Written by Cris Sykes

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On what was supposed to be a slow week in college football, there was plenty of drama and thrills - proving that you just never know what you are going to get when you wake up on Saturday. In his weekly "4th And 12" column, Cris Sykes recaps the week that was in college football, and updates his Heisman ballot. I guess it really is better to be lucky than good.  On what was supposed to be a slow week in college football, there was plenty of drama and thrills - proving that you just never know what you are going to get when you wake up on Saturday morning.

To lead off “Escape Saturday”, I present you #5 Texas.  With what was probably the toughest game on the schedule of the Top 10 teams, the Longhorns snuck their way out Lincoln, Nebraska with a last second field goal.  After Nebraska took the lead on the old halfback option play with 5 minutes to go, it looked like we had an upset on our hands.  Then ... when Nebraska got the ball back and had a chance to run out the clock with a couple first downs ... it looked like Bill Callahan was finally going to get a signature win in his attempted rebuilding of the Husker dynasty.  Of course, it is a Bill Callahan coached team, they fumbled the ball away, Texas got the field goal and Callahan walked away with that “that couldn't have happened to me” face.

Tennessee needed a 10-point 4th quarter to get past Alabama, 16-13.  I have very little to say about another SEC game that attempts to set back offensive football about 5 decades.   

Second ranked Michigan limped to a 10-6 lead heading into the 4th quarter and waited until under the 5-minute mark to put a team that lost at home to Indiana, away.  If Mike Hart can stay healthy while getting 30+ carries a game, the will be a worthy opponent of Ohio State on November 18.  If he gets dinged up and isn’t 100% and they cannot control the clock, it could get ugly.

Hey, Louisville, wake up!  You are getting awfully hard to defend.  This week I am going with… “Bobby Petrino is laying low, trying to not to show anything to West Virginia.”  Louisville only led by one at the half against Syracuse before taking some control over the game.  You now have 10 days to prepare for the Mountaineers.

PAC-10 Update alert…. these teams stink.  Cal snuck past Washington, Oregon went on the road and got beat up by Washington State and USC was off, so they didn’t get to sneak past anyone.

UCLA?  How can that happen?  Jeff Smgjfkrisdnfdgda?  No, really, you couldn’t:

A. Tackle that stick figure
B. Catch the slowest wide receiver, ever
C. Keep your jocks in your drawers against the “whitest” set of moves since Pat Riley.

Instead of anyone taking notice of that though, they found a way to, what else, bestow glory upon one Brady “JC” Quinn.  What exactly did he do there?  Throw a 7-yard hook in prevent coverage and watch his boy leave UCLA in the dust.

Did you ever think this scenario could ever come true: December 13th The Miami Hurricanes versus Florida State in the What Happened Bowl, then 3 weeks later, in a BCS Game, Rutgers?  Welcome to South Beach, Mr. Schiano.

There is a new addition to the Larry Coker Memorial Hot Seat. The envelope please…Bobby Bowden?  After dropping their third game in six, the Seminole Boosters have begun to circle.

Heisman Ballot

1.  Troy Smith, QB, The Ohio State University.  After missing on his first 4 passes, Smith completed 19 of his last 22 with 4 first-half touchdowns.  Even threw in another spin move, avoid the rush strike for one of them.

2.  Mike Hart, RB, Michigan.  Workhorse.  Controls the clock for the Wolverines and allows their defense to dominate opponents.  100 yards rushing in 7 of 8 with 8 touchdowns.

3.  Steve Slaton, RB, West Virginia.  I don’t know if he is even the best running back on his own team.

4.  Brady Quinn, QB, Notre Dame.  If he runs the table, he will win the award, unless Ohio State also runs the table.  (Please don’t do it to me Browns)

5.  Calvin Johnson, WR, Georgia Tech.  ZERO catches against Clemson pretty much ends his campaign.