NCAA Week 9 Observations

• Miami starting QB Jacory Harris was knocked out of the game after being hit while throwing an interception in the second quarter.  They got their first win of the season against a team from a BCS conference. They have also beaten Richmond and VMI of the Championship Subdivision and Eastern Michigan.  Virginia's five interceptions matched its total in the first seven games combined.

• Syracuse has now won 4 true road games in a season for the first time since 1996.  The 6-2 start is their best since 2001, when they finished 10-3 -- the last time they had a winning record.  The Cincinnati loss is  its worst beating at home since a 38-0 loss to West Virginia in 2005.

• Chandler Harnish found Willie Clark with a 21-yard TD pass with 3:42 to play to lift the Huskies to their six straight victory, their longest winning streak since 2004.

•  Marcus Lattimore rushed for 184 yards and a TD as South Carolina won for the fifth time in its last 29 games vs. Tennessee. Lattimore has 13 TDs this season, tied for the fifth-most by a freshman in SEC history. His 13 TDs are three shy of the South Carolina single-season record.  The Gamecocks are 5-0 at home this season. Tennessee is 0-5 in the SEC. It's the first time the Volunteers have lost their first five conference games of a season since 1977. 

• Temple won its 10th straight home game to tie a school record and posted back-to-back shutouts for the first time since blanking Connecticut and Xavier during the 1971 season.

• San Diego State is now eligible for a bowl for the first time since 1998 when the Aztecs played North Carolina in the Las Vegas Bowl. Its six wins this season surpass its win total in any of the last six seasons.

• The loss by Notre Dame gives the current senior class 26 losses, the most in a four-year span at the school since 1900. Tulsa's win over Notre Dame was the Golden Hurricane's 1st over a BCS-AQ team since beating Iowa in 1996.   It was Notre Dame's first loss to a current member of Conference USA since SMU (then a member of the Southwest Conference) beat the Irish in the 1984 Aloha Bowl.  Tulsa's Damaris Johnson returned a punt 59 yards for TD and is 25 yards shy of becoming Conference USA's all-time leader in kickoff return yards. 

• Arizona improved to 7-1 this season and will enter November with fewer than two losses for the first time since 1998.  

• It was the first game between Florida and Georgia with both teams unranked since 1979.  The Gators have won 18 of the last 21 games in the series. The loss snapped Georgia's three-game win streak.  

•   Baylor ended a 12-game losing streak against Texas and won its first game at Texas since 1991.  Baylor QB Robert Griffin III broke the school record for career passing TDs with 39.  Texas has lost three straight home games in a season for the first time since 1997. 

• Stanford beat Washington for the third straight time. That hasn't happened since Stanford won 10 straight from 1967-76.  This was Stanford's first road shutout since beating Oregon 17-0 in 1974.  The Cardinal is 7-1 for the first time since 1970 when they started 8-1. Stanford's defense shut out Washington at home for the first time since 1976

College Basketball Preview: America East

Yup, it's that time of year again!  College basketball season.  Like football, I'll be doing previews.  For basketball, however, I'll be doing conference previews with a small preview of the colleges in that conference.  I'm going to start with the smaller conferences alphabetically and work my way to the big conferences when I get closer to the season.  So here we go...

Albany:  The Danes will be led by their backcourt in the 2010-2011 season.  Three starters, led by Tim Ambrose and Mike Black, return for a team that hasn't made the NCAA Tournament since 2007.  The team returns just three upperclassmen (two seniors), so the team will be relatively young.  They will look for many newcomers to make an immediate impact.

Binghamton: The Bearcats are still trying to remove the shadow of a scandal that took place when former coach Kevin Broadus used some shady methods in recruiting athletes to play at Binghamton.  Greer Wright, who was a first-team all-conference selection, returns after averaging 15 points and six rebounds.  Moussa Camara, who averaged nearly 11 points per game, also returns to take some of the pressure off of Wright.

Boston University: To say the Terriers will be relatively known until the middle of the season would be an understatement.  Despite returning three starters, the team welcomes 11 newcomers, including three transfers, two of whom (Patrick Hazel and Matt Griffin) might be starters from Day 1.  Boston returns last years' America East scoring leader in John Holland, who will look to become a three-time all-conference first-team selection, as well as just the second 2,000 point scorer in team history; he currently has 1,558 points.

Hartford: Hartford is hoping that bringing back all five starters will help them improve on last year's 8-22 record.  New coach John Gallagher's motion offense will suit this team greatly, as two of their starters, Joe Zeglinski and Mogan Sabia are tops and third in career three-pointers at Hartford, respectively.

Maine:  Maine brings back four starters and a boat load of experience from last year's squad that finished third in conference.  The returnees are led by Gerald McLemore, who garnered all-conference first-team honors last season, after knocking down 102 three-pointers.  Sean McNally returns to man the paint after averaging 10 points and seven rebounds per game.

New Hampshire:  The Wildcats return three senior starters for a team that is looking for its first winning record since 1994-95.  Alvin Abreu comes back after averaging 14 points per game and Tyrone Conley, who averaged 12 points per game, returns to anchor the backcourt.  The frontcourt will be made up of Dane DiLiegro, Ferg Myrick and Brian Benson.

Stony Brook: In 11 years of Division I basketball, the Seawolves have qualified for a postseason tournament once, in 2010 (NIT). However, last year's regular season champs are hoping to make that step up and go to the NCAA's. The team returns four starters, including sharp-shooter Bryan Dougher.  Tommy Brenton, last year's league rebounding champion, returns to anchor an experienced frontcourt.  The team's lone starter lost from last year, however, was the league's Player of the Year, Muhammad El-Amin.

UMBC:  The team is coming off of the program's worst season (4-26) and lost three starters and their sixth man from last year's squad.  Point guard Chris De La Rosa will be the team leader after averaging nearly 12 points and five assists per game.  If the team is able to come up with a decent frontcourt, the team has a chance of surprising some teams.

Vermont:  Last year's conference champs might take a big step back from last year after losing four starters.  One interesting aspect of this year's squad is that 10 of the players are 6'6 or taller.  The Catamounts will look for Evan Fjeld, who shot better that 65 percent, scored nearly 11 points per game and six rebounds per game, to lead this year's squad.  They will look to UMass transfer Matt Glass to provide more of a scoring punch. 

College Football Week 8 Observations

• Oregon just continues to impress everybody.  The team is averaging 55 points per game, tops in the nation.  In four home games this season, the Ducks are averaging 63 points per game, while giving up 11.  They have outscored their opponents with 33 touchdowns to five, are averaging 649 yards per game to their opponents' 263 and rushing for more than seven yards per carry, compared to 2.8

• With its win over West Virginia, Syracuse is 5-2 for the first time since 2001. West Virginia's 12-game home winning streak came to an end -- it was its longest home win streak since a 12-game run from 1987-89.  Syracuse threw for 63 yards but ended its eight-game losing streak vs. West Virginia.

• It seems as if nobody wants to be the top-ranked team in the nation this year.  According to the BCS standings, Oklahoma came into this weekend's game against Missouri as the top team.  But just as Alabama and Ohio State, the top-ranked teams the past two weeks, the Sooners couldn't escape Columbia without a loss.  For the third time in the BCS era, the team that debuts as No. 1 in initial BCS Standings loses that same week. The Sooners were involved in all 3 games. Sunday will mark the 5th time in the BCS era that we will have a new No. 1 in week 2 of the BCS standings. In 1998 (UCLA) and 2005 (USC), the No. 1 team dropped without losing.

• It was a weekend of firsts for Missouri.  For the first time ever, ESPN College GameDay was in Columbia.  Coach Gary Pinkel won his first game against either Oklahoma or Texas (he had been 0-7 against OU).  The fans helped the school skyrocket to the top of three GameDay lists: most people ever on the Saturday morning (18,000), most people ever on the Friday taping (2,000-3,000) and the most signs the crew had seen.  But this win was more than just a win over the Sooners.  It was one for the past, present and future of Tiger Nation.

• Kirk Cousins threw for a season-high 331 yards and three touchdowns, and Michigan State rallied to beat Northwestern 35-27 and remain unbeaten on Saturday. Playing out of state for the first time this season, the Spartans scored 28 points in another strong second half.  Coach Mark Dantonio was back on the sideline after working the previous two games from the press box following his mild heart attack last month.

• Saturday's 49-0 win over Purdue is the largest shut out victory for Ohio State against the Boilermakers. It is the 12th time Ohio State has shut out Purdue, and first time since 1995 when the Buckeyes won 28-0.  Last year in a loss to Purdue, Terrelle Pryor had 221 pass yards, a TD and 2 int. In the FIRST HALF, he had 270 pass yards and 3 TD

• Alexander Robinson rushed for 119 yards and two scores as Iowa State held on for its first win over Texas.  Texas is 4-3 and would need to win the Big 12 championship game or bowl game to extend its 10-win season streak to 10 straight. 

• Illinois is within two wins of qualifying for a bowl game and ending their two-year bowl drought.  A bowl might be good enough to save coach Ron Zook's job

• Navy has won three of the last four vs. Notre Dame after losing its previous 43 vs. the Irish dating back to 1964.  Navy's 18-pt win is its largest over Notre Dame since the Midshipmen won by 21 47 years ago. The largest is 21, a 35-14 win in 1963. That was the last win before a 43-game losing streak to Notre Dame that ended in 2007.

• Arkansas won in a game that took nearly five hours thanks to two lightning delays. Arkansas back Knile Davis ran for a career-high 176 yards and three TDs.  Houston Nutt failed to beat his old team for the first time in three tries.  The Razorbacks are 9-2 all-time vs. Ole Miss in Fayetteville and continued their best start under Bobby Petrino (5-2).  

• Cam Newton had 217 yards rushing. It is his 5th game with at least 170 yards rushing, passing Bo Jackson (1985) for the most such games in a season in Auburn history.  Auburn gashed LSU on the ground Saturday, running for 440 yards. That is the most allowed in a single-game in LSU history. The old record was 422 by Mississippi State in 1991.  LSU was 1st in the SEC and 6th in the nation in rush defense, allowing 83.6 YPG.  

• Taylor Martinez set career highs with 323 passing yards and five TDs and rushed for 112 more yards in the Cornhuskers' shootout win. Martinez entered the game with three passing TDs in six games and matched that total by halftime.  Niles Paul caught nine of Martinez's passes for 131 yards and added a 100-yard kickoff return TD.  A week after being held to 202 total yards in a loss to Texas, the Cornhuskers rolled up 540 yards vs. Oklahoma State and improved to 6-1 on the season and 2-1 in the Big 12.  Nebraska ended a 17-game road losing streak vs. AP top-20 teams.

• Baylor became bowl eligible for the first time since joining the Big 12, beating Kansas State 47-42 Saturday night.  Baylor hasn't been to a bowl game since 1994, which is tied for the longest active drought among BCSIII's record of 225 yards against Washington St. in 2008) and added two touchdowns.  The loss was the first for Kansas State against Baylor under Bill Snyder (previously 4-0). 

• John Clay ran for 91 yards and two touchdowns and Montee Ball scored the winner with just over a minute left for Wisconsin. It was the Badgers second straight win over a ranked team, the first time they've done that since 2004 (beat No. 1 Ohio State last week).  Iowa lost for the third time at home in its last 19 games despite Ricky Stanzi's 258-yard, three-TD performance.  The Hawkeyes were first in the nation in scoring defense entering last week's game but have allowed 58 points since.  Wisconsin ended a two-game losing streak to Iowa and evened the all-time series 42-42-2 as they won back the Heartland Trophy.  

• Stanford is 6-1 for the first time since 1970, marking just the third time since World War II that Stanford has won six of its first seven games.  Washington State dropped to 0-5 in Pac-10 play, its 14th consecutive conference loss and 22nd in its last 23rd such games. 

•  Utah won its 21st straight home game. That's the third longest active streak in the nation. The Utes ran their record to 7-0 for the third time in the last seven years.  Utah RB Matt Asiata ran for two TDs as the Utes piled up 648 yards of total offense.  Colorado State has lost 12 straight against ranked teams. The Utes have rung up 50 points or more four times in their last five games.  

• Western Kentucky snapped the nation's longest losing streak on Saturday, beating Louisiana-Lafayette 54-21 on Saturday.  The Hilltoppers, in their second year as a member of the Football Bowl Subdivision, had lost 26 straight games for the longest loss streak among all NCAA divisions. 

• South Carolina won for the ninth time in its last 11 games in Nashville.  Vandy fell to 1-10 in its last 11 homecoming games. Its last win was 2002 vs. Connecticut. 

• Mississippi State clinched bowl eligibility. It has not been to a bowl game since 2007.  The Bulldogs have won five straight games in a single season for the first time since 1999 and are 4-0 in nonconference games for the first time since 1990.  UAB fell to 2-15 all-time vs. SEC teams. The Blazers have had four games decided by five points or fewer this season and are 1-3 in those games.  

• Jerrod Johnson broke Texas A&M's career record for total offense.  With 139 yards passing and 28 rushing, he raised his career total to 8,888 yards, snapping the record of 8,876 Reggie McNeal compiled from 2002-05.  The Jayhawks have been outscored in their last three games 159-24.

• TCU surrendered its first conference touchdown on the season. 

Week 7 College Football Observations

   For seven weeks, we have been waiting for the so called "Upset Saturday."  Well this past Saturday, we all got what we have been waiting for: seven Top 25 teams were knocked off by opponents either ranked lower than them or not ranked at all.  The latter was the case in six of the seven upsets.

• For the second week in a row, the top-ranked team in the nation lost, this time Ohio State losing to Wisconsin on the Badgers' Homecoming date, 31-18.  Wisconsin hadn't defeated a No. 1 since 1981, when the Badgers knocked off Michigan 21-14. For Ohio State, its national title hopes are in critical condition after a third straight loss as the No. 1 team in the country. The last two came in the 2007 season, to Illinois in the regular season and in the BCS title game to LSU. That season was also the last time No. 1 in the AP poll lost in consecutive weeks.

•  Florida lost consecutive home games for the first time since 2003 and dropped three in a row for the first time since the Steve Spurrier era. Urban Meyer has accomplished something that former coach Ron Zook never did. Mississippi State won in Gainesville for the first time since 1965. They snapped a 16-game losing streak at Florida Field.  It is the first time since 2004 that the Gators have not been ranked.

• Kansas State quarterback Carson Coffman completed 15 passes in 16 attempts Thursday in the Wildcats' 59-7 romp at Kansas. That 93.8 completion percentage is the best among FBS players this season (min. 15 attempts). Kansas lost 55-7 to Baylor last week and 59-7 to Kansas State tonight. Kansas has been playing football since 1890. Only once before in school history have they have allowed at least 55 points in consecutive games. In 1988 they lost 63-24 to Oklahoma State on November 12 and 55-17 to Missouri on November 19.

• Missouri has allowed 65 points this season, including a shutout last week and nine points Saturday. That's the Tigers fewest through six games since 1973, when they allowed 49.  It was the first time since 1967 that Missouri had held conference opponents scoreless for six straight quarters.  Missouri is 6-0 for just the third time in the last 50 years and fifth ever.

• The Texas defense held Nebraska to 202 yards as the Longhorns beat the Huskers for the ninth time in 10 games since joining the Big 12. Nebraska ran for 125 yards. It was averaging over 337 yards a game on the ground entering Saturday, which ranked second in the nation. Texas ran for 209 yards. It averaged less than 130 on the ground entering the game.  Nebraska had not trailed all season.  Counting sacks, QB Garrett Gilbert entered with 19 career rushing yards. He had 51 in the 1st quarter

• Eastern Michigan head coach Ron English gets his 1st win. He started his career losing 18 straight games before finally winning on Saturday in overtime at Ball State.  The Eagles trailed 28-7 in the second quarter, before scoring 28 unanswered points

• Colorado State ended a 10-game conference losing streak with a 43-10 victory over UNLV on Saturday.

• Auburn QB Cam Newton over 100 yards rushing for the 4th time in 7 games this season.  In that same game, Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett left the game with a  concussion

• Matt Barkley passed for 352 yards and a school record-tying five touchdowns, and Southern California roared to a 42-point halftime lead while snapping its first losing streak in nine years with a 48-14 victory against California on Saturday. Cal hasn't won at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in a decade. USC hadn't lost back-to-back games since early in 2001, former coach Pete Carroll's first season. The Trojans' dominant performance brightened a gloomy, gray day at the Coliseum, where USC had lost three of its past five games after a 47-1 stretch.

• Iowa won in Ann Arbor for the first time since 2002 despite allowing three fourth-quarter touchdowns.  The Hawkeyes allowed more than seven points for the second time this season. Rich Rodriguez fell to 2-8 against AP top 25 teams as Michigan coach. 

• SMU ended up losing its 20th consecutive nonconference road game, a streak that began after a win against Navy in 1998.

• Justin Blackmon had a career-high 207 yards receiving with a touchdown for Oklahoma State, who beat Texas Tech 34-17 on Saturday for its first win in Lubbock since 1944.  Oklahoma State is 6-0 for the second time in three seasons. The Cowboys won their first seven games in 2008 before losing four of their last six. It was the first time the road team has won in this series since 2001 when the Red Raiders won in Stillwater.

• Ross Jenkins threw for three touchdowns and ran for another, and Louisiana Tech had 678 yards of offense in a 48-35 win over Idaho on Saturday. The Bulldogs needed their fifth-highest offensive total in school history as the Vandals totaled 526 offensive yards. 

• Kentucky had its first win over a ranked team since beating then-No. 1 LSU in 2007.  South Carolina's win over Alabama last week was the seventh win at home by a team ranked outside of the top 10 over a conference opponent ranked No. 1. The Gamecocks became the fourth straight such team to lose the following Saturday.

• T.J. Yates threw for three touchdowns and North Carolina won for the first time since 1981 at Scott Stadium, beating Virginia 44-10 Saturday night.

•  North Texas is on their fourth starting quarterback of the season, after Chase Baine had to replace Riley Dodge two weeks ago.  Dodge recently had surgery to insert a screw in his broken wrist.

• The San Diego State Aztecs beat a ranked team for the first time since defeating No. 16 Wyoming 28-24 on Nov. 7, 1996. Since then, they'd lost 25 straight games to ranked opponents. Overall, SDSU is 6-55 against ranked teams dating to 1973.

• San Jose State was outgained 537-80 by Boise State on the night, the fewest yards in a game for the Spartans since also getting 80 in a 13-12 win Stanford in 1971. The Broncos have the nation's longest active win streak at 20 straight games. They've also won 16 straight road games, 18 straight conference games, and 31 straight regular season games. All of their marks are the longest active streaks in the nation. 

• Alabama has won 10 straight home games vs. Ole Miss. It's 24-1 overall in Tuscaloosa against the Rebels.  

• After an upset loss at Hawaii, Nevada remains winless at Hawaii since joining the WAC in 2000, falling to 0-6 and hasn't won at Hawaii since 1948