Monday, October 9.2000
The University Daily Kansan
Section B·Page 5
Remaining unbeaten teams vie for No.1 spot
The Associated Press
Will the real No.1 team in the nation please stand up?
Florida State sat down for now after losing to Miami 27-24 Saturday, allowing Nebraska to step right back up to No. 1 again a week after relinquishing the top seat to the Seminoles.
The Cornhuskers (5-0), though, have to be considered a shaky No. 1 at best after another less-than-overpowering 49-27 win against Iowa State in which the Cyclones led by a point at halftime.
With just seven of 115 IA teams unbeaten as the season reaches halfway, there are others poised for a shot at No.1, starting with Nebraska's Big 12 rivals — No.2 Kansas State (6-0) and No.8 Oklahoma (5-0).
K-State beat Kansas 52-13 and has outscored its first six opponents by a combined 254-51; Oklahoma beat No. 25 Texas 63-14 in the second-most lopsided
outcome in the 95-year history of the Red River Shootout.
Virginia Tech (5-0), which played for the national title a year ago, slipped to No. 3 this week after a 35-13 victory against Temple, with No. 5 Clemson (6-0), No. 6 Ohio State (5-0) and No. 12 TCU (5-0) the other undefeateds.
Several one-loss teams, led by No. 4 Miami, also have dead aim on No. 1. Others include Florida State, now No. 7. No. 9 Oregon, No. 10 Florida and No. 11 Washington.
Folks at Nebraska feel like this: "No doubt about it. If we're not No. 1, I don't know who is." Correll Buckhalter said after running for two touchdowns against Iowa State.
together, the computer could spit out a few surprises.
While the polls give fans a good idea of the best teams, it's the Bowl Championship Series standings that determine who plays in the national title game — this year in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 3. The first Bowl Championship Series standings will be released Oct. 26, and when the polls, schedule strengths and computer ratings are crunched
Commentary
Until then, a conference-by-conference look at why the second half of the season promises to be better than the first half —
and why it's possible there may be no unbeatens left when it comes time to pick the top two teams:
ACC
ACC Clemson (6-0, 4-0)
visits Florida State (5-
1, 3-0) in Bowden
Bowl II on Saturday, Nov. 4. And this time, both teams might be playing for a spot in the title game, not just Bobby's Seminoles. Last year, Tommy's 'tigers nearly spoiled the Seminoles' perfect season before FSU prevailed 17-14. Florida State also plays Florida Saturday, Nov. 18.
Big East
Virginia Tech (5-0, 3-0) and Miami (4-1, 2-
0) meet at the Orange Bowl on Saturday, Nov. 4, with not only the Big East title at stake, but also a shot at the national title game. Miami coach Butch Davis is 0-5 against the Hokies. The Hurricanes lost to Washington on Sept. 9.
Big Ten
Ohio State (5- 2, 0) is the Big Ten's lone unbeaten, although the Buckeyes are a half-game behind surprising No. 17 Northwestern (5-1, 3-0). The Wildcats and Buckeyes do not meet, but anything can happen in this league where each of the other nine teams have at least two losses. Ohio State finishes against No. 18 Michigan on Saturday, Nov. 18; Northwestern plays host to the Wolverines on Saturday, Nov. 4.
The wacky Pac-10 ran out of unbeats when Washington held off No. 23 Oregon State 33-30 late Saturday night. Two teams
Pac-10
- No. 22 Arizona (4-1, 2-0) and Oregon (4-1,
  2-1) are left unbeaten in league play.
The Wildcats are at the Ducks on
Saturday, Oct. 21. Don't count out the
SEC
beavers (4-1, 1-1) or the Huskies (4-1, 1-1)
in the Rose Bowl race.
The SEC is out of unbeatens, too, after No. 15 Mississippi State's 17-10 victory against No. 19 Auburn on Saturday. The SEC East looks like it will be decided when Florida (5-1, 3-1) and No. 14 Georgia (4-1, 2-1) play on Saturday, Oct. 28 in Jacksonville, but don't forget about No. 24 South Carolina (5-1, 3-1).
Lou Holtz's Gamecocks, who have beaten Georgia, play at Florida on Saturday, Nov. 11. The SEC West is wide open with Auburn (5-1, 3-1), Mississippi State (4-1, 2-1) and Mississippi (4-1, 2-1) leading the pack.
TCU, led by Heisman Trophy hopeful LaDainian Tomlinson, remained unbeaten with a 41-21 win against Hawai, and the team has a clear path to an 11-0 season. However, a weak schedule will hurt the Horned Frogs in the BCS standings and probably keep them out of the title game even if they are the only team left without a loss.
Miami upsets No.1 Florida State
The Associated Press
MIAMI — After 1,013 yards, 100 passes and 51 points, Florida State-Miami came down to Wide Right III.
When Matt Munyun's 49-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right as time expired, No. 7 Miami had a 27-24 victory against No. 1 Florida State on Saturday, derailing the Seminoles' national championship run and putting itself back into contention.
"I watched it, I watched it," said Miami receiver Reggie Wayne. "The only thing going through my mind was wide right one, wide right two, and I was hoping there would be a wide right three."
There was, much to the dismay of Seminoles coach Bobby Bowden, who lived through wide right field goals in 1991 and 1992 against Miami that probably cost his team a pair of national titles. The Hurricanes went on to win the national crown in '91.
"Wouldn't you know it?" Bowden said. "He's been wide left all year, and then that happens. We had him out there pretty far, though."
Even the Orange Bowl scoreboard carried the message: "WIDE RIGHT III" lit up as the crowd of 80,903 filed out of the stadium.
1 got all of it. I hit it hard. It just went right," said Munyon, who missed two of three field goals against Miami and is 3-of-8 on the season.
Until the frantic final minutes, Miami (4-1) had an answer for everything Florida State (5-1) tried. Four times in the first half, the Seminoles failed to score from inside the Hurricanes' 26-yard line. Twice, quarterback Chris Weinke threw interceptions on plays designed especially for this game. Two other times, Florida State passed on easy field goals and came up empty — once on a failed fourth-down run from the 16 and the other on an incomplete pass from the 13.
"We put some plays in that would have been touchdowns," Bowden said. "They didn't fall for them. They ate them up. I should have kicked."
Miami was glad he didn't as the Hurricanes won their biggest game in Butch Davis' six years as coach. Miami finally displayed its title form of years ago after five years of rebuilding from NCAA sanctions that stripped the school of 31 scholarships.
"It's huge for the program," said linebacker Dan Morgan after leading the "Canes with 15 tackles and an interception. "This is definitely going to put us in national contention. There's no telling how good this team can be."
The Seminoles fell behind 17-0 at the half, but they staged a rally in the final minutes behind Chris Weinke, who was 28-of-59 for a career-high 496 yards and three touchdowns — the final one a 29-yarder to Atrews Bell with 1.37 left that put the Seminoles ahead 24-20.
But Ken Dorsey answered for Miami, which took over on its own 32. Dorsey hit 6-of-7 passes, including hook-ups with Santana Moss for 13 yards, with Wayne for 17 yards and with Moss again for 19 yards to the FSU 8. A delay of game penalty moved the ball back 5 yards, and then Dorsey hit backup tight end Jeremy Shockey with a 13-yard scoring pass with 46 seconds to go.
Now, Florida State will have to win out and hope for help if it wants to defend its national title. Defensive end Roland Seymour walked around the locker room telling his teammates "we're going to bounce back, don't even worry about it."
Yankees trump A's in last game of series
The Associated Press
OAKLAND, Calif. — The New York Yankees, tired of being eulogized as fallen champions, broke out of their offensive malaise for a half inning and then barely held on for a series-clinching win against the Oakland Athletics.
Chuck Knoblauch's return to the lineup sparked a six-run first inning, leading the Yankees to a 7-5 winnereasy in the decisive Game 5 that completed a Big Apple playoff sweep of the Bay Area.
The Yankees, trying to become the first team in a quarter-century to win three straight World Series titles, wrapped up the division series less than five hours after the New York Mets completed their ousting of the San Francisco Giants.
The Yankees, forced to fly across the country early yesterday morning to finish the series with the A's, headed back to New York late last night to prepare for Tuesday night's American League championship series opener against the Seattle Mariners.
The wild-card Mariners were 6-4
against the Yankees this year.
Yankees starter Andy Pettite was pulled after 3 2-3 innings, but the New York bullpen picked him up. Playing for keeps, manager Joe Torre even brought in Orlando Hernandez for his first professional relief appearance.
Mariano Rivera got the final five outs for his 16th postseason save, breaking the record he had shared with Dennis Eckersley since Friday night.
After ending the regular season with seven straight defeats, the Yankees were written off as over-the-hill champions when they started this series with a loss at Oakland. An embarrassing 11-1 loss at home in Game 4 led to more condolences.
It took a half-inning, lasting 26 minutes, to lift the gloom.
Knoblauch, back in his accustomed leadoff spot after being benched for three games, lined the night's first pitch to right for a single. Derek Jeter walked and Paul O'Neill's high-chop single loaded the bases.
Bernie Williams drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, David Justice walked and Tino Martine doubled
in three runs with a drive off the center-field wall that Terrence Long broke in on. Jorge Posada's infield single chased losing pitcher Gil Heredia.
Luis Sojo greeted reliever Jeff Tam with a sacrifice fly on which Long again broke the wrong way, and singles by Scott Brosius and Knoblauch made it 60. A routine toss from catcher Ramon Hernandez forced Tam to dive for the ball for the flustered A's.
Both teams had gotten to bed about 4 a.m. — 13 hours before game time — but the aging Yankees were buoyant and the youthful A's were wining sleep from their eyes.
Oakland finally woke up an inning later, getting Randy Velarde's two-run single. An RBI double by Eric Chavez in the third pulled the A's within three runs.
Justice homered in the fourth, giving New York a 7-3 lead, but Oakland got two more in the bottom half on sacrifice files by Jason Giambi and Olmedo Saenz — knocking out Pettitte, the winner in New York's 4-0 victory in Game 2 but ineffective yesterday on three days' rest.
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