U talkin’ to me? Utah and UCLA grab top two spots in Top 25

From SwampSwami.com - Sports Commentary and more! · 10:41

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You never know what is going to happen in college football each weekend. Last Saturday’s games included a few expected nail-biters along with a couple of quite unexpected blow-outs, too. Last week’s top-ranked Miami was K-O’ed by Notre Dame 31-24 on Saturday night in South Bend. The Hurricanes dropped out of the top spot in this week’s latest SwampSwamiSports.com College Football Top 25. The Fighting Irish (now 8-1) led 24-3 early in the third quarter before the Miami offense awakened late. Miami committed two turnovers in what was, otherwise, a statistically-balanced game. Notre Dame will close November with three ACC competitors. Boston College (4-5) and 7-2 SMU each visit South Bend over the next two weeks. Notre Dame then travels to Syracuse (4-5) on the final weekend of the regular season. A College Football Playoff berth is certain for the Irish with two victories in the final three games. Miami’s final three contests will be more difficult but all played at home. Duke (7-2), Virginia Tech (6-3) and Boston College must travel to south Florida to play the Canes. Utah wins the “Holy War” over rival BYU 28-20 The so-called “Holy War” between Brigham Young and the University of Utah produced another thriller in Salt Lake City on Saturday. Utah quickly jumped out to a 14-0 first quarter lead. Brigham Young then responded in the second quarter to lead 20-14 at halftime. BYU quarterback Bear Brockmeier had three of his four interceptions happen during the second half to quell possible scoring drives. Utah capitalized and scored 14 second half points to win 28-20 and improve to 9-0. Brigham Young fell to 7-2 with the loss. The Cougars must defeat 6-3 Baylor, win at 3-6 Kansas, and take down 5-4 Cincinnati on the final weekend to make their case for the playoffs. UCLA’s passing game produced big results as Bruins improved to 9-0 UCLA senior quarterback Ty Dieffenbach completed only nine passes in Saturday’s 34-20 road win at 5-4 Minnesota. Two of those passes went for 75-yard touchdowns in the second half to wide receiver Aiden Mizell. UCLA produced a remarkable 303 yards via the air on just nine pass completions. Minnesota battled unbeaten UCLA to a 10-10 halftime tie. UCLA’s #7-ranked defense came to the rescue in the second half as the Golden Gophers (now 5-4) were held to just 296 yards of total offense. UCLA will host 6-3 Illinois on Saturday. The Bruins then hit the road at struggling 5-4 Michigan and return home to play crosstown rival USC (7-2) in the regular season finale. The College Football Playoffs are a certainty if the Bruins win two of their final three games. LSU Coach Lane Kiffin’s 4th down gambling costs Tigers in loss to Alabama One of my favorite tunes by legendary rock group Blood, Sweat, and Tears was “Go Down Gambling!” That’s exactly what happened in Baton Rouge after the new head coach of the LSU Tigers went 0-4 on fourth down gambles against SEC rival Alabama. Bama’s defense morphed into a Crimson Wall inside the 20 yard line as 7-2 Alabama beat LSU 31-13. LSU (now 6-3) moved up and down the field with ease at times of this game. They also failed to cash-in with touchdowns in the red (scoring) zone on all but one occasion. Coach Lane Kiffin opted to gamble on fourth down four different times. Alabama stopped the Tigers on each occasion and scored the game’s final 21 points over the final 16 minutes of this game. LSU’s chances in the College Football Playoff sank to nearly zero after the embarrassing loss on national television. The Tigers must beat 7-2 Texas this Saturday in Baton Rouge (6:30PM on ABC). Then LSU must win road wins at 7-2 Tennessee and 3-6 Arkansas to close the season. A 9-3 LSU must hope that other highly-ranked teams will go into a November slump. All of that is quite unlikely, but weird things sometimes occur during the final weeks of the football season. Did anyone get the number of that red bus in Oxford, Mississippi Saturday night? Georgia came into Oxford and absolutely crushed Ole Miss on Saturday night. The Bulldogs (now 8-1) scored four unanswered touchdowns to roll to a 28-0 halftime advantage over the stunned Rebels and their equally shocked home crowd. Georgia’s defense allowed just 252 total yards. The loss may have scuttled Ole Miss’ playoff chances along with the Heisman Trophy hopes of their quarterback Trinidad Chambliss. Georgia now faces a tough home game against 6-3 Missouri on Saturday. The Dawgs then travel to play vastly improved South Carolina (6-3) in Columbia before hosting intrastate rival Georgia Tech (2-7) to end the regular season. A win over either Missouri or South Carolina will likely punch a playoff ticket for Georgia. Kentucky serves-up three turnovers in a lopsided 34-6 loss at Tennessee The Kentucky Wildcats came into Knoxville with a gaudy 7-1 record built on near-flawless offensive performances. Tennessee was at home with its playoff backs to the wall on Saturday. Much like Alabama did against LSU, the Tennessee defense failed…

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