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LSU Upsets Alabama, TCU Levels Utah, and Stanford Slams Arizona

By Ed Bagley

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 15Nov2010 Word count: 920 Viewed: 128 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

Copyright © 2010 Ed Bagley

Louisiana State, a 12th-ranked, 6.5-point underdog at home against 5th-ranked Alabama, turned the tables on the Crimson Tide, winning 24-21, and vaulting to 5th place in the AP Top 25 Poll this week.

The key SEC match-up left LSU in sole possession of 2nd place in the West Division with a 5-1 mark. Auburn still leads the SEC West with a perfect 6-0 record.

Coach Les Miles once again tried a risky play that worked wonders for the underdog Tigers. On a 4th-and-1 play in the last quarter, DeAngelo Peterson scampered 23 yards on a reverse to set up Steven Ridley's go-ahead, 1-yard plunge.

Miles had beat Florida earlier in the season on a fake field goal that set up a winning TD to beat the Gators, 33-29. This win over Alabama was especially notable for LSU as the Tigers had to come from behind twice in the 2nd half to prevail.

In a battle of two other highly-ranked teams, 4th-ranked TCU traveled to Utah and leveled the Utes, 47-7, in a laugher. Both teams were unbeaten so the Utes loss ruined their perfect season and sent them plummeting in the AP Poll from 6th to 15th place.

The TCU-Utah face-off marked the first time this season either of these teams have had to play a ranked team. So is TCU (now 10-0) that good or is Utah (8-1) that bad? Clearly, Utah is overrated; the jury is still out on how good TCU is because of their easy schedule.

TCU quarterback Andy Dalton threw for a career-high 355 yards and 3 touchdowns as the Horned Frogs outgained the Utes 328 yards to 72 yards enroute to a 23-zip halftime lead. Utah QB Jordan Wynn had 3 turnovers and the Ute offense could do nothing against TCU's defense, which came in ranked 1st nationally in scoring defense and total defense.

With Utah's loss, there are only 4 unbeaten teams left - Auburn and TCU are 10-0, Oregon is 9-0 and Boise State is 8-0.

In another game of ranked opponents, Stanford hosted Arizona and took down the Wildcats with authority, 42-17. The 19th-ranked Cardinal were beat by the 13th-ranked Wildcats 43-38 a year ago when they started celebrating too early. The problem for Arizona this year was no one at Palo Alto forgot.

Stanford's Andrew Luck, who many regard as the best QB in the Pac-10, threw for 293 yards and 2 touchdown passes. Stepfan Taylor rushed for 4 TDs. Luck outplayed Arizona QB Nick Foles. Luck was 23-for-32 (71%); Foles was 28-for-48 (58%). Luck has completed 75% of his passes in his last 4 games.

And the defense? Arizona came in leading the Pac-10 in sacks with 27. Stanford did not give up a sack to the Wildcats. Stanford is now 8-1 and Arizona 7-2.

Arizona coach Mike Stoops said it best: "They outexecuted us, outplayed us, outphysicaled us, (and) outcoached us. We just got beat by a better team today." Amen, Mike, amen.

A final game of ranked opponents found 17th-ranked Arkansas on the road at 18th-ranked South Carolina. The Razorbacks (7-2) led 24-10 at the half and never looked back, winning 41-20, and giving the Gamecocks (6-3) their worst loss at home in 5 years. South Carolina was a 4.5-point favorite in the game, so credit Arkansas with an upset.

Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett passed for 303 yards and Knile Davis scored 3 times on the ground. South Carolina now remains tied with Florida for the SEC East Division title with a 4-3 record.

Besides Alabama and South Carolina, 4 other ranked teams were upset.

The upset winners included Texas A&M at home over 11th-ranked Oklahoma 33-19, Texas Tech at home over 14th-ranked Missouri 24-17, Clemson at home over 23rd-ranked North Carolina State in a squeaker 14-13, and North Carolina on the road over 24th-ranked Florida State in another squeaker, 37-35.

It has now become clear that Oklahoma (7-2) and Missouri (also 7-2) are not as good as many followers thought.

Oklahoma had some narrow early season wins while going undefeated before losing to Missouri and now Texas A&M. The Sooners beat Iowa State by 7, Air Force by 3, Cincinnati by 2, and Texas (now 4-5) by 8. Missouri had better margins before losing to Nebraska and now Texas Tech.

Six other ranked teams coasted to at least 20-point victories.

The really good wins included top-ranked Oregon blasting Washington 53-16, 2nd-ranked Boise State burying Hawaii 42-7, 3rd-ranked Auburn using AA Chattanooga for road kill in a 62-24 romp (the Tigers led 48-14 at the half), 7th-ranked Wisconsin beating Purdue 34-13, 16th ranked Michigan State whipping Minnesota 31-8, and 25th-ranked Nevada stomping a mud hole into Idaho, 63-17.

Three other ranked teams had much less impressive wins. They included 15th-ranked Iowa on the road over 110th-ranked Indiana 18-13, 20th-ranked Virginia Tech at home over 67th-ranked Georgia Tech 28-21, and 9th-ranked Nebraska - on the road and in a struggle - over 45th-ranked Iowa State, 31-30, in overtime.

Nebraska wins big and then barely wins. Just how strong are the Cornhuskers? I will let you know after the bowl games.

No. 8 Ohio State and No. 21 Mississippi State were idle this week.

By winning, LSU, Stanford, Michigan State and Oklahoma State all climbed in the AP Poll, and Alabama, Utah, Arizona, Oklahoma and Missouri all lost significant ground.

Baylor, North Carolina State and Florida State were all pushed out of the Top 25 to make room for newcomers Texas A&M (6-3) at 23rd, and Central Florida (7-2) at 25th, and returning Florida (6-3) at 24th.

The lowest ranked team with 8 wins - Nevada (8-1) - was ranked 21st.

All others need not apply.

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