College Football's Week: Regional Recaps Of Week Ten

Football's Week is a weekly series prepared by veteran observer Baby Tate.

THE MIDWEST

THE BEST: 1) Texas Tech 9–0, 2) Texas 8–1, 3) Oklahoma 8–1

The big game in the Lone Star State featured the high-performance offense of Texas Tech overhauling the Texas Longhorns, 39-33. This was one of the most eagerly anticipated match-ups of the season, and it didn't disappoint the fans.

The Longhorns have had happier days, like the cozy scene with co-eds from the 1959 season pictured above. However, the men from Austin can take great pride in the fact that they played well and gave a good account of Big 12 football to the nation.

Oklahoma, spent the weekend running up the score on Nebraska, 62-28. One has the feeling the Sooners could have scored over 80 points if Coach Bob Stoops had wished to pour it on. The Cornhuskers are a long way from returning to the upper echelon of the powerful Big 12 Conference.

Missouri, once left for dead, continued to make a case for being the best team in the Big 12 North by defeating Baylor, 31–28. Tiger quarterback Chase Daniel passed for 318 yards and three touchdowns to engineer the win in Waco.

Kansas tried to stay afloat in the Big 12 North by hammering rival Kansas State, 52–21. The bad loss for the Wildcats has led to rumors of Coach Ron Prince's departure from Manhattan.

Oklahoma State, looking more and more like one of the best teams in the country, made its pitch for a BCS Bowl selection by annihilating Iowa State 59–17. The Cowboys can further impress Bowl scouts with a road win over Texas Tech this weekend.

In Big 10 action, the game of the day was the thrilling battle between two conference heavyweights, Minnesota and Northwestern. The injury-riddled Wildcats took their act on the road, and with the help of an interception for a touchdown with 12 seconds remaining, upset the Golden Gophers 24–17.

Illinois and Iowa duked it out to the end with the Illini prevailing, thanks to some late game heroics by kicker Matt Eller, 27–24. The Spartans of Michigan State spotted the Badgers of Wisconsin the lead all day long but wound up with a 25–24 win.

Big East bad-boy Pittsburgh rambled into South Bend, Indiana to take on the Fighting Irish and after 60 minutes nothing was settled. The game went into the 4th overtime before the Panthers prevailed, 36–33. "We had our chances" lamented losing coach Charlie Weis of Notre Dame.

Across the Hoosier State, the Boilermakers of Purdue handed once–proud Michigan another loss, this one by the score of 48–42. The Chippewas of Central Michigan stepped out of the Mid–American Conference to handle Indiana, 37–34.

In the highly competitive MAC, Bowling Green battered the alma mater of Lou Holtz, Gary Pinkel, and Nick Saban–Kent State. The final score was 45–20 which means those three successful coaches better ante up to help the old school. 

Former Quarterback Ryan Leaf, now an assistant coach at West Texas A&M was overjoyed with his team's 59–9 victory over Northwestern State. He later found himself placed on indefinite suspension from the school after it was revealed he asked a player if "he could get me a painkiller". Another poor decision from the man who has given us so many through the years.

THE WEST

THE BEST: 1) Southern California 7-1, 2) Boise State 8–0, 3) Utah 9–0

One day Ty Wiilingham will look back at his career as a head coach with fond memories but, it is highly doubtful that Saturday's clash with the powerful Sou Cal Trojans will be part of a reflection of those times. Scoring any way they wished, the Men from Troy clobbered the Washington Huskies, 56–0.

"We have a lot of work to do" said the Husky Coach. Who can argue?

In another insult to the great Northwest, Stanford crushed Washington State, 58–0. Cal did their part by out-muscling Oregon, 26–16. That win sets up a big party with the Trojans and the Bears next week, with a lot of Bowl game scouts looking on.

Coach Mike Riley of Oregon State led his Beavers to a tension packed victory over Dennis Erickson and Arizona State, 27–25. Riley's coaching adjustments during the game were classic, no doubt learned at the knee of his college mentor, Paul Bryant.

Don't look now but, Oregon State controls its own destiny with the Rose Bowl since they have already defeated Southern Cal.

Brigham Young outscored Colorado State 45–42, Wyoming spun around the Aztecs of San Diego State 31–10, and the Utags of Utah State made local headlines with a 30–14 win over Hawaii.

THE DESERT REPORT: The highly touted Broncos of Boise State came to Las Cruces, looking to take on the New Mexico State Aggies. The seemingly-BCS bound Broncos held the home town Aggies to 150 yards of offense and won going away, 49–0.

Equally vaunted Utah showed up across state to take on the New Mexico Lobos. The desert air was not to the liking of the Utes as they were unimpressive in escaping, 13–10. 

Texas El Paso fought Rice to the final gun, surrendering 49–44 only after an onside kick to the Owls failed with a minute to play. Was the effort by the Miners enough to save besieged Coach Mike Price's job? Not likely.

THE EAST

THE BEST: 1) Penn State 9–0, 2) West Virginia 6–2, 3) Pittsburgh 6–2

The big game in the East was played on the banks of the Hudson River in an old fort known as West Point. The opponents? The Black Knights of The Army and The Falcons of The Air Force. The game was as good as advertised.

Coach Troy Calhoun of the fly-boys said afterward "I knew it was going to be like this. The Army has not allowed a lot of points to be scored, they fought their guts out and we did too".

It was the final home game for 44 Army seniors, and they didn't go quietly. The rugged defense held Air Force's No. 4 nationally ranked rushing offense to half its average. But, after a late questionable roughing the kicker penalty, The Army eventually fell, 16–7.

In another military related battle, The Navy outlasted Temple 33–27 in overtime.

People throughout upstate New York have grown impatient with the progress of the Syracuse Orange under beleaguered coach Greg Robinson. There had to be a lot of people double gulping their coffee on Sunday morning when they opened the newspaper and read Syracuse defeated Louisville, 28–21.

In other Big East action, West Virginia continued the long trek back to the top by disposing of Connecticut, 35–13. "We have it going now" chimed Mountaineer coach Bill Stewart who later added "Pat White is the greatest winner in college football today".

Clemson left the friendly confines of Death Valley for the historic sights of Beantown signaling an ACC battle with Boston College.The Tigers finally turned loose sensational running back C.J. Spiller and he destroyed the slow-moving Eagles with a 57-yard run and six catches for 105 yards.

Former Alabama wide receiver Dabo Swinney earned his first victory as head coach of Clemson with a hard earned 27–21 win. "How sweet it is," laughed a gleeful Swinney.

In the Ivy League Harvard smashed Dartmouth, 35–7, Brown disposed of Penn, 34–27, and Yale overwhelmed Columbia, 27–12.

THE SOUTH

THE BEST: 1) Alabama 9–0, 2) Florida 7–1, 3) Georgia 7–2

A funny thing happened to unbeaten Tulsa when the Golden Hurricane showed up to play Arkansas. Unable to handle the SEC size and speed of the Razorbacks early on, Coach Bobby Petrino of the Hogs seized the moment and came away with a monumental victory, 30–23.

South Carolina dominated Tennessee 27–6 as the powerful Gamecock defense held the Volunteers to 34 net rushing yards. Alabama ran away from Arkansas State 35–0, LSU trimmed cross-state rival Tulane 35–10, and Kentucky stung Sylvester Croom's Mississippi State Maroons, 14–13.  

The Florida–Georgia clash turned against the Bulldogs in the second half leading to a 49–10 Gator victory. In other SEC action, Ole Miss was simply too much for the primitive offense of Auburn, 17–7.

The big game in the ACC was settled when Georgia Tech handled Florida State 31–28. Wake Forest went into overtime to escape Duke, 33–30 while Virginia finally lost after four straight wins, taking it on the chin by seven points from Miami.

Southern Mississippi battered UAB 70–14 and Louisiana Tech surprised visiting Fresno State, 38–35 in other action from Dixieland.

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Texas Tech's brilliant quarterback Graham Harrell jumped to front of the Heisman Trophy race with a stunning performance of talent and leadership in the Red Raiders win over former No. 1 Texas.

Harrell completed 36 of 53 for 474 yards and two touchdowns, including a now legendary throw to All–American wideout Michael Crabtree for the winning touchdown with one second left.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Strong safety Brendan Smith of the Northwestern. The Wildcat defender intercepted a deflected pass from Minnesota quarterback Adam Weber and returned it for a touchdown with 12 seconds remaining to break a 17–17 tie. This game-changing play gave the Wildcats an upset victory over the Gophers in one of the most exciting games of the season.