Wisconsin,
West Va. Soundly Beaten;
Four Teams Clinch Conference Or Division Titles
by Mike Mitchell
11/14/04
1:40 am est
Two highly-ranked
teams were handily beaten on Saturday while USC, Utah and North
Texas clinched conference titles and Oklahoma claimed a berth
in the Big 12 championship.
Michigan State (5-5, 4-3) destroyed Wisconsin (9-1, 6-1) to hand
the Badgers their first over-all loss and, more importantly,
fall out of first place in
the Big 10. Michigan (9-1, 7-0) moved into first
with a 42-20 win over Northwestern.
Boston College went into Morgantown and upset West Virginia 36-17.
Each team now has one conference loss but the win puts BC in
the driver's seat for the Big East title. Syracuse, which
entered the day with just one conference loss, was upset by Temple
34-24 for the Owls' first conference win of the season.
In the Big 12, Texas needed a fourth quarter rally to
escape Kansas with a 27-23 win. The Longhorns scored the game-winning
touchdown with just 11 seconds left after the Jayhawks had taken
a 23-13 lead with 7 minutes to go in the game.
In a game that kicked off at 9am on the west coast so it could
be televised by ESPN, Boise State was stretched to double-overtime
before the Broncos subdued feisty San Jose State 56-49. Boise
State has now won 20 consecutive games and 24 straight WAC games to go with their 24 straight home wins.
Miami earned the minor upset at Virginia, 31-21. The 'Canes win
gives Virginia Tech at least temporary control of the ACC.
The Hokies are 4-1 in league play, followed by Florida State
at 6-2 and then Miami and Virginia at 4-2.
New Mexico earned a 21-14 upset win at BYU that dropped the Cougars
to 4-2 in the Mountain West and let Utah clinch the conference
title with its 45-28 win at Wyoming Saturday night. The Utes
(10-0, 6-0) were up 45-14 before the Cowboys scored two touchdowns
in the game's final minute.
Among Independents, Pittsburgh shocked Notre Dame 41-38
in South Bend on a 32-yard field goal with one second remaining.
In other action Saturday, Oklahoma's 30-3 win over Nebraska left
the 'Huskers at 5-5 over-all, 3-4 in the conference, and in danger
of being eliminated from bowl consideration for the first time
since 1968. It also put idle Iowa State (5-4, 3-3) in sole possession
of first place of the Big 12 north division.
The Cyclones are a half-game ahead of Nebraska and Colorado (6-4,
3-4) who became bowl eligible with a 38-31 win over Kansas State.
The loss eliminated the Wildcats from postseason consideration
for the first time since 1992.
Oklahoma clinched the south division's entry to the Big 12 championship
game as they can do no worse than tie Texas in the final standings.
The Sooners own the tie-breaker with the Longhorns for their
12-0 victory in Dallas earlier this season.
Nebraska hosts Colorado in the final game for both schools on
November 26. Iowa State plays at Kansas State next week and ends
the season at home against Missouri on November 27.
California only led PAC-10 cellar-dwellar Washington 7-6
at halftime and 14-12 at one point in the third quarter. But
the Bears scored 28 unanswered points to pull away to a 42-12
final.
USC led Arizona 14-3 at halftime before running away with a 49-9
victory that clinched the PAC-10 title. The Trojans lead Cal
by one game with one remaining, and by virtue of their 23-17
victory over the Golden Bears last month, have the title sewn
up.
Texas A&M went to overtime to defeat rival Texas Tech 32-25
and halt a three-game losing streak to the Red Raiders. It was
the third overtime game for the Aggies in their last four outings.
Iowa dodged the bullet from Minnesota when the Golden Gophers
missed a 51-yard field goal attempt in the final minute to give
the Hawkeyes a 29-27 win. It was Minnesota's last regular season
game as they finish 6-5 over-all and 3-5 in the Big 10 after
winning their first five games.
Purdue upended Ohio State 24-17 and the Boilermakers and Buckeyes
are each just 3-4 now in league play.
Akron stayed alive for the east division title of the MAC with a 31-19 win at Ohio. Marshall was eliminated from conference
title contention with a 56-35 loss at Bowling Green. The Zips
and Miami (Ohio) each have just one loss in the conference and
face each other in Akron next Saturday with the winner taking
the east division crown. Miami was a 42-21 winner at Western
Michigan Saturday.
Meanwhile, BGSU's win over the Herd keeps the Falcons in the
hunt for the west division title where they are one of three
teams with one conference loss. Toledo and Northern Illinois
both won games earlier in the week. Bowling Green visits Toledo
next week.
Auburn had no trouble dumping Georgia 24-6 in one of the SEC's
top annual rivalries. The Tigers had already clinched the west
division. The loss doesn't eliminate the Bulldogs from east title
contention but Georgia needs Tennessee to lose both of its remaining
games against Kentucky and Vanderbilt.
Florida became bowl eligible with a 48-14 rout of South Carolina.
Both teams are 6-4 over-all and 4-4 in the SEC.
North Texas wrapped up its fourth straight Sun Belt title
with a 51-29 victory over Idaho. The Mean Green (6-4, 6-0) have
won the conference every year since its inception in 2001. Since
losing their inaugural conference game to Louisiana-Monroe on
Oct. 6, 2001, North Texas has reeled off 24 consecutive conference
wins.
In the strangest finish of the day, UTEP surrendered two safeties
to Rice late in the fourth quarter that allowed the Owls to turn
a 21-17 deficit into a 21-21 tie and force overtime. The Miners
eventually won 35-28 in the second extra period.
Earlier this week: Memphis snapped a two-game losing
streak with a 30-26 win over Southern Miss in Liberty Bowl Stadium
on Friday night. The Golden Eagles were dealt a second consecutive
loss and dropped to 5-3 over-all, 4-2 in CUSA.
The win made Memphis (6-3, 3-3) bowl eligible and the Tigers
could be headed to a postseason affair in consecutive years for
the first time in their history.
On Wednesday night, Louisville remained perfect in CUSA play
with a 55-28 blistering of TCU. It was 55-14 before the Horned
Frogs tacked on a couple of late TD's.
The Cardinals improved to 7-1, 5-0 with the easy victory over
the outmanned Horned Frogs who fell to 4-5, 2-4. Three teams
trail Louisville with two conference losses - Southern Miss,
Cincinnati and UAB.
Louisville has three CUSA games remaining with road trips to
Houston and Tulane sandwiched around a home date with a hot Cincinnati
squad that is idle this week and on a three-game winning streak.
Also on Friday, Fresno State became bowl eligible with a 70-14
romp over Hawaii that thrilled the Red Wave attending the game
in the San Joaquin Valley. The Bulldogs improved to 6-3, 3-3
in the WAC while the Warriors fell to 4-5, 4-4 and in
danger of missing the postseason.
Hawaii has been outscored 136-17 in its last two visits to the
mainland, losing 69-3 at Boise State two weeks ago. They didn't
fare much better in their previous road trips. On the whole,
Hawaii has lost its four road games by an aggregate score of
228-66 for an average loss of 57-16.
Fresno State is on the opposite track from Hawaii. The Bulldogs
are on a three-game winning streak in which they have outscored
Rice, SMU and Hawaii by a total of 164-28 for an average score
of 54-9.
Thursday night, Florida State gave Bobby Bowden his 350th career
coaching victory when the Seminoles recovered from a poor first
half to top North Carolina State 17-10 . The win came against
his former assistant head coach, Chuck Amato, whose Wolfpack
(4-6, 3-5) were eliminated from bowl consideration with the loss
after leading 10-0 at halftime. Florida State improved to 8-2
over-all and 6-2 in the ACC.
In another Thursday game, Arkansas State beat Utah State 16-7
in a Sun Belt game that had no bearing on that conference's
title chase or bowl picture.
Toledo used a 24-point run to blow past Northern Illinois 31-17
on Tuesday night and kick-off the five-day week of college football.
First-Time Conference Winners: Five teams bagged
their first conference victory of the year.
Penn State got its first Big 10 win of the season with a goal-line
stand in the closing minutes to beat Indiana 22-18.
Duke picked up its first ACC win of the season with a 16-13 upset
of Clemson in Durham.
San Diego State won a Mountain West Conference game for the first
time this year when the Aztecs beat Air Force 37-31.
Kentucky grabbed its first SEC win, a 14-13 triumph over Vanderbilt.
Temple's 34-24 victory over Syracuse was the Owls' first Big
East conference win this season.
Computer Streak: The computer picks on this site
have a streak of their own involving Boise State. It has correctly
picked the winner of 37 consecutive regular season Bronco games
dating to November 10, 2001. It is 18-18 ATS on those games.
Computer Nails The Upsets Again: The computer's weekly picks based on the Congrove Computer
Rankings picked three outright upsets against the Vegas
spreads. It is 41-23 ATS for the season with its upset picks.
This week, it nailed the "upsets" of San Diego State
over Air Force, Buffalo over Central Michigan and Kentucky over
Vanderbilt.
No
Blemishes: Auburn, Boise State, Oklahoma, USC, Utah and Wisconsin began
the week with perfect records and only Wisconsin failed to make
it out unscathed.
Streaking: Boise State has won 20 straight games
over-all, 24 straight at home, and 24 straight over WAC foes.
The Broncos were taken to double-overtime by San Jose State before
they prevailed 56-49.
USC extended the nation's second-longest winning streak to 19
with a 49-9 home win over Arizona. The Trojans have won 20 straight
home games and 14 consecutive PAC-10 games.
Utah has won 14 straight games. The Utes beat Wyoming 45-28.
Auburn has 12 consecutive wins. The Tigers drubbed Georgia 24-6.
Iowa has won 17 straight home games.
North Texas has won 24 straight over Sun Belt conference foes.
The Mean Green beat Idaho 51-29.
Central Florida ran the nation's longest losing streak to 14
games with a 21-17 loss at Ball State.
Temple's 34-24 win over Syracuse ended the Owls 12-game losing
streak to Big East teams. |