USC's loss is perfect setup for November games

No. 3 USC lost. No. 5 Texas struggled. No. 7 Auburn struggled. This may have been the greatest Saturday in West Virginia history.

The No. 4 Mountaineers did not play Saturday but they moved as close to No. 1 as they have been since the 17-14 victory over Boston College in 1993 that made them 11-0. That may be a slight exaggeration, but an undefeated West Virginia -- or, for that matter, an undefeated, sixth-ranked Louisville -- has a lot better shot at a BCS berth now that USC is out of the Mountaineers' way.

If Professor Bob Davie will allow me to guest lecture, the games this week illustrated one of the most basic lessons in his College Football 101 syllabus: it is lonely on the road. Seven of the top 11 ranked teams played away from home, and only No. 11 Notre Dame resembled a candidate for a national championship. The Irish did so because they played Navy, a team long on guts and precision and short and light in categories like height and weight.

Notre Dame, No. 10 in your polls but No. 9 in your BCS, may have had the most impressive victory Saturday with its 38-14 rout of the Midshipmen in Baltimore, but the Fighting Irish came out losers, too, because of what happened in Corvallis, Ore. USC's 33-31 loss to Oregon State removes considerable value from a Notre Dame victory in Los Angeles on Nov. 25.

What a difference an airplane flight makes. When the Irish reached the airport to leave Baltimore on Saturday evening, USC trailed 7-0. When their plane landed back in the midwest, USC was about to miss its two-point conversion. Given that the Irish's three opponents in the interim -- North Carolina, Air Force and Army -- are a combined 7-17, a potential USC victory is all Notre Dame had going for it.

Back to the point at hand: West Virginia and Louisville have a lot more riding on their game at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium on Thursday night than they did before last week. There are only six remaining I-A unbeatens. No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Michigan will play each other. West Virginia, Louisville and No. 15 Rutgers will play each other. No. 14 Boise State plays none of the others.

There would be a certain symmetry to it if the Big East had more believers in it. An unbeaten Big Ten team would play an unbeaten Big East team in the BCS Championship Game, each of them having overcome an unbeaten or two late in the season to get there.

But the non-believers in the Big East will point to Texas and whatever SEC team (No. 6 Auburn, No. 8 Tennessee, No. 7 Florida, No. 12 Arkansas) reaches Dec. 3 with only one loss. They might even point to USC, if the Trojans run their late-season gauntlet of No. 22 Oregon, No. 11 California, Notre Dame, and UCLA.

You know who else will make a claim? The loser of the Ohio State-Michigan game. Is that one-loss team's second chance more worthy than the undefeated West Virginia-Louisville winner? That will be one ugly BCS argument, which can mean only one thing.

Let the November games begin.

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Maybe there was some hidden relief. Maybe it meant more than he cared to share.

Either way, Phillip Fulmer wasn't saying. He looked like a head coach late Saturday night that had been there and done that.

Yes, it was only his fourth win against Steve Spurrier against eight losses. And, yes, there's been no escaping the Spurrier shadow for Fulmer in what has otherwise been an illustrious head coaching career.

But sweet redemption?

Fulmer said too much has been made of the whole Fulmer-Spurrier rivalry.

"It didn't have anything to do with it," said Fulmer, whose eighth-ranked Vols showed their mettle in the fourth quarter to beat the Gamecocks 31-24 at Williams-Brice Stadium. "Neither one of us played a snap. He's a good coach, and I don't know where all that gets started. There's been times we should have won and didn't and times he probably should have won and didn't. That's just the way it is.

"I'm just glad to get a win, so we can move to 7-1."

The Tennessee players also did their best to downplay any added significance of beating Spurrier.

"I don't know what's going on between them two," senior receiver Jayson Swain said laughing. "I ain't got nothing to do with that. That's them two. I'm just happy that we came out here and got a win against those guys on the field. They came ready to play. The crowd did a good job. We're just happy to get a win. I don't know nothing about Spurrier and coach Fulmer."

Fulmer sent Spurrier home a loser this time because the Vols were better than the Gamecocks in the fourth quarter. It's become Tennessee's trademark this season.

The Vols have outscored their last five opponents in the fourth quarter by an 85-20 margin. They trailed 17-14 entering the final quarter Saturday night, but erupted for 17 points to win for the fifth straight time this sason.

"I wished we played the first three quarters like we do the fourth, to be honest with you," Fulmer said.

But with the injuries the Vols have overcome (Justin Harrell, Inky Johnson and most recently LaMarcus Coker), Fulmer's by no means complaining. Tennessee, even though its chances of playing in the SEC Championship Game are remote with Florida beating Georgia on Saturday, has an excellent chance to land an at-large berth in a BCS bowl. It won't be easy. LSU comes to Knoxville this weekend, and Tennessee travels to Arkansas the following weekend.

"We've shown some tenacity as a football team and some toughness and gotten ourselves to this point, and I'm proud of them," Fulmer said. "It doesn't do anything but get harder with LSU coming in next week."

ATLANTA -- Saturday's critical ACC game against Miami couldn't have gotten off to a worse start for Georgia Tech quarterback Reggie Ball.

On the Yellow Jackets' first play from scrimmage, Ball was scrambling to his left and was hit from behind by Hurricanes defensive end Calais Campbell. Ball fumbled, and linebacker Glen Cook scooped it up and returned it for a 19-yard touchdown.

Just like that, Georgia Tech was losing 7-0 in Bobby Dodd Stadium, and Ball was once again left wondering whether he was in for another long day.

Ball, a senior from Stone Mountain, Ga., completed only 3-of-16 passes in the first half. But he rebounded to complete 8-of-11 passes in the final two quarters, including a 1-yard touchdown to junior Calvin Johnson in the fourth quarter that put the Yellow Jackets ahead for good.

Ball completed 11-of-27 passes for 188 yards with two touchdowns. He was sacked four times.

"I was mad, hurt and frustrated," said Ball, who has been hampered by a leg injury for much of the last month. "But I've been down before. I had to keep everyone up, keep pushing."

The Yellow Jackets seem headed to where they've never been before: the Dec. 2 ACC championship game at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. Georgia Tech has what is basically a two-game lead over Miami, Virginia and Virginia Tech in the ACC's Coastal Division.

For one of the other three teams to win the division, the Yellow Jackets would have to lose two of their last three ACC games against North Carolina State, North Carolina and winless Duke. Georgia Tech has already beaten the Cavaliers, Hurricanes and Hokies and owns the tie-breaker over each.

"We knew this was our moment," Johnson said. "If we wanted to get to the ACC championship game, we had to win this game."

LUBBOCK, Texas -- Coach Mack Brown had a stern challenge for redshirt freshman quarterback Colt McCoy after watching his team fall into an early three-touchdown hole Saturday night against Texas Tech.

After watching an interception returned for a touchdown late in the first quarter, Brown told McCoy that the only way the Longhorns could win would be if his teammates looked him in the eyes feeling "they think you think that we can win."

Even nursing a busted lip, McCoy responded with a dramatic comeback that boosted the Longhorns to a wild 35-31 victory.

"It's the heart of this team and the determination of this team that put us over the top," McCoy told reporters after the game. "If we don't have heart tonight, we don't win."

The win was especially sweet for McCoy, who grew up only two hours away from Lubbock and knows many of the players on the Texas Tech team. He even dates a Texas Tech student who is a recruiter for the Red Raiders' football team.

Two huge plays from McCoy in the fourth quarter propelled the Longhorns to the victory, extending their record 20-game winning streak in Big 12 games.

His 28-yard TD pass to Quan Cosby gave the Longhorns the lead for good at 35-31 with 13:24 left.

And after two defensive stops on fourth down inside the Texas 35 later in the quarter, McCoy sealed the victory with his feet.

McCoy's serpentine 33-yard run on third-and-5 enabled the Longhorns to keep their fleeting hopes of defending their national championship alive. He finished with 256 passing yards and four TD passes and rushed for a career-best 68 yards. The comeback marked the largest road comeback in Texas school history and was topped only by a 28-point deficit it overcame in 2004 against Oklahoma State in Austin.

The Longhorns overcame a sensational effort by Texas Tech QB Graham Harrell, who torched UT's defense for a career-best 519 yards. It was just 14 yards short of Houston quarterback Jimmy Klingler's opponents' record set against Texas in 1992.

OXFORD, Miss. -- Maybe it's because we live in an era of computer polls, talking head shows, message boards and scrolling score tickers, but for better or worse style points do matter.

That was the thought that kept going through my mind inside the Ole Miss locker room 5½ minutes before kickoff. The Rebels were a 19-point underdog against the No. 7 team in the country. Everyone in Oxford knew the Auburn Tigers were supposed to pound the undermanned Rebels. Gauging how that sentiment affects college kids coping with that is never easy. Sometimes they wilt under that pressure and sometimes they grow big and play better than they ever have before.

I had no idea which was going to kick in, and the game sure didn't start well for Ole Miss. Starting defensive end Chris Bowers had to be helped off the field with an apparent shoulder injury on the opening kickoff and was lost for the game. It seemed to be devastating news for a team already decimated along its defensive front, especially facing a power team like Auburn.

But it sure didn't look like the Rebels were rattled. They hit a couple of big plays and marched down the field on their first series and scored when former tailback Mico McSwain lined up at receiver and went untouched on a reverse. It was amazing to see the looks on the Rebels' faces in the aftermath. They had almost beat Georgia and lost at Alabama in OT, but also got thumped at Arkansas last week. They came into the game 2-6.

To read the rest of Bruce Feldman's story, click here.