By Rhonda Reigstad 

Thrills. Chills. Spills. Victories in the last minute and seconds of the game. Overtime wins. Record passing. You name it—you got it—on Saturday, October 15. We are all trying to catch our breath in what is arguably one of the best days of college football in a long time.

 For every football junkie, we wish we could have had a seat at one of the major networks or at the race and sports book bar in Las Vegas to keep our eyes on all the games at once. To say the remote control got a workout is like saying none of us here at this website like sports. Just turn the channel for one minute and you missed a key play. It was a breathtaking day and without further adieu, here we go. Hold on tight as it is going to be, once again, a wild ride.

 Texas Tech quarterback Cody Hodges threw for 643 yards and five touchdowns in their rout of Kansas State, 59-20. His passing yards ranks fourth all time for a game. The record holder is former University of Houston quarterback David Klingler who threw for 716 yards. Hodges wasn’t the only one on Texas Tech who had a record day either. Running back Taurean Henderson broke the NCAA record for career receptions by a running with his 263 rd pass during the first quarter. Wide receiver Joel Filani set a Big 12 Conference record for receiving yards with 255 on 10 catches.

 Michigan, who has been unranked in the last couple weeks, narrowly escaped a second loss in a row at home and beat number eight ranked Penn State on a last second touchdown pass. Penn State came into the game undefeated and had a huge win at home against Ohio State the week previous. It looked as if it was going to be a long day at the “Big House” (Michigan’s stadium) but the Wolverines had other thoughts. With only one second left on the clock, Michigan quarterback Chad Henne, a sophomore, found freshman wide receiver Mario Manningham open in the end zone for the game winner and stunner. As tough as this might be for Joe Pa and company, they are coming back. With four starting freshman receivers, Penn State will be a force to be reckoned with in the years to come.

 West Virginia beat number 19 Louisville in three overtimes. Talk about heart attack city. Louisville started out on a tear and was ranked as high as number nine before a huge loss to South Florida a couple weeks ago. Since then, they have been on a roll and this loss may take them out of the top 25.

 Washington State gave number 12 UCLA quite the scare when they came out of the blocks on a 21-0 start. UCLA came back and won on a one-yard touchdown run in overtime, 44-41, to help preserve their record in the Pacific 10.

The Wisconsin Badgers have been giving coach Barry Alvarez a good farewell tour this year. Alvarez announced before the season began that this would be his last as head football coach so he could concentrate on the athletic director duties full time. Boy, what a ride it has been so far. The Badgers traveled to Minnesota for the 115 th meeting in this rivalry and what a game it turned out to be—arguably one of the best ever played by these two.

What’s most amazing is how the Badgers have done so far this year. They have lost one game but their defense hasn’t been anything at all. At Northwestern, they allowed over 600 yards. How they are winning is over and beyond many of us in Badgerland but they are getting the job done. They allowed Minnesota running back Laurence Maroney 258 yards on 43 carries, one carry which was 93 yards. Overall offense by Minnesota added up to 510 yards passing and receiving.

The play of the day came in the last minute of the game. Wisconsin was down by four points and Minnesota had to punt on fourth down deep in their own territory. The punter bobbled the ball and got it down to kick it off. Before you knew it, he had three Badgers leaning over the ball and they blocked it into the end zone. A couple players got lucky to get to the ball first and scored the touchdown to win it for Alvarez and the Badgers. There was pandemonium in the stands by the 30,000 fans from Wisconsin in attendance. What a way for Alvarez to have his last game against Minnesota end.

Number two Texas won their game against number 24 Colorado, 42-17. Quarterback Vince Young is making it harder every week for Heisman trophy voters to make a decision as to who will take the hardware home this year. Young had five touchdowns—three of them quarterback keepers and he continues to keep Texas in the running for the Bowl Championship Series game at the end of the year. Everyone knows that Texas was hoping for a little “luck o’ the Irish” from Notre Dame to help make them the number one team in the land this week. Unfortunately for Texas, it didn’t turn out the way they had hoped.

In the marquee matchup of the day and what could also be considered the game of the year, Notre Dame played host to USC who was on a 27 game winning streak coming into South Bend. This game was considered by many Notre Dame faithful to be the greatest game in the 75 year history of Fighting Irish football.

Just how big was this game? On the sidelines were the likes of former greats of Notre Dame—quarterback Joe Montana and wide receiver Tim Brown (the college’s last Heisman trophy winner). On the USC sideline—former running back Marcus Allen and defensive back Ronnie Lott. You could feel the history and magnitude of the game just by looking at those former alumni.

Odds makers had USC as 13-point favorites coming into the game. Myself and many others felt that USC didn’t have a chance in Knute Rockne of winning the game or winning by the point spread the odds makers put on the game. All of us knew it was going to be close and boy, were we right.

USC coach Pete Carroll has done one of the best jobs in the country the last five years. USC has been the number one team in the land for weeks and brought a 27 game winning streak into South Bend. It’s not too hard for Carroll to look good when he has the “Three Headed Monster”—Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush and LenDale White underneath him. Those guys could play anywhere and make any football program look good.

Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis is in his first year with the team and has he turned it around already. Many probably thought it would take Weis about five years to turn it around and he’s already made his mark. If Weis isn’t named coach of the year this year, it will be a travesty. He has turned around a team that was nothing the last two or three years with Tyrone Willingham into the powerhouse they used to be in the Lou Holtz era.

Like two heavyweights in the boxing ring, these two teams didn’t disappoint at all. It was blow by blow and went back and forth the whole game. USC quarterback Matt Leinart and running back Reggie Bush were their usual spectacular. Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn is already picking up on Weis’ offensive scheme, which usually takes any quarterback at least two years to learn.

The game was decided in the end when Matt Leinart went in for the quarterback keeper, had the ball knocked out of his hands and stopped the clock. On the ensuing play, they were showing Notre Dame that they were going to spike the ball and stop the clock. Turns out it was a trick play. USC snapped the ball and Leinart quickly got over the line, with a little push, to get the game-winning touchdown with three seconds left on the clock. Talk about close. If USC had lost that game, there’s no doubt that undefeated Texas would have been the number one team in the land and USC number two.

I don’t know about anybody else, but who knows if the weeks ahead will compare after this. What a weekend and there’s six or seven more weeks to go. It’s been a wild ride already and if it continues like this, it will be one to remember, no doubt about it.

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