Sunday, December 02, 2001
BCS shakeup
Colorado tops Texas, Vols beat Gators in Swamp
The Associated Press
IRVING, Texas — Just call the Colorado Buffaloes the Rose Bowl elimination squad. One week after erasing Nebraska's road to the national title game, they knocked Texas out of the way, too.
Chris Brown ran for three touchdowns as the No.9 Buffs turned Texas quarterback Chris Simms' four first-half turnovers into 22 points, then held off a rally to beat the No. 3 Longhorns 39-37 Saturday night for their first Big 12 championship.
Colorado (10-2) fulfilled the vision coach Gary Barnett had for the Buffs this summer when no one else expected much from them after a 3-8 season. Their stunning turnaround will continue in a Bowl Championship Series game, probably the Sugar Bowl.
Simms' meltdown prevented Texas (10-2) from its own storybook season.
The Longhorns knew before kickoff that if they won, they'd be in position to move up to No. 2 in the second-to-last BCS standings because Florida lost to Tennessee. Early arriving Texas fans cheered wildly when that result was announced and several waved red roses.
Simms threw two early interceptions that let Colorado turn a 7-0 deficit into a 16-7 lead. After the Longhorns regained some momentum, Simms blew it again with a fumble and another interception that put the Buffs up 29-10.
No.1 Miami 26,
No.14 Va. Tech 24
BLACKSBURG, Va. — Playing on the road has become a scary proposition for No.1 Miami.
Once again, the Hurricanes were shaky away from the Orange Bowl, but they held on to clinch a spot in the national title game at the Rose Bowl Jan.3.
“I'm happy we won,” cornerback Phillip Buchanon said, “but walking off the field I didn't have that feeling you should for a team going to the Rose Bowl.”
Thanks to a dropped two-point conversion pass by Tech's Ernest Wilford with 6:03 left and a stifling defense that forced Grant Noel into four interceptions and a fumble, Miami completed a perfect season and extended its nation-best winning streak to 21 games.
“Our team didn't flinch,” Miami coach Larry Coker said. “It certainly didn't look good for us at times, but I'm extremely proud of the way we played.”
The Hurricanes (11-0, 7-0 Big East) barely beat Boston College 18-7 on Nov.10 in their previous road game. In two home games since, Miami outscored Top 25 foes Syracuse and Washington 124-7.
With the Hurricanes ahead 26-18, Virginia Tech's Eric Green blocked a punt and Brandon Manning returned the ball 22 yards for a TD to pull the Hokies within two points.
But on a two-point conversion attempt, Noel's dropped back and, with a Lane Stadium sellout crowd of 53,622 roaring, his 2-point conversion pass went through the arms of Wilford in the end zone. , and the Hurricanes held on.
No.5 Tennessee 34,
No.2 Florida 32
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Travis Stephens ran for a career-high 226 yards and Tennessee stopped Florida on a two-
point conversion with 1:10 left to scramble the Rose Bowl picture.
The Vols (10-1, 7-1 Southeastern Conference) advanced to next week's SEC title game against LSU, with a chance to play Miami for the national title Jan.3.
The Gators (9-2, 6-2), who were 18-point favorites, had the inside track to the championship game, after losses by Nebraska and Oklahoma last week.
Rex Grossman led Florida on a late 77-yard touchdown drive that made the score 34-32 and briefly kept the Gators' title hopes alive. But he couldn't find anyone open for a two-point conversion.
No.4 Oregon 17,
Oregon State 14
EUGENE, Ore. — Keenan Howry returned a punt 70 yards for a touchdown, and Maurice Morris added an 8-yard scoring run with 4:36 left as the Ducks (10-1, 7-1 Pac-10) won their first outright Pac-10 title since 1994.
No.10 BYU 41, Miss. St. 38
STARKVILLE, Miss. — Matt Payne kicked a 25-yard field goal as time expired to give the Cougars (12-0) the victory and extend their winning streak to 14 games.
No.12 Stanford 41,
San Jose State 14
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Randy Fasani threw for one touchdown and ran for another and Brian Allen also scored twice for the Cardinal, who hadn't beaten the Spartans since 1997. Stanford (9-2) extended its winning streak to four games and has won nine games during the regular season for just the second time in 50 years and the first since the 1992 Bill Walsh-coached team went 9-3.
No.16 Georgia 35, Houston 7
ATHENS, Ga. — David Greene threw three touchdown passes, Verron Haynes ran for 122 yards and Georgia overcame a sloppy start to beat winless Houston.
Georgia (8-3) wrapped up its fifth straight eight-win season — a first for the Bulldogs. Houston (0-11) finished the first winless season in school history.
The Cougars have lost 15 in a row overall, their last victory coming Oct. 21, 2000, when they beat Memphis 33-30 in overtime.
No.21 Fresno State 70,
Utah State 21
FRESNO, Calif. — David Carr had a career day, throwing for six touchdowns and 432 yards, and Bernard Berrian had four receptions for three touchdowns and 158 yards as the Bulldogs (11-2) overwhelmed the Aggies (4-7) with 56 points and 438 total yards in the first half and finished with 713 yards in total offense.
Playing in his final home game, Carr became just the sixth quarterback in NCAA history to pass for 4,000 yards and 40 touchdowns in a season.
No.22 LSU 27,
No.25 Auburn 14
BATON ROUGE, La. — Rohan Davey threw for 245 yards and a touchdown and ran for 21 yards for LSU, which finished tied with Auburn (7-4, 5-3) in the SEC West but advanced to next week's SEC championship game against No.5 Tennessee.
LSU set the tone early, recovering an onside kick to open the game. Six plays later, LaBrandon Toefield scored his 19th of the season, tying him for the SEC record held by Garrison Hearst and Shaun Alexander. Toefield ran for 120 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries.
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