>Rivalry Week Part 3

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>USC-Notre Dame

   ND and USC games count for five of the ten most-watched college football games in television history. The teams play for the Jeweled Shillelagh, a trophy that goes home with the winning team each year. Notre Dame currently leads the series 42-33-5. 

   The origin of the series is quite often recounted as a “conversation between wives” of Notre Dame head coach Knute Rockne and USC athletic director Gywnn Wilson. In fact, many sports writers often cite this popular story as the main reason the two schools decided to play one another. As the story goes, the rivalry began with USC looking for a national rival. USC dispatched Wilson and his wife to Lincoln, Nebraska, where Notre Dame was playing Nebraska on Thanksgiving Day.  On that day, Knute Rockne resisted the idea of a home-and-home series with USC because of the travel involved, but Mrs. Wilson was able to persuade Mrs. Rockne that a trip every two years to sunny Southern California was better than one to snowy, hostile Nebraska.  Mrs. Rockne spoke to her husband and on December 4, 1926, USC became an annual fixture on Notre Dame’s schedule.

    Notre Dame and USC played their first game in 1926, a 13-12 win for the Irish. Rockne was quoted as saying it was the greatest game he ever saw. The following year, Notre Dame and USC would play a memorable game at Soldier Field in Chicago, a slim 7-6 Irish victory. An estimated 120,000 people were in attendance, a crowd that is considered to be one of the largest attended games in NCAA history.  USC’s first win in the series also came during the same year they won their first national title in 1928. From 1928-1932, USC and Notre Dame combined to win the national title five straight years, with USC winning in 1928, 1931 and 1932, and Notre Dame winning in 1929 and 1930.  During this period, there was some talk of canceling the series, due to the long amount of travel time it took by train from South Bend to Los Angeles.  Rockne argued for the series against the Notre Dame faculty board and its chair, Father Mulcaire, countering that “he saw the day coming when most college teams will be going by air exclusively.

   Both schools combined have produced the most national titles (21), Heisman trophy winners (14), All-Americans, College Football Hall of Famers and future NFL Hall of Famers (21) than any other collegiate series.

Oklahoma-Oklahoma State

  
In 1900, in Oklahoma Territory, Oklahoma A&M (later Oklahoma State) veterinary medicine professor Dr. L.L. Lewis assembled a group of A&M students to participate in the first territorial Track and Field Meet. Held on May 4, 1900, the event included Alva Normal College, Central Normal of Edmond, Kingfisher College and the University of Oklahoma, along with OAMC. The prize of the tournament was a silver cup donated by a local jeweler named Douglas. Surprisingly, A&M won the meet and returned to Stillwater with the traveling trophy.

   In 1901, A&M won again, and a third consecutive win would mean permanent retirement of the Douglas Cup in Stillwater. The meet was held on May 23, 1902, with the Aggies amassing the most points. Oklahoma filed a protest based on the pole vault competition not having been completed due to darkness, however, Oklahoma A&M claimed the Douglas cup.

   The next day the Sooners held their own vault competition and declared themselves the victor. Several weeks later, the Douglas Cup was missing from its place in a glass case at the Oklahoma A&M chemistry lab. Suspecting that OU students had stolen the Cup, a group of A&M students retrieved the Cup from Norman, supposedly burying it under Old Central for safekeeping.

   Ten years later, when excavation was being done for A&M’s Gundersen Hall, the trophy was found.

  
   The first Bedlam game was held at Island Park in Guthrie, Oklahoma. It was a cold, and very windy day with the temperatures well below the freezing mark. At one moment in the game when the Oklahoma A&M Aggies were punting, the wind carried the ball backwards behind the kicker. If the Oklahoma A&M squad recovered the ball it would be a touchback and if the University of Oklahoma squad recovered it, it would be a touchdown. The ball kept going backwards and rolled down a hill into the half-frozen creek. Since a touchdown was at stake, members of both teams dove into the icy waters to recover the ball. A member of the OU team came out with the ball and downed it for a touchdown, eventually winning the game 75-0. Thus was the beginning of Bedlam.

   Author Steve Budin, whose father was a New York bookie, has recently publicized the claim that the 1954 Bedlam Game was fixed by mobsters in his book Bets, Drugs, and Rock & Roll. Allegedly, the mobsters threatened and paid off a cook to slip laxatives into a soup eaten by many OU Sooner starting players, causing them to fall violently ill in the days leading up to the game. OU was victorious in the end, but their 14-0 win did not cover the 20-point spread they had in their favor. However, many people involved in the 1954 contest do not recall any incident like the one purported by Bodin to have occurred.

   Oklahoma currently leads the series 81-16-7.

>Rivalry Week Part 2

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>Michigan-Ohio State

   The annual match up between the two Midwest state schools has been held at the end of the regular season since 1935 (with exceptions in 1942, 1986, and 1998). Since 1918, the game’s site has alternated between Columbus, Ohio, and Ann Arbor, Michigan, and has been played in Ohio Stadium since 1922 and Michigan Stadium since 1927. Through 2009, Ohio State and Michigan have decided the Big Ten Conference championship between themselves on 22 different occasions, and have affected the determination of the conference title an additional 26 times. 

   The inaugural meeting between Ohio State and Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1897 resulted in a lopsided victory for Michigan, with the Wolverines posting a 34–0 win over Ohio State’s Buckeyes. The first game foretold a long Michigan winning streak, with Michigan winning or tying every match from 1897 to 1912 and thereby compiling a 12–0–2 record before the contest was postponed for several years. The Ohio State Alma Mater “Carmen Ohio” was written on the train ride home to Columbus following the 1902 contest, which saw Ohio State losing to Michigan, 86–0. The lyrics and melody (Spanish Chant) have remained largely unchanged since its conception.

   The 1950 contest, known as the Snow Bowl, is perhaps the most famous game in the rivalry. Eighth-ranked Ohio State was scheduled to host the game on November 25 in Columbus amidst one of the worst blizzards on Ohio record. The Buckeyes, who led the Big Ten, were granted the option to cancel the game against Michigan, which would have, by default, given the Buckeyes the Big Ten title outright and won them a trip to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl. Ohio State refused, and the game was set to be played. Amid howling snow and wind, in what was probably the most literal example of a “field position” game, the teams exchanged 45 punts, often on first down, in hopes that the other team would fumble the ball near or into their own end zone. Ohio State’s Vic Janowicz, who would claim the Heisman Trophy that year, punted 21 times for 685 yards and also kicked a field goal in the first quarter for the Buckeyes’ only points. Michigan capitalized on two blocked punts, booting one out of the back of the end zone for a safety and recovering another one in the end zone for a touchdown just before halftime. Despite failing to gain a single first down or complete a single forward pass, Michigan gained a 9–3 victory, securing the Big Ten title and a Rose Bowl berth.

   While Michigan leads the series 57–43–6, OSU has won the last six meetings.

Florida-Florida State

  
The University of Florida has fielded an official varsity football team every season since 1906, with the exception of 1943. Although Florida State College (one of the predecessor institutions of Florida State University) sponsored a varsity football team from 1902 to 1904, the Florida Legislature converted Florida State College into the Florida Female College, the state’s new all-women’s college in 1905. The college’s name was changed to “Florida State College for Women” in 1909, and it remained so until the college became co-educational in 1947, when the modern Florida State football team was established.

   Almost immediately, Florida State’s football coach, players and students began calling for the Gators to play the new Florida State football team. The University of Florida, however, was reluctant to treat Florida State as an equal. A proposed bill mandating that Florida play Florida State in football and other sports was proposed in 1955 but was voted down in the Florida Legislature. However, Florida Governor LeRoy Collins asked president J. Wayne Reitz of the University of Florida to schedule a yearly football series between the two state universities, and the two schools’ athletic directors eventually negotiated a contract that started the football series in 1958.
   
   In an otherwise unremarkable game coming in to this 8th annual contest between the burgeoning rivals, this game established the rivalry in full due to the controversy that surrounded its outcome. In a tight contest, UF led the Seminoles late in the game, 22-19. FSU had the ball at the Gator 45 yard line with 17 second left in the game. On first down, wide receiver Lane Fenner entered the game in place of FSU’s star receiver Ron Sellers. FSU quarterback Gary Pajcic took the snap, Fenner got behind UF defenders, and Pajcic lofted a pass to Fenner in the front corner of the end zone for what appeared to be a game-winning FSU touchdown. However, referee Doug Moseley signaled that Fenner did not have control of the ball before rolling out of bounds and ruled the pass incomplete

   UF ended up holding on for a 22-19 win, but the controversy heated up after the game when photos that apparently showed Fenner making the catch in the endzone were published in state newspapers. Debate over whether or not the play should have been ruled a touchdown continues to this day.

   The Gators lead the overall series 33–19–2, though have only had an 18–17–1 record against the Seminoles since Bobby Bowden became FSU’s head coach in 1976.

Utah-BYU

   The University of Utah (Utah) and Brigham Young University (BYU) have a longstanding athletic rivalry that encompasses several sports. The annual college football game is frequently referred to as the Holy War.  In the 1890s, when BYU was still known as Brigham Young Academy, the two schools started competing athletically.  Both schools were founded by the LDS church, have significant percentages of LDS students and faculty as well as many historical and customary affiliations with Mormonism such as LDS institutes and dry campuses. As much as religion is a common historical foundation for the rivalry, it has also been a source of animosity and many have sought to downplay the aspect of religion. BYU (aka “the Y”) is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (“LDS or Mormon Church”). The University of Utah (aka “the U”) is a public state-owned school. Because this rivalry includes a “church vs. state” dimension, many fans of both schools use it as a forum to vent deeply held feelings and perceptions.

   Utah claims that the football rivalry began in the late 19th century, when Utah played the Brigham Young Academy six times between 1896–1899. BYU does not count these games in their official records, since it was not then known as BYU, but BYA. Furthermore, BYU claims that the first of those football games, a 12–4 Utah victory in April 1896, was in actuality a practice-scrimmage to prepare for the following fall season. But whether or not the game meant anything to the schools at the time, it certainly meant a great deal to the fans. At the end of the match, a fight broke out between fans of the two schools.

Georgia-Georgia Tech

   The two schools are separated by 70 miles (110 km) and have been heated rivals since 1893. 

   The first known hostilities between the two schools trace back to 1891. The University of Georgia’s literary magazine declared the school’s colors to be “old gold, black, and crimson.” Dr. Charles H. Herty, the first UGA football coach, felt that old gold was too similar to yellow and that yellow “symbolized cowardice.” Also in 1891, a student vote chose old gold and white as Georgia Tech’s school colors. After the 1893 football game against Tech, Herty removed old gold as an official school color. Tech would first use old gold for their uniforms, as a proverbial slap in the face to UGA, in their first unofficial football game against Auburn in 1891. Georgia Tech’s school colors would henceforth be old gold and white.

   The game has been played 104 times according to Georgia Tech and only 102 times according to Georgia record books. Georgia discredits two games in 1943 and 1944 (both years in which Georgia Tech won) because many of their players went to fight in World War II, though official college football records include the games.

   The record between the two teams is 60 Georgia wins, 39 Georgia Tech wins, and 5 ties.  

>Rivalry Week Part 1

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>The last couple of weeks of the college football season always brings us some of the nation’s top rivalries, and that is the case again this year.  There is a minimum of 13 rivalry games this weekend, highlighted by Missouri-Kansas, Texas-Texas A&M, Ohio State-Michigan and .  Here’s a look at some, if not all, of them.

Texas-Texas A&M

   This is the first time the teams have met without Texas (5-6, 2-5) ranked in the Top 25 since 1998, when the Longhorns defeated the then-No. 6 Aggies 26-24 on a late field goal.  The Aggies started the season sluggishly, but have won five straight, pushing them into the top 20 in the country. The Longhorns were unable to recover from theirs and need a win to avoid missing a bowl game for the first time since 1997 — also the last time they had a losing season.

   The football series between the two universities is the third longest running rivalry in all of college football.  Since 1900, the last regular season football game is usually reserved for their matchup. Each school mentions the other in their fight song (Texas with “and it’s goodbye to A&M” in Texas Fight and the Aggies singing about Texas for essentially the entire second verse of the Aggie War Hymn).  In the past, mischief has preceded the annual game, such as “kidnapping” each other’s mascots.  The Longhorns lead the series 75-36-5.

Auburn-Alabama

   The Iron Bowl is a common name for the college football game between the Auburn University Tigers and the University of Alabama Crimson Tide.  Auburn and Alabama played their first football game in Lakeview Park in Birmingham, Alabama, on February 22, 1893.  Disagreement between the schools began immediately as Alabama considered the game to be the final matchup of the 1892 season and Auburn recorded it as the first of 1893.  The series was indeed suspended after the 1907 game when the schools could not come to agreement over the amount of expenses to be paid players, as well as from where officials for the game should be obtained.

   In 1947 the Alabama House of Representatives passed a resolution encouraging the schools to “make possible the inauguration of a full athletic program between the two schools.” Ralph B. Draughon, the president of Auburn (then named the Alabama Polytechnic Institute), and Alabama president John Gallalee decided during the winter and spring of 1948 to end the disagreement and renew the series. The games would be played in Birmingham because it had the largest stadium in the state, 44,000-seat Legion Field, and the tickets would be split evenly between the two schools. Alabama won the first game when the series renewed 55–0, the most lopsided victory of the series.

   Auburn desired to make the Iron Bowl a “home-and-home” series, and the schools reached an agreement where Auburn could play their home games for the Iron Bowl in Auburn starting in 1989 (except for the 1991 game, which was played at Legion Field), and Alabama would have a “home” ticket allocation for games in Legion Field.  Since 1893, the Crimson Tide and Tigers have played 74 times. Alabama leads the all-time series, with 40 wins to Auburn’s 33, with one tie. The game has been played in four cities: Auburn, Birmingham, Montgomery, and Tuscaloosa. Alabama leads the series in Birmingham (34–18–1). Auburn leads the series in Tuscaloosa (6–1–0) and Auburn (7–3–0). The series is tied in Montgomery (2–2–0).

Kansas-Missouri

   The intense rivalry between the two universities can be traced to the open violence involving anti-slavery and pro-slavery elements that took place in the Kansas Territory and the western frontier towns of Missouri throughout the 1850s. These incidents were attempts by Missouri (a slave state) to influence whether Kansas would enter the Union as a free or slave state. The term Bleeding Kansas is often used to refer to the pre-war conflict, culminating with the burning and looting of Osceola, Missouri in 1861 by James Lane’s Kansas Jayhawkers, which was a contributing factor to the Lawrence Massacre reprisal two years later. The raid on Lawrence was led by William Quantrill, a Kansas citizen who had actually taught school in Lawrence prior to the Civil War. SI.com supervising producer Dan George summed up the rivalry by stating “It’s more than the schools — it’s a state thing going back to before the Civil War, when William Quantrill’s Confederate guerillas burned Lawrence and murdered nearly 200 people. Neither Missouri nor Kansas folks have forgotten it.” Those on the Missouri side are quick to point out that the Jayhawkers were guilty of the same things – crossing into Missouri, leading brutal raids and burning towns, and that Quantrill was part of a group that almost burnt down Columbia due to it being a Union stronghold.

   The 2007 football season brought the origins of the rivalry between the two states back into the spotlight. A t-shirt created by a Missouri alumnus gained national attention with its reference to Quantrill’s Raid of 1863. The shirt depicted the burning of Lawrence in 1863 following the raid of William Quantrill and his Bushwhackers against the Jayhawkers of Kansas. The image of Lawrence burning was paired with the word “Scoreboard” and a Mizzou logo. On the back of the shirts, William Quantrill was quoted, saying “Our cause is just, our enemies many.” Some Kansas fans interpreted these shirts as supporting slavery. KU supporters returned fire with a shirt depicting abolitionist John Brown with the words, “Kansas: Protecting America from Missouri since 1854.”

    The Missouri-Kansas football series is the second-most-played rivalry in college football history. The teams first matched up in football on October 31, 1891. There have been 9 ties in the 118 games played.  On November 24, 2007, the two teams entered the game both ranked in the top five in the nation: Kansas at #2 and Missouri at #3. On the heels of #1 LSU’s loss the day before, Missouri won the game 36-28 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, with a near-record 80,537 people (the second-largest crowd in stadium history) in attendance and the largest TV audience to watch any 2007 regular season game, and therefore became #1 in both the Bowl Championship Series and Associated Press polls.

   Although 55-54-9 for MU is the official series result, there is an ongoing discussion about whether the 1960 games should have been counted as a win for Kansas, making the series 55-54-9 in their favor. The Big 8 forfeited the win to Missouri due to Kansas’ ineligible player, Bert Coan. The University of Kansas still considers the game a Kansas win, fueling the controversy. Due to the Kansas win on the field, several other publications have also referenced the series record more to the favor of Kansas.  


>Weekend Observations

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  • Northwestern continues to be Iowa’s kryptonite, winning five of the last six meetings.  Unfortunately, the Wildcats lost QB Dan Persa for the season after he threw the game winning pass.  He ruptured his Achilles and is out for the season.  
  • Wisconsin scored 11 touchdowns against Indiana, the most in Wisconsin history and the second-most by a Big Ten team since World War II.   The Badgers rolled up 83 points, the most Wisconsin has scored in a Big Ten game and tied for the third-most points scored in a Big Ten game. It was the most points scored by any team in a Big Ten game since Ohio State scored 83 against Iowa in 1950.
  • Cameron Gordon’s 58-yd fumble return was the first defensive TD of the season for Michigan, whose defense ranked 114th (out of 120 teams) in yardage entering the game. Ryan Kerrigan set Big Ten and school records for career fumbles forced, with 14.
  • The win against Ole Miss snapped Tennessee’s six-game losing streak against SEC West opponents.  The Vols have never gone a season without an SEC win and have won at least three conference games every season since 1977.
  • Wake Forest (2-8, 1-6) lost its eighth straight game, its longest slide since dropping its last 10 in 1978.
  • Army became bowl eligible for the first time in 14 years. The Black Knights (6-4) continued their best season since going 10-2 in 1996 — they were 35-115 over the next 13 years. All three service academies have winning records now, and only twice since 1960 have all three finished above .500: in 1963, Army was 7-3, Air Force 7-4 and Navy 9-2, and in 1996 it was Army at 10-2, Navy at 9-3 and Air Force at 6-5.
  •  The Orange finished the regular season 4-0 on the road in Big East play and are bowl-eligible for the first time since 2004. And with a road win at Akron, Syracuse has five true road wins in a season for the first time since 1992.  At 7-3 (with two regular-season home games left and a possible bowl game), the Orange are guaranteed to have their first winning season since 2001, when they finished 10-3.  Doug Marrone now has more wins in less than two seasons at Syracuse (11) than Greg Robinson had in four seasons (10).
  • Ryan Broyles caught three TDs and now has 32 TD receptions in his career, most in school history.  
  • Washington State snapped a 16-game conference losing streak with a 31-14 win over Oregon State.It was the Cougars’ first Pac-10 win since a 16-13 overtime victory against Washington in the 2008 Apple Cup. 
  • South Carolina won for the second time in 19 tries against Florida, snapped an 0-for-12 streak in Gainesville and earned a spot in the league title game for the first time since joining the SEC in 1992. The Gators lost to a division opponent for the first time in 17 games, dropped their third consecutive home game and proved they didn’t deserve to play for a championship. It’s the program’s first three-game losing streak at home since 1989. Marcus Lattimore had the ninth 200-yd rushing game in South Carolina history; 1st since 2000 and 1st in SEC play.
  • Oklahoma State ended a 12-year losing streak to Texas with a 33-16 victory Saturday night. Oklahoma State won four straight road games for the first time since 1985. The Longhorns lost for the fourth time at home this year to equal the total amount of home losses for Texas since 2000. Texas lost four straight home games in the same season for the first time since 1956. Texas needs to win each of its final two games to become bowl eligible. It has not missed a bowl since 1997 and if they don’t make a bowl, it will be the first time in the BCS era that a team playing in the title game doesn’t make a bowl the following season. 

    >Illinois Preview

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    >To say that the University of Illinois’ Men’s Basketball team has been under some major scrutiny since its title game appearance would be putting things nicely.  Bruce Weber has been criticized for not winning an NCAA Tournament game since 2006 or poor recruiting (which has drastically changed in the past two years), fans have been unkind to Coach Weber.  Until this year that is.  Pretty much the entire team returns for the 2010-2011 season and Weber adds a trio of recruits who will see major playing time.

    Backcourt: The leader of the backcourt, and the entire team, is returning first-team All-Big Ten point guard Demetri McCamey.  McCamey led the nation in assists per game, averaging 7.1 dimes per contest.  He will lead what is a very young backcourt, one that features two sophomores, two freshmen and a redshirt freshmen.  Luckily for the Illini, the two sophomores, D.J. Richardson and Brandon Paul, both saw extensive action last season.  Richardson was named co-Big Ten Freshman of the Year.

    Paul can play numerous positions, ranging from the point to apparently the power forward position, Weber said.  He played with one of the lower-level USA Basketball teams this summer and will look to improve on his 7.8 ppg and 3.1 rpg averages from a year ago.  Richardson averaged 10.5 ppg last season.

    Weber’s two incoming freshman include a younger brother of one of the 2005 stars as well as a McDonald’s All-American.  Crandall Head, Luther’s brother, is coming off of a knee injury, but if he is at full strength, and it has been reported he is, he should play a big role for the team.  Jereme Richardson, the McDonald’s AA is possibly the biggest recruit Weber has had.  He got his commitment after Richmond played his first game of high school.

    Frontcourt:  As deep as the Illini are in the backcourt, they are just as much so in the frontcourt.  The team returns multiple starters and others who have seen tons of playing time.  Mike Davis returns at one forward after leading the Big Ten in rebounding with 9.2 per contest.  He will be pushed by sophomore Tyler Griffey, who came on strong at the end of last season.  Because of the depth, Bill Cole, a team captain, might see him role reduced.  Mike Tisdale returns at the center position after averaginf 12 ppg and six rpg.  But he will be pushed by freshman Meyers Leonard, a seven-foot blue-chip recruit, who has great handles, hops and runs the floor well for a big man.

    Schedule:  The team is going to be quite tested by the time conference play rolls around.  They start the season in the Coaches vs Cancer Classic, where the potential final four teams could feature the Illini, Texas, Maryland and Pittsburgh.  They also host North Carolina in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.  They travel to Seattle to play Gonzaga and play Missouri in the Braggin’ Rights game in St. Louis.  In mid-January, the Illini have a three-game stretch where they travel to Wisconsin and host Michigan State and Ohio State.  A month later, they have back-to-back games at MSU and OSU

    >Weekend Observations

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    • The Michigan-Illinois game (132 points) is the highest scoring game in FBS this season and the highest scoring game between two Big ten Conference opponents all-time.  Roy Roundtree who finished with a Michigan school record 246 receiving yards.  65 points by Illinois is the most allowed in Michigan school history. Illinois’ 65 points is two shy of FBS record for most by losing team (9th-most points scored in school history). Michigan: allowed 40+ pts in back-to-back games for 1st time in school history.
    • Army threw its first interception of the year against Air Force. That means every FBS team has now thrown an interception this year – Army was the last team alive without one.
    • Brandon Weeden threw for a school-record 435 yards and three scores and Oklahoma State set a new school mark for total offense for the second time this season by gaining 725 yards. Baylor has not won at Oklahoma State since 1939. The Cowboys improved to 11-1 against the Bears since 1999. 
    • Damaris Johnson moved into first place in the Conference USA record books for career kickoff return yards. 
    • Kansas scored 35 unanswered points after trailing 45-17 early in the fourth quarter. The 35 points are the second-most scored in the 4th quarter by a team to win in FBS History.  The 35 points in the fourth quarter were the most in Jayhawks history.
    • North Carolina beat Florida State for the second time (2-15-1 all-time).  The win made the Tar Heels bowl eligible. They’ve qualified for a bowl every year under Butch Davis.  T.J. Yates threw for a school-record 439 yards
    • Boise State extended the FBS’ longest active win streak to 22 games and 33 regular-season games.  Kellen Moore threw for a career-high 507 yards and three touchdowns, which gives him a school-record 85 touchdowns.  The team rolled up a school-record 737 total yards
    • Navy beat East Carolina 76-35 on Saturday, setting a school single-game scoring record and most since 1919.  With the win, Navy qualified for a bowl game for the eighth straight season and will play in the Poinsettia Bowl against an opponent from the Mountain West Conference on Dec. 23.  It was the most points scored by either East Carolina or an opponent in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, while Navy’s 521 yards rushing were the most by an opponent here and the second-most allowed by the Pirates ever. It was also the second-most points ever allowed by East Carolina, trailing Guilford’s 79 points in November 1932.
    • Joe Paterno joined John Gagliardi and the late Eddie Robinson as the only coaches in NCAA history with 400 wins and is the only FBS coach to do so.  Only two other coaches have more wins. Robinson had 408 with FCS school Grambling State, while Gagliardi had 476 entering the weekend with Division III St. John’s, Minn
    • Colin Kaepernick had 320 passing yards and five TDs as Nevada beat Idaho for the sixth straight time. Nevada had 844 total yards of offense, a school record. It was the most offense by any FBS school since 2004. Nevada had three players run for over 100 yards.
    • James Aho kicked a 38-yard field goal as time expired to lift New Mexico to a 34-31 victory over Wyoming and end a nine-game losing streak on Saturday.  UNM had lost 23 of its last 24 games
    • Texas A&M broke a seven-game losing streak to Oklahoma. Texas A&M won its third straight overall and beat the Sooners for the first time since 2002.  Oklahoma lost on the road for the second time in less than a month. Texas A&M earned its first win over a ranked team since defeating Texas in 2007. 
    • Arkansas beat South Carolina for the fourth time in the last five games between the two schools. Since Bobby Petrino became head coach, Arkansas has thrown for at least 300 yards in 17 of 34 games.  South Carolina had its six-game home winning streak stopped and it was just the Gamecocks’ second loss in 15 games in Columbia.  
    • Stanford matched its win total from last season and snapped Arizona’s five-game road win streak. Stanford RB Stepfan Taylor ran for four TDs, outscoring Arizona by himself. Taylor hadn’t scored more than two TDs in a game in his career. Arizona allowed at least 30 points for the first time this season.  
    • The Longhorns, who played Alabama last season for the national championship, lost for the fifth time in six games and fell below .500 for the first time since losing their 1999 opener. They will have to win their last three games — home against No. 19 Oklahoma State, Florida Atlantic and Texas A&M — just to match Brown’s lowest victory total since going 7-5 at North Carolina in 1995. Also in jeopardy is Brown’s string of taking 18 consecutive teams to a bowl.  
    • Ronnie Hillman became the third San Diego State freshman to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season, joining Marshall Faulk (1991) and Lionel Hamilton (1994).
    • With two rushing touchdowns Thursday, Josh Nesbitt ties Jonathan Dwyer for the 2nd-most rush TD in Georgia Tech history with 35 for his career. Robert Lavette leads with 45. With Nesbitt’s 86 yards rushing Thursday, he passes Woody Dantzler for the most rushing yards by an ACC quarterback. He entered the game needing 42 yards to pass Dantlzer. Nesbitt now has 4 50-yard rushes this season. Since 2004, only Joe Webb (UAB) with 5 in 2009 has more in a single season by a quarterback.

    >Weekend Preview

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    >Wow talk about a lot of awesome games between ranked teams!

    Big Ten games

    Illinois @ Michigan

    Both teams come in at 5-3, so a win earns them bowl eligibility.  The road game starts a streak of three away games in the Illinois’ last four contests.  Quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase is coming off of a week which saw him be named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week.  He completed 16-of-20 passes for 195 yards and four touchdowns, while rushing for 118 yards on 21 carries.

    After starting the season 5-0, the Wolverines have lost their last three contests, with all being Big Ten games.  They’ll be looking to get back on the saddle against the Illini and as always, will look for Denard Robinson to lead them.

    Illinois wins if…Scheelhaase plays as well as he has been lately.  He seems to be flourishing as he becomes more comfortable in the college game.  If they stop Robinson, they have a real chance of leaving with a win.

    Michigan wins if…it shuts down the Illinois running game and it goes back to what was working the first five games of the year.

    Northwestern @ Penn State

    Joe Paterno can join John Gagliardi and Eddie Robinson as the only college football coaches to record 400 career victories, and he can become the first man in Division I-A/FBS history to do so.  Who will they choose as their quarterback tho?  Rob Bolden is back from a concussion, but Matt McGloin did well in his first start.  Rumor is both will play.

    Dan Persa, on the other hand, is coming back home.  Growing up a Penn State fan and going to games at Beaver Stadium, he had grown up wanting to play for the Nittany Lions, but was passed up in the recruiting game.  It will be his first start in State College and it comes at a time where the ‘Cats are looking to get their mojo back.

    Penn Stats wins if...it doesn;t let the thought of Paterno’s 400th win get in the way.  Choosing a quarterback is vital too.  Both are good, but who will take the reigns. 

    Northwestern wins if…Persa is Persa.  He was amazing for most of the Indiana game, but then suffered what seemed like a concussion.  If he is over that and the emotions of his homecoming don’t take over, the Wildcats might n Paterno’s quest for 400.

    National Games

    TCU @ Utah

    3 vs. 5. Last time the two will face as Mountain West foes. Undefeated. Chances at a National Title.  That’s all that’s at stake in the game between these bitter rivals.  It’s the Mountain West’s premier matchup, the first on league history pitting two ranked top-10 teams and one that will go a long way in deciding not only a conference champion but also who will remain a potential BCS buster.  TCU has never won in three trips to Salt Lake City, including a 13-10 loss in 2008 that eventually propelled the Utes to a BCS bowl game — knocking off Alabama in the Sugar — and landing the Frogs in the Poinsettia Bowl, where they beat Boise State.

    The Frogs are averaging nearly 41 ppg, while the Utes nearly 46.  TCU has the top-ranked defense in the nation and is giving up just eight points per game.  They’ve given up 16 points total in the last five games.  They will have to shut down a Utes team that averages 450 yards per game.  Oh yea, their defense is pretty good too.

    TCU wins if...it shuts down the dynamic Utah offense.  Their defense is tops in the nation, but their offense is just as great.  Led by Andy Dalton, the team has been whooping everybody all year.

    Utah wins if…it can score.  They boast a good defense too and if they can stop the Horned Frogs, they might walk away with a win.

    >NCAA Week 9 Observations

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    • Miami starting QB Jacory Harris was knocked out of the game after being hit while throwing an interception in the second quarter.  They got their first win of the season against a team from a BCS conference. They have also beaten Richmond and VMI of the Championship Subdivision and Eastern Michigan.  Virginia’s five interceptions matched its total in the first seven games combined.
    • Syracuse has now won 4 true road games in a season for the first time since 1996.  The 6-2 start is their best since 2001, when they finished 10-3 — the last time they had a winning record.  The Cincinnati loss is  its worst beating at home since a 38-0 loss to West Virginia in 2005.
    • Chandler Harnish found Willie Clark with a 21-yard TD pass with 3:42 to play to lift the Huskies to their six straight victory, their longest winning streak since 2004.
    •  Marcus Lattimore rushed for 184 yards and a TD as South Carolina won for the fifth time in its last 29 games vs. Tennessee. Lattimore has 13 TDs this season, tied for the fifth-most by a freshman in SEC history. His 13 TDs are three shy of the South Carolina single-season record.  The Gamecocks are 5-0 at home this season. Tennessee is 0-5 in the SEC. It’s the first time the Volunteers have lost their first five conference games of a season since 1977. 
    • Temple won its 10th straight home game to tie a school record and posted back-to-back shutouts for the first time since blanking Connecticut and Xavier during the 1971 season.
    • San Diego State is now eligible for a bowl for the first time since 1998 when the Aztecs played North Carolina in the Las Vegas Bowl. Its six wins this season surpass its win total in any of the last six seasons.
    • The loss by Notre Dame gives the current senior class 26 losses, the most in a four-year span at the school since 1900. Tulsa’s win over Notre Dame was the Golden Hurricane’s 1st over a BCS-AQ team since beating Iowa in 1996.   It was Notre Dame’s first loss to a current member of Conference USA since SMU (then a member of the Southwest Conference) beat the Irish in the 1984 Aloha Bowl.  Tulsa’s Damaris Johnson returned a punt 59 yards for TD and is 25 yards shy of becoming Conference USA’s all-time leader in kickoff return yards. 
    • Arizona improved to 7-1 this season and will enter November with fewer than two losses for the first time since 1998.  
    • It was the first game between Florida and Georgia with both teams unranked since 1979.  The Gators have won 18 of the last 21 games in the series. The loss snapped Georgia’s three-game win streak.  
    •   Baylor ended a 12-game losing streak against Texas and won its first game at Texas since 1991.  Baylor QB Robert Griffin III broke the school record for career passing TDs with 39.  Texas has lost three straight home games in a season for the first time since 1997. 
    • Stanford beat Washington for the third straight time. That hasn’t happened since Stanford won 10 straight from 1967-76.  This was Stanford’s first road shutout since beating Oregon 17-0 in 1974.  The Cardinal is 7-1 for the first time since 1970 when they started 8-1. Stanford’s defense shut out Washington at home for the first time since 1976

      >College Basketball Preview: America East

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      >Yup, it’s that time of year again!  College basketball season.  Like football, I’ll be doing previews.  For basketball, however, I’ll be doing conference previews with a small preview of the colleges in that conference.  I’m going to start with the smaller conferences alphabetically and work my way to the big conferences when I get closer to the season.  So here we go…

      Albany:  The Danes will be led by their backcourt in the 2010-2011 season.  Three starters, led by Tim Ambrose and Mike Black, return for a team that hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2007.  The team returns just three upperclassmen (two seniors), so the team will be relatively young.  They will look for many newcomers to make an immediate impact.

      Binghamton: The Bearcats are still trying to remove the shadow of a scandal that took place when former coach Kevin Broadus used some shady methods in recruiting athletes to play at Binghamton.  Greer Wright, who was a first-team all-conference selection, returns after averaging 15 points and six rebounds.  Moussa Camara, who averaged nearly 11 points per game, also returns to take some of the pressure off of Wright.

      Boston University: To say the Terriers will be relatively known until the middle of the season would be an understatement.  Despite returning three starters, the team welcomes 11 newcomers, including three transfers, two of whom (Patrick Hazel and Matt Griffin) might be starters from Day 1.  Boston returns last years’ America East scoring leader in John Holland, who will look to become a three-time all-conference first-team selection, as well as just the second 2,000 point scorer in team history; he currently has 1,558 points.

      Hartford: Hartford is hoping that bringing back all five starters will help them improve on last year’s 8-22 record.  New coach John Gallagher’s motion offense will suit this team greatly, as two of their starters, Joe Zeglinski and Mogan Sabia are tops and third in career three-pointers at Hartford, respectively.

      Maine:  Maine brings back four starters and a boat load of experience from last year’s squad that finished third in conference.  The returnees are led by Gerald McLemore, who garnered all-conference first-team honors last season, after knocking down 102 three-pointers.  Sean McNally returns to man the paint after averaging 10 points and seven rebounds per game.

      New Hampshire:  The Wildcats return three senior starters for a team that is looking for its first winning record since 1994-95.  Alvin Abreu comes back after averaging 14 points per game and Tyrone Conley, who averaged 12 points per game, returns to anchor the backcourt.  The frontcourt will be made up of Dane DiLiegro, Ferg Myrick and Brian Benson.

      Stony Brook: In 11 years of Division I basketball, the Seawolves have qualified for a postseason tournament once, in 2010 (NIT). However, last year’s regular season champs are hoping to make that step up and go to the NCAA’s. The team returns four starters, including sharp-shooter Bryan Dougher.  Tommy Brenton, last year’s league rebounding champion, returns to anchor an experienced frontcourt.  The team’s lone starter lost from last year, however, was the league’s Player of the Year, Muhammad El-Amin.

      UMBC:  The team is coming off of the program’s worst season (4-26) and lost three starters and their sixth man from last year’s squad.  Point guard Chris De La Rosa will be the team leader after averaging nearly 12 points and five assists per game.  If the team is able to come up with a decent frontcourt, the team has a chance of surprising some teams.

      Vermont:  Last year’s conference champs might take a big step back from last year after losing four starters.  One interesting aspect of this year’s squad is that 10 of the players are 6’6 or taller.  The Catamounts will look for Evan Fjeld, who shot better that 65 percent, scored nearly 11 points per game and six rebounds per game, to lead this year’s squad.  They will look to UMass transfer Matt Glass to provide more of a scoring punch. 

      >College Football Week 8 Observations

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      • Oregon just continues to impress everybody.  The team is averaging 55 points per game, tops in the nation.  In four home games this season, the Ducks are averaging 63 points per game, while giving up 11.  They have outscored their opponents with 33 touchdowns to five, are averaging 649 yards per game to their opponents’ 263 and rushing for more than seven yards per carry, compared to 2.8
      • With its win over West Virginia, Syracuse is 5-2 for the first time since 2001. West Virginia’s 12-game home winning streak came to an end — it was its longest home win streak since a 12-game run from 1987-89.  Syracuse threw for 63 yards but ended its eight-game losing streak vs. West Virginia.
      • It seems as if nobody wants to be the top-ranked team in the nation this year.  According to the BCS standings, Oklahoma came into this weekend’s game against Missouri as the top team.  But just as Alabama and Ohio State, the top-ranked teams the past two weeks, the Sooners couldn’t escape Columbia without a loss.  For the third time in the BCS era, the team that debuts as No. 1 in initial BCS Standings loses that same week. The Sooners were involved in all 3 games. Sunday will mark the 5th time in the BCS era that we will have a new No. 1 in week 2 of the BCS standings. In 1998 (UCLA) and 2005 (USC), the No. 1 team dropped without losing.
      • It was a weekend of firsts for Missouri.  For the first time ever, ESPN College GameDay was in Columbia.  Coach Gary Pinkel won his first game against either Oklahoma or Texas (he had been 0-7 against OU).  The fans helped the school skyrocket to the top of three GameDay lists: most people ever on the Saturday morning (18,000), most people ever on the Friday taping (2,000-3,000) and the most signs the crew had seen.  But this win was more than just a win over the Sooners.  It was one for the past, present and future of Tiger Nation.
      • Kirk Cousins threw for a season-high 331 yards and three touchdowns, and Michigan State rallied to beat Northwestern 35-27 and remain unbeaten on Saturday. Playing out of state for the first time this season, the Spartans scored 28 points in another strong second half.  Coach Mark Dantonio was back on the sideline after working the previous two games from the press box following his mild heart attack last month.
      • Saturday’s 49-0 win over Purdue is the largest shut out victory for Ohio State against the Boilermakers. It is the 12th time Ohio State has shut out Purdue, and first time since 1995 when the Buckeyes won 28-0.  Last year in a loss to Purdue, Terrelle Pryor had 221 pass yards, a TD and 2 int. In the FIRST HALF, he had 270 pass yards and 3 TD
      • Alexander Robinson rushed for 119 yards and two scores as Iowa State held on for its first win over Texas.  Texas is 4-3 and would need to win the Big 12 championship game or bowl game to extend its 10-win season streak to 10 straight. 
      • Illinois is within two wins of qualifying for a bowl game and ending their two-year bowl drought.  A bowl might be good enough to save coach Ron Zook’s job
      • Navy has won three of the last four vs. Notre Dame after losing its previous 43 vs. the Irish dating back to 1964.  Navy’s 18-pt win is its largest over Notre Dame since the Midshipmen won by 21 47 years ago. The largest is 21, a 35-14 win in 1963. That was the last win before a 43-game losing streak to Notre Dame that ended in 2007.
      • Arkansas won in a game that took nearly five hours thanks to two lightning delays. Arkansas back Knile Davis ran for a career-high 176 yards and three TDs.  Houston Nutt failed to beat his old team for the first time in three tries.  The Razorbacks are 9-2 all-time vs. Ole Miss in Fayetteville and continued their best start under Bobby Petrino (5-2).  
      • Cam Newton had 217 yards rushing. It is his 5th game with at least 170 yards rushing, passing Bo Jackson (1985) for the most such games in a season in Auburn history.  Auburn gashed LSU on the ground Saturday, running for 440 yards. That is the most allowed in a single-game in LSU history. The old record was 422 by Mississippi State in 1991.  LSU was 1st in the SEC and 6th in the nation in rush defense, allowing 83.6 YPG.  
      • Taylor Martinez set career highs with 323 passing yards and five TDs and rushed for 112 more yards in the Cornhuskers’ shootout win. Martinez entered the game with three passing TDs in six games and matched that total by halftime.  Niles Paul caught nine of Martinez’s passes for 131 yards and added a 100-yard kickoff return TD.  A week after being held to 202 total yards in a loss to Texas, the Cornhuskers rolled up 540 yards vs. Oklahoma State and improved to 6-1 on the season and 2-1 in the Big 12.  Nebraska ended a 17-game road losing streak vs. AP top-20 teams.
      • Baylor became bowl eligible for the first time since joining the Big 12, beating Kansas State 47-42 Saturday night.  Baylor hasn’t been to a bowl game since 1994, which is tied for the longest active drought among BCSIII’s record of 225 yards against Washington St. in 2008) and added two touchdowns.  The loss was the first for Kansas State against Baylor under Bill Snyder (previously 4-0). 
      • John Clay ran for 91 yards and two touchdowns and Montee Ball scored the winner with just over a minute left for Wisconsin. It was the Badgers second straight win over a ranked team, the first time they’ve done that since 2004 (beat No. 1 Ohio State last week).  Iowa lost for the third time at home in its last 19 games despite Ricky Stanzi’s 258-yard, three-TD performance.  The Hawkeyes were first in the nation in scoring defense entering last week’s game but have allowed 58 points since.  Wisconsin ended a two-game losing streak to Iowa and evened the all-time series 42-42-2 as they won back the Heartland Trophy.  
      • Stanford is 6-1 for the first time since 1970, marking just the third time since World War II that Stanford has won six of its first seven games.  Washington State dropped to 0-5 in Pac-10 play, its 14th consecutive conference loss and 22nd in its last 23rd such games. 
      •  Utah won its 21st straight home game. That’s the third longest active streak in the nation. The Utes ran their record to 7-0 for the third time in the last seven years.  Utah RB Matt Asiata ran for two TDs as the Utes piled up 648 yards of total offense.  Colorado State has lost 12 straight against ranked teams. The Utes have rung up 50 points or more four times in their last five games.  
      • Western Kentucky snapped the nation’s longest losing streak on Saturday, beating Louisiana-Lafayette 54-21 on Saturday.  The Hilltoppers, in their second year as a member of the Football Bowl Subdivision, had lost 26 straight games for the longest loss streak among all NCAA divisions. 
      • South Carolina won for the ninth time in its last 11 games in Nashville.  Vandy fell to 1-10 in its last 11 homecoming games. Its last win was 2002 vs. Connecticut. 
      • Mississippi State clinched bowl eligibility. It has not been to a bowl game since 2007.  The Bulldogs have won five straight games in a single season for the first time since 1999 and are 4-0 in nonconference games for the first time since 1990.  UAB fell to 2-15 all-time vs. SEC teams. The Blazers have had four games decided by five points or fewer this season and are 1-3 in those games.  
      • Jerrod Johnson broke Texas A&M’s career record for total offense.  With 139 yards passing and 28 rushing, he raised his career total to 8,888 yards, snapping the record of 8,876 Reggie McNeal compiled from 2002-05.  The Jayhawks have been outscored in their last three games 159-24.
      • TCU surrendered its first conference touchdown on the season.