The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, September 21, 2004 - 11
Football Frenzy
Conference matchups shift into high gear this weekend

By Benjamin Fox
and Tyler Hagle
For the Daily
Week five of the college football sea-
son features some top teams who are
looking to continue rolling towards pos-
sible BCS bids and undefeated seasons.
Here are six games to watch out for on
Saturday.
No. 1 SOUTHERN CAL. (3-0) AT STAN-
FORD (2-0) - 7 P.M.
Top-ranked Southern Cal. opens up
its Pac-10 schedule with a trip to Stan-
ford Stadium this Saturday. The Cardi-
nal have been impressive in two wins so
far this season, ringing up their oppo-
nents for a combined 80 points. Stanford
sophomore quarterback Trent Edwards
threw for a career-high 297 yards and
three touchdowns in a 37-10 rout of
BYU in Provo last Saturday. Southern
Cal. is also coming off a rout of BYU.
The Trojans embarrassed BYU, racking
up 527 total yards on the way to a 42-10
win. They pounded the Cougars for 291
yards on the ground behind the running
back duo of LenDale White and Reggie
Bush. The Cardinal will battle, but the
Southern Cal defense should find a way
to stifle the passing attack of Edwards.
Southern Cal. 28, Stanford 17
RICE (2-0) AT No. 5 TEXAS (2-0)
-7 P.M.
The Longhorns look to improve to
3-0 after a tough victory against rival
Arkansas last weekend. Cedric Benson
rushed for 188 yards and caught the win-
ning touchdown pass from sophomore
quarterback Vince Young.
Rice has a running game
of its own, tearing through
Hawaii's defense for
405 yards last
weekend. The
Owls were
led by
senior run-
ing back
Ed Bailey,
who rushed for
234 yards on
37 carries.
Rice will be
looking to
avenge a 48-
7 drubbing
at home
last

year to Texas, but the combination of
Benson and Young will prove to be too
much. A repeat blowout is in order, and
Texas will continue on its quest for a
Big 12 championship ... at least until
the Red River Shootout.

Texas 40, Rice 10
SYRACUSE (2-1)
AT No. 12 VIRGINIA
(3-0) - 3:30 P.m.
Virginia has
been nothing short
of dominant in its
first three games
this season. The

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Cavaliers have averaged just over 50
points a game, and have been nearly as
strong on the other side of the ball, shut-
ting out Akron and holding the Zips to
a meager 16 yards in the second half.
Syracuse looks to provide a huge upset
in Charlottesville this Saturday, coming
off a 19-7 win over Cincinnati. Senior
running back Walter Reyes ran for
117 yards on 24 carries, propelling the
Orange to their second straight victory.
A third win in a row might be difficult
if Syracuse's season opening 51-0 loss
against Purdue is any indication of how
they stack up to a top-25 team. Look
for the Cavaliers to roll and make the
Orange wish for the days of Donovan
McNabb.
Virginia 38, Syracuse 14
CLEMSON (1-2) AT No. 11 FLORIDA
STATE (1-1) - 3:30 P.M., ABC
The Tigers roll into Tallahassee
severely undermatched. Their slim
hopes hang on the shoulder pads of
junior quarterback Charlie Whitehurst,
who's boasted impressive numbers but
must cut down on his season total of
seven interceptions for his team to have
a chance against the Seminoles.
Clemson's defense has yet to hold a
team under 27 points, and don't look for
this game to be an exception. Expect
Florida State quarter-
F'"back (and preseason
Heisman candi-
date) Chris Rix
to finally get
on track and
throw his
first touch-
down of
the young
season.
Add in
a ground
game of
Leon

Washington and Lorenzo Booker -
who combine to average more than five
yards a carry - and Seminole fans can
be sure to "tomahawk chop" their way
to victory. Florida State coach Bobby
Bowden will be looking to avenge last
year's loss to son Tommy and his Tigers
with an (on-field) spanking. And if
ABC sends Terry Bowden as its color
commentator, this could be the truest
"Bowden Bowl" to date.
Florida State 45, Clemson 16
BYU (1-2) AT No. 23 BOISE STATE
(3-0) - FRIDAY, 10 P.M., ESPN
Boise State is one of the early candi-
dates to be this year's "BCS Buster." It
has a very good chance of running the
table in the WAC and ending the season
11-0. Boise State won't look to change
much on offense and should rely heavily
on quarterback Jared Zabransky. The
sophomore has a solid quarterback rat-
ing of 157.5 and will eclipse the 1,000-
yard mark for the season in this game.
On the other side of the ball, the Bron-
cos defense must stop giving up the big
play to avoid a close game.
BYU started the year well by beating
Notre Dame, holding the now "Rushing
Irish" to just 11 yards on the ground. But,
last week No. 1 Southern Cal. came to
town and ran up the rushing yards and
the score, 291 and 42-10, respectively. It
most likely won't matter which defense
shows up, since BYU has no offense of
its own, averaging a whopping 30 rush-
ing yards per game. This game may be
another humiliating performance for the
Cougars on national TV. And no, there
isn't something weird in your drink, the
turf in Boise is actually blue.
Boise State 34, BYU 12
NORTH CAROLINA STATE (1-1) AT VIR-
GINIA TECH (2-1) - NOON, ESPN
Each squad has hung tough with a
top-10 team in defeat, with the Wolfpack
falling to No.7 Ohio State, 22-14, and the
Hokieslosing to No. e Southern Cal., 23-
14. So another close game seems to be in
the cards this week.
North Carolina State will force the
issue on the ground with running back
T.A. McLendon carrying the bulk of
the load. The 225-pound junior hopes to
maintain his 6.3 yards-per-carry average
and add to his one touchdown so far this
year. Virginia Tech's offense will also be
one-dimensional, as it's all about senior
quarterback Bryan Randall. Randall
leads the team in both passing and rush-
ing and must have another big day. Vir-
ginia Tech's defense should be enough to
keep McLendon in check and the Hok-
ies will win what is now an ACC game.
While it may not be between two ranked
teams, this contest should be the game to
watch during your tailgate this weekend.
Virginia Tech 24, N.C. State 20

I

AP PHOTO
Arizona State's Andrew Waiter shredded Iowa last weekend, throwing for five touchdowns in the Sun Devils' 44-7 win.
1. Kyle Orton, QB, Purdue
Orton put up Phil-Simms-Super-Bowl-XXI-type numbers against Ball State two weeks ago. The senior was
23-for-26 for 329 yards and five touchdowns. But the Boilermakers' first two opponents - Syracuse and the Car-
dinals - are a combined 2-4. Orton's favorite target, wide receiver Taylor Stubblefield, has caught five of Orton's
nine touchdown passes this season. Look for even better numbers Ior Orton this weekend against Big Ten doormat
Illiois.
2 R aip BchE 1Pv thin S nth~ Cal x

L. Kegg D eusn, r very ing, oun ern a . 'i
"President" Bush could be the best pure athlete colle,
making collegiate defenses look worse than the Tony Kot
be overshadowed by his talented Southern Cal. teamma
3. Matt Leinart, QB, Southern Cal.
Leinart seems to be the consensus favorite to in the
Del White and Steve Smith, how good would rLeart I
billboard like Oregon did with Joey Harringj6n. Well, m
Lions.

xall has ever seen. Bush's vision is unparalleled,
-based show "Listen Up" on CBS. But will Bush
e lack of national exposure?
But if you take away the arsenal of Bush, Len-
ye Southern Cal. should pay for a Times Square
t, All that did was get Harrington drafted by the

4. Adrian Peterson, RB, Okla
Scouts predicted that Peterson
chose Oklahoma - ouch! In Pelt
mances and scored five touchdov'
Darren Sproles as a frosh?

m high school. The Texas native
, he put up 100-yard-plus perfor-
:ction behind Cedric Benson and

5. Andrew Walter, QB, Arizona State
Is Walter going to break Jake "the Snake" Plummer's single season records? The senior speared Iowa,-throwing
for 428 yards and five touchdowns in the Sun Devils' 44-7 victory. Luckily for Walter, Pac-10 teams don't play
defense - with the exception of Southern Cal.

Y

S

0

mu,

F AP PHOTO
Southern Cal's
Mister Everything
Reggie Bush

BREMMER
Continued from page 10
Then, I realized it wasn't going
to fly. My Monday night class until
9:30 p.m. would keep me out of the
bar for the Madden tournament, and
it sent me back to the drawing board
for ideas.
Still no ideas I could work with.
I flipped through yesterday's Daily
while waiting for class to begin, and
there it was, the spark I was wait-
ing for: Zach Borden's review of the
new movie, "Mr. 3000," starring
Bernie Mac.
Yes! There's my column idea
- I'll write something about sports
movies.
After all, sports movies have
been making entertainment head-
lines lately. "Mr. 3000" would
surely have provided the basis for
some sarcastic comments about
!Mac's career. But there's no way I
could write a whole column about
just one movie.
So maybe I'd just expand my
focus. I thought about some of my

At this point, I got desperate. I
even thought about writing a non-
sports column. Since I'm a sports
editor, I don't know if that's even
allowed. Besides, even if it were,
I'd probably be better off skipping
it. Have you seen ESPN's Page 3
lately? If there's one lesson you can
learn from that disaster, it's to keep
your sports and your entertainment

separate.
So I continued to sit there and
worry about my column idea. Then
I realized ... maybe I shouldn't
worry about it at all.
Daniel Bremmer is currently
accepting suggestions for column
ideas for next week. He can be
reached at bremmerd@umich.edu.


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