Iowa
State, Boston College Blow Title Chances;
Virginia Tech Sets Up ACC Showdown With Miami
by Mike Mitchell
11/28
2:12 am est
Iowa
State lost 17-14 to Missouri in overtime and Boston College was
derailed 43-17 by Syracuse as each missed their opportunity to
claim division or conference titles on Saturday.
Iowa State simply needed to win their final game at home against
the Tigers but missed a potential game-winning field goal with
just over a minute left in regulation. In overtime, Missouri
converted a field goal on their opening possession and then picked
off a Cyclones' pass in the end zone to secure the victory.
Oddsmakers had listed Iowa State as a home favorite but the computer,
based on the Congrove
Computer Rankings, forecasted a Missouri win.
The loss by Iowa State gave Colorado the Big 12 north
title and puts the Buffaloes in the conference championship game
against Oklahoma next week.
Colorado stayed in the hunt by beating Nebraska 26-20 in Lincoln
on Friday, a result that will keep the Cornhuskers from going
bowling for the first time since 1968. Nebraska ended the year
at 5-6 for their first losing season since 1961.
The Buffaloes led 26-7 late in the fourth quarter of Friday's game before
the 'Huskers were able to stage a rally that came up short and
ended when they failed to recover an on-side kick with over a
minute left to play.
Oddsmakers had Nebraska listed as the favorite but the computer
had projected Colorado to win by 1.
Nebraska's first season under Bill Callahan was filled with negative
firsts. It was the first time in eight meetings that they lost
to Texas Tech and they were bombed 70-10. Their home loss to
Southern Miss was the first to a non-conference team since 1991.
This season was also the first time Nebraska failed to win a
conference road game since 1959 when the league was known as
the Big 7.
On Saturday in Chestnut Hill, Boston College could have claimed
the Big East championship with a win over Syracuse. But
the Orangemen needed a win just to become bowl eligible and routed
the Eagles 43-17.
Pittsburgh kept alive with a 16-13 home win over West Virginia
in the Backyard (thank God it wasn't a) Brawl. The Panthers never
led Thursday night's game until the game-winning touchdown was
scored with 4:06 left to play.
The loss eliminated the Mountaineers from the BCS and made another
computer upset pick come true.
Boston College, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and West Virginia all finished
4-2 in the conference. But the Eagles and Mountaineers were eliminated
from the BCS chase by their 1-2 records against the other three.
If Pittsburgh wins their season finale at South Florida next
week, the Panthers will get the big-money bid. Even a loss in
the non-conference make-up game, caused by Hurricane Frances
on Labor Day weekend, could leave the Panthers with the BCS bonanza
due to a higher ranking than Syracuse.
At best, the Big East representative will be an 8-3 Pittsburgh
team. At worst, the conference could send a 6-5 Syracuse team
to one of the nation's biggest bowl games.
Virginia Tech clinched at least a share of the ACC title
with a 24-10 home win over Virginia on Saturday. The win improved
the Hokies' conference record to 6-1 and puts them in position
to claim the conference title outright with a win at Miami (5-2)
next week. Miami can claim a share of the conference title if
they win. Even more importantly, the victor takes the ACC's automatic
berth in a BCS bowl game.
Both Tech and Miami are in their first season of ACC play. As
Big East members, they won or shared that conference's championship
nine times in twelve seasons.
In other holiday weekend action:
Louisville clinched the CUSA title with a pathetically
easy 70-7 rout over Cincinnati. The Bearcats finished the year
tied for the second-best conference record at 5-3 with Memphis,
UAB and Southern Miss.
Memphis beat South Florida 31-15 and Southern Miss defeated UAB
26-21 on Saturday.
TCU (5-6) was eliminated from bowl consideration with a 35-31
loss to Tulane. The upset killed the Horned Frog's chances of
playing in what might have been their hometown Ft. Worth Bowl.
Tulane (5-5) can become bowl eligible if they upset Louisville
next Saturday.
Georgia beat Georgia Tech 19-13 in a game that wasn't decided
until the Yellow Jackets mistakenly threw the ball away on fourth
down while driving for the possible game-winning score.
Northwestern (6-6) was eliminated from the bowl chase by Hawaii.
The Warriors kept their thin bowl hopes alive by outscoring the
Wildcats 49-41. Hawaii (6-5) must beat Michigan State next week
at home to become bowl eligible.
UTEP had a seven-game winning streak snapped at Tulsa. The Golden
Hurricane finished 4-8 with the 37-35 win. UTEP still improved
by seven games over last year. The Miners were 2-11 in 2003 and
8-3 this season.
Texas concluded its regular season with a 26-13 home win over
Texas A&M on Friday. The game included the scoring of a rare
one-point safety when Texas' kicker dribbled an extra point attempt
into the line where it was recovered by Texas A&M. In an
effort to pick up and return the ball, the Aggies fumbled it
backward into their own endzone where they fell on it for a safety.
(The NCAA rulebook explains this in combination of rules 8-3-2
How Scored and 8-7-2 Responsibility and Impetus).
The Longhorns finished the year in second place in the Big 12
south with a 7-1 conference mark and 10-1 over-all record. The
Aggies slipped to 7-4 over-all, 5-3 in the conference in Dennis
Franchione's second season as head coach.
Texas Tech and Oklahoma State both finished the year at 7-4 over-all
after the Red Raiders' 31-15 win over the visiting Cowboys. But
Texas Tech moved ahead of OSU for fourth place in the Big 12
conference south division standings with a 5-3 record versus
the Cowboys' 4-4 mark. Texas A&M took third by virtue of
their win over Texas Tech two weeks ago.
Arizona upset Arizona State 34-27 on Friday to drop the Sun Devils
to 8-3 over-all, 5-3 in the PAC-10, still good enough
for third place in the conference. The Wildcats (3-8, 2-6) wrapped
up Mike Stoops' first season as head coach with what could easily
be called their biggest win of the year.
LSU's 43-14 romp over Arkansas on Friday kept the Razorbacks
from becoming bowl eligible. LSU improved to 9-2, 6-2 in the SEC west. Arkansas ended the season at 5-6, 3-5 in the
SEC west.
Connecticut beat Rutgers 41-35 in a Thanksgiving Day game that
started at 10am on the east coast. The victory likely secured
a Continental Tire Bowl berth for the Huskies, their first bowl
game in five seasons as a Division 1-A program.
UConn's record improved to 7-4 over-all and 3-3 in the Big East.
The Scarlet Knights finished 4-7, 1-5 for their tenth consecutive
losing season. Rutgers was 5-5-1 in 1994. Their last winning
season was a 7-4 campaign in 1992. The Scarlet Knights have not
been to a bowl game since the 1978 Garden State Bowl.
It was a tale of two halves on Tuesday night at the Glass Bowl
in Toledo. After trailing 27-7 at halftime, Toledo outscored
Bowling Green 42-14 in the second half and claimed the MAC's
west division title with a 49-41 win.
The Rockets will play Miami (Ohio) next Thursday night in Detroit
in the conference championship game.
George O'Leary is infamous for lying on his resume. Now he must
be wondering who lied to him when he was told UCF had a football
team. O'Leary's inaugural season at Central Florida mercifully
ended Tuesday night with a 41-24 home loss to Kent State that
left the Golden Knights with an 0-11 record, 0-8 in the MAC.
It won't get any easier next year when UCF joins Marshall in
defecting to CUSA.
Central Florida has now lost 15 consecutive games and is the
first Division 1 team in the state of Florida to go winless since
Florida went 0-10-1 in 1979.
Mississippi beat Mississippi State 20-3 to win the Egg Bowl in
Oxford. The win by the Rebels ended a disappointing season that
began with the computer forecasting a 10-1 record for Ole Miss.
They were expected to win six games by six points or less. Instead,
they lost four games by seven points or less and finished just
4-7 over-all, 3-5 in the SEC.
Racking Up Points: Louisville and Boise State have
been racking up the points. Each has scored 55 or more points
in every one of their last four games. The Cardinals have averaged
61.5 per game while the Broncos have averaged 59.5. On defense,
the Cards have allowed 27.75 while the Broncos have given up
21.75.
Computer
Streak: The computer picks on this site have a streak of their own involving
Boise State. It has correctly picked the winner of 39 consecutive
regular season Bronco games dating to November 10, 2001. It is
18-20 ATS on those games.
Computer Hits Three-Out-Of-Four Upsets: The computer's weekly picks based
on the Congrove Computer Rankings continued its
amazing run of outright upset picks against the Vegas spreads.
It is 48-25 ATS for the season with its upset picks after going
3-1 ATS over the holiday.
This week, it nailed the outright "upsets" of Pittsburgh
over West Virginia, Missouri over Iowa State and Colorado over
Nebraska. It's only miss was on Virginia-Virginia Tech.
No
Blemishes: Auburn, Boise State, Oklahoma and Utah all completed the regular
season with 11-0 records. USC is hoping to do the same. Auburn
moves on to the SEC Championship in Atlanta agianst Tennessee
and Oklahoma faces Colorado in the Big 12 Championship in Kansas
City.
Tennessee scored the game-winning
touchdown with just 38 seconds left to beat Kentucky 37-31 on
Saturday. The Volunteers' only other lead in the game was at
7-3 in the first quarter. A loss to one of the conference's worst
team would have been a major embarrassment heading into the SEC title game next week in Atlanta in which Tennessee will take
on Auburn. The Tigers beat the Vols in Knoxville 34-10 in the
regular season.
On Saturday, USC pulled away from Notre Dame for a 41-10 win
after leading just 17-10 at halftime. The Trojans wrap up the
season next week at UCLA.
Boise State completed their season unbeaten with a 58-21 romp
over Nevada in the snow at Reno.
Streaking: Boise State has won 22 straight games
over-all, 25 straight at home, and 26 straight over WAC foes. The Broncos beat Nevada 58-21 Saturday night.
USC has the nation's second-longest winning streak at 20 games.
The Trojans have won 21 straight at home and 14 consecutive PAC-10
games. They methodically obliterated Notre Dame 41-10 Saturday
night at the Coliseum in Los Angeles.
Utah has won 15 straight games after a season-ending 52-21 win
over BYU. The Utes have won 11 straight Mountain West games and 18 of their last 19 against league foes.
Auburn has 13 consecutive wins after a 21-13 victory over Alabama
to end their regular
season. They will tackle Tennessee in the SEC Championship game
next week.
Iowa has won 18 straight home games after ending the year with
a 30-7 win over Wisconsin.
North Texas has won 25 straight over Sun Belt conference foes
after the Mean Green concluded their season with a 31-7 win over
Arkansas State 31-7. UNT has also won four consecutive Sun Belt
titles as they have topped the conference in every year of its
existence.
Central Florida ended the season with the nation's longest losing
streak at 15 games. The Golden Knights lost 41-24 at home to
Kent State on Tuesday. |