KEEPING FAST COMPANY.
Oklahoma's
wunderkind running back, Adrian Peterson, gained 122 yards in OU's, 41-10, Big
12 subduing of Kansas. Peterson joined Emmitt Smith and Marshall Faulk as the
only runners in NCAA division 1-A history to gain at least 1,000 yards rushing
in their first seven games as a freshman. (Say, I wonder whatever became of
Smith and Faulk?)
Reigning Heisman Trophy winner, OU QB Jason White, had another spectacular day
throwing for 389 yards and 4 TDs--one to each of four players-- as seven OU
receivers caught at least two passes. The only surprise in this game was
Oklahoma's having been held scoreless in the opening quarter. The Sooners'
defense intercepted two KU passes and the Oklahoma offense roared to 507 yards
of production. Though the game was relatively close at halftime, 14-10, OU's 27,
second half points enabled it to roll to victory in easy fashion.
HURRICANE FORCE.
Miami's
offense, a secondary rather than primary player for coach Larry Coker's squad
through the first month of the season, has arrived in full force. Facing the
nation's top ranked defense in North Carolina State--a unit which had been
yielding a miserly 203 yards a game--QB Brock Berlin threw a school record tying
five TD passes and directed Miami to over 400 yards of offense. He may have
flaws, but Berlin's record as the starter for Miami is now 17-2.
The 'Canes trailed twice in the game, each time by three points, before rallying
to down the Wolf Pack, 45-31. Miami may need to tighten the screws on its
defense a bit as it has now allowed 947 yards and 69 points in its last two
games, a pair of high scoring affairs against N.C. State and Louisville.
WASTING NO TIME. The Utah Utes
returned
the game's opening kickoff 90 yards for a TD on a bit of razzle-dazzle and
motored to a, 21-0, lead over UNLV before barely ten minutes of play had
elapsed. Utah buried the Rebels, 63-28, in what was a clear an attempt by coach
Urban Meyer's team to prove its worthiness of a bid to a BCS aligned bowl in
January.
Junior QB Alex Smith made judicious use of his receivers in completing 11
passes, but three of them went for scores. He also led his team in rushing with
77 yards, highlighted by a 70 yard trek to give Utah its final TD of the opening
quarter.
Utah's defense allowed 422 yards to UNLV--much of it after the game's outcome
had become a foregone conclusion--and had no success in containing Dominique Dorsey as he scampered for 179 yards and a pair of TDs against the Mountain West
Conference's first place team. Utah raised its record under Meyer to an
impressive 19-2 and ran its active win streak to 11 games. The loss was UNLV's
ninth in a row to Utah and the 35 point margin surpassed the 23 point average
deficit of the previous eight drubbings.
BEWARE OF THE DAWG.
The
tenth ranked Georgia Bulldogs began a four game road trip in successful style
with their,
20-14,
win against Arkansas. The Dawgs won for the sixth time in seven tries versus the
Razorbacks.
QB David Greene completed 22 of 29 passes for 382 yards and a pair of TDs. Fred Gibson and Reggie Brown each pulled in passes for more than 100 yards in
receptions and RB Thomas Brown chipped in 107 yards on the ground to lead the
balanced Georgia attack. Ten second half points, coupled with a simultaneous
shut out from their defense, were enough to enable the visitors to erase a,
14-10, halftime deficit. Georgia won't play in Athens until a regular season
ending meeting with rival Georgia Tech on November 27th.
Next up for the Dawgs is their annual trip to the World's Biggest Cocktail Party
in Jacksonville and a game with the Florida Gators and embattled coach Ron Zook.
AND NOW THIS.
A
week after being badgered at home by Wisconsin, the Purdue Boilermakers suffered
a Hart attack. Michigan's stellar freshman RB, Mike Hart, decimated
Purdue
for 203 yards on 33 carries and classmate QB Chad Henne completed 22 of 39
attempts for 190 yards and 1 TD to lead the Wolverines to a, 16-14, victory in
West Lafayette.
A contest which might have featured two of the best WRs in the
country--Michigan's Braylon Edwards and Purdue's Taylor Stubblefield--never
materialized as the pair caught a meager total of 6 passes for an uncustomarily
low 35 yards and no scores.
PK Garrett Rivas booted a 35 yard field goal with less than three minutes to
play and the Maize and Blue defense forced and recovered a fumble on Purdue's
ensuing possession to clinch the game. Michigan, now 7-1 and deadlocked with
Wisconsin at 5-0 atop the Big Ten standings, faces instate rival Michigan State
in Ann Arbor next weekend.
INDEFENSIBLE POSITION?
Boise State extended its nation's best active win streak to 18 games with a, 33-16,
downing of Fresno State in Western Athletic Conference play on Saturday night.
A Broncos' defense which entered the game having aided and abetted opposing
teams by allowing an average of 31 points game in its past five contests,
limited Fresno State to 17 yards rushing on a similar number of attempts. The
Bulldogs managed a scant 191 yards of offense and the Broncos stampeded to a,
23-3, lead early in the third quarter.
Lee Marks led the BSU ground game with 112 yards and QB Jared Zabransky threw
for 227 yards and 1 TD as Boise State raised its record to 7-0 for the season.
SOUNDS LIKE A BROKEN RECORD.
Well,
maybe not just yet, but Arizona State QB Andrew Walter will be breaking some
records soon enough. His 6 TD passes against UCLA fell one shy of Mike Pagel's
Sun Devils' record, but enabled Walter to move within 1 TD pass of tying John
Elway's career mark (77) in the PAC 10.
ASU downed UCLA, 48-42, in a game which saw the teams combine for 1,071 yards of
offense, with 740 of that total coming through the air. Walter and the Bruins'
Drew Olson tossed 8 TD passes and 7 interceptions in a contest that was
highlighted by 95 pass attempts. WRs Terry Richardson and Derek Hagan caught 12
passes for 319 yards and 4 TDs for ASU.
GOT THEIR NUMBER.
The
Boston College Eagles used a last minute of the game TD connection from QB Paul Peterson to Tony Gonzalez and a successful PAT by PK Ryan Ohliger to topple the
Fighting Irish, 24-23, as the visitors posted their fourth straight win over
Notre Dame.
With neither team able to sustain any productivity on the ground, Peterson and
his counterpart, Brady Quinn, were left to direct their team's offenses through
the air. Peterson outgunned Quinn, 383 yards to 231, with Peterson throwing 2 TD
passes to Quinn's one.
BC overcame a 13 point, halftime deficit largely on the back of the best passing
performance of Peterson's career.
TRANSFORMED.
Wisconsin's,
24-12, win over Big Ten cohort Northwestern had an ugly start. The game featured
an interception, a fumble recovery and a missed field goal in the first three
minutes of play.
After surviving the halting manner of the game's opening minutes, the Badgers
righted their play and stormed to a, 24-0, lead early in the third quarter after
Anthony Davis ran 1 yard for the second of his two scores.
Wisconsin's defense allowed a few more yards than usual as the Wildcats moved
the ball for 334 yards, but Barry Alvarez's team only surrendered meaningless
TDs late in the third and fourth quarters as the Badgers moved to an impressive
8-0 in 2004. Wisconsin enjoys an open date in the schedule before resuming
action in Madison against Minnesota on November 6th.
HIGHLIGHTS AND HEADLINERS. Penn State, plagued all season by fumbles and interceptions, coughed up the ball
seven times against Iowa and the Hawkeyes retained possession on four of those
occasions to post a, 6-4, win over the Nittany Lions in a game with only 315
yards of total offense.
Auburn drove Cadillac Williams' 149 yard rushing, 2 TD performance to a, 42-10,
win against Kentucky in SEC action. The Tigers raised their record to an
umblemished 8-0.
Cal's, 38-0, win over Arizona came as no surprise nor did the Golden Bears' 459
yards of offense. The noteworthy aspect of coach Jeff Tedford's team's victory
is the solid defense it displayed in throttling the Wildcats and holding them to
245 yards of offense.
Texas A & M needed to kick a FG as time expired in regulation to force overtime
play against the Colorado Buffs. The Aggies used another FG by Todd Pegram and a
fumble by CU RB Bobby Purify in overtime to escape with a, 29-26, win.
RB Jerious Norwood
led
Mississippi State with 174 yards rushing and a pair of touchdowns as the
Bulldogs upset 20th ranked Florida, 38-31.
Cedric Benson of the Texas Longhorns joined exclusive company in becoming only
the sixth RB in division 1-A history to gain 1,000 or more yards rushing in each
of four consecutive seasons. Texas topped Texas Tech, 51-21, in Lubbock.
Navy QB Aaron Polanco steamed through Rice for a career high 179 yards on the
ground in leading the Midshipmen to a, 14-13, win over the Owls. The victory
enabled Navy to become bowl qualified for a second consecutive year under coach
Paul Johnson.
The North Texas Mean Green beat New Mexico State, 36-26, to post its 21st
consecutive Sun Belt Conference victory.
Iowa State used a 65 yard fumble return for a TD by defensive lineman Brent Curvey to post a, 26-25, win in Waco over Baylor as the Cyclones stopped a 13
game losing streak in Big 12 play.
After being held to three points in the first half, BYU broke loose for 38
points in the second half to beat the Air Force Academy, 41-24, in Colorado
Springs. QB John Beck threw 4 TD passes for the Cougars.
Tulsa and Nevada reached triple figures as the Wolf Pack topped the Golden
Hurricane, 54-48, in overtime.
Northern Illinois and Western Michigan weren't far behind that total as the Huskies beat
the Broncos, 59-38, in an offensive big MAC attack.
Tulane QB, Lester Ricard, set a school record with six TD passes, including the
game winner to Chris Bush with 27 seconds to play, as the Green Wave topped
Alabama-Birmingham, 59-55, in CUSA action. The teams combined for 1,174 yards of
offense.
On the other end of the scoring spectrum Clemson needed a TD with twenty-three
seconds remaining to top Maryland, 10-7, in an ACC meeting.
