WOW

There is no better way to describe the events of Saturday.

(I am going to add this here, I haven't been posting in a while because I no longer have internet access at my apartment, and I haven't found time to write during my spare time at work)

I can't believe the unbelievable situations which arose on Saturday; the plays, the calls, the comebacks, the improbable wins, the fact only one home team (out of the four games I am going to talk about) was the team which came back. This day, more than any other affirmed my love of college football and cemented it atop the pantheon of my favorite sports.

Just a rundown of the games (in case you missed it):

Wisconsin at Minnesota-

After being torched on the defensive side of the ball by Northwestern, you knew that Laurence Maroney would be liking his chops at the chance to face this squad. Both were 2-1, one game behind Penn State (who we will get to later) in the Big Ten standings, and on top of that, it was the battle for Paul Bunyan's Axe, so you knew the intensity would be there.

* By the way, did anyone else catch the openning segment when the announcer proclaimed "and of course, they are playing for Paul Bunyan's Axe. The legendary lumberjack who cut down many trees in this part of the country which eventually leg to the Grand Canyon." What? This was just the start, these two guys were horrible. I would have much rather listened to Bjork sing live in my apartment during this game than listen to these two guys.

It seemed as though Minnesota was going to have their way with the Badgers in the second half, especially after Maroney's 93 yard jaunt to the end zone in the third quarter. It seemed over when the Gophers took a 34-24 lead with just over 3 minutes to play. Then, John Stocco (who I am beginning to believe in) led the Badgers on a touchdown scoring drive which covered 71 yards in just 1:17 and ended when Stocco hit Brandon Williams with a 21 yard pass for the six, and the Badgers were only down 34-31. Add to that, a brutal 15 yard face mask penalty and suddenly the Badgers were going to be attempting an onside kick from the 50. For a moment, I forgot that I even had the Alabama game on the other tv and was glued to the procedings in the baggy monstrosity known as the Metrodome. After the ball was kicked from the tee and then kicked again, Minnesota was pinned inside their own 10 yards line. A great defensive stand and good use of the one timeout they had left led to the blocked punt (which he should have just kicked out of the end zone) and recovery for the touchdown. Badgers up 34-31, but with Maroney's game-breaking ability and the fact he had already rushed for a career high 258 yards against the Badgers, the game didn't quite seem over with :30 to play. Then it happened, a fumble on the kick-off and Wisconsin was one kneel down away from keeping the axe. Incredible finish to a good game. Now, the Badgers are 3-1 tied for the conference lead, with 0-3 in the conference Purdue coming to town and the Gophers are still one game back at 2-2, not out of the race yet, but plays a tough Ohio State team this weekend.

This was just the beginning.

Alabama at Mississippi-

The other game which was on in my apartment ended about 3 minutes after the Badger game did, so it was quite a flurry of activity for me to watch.

Apparently losing your top kick return man and only game breaking wide receiver will have quite an effect on your entire offense, as Alabama learned life without Tyrone Prothro will be tougher than expected.

(By the way, not only does Prothro hold the title for having the greatest catch I have ever seen in the game against Southern Miss, but he also now holds the title for having suffered the most horrendous injury I have ever seen, live or otherwise. If you missed him breaking his leg, you missed something which was indescribable. Theisman's break? Please. Prothro's leg looked like it was jointed half way down the shin as the lower half of his leg was swinging back and forth while he rolled on the ground.) Back to the post...

At 5-0, Alabama was looking to just get in and beat Ole Miss and get out with little problem. The Rebels had other plans and played right with the Crimson Tide until a 31 yard field goal from Jamie Christensen as time expired got the win for Alabama. A 13-10 win at Ole Miss, 6-0 overall, 4-0 and in first place in the SEC West, and Tennessee coming to town. That win was important as the Tide tries to get back to the SEC Title game.

Ole Miss played very well in trying to derail Alabama. They forced turnovers in key situations, basically shut down both Brodie Croyle (22/37 for 234, no touchdowns) and Kenneth Darby (20 for 100, 1 touchdown). Save for his 48 yard run for a touchdown, Darby was looking at 52 yards on 19 carries, not good by any means. Ole Miss' defense also forced 2 turnovers, including a fumble in the fourth quarter the first play after Alabama had forced a turnover and grabbed some momentum.

'Bama has a tough road ahead, but should be able to play well enough to set up a game in the Georgia Dome against Georgia for the SEC Title in December.

That took care of the morning games, but we still had Michigan/Penn State in the Big House, UCLA at Washington State for late night entertainment, Virginia hosting an improving and still undefeated Florida State team (isn't that scary, undefeated and improving?), and of course USC/Notre Dame.

Michigan vs. Penn State-

This was going to be the year that Penn State got back to the top, by winning out and becomming Big Ten Champions again. The freshmen were all playing well, senior quarterback Michael Robinson had the offense rolling and knocking people back, and Joe Paterno was mumbling his way through press questions. It was all there for the Nittany Lions, this was the year the happy returned to Happy Valley.

You knew the Lions were going to come back and score after Robinson converted that 4th and 7 run from Michigan's 39, and surely they weren't going to allow Michigan to drive down the field on them and score a touchdown after Robinson ran the ball in from 3 yards out with :53 left to make the score 25-21 Penn State, right?

We've learned over the years that strange and remarkable things happen when you play at Michigan, and this ending lived up to the classic endings of years prior. For a game that was 3-0 at halftime, the fourth quarter provided all the fire works and magic a shootout would have provided, which set up the improbable comeback win for the Wolverines. After Steve Breaston returned the insuing kickoff to midfield, Michigan fans started to believe. When they had first and goal from the ten yard line, they were cautiously optomistic, and when Chad Henne delivered a 10 yard strike to the back of the end zone with no time left, and the only player who was with in 2 yards of the ball was a perfectly positioned Mario Manningham who craddled the ball into his chest and covered it securely like he was holding onto a newborn, they were ecstatic. Michigan had come back to win, and salvaged their season.

Both teams still have a shot at the Big Ten Title, it will be a tough road for Michigan, but after the classic on Saturday, they believe, and so do I, in this league, anything is possible.

USC at Notre Dame-

Quite simply this was one of the best regular season college football games I have ever seen. Before this game, my top games looked something like this:

'94 Michigan vs. Colorado, '93 Wisconsin vs. Ohio State, '93 Notre Dame vs. Florida State, '02 Oklahoma vs. Texas, '03 Wisconsin vs. Ohio State (because I am a Wisconsin fan) and '05 Ohio State vs. Texas. Now, not only is '05 Michigan vs. Penn State on the list, but '05 Notre Dame vs. USC is on that list, where it ranks, I do not know, but it is there. Amazing, two games from the same weekend are on this list, it was a great weekend. Since I can't do any justice to how outstanding this game was, here's a sampling of some professional writers and how they felt about it:

Gene Wojciechowski
Bill Simmons
L.A. Times college football columns

Let me just say this about the game, how does Notre Dame drop 2 spots in the Harris poll after being beaten by the number 1 team in the country on a last second flop into the end zone? This baffles my mind. That and how the mighty Oregon Ducks are ahead of Notre Dame in the BCS standings, but that's for a different day.


So as not to bore you with too long of a post here, UCLA is a tough team. I watched their game against Cal and turned on the Washington State game as the Bruins were down 28-14. Eventually UCLA came back to win in ot on the strength of running back Maurice Drew and quarterback Drew Olsen. The Bruins scored 23 of the game's final 26 points, including 17 unanswered in the fourth quarter just to force the overtime. That UCLA/USC game at the end of the season is getting more and more intriguing by the day.

That's it for now. Hopefully I'll be back later in the week, but with limited internet access, you never know.

-Until next time...