In the 1H Miami had a 177-81 yd edge vs Boston College but actually trailed 14-3 at one point as they were SOD at the BC 12, had a FG bounce off the upright & BC got a 22 yd IR TD. After Miami defeated BC, they grabbed a banner that was hanging for DL Bryan Pata who was killed 2 weeks prior & knelt around midfield in prayer...

Texas came in with the NCAA’s #1 rush defense but A&M powered to 244 yds rushing. Their first TD drive of 92 yds, 9 plays had all of the yds gained on the ground. After A&M fmbl’d on their own 45 in the 3Q, UT got a TD 3 plays later to lead 7-6 but the Aggies took over with 11:28 left & gained 72 of their 88 yds on a 16 play drive on the ground getting a TD with 2:32 left for the win...

Tulsa did only lead Tulane 17-0 at the half but had a 209-68 yd edge. Tulane went on a 69 yd, 18 play drive to open the 3Q but settled for a FG & Tulsa scored TD’s on their next 3 poss to win going away 38-3 as they had a 458-152 yd edge...

Kentucky allowed ULM 501 yds but Tennessee managed just 336 vs them & barely escaped with a 17-12 win. UK was SOD on 4th & goal at the UT 6 with 3:04 left & UT was able to run out the clock & escape...

The first 10 poss of the Virginia/Virginia Tech game did not have more than 1 FD but VT rec’d a fmbl at the UVA 12 with 2:27 left in the half & got a TD with :39 left to lead 7-0 with only an 85-52 yd edge. VT dominated the 3Q with a 160-12 yd edge going 74 yds for a 23 yd FG & 91 yds for a TD. They gave UVA a chance at ending the shutout when Pace missed a FG, ending an ACC record streak of 22 straight FG’s made but the 47 yarder would have been a career long...

Rutgers got their 10th win of the season & kept alive their bid for a BCS bowl berth with a 38-7 thrashing of Syracuse. They are 1 win behind the school mark of 11 wins in a season set by an undefeated team in 1976. Coincidentally, that team was honored at halftime. RU led 21-0 at the half & surprisingly up 31-7 with a 2nd & goal at the 2, opted for a run by Brian Leonard for a TD with just :08 left on the clock when they could have taken a knee...

Jon Cornish set a Kansas school record with 1,457 yds for the season but Missouri dominated them with 27-14 FD & 493?322 yd edges. KU pulled within 20-17 in the 3Q before Mizz scored the game’s final 22 points...

UAB was forced to give 3rd string QB Joseph Webb his first start & he played a decent game hitting 25 of 39 for 289 yds. A banged up UAB team still got a TD with 6:27 left & appeared to tie it with a 2 pt conversion but an illegal motion penalty forced a retry & their 2 point pass failed. UCF got the cover by driving 80 yds in 6 plays. QB Israel’s 4 yd TD run with 2:43 left put them ahead 31-22. UAB had a shot at the backdoor & had a 1st & goal at the 5 but 2 straight sacks forced a 4th & goal at the 20 & Webb’s pass fell incomplete...

New Mexico took advantage of San Diego St int’s early with scoring drives of 18, 26 & 28 & then a 24 yd IR TD to lead 24-0 after 1Q. SDSt finished the game with a 431-301 yd edge but gained 204 yds on their final 3 drives after trailing 41-0. Rodney Ferguson rushed for a career high 210 yds for New Mexico. NM, which needed a win to wrap up a bowl only drew 23,421, their lowest attendance for a home game since 2000...Boise St was trying to lock up a BCS bid & simply dominated Nevada with amazing 25-4 FD & 477?141 yd edges. They snapped a streak of 12 straight home wins for Nevada. Ian Johnson wore a flack jacket but still rushed 31 times for 147 yds & about 4,000 Boise fans were on hand as they wrapped up the Fiesta Bowl bid in a dominating 38-7 win. UN’s only TD came on a 45 yd IR TD...

Arkansas QB Casey Dick hit just 3 of 17 passes for 29 yds. There were actually 3 TD’s in a span of :45 in the game. LSU had a 9 yd drive for a TD after an int. Ark got an 80 yd McFadden TD run, which was foll’d by a 92 yd KR TD by Holliday. The Hogs’ final chance ended on 4th & 10 at their own 28...Miss St had a 314?200 yd edge vs Mississippi but missed a 51 yd FG on the game’s final play. A couple of other key plays happened when Ole Miss got a 47 yd PR TD by Green with 3:29 left for a 20-10 lead. Ole Miss RB Green-Ellis, who needed 1 yd to reach 1,000 yards for the season, was stuffed on 4th & inches at his own 49 with :42 left but MSU missed the FG 5 plays later...

W Virginia’s offense had been called unstoppable but USF held them to 132 yds rushing & just 310 yds total offense. USF Coach Jim Leavitt called it the biggest win in school history (11 years). Steve Slaton had just 43 yds rushing on 18 attempts. USF had a 383-310 yd edge...

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Only 9,655 were on hand for the “Shula Bowl” between Florida Atlantic & Florida Int’l. The Owls won handily, 31-0 in the annual game played in Dolphin Stadium...Idaho led San Jose St 10-7 at the half. Trailing 14-10, they had a 1st & goal at the 9 but settled for a 24 yd FG. Two plays keyed SJSt’s cover. They punted from their own 46 & got off a 53 yd punt to the 1 & 2 plays later got an int at the 8 which set up the TD that got them ahead of the spread with 10:16 to go. SJSt tacked on a late TD with 2:24 left...

Louisville trailed Pitt 14-7 but went on a 34?3 run to win going away 48-24. If Louisville defeats Connecticut & W Virginia defeats Rutgers, UL will represent the Big East in a BCS bowl. Pitt wore all gold uniforms, but after opening up the season 6-1, lost their final 5. They are bowl eligible, but are not likely to be headed to the post season...

Florida won consecutive games at Tallahassee for the first time since 1986 & won 3 in a row vs their rival for the first time since the same year. UF once again won unimpressively although they did have 16?11 FD & 393?235 yd edges, they needed a 25 yd TD pass in the 4Q to break a 14-14 tie. UF did have a shot at the cover at the end after FSU was SOD on 4th & 4 at its own 8 with :52 left but they opted to take a knee...

Brandon Tate became the third player in N Carolina history to score PR & KR TD’s in the same game as UNC sent John Bunting out a winner in his final game. UNC led 45-31 but gave up a TD with 4:25 left & then on 3rd & 8 Dailey was int’d & ret’d for a TD with 2:49 left but blk’d the all important xp to remain up by 1 & then got a FD on 3rd & 4 & was able to run out the clock...

Rocky Hinds finally lived up to his advanced billing by throwing for a career high 351 yds vs Air Force. UNLV scored on 4 of their first 5 poss & led 26-24 at the half. They increased it to 42-31 when AF got a TD & 2 pt conversion with 2:26 left but UNLV rec’d the onside kick leading by 3 & got 1 FD to run out the clock...

Oregon St’s Alexis Serna hit a 40 yd FG in the pouring rain to give Oregon St a 30-28 lead with 1:12 left & UO drove down for a 44 yd FG but 2nd string K Evensen missed it wide left on a kick that was partially blk’d. QB Brady Leaf played the entire game for Oregon due to a coaches decision...

Zac Taylor broke his own school record (2,653) for passing yards in a season & is now at 2,789 with 2 games left, which of course is not hard to do at a traditional option school like Nebraska. Trick plays were the key for NU as they called four of them, usually resulting in success. The game was actually tied at 14 in the 3Q but a punt which pinned CU at the 1, resulted in a safety on the next play which helped get NU ahead of the spread, 30-14. After CU was SOD at the NU 40 with 4:25 left, the Huskers added a 60 yd, 9 play drive for a TD with just :23 left to win 37?14 in a game that was much closer than the final...

S Carolina had 28-15 FD & 492-372 yd edges vs Clemson but needed a 35 yd FG mid-4Q for a 31-28 win. They also needed a 3rd & 9 10 yd sack which forced a 39 yd FG that Clemson missed with :13 left...The matchup everyone anticipated (just kidding) for the ACC Atlantic Title between Maryland & Wake Forest happened this past weekend. Wake continued their perfect streak as the underdog in their games this year as they were a 1.5 point dog & won outright 38-24 on the road. It was WF’s first win vs the Terps in 8 tries since 1998 & their 6th road win of the season for the first time in ACC history...

Chuck Amato’s NCSt Wolfpack lost their 7th consecutive game after opening up 3-2 with their upset win over Florida St on Friday night which put them 2-0 in the ACC. They finished instead in the cellar in what will likely be Amato’s last game coaching for NCSt...

BYU got a TD pass on the last play of the game to pull out a 33-31 win over Utah. Utah had a 474-354 yd edge including a 19 yd TD pass with 1:19 left for the 4 point lead when BYU went 75 yds in 10 plays for the TD...

Georgia Tech’s game vs Georgia was insignificant except for the fact that it’s a rivalry. Basically GT’s chances of getting to a BCS bowl relied on them winning next week’s ACC Title game. As it was, they still played an excellent game & UGA needed a TD with 1:45 left to get the 15-12 lead. UGA also had 29 yd fmbl return for a TD in the 3Q & GT has not beaten its state rival since Mark Richt took over as UGA’s HC in 2001 with Reggie Ball going 0-4 SU...

Notre Dame got a TD with 3:39 left to pull within 13 & still had a shot at the backdoor cover. USC’s Cushing not only rec’d the onside kick but ret’d it 42 yds for a TD & USC rolled 44-24...

Hawaii led Purdue 17-0 at the half but 3 UH TO’s turned into 3 Purdue TD’s & they actually trailed 35-27 in the 4Q before rallying for the win.

MISLEADING FINALS, FRONTDOOR & BACKDOOR COVERS

Middle Tennessee led Troy 20-7 & was trying to run the clock when they punted with 3:33 left. Troy went 47 yds in 4 plays & got a 19 yd TD pass with 2:19 left for the backdoor cover. Not only did they get the backdoor cover, they rec’d the onside kick & went 42 yds in 8 plays. They converted on 4th & 17 with a 19 yd pass to the 3 with :19 left & then got a 3 yd TD pass to give them control of the SBC needing just a win over Florida Int’l next week to make it to a bowl.

GAME CHANGING PLAYS -

TCU topped 600 yds offense for a second consecutive week as they rolled up 606 vs CSU & never punted. Ironically they trailed 7-3 after 1Q as they settled for a FG & fmbl’d on their first 2 drives. The turning point of the game was when they lined up for a 30 yd FG on the last play of the 1Q on 4th & 4. CSU jumped offsides & TCU got a FD. Ballard would get a 7 yd TD run on the next play & instead of trailing 7-6 they led 10-7 & TCU would go 71, 78 & 91 yds on their next 3 poss to lead 31-7 at the half...

Oklahoma led Oklahoma St 27-14 & OSU faced a 4th & goal at the 1 early 4Q. Backup QB Robinson leaped for the EZ & fmbl’d & OSU had a shot at rec’ing for the TD but OU fell on it for the TB. OSU later drove 60 yds in 10 plays for a TD with 6:51 left & ended the game at the OU 25 with a 4th & 10 pass that was not even close on the last play as the Sooners held on for a 27-21 win...

Connecticut led Cincy almost from start to finish but after scoring a TD on a 45 yd pass with just 8:14 left, they missed the crucial xp. Cincy got a TD with 2:19 left & the xp tied it. Connecticut ret’d the KO back to the 40 but punted with 1:01 left in the game & Cincy got a 50 yd pass to Stewart to the 22 on the first play & got a 29 yd FG with :10 left to pull out the 26-23 win.

INJURIES OF NOTE

Chase Holbrook DNP the 2H due to blurred vision but led New Mexico St to 28 points in the 1Q vs Utah St & they coasted to the 42-20 win. Backup QB Alex Gibson hit 6 of 9 for 44 yds in the 2H & after having 348 yds in the 1H & leading 35-12, NMSt had just 143 yds in the 2H...

Florida’s electric frosh Percy Harvin & RB DeShawn Wynn were both inj’d in the win over Florida St...

Willie Tuitama suffered a late hit in the 2Q which did give Arizona a FD but Tuitama was inj’d & lost for the rest of the game & ASU would roll to a 28-14 win. Adam Austin, in his place, hit just 11 of 30 passes for 99 yds with 2 int’s.

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME LOOKAHEAD

Many times a team with a title game on deck looks ahead in the final weeks. Some teams did, some did not this past week. Ohio U had a 304-128 rushing edge vs Miami Oh & a 437-308 yd edge. They overcame being int’d at their own 26, fumbling the ball out of the EZ for a TB at the end of what appeared to be a 47 yd TD run & a bad snap on a punt which led to a Miami 9 yd TD drive & still won handily 34-24...

CM had the MAC Title game on deck but ret’d the opening KO 79 yds for a TD & then blk’d a punt which set up a 23 yard TD drive to lead quickly, 14-0. Buffalo drove 75 yds in 10 plays for a TD & had an 81?23 yd edge but trailed 14-7 & CM then took control scoring TD’s on their next 5 poss on drives of 65, 74, 72, 61 & 18 (after fmbl) to lead 48?7 at the half & coasted. BUF did lose starting QB Paoli in the 2Q & he was already filling in for the inj’d Willie so 3rd stringer Stewart Sampsel QB’d the 2H for the Bulls.