Monday, Sept. 22, 2003 | 8:53 a.m.
The next time Toledo coach Tom Amstutz drives through the Fort Pitt Tunnel on a recruiting trip to Pittsburgh, don't be surprised if he stops to scrawl his initials along with an inscription that "The Rockets Were Here."
In reality, it was the No. 9 Panthers who made the mistake of traveling to Toledo, where they were upset 35-31 Saturday night.
It was just one of three big wins for Mid-American Conference teams against nationally ranked Bowl Championship Series teams, and should give Amstutz some bargaining power next time he traverses the Penn Lincoln Parkway in search of players.
His quarterback, Bruce Gradkowski, is a Pittsburgh native. All Gradkowski did Saturday was complete 49 of 62 passes for 461 yards. He was 20 of 22 in the fourth quarter and tossed the winning touchdown, a 9-yard fade to Lance Moore, with 43 seconds left.
The next time Amstutz goes to Pittsburgh for a look around, he might even bump into Marshall's Bob Pruett or Northern Illinois Joe Novak, two other MAC coaches whose teams engineered huge wins Saturday.
The Thundering Herd downed No. 6 Kansas State 27-24, an accomplishment that Pruett called Marshall's biggest win since it defeated Xavier in 1971, the first game after 75 players, coaches, administrators, fans and crew members were killed in a plane crash following the last game of the 1970 season.
"Everybody had us 1-3, except us," said Pruett, whose team improved to 2-2 with the losses coming against Tennessee (34-24) and Toledo (24-17).
Northern Illinois also felt like it exorcised a ghost of sorts on its visit to Alabama. The Huskies, who opened the season with an overtime victory against then-No. 15 Maryland, showed that one was no fluke by hanging on for a 19-16 victory against the 21st-ranked Crimson Tide in front of 83,018 stunned Alabama fans.
"I was a football fan before I was a football coach," said NIU's Novak, "and when you're talking about Alabama, you're talking about one of the best. Coming to a place like this, with such great fans and great tradition and a great stadium ... when I walked in, I was looking for Bear leaning against the goal post. And I think I saw him."
But make no mistake, the MAC's early season success is no apparition. The Toledo, Marshall and Northern Illinois upsets, combined with Miami of Ohio's 41-21 blowout win at Colorado State and Bowling Green's narrow defeat at defending national champion Ohio State made Saturday the most memorable weekend in MAC football history.
At least so far.
"Heading into the weekend we had a sense our teams would compete well," MAC commissioner Rick Chryst said Sunday after returning from Alabama, where he witnessed NIU's win. "But I don't know if we ever have had a concentration of games on one day like (Saturday). We've had teams spring upsets, but to have so many on one day against elite opponents doesn't happen often.
"Everyone in the league shares in those wins. In the long term it really benefits us. In the short term, it makes it that much tougher to get games like those scheduled."
But at least it will keep the wise guys off the MAC's back for a while. A cartoon in last week's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called "Big MAC attack" showed the Pitt Panther unwrapping a Toledo hamburger with discarded Kent State and Ball State (MAC teams which Pitt beat in its first two games) wrappers lying at its paws.
Maybe this week, the cartoonist will draw Wile E. Coyote in Pitt colors and put a giant Toledo anvil on his head.
The starting 11
OREGON 31, MICHIGAN 27: The Ducks were so dominating during the first three quarters that they were able to leave their blinding all-yellow uniforms in Mr. Blackwell's closet. Michigan, which came into the game as the nation's best statistical rushing team (307.3 yards per game), got a grand total of minus 3 against Oregon. The Wolverines' Chris Perry, considered a Heisman Trophy candidate, was held to 26 yards on 11 carries, and Michigan coach Lloyd Carr has sent out Lewis and Clark in search of his special teams. Michigan had one punt returned for a touchdown while another was blocked and returned for a touchdown.
OHIO STATE 24, BOWLING GREEN 17: The defending national champions continue to have more close calls than Batman and Robin. Against Bowling Green, it was same bat time, sam bat channel, as OSU won its 10h consecutive game by seven points or fewer. Bowling Green scored 10 points in the final 3:07 and was headed for more when Will Allen intercepted a Josh Harris pass in Buckeyes territory with time running out. Harris completed a career-high 33 passes against Ohio State as the Falcons, who beat Purdue in the closing minutes earlier this year, flirted with going 2-0 against the Big Ten.
LSU 17, GEORGIA 10: The largest crowd in Tiger Stadium history watched Georgia lose for the first time (in nine games) on the road under coach Mark Richt. Matt Mauck scrambled away from pressure and found Skyler Green for a 34-yard touchdown pass with 1:22 remaining on which Georgia cornerback Tim Jennings appeared to lose his man. "I don't know what happened to him," Bulldogs defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder said. Hmmm ... maybe that "No We in Team" guy from those ESPN spots once played cornerback for the Dawgs.
MICHIGAN STATE 22, NOTRE DAME 16: The Spartans have beaten Notre Dame five times in six outings, including four in a row at Notre Dame Stadium. Maybe that's why "Touchdown Jesus" covers his eyes whenever the Spartans come to town. "When you look over and see some of the seniors on the team, and they're crying, that hurts a lot," said Fighting Irish quarterback Carlyle Holiday, who played more like Kitty Carlisle, completing just 10 of 25 passes against a suspect MSU defense.
NORTHERN ILLINOIS 19, ALABAMA 16: The Huskies silenced a hostile crowd of 83,018 with a victory that was even more impressive than its season-opening victory against then-No. 15 Maryland. But knocking off these BCS big boys is becoming old helmet for NIU, which took the victory in stride. "Our motto is to shock the world but not ourselves," said split end P.J. Fleck, after the Huskies had added 21st-ranked Alabama to its hit list.
MARSHALL 27, KANSAS STATE 24: The Wildcats' dream of a perfect 15-0 season ended when one of its alleged non-conference patsies failed to roll over. Marshall's upset victory snapped No. 6 K-State's 41-game victory streak against non-conference competition. Recent Wildcat victims include Massachusetts, McNeese State, Troy State, Minnesota State, Disco Tech and Whoer U.
TOLEDO 35, PITTSBURGH 31: Despite the best efforts of stadium security, Toledo students finally succeeded in getting onto the field and tearing down the goalposts following the Rockets' biggest win ever. "I'm glad they got the goal posts," Toledo coach Tom Amstutz said. "It's going to cost us, but whatever it takes, we'll get some more. After a win like this, they had to come down." As Amstutz noted, wins like that don't happen eery day at Toledo, and the fans who hoisted the goal post remains out of the stadium didn't know what to do with them. So they dumped them without ceremony in the Ottawa River, which runs through the Toledo campus. Not sure what the Toledo ecology department will make of that.
TENNESSEE 24, FLORIDA 10: Forget about the no-halo on punt returns. College football should enact a new rule prohibiting players from conducting the band after a big win, as Tennessee defensive back Rashad Baker, linebacker Kevin Burnett and finally quarterback Casey Clausen scaled the ladder to direct yet three more renditions of "Rocky Top." Clausen dropped a B flat on the Gators just before halftime when he tossed a Hail Mary pass that Vols receiver Mark Jones batted to James Banks in the end zone for a touchdown, a play that Tennessee players say they practice every week. "It never works," said Banks, who was a backup quarterback last season.
FLORIDA STATE 47, COLORADO 7: As one Denver writer put it, Florida State was so convincing that it allowed Bobby Bowden to look like a good sport. The only Seminoles that didn't get into the game during the fourth quarter were those planning to redshirt and Burt Reynolds. "Well, we're obviously not ready for prime time," said Colorado coach Gary Burnett, after FSU quarterback Chris Rix had riddled the Buffs for 30 completions in 39 attempts for 394 yards and two touchdowns before yielding to backup Fabian Walker with nine minutes to play.
IOWA 21, ARIZONA STATE 2: The Hawkeyes held the Sun Devils to 184 yards as the ASU offense did not score for the first time since 1995. As one Phoenix writer put it, the Sun Devils' passing game is accustomed to raining touchdowns, so Iowa put up a four-man umbrella in the secondary and went home dry. The Hawkeyes' played a two-deep zone throughout the game, as Arizona State found tough sledding after enjoying a points avalanche against lightweights Northern Arizona and Utah State in its first two games. ASU, which had been averaging 404.5 yards and 30 points, was held to 24 yards rushing.
MISSOURI 41, MIDDLE TENNESSEE 40 (OT): The No. 23 Tigers marked their first appearance in the Top 25 in nearly five years by nearly losing to 0-4 Middle Tennessee, which only moved up to Division I-A in 1999. Middle went left in overtime, as Brian Kelly's extra point rattled off the left upright, and Mizzou won when Mike Matheny made a 36-yard extra point after the Tigers were penalized for excessive celebrating after Brad Smith scored on a 4-yard run. Missouri improved to 4-0 for the first time since 1981, when it went 8-4.
Big men on campus
Stats enough
No. 2 Miami beat Boston College 33-14 and has won 14 consecutive games against the Eagles since losing on Doug Flutie's desperation heave in 1984. The Hurricanes have won 25 Big East games in a row. ... Lynell Hamilton rushed for 220 yards and scored two touchdowns in San Diego State's 37-17 win against Samford. Hamilton joins Marshall Faulk as the only Aztec freshman to run for more than 200 yards in a game. ... B.J. Symons threw for a school-record 586-yards in Texas Tech's 49-21 loss to North Carolina State. ... Yale beat Towson 62-28, the most points scored by the Bulldogs since a 66-0 win against Alfred in 1920. Not sure how those Elis did against Aunt Harriet. ... Indianapolis 600: Matt Kohn passed for 645 yards, breaking the NCAA Division II single-game record, as Indianapolis beat Michigan Tech 59-52 in overtime. Kohn was 39-for-61 with six touchdo wns and no interceptions.
Couch Potato Bowl
Division I-A Lite
The Children of the Corn do it again, as Northern Illinois shocks Alabama. Oh, the horror! Maybe Stephen King should get a Top 25 vote and scare BCS proponents half to death. A look at this week's best of the rest in college football.
1. Northern Illinois (MAC): As coach Mike Shula's face suggests, the Tide isn't the only thing Crimson in 'Bama following NIU visit.
2. UNLV (MWC): Hawaii Six-0: Rebels force six turnovers in 33-22 win against the Warriors.
3. Toledo (MAC): No. 9 Pitt blinded by Rockets' red glare.
4. Marshall (MAC): Marshall law goes into effect in Manhattan, Kan., as Herd loots K-State's dream of a perfect season.
5. Bowling Green (MAC): Falcons take their turn scaring the national champs at Columbus.
6. Utah (MWC): As your cousin Vinny might say, "da eleven Utes" are pretty good.
7. Miami of Ohio (MAC): The other Miami is pretty good, too.
8. TCU (USA): Vanderbilt latest to have a Frog at its throat.
9. San Diego State (MWC): First a near upset at Ohio State, now a victory against Stanford ... oops, make that Samford.
10. Cincinnati (USA): Bearcats 2-0 against the BCS ... yes, triple-overtime win against Temple counts.
Games we'd like to see
In this space each week the Sun will present a dream college football matchup, with statistics and highlights provided by Lance Haffner Games' 3-in-1 computer simulation. Readers who would like to propose future matchups can do so by contacting the Sun via e-mail ([email protected]).
1966 Notre Dame vs. 1966 Michigan State: College football fans were fit to be tied after this one, rated No. 4 on Fox Sports' list of College Football's 100 greatest games.
With the game tied 10-10 and enough time remaining to pull out a victory, the Fighting Irish, which had entered No. 1, elected to settle for a tie against the second-ranked Spartans. Coach Ara Parseghian decided that a draw would be enough to preserve Notre Dame's national championship aspirations, and after his team throttled Southern Cal 51-0, Parseghian looked like a genius, as the Irish finished No. 1 and the Spartans No. 2.
The game was noteworthy in that Nick Eddy, Notre Dame's star running back, was injured and did not play while quarterback Terry Hanratty was knocked out in the first quarter after a big hit by MSU's Bubba Smith. But for the sake of argument, we'll turn off the injury factor for our computer rematch. And if need be, we'll play overtime to settle the score.
Notre Dame 19, Michigan State 16: Joe Azzaro's 21-yard field goal with 10:05 to play holds up as the winning points as the Fighting Irish prevail in a computer rematch that was as tight as the real thing. Eddy and Hanratty make their presence felt, as the former scores on a 4-yard run and the latter tosses a 3-yard scoring pass to Jim Seymour as Notre Dame erases a 16-2 deficit with 17 consecutive points in the second half. The Irish gains 215 yards and the Spartans 212 as the defenses, as they did in real life, dominate. Hanratty completes 11 of 14 passes for 144 yards, with Seymour catching 6 for 105.
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