We're more than halfway through the college football season andthe game just keeps on giving. This weekend we saw six of the toptwenty-five falter, with three of these six teams removingthemselves from the ranks of the undefeated.
BIG GAMES BREAKDOWN: There were two great nail-biters thisweekend. The first came on Thursday evening when the number threeMiami Hurricanes hosted the number 17 Louisville Cardinals. Whilethe Hurricanes were looking to assert their superiority early inthe game, the Cardinals had other plans. The Cardinal offense ranon all cylinders in the first half, with QB Stefan LeFors throwingfor two TDs and RB Lionel Gates running for one. At halftime,Louisville walked into the locker room with a comfortable 17-7lead.
Early in the second half, Louisville continued to dominate,building a lead at one point of 31-14. But the Hurricanesresponded, showing why they are the number three team in thenation. Miami QB Brock Berlin, the University of Florida transfer,stepped it up, throwing a quick TD in the end of the third quarterto cut the Louisville advantage to 31-21. Two early FGs in thefourth quarter, combined with a 78-yard punt return TD by Miami'sDevin Hester, put the Canes up 34-31.
Louisville kept its cool, though, with Gates running for anotherTD, putting the Cardinals up 38-34 with less than five minutesremaining. Miami came back on the ensuing drive, however. Hester'skickoff return started the Hurricanes at their own 44 yard line.Louisville's Kerry Rhodes dropped a potential INT that would havesealed the game for the Cardinals.
Berlin pounced on this second chance, completing a criticalfourth and eight with less than two minutes in the game. The Canes'Frank Gore finished it off with a one-yard TD run with 53 secondsremaining, putting Miami up for good 41-38 and capping off whatMiami head coach Larry Coker dubbed "A tremendous win."
The fifth ranked Purdue Boilermakers and the number 12 WisconsinBadgers played in the weekend's other nail-biter. With less thanthree minutes to play and Purdue up 17-14, the Boilermakers' QB andHeisman Trophy candidate Kyle Orton took a bootleg and lunged for afirst down. Bad idea.
Wisconsin's Steve Starks hit Orton low and the Badgers' RobertBrooks hit him high, forcing a fumble. Starks then picked up theball and raced to the end zone, giving the Badgers the lead with2:36 to play.
"If the ball would've been bouncing around, I probably wouldhave just covered it," Starks said. "But it was just sittingthere."
Orton attempted to bring the Boilermakers back, driving his teamto the Badgers' 25 yard line. But Purdue kicker Ben Rogers' 42-yardfield goal attempt missed right and Wisconsin ran out the clock,winning the all-important conference game by the count of20-17.
Elsewhere across the country, number one USC knocked off number19 Arizona State, 45-7 and number two Oklahoma came from behindagainst Kansas State to win 31-21. Also, fourth-ranked Auburn beatup on Arkansas, winning 38-20 and seventh-ranked Florida Statepounded the number six Virginia Cavaliers, 36-3.
Unranked Texas A&M knocked off undefeated and 15th rankedOklahoma State by a count of 36-20, while unranked Michigan Statespanked number 20 Minnesota, 51-17. Finally, number 23 Ohio Statewas handed its third consecutive loss, as it succumbed to Iowa'sonslaught of offense, 33-7.
QUITE THE STREAK: Navy had hopes of being great this year.Entering Saturday's game against the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame,the Midshipmen were 5-0. But college football has never seen oneteam dominate another like Notre Dame owns Navy. With its 27-9victory on Saturday, the Fighting Irish have posted 41 consecutivevictories over Navy, the longest winning streak against oneopponent in NCAA history. The last time Navy beat Notre Dame was in1963, when famed QB Roger Staubach won the Heisman Trophy.
PLATINUM PLAYAS OF THE WEEK: The Florida State offense eruptedthis weekend, putting 36 points on the board against previouslyundefeated Virginia. "Inside College Football" gives two offensiveplatinum balls this week: One goes to FSU QB Wyatt "I'm not a hick"Sexton, who was 20 for 26, throwing for 275 yards and a TD, whilethe other goes to FSU RB Lorenzo Booker, as he compiled 123 yardsand two TDs, all on only 15 carries.
The defensive platinum ball has to go to Wisconsin's SteveStarks. Starks's game-winning TD put Wisconsin at 7-0, just thesecond time they have won seven consecutive games to begin a seasonsince 1912.
