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News Nuggets, 09.15.03
NOTES FROM ECU AND BEYOND...

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Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

College football weekend: The good, the bad and the ugly

A few notes and numbers that stood out during the college football weekend:

PULLING RANK: Purdue's 16-10 victory over No. 20 Wake Forest spoiled the Demon Deacons' first game as a ranked team since January 1993.

STREAKING MIAMIS: Miami (FL) extended the nation's longest home winning streak to 24 games with a 38-3 win over East Carolina. ... Miami of Ohio beat Northwestern for the fifth straight time, 44-14.

STUMBLING OUT OF THE GATES: With its 38-3 defeat at Miami, East Carolina has been outscored 126-13 in its first three games. For relative solace, the Pirates can take comfort in knowing that the Liberty Flames, with their 62-3 loss to Bowling Green, have been outscored 159-12 this season.

STRONG IN DEFEAT: North Carolina State's Philip Rivers was 36-of-52 for 315 yards and four touchdowns in the No. 24 Wolfpack's triple-overtime loss to No. 3 Ohio State. ... Chance Mock threw for 264 yards and three touchdowns in Texas' 38-28 loss to Arkansas.

HOT POTATO: Cincinnati and West Virginia combined for 14 fumbles in the Bearcats' 15-13 win. Cincinnati quarterback Gino Guidugli fumbled three times, losing two. Running back Quincy Wilson and quarterback Rasheed Marshall had three fumbles apiece for West Virginia.

OVER DUE: No. 3 Ohio State's 44-38 win over No. 24 North Carolina State was the first overtime game in 81-year-old Ohio Stadium, coming in the old gray horseshoe's 472nd intercollegiate game.

SNAPPED: David Greene's 2-yard pass to Reggie Brown in the first quarter of No. 8 Georgia's 31-7 win over No. 25 South Carolina was the Bulldogs' first offensive touchdown against the Gamecocks since 2000, ending a streak of 181 minutes, 18 seconds.

SLIGHTED IRISH: No. 5 Michigan's 38-0 win over No. 15 Notre Dame was the Wolverines' first shutout over the Irish since a 23-0 victory in 1902. Saturday's loss was Notre Dame's worst since a 58-7 beating by Miami in 1985 and the worst shutout since a 40-0 game against Oklahoma in 1956.

BUSTED BADGERS: Before its 23-5 loss to UNLV, No. 14 Wisconsin hadn't lost at home with this high of a ranking since 1959, when it was ranked seventh and lost to Illinois 9-6. The Badgers failed to score an offensive touchdown at Camp Randall Stadium for the first time since a 3-3 tie with Illinois in 1995.

QUICK STRIKE: Louisiana Tech rallied to beat Michigan State 20-19 on two late touchdown passes by Luke McCown. McCown threw a 4-yard TD pass to Julius Cosby with 1:09 left to make it 19-14. Dez Abrams then recovered an onside kick, and McCown followed with an 11-yard touchdown pass to D.J. Curry with 2 seconds left.

SELF-DESTRUCTIVE WEAPON: "We totally gave it away. We didn't just shoot ourselves in the foot. We took a bazooka and blew the whole thing off." - Michigan State guard Paul Harker after the Spartans' 20-19 loss to Louisiana Tech.

- Craig Krenzel, Ohio State, had 273 yards and four touchdown passes, as No. 3 Ohio State beat No. 24 North Carolina State 44-38 in triple overtime.

- Jamaal Brimmer, UNLV, returned a fumble for a score, and had two interceptions and two sacks as UNLV stunned No. 14 Wisconsin 23-5.

- Ryan Schneider, Central Florida, passed for a school-record 497 yards in Central Florida's 33-29 win over Florida Atlantic.

Frogs hop higher in polls despite idle weekend

Despite not playing in the week just ended, the 2-0 Texas Christian Horned Frogs continued their climb in both the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN Coaches polls. The Frogs find themselves ranked 20th in the A.P. poll and 19th in the coaches poll.

TCU gained 114 additional points in moving up two spots from 22nd in the A.P. poll, tallying 309 points to rank between No. 19 Washington (352) and No. 21 Alabama (223).

The No. 20 ranking in the writers' poll is the Frogs' top ranking since they were ranked 13th in the final regular season poll in 2000, when they boasted a 10-1 record.

TCU went from 157 points to 298 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll to move from 23rd to No. 19. The Frogs rank between No. 18 Arkansas (420) and No. 20 Texas A&M (249) in the poll. The Frogs have climbed nine notches in the coaches' poll over the last two weeks.

Oklahoma continues to lead both polls, followed by Miami, which defeated TCU's fellow Conference USA member, East Carolina, on Saturday.

The Horned Frogs will put their ranking on the line on Saturday, September 20, when they host the Vanderbilt Commodores (1-2) of the Southeastern Conference.

C-USA members Louisville and Cincinnati picked up votes in both polls after posting notable victories over Big East foes, but neither cracked the Top 25. The Cardinals knocked off Syracuse in the Carrier Dome, while Cincinnati upset West Virginia in Morgantown.

Following are the 09.14.03 polls with Carolinas and C-USA teams denoted in bold font.

News Nuggets are compiled periodically from staff, ECU, Conference USA and its member schools, and from Associated Press and other reports. Copyright 2003 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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