Sunday, November 13, 2005

College Football Round Up, Week 11


South Carolina moves into the Top 25
Steve Spurrier and his South Carolina Gamecocks are in the Top 25 for the first time in his tenure as coach thanks to a 30-22 victory over his previous school, Florida. The Gamecocks made it to No. 19 in The Associated Press media poll Sunday.
The win over Florida ended South Carolina’s 14-game losing streak to the Gators.
"Well, that's wonderful," Spurrier said Sunday when told the Gamecocks broke into the AP rankings. "That was one of the goals, for the team to finish the regular season ranked."

Longhorns Clinch Big 12 South
Two more games and the Longhorns get their shot at the National Title. After beating down the Kansas Jayhawks 66-14 on Saturday Texas secured the Big 12 South Championship and are on their way to Houston to play for the Conference Title.
Before they get to Houston they will have to stop by College Station for their final regular season game against the Texas A&M Aggies the day after Thanksgiving. Not only is this a rival game on the road for the Longhorns but the Aggies are playing to be bowl eligible. With just five wins this season the only hope for A&M to go bowling is an upset win over Texas.
Texas won the South Division in 1999 and 2001 under coach Mack Brown but lost both times in the conference championship game.

Bowden Bowl goes to Tommy
Florida State continued it’s free fall from the Top 10, this time at the hands of 6-4 Clemson. After taking a shot to numb his throwing shoulder, Charlie Whitehurst threw for 269 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Tigers over the No. 17 Seminoles 35-14 Saturday. Chansi Stuckey had 11 catches for 156 yards and two TDs for Clemson.
The win gave Clemson coach Tommy Bowden his second win over dad Bobby in their last three games.
"Tommy just blew us out today," Bobby Bowden said. "I'm real proud of him, but that doesn't help me."

Cal Just a Bump in the Road for Trojans
The Trojans are just two wins away from playing for a third straight national championship and their defense is showing it's ready to carry its share of the load.
"We take it as a challenge. But on this team what else can you point too?" defensive back Scott Ware said. "Our offense is just awesome.”
The Trojans beat California 35-10 on Saturday for their 32nd straight victory. Their last loss was a 34-31 triple overtime defeat at Cal in 2003.
Despite playing most of the game with two freshmen backups at linebacker, the Trojans held the nation's eighth best rushing team in check. They limited the Golden Bears to 299 total yards and kept them out of the end zone until Cal scored a touchdown in the final two minutes with USC's first-stringers on the sidelines.
"I think we've always been a defensive team. The head coach is the defensive coordinator," linebacker Keith Rivers said. "I think now maybe we'll get more respect. Coming into the year we had a lot of questions about our defense. I think we've started to answer those."