Both undefeated Michigan and Missouri saw their national championship hopes evaporate this week as the tough Iowa Hawkeyes dug in at home to crush the Spartans, 37-6, and the equally defensive Nebraska Cornhuskers defeated the visiting Missouri Tigers, 31 – 17

When you add additional Miami-FL losses to Virginia, 24-19, and Florida State to North Carolina State, 28-24, then 4 of the 6 AP Top 25 teams with road games this week lost.

Away games are never easy, and when you have a target on your back like an undefeated team and/or a top-ranked team, away games are even more dangerous for away teams.

The Michigan State Spartans, who put their perfect 8-0 record on the line, never had a chance against Iowa. The Hawkeyes’ first possession resulted in an 80-yard drive followed by a field goal followed by Tyler Sash intercepting a Kirk Cousins’ pass on Iowa 28 and returning the ball to teammate Micah Hyde, who ran for 66 yards for the interception return. and an impressive score.

The result was a 17-0 lead that led to a 30-zip halftime lead. Michigan State came from behind to beat both Illinois and Northwestern in the last two weeks, but Iowa controlled both lines of attack.

Cousins ​​would throw 3 interceptions, and the Hawkeyes held the Spartans’ powerful running game to 31 yards. Iowa simply dominated all three phases of the game: offense, defense and special teams.

Coach Kirk Ferentz’s win was the biggest against a ranked team in his 12 seasons in Iowa. AP Top 25 poll voters were unimpressed with the Spartans’ performance, dropping them from 5th to 16th in the standings, this even though Iowa was ranked 18th upon entry; the Hawkeyes moved up three places to 15th place now. MSU is now 8-1 and Iowa is 6-2.

Missouri was 7-0 and ranked seventh before reaching Nebraska. The Tigers’ scoring defense ranked fifth nationally, giving up just 13 points per game, but it was Nebraska’s defense — and offense — that showed up.

The 14th-ranked Cornhuskers scored early and often.

Roy Helu ran 66 yards for a score, Alex Henery added a 41-yard field goal, Kyler Reed caught a 40-yard touchdown pass from Taylor Martinez and Roy Helu ran for another 73-yard touchdown run. Suddenly, Nebraska was up 24-zip before the Missouri Tigers realized they were in a football game.

Helu, a 6-foot, 220-pound senior, would score on another 53-yard rush to set a school record of 307 rushing yards on 28 carries (10.96 yards per carry) while scoring 3 touchdowns.

Taylor Martinez, Nebraska’s rookie quarterback, would walk away with a bruised right leg in the second quarter after going 6-for-9 for 115 yards and Kyler Reed’s touchdown.

Missouri, like Michigan State, had a great run, and now reality has set in. Missouri dropped down the rankings from 7th to 14th place, and Nebraska moved up from 14th to 9th place – winners take the spoils.

Note that Nebraska is not a push.

The Cornhuskers are much more balanced than viewers across the country believe. They rank 12th nationally in scoring offense, 16th in scoring defense, 17th in total offense, and 19th in total defense.

Nebraska doesn’t play an easy schedule like second-ranked Boise State (7-0), fourth-ranked TCU (9-0) and sixth-ranked Utah (8-0), none of which are probably as good. like your records. might suggest. Nebraska’s calendar strength is currently 34th nationally, Boise State’s is 74th, TCU’s is 72nd and Utah’s is 98th.

Now there are only 5 undefeated teams left: Auburn and TCU are 9-0, Oregon and Utah are 8-0, and Boise State is 7-0.

Florida State, which had worked so hard to go 6-1 and move up to 16th in the standings, lost to 39th-ranked North Carolina, 28-24. The Seminoles won the first half 21-7 and the Wolfpack won the second half, 21-3. Credit the upset to NC State’s Russell Wilson and Nate Irving.

QB Wilson was 18 of 28 (64%) for 178 yards and a touchdown, also scoring 3 touchdowns on runs of 1, 10 and 20 yards. Wilson threw a 1-yard TD to George Bryan with 2:40 left, and Irving, playing through soreness from a thumb injury early in the quarter, pounced on a fumble with 48 seconds remaining and Florida State was ready. to score and win. the game at the Wolfpack 9-yard line.

Both Florida State and North Carolina State are now 6-2, and the Wolfpack now has a chance to win an Atlantic Coast Conference division title and an ACC championship game.

The loss of the 22nd-ranked Miami Hurricanes to 94th-ranked Virginia was truly humbling, and it caused Miami to make a big jump out of the AP poll.

The Virginia Cavaliers were in no mood to mess around in this contest, taking a 14-zip lead at the half, watching Miami with 19 points in the fourth quarter and still winning 24-19. The Cavaliers were helped tremendously by a big hit on Miami quarterback Jacory Harris, leaving him on the turf for several minutes before leaving the game.

“When you take a giant’s head off, the rest of the body goes with it,” said defensive tackle John-Kevin Dolce, who grappled with Harris’s chest just as he threw a pass and sent it flying. You call a hit like that, hurting for sure. At the very least, Dolce’s quote should appear on Hurricane’s dressing room wall for the next season. Sounds like fighting words to me.

After the vicious hit, the Virginia high school posted a school record 5 interceptions with Harris’s replacements.

The top eight ranked teams went about business as usual, outscoring their opponents by at least 20 points to protect their records and rankings. They included Oregon, Boise State, Auburn, TCU, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Stanford and Arkansas.

No. 1 Oregon easily beat 24th-ranked Southern Cal 53-32 and proved once again that they have the most explosive offense in the nation. USC was really in this game and led in the third quarter, but that doesn’t mean squatting when you play Oregon.

After allowing the Trojans to take the lead, the Duck defense kept them scoreless over the final 25 minutes as he scored 4 times on a 30-yard pass from Darron Thomas to Jeff Maehl, a 2-yard run from LaMichael James, a pass 34 yards. field goal by Rob Beard and another 8-yard run by James.

In the end, like so many Hollywood stars, the Trojans were left stunned and confused.

LaMichael James, the nation’s leading rusher (he averaged 161 yards before the matchup), had 239 yards on 36 carries (6.64 ypc) and scored 3 times. Jeff Maehl had a career day with 8 catches for 145 yards with touchdown catches of 15, 30 and 45 yards, including one that was a one-handed grab and juggle. QB Darron Thomas was 19 of 32 for 288 yards and 4 TDs.

So, does Oregon finish their games like a final 10-cent nail hit with a sledgehammer? I bet, as Sarah Palin would say. The Oregon Ducks have outscored their opposition 180-38 in the second half of their 8 games and 8 wins.

Last year, Oregon beat USC by 27 points to enter the Rose Bowl. With this year’s road win, it’s clear the new Pac-10 powerhouse isn’t Southern California, it’s Oregon.

No. 2 Boise State beat a lackluster Louisiana Tech team, 49-20. No. 3 Auburn blew out a not-so-good Mississippi team, 51-31, while Heisman favorite Cam Newton went 18-of-24 (75%) for 209 yards and 2 touchdowns without an interception, and also I was at the reception. end of a 20-yard TD pass. No. 4 TCU hammered an absolutely awful UNLV unit, 48-6.

No. 10 Ohio State on the road crushed a horrible Minnesota team, 52-10. No. 11 Oklahoma easily beat Colorado, 43-10. No. 13 Stanford on the road shut down the 41-zip Washington Huskies, who went up and down again. No. 19 Arkansas whipped a weak Vanderbilt team, 49-14.

Six other top-ranked squads had some dubious victories. They included Utah, Arizona, South Carolina, the state of Oklahoma, the state of Mississippi, and Baylor.

No. 8 Utah on the road had their hands full with the Air Force but prevailed, 28-23. No. 15 Arizona on the road took her time with UCLA before winning, 29-21. No. 17 South Carolina at home held off Tennessee, 38-24. No. 20 Oklahoma outscored Kansas State, 24-14. No. 23 Mississippi State scored in the fourth quarter against Kentucky to win, 24-17. No. 25 Baylor beat 34th-ranked Texas, 30-22, to leave the Longhorns at 4-4 and wondering where their season went.

Football can reflect life. There are big wins, impressive wins, tough wins, narrow wins, dog wins, and lucky wins. As with everything, winning is what’s important, but how you win can really affect your ranking. That’s why we separate solid wins from wins.

Some other results caught my attention.

Southern Mississippi, favored 20 and down 14-6 at the half, roared to tie Alabama-Birmingham 35 up and go into overtime. In the second overtime, UAB would score and convert the 2-point conversion to win, 50-49, in perhaps the most exciting game of the week.

Marshall (a 2-6 team) stunned visiting UTEP (now a 5-4 team), 16-12. Duke (another 2-6 team), stunned Navy (now 5-3), 34-31. Temple (7-2), shut out Akron (0-9 and America’s worst major team, 218th out of 120 major college teams), 30-zip. Tulsa (now 5-3), outscored Notre Dame 28-27, dropping the not-so-fighting Irish to 4-5.

In a battle of really bad teams, North Texas (2-6) on the road beat Western Kentucky (1-7), 33-6. Nevada (7-1) won 56-42 over Utah State (2-6), and the win gave the Wolf Pack 25th place in the new AP Poll.

No. 6 Alabama, No. 9 Wisconsin, No. 13 LSU and No. 21 Virginia Tech were all inactive this week.

That’s all for this week. Time for a break. Just remember, candy is fancy (since it’s Halloween), but liquor is faster.

Copyright © 2010 Ed Bagley