UTEP led Tulsa by 14 points in the 3Q but has been horrible in the 4Q and allowed Tulsa to not only come back and beat them, but beat them by 10 points, 30-20...

Virginia Tech was off 2 losses and took on #10 ranked Clemson and amazingly was a home dog in a Thursday Night game. VT held CU to 166 total yards offense while rolling up 224 yds rushing in their 24-7 win...

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The punting game crushed Kent St. They had a -1 yd punt set up a 1 play, 18 yd TD run for OU and then a fmbl'd punt snap set up OU for a 17 yd, 4 play drive for a TD. OU added a 30 yd FG before the half before blk'ing a punt and Kent was SOD at the OU 14, missed a 35 yd FG and dropped a TD pass with 2:33 left and suffered their first MAC loss...

E Carolina had 20-9 FD and 299-180 yd edges but needed a TD with :03 left in the game to force OT. After S Miss got a 14 point swing on an 87 yd IR, EC then won the game in OT when SM was int'd in the EZ...

In the 3Q Miami, Fl went on a 65 yd, 9 play drive but a FD pass to the 11 was fmbl'd and GT rec'd. On their next poss, UM went on a 54 yd, 13 play drive but settled for a 25 yd FG and despite dominating play in the 3Q and finishing with a 317-282 yd edge, UM lost by 7...

Kansas went to true frosh QB Todd Reesing. After 86 yds offense in the 1H vs Colorado the 5'11" QB hit 7 of 11 for 106 yds and rushed for 90 with 2 TD passes in the 2H guiding the comeback win. CU 2nd string QB James Cox broke his right thumb in the 2Q and the backup QB the rest of the game was TE Patrick Devenny...

For the 7th time this year a IAA team knocked off a IA team. San Diego St led Cal Poly 14-3 after 1Q but Cal Poly got a 37 yd FG with 1:50 left for the lead and SDSt missed a 48 yd FG with :32 left and came up short, 16-14...

ULM's "home game" vs Arkansas drew 55,420 but was played in Little Rock, which is Arkansas' other home stadium and the crowd was almost completely for the Hogs. ULM played a decent game and actually led 7-0 early, but could not overcome 6 TO's and Arkansas even used RB Darren McFadden at QB numerous times during the game...

Washington St dominated the 2H vs UCLA and finished with a 515-396 yd edge in the Rose Bowl. UCLA did not get a FD for the first 20:00 of the 2H...

Wyoming came in with the NCAA's top ranked pass D but TCU's Ballard threw for 244 yds as the Frogs won easily, 26-3. The Frogs finished with a 432-165 yd edge...

Colorado St led New Mexico 19-10 after 3Q's and missed a crucial 42 yd FG with 9:02 left and for the 3rd straight week New Mexico rallied for the win, this time getting the FG on the final play of the game to pull out a 20 19 win...

San Jose St had a 644-222 yd edge in their 44-10 route of Louisiana Tech...

Florida Atlantic had a much maligned D after allowing 54 points to Clemson, 45 to Kansas St, 48 to Oklahoma St and 45 to S Carolina as they opened the season with 5 road games. Their small, speedy D has allowed just 32 points the last 4 games and shutout Arkansas St holding them to 104 total yards offense...

Ball St got a 1 yd TD pass with 1:11 left to knock off Miami Oh, 20-17. Miami had 20 14 FD and 359-226 yd edges...

Temple snapped a 20 game losing streak and Travis Shelton continues to star. He had a 43 yd pass for a TD and a 96 yd KR for a TD early 4Q which iced it 28 14. Bowling Green did have 27-12 FD and 407-256 yd edges as Temple got revenge for their 70-7 loss in 2005...

Chris Nickson became the first Vandy QB to rush for more than 100 yards since Jay Cutler did it in 2003. He rushed for 150 and threw for 250 and we won an easy 4H Totals Play on Over 38' in the Vanderbilt/Duke game with VU winning 45-28 (73 pts!)...

How's this for domination? Boston College rested their starting QB, played Buffalo in a downpour with gusty winds and still managed to cover 41-0 on a 5 yd TD run with 5:37 left. They had over 25,000 no-shows of the 40,000 tix sold and the artificial turf was covered in puddles. BC had a 20-6 FD edge and 349-92 yd edge...

Air Force came in avg 355 ypg but BYU's defense, which gets little notice compared to their high flying offense, held AF to just 229 yds, 80 of which came on the final drive where AF got a garbage TD with :27 left in BYU's dominating 33-14 win. AF was shutout in the 1H for the 2nd straight week, the first time that happened in Fisher DeBerry's 23 years at the Academy...

USC had 23-16 FD and 492-351 yd edges but could not overcome 4 TO's. John David Booty hit 24 of 39 for 406 but one key play early saw him int'd in the EZ and ret'd deep into USC territory which set up a FG. USC could have tied the game with :07 left but their 2 pt conversion fell incomplete...

Notre Dame extended the NCAA's longest consecutive win streak over one team by grabbing their 43rd straight win over Navy. Navy was starting backup QB Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada and rushed for 271 yds but ND piled up 471 yds in their 38-14 win...

Northwestern turned it over 5 times vs Michigan but still managed a cover, 17-3. Part of the reason was the weather and UM QB Henne said "It was more of a swirl down there. There were times on some screen passes when I felt like I was throwing a balloon."...

James Hardy hauled in a school record 4 TD passes for Indiana and Kellen Lewis threw for 5 in their 46-21 rout over Michigan St who was 1 week removed from the biggest comeback in IA history. Indy led 30-7 at the half but there was no Spartan comeback as Indy would score sixteen 3Q points for a 46-7 lead. Indy needs just 1 win to become bowl eligible for the first time since 1993 and ironically this season dropped home games to both S Illinois and Connecticut without HC Hoeppner or they would already have 7 wins...

Florida State had a 458-223 yd edge vs Maryland but settled for a 24 yd FG and then had a game tying 46 yd FG blocked with :42 left. MD did lead 20-7 in the 2Q...

Tulane's QB Lester Ricard, who lost his job last year and almost lost it again this season, carved up Army for 409 yds passing and TUL had a 35-16 FD edge in a 42-28 win.

CIRCLED GAMES 

Revenge is many times overrated as we read in other newsletters about team's having 10 or 11 revenge games which is ridiculous. Ohio St's D had legitimate revenge vs Minnesota even though the Buckeyes won last year's game. In 2005 UM piled up 578 yds vs a proud OSU D, that had 6 starters drafted in the first 4 rounds of the NFL draft, the 2nd most in 117 years of ball. They were determined not to have a repeat performance and allowed UM just 148 yds until their final drive where they gained 34 yds running out the final 2:56 trailing 44-0.

INJURIES OF NOTE 

New Mexico St lost QB Chase Holbrook to an injury early 3Q. Alex Gibson hit just 10 of 19 for 61 yds and 2 int's in his place...

Marshall QB Bernard Morris was questionable for the Memphis game and while he did start, he was inj'd again on the final play of the 1Q and did not return. Jimmy Skinner hit 13 of 21 for 184 yards...

EM QB Andy Schmitt was hurt on the 2nd play of the 4Q. Tyler Jones, who had alternated at QB with him all year was sacked 4 times and int'd once and WM outscored EM 15-6 in the 4Q in the 18-15 win...

Northwestern QB CJ Bacher led the Cats offensive resurgence in the last 2 games and 2 covers but was inj'd with 3:00 left vs Michigan and Andrew Brewer came in and his pass was int'd...

Washington lost starting QB Carl Bonnell to injury in the 3Q. John DuRocher hit 4 of 8 for 40 yds and led a TD drive. Bonnell has shoulder and neck inj's but Willingham says he should be able to play this week. Arizona St won by 3 in OT.

BIG BLOWN LEADS

Iowa rested QB Drew Tate and rFr Jake Christensen threw for 256 yards. Iowa dominated the 1H but only led 17-0. They survived a scare as NI got 2 TD's early 4Q and trailed just 17-14 before Iowa got a TD with 3:56 left to ice it. Iowa had a 271-43 yd edge at the half...

Texas Tech led #5 ranked Texas 21-0 after the 1Q and at the half with 374 yds but were held to zero points and 154 yards in the 2H as Texas rallied for a 35-31 win...

Illinois appeared on their way to a rout over Wisconsin leading 21-3 in the 2Q, but the Badgers rallied back to a 24-10 halftime deficit and 24-20 after 3Q's and ended up winning despite playing most of the 2H without their star RB PJ Hill, who suffered a neck injury. UW only had a 316-302 yd edge in their 30-24 comeback win.

MISLEADING FINALS, FRONTDOOR AND BACKDOOR COVERS

It is very rare when a team laying 34 points covers the game with just 224 yards of offense but Alabama did just that with a frontdoor cover. Bama's scoring "drives" were 33 yards (after a blk'd punt), 16 yds for a FG, a 65 yd PR TD and a 7 yd drive for a TD after a fmbl and they led 24-3 after 3Q's. They added a 34 yd IR for a TD with 10:18 left but still were not ahead of the spread, 31-3. Their final drive for the frontdoor cover had conversions on 4th & 7, 3rd & 5 and the TD came on 3rd & goal from the 6 with 3:06 left...

UCF had a 318-198 yd edge at the half vs Houston but lost thanks mostly to a 4-1 TO deficit. UCF led at the half and it was 31-31 in the 4Q. UH got the frontdoor cover by getting a couple of TD's for a 45-31 lead but UCF was driving and got a FD pass to the UH 33 but was stripped and ret'd 63 yds to the 4 with 1:53 left. Instead of a 7 point game, UH punched in a TD on the next play for the frontdoor cover, 51-31...

Iowa State had a 21-15 FD edge and 384-317 yd edge vs Kansas St, but the Cyclones fmbl'd a punt at their own 15 setting up a K-St TD and at the end of the half, had a FD pass to the K-St 3 but fmbl'd and did not score. ISU missed a 48 yd FG after a 13 play drive in the 3Q and then after K-St took a 14 pt lead on a TD with 4:06 left, gave up a 30 yd IR TD 3 plays later and lost by 21...

N Carolina had a 370-289 yd edge and led the game 17-14 after 3Q's. WF got a blocked punt for a TD for their first score and NC was int'd at the WF 26 in the final 1:00 of the 1H. Trailing by 7, NC had a 1st & goal at the 2 in the last minute but their pass into the EZ on 3rd down was int'd and WF won by 7...

Texas A&M did have a 23-20 FD edge vs Baylor and in the 4Q had 1st & goal twice but settled for a pair of FG's and even had one blk'd but their 22 yd FG with 6:32 left gave them the lead, 24-21. BU punted 51 yds for a TB with 4:14 left. A&M got 1 FD as Baylor used their final 2 time-outs. On 3rd & 4 with BU having a stacked line, Goodson not only broke thru for the FD but with no safeties back, went the distance and A&M got the frontdoor cover with 2:15 left on a 64 yd TD run. Baylor QB Bell did injure his knee and missed Baylor's final series and backup QB Szymanski threw an int at the A&M 28 with :47 left.