Apparently there aren’t any Alabama fans amongst my regular readers otherwise, they would have known better.)Īlabama’s loss, incidentally, was one of four losses by top 10 teams, the other three being USC, Oklahoma State, and Penn State. (It’s worth pointing out that Todd Grantham, whom regular readers know I despise for ruining the Florida Gator defense while he was the coordinator, is now a defensive analyst for Alabama. In a losing effort, Alabama suffered the most penalties (17) in Saban’s tenure and allowed the most points in a game (52) since 1907.
An Alabama drive in the first half featuring seven penalties and a loss of 12 yards proved to be a bad omen for the Tide. The Volunteers got a considerable amount of weight lifted off their shoulders with the win: in their 15-game dominance over Tennessee, the Crimson Tide scored a cumulative 590 while allowing Tennessee only 201. Speaking of long games, in a Big 12-style shootout in Knoxville, # 6 Tennessee ended a 15-year losing streak to Nick Saban by defeating the # 3 Crimson Tide of Alabama in an exciting 52 – 49 thriller. The game was so dull that some of the viewing audience turned to a baseball playoff game between Houston and Seattle that wasn’t decided until the 18th inning after the game’s only run was scored six hours and 22 minutes after the opening pitch. The Wildcats’ Chris Rodriguez – by himself - rushed for eight times as many yards (196) as the entire corp of running backs from Starkville combined (22). # 22 Kentucky took care of # 16 Mississippi State in Lexington, 27 – 17. In the SEC, there were two top 25 matchups. That will change in the next two weeks, however, when the Bruins and the Ducks will collide in Eugene. Speaking of the Pac-12, the two remaining teams without a conference loss, UCLA and Oregon, had the week off. The Trojans dominated early, but the Utes fought back and scored their sixth touchdown of the game with 48 seconds left on the clock, after which Utah’s fearless quarterback, Cam Rising, scored from three-yards out for a thrilling two-point conversion, sending USC head coach Lincoln Riley back to Cali with his first conference loss by a score of 43 – 42. In the Pac-12, # 20 Utah defeated # 7 Southern Cal in front of a sold-out home crowd, 43 – 42 in an absolute thriller. Speaking of Clemson, they beat an inconsistent Florida State team in Tallahassee, 34 – 28, setting the stage for next weekend’s matchup with the only other undefeated team in the ACC. Syracuse, now at 6 – 0 for the first time in 35 years, is on the road next week to face # 4 Clemson, with the lead for the conference’s Atlantic Division on the line.
In the ACC, # 9 North Carolina State lost to # 18 Syracuse, 24 – 9. Speaking of 43 – 40 games, West Virginia beat Baylor by the same score in the best game (out of two) on Thursday night. Down by 17 points in the first half, the Horned Frogs stormed back in the second half to tie the Cowboys at 30, and then won the game in double overtime, 43 – 40. Speaking of the Big 12, the remaining undefeated teams in the conference, # 8 Oklahoma State and # 13 TCU, faced off in one of the best games of the week. The Jayhawks put 42 points of their own on the board in a losing effort, 52 – 42 being about par for the course in the high-scoring Big 12. Final tally for the Sooners: 701 yards, 36 first downs, and 52 points. Speaking of dominant first halves, Oklahoma put up 487 yards of offense, 21 first downs, and 35 points in their game against # 19 Kansas, their second consecutive loss after a 5 – 0 start. Incidentally, the Nittany Lions allowed more rushing yards to the Wolverines (418) than the other five teams they defeated previously combined (398). After halftime, the Wolverines dominated on the scoreboard as well, thanks to two explosive 60+ yard touchdown runs by a pair of running backs who combined for 339 yards and four touchdowns. In the Big Ten, # 5 Michigan absolutely dominated # 10 Penn State in the first half, leading in first downs (18 – 1), yardage (274 - 83), and time of possession (24 minutes vs.
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