Although this past weekend only saw two Top 25 upsets in college football, there were many tight games that came down to the wire.
Big Game breakdown: Considered by many to be the marquee match-up of the weekend, the number 11 Michigan Wolverines traveled to Indiana to take on the number 12 Purdue Boilermakers in a key Big 10 showdown. Heisman hopeful, QB Kyle Orton, led Purdue in coming off a rough loss last weekend against the Wisconsin Badgers, and were seeking revenge against the perennial powerhouse Wolverines.
With 2:45 left in the game and Michigan trailing 14-13, Wolverine kicker Garrett Rivas nailed a 35-yard field goal to put the Wolverines up 16-14. Orton showed resilience though, as he marched the Boilermakers into Michigan territory as the clock wound down.
However, after Orton completed a pass to wide receiver Dorien Bryant, Michigan's defense ended the game. Michigan defensive backs Markus Curry and Ernest Shazor combined for a rough hit on Bryant that forced a fumble. Michigan's Leon Hall recovered the ball. After the play was reviewed by replay officials, the call on the field stood and the Wolverines had sealed a victory, 16-14, keeping them tied for the Big 10 conference lead with Wisconsin.
Another great game this weekend was between SEC rivals Mississippi State and the number 19 Florida Gators. Coming into the game as 24.5 point underdogs and having lost to D-1AA team Maine a few weeks ago, Mississippi State looked as though it didn't have a chance. But Mississippi State didn't give Florida the lead during the entire game and prevailed over the Gators, 38-31.
With the game knotted at 31 apiece and only 32 seconds remaining, MSU running back Jerius Norwood ran 37 yards to break the tie and give the Bulldogs a 38-31 lead that would stand for the rest of the contest.
Elsewhere across the country, number one USC mutilated Washington, 38-0, while number 2 Oklahoma destroyed Kansas, 41-10. The third-ranked Miami Hurricanes posted a solid win over N.C. State by a count of 45-31 and the number 4 Auburn Tigers remained undefeated, routing Kentucky, 42-10.
The fifth-ranked Florida State Seminoles squeaked past Wake Forest, 20-17, while number nine Texas defeated one of the nation's best offenses in 24th-ranked Texas Tech, 51-21. The BCS no-name team, number 17 Boise State, defeated Fresno State, 33-16, while potentially soon-to-be-ranked Boston College defeated number 25 Notre Dame, 24-23.
With only a few weeks left in the season, the top five in the BCS standings are USC, Oklahoma, Miami, Auburn and Florida State.
This is not baseball: Two of the most historically solid college football programs went head to head this weekend: Iowa and Penn State. But the final score did not reflect the capabilities of either of these schools. Iowa held Penn State's offense scoreless on Saturday, and Penn State only allowed two Iowa field goals in the first half.
The final score? 6-4, Iowa. More runs were scored in Game 1 of the World Series. You might be asking yourself: How is it possible to score four points in a football game? There's only one answer: Two safeties. We won't see this again for a long time.
Players of the week: This week, the offensive ball goes to Texas Longhorns quarterback Vince Young. After suffering a nail-biting defeat to Oklahoma only a couple of weeks ago, Young tore apart the Texas Tech Red Raider defense, completing 10 of 15 passes for 142 yards and a TD, as well as rushing for 158 yards on 25 carries and four touchdowns.
On the other side of the football, the defensive ball of the week goes to the Iowa Hawkeye defense. Holding the Penn State offense to zero points and just 147 total offensive yards, in addition to picking off the Penn State quarterbacks a total of four times, the Hawkeyes squeaked out a 6-4 victory in Penn State's Beaver Stadium.
Iowa and Penn. State play to strange 6-4 outcome.
