The Sunshine State did not disappoint on Saturday. The only ones disappointed might be their residents, who know if not for Penn State's Chafie Fields, Florida State, Florida and Miami might stand 1-2-3 in the polls today.
The Nittany Lions showed poise and grit, bouncing back immediately when the Hurricanes took a late lead, and thwarting two late comeback attempts by Miami to hold on to a 27-23 win. Florida overcame five turnovers and even more silly penalties to knock off the hated Volunteers of Tennessee 23-21 in a performance even the normally braggadocios Steve Spurrier played down. And No. 1 FSU kept the beat rolling against N.C. State despite a "subpar" 75-yard day from Heisman contender Peter Warrick.
Elsewhere around the Top 25, the story was who won't be on this page next week. Alabama, Arizona, Arizona State, Notre Dame and Colorado State can all kiss their pretty rankings goodbye. Specifically, Arizona State's mind-boggling 35-7 defeat to New Mexico State, along with Cincinnati's upset of Wisconsin, had to be two of the more unexpected upsets in recent memory.
| Week 4 Recaps |
| (25) BYU 34, (23) Colorado State 13 |
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38:36: Time of possession for Brigham Young.
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| Player of the Game |
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Lucas Staley, RB, BYU. Freshman followed up his great debut with three touchdowns -- two on the ground and one in the air.
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| Breakdown |
| The first game in the Mountain West Conference was not much of a contest. BYU nearly pitched a shutout, bolting out to a 31-0 lead before easing up on things. |
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| (14) Purdue 58, Central Michigan 16 |
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38: The number of points Purdue led by in the second quarter before the Boilermakers turned down the tempo. |
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Vinny Sutherland, WR, Purdue. Sutherland returned a punt 64 yards for a TD, had a career-high 134 yards on seven receptions and contributed another 30 yards on three end-around runs.
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Like you actually expected Central Michigan to make a game of this. With its running game crippled by injuries, Central Michigan had no chance to slow down Purdue's passing attack, and this one was over shortly after kickoff. |
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| (4) Nebraska 20, Southern Miss 13 |
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293-183: Yards by which Southern Miss outgained the favored Huskers. |
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Julius Jackson, LB, Nebraska. Defense bailed out offense big time, led by Jackson's interception and fumble returns for touchdowns. |
| Breakdown |
| It was an ugly day for the quarterbacks, what with the Eagles' Jeff Kelly throwing four interceptions and Nebraska's newly annointed starter Eric Crouch heaving two picks of his own. The panic attacks are likely high in Lincoln right now, but Southern Miss is an athletic team, and the Huskers were hurt by the departure of I-back DeAngelo Evans this week -- replacement Dan Alexander fumbled twice.
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| Michigan State 23, (24) Notre Dame 13 |
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0-3: Notre Dame's record against the Big Ten - the conference it spurned over the summer. |
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Gari Scott, WR, Michigan State. More specifically, Scott had the play of the game, somehow staying in bounds and racing 80 yards for the winning TD. |
| Breakdown |
| Same old story for the Irish (minus the time out problem this week): Jarious Jackson looks super at points, awful at others; the defense plays admirably but loses on a few big plays. MSU, meanwhile, is emerging as a Big Ten contender behind QB Bill Burke and a great running game.
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| Cincinnati 17, (9) Wisconsin 12 |
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231: Rushing yards, on 28 carries, by Ron Dayne, enough to break Archie Griffin's Big Ten rushing record but not to win the game. |
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Robert Cooper, RB, Cincinnati. There was another "33" in the house, and this one ran for 143 yards, 51 of them on a key touchdown sprint. |
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How big is this upset? Until this game, the Bearcats were ranked 112th of 112 in nearly every defensive category last year. They lost to I-AA Troy State just last week. And you can't say UW didn't have chances to win -- it had two touchdowns called back by penalty and Dayne lost a fumble as he was about to enter the end zone. The Badgers' passing was absolutely brutal as well.
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| (3) Penn State 27, (8) Miami 23 |
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4: Interceptions thrown by Miami QB Kenny Kelly. |
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Askari Adams, S, Penn State. With the exception of one long bomb to Santana Moss, Adams and the PSU secondary were phenomenal.
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Give the Nittany Lions credit: They made the big plays on offense that many said QBs Kevin Thompson and Rashard Casey were incapable of - chief being the 79-yard TD pass to Chafie Fields. And the secondary recovered from last week's Pitt shellacking to contain WR Santana Moss and shut down Reggie Wayne.
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| at (1) Florida State 42, (20) N.C. State 11 |
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6: N.C. State turnovers, quite the opposite of last year, when FSU threw six interceptions. |
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Sebastian Janikowski, K, Florida State. All-American kicker made five field goals. |
| Breakdown |
| Maybe it's just that our expectations are so high, but it seems FSU has yet to bring its "A" game. The defense, torched last week by Georgia Tech's Joe Hamilton, did recover to shut down N.C. State's Jamie Barnette (10-of-25, 129 yards). But the Wolfpack continue to have something on the Seminoles' Chris Weinke, who threw two INTs and no TDs this time.
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| (13) Ohio State 40, Ohio 16 |
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269-78: Passing yards by which the Buckeyes outgained OU. |
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Ken-Yon Rambo, WR, Ohio State. Junior had his "breakthrough" game, hauling in seven balls for 181 yards and two TDs. |
| Breakdown |
| This one was actually 10-3 Bobcats late in the first half and 10-10 at the half. The Buckeyes eventually woke up, with Michael Wiley and Rambo punching in two scores apiece.
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| (17) USC 24, San Diego State 21 |
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17-0: Margin by which USC led before before the Aztecs' 65-yard Hail Mary to end the first half. |
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Kareem Kelly, WR, USC. Freshman continues to shine, this time grabbing six balls for 98 yards and a score. |
| Breakdown |
| Perhaps letting down their guard after torching Hawaii, USC got up big and then watched the Aztecs claw back. USC QB Carson Palmer didn't have his best day, the running backs had a marginal effect and SDSU made the most of a few big plays, including Jermaine Watkins' 62-yard INT return with 4:24 left.
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| Louisiana Tech 29, (18) Alabama 28 |
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400: Passing yards by Louisiana Tech, compared with 104 for Alabama. |
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Tim Rattay, QB, La. Tech Before going down in the fourth quarter, senior was 27-of-50 for 368 yards and three TDs.
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For the second time in three years, the Bulldogs shocked the Tide on their own field. This one, other than the improbable ending, was more easily predicted. 'Bama continues to be one-dimensional on offense ( Shaun Alexander continued his Heisman campaign with 173 yards) and the secondary got torched by Rattay.
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| (15) Arkansas 44, Louisiana-Monroe 6 |
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200-71: Yards by which Arkansas outgained Monroe in first half. |
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Clint Stoerner, QB, Arkansas. Only bad part of his night was suffering possible shoulder strain after game was out of reach. |
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The Razorbacks continue to show considerable balance on offense (no rusher or receiver broke 69 yards) and took advantage of several Monroe miscues on special teams. First real test for Arkansas comes next week against Alabama.
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| (12) Georgia Tech 41, Central Florida 10 |
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176: Passing yards by UCF's Vic Penn, 139 less than his average against Florida and Purdue. |
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Sean Gregory, RB, Georgia Tech. Stepped up in place of injured Joe Burns to run for 150 yards on 22 carries. |
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Georgia Tech responded well to its near-miss against Florida State, shutting down Central Florida and continuing its offensive mastery. Joe Hamilton showed his versatility yet again, passing for 181 yards and rushing for 100, while accounting for three TDs.
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| (16)Kansas State 40, Texas-El Paso 7 |
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47: Consecutive Kansas State home wins over unranked opponents.
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Frank Murphy, RB, Kansas State. Another big night for the former JUCO star, with 162 rushing yards and a 76-yard kick return.
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K-State's offense turned it up a notch from last week, with QB Jonathan Beasley looking much improved, completing 11-of-21 for 246 yards and two TDs. The Wildcats also excelled on special teams and defense, and found a new offensive star in Quincy Morgan, who caught 141 yards and two TDs.
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| (6) Michigan 18, Syracuse 13 |
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49: Rushing yards, on 34 carries, by the Orangemen (compared with 190 against the Wolverines in '98). |
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James Whitley, DE, Michigan Whitley's interception and fourth-quarter sack among several big defensive plays for Wolverines. |
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This one was a struggle all the way, with the Wolverines ultimately prevailing on superior special teams and defense, constantly pressuring Orangemen option QBs Troy Nunes and Madei Williams. Michigan sophomore Drew Henson replaced Tom Brady and had the longest stint of his career, completing 16 of 28 passes for 151 yards.
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| (4) Florida 23, (2) Tennessee 21 |
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224: Yards lost by both teams on 25 penalties (112 each), several of them personal fouls. |
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Alex Brown, DE, Florida. One of the most vocal Gators leading up to the game, Brown backed it all up with five sacks and an INT.
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The knock coming in was that Florida's inexperienced defense was "soft" this year. Huh? Brown and Co. knocked around Tennessee's Tee Martin so badly it's a wonder he even completed the 16-of-39 that he did. They also held RB Jamal Lewis to 15 yards in the second half. The Vols were able to stay close through a defense that forced two fumbles and three interceptions.
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| (7) Texas A&M 62, Tulsa 13 |
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606: Texas A&M's total offense (what Wrecking Crew?). |
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Randy McCown, QB, Texas A&M. Record-setting pace continues as McCown throws for 320 yards.
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| These are not your father's Aggies. The fierce defense is still there, but now A&M can pass you to death. WR Chris Taylor hauled in a school-record 96-yard bomb on the way to six catches and 177 yards.
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| Stanford 50, (19) Arizona 22 |
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214: We knew Stanford could pass, but this was its rushing yardage, to go with 364 through the air. |
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Todd Husak, QB, Stanford. Shades of John Elway, underrated Husak completed 21 of 35 for 365 yards. |
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Just to reiterate, Arizona was a consensus preseason Top 5 team. Now, it is 2-2, losing badly in both losses. The Wildcats still got their usual heroics from QB Ortege Jenkins and WR Dennis Northcutt, who hooked up on two TD passes. But Northcutt (139 yards) got one-upped by Stanford's Troy Walters (168). Where have you gone, Chris McAllister?
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| New Mexico State 35, (22) Arizona State 7 |
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568-234: That's right - the teams' total offenses. Guhhh!
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K.C. Enzminger, QB, New Mexico State. Little-known name known now after breaking Devils' backs with 257 yard passing and rushing. |
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Earth to Pac-10: You are not good. To think, the Sun Devils are many peoples' favorites in this conference. New Mexico State, according to "records," had not beaten a ranked opponent in at least 20 years. The Aggies torched an already suspect ASU 'D' all night long, while holding former Heisman candidate J.R. Redmond to 62 yards on 24 carries.
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| (21) UCLA 35, Fresno State 21 |
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149: Receiving yards by UCLA sophomore Freddie Mitchell, his best game since breaking his leg early last season. |
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Drew Bennett, QB, UCLA. Demoted starter comes off bench to lift UCLA to two deciding touchdowns and 176 yards. |
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To cap off the Pac-10's night of wonder, the Bruins fell behind 21-20 before Bennett bailed them out. In truth, the outcome was probably never in serious jeopardy, but Fresno is a rare solid team out of the WAC, and QB Billy Volek kept his team in it with consecutive TD passes after falling behind 20-7.
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