College Football Notes: Week 4

Week four of the college football season will be known as the week of fourth quarter comebacks.

Notre Dame saved its season by battling back from a 17-point, fourth-quarter deficit to hand Michigan State a 40-37 defeat.

QB Brady Quinn threw for 319 yards and five touchdowns as the Irish (3-1) out-pointed the Spartans 19-0 in the fourth quarter. Terrail Lambert returned an interception 23 yards for a touchdown with 3:30 remaining to seal the victory. Michigan State fell to 3-1 on the season.

A loss would have crushed the slim national title hopes that Notre Dame still has.

Top ranked Ohio State struggled with the Penn State defense through most of the game, but thanks to the Buckeye defense, came alive in the second half for the 28-6 victory.

The game was much closer than the final score indicated. Two late interceptions for touchdowns gave Ohio State (4-0) the large margin of victory. RB Antonio Pittman ran for 110 yards and a touchdown.

Big Ten rival Michigan continued to play solid football with a 27-13 win over Wisconsin. The Wolverines (4-0) were led by Chad Henne and WR Mario Manningham. Henne passed for 211 yards and two scores, while Manningham caught seven passes for 113 yards and two TDs. The Michigan defense held the Badgers to only 12 yards rushing.

Louisville may have been the most impressive team on Saturday. The eighth-ranked Cardinals, without starting QB Brian Brohm and RB Michael Bush, ventured out to Manhattan, Kansas and demolished Kansas State, 24-6. Backup QB Hunter Cantwell, passed for 172 yards and one touchdown to lead Louisville (4-0) to victory.

Georgia has a new hero and his name is Joe Cox. The Bulldogs, down 13-0 in the fourth quarter to Colorado, replaced Matthew Stafford at QB with Cox and the freshman led Georgia to two fourth quarter touchdown drives to avoid the upset. Cox was 10-of-13 for 154 yards and two touchdowns as the ninth-ranked Bulldogs improved to 4-0.

Nate Longshore completed 17-of-25 passes for 270 yards and four touchdowns to lead the California Golden Bears to the impressive 49-21 victory over Arizona State in a battle of ranked teams. Marshawn Lynch ran for 124 yards to help the Golden Bear cause. Cal has rolled off three nice wins since losing to Tennessee in the season opener.

The only top 25 team to lose was Boston College, who fell 17-15 to North Carolina State in Raleigh. Wolfpack QB Daniel Evans connected on a 34-yard scoring pass to John Dunlap with just 21 seconds remaining to pull off the upset. The Eagles (3-1) had won their last two contests in overtime but this time the close game didn't go their way.

Other scores from the top 25: Auburn 38, Buffalo 7; USC 20, Arizona 3; West Virginia 27, East Carolina 10; Florida 26, Kentucky 7; Texas 37, Iowa State 14; LSU 49, Tulane 7; Virginia Tech 29, Cincinnati 13; Iowa 24, Illinois 7; Tennessee 33, Marshall 7; Oklahoma 59, Middle Tennessee State 0; Florida State 55, Rice 7; Clemson 52, North Carolina 7; Nebraska 56, Troy 0; and Boise State 41, Hawaii 34.

The upset of the week once again came at the expense of the under-achieving Northwestern Wildcats. After losing in week two to I-AA New Hampshire, the Mildcats, I mean Wildcats, fell 31-21 Friday night to Nevada. The victory marked the first time the Wolfpack (2-2) had ever beaten a Big Ten team. Robert Hubbard led Nevada with 156 yards rushing and a touchdown.

Highlight games for week five include: Alabama (3-1) at Florida (4-0); Purdue (4-0) at Notre Dame (3-1); Georgia Tech (3-1) at Virginia Tech (4-0); Oregon (3-0) at Arizona State (3-1); Texas Tech (3-1) and Texas A&M (4-0); Ohio State (4-0) at Iowa (4-0); and Michigan (4-0) at Minnesota (2-2).


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