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 Friday, December 13, 2002
Weekend wrap-up: Shots heard through Florida
By Terry Bowden
Special to BCSfootball.com
Bowden's Weekly Chat Show
Every Saturday throughout the season, ABC studio analyst Terry Bowden will weigh in his assessment of the day's games, the highlights, the lowlights and the surprises.
First off, I want to give a special salute to Don Nehlen, who retired on his own terms this weekend and goes out as West Virginia's greatest coach of all-time. Coach Nehlen still has three games to earn his 200th career victory.
Three Game Balls:
|  | | Zak Kustok threw for two TDs and ran for two in Northwestern's win over Michigan. |
Zak Kustok: The Northwestern quarterback led the Wildcats to one of the most exciting victories of the season, a 54-51 shootout win over Michigan. The two teams combined for 105 points and 1,189 yards. Kustok threw for 322 yards, rushed for 55 more, and accounted for four touchdowns. His biggest play came with 20 seconds to go when he found Sam Simmons for the game-winning touchdown. Who would have thought that Northwestern could have come back from a 28-10 deficit to the Wolverines?
The Wildcats are now tied with Purdue for first place in the Big Ten, and are looking at a high-priced bowl game.
Marques Tuiasosopo: During an emotional week in Seattle, Marques Tuiasosopo did it again for the Huskies. The Washington players' minds were on Curtis Williams, who was hospitalized last week with a spinal cord injury, but Tui and Washington kept their Rose Bowl dreams alive with a 35-32 come-from-behind victory over Arizona. For the second straight week, Marques drove Washington to the game-winning score with less than two minutes to go. His numbers aren't as impressive as Drew Brees or Josh Heupel, but Tuiasosopo continues to lead this team with his leadership.
Chris Weinke: Florida State posted 771 yards of total offense in its 54-7 rout of Clemson. This against one of the better defenses in the country. Weinke continued to show how good he has been this year when he completed 27-of-43 passes for 521 yards and two touchdowns. He also broke Thad Busby's single-season school record with 3,490 yards. It still makes me wonder what the Seminoles could have done if he was 100 percent when they faced Miami.
Surprises of the day:
|  | | Deonce Whitaker was held to 100 yards by TCU, but the Spartans upset the No. 9 Horned Frogs. |
San Jose State's upset of TCU: There's only one undefeated team left in college football now (Oklahoma). San Jose State, played with a lot of emotion with teammate Neil Parry in the stadium after his tragic incident that forced doctors to amputate his ankle and foot. Josh Parry, Neil's brother, led the Spartan defense, which was ranked 114th in the nation coming into the game. The win helped San Jose State move into first place in the WAC.
This victory is another reason why San Jose State's Dave Baldwin is being mentioned for a lot of head coaching jobs from California to Alabama.
Southern Mississippi's defense: We knew the Golden Eagles have had trouble scoring, but Southern Miss. had built this team on a defense that entered its game with Louisville ranked second in the nation in scoring and total defense. It's a surprise how Louisville ran up and down on the Golden Eagles. Louisville poured on 49 points and 419 yards of total offense in the 49-28 victory. In one game, Southern Miss. allowed more touchdowns (7) than in its first seven combined (6). Louisville now has the inside track for the Conference USA title.
Clemson's offense: I never thought Clemson could beat Florida State in Tallahassee, but for two weeks in a row, opponents have figured out Tommy Bowden's offense and held it to almost nothing. Florida State held Clemson to 262 yards and one touchdown with four turnovers. This after the Tigers had been averaging 492 yards and 43.1 points per game when they were 8-0. It's kind of scary now for the Tigers to go into their final game against a tough South Carolina team with the state championship on the line.
Helped themselves:
Miami: You have to hand it to the Hurricanes for knocking off a No. 1 and a No. 2 this season. Miami had lost five straight times to Florida State and Virginia Tech. It was good to beat both of them. Ken Dorsey has now won head-to-head battles with Chris Weinke and Michael Vick, even though Vick had to take a rain check. Miami has to ignore the BCS rankings, finish out its season and then worry about the polls.
LSU: Nick Saban is starting to make friends in Baton Rouge. Earlier in the year, LSU knocked off Tennessee. Now he has the Tigers bowl-eligible for the first time in three years. The fans are packing it in -- Saturday's crowd of 91,778 was the largest ever for LSU. Plus, LSU is still tied for first in the SEC West with games remaining against Mississippi and Arkansas.
Nebraska: Eric Crouch and the Huskers earned a big win with their 56-17 rout of Kansas. Nebraska needed this win after last week's dismantling at Oklahoma. The Huskers now head to Kansas State for the Big XII North title on the line. A win there and Crouch and Co. can get a rematch with the Sooners.
Hurt themselves:
Virginia Tech: Virginia Tech is a good team with Michael Vick at quarterback, but it's very apparent without him, the Hokies are not very good at all. Here's hoping Vick comes back next week so they don't drop another one. If he's not back, don't count out Central Florida. The Golden Knights are coming off back-to-back wins over Alabama and Louisiana Tech.
Michigan: Michigan lost its chance to go to a BCS bowl with its loss to Northwestern. The Wolverines allowed 654 yards of total offense and the 54 points were the most allowed by a Michigan team ever. Michigan lost leads of 28-10 and 35-23 in this game. Just a few weeks ago, it looked like the Michigan-Ohio State winner would go to the Rose Bowl. Now that matchup will have teams with two losses in the Big Ten.
Arizona State: The Sun Devils have lost double overtime games two weeks in a row (this time a 44-38 loss to USC). This year was supposed to be different in Tempe. You have to win close ballgames, but the season looks more and more like last year when the Sun Devils went through the motions in a 6-6 season. Now 5-4 and just 2-4 in the Pac-10, Arizona State most win at Stanford or Arizona to qualify for a bowl.
Terry Bowden is ABC's college football studio analyst and hosts a weekly audio chat on BCSfootball.com on Thursdays at 5 p.m. ET.
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Northwestern's Zak Kustok fires the ball to Sam Simmons for the game winning TD.(courtesy: ABCSports)