#4 Iowa found their knight in shining armour, Ricky Stanzi fall to the turf in the second quarter, with an ankle injury, and could not recover. Losing to Northwestern 17-10 and dashing any hopes of a National Championship and now must hope for a win against Ohio State next weekend for a chance to smell some roses. The Hawkeyes had been playing with a poisoned apple all season long and the Wildcats finally got them to bite it.
#9 LSU found #3 Alabama to be a rude party host as the Tide scored 14 fourth quarter points and smash the hopes of a Tiger squad that was flirting with the idea of a rematch with #1 Florida in the SEC Championship Game and a chance to find themselves dancing at the big ballroom in January . It was a physical game that saw LSU play without starting quarterback Jordan Jefferson and running back Charles Scott for much of the second half. Bama set themselves up for a December date with the Florida Gators by clinching the SEC West with the victory.
#8 Orgeon found themselves weary and dreary on Saturday. Just one week after positioning themselves as the front runner of the Pac-10, with a huge win over USC, the Ducks went out and laid an egg against the Stanford Cardinals. Standford pulled off the 51-42 upset behind the magic legs of running back Toby Gerhart, who rushed for 223 yards and three touchdowns. The Cardinals are now bowl eligible for the first time since and ranked in the top twenty five for the first time since 2001.
#22 Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weiss has to be wondering to himself, what magic potion did he sip that won't let the Golden Domers get over the hump. Navy visited South Bend and despite just throwing three passes all game beat the Irish, 23-21. The Irish staged a late comeback but fell short. Many of the Notre Dame faithful have said all season, "that anything short of a BCS bowl game and this season would be considered a failure." With the loss the Irish now fall to 6-3 on the season and with games still remaining against Pittsburgh and Stanford, a second tier bowl may be all they can hope for. This may be the last season for Weiss in South Bend.
#1 Florida continued to roll as they dropped Vandy 27-3 and set themselves up for a SEC Championship game with Alabama that will decide who will represent the SEC in the National Championship game.
#2 Texas found little problem in dispatching the UCF Knights 35-3. Longhorn quarterback Colt McCoy threw for 470 yards and roommate, wide receiver Jordan Shipley caught 11 passes for a Longhorn record of 273 yards. With just the Big 12 Championship game as the only major obstacle left Texas may find themselves bowling for championship against the SEC winner.
The biggest winner on the day might have been TCU. The Horned Frogs continued their ride in the magic pumpkin as they dispatched San Diego State 55-12. With the losses of Oregon and Iowa, TCU now finds itself ranked #4 in the latest BCS rankings. A BCS Bowl berth is almost guaranteed if they win out and an outside shot at the National Championship game is not out of the question. They will need help but in this wacky season so far anything is possible.
While it may just be a blip on the radar, Oklahoma has found itself not ranked for the first time since 2001 won after losing to Nebraska 10-3 Saturday. It has not been an easy season for the Sooners, first they lose Sam Sam Bradford in an opening night loss to BYU, they followed that up with losses to Miami and Texas and now the loss to the Cornhuskers. The natives may be growing restless in Norman.
#11 Penn State could have hopped behind the wheel for a Big 10 Championship on Saturday considering Iowa's loss to Northwestern but Joe Pa's boys couldn't get it done against #16 Ohio State losing 24-7 . The Buckeyes have now taking control of the Big 10 if they can get by Iowa next weekend.
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