<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2Zdr3H_0vn0tTMW00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2Zdr3H_0vn0tTMW00" width="1210" height="806" ></figure><p>We’re calling a bit of an audible this week. 2014 was wild, with six different games worth noting. However, three of them were Pac-12 affairs. Additionally, the Saturday involved in 2014 was October 4, so we’re splitting that week in 2014 in half. Three games today, three games for next week. This will keep us at parity with 1994 and 1984, so that we’re ending the regular season the same week, too. Haven’t mentioned 2004 yet, but that year contains this week’s featured game, which alert Wildcat fans already figured out. </p><p>If you feel like tracking back previous installments, start here:</p><p>Otherwise, time to dive in.</p><h2>2014</h2><p>The week started with a stunner when, on Thursday night, unranked (but 4-0) Arizona went to Eugene and upset #2 Oregon, 31-24. Trailing 7-3 at halftime, a 21-point fourth quarter put Rich Rod’s charges up 24-14 entering the fourth quarter. Oregon rallied to tie the game at 24 halfway through the quarter. But Arizona responded with a 15 play, 71 yard drive which included 1) a 3rd and 20 conversion on a draw play, 2) being awarded a first and goal after an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty following a sack that had set up 4th and goal from the 17. When Oregon lost a fumble on their subsequent drive, Arizona was able to run out the clock and the Ducks had suffered a stunning home loss.</p><p>The upsets continued on Saturday. #8 UCLA hosted Utah, and lost 30-28 on a last minute field goal. The Utes had jumped out to a 14-0 lead and, behind 252 rushing yards, made UCLA play from behind most of the day. The Bruins took their first lead on a 40-yard TD pass with 4:50 to play, but couldn’t hold the lead. </p><p>#16 USC fared no better, falling at home to Arizona State 38-34. HOW they lost...whew. Leading 27-25, Steve Sarkisian’s Trojans pushed the lead to nine on a 53 yard TD run with 3:02 to play (“Putting this one on ice,” said the announcer.) However, ASU’s subsequent possession was a one play, 73-yard drive and it was back to a one score game, 34-32. After a failed onside kick, the Sun Devils forced a punt and took over on their own 28 with :23 to play. A completion set ASU up in USC territory with :10 to play, then this happened:</p><div style="position:relative;width:100%; height:0; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Eth6aNZSPX0?rel=0&amp;start=3492" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" style="width:100%; height:100%;top:0; left:0; position:absolute"></iframe></div><h2>2004</h2><p>That was exciting, but this week’s featured game has be to Northwestern’s only win over Ohio State in the last 50+ years.</p><p>The Wildcats were off to a 1-3 start when they welcomed the #7 Buckeyes to Evanston for a nighttime showdown. In a game where Northwestern never trailed, Noah Herron’s TD run on 3rd-and-goal put the Wildcats up by ten, 24-14, early in the fourth. </p><p>But the Buckeyes weren’t going down without a fight. After a FG made it 27-20, Justin Zwick hit Santonio Holmes for a 21-yard TD with just under 2:00 to play, tying things up at 27. In a world where targeting existed, Northwestern’s next drive might have put them in position to attempt a game-winning field goal. But Brett Basanez left Brandon Horn out to dry and the Wildcats had to punt. </p><p>Even though OSU only had :20 left when they took over on their own 21, you can understand if Northwestern fans, having seen their Wildcats drop 24 straight to the Buckeyes, were a bit nervous. And lightning almost struck:</p><div style="position:relative;width:100%; height:0; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YwqU9OZ_3S0?rel=0&amp;start=8719" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" style="width:100%; height:100%;top:0; left:0; position:absolute"></iframe></div><p>After Marvin Ward saved the day, OT beckoned. </p><p>Northwestern won the toss and forced a field attempt, whereupon the strangest thing, Tressel-ball failed:</p><div style="position:relative;width:100%; height:0; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YwqU9OZ_3S0?rel=0&amp;start=9214" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" style="width:100%; height:100%;top:0; left:0; position:absolute"></iframe></div><p>Basanez took a keeper inside the 5 and, two plays later, Herron ended things in style:</p><div style="position:relative;width:100%; height:0; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YwqU9OZ_3S0?rel=0&amp;start=9393" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" style="width:100%; height:100%;top:0; left:0; position:absolute"></iframe></div><p>Those were the days, huh?</p><h2>1994</h2><p>More upsets. Fresh off shellacking a ranked Indiana team, 62-13, #15 Wisconsin went to East Lansing and face-planted, 29-10, to a Spartan team on their way to a 5-6 season. </p><p>#25 Illinois decided to celebrate their re-entry in the rankings by falling to Purdue, 22-16, in Champaign. The Boilers would go 4-5-2 on the season, but they can always swell with the pride that comes from being one of only two teams to score more that 20 points against the ‘94 Illini.</p><p>Out west, #22 USC fell, 22-7, to an unranked Oregon squad, in the LA Coliseum. In retrospect, this loss is more understandable. But it was unexpected at the time. </p><h2>1984</h2><p>Want more upsets? You got ‘em.</p><p>#1 Nebraska, riding a 23-game regular-season winning streak, and having outscored opponents 122-17 thus far in the season, headed to the Carrier Dome. Host Syracuse had lost to the Huskers 63-7 the year before, and were coming off a 19-0 home loss to Rutgers. No matter, Holding Nebraska’s vaunted rushing attack to only 154 yards on 41 carriers, the Orange actually wore down Nebraska in the 4th quarter. Protecting a 10-7 lead, Harold Gayden punched in a 1-yard TD with under two minutes to play, giving Syracuse a two score lead. A safety on the game’s final play made the final margin 17-9 and the 1984 college football season got even weirder. Nebraska’s loss meant that a fourth different team would be ranked #1 even though it was only early in October. </p><p>That team would be #2 Texas, who throttled #4 Penn State, 28-3 in a “neutral site” game at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ. Though highly ranked, Penn State was on their way to a 6-5 season where they were outscored overall despite getting to beat up on William &amp; Mary, 56-18. This was the first of three games on the season where the Nittany Lions would be held to single-digits. </p><p>In LA, #15 USC hosted unranked LSU and fell 23-3. LSU was Sugar Bowl-bound in 1984, so this wasn’t as big of an upset as it looked like at the time. But with second-year coach Ted Tollner coming off a 4-6-1 campaign in his first year, it certainly didn’t calm anybody’s nerves.</p><p>Nerves were also an issue in Ann Arbor. Michigan moved to 3-1 on the season, but a 14-6 win over lowly Indiana—on their way to an 0-11 season—raised even more questions about an offense that had mustered only 67 points through the first four games (16.75 ppg). </p></div></body>

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YOU DID IT NORTHWESTERN!!!

We’re calling a bit of an audible this week. 2014 was wild, with six different games worth noting. However, three of them were Pac-12 affairs. Additionally, the Saturday involved in 2014 was October 4, so we’re splitting that week in 2014 in half. Three games today, three games for next week. This will keep us at parity with 1994 and 1984, so that we’re ending the regular season the same week, too. Haven’t mentioned 2004 yet, but that year contains this week’s featured game, which alert Wildcat fans already figured out.

YOU DID IT NORTHWESTERN!!!

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