National Review: Week Ten

Game of the Century III:

(1) Alabama 21 - (5) LSU 17

In a game that was far better than either of last year's "Game of the Century"-s, Alabama running back T.J. Yeldon took a screen pass from quarterback A.J. McCarron 28 yards for the game-winning touchdown with about a minute left to upend LSU in Death Valley. It was Les Miles and the Tigers' first loss at home in its last 22 tries with their last defeat also coming to a #1-ranked team, Florida in 2009.

Zach Mettenberger played the best game of his career, throwing for 298 yards and a touchdown, and led LSU back from a 14-3 halftime deficit with a touchdown pass to Jarvis Landry early in the fourth quarter, but Alabama proved why it is the best team in the country with their final drive after getting dominated for most of the game.

Now at 9-0, the Tide have #15 Texas A&M, Western Carolina and the Iron Bowl matchup with Auburn left on their regular season schedule, as well as an SEC Championship matchup with either Georgia or Florida it would seem.

That Other Big Game:

(4) Oregon 62 - (17) USC 51

If Lane Kiffin wanted to fire his dad, defensive coaching legend Monte Kiffin, there probably isn't a soul that would blame him.

Oregon running back Kenjon Barner ran for a school record 321 yards and five touchdowns against a lost USC defense and quarterback Marcus Mariota threw for 304 yards in his first taste of the Duck-Trojan battle for Pac-12 supremacy. Matt Barkley threw for 484 yards in a losing effort, 157 of those yards going to Marques Lee who is starting to get the Heisman attention his quarterback was supposed to be receiving this year. That guy who used to play for Penn State ran for 98 yards on a team that now has as many losses as Penn State. He was pretty broken up about it as the game ended.

Oregon and Alabama should be matched up in the national title game if both win out which would feature the game's best offense against arguably the toughest defense in the country. Alabama is still at least a touchdown better in my opinion.

Other Notable Games:

(3) Notre Dame 29 - Pittsburgh 26 (3 OT)

This game had all the makeup of a let-down game for the Irish and that was almost the case as Notre Dame rallied back from a 20-6 fourth quarter deficit to win on an Everett Golson one-yard plunge in the third overtime to escape with their first 9-0 record since 1993.

Brian Kelly continues to leave people wondering as he took out Golson in the second quarter for Tommy Rees who abruptly threw a pick which helped to put the Irish down by two scores. But Golson threw two touchdown passes in the fourth and converted a two-point play with his feet to tie the game at 20 with two minutes left. The teams traded field goals in the first, Pitt missed a field goal in the second overtime to win it and Golson answered a Panther third-overtime field goal with his one-yard run to win it.

TCU 39 - (21) West Virginia 38 (2 OT)

Well, so much for Geno Smith's Heisman and West Virginia's Big 12 championship in their first year of conference membership. The teams traded touchdowns in both overtime periods, but TCU went for the win in the second and Trevor Boykin's pass to Josh Boyce allowed TCU to escape Morgantown with a victory. They now have the chance to play spoilers to Kansas State's perfect season next weekend.

(23) Texas 31 - (18) Texas Tech 22

I was at the first half of this game. This was the most quintessential Texas Tech and Tommy Tuberville games ever, respectively. Tech finally is favored over Texas and their stout defense comes out flat. Texas also gives up nearly 200 yards a game on the ground, but Tuberville has Seth Doege throw the football 44 times in what was the biggest game in Lubbock since Michael Crabtree and the Red Raiders took down Texas in 2008. Sigh, only one more game this season to sit through next week when Charlie Weis comes to town with Kansas.

(10) Louisville 45 - Temple 17

Nothing real exciting here other than the fact that Louisville is 9-0 and still nobody is talking about them or their quarterback Teddy Bridgewater who threw for 328 yards and five touchdowns. Right now they're slated for an Orange Bowl matchup with Florida State, but don't be surprised to see the Fiesta take them if the Sugar Bowl goes with Notre Dame (Sugar has first dibs this year) and the folks in Tempe want a matchup between the undefeated Cardinals and undefeated Fightin' Bill Snyders.

Worth A Line or Two:

(2) Kansas State 44 - (24) Oklahoma State 30

Another win for Kansas State and another week where people will still have their doubts about them. Collin Klein injured his wrist but is expected to be OK for the TCU game this weekend.

(7) Florida 14 - Missouri 7

Florida is not a good football team.

(11) Oregon State 36 - Arizona State 26

Cody Vaz leads the Beavers to a win after replacing Sean Mannion as the starter once again. Beavers still in line for a Rose Bowl slot.

(16) Texas A&M 38 - (15) Mississippi State 13

Johnny Football doin' Johnny Football things: 311 yards passing and 123 yards rushing

San Diego State 21 - (19) Boise State 19

Boise was down by eight at one point in this game, the first time they had been down by more than seven points since 2007. Ridiculous, even for them and their schedule.

UCLA 66 - (22) Arizona 10

Oh, Rich-Rod... you take out USC one week and get beat by 56 points the next. You just keep being you.

Virginia 33 - North Carolina State 6

Penn State can give up its crown for "Worst Loss to Virginia" now.

Best of the Rest:

(12) Oklahoma 35 - Iowa State 20

Buffalo 27 - Miami (OH) 24

Tennessee 55 - Troy 48

(14) Stanford 48 - CoLOLrado 0

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