There are only 5 unbeaten teams left in Division 1-A football and Penn State is not one of them. The 5 perfect records belong to Alabama (10-0), Texas Tech (10-0), Boise State (9-0), Utah (10-0) and Ball State (9-0).
Joe Paterno's Nittany Lions went to 9-0 and climbed to No. 3 in the AP Top 25 Poll before taking a trip to Iowa Saturday (11-8-08) and losing to the Hawkeyes 24-23 on a 31-yard field goal with a second left.
Daniel Murray, who had not made a field goal since Iowa's season opener and had lost his job to a freshman, finally got a second chance. Murray had handled the kickoff duties but when it came to windy game conditions and a need for experience, coach Kirk Ferentz tapped Murray.
Murray drilled it down the middle and Iowa's freezing fans went berserk, flooding the field in wild excitement. It happened because Penn State blew a 9-point lead in the 4th quarter. Iowa won the last quarter 10-0. The Hawkeyes were aided by Shonn Greene's 117 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns, and Ricky Stanzi's 15-of-25 passing for 171 yards.
The victory was Iowa's biggest in years, and its first against a Top 5 team since 1990. The Hawkeyes improved their record to 6-4, becoming bowl eligible. The Hawkeyes' 4 losses this year have been by a total of 12 points. Last week they lost to Illinois on a 46-yard field goal with 24 seconds left. This week was their turn to win with a last-second field goal.
Penn State's chance to compete in the national championship game evaporated. The kiss of death for Penn State was the fact that Iowa was an unranked team, and Penn State was playing on the road. The Nittany Lions new goals will be a Big Ten title and a Rose Bowl berth on New Year's Day.
For the first time this season, all AP Top 25 Poll teams played, with 17 of the 25 teams winning and 5 huge victories among the winners that played other ranked teams. They included:
No. 1 Alabama on the road over No. 15 LSU in overtime, 27-21, with star quarterback John Parker Wilson scoring on a 1-yard sneak. The Crimson Tide had a chance to win the game in regulation play but a 29-yard field goal attempt by Leigh Tiffin was low and blocked.
LSU had the first crack in overtime but gave away even a shot at a field goal when Jarrett Lee threw his 4th interception and was picked off for the 3rd time in the game by Alabama's Rashad Johnson, who tied a school record in the process. The Tide nixed another field goal try, having already missed twice, and Wilson scored on the sneak to give Alabama a spot in the SEC championship game.
No. 2 Texas Tech at home over No. 8 Oklahoma State, 56-20, as the Red Raiders scored touchdowns on 7 consecutive possessions.
No. 7 Southern Cal at home over No. 21 California, 17-3, in an awesome display of defense. The win was the 6th straight for the Trojans who have outscored their opponents 231-23 since losing 27-21 as 25-point favorites at Oregon State. That's the Trojans, always losing a game to an unranked team, apparently they wake up late in Hollywood.
No. 10 Utah at home over No. 11 Texas Christian in a squeaker, 13-10. Utah had gone 9-0 and climbed to No. 10 by playing one of the weakest schedules west of the Mississippi River. The Utes are in the Mountain West Conference, and had they not played TCU they would not have faced one quality team worth talking about; they still face BYU in their final game.
No. 19 North Carolina at home over No. 22 Georgia Tech, 28-7, scoring 3 touchdowns in the 4th quarter.
Twelve other Top 25 teams won against ranked opponents, including:
No. 4 Florida on the road over Vanderbilt, 42-14, as Tim Tebow threw for 3 touchdowns and ran for 2 more. The Gators clinched the SEC Eastern Division Title and will face SEC Western Division Title holder Alabama for the SEC Championship.
No. 5 Texas at home over Baylor, 45-21, as Longhorn Colt McCoy threw for 5 TDs and 300 yards. No. 6 Oklahoma on the road over Texas A&M in an easy rout, 66-28. No. 9 Boise State at home over Utah State, 49-14, as Kellen Moore threw for 362 yards and 2 TDs. No. 12 Ohio State on the road over Northwestern, 45-10, as Terrelle Prior threw for 3 scores and Chris "Beanie" Wells added 2 more on the ground.
No. 13 Missouri at home over Kansas State, 41-24, as Jeremy Maclin scored 3 TDs and racked up 278 all-purpose yards. No. 14 Georgia on the road over Kentucky, 42-38, getting the go-ahead TD on a pass from Matthew Stafford to A. J. Green with 1:54 left to play. No. 16 Ball State at home over Northern Illinois 45-14. No. 17 Brigham Young (BYU) at home over a 1-9 San Diego State team 41-12.
No. 18 Michigan State at home over Purdue, 21-7, as Javon Ringer scored twice and the Spartan defense made some great third-down stops. No. 24 Florida State at home over Clemson, 41-27, on coach Bobby Bowden's 79th birthday (yes, the guy is 79 and still coaching), and following the firing of Bowden's son Tommy as Clemson's head coach last month. No. 25 Pittsburgh at home over Louisville, 41-7, as the Panthers turned 4 Cardinal turnovers into scores.
The 7 losing Top 25 teams-besides No. 3 Penn State-that lost to unranked teams included:
No. 20 West Virginia at home to Cincinnati in overtime 26-23. West Virginia is one of those teams that can not stand prosperity, they have been in and out of the AP Top 25 all season. No. 23 Maryland on the road to Virginia Tech, 23-13.
For the 8 losing teams among the AP Top 25 this week, it is pretty much what legendary coach Lou Holtz said, "When all is said and done, more is said than done."
When the new AP Top 25 Poll came out Sunday, 4 teams were missing-West Virginia, California, Georgia Tech and Maryland. Replacing them were 2 new teams-No. 22 Cincinnati and No. 23 Oregon State-and 2 returning teams-No. 24 South Carolina (the Gamecocks left the poll after the first week) and No. 25 Tulsa (the Golden Hurricane arrived in the 8th week, were kicked out last week and returned this week).
In other games of note this week:
Boston College at home shut out Notre Dame 17-0 in their annual "Catholic Bowl" game.
An 8-2 Western Michigan team from the growing in stature Mid-American Conference hosted and beat Illinois from the Big Ten, 23-17.
A 4-5 Wyoming team from the Mountain West Conference hosted and beat Tennessee from the Southeastern Conference, 13-7. Could Tennessee sink any lower? Some fans had to read this result THREE times to believe it was true.
Hawaii beat New Mexico State 42-30 to even its record at 5-5 and one victory shy of bowl eligibility.
East Carolina became bowl eligible with its 6th victory, an overtime win over Marshall, 19-16.
That's it. That's all. I am out of here. Four more weeks and the regular season is over, then the bowl season surfaces and a few big-time winners will collect some major money for their football programs. A few of the bowl games will be great, we just don't know which ones.
Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley
Read my other detailed, knowledgeable, interesting articles on college football, including:
"College Football - Week 10 - In Just Two Years Nick Saban Has the Crimson Tide No. 1 in the Nation"
"College Football - Week 9 - Texas Handles Unbeaten Oklahoma State, and Penn State Whips Ohio State"
"College Football - Week 8 - Top 6 Teams Remain on Top, Led by Unbeaten Texas, Alabama & Penn State"
"College Football - Week 7 - Only 10 Undefeated Teams Remain - Oklahoma, Missouri and LSU All Lose"
"College Football - Week 6 - AP's Top 25 Welcomes North Carolina, Michigan State, Pittsburgh and Ball State"
"College Football - Week 5 - 9 AP Top 25 Teams Lose, 6 to Unranked Teams, No. 1 USC, No. 3 Georgia & No. 4 Florida All Lose"
"College Football - Week 4 - 14 Teams Suffer Their First Defeat - Auburn, East Carolina, Oregon & Florida State All Lose"
"College Football - Week 3 - Let There Be No Doubt: USC Crushes Ohio State 35-3 and Is Clearly No. 1"
"College Football - Week 2 - East Carolina Smacks West Virginia, Upsets Its 3rd Straight Ranked Team"
"College Football - Week 1 - No. 24 Alabama Stuns No. 9 Clemson, East Carolina Upsets No. 17 Virginia Tech"
Find my Blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
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