yet. New Mexico State
is still looking for its first win over anybody under Hal Mumme.
Here is how each has fared, by order of success:
LSU, 5-1 under Les Miles, beat Auburn in OT 20-17.
Florida, 5-2 under Urban Meyer, was idle.
Notre Dame, 5-2 under Charlie Weis, beat Brigham Young 49-23.
Stanford, 4-2 under Walt Harris, beat Arizona State 45-35.
Indiana, 4-3 under Terry Hoeppner, lost to Ohio State 41-10.
Miami, O., 4-3 under Shane Montgomery, won at E. Michigan 24-23.
South Carolina, 4-3 under Steve Spurrier, beat Vanderbilt 35-28.
Western Michigan, 4-3 under Bill Cubit, won at Bowling Green
45-14.
Pittsburgh, 4-4 under Dave Wannstedt, beat Syracuse 34-17.
Utah, 4-4 under Kyle Wittingham, won at UNLV 42-32.
BYU, 3-4 under Bronco Mendenhall, lost at Notre Dame 49-23.
East Carolina, 3-4 under Skip Holtz, lost at Memphis 27-24.
Marshall, 3-4 under Mark Snyder, lost at UTEP 31-3.
Mississippi, 3-4 under Ed Orgeron, beat Kentucky 13-7.
Ohio, 3-4 under Frank Solich, beat Ball State 38-21.
Oklahoma St, 3-4 under Mike Gundy, lost at Iowa State 37-10.
Utah State, 2-4 under Brent Guy, lost to Boise State 45-21.
Illinois, 2-5 under Ron Zook, lost to Penn State 63-10.
Nevada-Las Vegas, 2-6 under Mike Sanford, lost to Utah 42-32.
San Jose St., 1-6 under Dick Tomey, lost to Hawaii 45-38.
Syracuse, 1-6 under Greg Robinson, lost at Pittsburgh 34-17.
Washington, 1-6 under Ty Willingham, lost to USC 51-24.
New Mexico St., 0-7 under Hal Mumme, was idle. |