College Football - Alabama & Florida Barely Win, 12 Others Put on Muscle Shirts & Strut Their Stuff

Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley

There was only one real upset in college football's 8th week of play as 12 of the 20 top-ranked teams put on their muscle shirts and showed what they have, a sure sign that teams have begun to stabilize for their last 4 games.

Only 21st-ranked Texas Tech was caught flat-footed at home by unranked Texas A&M, 52-30. The Red Raiders (now 5-3) were favored by 22 and lost by 22, a 44-point negative swing that sent Texas Tech reeling. The Texas A&M Aggies meant business, piling up a 38-22 lead after 3 quarters, and then outscoring the Red Raiders 14-8 in the 4th quarter.

Texas A&M was trounced 62-14 last week by Kansas State and decided to take it out on Texas Tech. The high score was no real surprise; both teams came in as scoring machines—Tech was ranked 2nd nationally at 41 ppg, and A&M was 19th at 33 ppg. A&M piled up 559 yards of offense and Tech 520; the contest was strictly offensive with a combined 1,079 yards of offense. Exciting, but not good football.

One other upset occurred when unranked Clemson hung in and hung on for a 40-37 overtime upset of 8th-ranked Miami (FL) on the Hurricanes' home field. Miami (now 5-2) was favored 5. Kyle Parker threw a 26-yard scoring strike to Jacoby Ford to win the game. It was big deal for Clemson because the Tigers have been toothless for some time. The win was Clemson's first in 9 tries over ranked teams, and its first win over a Top 10 foe in more than 8 years.

Here are the 7 of 12 teams that put on their muscle shirts looking for more BCS poll support by dominating their opponents in away games:

No. 3-ranked Texas (7-0) over Missouri 41-7, 6th-ranked Boise State (7-0) over Hawaii 54-9, 10th-ranked Texas Christian (7-0) over Brigham Young 38-7 (TCU was favored by 2.5 and won by 31), 11th-ranked Georgia Tech (7-1) over Virginia 34-9, 13th-ranked Penn State (7-1) over Michigan 35-10, 14th-ranked Oklahoma State (6-1) over Baylor 34-7, and 25th-ranked Oklahoma (4-3) over 24th-ranked Kansas 35-13 (this was not an upset as the Sooners were favored by 8 an won by 22).

Three other away game victories by ranked teams were less dominating.

No. 2-ranked Florida (7-0) led Mississippi State 16-13 after 3 quarters and then outscored the Bulldogs 13-6 in the final quarter to win 29-19. The victory was Florida's 17th straight, the nation's longest winning streak. Gator Tim Tebow threw two interceptions for touchdowns; Mississippi State's Johnthan Banks ran one back for 100 yards and another for 20 yards.

No. 7-ranked Iowa (8-0) used a last play 7-yard TD pass by Ricky Stanzi to Marvin McNutt to come-from-behind against Michigan State 15-13. The Spartans had successfully defended 3 downs and led 13-9 before the last play. Iowa has now won 12 straight dating back to last season, the second-longest streak in the nation.

The Hawkeyes are becoming a bigger deal nationally because they have won more close games than a pack of termites at a timber feast. Seven of their 8 victories have been by 11 or fewer points, including 1, 2 and 3-point victories over Northern Iowa, Michigan and Arkansas. Last year Iowa lost 4 games by a combined total of 12 points. The Hawkeye defense has 15 interceptions this year and 9 fumble recoveries.

No. 14-ranked Oregon (6-1) got a lot of help from Washington in its 43-19 victory, which might have appeared more dominate than it actually was. The Huskies managed to let a rusher go untouched on a punt attempt that was blocked and resulted in a loose ball in the end zone that Oregon recovered for a TD. While Washington was rushing to get into position for the extra point, the holder ran it in for a 2-point conversion.

Another Husky drive that should have been a touchdown became a field goal, and another Husky drive ended at 2nd-and-goal and Washington could not get it in as Jake Locker threw an interception on 4th down and the Huskies came away with nothing. Oregon would rush for 259 yards and Washington could not stop them.

Here are the 5 of 12 teams that put on their muscle shirts looking for more BCS poll support by dominating their opponents in home games:

No. 5-ranked Cincinnati (7-0) over Louisville 41-10, 9th-ranked Louisiana State (6-1) over Auburn 31-10, 17th-ranked Houston (6-1) over Southern Methodist 38-15 (Houston led 31-3 after 3 quarters), 18th-ranked Ohio State (6-2) over Minnesota 38-7, and 20th-ranked Pittsburgh (7-1) over South Florida 41-14.

Five other home game victories by ranked teams were less dominating.

Least impressive was 1st-ranked Alabama's block of a 44-yard field goal on the last play of the game by the Tide's 350-pound nose guard Terrence Cody to preserve a 12-10 lead and victory over the unranked 3-4 Tennessee Volunteers. The blocked field goal by Cody, now dubbed "Mount Cody", was his second of the game. The Crimson Tide (now 8-0) came into the game ranked No. 1 in total defense; Alabama's offense, which averaged 34 points a game coming in, got all of its points on 4 field goals by Leigh Tiffin, including a 49-yarder and a 50-yarder.

No. 4-ranked Southern California was lucky to get by the unranked 4-3 Oregon State Beavers. A 63-yard punt return by Damian Williams in the 4th quarter and a late drive that bailed out the USC defense saved the day as the Trojans outlasted the Beavers, 42-36. Southern Cal was ranked 9th in the nation in total defense, but its scoring defense was ranked 41st (the Trojans were giving up 30 points a game). Now you know why USC is beyond lucky to be ranked No. 4 in the country. Think about it, the Trojans gave up 36 points to a 4-3 Oregon State team. The Beavers were the only team to beat USC last year, and they did it at home 27-21.

No. 19-ranked Utah (6-1) went lame in a 23-16 victory over a 4-4 Air Force team. This is not the same Utah team that went 13-0 last year as the only undefeated team in the nation, and then took down Alabama 31-17 in the BCS Sugar Bowl. Utah still must face major opponents in Texas Christian (7-0) and Brigham Young (6-2).

No. 22-ranked West Virginia (6-1) needed a 56-yard touchdown run by Noel Devine in the closing minutes to get by Connecticut, 28-24, and 23rd-ranked South Carolina (6-2) keep a weak 2-6 Vanderbilt team at bay long enough to win 14-10. The 15th-ranked Virginia Tech Hokies were idle this week.

Here are two unranked teams still on the move and hoping to get ranked. Central Michigan (now 7-1 and getting more impressive every week) beat Bowling Green 24-10, and Navy (6-2) beat Wake Forest 13-10.

Nebraska, which I publicly identified as a fraud in last week's wrap-up, lost again, this time to Iowa State 9-7 in what sounded like a scrum match. The Idaho Vandals, who had been flying high at 6-1, got crushed by a 4-3 Nevada team, 70-45. Ouch, that was some crash landing; nonetheless, the Vandals are still 6-2 and bowl eligible.

Tell Rudy to crank up that typesetting machine, this wrap-up is finished (just for the record, you have to be at least 65 years old to use the noun typesetting in an article like this; we do it primarily to confuse younger people between downing shots of Jameson).

(Editor's Note: The rankings in this article are from the AP Top 25 Poll of sportswriters and sportscasters, and any ratings are from Jeff Sagarin.)