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Saturday, September 30
 
Northwestern's bandwagon starting to roll

ESPN.com

AFTER THOUGHTS
No more streaking: Dennis Erickson has won a national championship. He coached in the NFL. Yet there he was at Oregon State just jumping around and just looking for someone to hug.

Oregon State had finally beat USC after losing 26 straight times. The streak was dead and Erickson was feeling mighty alive.

"I've never been so proud of a football team in life," Erickson said. "It's as high as I've ever been. This was right up with any of them. You keep hearing about the streak. I didn't want to hear it any longer."

Now, he'll have to hear talk of bowl games and beating cross state rival Oregon, who knocked off No. 6 Washington earlier Saturday. Oregon State, off to its first 4-0 start since 1957, started 3-0 last year only to lose the next three games before finishing 7-5.

"Is this a big game? Yeah. Is it the biggest game? No. This is the first of many big games," said OSU running back Ken Simonton, who rushed for 234 yards and three TDs. "It's no limits. It's what we believe we can do. We're finally able to get the big plays."

What a difference a Davey makes: Josh Booty, meet the clipboard. Clipboard, Josh Booty. Get to know each other because you'll be spending the rest of the season together.

After LSU quarterback Rohan Davey played through injuries in his ankle and knee and still managed to complete 22 of 35 passes for 319 yards and four TDs as LSU knocked off No. 11 Tennessee, Booty can say good bye to the starting job he held for the Tigers' first four games.

"We always talk about playing with toughness and playing with pain," said Davey, who was making his first start of the season. "Well, that's what I did."

Davey looked like Willis Reed limping around as Vol defenders tried unsuccessfully to tackle him. When they did come near him, he'd loft a perfect pass to a receiver. In the end, he was too much for Tennessee as he threw a perfect pass over double coverage to Robert Royal for the win.

The playbook: Want the easiest job in college football? It's offensive coordinator for Virginia Tech. Plays? What plays?

"We have two plays when he's in the game, the one we call and the one he winds up turning it into," said No. 4 Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer about Vick after the quarterback had 210 yards rushing in a 48-34 victory over Boston College.


SATURDAY'S STARS
  • Woodrow Dantzler, Clemson: Rushed for 134 yards and three touchdowns and added 174 yards passing and another score as No. 8 Clemson beat Duke 52-22.
  • Damien Anderson, Northwestern: Rushed for 219 yards and two touchdowns as Northwestern beat No. 15 Michigan State 37-17.
  • Tellis Redmon, Minnesota: Scored two touchdowns and had 183 yards rushing and 116 yards receiving as Minnesota beat No. 22 Illinois 44-10.
  • Michael Vick, Virginia Tech: Rushed for a career-best 210 yards and three touchdowns as No. 4 Virginia Tech beat Boston College 48-34.
  • Ennis Haywood, Iowa State: Rushed for 241 yards and two touchdowns as the Cyclones beat Baylor 31-17.
  • Ken Simonton, Oregon State: Rushed for a career-high 234 yards and three touchdowns as the Beavers beat No. 7 Southern Cal 31-21.
  • Steve Campbell, Brown: Caught 19 passes for 218 yards and two touchdowns as Brown beat Rhode Island 29-19.
  • Rocky Butler, Hofstra: Completed 22 of 32 for 324 yards and five touchdowns in Hofstra's 51-36 win over Massachusetts.
  • Montrell Coley, Hampton: Rushed for 231 yards and four touchdowns as Hampton beat Delaware State 54-28.
  • Billy Cundiff, Drake: Kicked three field goals, including an NCAA Division I-AA season-best 62 yarder, as Drake beat San Diego 52-12.
  • Jabu Powell and Kevin Eiben, Bucknell: Powell rushed 40 times for 215 yards and four touchdowns and Eiben had four interceptions to lead Bucknell to a 35-14 victory over Duquesne.
  • Dicenzo Miller and Dontae Walker, Mississippi State: Miller rushed 172 yards and a score and Walker added 156 yards and a TD as the Bulldogs rolled to a 47-35 win over No. 3 Florida.
  • Rohan Davey, LSU: Playing on a bum ankle and knee, he completed 22 of 35 for 319 yards and four TDs in LSU's 38-31 win over No. 11 Tennessee.

  • OK, this is a warning for all those Northwestern people who crawled out of the woodwork in 1995 when the Wildcats were Rose Bowl bound and America's Darlings, but have been delightfully quiet when the Wildcats were back in the Big Ten cellar the past few year:

    Don't come out yet.

    Look, we know Damien Anderson has been doing a pretty good Darnell Autry impersonation and who isn't enjoying the fact that Northwestern is 4-1 while Mr. Colorado is struggling at 0-4? But the last thing we need is the group alumni picture with Brent Musberger and Charlton Heston fighting for the center spot (although we'll take the guy with the NRA connections in that fight).

    So, enjoy the moment. Dream of the Nov. 4 game at home against Michigan really meaning something. Call the travel agent to see if you can get that room you had in Pasadena again this year. But just do it quietly.

    Northwestern is still cute and fuzzy right now. Don't ruin this for us yet.

    Goalpost 101
    Tough day to be a goalpost.

    With seven top 25 teams going on the road and getting knocked off by unranked teams, well, let's just say there will be goalposts all over e-Bay real soon. But, man, there are some really bad students at tearing down those things.

    Mississippi State needs a refresher on how to celebrate. The game was over for a good 15 minutes and they were still working on one of the goalposts. They were jumping, bouncing, swinging and nothing. Embarrassing.

    Of course, if you haven't knocked off a top three team since 1980, here's guessing you would get rusty.

    Not everyone struggled. LSU fans were on the field before the overtime and we swear they were ready to break up Tennessee's final pass if the Tigers needed the assistance. LSU didn't and a mad rush ensued. Oregon State was another fine display of fan behavior. Game over and Marion Jones couldn't have sprinted on the field faster. Very impressive.

    The best, however, goes to Oregon fans. We don't know when or how Autzen Stadium became the most difficult place to play in the Pac-10, but the fans have the greatest perk in that they have to go on the field to exit. It's almost like they get to storm the field every week. Very cool.

    All good things must come to an end
    Alabama had to win and South Carolina had to lose. When we saw this on the schedule, it was almost too easy to see what was going to happen.

    Alabama 27, No. 23 South Carolina 17.

    Of course, it didn't have to be that way. To show what has happened at South Carolina, here was Alabama talking about coming together as a team and there was South Carolina lamenting two fourth quarter interceptions.

    "I'm upset because we're better than that," said Gamecocks coach Lou Holtz, who has resurrected a program that entered the season on a 21-game losing streak. "I think we're a pretty competitive SEC football team. But you can't make stupid mistakes."

    South Carolina (4-1) gets a chance to rebound against Kentucky next week while Bama gets a week off before Ole Miss.


    NUMBERS GAME
  • TCU's LaDainian Tomlinson ran for 121 yards to give him a school-record 3,645 career yards as the 18th-ranked Horned Frogs beat Navy 24-0, extending their winning streak to nine games.
  • Woodrow Dantzler had 134 yards rushing and passed for 174 more, marking the third straight game he has produced more than 300 yards of total offense -- a Clemson record
  • Georgia Southern's Adrian Peterson rushed for 182 yards and four touchdowns, becoming the NCAA Division I-AA career rushing touchdown leader and breaking the Southern Conference career yardage mark. Peterson lifted his career total to 6,092 yards and 63 TDs as Georgia Southern beat Virginia Military Institute 56-3.
  • Franklin and Marshall's Justin Salton caught 16 passes for 216 yards, breaking a school record for most receptions in a game, in a 16-14 loss to Carnegie Mellon.
  • Northern Colorado held Minnesota State to minus-46 yards rushing and recorded three safeties in a 37-15 win. The UNC defense sacked Minnesota State nine times for 69 yards in losses.
  • Marshall compiled a season-high 631 yards in total offense to extend its home winning streak to 33 games, tops in Division I-A. Byron Leftwich threw for a career-high 378 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Herd past Buffalo 47-14.
  • No. 1 Nebraska allowed a season-high 492 yards to Missouri in a 42-24 win. The Tigers scored their most points in Lincoln since winning 35-31 in 1978 -- Missouri's last victory in the series.






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