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 Tuesday, October 30, 2001
Margin of victory is the key now
By Terry Bowden
Special to ABC Sports Online
Bowden's Weekly Chat Show
With all the unbeatens that fell this weekend, the BCS race is without doubt starting to heat up. I've never seen so many calculators being used by football fans.
We now have only three Division I unbeaten teams, and with BYU being an extremely unlikely candidate for the national championship game, the picture is looking a lot brighter for a lot of Division I teams. Although Miami is No. 1 in the voting polls, one only has to see how far Oklahoma was ahead of Miami last week in the BCS standings and realize why the Hurricanes did not move past them this week.
However, I do want to remind everybody that the games need to play themselves out and the schedules completed before we get a realistic view of how things will line up.
Nonetheless, the stories of the weekend were the number of undefeated teams that fell and of course, the new winningest coach in Division I football, Joe Paterno.
|  | | Joe Paterno is carried off the field after Penn State defeated Ohio State and he became the winningest coach in major college football history. |
First, all of college football was excited to see our winningest coach get his record in such admirable fashion against a favored Ohio State Buckeye team. To take a team that at one time was 0-4 and rally his boys after they fell behind by 18 in the second half, and you know why he's a champion.
Just three weeks ago, I could not find a W to circle on his schedule, but after two impressive victories, I would have to say there is going to be a little more winning for this Nittany Lion team. One can only wonder how high this record will go now that Jumpin' Joe is bouncing around on that sideline again.
Across the country
Nebraska 20, Oklahoma 10
All week long, it seemed like all the factors were leaning towards a Nebraska victory, but I just could not pick against a team that had won 20 straight games. However, when it came down to it, the team with the veteran quarterback pulled it out.
Both defenses were outstanding, the offensive coaches stuck with their game plans and it wasn't over until Frank Solich made the kind of play-call that championship seasons are won with. Calling a throwback to his quarterback late in the game from his own territory took a lot of guts. But it was the deciding factor in the game. Because of its strength-of-schedule, Nebraska is now truly in the driver's seat to get to the Rose Bowl Presented by AT&T as long as the Cornhuskers can stay unbeaten.
However, if the walls in the Oklahoma locker room can talk, I bet they would say that Bob Stoops told his players after the game, "Men, we are going to win the rest of our games, beat Nebraska in the Big 12 Championship game and take a second Sears Trophy when we get to the Rose Bowl."
And his players better be listening.
Syracuse 22, Virginia Tech 14
A lot of people tried to convince me that this one was coming, but I did not see Virginia Tech losing until its game with Miami. Now I am not sure if this one was as much of an upset. The Hokies had not really played anyway before this one, and although I thought they played their best football in each of those contests, I never could quite be sure how good their best was.
|  | | R.J. Anderson showed glimpses of previous Syracuse quarterbacks. |
Syracuse has won seven straight games now and the Orangemen are now undefeated and tied atop the Big East. This is a really good Syracuse team. I look back at how good they played Tennessee for 40 minutes and how close their 13-6 loss to Georgia Tech was, and I can see why Syracuse beat Virginia Tech.
Virginia Tech plays great defense, can run the football and they turned to a quarterback, R.J. Anderson, who has some of the same kind of flair that past Syracuse QBs Don McPherson, Marvin Graves and Donovan McNabb had. I have to believe that the Miami Hurricanes now see the Orangemen as one of their biggest hurdles in completing a perfect season.
Stanford 38, UCLA 28
If I ever tell anyone that this is the year that UCLA's defense is for real, please kindly slap me upside the head and tell me to shut up. But honestly, I absolutely believed that this defense would shut down anyone in the Pac-10. Boy, was I wrong.
Give the Bruins credit. They never quit and made it close at the end. But close doesn't get it when you are talking about going to the national championship game. And for another year, it looks like the Pac-10 will be left out of the championship game because no one knows how to play great defense.
Florida State 52, Maryland 31
Things were going too smooth for the University of Maryland for it too last. The Terrapins were winning too many close ball games to teams that looked like they had more talent for this unbeaten record to last. When you compare the athletic ability for the players at Florida State to those at Maryland, you knew that Maryland's success this year was due to Ralph Friedgen and the way he utilized their talent. But when you are having to beat better people every week, eventually it catches up with you. And when you turn it over four times, it is bound to happen.
Don't get me wrong, Maryland will win more games this year and just maybe the conference title too. But Coach Friedgen will need a few more recruiting classes before he can be a true favorite in the ACC.
Oregon 24, Washington State 17
If someone had told me before the season that on the afternoon of Oct. 27, Washington State would have been the only undefeated team in the Pac-10, I would have told them that they were crazy. But for a few short hours, they were.
They took an offense that was averaging 31 points in the first half alone and were held to three by an Oregon defense that ranked 110th in the nation in stopping the pass. Nonetheless, Jason Gesser makes this a banner year for the Cougars, and with only one loss, they are still in the hunt for the conference crown. Either way, they earn recognition as the turnaround team of the league.
Looking ahead …
There will be quite a few one-loss teams in the BCS bowls, and likely even one in the national championship game. Although everyone will be focusing on the strength-of-schedule factor in the BCS standings, we must all remember that there is absolutely nothing you can do about that this late in the game.
Whether you like it or not, what becomes most important in the final six weeks of the season is margin of victory, with the key being to get yourself ranked higher than the other one-loss teams in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll and AP media polls. You need to impress the voters with lopsided victories.
In college football, I guess some things never change.
Terry Bowden was the head coach at Salem College, Samford University and Auburn University. He is ABC's college football studio analyst and contributes regularly for ABC Sports Online.
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 Oklahoma can't catch up to the double reverse as Mike Stuntz airs it out to Eric Crouch for a 63-yard TD.
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The Sooners go for a double reverse of their own, but can't convert when Nate Hybl slips.
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Nate Hybl comes off the bench for the Sooners and hits Trent Smith in the end zone.
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 Eric Crouch is glad to be on the receiving end of a touchdown pass.
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Frank Solich talks to ABC's Jack Arute about the win over the Sooners.
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Teyo Johnson makes an oustanding one-handed grab and gets one foot in bounds for the TD (Courtesy: ABC Sports).
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Kerry Carter catches the short pass underneath and sprints for the corner of the end zone (Courtesy: ABC Sports).
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Stanford recovers the DeShaun Foster fumble, then Brian Allen makes UCLA pay on the very next play (Courtesy: ABC Sports).
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Ryan Nece picks up the loose ball and runs it back 44 yards for the touchdown (Courtesy: ABC Sports).
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Atrews Bell follows up a beautiful over-the-shoulder catch with another over-the-shoulder catch for a TD..
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Talman Gardner pulls in the Chris Rix pass for a 16-yard touchdown.
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Chris Rix gets his pass tipped, but it still finds Talman Gardner for his second TD of the game.
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