Rosenbaum's Rousers: College Football Week #4

In my opinion, nothing can match the passion, tradition, and pageantry of college football. There are always particular games, plays and players that "rouse" us for various reasons. It may be a shocking upset. You might have seen a play that you've never witnessed before. Or it could be that you saw an individual performance that captivated your attention. Whatever the case may be, you have to love the uncertainty and exhilarating thrill of college football. This is unless of course you're on the losing end of one of these major upsets or great games, OR perhaps were victimized by a particular unorthodox play or outstanding individual performance, OR had a major speed bump thrown in your team's path by a severe injury to a key player.

Each week, I will note a few of the things that "roused" me and demanded my attention from the previous weekend's action.

Yellow Jackets’ Calvin Johnson stings UVA

Georgia Tech’s Calvin Johnson, who is recognized as one of the nation’s premier receivers, stung the Virginia Cavaliers before a national television audience on ESPN on Thursday night. Johnson hauled in six receptions for 165 yards and two touchdowns, which were 58 and 66 yards, respectively. On each of those plays, the Wahoos had made the mistake of trying to play single coverage on him. Johnson was entering the game with a sore quadriceps in his left leg and wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to play, but I’d say that he played and faired pretty well.

Freshman QB Joe Cox helps save #9 UGA against Hawkins’ winless Buffs

No. 9 Georgia was trailing winless Colorado 13-0 after three quarters, but Bulldog freshman quarterback Joe Cox provided a much-needed offensive spark that allowed UGA to survive “between the hedges”. Cox, who replaced starter Matthew Stafford at the end of the third quarter, completed 10 of 13 passes for 154 yards and two touchdowns in slightly over a quarter of work. The second of his two touchdown passes, a 20-yarder to Martrez Milner with only 46 seconds remaining, tied the game prior to the game winning PAT.

The Bulldogs have likely found themselves a new starting quarterback.

Despite the loss, Dan Hawkins’ and his 0-4 Buffs played what was by far their best game of the season.

Kicking woes for Bama turn “Tide” toward Arkansas in Hogs’ OT win

The Crimson Tide had a couple opportunities to “roll” in regulation and overtime, but was unable to do so due to missed kicks. Place-kicker Leigh Tiffin suffered a nightmare of a day as he missed three field goals and an extra point. After missing two field goals in regulation, Tiffin missed a 37-yarder in the first overtime that would have won it. Bama then scored on its possession in the second overtime, but Tiffin would miss the PAT. Arkansas took advantage of the opportunity as they scored and proceeded to make their extra point to win 24-23.

Dramatic Debut: Daniel Evans helps Wolfpack upset #20 Boston College

Daniel Evans and the Wolfpack were on the verge of a 1-3 start, but they pulled out a exhilarating 17-15 win over No. 20 Boston College when the new starting quarterback found John Dunlap for a 34-yard touchdown with eight seconds left.

The Wolfpack’s winning drive started at their own 28 with only 46 seconds left to play.

Evans finished the game 15 of 31 for 179 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

4-0: Wake Forest is off to its best start since 1987

Wake Forest moved to 4-0 with its most impressive win of the season, a 27-3 victory at Ole Miss, on Saturday. The Deacons, who had already lost QB Benjamin Mauk for the season in the opener versus Syracuse, were playing without RB Micah Andrews. De’Angelo Bryant stepped up, as he ran for 105 yards and a touchdown. As a team, Wake rushed for 240 yards. They only threw five passes in the entire game, as 53 of their 58 plays were running ones.

Wake’s defense was just as impressive, holding Ole Miss to 237 yards of total offense and only 26 on the ground.

The Deacs have an excellent chance to improve to 5-0 on Saturday, as the I-AA Liberty Flames will come to Groves Stadium. This would tie them with the 1987 team, which opened the season with five straight wins.

Jim Grobe’s work is finally showing up on the scoreboard in Winston-Salem. The Deacs have been close the past two or three years and this appears as though it may be the year that they finally get back to a bowl game (and possibly more).

Lobos surprise Miners: New Mexico takes it to UTEP, again, in Albuquerque

The last time UTEP visited Albuquerque, New Mexico was in 2001 when the Miners were defeated 26-6 by the Lobos. Once again, UTEP entered as the favorite, but was shut down by UNM. The Lobos, who lost to I-AA Portland State in their season opener, held the potent UTEP offense to four first downs and 83 yards of total offense in the first half. The Miners once again struggled rushing the ball, totaling only 24 yards on 15 carries in the half. The 26-3 deficit was too much to overcome.

Fighting Irish: ND shows fight in come from behind win over Spartans

No. 12 Notre Dame looked down and out against Michigan State in East Lansing on Saturday. The Irish could not slow down the Spartans, and to make matters worse, they also couldn’t generate hardly any offense. The Irish trailed 17-0 after the first quarter and then 31-14 at the half. They were also trailing by 16 at 37-21 with slightly less than eight and a half minutes remaining; however, in those last eight minutes and change, they would score 19 unanswered points to win 40-37.

Following a rough start, Brady Quinn and the Irish offense finished strong. Quinn finished the day throwing for 319 yards and five touchdowns, while Samardzija and Carlson had 100-plus yard receiving days with 113 and 121, respectively.

However, it was via a defensive touchdown that UND took the lead and then once again, sealed the game. Terrail Lambert picked off Michigan State quarterback Drew Stanton twice. The first one was a pick-six, as he returned it 27 yards to give UND a 39-37 lead prior to the extra point.

#19 Tigers ground attack “Tars” Heels

Clemson, fresh off a thrilling win at Florida State, ran for 324 yards and seven touchdowns in its 52-7 victory over North Carolina on Saturday. Sophomore star James Davis had four of those scores, while leading the Tigers with 95 yards on 15 carries.

#1 Buckeyes use late defensive TDs to survive Nittany Lions at “The Shoe”

With just under three minutes remaining, No. 1 Ohio State’s ten-game win streak was still in jeopardy. The Buckeyes led by only eight at 14-6, but then the defense rose to the challenge. OSU would pick off two Anthony Morelli passes, both of which they would return for touchdowns. Malcolm Jenkins returned the first 61 yards, while Antonio Smith returned his 55 yards. OSU survived the PSU scare, 28-6.

Boilermakers off to quiet 4-0 start after defeating Golden Gophers, 27-21

Not much, whether rightfully so or not, has been made of Purdue’s 4-0 start. Regardless, the Boilers are perfect thus far. The schedule has not been overly challenging as PU had faced Indiana State, Miami (OH), and Ball State. All four of their games have been in West Lafayette. They also needed a second half comeback to beat Indiana State (60-35) and then overtime to beat Miami (OH) (38-31). Joe Tiller’s squad is averaging nearly 41 points per game, but their much-maligned defense is allowing nearly 29 each time out.

One thing is certain; the Boilermakers will be tested this week because they travel to South Bend to take on Charles Weis’ Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Snap, block, hold, kick: Navy loses to Tulsa, 24-23, in overtime on blocked PAT

Alabama wasn’t the only team to lose in overtime on a failed extra point. After playing an excellent, see-saw football game that included three ties and lead changes, Tulsa won on a blocked extra-point attempt. Navy scored on its first play of its possession in OT with a 25-yard touchdown pass from Brian Hampton to O.J. Washington.

Croom’s Bulldogs breakthrough and take a bite out of Blazers in Birmingham

It wasn’t pretty, but I can promise you that Sylvester Croom and his Mississippi State Bulldogs were happy to get it anyway they could. MSU, who had lost their first three games (all of which were at home), broke through to get their first win of the season on Saturday at UAB. The Bulldogs clinched the 16-10 win in overtime when quarterback Omarr Conner jumped across the goal line. MSU had stopped UAB on its overtime possession by picking off Chris Williams’ pass into the end zone.

I-AA Bison blitz Ball State in fourth to win 29-24

North Dakota State trailed Ball State, 24-16, through three quarters. The Bison were able to score 13 unanswered in the fourth quarter to upset the Cardinals from the Mid-American Conference. NDSU quarterback Steve Walker completed 29 of 46 attempts for 451 yards and three touchdowns.

Ball State quarterbacks, Joey Lynch and Nate Davis, combined to throw for 399 yards on an 18 of 32 performance between the two of them.

Black Knights pull upset over Baylor

A week after losing a heartbreaker to Texas A&M in San Antonio’s Alamo Dome, Bobby Ross’ Army Black Knights returned to Texas and this time defeated Baylor in overtime, 27-20.

Against Texas A&M, Army freshman running back Tony Moore was stopped six yards shy of the end zone. This week, he was responsible for converting a huge fourth down in overtime prior to his four-yard touchdown run.

Where there is a “Willingham”, there is a way

The Washington Huskies and coach Tyrone Willingham collected a big PAC-10 win on Saturday when they defeated UCLA, 29-19, in Seattle. UW is now 3-1 and has posted back-to-back impressive wins against quality opponents in Pat Hill’s Fresno State Bulldogs and Karl Dorrell’s UCLA Bruins.

#25 Broncos hurdle Rainbow Warriors on the blue turf

Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan completed 25 of 36 passes for 388 yards and five touchdowns, but Jared Zabransky, Ian Johnson and the 25 th ranked Boise State Broncos survived, 41-34.

Zabransky threw for 273 yards and three touchdowns, while workhorse Ian Johnson totaled 178 yards and two touchdowns.

The Broncos have now won 48 of their last 50 games on their famous blue turf.

#11 Virginia Tech uses 17 4th quarter points to beat Bearcats

Frank Beamer and his 11 th ranked Hokies got a test from the Cincinnati Bearcats on Saturday, but Tech used 17 fourth period points to win 29-13 after trailing 13-12 following three quarters. The Hokies rode Brandon Ore to the win. Ore had 170 yards on 25 carries. Quarterback Sean Glennon only completed 11 of 23 passes on the day.