Sunday, October 30, 2005

College Football Round-Up, Week 9

Unbeaten Bulldogs fall to Gators in The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party
After struggling to sustain drives and score in losses at Alabama and LSU, Meyer and offensive coordinator Dan Mullen spent the bye week retooling the offense to better suit the unit's strengths. That meant less option for quarterback Chris Leak, extra help for a shaky offensive line and more power running plays for DeShawn Wynn.
Florida scored touchdowns on its first two possessions and might have added points before halftime had Wynn not fumbled a handoff near the goal line. Leak finished 15-of-20 for 108 yards with a touchdown. He also ran for a score and was sacked just once. Wynn ran for a career-high 109 yards on 19 carries.
The Gators can win the SEC East and return to the conference championship game for the first time since 2000 by beating Vandy and South Carolina and having Georgia lose at home to Auburn or Kentucky.

Tennessee drops out of AP Top 25
Tennessee has gone from preseason No. 3 to not even receiving a vote in The Associated Press Top 25. The Volunteers (3-4) fell from the rankings Sunday for the first time in three years after losing 16-15 to South Carolina.
Tennessee becomes the sixth team ranked in the AP preseason top 15 to fall out of the rankings at some point this season. The others are Michigan, Oklahoma, Iowa, Louisville and Purdue.
I guess you could say that Phil Fulmer is officially on the hot seat.

Longhorns tested
``Plan on being behind,'' Texas coach Mack Brown said he told his team before the game. ``Plan on getting yourself in trouble.''
With 5:44 left in the first half, the Longhorns were in perhaps more trouble than they had anticipated. Oklahoma State picked up momentum with 49-yard touchdown pass on a quick-snap fourth-down play, then took advantage of two first-half turnovers by Vince Young and a great one handed reception by OSU to go up 28-9.
Texas regained control early in the second half when Vince Young sprinted 80 yards for the score that opened the game up and allowed Texas to cruise to a 49-28 victory.
``Last year's team had some of this. This year's team hasn't had this yet,'' Brown said. ``They anticipated it at Ohio State, but this was a great learning experience for us and one that will help us the rest of the way.''

UCLA Escapes Another Upset
I had written off the Bruins, while watching Texas embarrass Oklahoma State for the second year in a row, I had the UCLA game on the small TV. UCLA trailed by 21 points with 8 minutes left and in my mind there was no way to recover from this. ``With a 21-point deficit with 8 minutes to go, there's not much you can talk about except scoring,'' said receiver Marcus Everett, whose fourth-quarter fumble set up Stanford's final touchdown. ``We got urgent in a hurry.''
UCLA trailed 24-3 midway through the fourth quarter before scoring three touchdowns in the final 7:04, including Maurice Drew's game-tying rush with 46 seconds left in regulation. The Bruins quickly finished off the demoralized Cardinal in overtime, with Brandon Breazell catching a 23-yard TD pass from Drew Olson.
If the Bruins can survive two more games they will be undefeated going up against cross-town rival and two-time defending national champions USC.

Alabama Stays Undefeated
They really didn’t play anyone, but they moved a step closer to an undefeated season with a 35-3 victory over Utah State. The Tide are 8-0 for the first time since 1994 and are now the toast of the SEC.

Miami/Virginia Tech Next Week’s Big Game
This very well could be the ACC Championship game and it should be a hard hitting defensive battle. Right now I’m going to lead towards Virginia Tech as the favorite. It will be fun to watch!