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Thoughts from the bench
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As fast as many college football teams have climbed in the polls the past four weeks, it took only one game in week five for many of them to fall. And fall they did.
What really opened the floodgate of upsets on Saturday was No. 5 West Virginia’s loss to No. 18 South Florida on Friday, Sept. 28.
The Bulls showed they deserve a No. 6 ranking in the Associate Press poll and, once again, West Virginia showed that great offensive athletes can only carry a team so far.
Fast forward to Saturday, Sept. 29, and seven more of the nation’s top 25 teams were defeated. Most of them came in convincing fashion. This marked the first time since Oct. 12, 2003, that five of the top ten teams all lost in the same weekend.
The upset of the weekend had to come when the University of Colorado Buffs stunned the previously ranked No. 3 Oklahoma Sooners, on a last second field goal to eke out a three-point win.
Former Boise-boy Cody Hawkins led the courageous Buffalo comeback by steering them out of a 17-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
The win may have provided CU Head Coach Dan Hawkins with the big win he needed to get everyone believing in Buffalo football again. It also could have very well dashed the Sooners’ hopes of a national championship.
Other losing teams’ bowl hopes came crashing to a halt as well last weekend. Former No. 7 Texas took a tumble as Kansas State made a big statement for themselves with a 41-21 win over the Longhorns.
The other top-ten ranked team Florida, who seemed almost invincible, lost to unranked Auburn, 20-17. Florida was the No. 4 team in the country prior to Saturday.
Other notable losses on Saturday were No. 11 Oregon falling to No. 6 California, in a game which Oregon could have easily won. I steal feel that Oregon is a top team, despite losing.
The other notable loss came to the hands of No. 13 Clemson losing to Georgia Tech by a score of 13-3.
There were also some other top name programs that just barely dogged the bullet of jumping on the loser train.
Powerhouse Southern California squeaked out a win against the underrated Washington Huskies by three points.
The Trojans nearly lost to the Huskies, but a key interception grabbed by the Huskies in the fourth quarter was ruled off and USC survived another week staying unbeaten.
Another near tragedy was avoided by Wisconsin when they slid by Michigan State for a three-point win.
On another side note, University of Notre Dame continued its woes as it recorded its fifth loss in arow, losing to Purdue.
On a lighter note for all of the Notre Dame faithful, you have to encouraged that the fighting Irish were able to actually score a few touchdowns in the game.
Now Bronco fans had much less to worry about. Fortunately for BSU all the upsets play into the hands of Bronco’s top 25 fate.
If ranked teams keep dropping like flies in the next couple of weeks, and BSU continues to win its nationally televised games, we could see BSU crack the top 25 sooner than most people think.
What I’m hoping for is an upset of No. 16 ranked Hawaii to cap off the BSU season. But I’ve got to keep perspective.
After all, there are six weeks of football between now and then and we will have a much better idea of who the real winners and losers are come November.
MARY ALBL
Sports Writer