BCS, BCS & Top 25 Rankings, NCAA Football NEWS
Texas, Penn State Show Who’s Boss
Published by MoonDog on October 19, 2008
Mizzou No Match Against Longhorns
The No. 1 ranked Texas Longhorns welcomed No. 11 Missouri to Austin Saturday night in a game some felt would turn out to be a high-scoring battle between two of the best offensive teams in the nation.
It was high-scoring, but it wasn’t much of a battle as the Longhorns manhandled the Tigers 56-31.
Texas (7-0, 3-0) left little doubt which team deserves to be No. 1 at the moment, jumping out to a 35-3 lead and cruising the rest of the way.
Quarterback Colt McCoy completed 17 straight passes at one point, finishing the game completing 29-of-32 passes for 337 yards and two touchdowns.
McCoy also rushed for two scores and for the season, he’s completed 81% of his passes for 1894 yards, 19 touchdowns, and just three interceptions.
Missouri’s Chase Daniel, arguably the leading Heisman Trophy candidate coming into the season, has been supplanted as the top Heisman contender by McCoy. Daniel completed 31-of-41 passes for 381 yards, two touchdowns and had one interception.
But all of Daniel’ yards came well after the game was out of reach. Missouri (5-2, 1-2) didn’t score until Jeff Wolfert kicked a 33-yard field goal on the last play of the first half.
Texas has now won 14 of its last 15 games vs. Missouri while the Tigers fell to 0-11 against teams ranked No. 1.
The Longhorns have made it halfway through the most difficult portion of their schedule. With consecutive victories against Oklahoma and Missouri, Texas must now face No. 8 Oklahoma State and No. 7 Texas Tech over the next two weeks.
Nittany Lions Struggle Early, Dominate Late
For the first 30 minutes of play, there was some concern among the 110,017 in attendance to watch Penn State try to remain undefeated against Michigan Saturday at Happy Valley.
The Wolverines took an early 10-0 lead in the first quarter by aggressively running the football and applying pressure to Penn State’s high-powered offense.
Michigan scored on their first three possessions of the game, holding a 17-7 lead with 13:13 left in the second quarter. During their three scoring drives, the Wolverines ran 30 plays for 206 yards.
But for the remaining 46:47 of the game, Penn State only allowed Michigan to gain 85 yards and outscored the Wolverines 39-0 to come away with an easy 46-17 win.
Although it took time to get on track, the Nittany Lions well-balanced offense shined after the first quarter, totaling 482 yards against the Wolverines.
Quarterback Daryll Clark had another solid game for Penn State, completing 18-of-31 passes for 171 yards and one touchdown. Clark also ran nine times for 45 yards and two scores.
Running back Evan Royster had a huge game, rushing 18 times for 174 yards and one touchdown. It was the most rushing yards for Royster in a single game this season.
The win snapped a nine-game losing streak against the Wolverines (2-5, 1-2). Michigan is in serious jeopardy of having their first losing season since 1967.
For Penn State (8-0, 4-0), the fate of their season probably comes down to next week’s game against Ohio State. If the Nittany Lions can get by the Buckeyes in Columbus, they have an excellent shot at making it to the BCS national championship game.
Alabama Looks Sluggish, Gets Past Ole Miss
For the second week in a row, Alabama had to hang on late to squeak out a win against an unranked SEC foe as the Tide held on to beat Ole Miss 24-20 Saturday in Tuscaloosa.
The Rebels fell behind 24-3 at halftime but dominated the second half, outgaining Alabama 359 to 326. Ole Miss (3-4, 1-3) gave the Crimson Tide’s offensive line fits all day and put consistent pressure on John Parker Wilson.
But in the end Wilson’s two big touchdown passes helped seal the win for Alabama. Wilson completed 16-of-25 passes for a season-high 219 yards and one interception.
For Alabama’s Nick Saban, the win marked the first time he’s guided a team to a 7-0 mark in his head-coaching career.
Alabama (7-0, 4-0) trailed for the first time all season when the Rebels took an early 3-0 first quarter lead. The Tide scored 24 straight but had to hang on because the offense turned the ball over twice in the second half and had to punt on four other possessions.
For the third consecutive game, Alabama had to withstand second half rallies after taking leads into the locker room. Meanwhile, the Rebels lost against a ranked opponent for the third time this season, losing to Wake Forest, Vanderbilt and now Alabama.
Ole Miss had one last chance to win the game late in the fourth quarter but quarterback Jevan Snead’s pass fell incomplete to Dexter McCluster. Snead was 16-of-31 passing for 192 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
Oklahoma Recovers With Solid Win Over Kansas
Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford passed for a career-high 468 yards and three touchdowns to help the No. 4 Sooners bounce back from last week’s loss to Texas by beating No. 16 Kansas 45-31 Saturday in Norman.
The Jayhawks kept things interesting through the first half and early into the third quarter. Kansas closed to within 31-24 when Jake Sharp ran untouched to the end zone for a 17-yard score with 11:21 remaining in the third quarter.
The Sooners defense stepped up from that point forward, shutting down the Jayhawks offense and allowing only a meaningless score with 0:58 left in the game.
After Kansas had cut the Sooners lead to 7, Oklahoma forced the Jayhawks to punt on their next four possessions. Todd Reesing was 24-of-41 passing for 342 yards and two touchdowns but also tossed two costly interceptions.
Kansas wide receiver Dezmon Briscoe set school records with 12 catches and 269 yards and caught both of Reesing’s TDs. Despite the loss, Kansas (5-2, 2-1) remained atop the Big 12 North Division standings after Missouri lost to Texas.
Oklahoma (6-1, 2-1) rolled up 674 yards of offense against Kansas and held the ball for a little over 34 minutes. The Sooners remained a game back of Oklahoma State, Texas and Texas Tech in the Big 12 South after all three of those teams won Saturday.
BYU Waives Bye-Bye To BCS Bowl
Among the few non-BCS teams that had a shot at making a trip to Miami, Brigham Young appeared to have as realistic a chance as any. The Cougars entered Thursday night’s game with a 7-0 mark and were ranked No. 9 in the nation.
But TCU had plans for the Cougars, whether they realized it or not. The Horned Frogs defense smothered BYU’s offense, sacking Max Hall six times and forced two interceptions as TCU dominated the Cougars 32-7 in Fort Worth.
With the loss, BYU all but waived goodbye to their BCS bowl game chances, not to mention, they are in jeopardy of winning the Mountain West Conference championship too.
TCU jumped on BYU early, scoring on their first three possessions to take a 17-0 lead with 14:45 remaining before halftime. The Horned Frogs (7-1, 4-0) sacked Hall four times in the first half, which doubled the number of times Hall had been sacked in BYU’s previous six games.
The Cougars (6-1, 2-1) didn’t put points on the board until late in third quarter with TCU leading 26-0. Hall scored on a 2-yard run to finally end BYU’s scoring drought with 4:26 left.
TCU’s win gave Utah a golden opportunity to win the Mountain West and make an appearance in a BCS bowl, perhaps the only non-BCS team with a realistic chance of doing so.
Tulsa Lights Up The Scoreboard Against UTEP
The other non-BCS team with a glimmer of hope of appearing in a BCS, the Tulsa Golden Hurricane piled up 791 yards of offense en route to a 77-35 rout of UTEP Saturday night in Tulsa.
The Miners led 28-21 after Jamar Hunt scored on a 1-yard pass from Joe Vittatoe with 0:03 remaining in the first quarter. But on the ensuing kickoff, Tulsa’s Damaris Johnson scored on a 94-yard return that tied it at 28 as time expired in the first quarter.
From there, it was all Tulsa, as the Golden Hurricane outscored the Miners 49-7 over the final 45:00 of play. Tulsa’s David Johnson completed 21-of-27 passes for 434 yards, five touchdowns and one interception.
Johnson has produced some eye popping numbers this season, passing for 2397 yards and 31 touchdowns to lead the nation’s No. 1 scoring offense.
Tulsa improved to 7-0, 4-0 Conference USA, and rose to No. 19 in the USA Today Top 25 Poll and were also ranked in the initial BCS standings.
All of the latest polls have been released, including the first BCS standings of the season. Check out all of the polls here.
My personal Top 5 for this week:
1. Texas
2. Penn State
3. Alabama
4. Oklahoma
5. Florida
Similar Posts:
- 2009 Heisman Trophy Candidates
- Which SEC Team Will Win The BCS Title?
- Vandy’s For Real, Mizzou Dominates, Tide Survives
- 2009 Heisman Trophy Watch – Week 1
- MoonDog’s Heisman Ballot – Colt McCoy Is The Man
349 views
None
Tagged with: Alabama Crimson Tide, BCS, Big 12, BYU Cougars, Chase Daniel, College Football, Colt McCoy, Conference USA, Evan Royster, Heisman Trophy, Kansas Jayhawks, Michigan Wolverines, Missouri Tigers, MoonDog, Mountain West, NCAA Football, Oklahoma Sooners, Ole Miss Rebels, Penn State Nittany Lions, Sam Bradford, SEC, TCU Horned Frogs, Texas Longhorns, Todd Reesing, Top 25, tulsa golden hurricane, UTEP Miners












CK0712 on Mon, 20th Oct 2008 03:57
smokin hot list Moondoggy!! specially with my PSU boyz @ number 2 ;0
NESW Sports Headlines 10/20/2008 | NESW Sports, Sports Videos on Mon, 20th Oct 2008 09:11
[...] College football “Who’s the Boss” < Moondog Sports [...]