Blockbuster week will trim the field

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http://www.ajc.com/monday/content/epaper/e...82610000ad.html

Blockbuster week will trim the field

Tony Barnhart - Staff

Monday, September 11, 2006

One of the great things about college football is that several times a season we have a "Shakeout Saturday" when the entire national championship pecking order can be totally realigned in a weekend. This will be one of those Saturdays.

After Ohio State's impressive 24-7 win at No. 2 Texas, the Buckeyes are firmly set at No. 1 in the new polls and look like they could stay there the rest of the season. But who is really chasing Ohio State for No. 2? We'll know more soon.

LSU at Auburn 3:30 p.m., CBS

> What's at stake? The winner has the inside track for the SEC West title and will control its destiny in the national championship race.

> Backstory: Last year in Baton Rouge, La., Auburn missed five field-goal attempts and lost 20-17 in overtime. It broke Auburn's 13-game SEC winning streak and kept Tommy Tuberville's team out of the conference championship game in Atlanta.

Miami at Louisville 3:30 p.m., ABC regional

> What's at stake? Miami coach Larry Coker has been feeling the heat since the Hurricanes lost to Florida State on Sept. 4. A loss to Louisville on the road might make Miami start to unravel.

> Backstory: Louisville had Miami beat at the Orange Bowl in 2004, but Brock Berlin led a late comeback and the Hurricanes scored 20 points in the fourth quarter to escape 41-38. The Cardinals, who think they can get in the national championship race, even without Michael Bush, need to pull the upset.

Florida at Tennessee 8 p.m., CBS

> What's at stake? Used to be the winner of this game pretty much knew it was going to be in Atlanta. But since 2002, Georgia has been in the mix. Still, the winner here takes a huge step. Tennessee goes to Georgia on Oct. 7 while Florida plays the Bulldogs in Jacksonville on Oct. 28.

> Backstory: Based on Tennessee's impressive win over California on Sept. 2, this game looks a lot different than it did this summer. The Volunteers slopped their way to a 31-30 win over Air Force, but there is no question they were looking ahead. A win here would be the final confirmation that Tennessee is back.

Nebraska at Southern Cal 8 p.m., ABC

> What's at stake? USC, now No. 2 behind Ohio State, showed signs that it wants back in the BCS championship game by thumping Arkansas 50-14 in its opener. The Trojans would like to give the same sort of treatment to the visitors.

> Backstory: Bill Callahan is still looking for his signature victory at Nebraska in order to show Cornhuskers fans that he really can remake the football program into a national power. Nebraska is talking about taking as many as 40,000 fans to the Los Angeles Coliseum for Saturday night's game.

Michigan at Notre Dame 3:30 p.m., NBC

> What's at stake? Notre Dame did not take kindly to being dropped in the polls after a 14-10 win over Georgia Tech, so the Irish put a beatdown on Penn State, 41-14. If Notre Dame can beat the Wolverines and then win at Michigan State on Sept. 23, the Irish should be undefeated when they go to Southern Cal on Nov. 25.

> Backstory: Michigan was No. 3 last season when Notre Dame went to Ann Arbor, Mich., and won 17-10. Wolverines coach Lloyd Carr, whose team went 7-5 in 2005, is starting to feel some heat. A home win over Notre Dame would do a lot to calm his critics.

Oklahoma at Oregon 3:30 p.m., ABC regional

> What's at stake? Oregon (2-0) believes it is good enough to challenge Southern Cal in the Pac-10 and showed it Saturday, when the Ducks won 31-24 at Fresno State. A win at home against OU makes Mike Bellotti's team a player, at least in the Pac-10 race. Oklahoma, which struggled before putting away Washington on Saturday, wants desperately to be undefeated when it plays Texas in Dallas on Oct. 7.

> Backstory: These teams met in the Holiday Bowl in December, with the Sooners winning 17-14. Oregon has never beaten Oklahoma (0-6), but Autzen Stadium is one of the most difficult places to play for visitors in college football.

Texas Tech at TCU 5:30 p.m., OLN

> What's at stake? With all of the big games above, this game won't get talked about as much, but it's huge for TCU of the Mountain West, which has aspirations of earning an at-large bid to a BCS bowl. The Horned Frogs finished 11-1 last season and could have gone to the BCS if this year's rules had been in place. Conventional wisdom says that if TCU is going to trip up this season, it will be against the Red Raiders of the Big 12.

> Backstory: Mike Leach has had a number of great quarterbacks in his time at Texas Tech. Word out of Lubbock is that Graham Harrell might be the best of them all. Harrell completed 40 of 52 passes for 376 yards and two touchdowns as the Red Raiders needed overtime to beat UTEP (coached by Mike Price) 38-35 in overtime. This could be quite a shootout.

Clemson at Florida State 7:45 p.m., ESPN

> What's at stake? Clemson has to win, or the Tigers will be all but eliminated in the ACC Atlantic by mid-September. That is not what Tigers fans expected. Clemson has not won at Florida State since Tommy Bowden has been head coach. A Florida State win keeps the Seminoles in the national championship discussion.

> Backstory: Clemson is coming off a heartbreaking loss (34-33 to Boston College) while Florida State is coming off what could have been the worst loss in the Bobby Bowden era. FSU had to rally with two late touchdowns to beat Troy 24-17. Both teams are in the redemption mode, but only one will succeed.

BEST AND WORST OF THE WEEKEND: Eagles get it done at home for O'Brien

> Best win: Boston College's 34-33 win over Clemson in overtime moved Tom O'Brien into a tie with Joe Yukica as the winningest coach in school history with 68 victories. It was O'Brien's first win over a ranked team at home in his 10 years at Chesnut Hill.

> Worst loss: Last week after his team upset Colorado, Montana State coach Mike Kramer worried how his team would perform the following week against Division II Chadron State. Now we know why, as Chadron State won 35-24. "No matter how you write this thing, this game was a slap in the face," Kramer said.

> Best coaching move: Oregon was in a 24-24 dogfight at Fresno State when the Ducks lined up for a 21-yard field-goal attempt with 4:55 left. Coach Mike Bellotti called for a fake and kicker Paul Martinez scored to win the game 31-24.

> Worst coaching move: Akron scored on the last play of the game to take a 20-17 lead against N.C. State. There was some discussion about whether Akron running back Dennis Kennedy had gotten into the end zone. But N.C. State coach Chuck Amato could not challenge the play. He was out of timeouts. An unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty on N.C. State's go-ahead touchdown with 1:07 remaining gave Akron great field position to start the winning drive.

> Most-inspired performance: After its 35-18 loss to Tennessee on Sept. 2, California wanted desperately to prove that it wasn't that bad. The Golden Bears made their point in dominating Minnesota 42-17 on Saturday. "[The California players] knew that last week wasn't us," coach Jeff Tedford said. "Maybe now we can stop talking about it."

> Least-inspired performance: Florida State trailed Troy 3-0 at halftime and 17-10 with 11:12 to go Saturday night at Doak Campbell Stadium. They needed two touchdowns in the last 6:12 to avoid a nightmare loss.

BY THE NUMBERS

1: Erk Russell. There will never be another like him. Hope they've got some good cigars and some good dog tracks up there, Erk.

7: Number of plays that Syracuse ran inside the Iowa 2-yard line but failed to score. The Hawkeyes held on to win 20-13 in double overtime at the Carrier Dome without injured quarterback Drew Tate.

8: With Saturday's 41-17 loss to Notre Dame, Penn State has now lost eight straight games to ranked teams on the road.

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Are you kidding me I watched that game if that is all Oregon has then USC will win by 50.

What's at stake? Oregon (2-0) believes it is good enough to challenge Southern Cal in the Pac-10 and showed it Saturday, when the Ducks won 31-24 at Fresno State