Written by Cris Sykes

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With the talking heads at ESPN unable to coin a nickname to this past Saturday's slate of games, Cris Sykes came up with his own. "Sneakin' By Saturday". The college football weekend featured a number of high ranked teams who struggled with lesser opponents. In his weekly "4th And 12" piece, Sykes hits on the Buckeyes game as well as the week that was in college ball. Since ESPN didn’t deem this week’s games worthy of a nickname, I came up with my own … “Sneakin’ by Saturday”. With only 2 games on the schedule involving a pair of ranked teams, it seemed pretty safe that we wouldn’t see too many tight games. We sure did have out share of blowouts, but most of the top ranked teams appeared to try to sleepwalk their way through week 4.

Example #1 is without a doubt the 9th ranked Georgia Bulldogs being down 14-0 heading into the 4th quarter to winless Colorado. Yes, the same Colorado that lost, at home, to Montana State went “between the hedges” and nearly shocked the world. Not only did Georgia pull off the comeback, they may have found an answer to their quarterback question mark. Freshman Joe Cox was inserted into the game in the 4th quarter and went 10-13, for 154-yards and 2 touchdowns. His second touchdown came with 46 seconds left and was a 20-yard strike to tight end Martrez Miller. I am now officially cheering for a Georgia versus USC Bowl Game, just so I can listen to Joe Cox and John David Booty at the same press conference table!

#9 Louisville gets a little bit of a break for playing without their two Heisman Contenders ... but struggled mightily with Kansas State. The un-heralded Cardinal defense made sure there would be no real reason to worry and allowed the offense to overcome a lethargic, turnover filled second half. The defense held Kansas State quarterbacks (they only had 4 different players throw passes) to 17-43 for 131 yards. Louisville seriously needs to Brohm to come back before their match up with…

…#4 West Virginia. They also fit in with the teams that looked a little flat. They went down to East Carolina and had a dogfight for most of the game before they finally broke one of their tremendous skill players, Darius Reynard, loose on a short pass that he turned into a 60-yard TD. East Carolina had just turned an interception into a field goal to make it a 7-point game. On the 4th play after the kickoff, Pat White hit Reynard on a short pass and he avoided about 6 Pirates on his way to the endzone.

Much like Louisville, #3 USC left its prolific offense back in Southern California, but had their defense ready to step up and take care of a game Arizona squad. USC produced over 200 yards rushing and their stifling defense held Arizona to –16 yards rushing and 154 yards of total offense.

The Ohio State Buckeyes secured their #1 ranking against a Penn State team that brings out the worst in the Buckeyes. Poor weather appeared to bother Troy Smith, who could have solidified his Heisman status even though his numbers for the game were rather pedestrian. Smith was held to 12-22 passing for 115 yards with a TD and 2 interceptions. Smith made two plays that made the difference in the game. Down 3-0 in the 3rd quarter and facing a 3rd and 13 deep in their own territory, Smith scrambled, made a linebacker look mildly confused and ran for fifteen and a 1st down. Ohio State went on to score their first points on that drive and never looked back. The Buckeye’s second TD came could provide that “signature play” all Heisman winners have. After rolling right, Smith spun, reversed direction, and found Brian Robiskie 35-yards downfield. The Buckeye defense then finished PSU and provided the final margin, which as ABC pointed out about 50 times, was the 11th straight time the Buckeyes covered the Vegas line.

At least now Charlie Weis can tell Ty Willingham to stop calling. #12 Notre Dumb stormed back and scored the final 19 points against Michigan State to get a much needed victory in East Lansing. Brady Quinn took the time to inform everyone out there not to take his name off the Heisman ballot quite yet (although it will take at least another week to get back on mine). Notre Dame rode the arm of Quinn (20-36, 319, 5TD) and some terrible play selection for Michigan State to a dramatic 40-37 win. Notre Dame scored on an interception return with just under 3 minutes remaining to secure the win. Drew Stanton was picked off on 3rd and 3 from his own 19-yard line, allowing the “Luck of the Irish” to come through and keep their season from going down the drain. The real question has to be, why is MSU throwing the football in that spot? They had amassed almost 250 yards rushing and averaged close to 6 yards a carry and against the pathetic ND defense you decided you couldn’t pick up 3 yards to ice a game?

The only Top 25 team to lose to an unranked team this weekend was #20 Boston College who fell to North Carolina State in Raleigh. The Wolfpack might have been playing for Head Coach Chuck Amato’s job and probably bought him the rest of this season with the win.

I have to do some Bob Griese bashing. He had the opportunity to call a great football game on Saturday and instead chose to spend most of his limited vocabulary making fun of an 80-year-old man who was sick with the flu, yet did everything in his power to not embarrass himself on the field. So after we get word that JoePa was sick, Griese uses the rest of the telecast taking jabs at Paterno. Hmmmm. First, that was pretty amazing watching Paterno run off the field and probably run faster than a lot of people you know. Second, how many 80-year olds can even make it out of bed with the flu? How many would return to the sideline 2(!) more times trying to lead his men to victory. For this performance, Mr. Griese, you are awarded my Mark May Foot In Your Mouth Award for the weekend.

t is a good week to be a Golden Flash apparently. After Kent State grad Ben Curtis won his second PGA Tour event of the year on Sunday, the KSU football team came out and smoked Bowling Green 38-3 for their 2nd straight victory.

Heisman Ballot Box

1 Troy Smith – If you can win this award without ridiculous numbers, Troy Smith will be the one to so it.
2 Adrian Petterson – Normal game. 27 carries, 128 yards, 3 TD.
3 Chris Leak – Ho hum. 15-26, 267, 2 TD.
4 Rich Swerbinsky – 9-3-1 ATS with his message board college selections. I suggest everyone who reads this start checking out his picks on Saturday mornings as he is now better than 60% on his documented selections.