(Editor’s note: The rankings in this article come from the AP Top 25 survey of sportswriters and sportscasters, and all rankings are by Jeff Sagarin.)
No win in the fourth week of College Football action was bigger than unranked Iowa’s 21-10 upset win on the road over fifth-ranked Penn State at Happy Valley. Iowa is now undefeated at 4-0.
The Hawkeyes ruined the Nittany Lions’ perfect 9-0 season last year with a 24-23 win at home, and they proved it was no fluke this year in Penn State territory. If there are any questions left in Happy Valley this year, they have to be home runs in blinders. Penn State’s Nittany Lions are always overrated in the polls because they only play a couple of good teams a year, and Iowa happens to be one of them.
Not far behind in unexpected game of the week honors were the unranked South Florida Bulls, who defeated 18th-ranked Florida State on the road, 17-7, raising the Bulls’ record to 4- 0. The third best upset of the week was 11th-ranked Virginia Tech’s home win over 9th-ranked Hurricanes of Miami (FL) 31-7.
Two other not unexpected upsets came at the expense of the fourth-ranked Mississippi Rebels, who were beaten 16-10 in unranked South Carolina, and the sixth-ranked California Bears, who were beaten 42-3. in unranked Oregon. Please stop all the preseason hype about Mississippi this and California that; Mississippi still isn’t that great right now, and California always folds, the Bears may start to fold early this year because 42-3, even in a road game, is a blowout.
The last 2 of the 7 AP Top 25 upsets this week came with Georgia Tech’s 24-7 home win over 22nd-ranked North Carolina and Stanford’s 34-14 home win over Washington. , ranked 24th. The Huskies missed the Top 25 poll and Stanford (3-1) never made it.
So who else among the unranked teams is acting like they belong in the Top 25? How about these three 4-0 teams: Missouri beat Nevada 31-21 on the road, Auburn beat Ball State 54-30 at home and Wisconsin beat Michigan State 38-30 at home. Or maybe the 3-0 Texas A&M Aggies, who beat UAB 56-19 at home.
Eight qualified teams continued to advance, pushing their records to 4-0. They included 1st-place Florida on the road over Kentucky 41-7; Texas in second place at home over UTEP 64-7; 3rd ranked Alabama at home over Arkansas 35-7; LSU in seventh place on the road over Mississippi State 30-26; Eighth-ranked Boise State on the road over Bowling Green 49-14; Cincinnati, ranked 14th, at home over Fresno State 28-20; Kansas, ranked 20th, at home over southern Mississippi 35-28; and Michigan ranked 23rd at home over Indiana 36-33.
Two other ranked teams raised their record to 3-0 as 15th-ranked TCU beat Clemson 14-10, and 17th-ranked Houston won at home over Texas Tech, 29-28.
Among the 10 ranked teams that still have undefeated records, 5 won by a touchdown or less: Kansas by 7, LSU and TCU by 4, Michigan by 3 and Houston by 1. Compare that with the other 5 that won by 8 or more . Texas by 57, Boise State by 35, Florida by 34, Alabama by 28 and Cincinnati by 8. Now you know who is more focused and who is less focused when it comes to execution.
Five other qualified teams that have already been beaten once continued to shine by winning again. They included Ohio State, ranked 13th at home, giving Illinois a lesson in scoring a 30-0 shutout; BYU ranked 19th at home over Colorado State, 42-23; Georgia ranked 21st at home over Arizona State 20-17; Oklahoma State, ranked 16th at home over 1-AA Grambling State 56-6; and Southern California ranked 12th at home over Washington State 27-6.
There were 5 notable wins that have nothing to do with ranked teams or upsets. They included Boston College at home over Wake Forest 27-24 in overtime; Tulsa on the road over 1-AA Houston State 56-3, a score Golden Hurricane had after 3 quarters; Idaho on the road over northern Illinois 34-31, though Idaho was outscored 15-6 in the fourth quarter; Central Michigan at home over Akron 48-21 when Chippewas scored at least one touchdown in each quarter; Utah at home over Louisville 30-14; and Notre Dame on the road over Purdue 24-21.
There was also one notable loss that had nothing to do with ranked teams or upsets: Pittsburgh lost on the road to North Carolina State, 38-31, when NC State outscored Pitt 14-0 in the fourth quarter. In other words, Pitt’s defense collapsed and the Panthers lost for the first time this year.
That’s it, that’s it, Johnny, wrap it up, let’s go for a cold brewski.
Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley
