Saturday in Review: Week 10

Oklahoma State and Baylor are the last two undefeated teams
in the Big 12. They meet in two weeks.
Rob Ferguson-USA TODAY Sports

As predicted, the tenth week of college football was one of the year's most chaotic. Seven days ago, we had 11 unbeaten teams in FBS football. Today, we're left with only six. Toledo was the first to fall when they lost to NIU last Tuesday. Baylor managed to hold off Kansas State's rally to stay undefeated on Thursday. Arkansas State upset Appalachian State on the road. On Friday, Temple escaped Dallas with a 60-40 win over SMU in a game that was closer than the score suggests.

Things got stranger on Saturday. Undefeated TCU was blown out by undefeated Oklahoma State, despite the fact that the Horned Frogs actually outgained the Cowboys 663 to 456 in total offensive yards. TCU's four interceptions doomed the Frogs to their first defeat of the year.

Nebraska stunned Michigan State, delivering the Spartans' their first loss in 364 days. After falling down by 12 points late in the fourth quarter, Nebraska scored two touchdowns in the final two minutes to knock MSU from the ranks of the unbeaten. But this was not without controversy. It appears as though Nebraska's receiver, who caught the game-winning touchdown pass with just 17 seconds left, stepped out of bounds before returning to the field of play and catching the touchdown. This would qualify as an illegal touch, and the play would have been treated like an incomplete pass; however, the officials decided that the receiver was pushed out of bounds by a Michigan State defender (this does not appear evident on video), and the touchdown stood.

Elsewhere in the Big Ten, Northwestern needed a last-minute field goal to get over Penn State. Iowa fought off plucky Indiana to stay perfect.

USC rallied in the fourth quarter to overcome Arizona. Washington State also needed a last-quarter comeback to down Arizona State. The Cougars benefited from a so-called "fifth down" play where the officials mistakenly rewarded Wazzu with an extra down to play after failing to convert on fourth down.

Top-ranked Clemson upended Florida State, winning 23-13 and clinching the ACC Coastal division. FSU scored on their second play from scrimmage as running back Dalvin Cook sprinted 75 yards for a touchdown. That single play accounted for over one fifth of Florida State's daily offensive production, as Clemson outgained FSU 512 to 286 in offensive yards from that point forward. The front-runner in the ACC's other division, North Carolina, won a huge victory over rival Duke. The Tar Heels crushed the Blue Devils 66-31. As of now, however, UNC still needs to beat two of their next three opponents to ensure a trip to the conference championship game.

Pitt was overwhelmed by the Notre Dame offense.
SBT Photo/BECKY MALEWITZ

Miami held off Virginia to reach bowl eligibility. Notre Dame had no problems defeating Pitt at Heinz Field. The Irish are now an impressive 8-1, with wins over Navy, USC, and Temple, despite a number of injuries to key players.

The Navy Midshipmen sunk the hopes formerly-undefeated Memphis had for a playoff berth, earning a dominant 45-20 victory. Navy is now in prime position for a 10 win season and perhaps a conference championship. The lone remaining undefeated team from the American conference, Houston, barely escaped Cincinnati and their lethal passing attack at home.

UCF became the first team of the year to lose ten games, falling to the Tulsa Golden Hurricane this last Saturday. The game was close until a burst of points by Tulsa in the fourth quarter. South Florida is now one win away from bowl eligibility after a narrow win over East Carolina on the road.

Alabama ground their way to a win over LSU in the day's most-anticipated game. The Tigers hung in with Alabama through the first half, going into the break down only 13-10. However, the Crimson Tide's offensive line and defense soon began to impose their will on LSU. By the end, Alabama had outgained LSU 434 to 182 in total offensive yards, effectively snuffing out the highly-regarded LSU rushing attack. The Tigers' halfback Leonard Fournette ended with just 31 rushing yards on 19 carries for the entire game.

In one of the wildest finishes of the season, Arkansas topped Ole Miss 53-52 in overtime. The Razorbacks needed a bizarre impromptu lateral to convert a seemingly hopeless fourth-and-long in overtime. Auburn dominated Texas A&M in their 26-10 triumph in College Station.

Georgia's defense and running game gave Kentucky little chance in their matchup. South Carolina took Tennessee down to the wire, but lost the ball on a fumble within Tennessee's 20-yard-line and with less than 40 seconds to go. As in several other games this season, Tennessee capitulated a two-touchdown lead (which they took into halftime); this time, however, they managed to win at the end.

Florida clinched the SEC East and a trip to Atlanta with their win over Vanderbilt. However, that victory did not come as easily as most predicted. On the first drive of the game, Florida got down to Vanderbilt's 3-yard-line, but failed to score any points after turning the ball over on downs. Later in the first quarter, the Gators drove 59 yards for a touchdown, but failed the PAT after placekicker Neil MacInnes shanked it badly. Florida returned to the scoring-position twice again in the half, only to fumble to ball away to Vanderbilt immediately after crossing the 20-yard-line both times. Making matters worse for the Gators, their defense gave up a 74-yard touchdown run by Commodore halfback Ralph Webb after shutting down Vanderbilt's offense throughout the half.

Austin Hardin's late field goal gave the Gators the lead and
 Florida's first SEC East title in six years. John Raoux - AP

After halftime, neither team seemed capable of moving the ball against the opposing defense until Florida's first drive of the final quarter. Down 7-6, Florida drove 57 yards before receiver Demarcus Robinson (who ended the game with 106 receiving yards) fumbled the ball on Vandy's 12-yard-line. After four seperate appearances in the redzone without scoring, the Gators were in danger of losing with time running out. When Florida got the ball back, just 5:27 remained, but the Gators had good field position after a bad punt. The Gators gained 20 yards before the drive stalled on fourth-and-one, the ball on Vandy's 25-yard-line. Embattled kicker Austin Hardin was sent out to attempt the 43-yarder and he hammered it straight between the uprights, giving the Gators a 9-7 lead with just over two minutes remaining. The Commodores converted two first downs (both via penalty) on the succeeding drive, but failed to pick up a third and the Gators ran out the clock.

Other than giving up the big run play, the Gator defense was spectacular. However, the Gator offensive line was greatly ineffective against Vandy's defense in opening running lanes or providing pass protection. Yet, Florida will advance the SEC Championship Game. Jim McElwain joined many other UF head coaches from history who struggled in their first game against Vanderbilt. Tom Lieb lost his (and Florida's) first game to Vandy, 7-0, while his successor Raymond Wolf lost 20-0 the following year. Bob Woodruff earned Florida their first win over Vanderbilt in nail-biting fashion, winning 31-27 in Nashville. Ray Graves's inaugural game against Vanderbilt was won 12-0 after a late touchdown off a fake field goal gave the Gators a two-score lead. Doug Dickey and Charley Pell both lost their first games against the Commodores, 24-10 and 31-29, respectively. The first Galen Hall team to face Vandy lost 24-9. Ron Zook slipped by Vandy 21-17 in his first year while Urban Meyer's first team needed overtime to down Vandy, 49-42. The Gators struggled against Vandy in Will Muschamp's inaugural season, barely winning 26-21. In fact, the only Florida head coach to buck the historical trend and beat Vanderbilt decisively in his first opportunity was Steve Spurrier (his '92 team beat Vandy by 20 points). Florida's two-point win last Saturday was the smallest ever margin-of-victory in a Gator win over Vanderbilt.

State of Florida:

• FIU (5-5) over Charlotte (2-7), 31-14 48-31
• 10 Florida (8-1) over Vanderbilt (3-6), 21-3 9-7
• Western Kentucky (8-2) over Florida Atlantic (2-7), 42-21 35-19
• Tulsa (5-4) over UCF (0-10), 49-20 45-30
• Miami (6-3) over Virginia (3-6), 27-20 27-21
• 1 Clemson (9-0) over 16 Florida State (7-2), 34-27 23-13
• South Florida (5-4) over East Carolina (4-6), 24-17 22-17

Southeastern Conference:

• 20 Mississippi State (7-2) over Missouri (4-5), 14-6 31-13
• Georgia (6-3) over Kentucky (4-5), 38-21 27-3
• 18 Mississippi (7-3) over Arkansas (5-4), 24-20 53-52 (OT)
• Tennessee (5-4) over South Carolina (3-6), 42-24 27-24
• 19 Texas A&M (6-3) over Auburn (5-4), 42-35 26-10
• 4 Alabama (8-1) over 2 LSU (7-1), 28-24 30-16

Top 25:

• 3 Ohio State (9-0) over Minnesota (4-4), 38-28 28-14
• Pittsburgh (6-3) over 5 Notre Dame (8-1), 20-17 42-30
• 6 Baylor (8-0) over Kansas State (3-5), 49-24 31-24
• 7 Michigan State (8-1) over Nebraska (4-6), 35-28 39-38
• 14 Oklahoma State (9-0) over 8 TCU (8-1), 49-45 49-29
• 9 Iowa (9-0) over Indiana (4-5), 28-17 35-27
• 11 Stanford (8-1) over Colorado (4-6), 31-27 42-10
• Washington (4-5) over 12 Utah (8-1), 20-16 34-23
• 13 Memphis (8-1) over Navy (7-1), 27-21 45-20
• 15 Oklahoma (8-1) over Iowa State (3-6), 38-17 52-16
• 17 Michigan (7-2) over Rutgers (3-6), 27-10 49-16
• 21 Northwestern (7-2) over Penn State (7-3), 17-10 23-21
• 22 Temple (8-1) over SMU (1-8), 31-14 60-40
• 23 UCLA (7-2) over Oregon State (2-7), 38-13 41-0
• 24 Toledo (7-1) over Northern Illinois (6-3). 38-31 32-27
• 25 Houston (9-0) over Cincinnati (5-4), 34-28 33-30

Week 10 Record: 22-7 (76%)

Season Record: 215-54 (80%)