Weekend Wrap

By MIKE DAROZA
CFRT Editor

UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel led his Bruins into Austin and pulled off the OMG Moment of the Weekend

OMG Moment of the Weekend

Going into the weekend, you had the feeling we may be in store for at least one major upset.

Maybe Arkansas catching Alabama at home looking ahead to Florida.

Perhaps Kentucky snapping a 23-game losing streak against Florida, who might be looking forward to Alabama.

Or even Oregon State making Boise State blue on their own Smurf Turf.

But, UCLA's stunner over Texas?

Absolutely saw it coming.

Just not the way in which the Bruins manhandled the Longhorns.

On Thursday, I wrote that so far in 2010, Texas, Oklahoma and Florida were mere shells of their former selves in the post McCoy, Tebow and Bradford eras.

However, that was based on the offensive performances of those teams thus far.

Oh sure, the Longhorns struggled offensively against UCLA in the 34-12 shellacking, but it was the way the Bruins ran through the "vaunted" Texas defense that was so startling.

Coming into the game, the Longhorns' D was second in the nation against the run.

You couldn't tell that on Saturday because UCLA, who began the season 0-2 with losses to Kansas State and Stanford, piled up 264 yards on the ground in what Texas coach Mack Brown called a good "rear-end kicking."

On a side note, the Bruins have now played the Longhorns only twice in the past 13 years and both times were in Austin.

The combined score in those two games?

UCLA 100 Texas 15.

OMG.

Gameballs

In The Zone...Again

Stanford's Owen Marecic plunged over the goal line and into the end zone from a yard out midway through the fourth quarter to give The Cardinal a 27-6 lead and a little breathing room over Notre Dame Saturday.

As it turned out, Marecic would have little time to breathe though.

Because following the ensuing kickoff, Marecic - who also plays linebacker for Stanford - intercepted Irish QB Dayne Crist on first down and returned it for a TD.

Marecic scored two TDs, one on offense and one on defense, in the span of 13 seconds.

Six Pack

Truth be told, at first, much of the Gator Nation likely had to ask "just who is that wearing No.8?"

Florida true freshman Trey Burton changed his number from 13 to 8 this week because he and teammate Dee Findley (who also wears 13) could not be on the field at the same time during special teams duties on kickoffs.

It's probably safe to say that whether Burton is superstitious or not, he may never change his number (at least at Florida) ever again.

Donning his new octagonal threads, Burton scored a record six TD's for the Gators (five rushing and one receiving) to lead Florida to a 48-14 waxing of Kentucky, the Gators' 24th consecutive win over the Wildcats.

Six Pack II

Yes, it was against Eastern Michigan, but Terrelle Pryor also hit paydirt an astonishing six times.

The junior, who is quietly cruising along in the Heisman race passed for four TDs, rushed for a TD and also caught a TD pass on a little trick throwback play to lead an expected, 73-20, pounding of the 0-4 Eagles.

In Rare Air

With his team's win over Kentucky, Florida coach Urban Meyer reached the 100-win mark as a head coach.

Meyer (100-18) officially becomes the sixth fastest coach to reach that milestone in the history of college football, behind Gil Dobie (100-5-3 in 108 games), George Woodruff (100-9 in 109 games), Bud Wilkinson (100-8-3 in 111 games), Fielding Yost (100-10-4 in 114 games) and Knute Rockne (100-12-5 in 117 games).

Just how big of a deal is this?

Well, no other coach has reached 100 wins faster than Meyer in the past 50 years.

Joe Paterno and Bob Stoops each needed 122 games to reach the century mark, while Nick Saban, Steve Spurrier, Bobby Bowden and Mack Brown each needed at least 130 games to reach 100 wins.

Harry S. Truman was the U.S. President in 1948

Silver State Love

What does Nevada and the last time gas was 16 cents a gallon, a loaf of bread cost 14 cents and a movie ticket cost 60 cents all have in common?

1948.

Which was also the last time Nevada was ranked in the Top-25!

Say hello to the No.25 Wolf Pack, who cracked both the AP and USA Today Coaches Top-25 polls, this week following their 27-13 win at BYU on Saturday.

Nevada is averaging nearly 45 points a game, including a 52-31 woodshed whooping of Cal two weeks ago.

Get used to hearing about Nevada, they just might be the last team with a legitimate chance of upending No.3 Boise state with the Wolf Pack visit the Broncos on Friday, November 26.

Headscratchers

Cupcake Central

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delaney should have some explaining to do for the putrid out-of-conference slate his conference had on tap this past weekend.

Austin Peay, Ball State, Bowling Green, Northern Colorado, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Temple and Akron? Really?

At least in those thundering showdowns, the Big Ten won by an average score of 48-14, right?

Well, that doesn't include Toledo's 31-20 win over Big Ten Purdue or Northern Illinios' 34-23 win over Big Ten Minnesota.

Eeeeesh....

Speaking of Cupcakes

After feasting on inferior opponents in the first three weeks, Boston College (downed by Virginia Tech), Rutgers (downed by North Carolina), Kentucky (downed by Florida) and West Virginia (downed by LSU) all said goodbye to an undefeated season when they finally played someone with a pulse.

Welcome to Big Boy Football fellas!

Cornhusker Call-In

With Nebraska averaging  nearly 48 points a game - including their 56-21 demolition of Washington two weeks ago - and giving up just 16 points a game, you could smell a beatdown the size of a small third-world nation with South Dakota State next on the schedule Saturday.

Obviously, Cornhusker coach Bo Pelini approached this game with caution of injury in anticipation of this Saturday's Red River Rivalry showdown with Texas, but even Pelini couldn't be happy with a poor 17-3 win over the winless I-AA Jackrabbits.

Nebraska only led by 11 heading into the fourth quarter, turned the ball over three times and only gained a whopping 15 first downs.

Dawg Daze

For the first time in the Mark Right era, the Georgia Bulldogs are a paltry 1-3 overall and a lousier 0-3 in SEC play.

After whipping Louisiana-Lafayette 55-7 to open the season, Georgia has dropped three league games in a row, including Saturday's 24-12 dud at Mississippi State in Starkville.

The good news for Richt: With Colorado, Tennessee and Vanderbilt up next, UGA could win the next three in a row.

The bad news: Road trips to Kentucky, Florida (in Jacksonville) and Auburn are in three out of their final five games, not to mention in-state rival Georgia Tech in the finale.

Can you say 6-6?

Can you say 5-7?

Can you say hot seat?

Don't Blaze Me Bro

Give Tennessee credit for being competitive against Oregon and Florida at home in weeks 2 and 3, even if they did get hosed in the second halves of those contests.

They were expected to lose those games.

But barely holding on to a two-point double overtime win at home over the UAB Blazers was not expected.

The Blazers had more first downs than the Vols (23-15), more passing yards (429-245), more rushing yards (115-42) and by virtue, more total yards (544-287).

Totally Random Thoughts

• Did any one else catch the ticker across the bottom of the screen on ESPN showing the scores and stats for the Oklahoma vs. Cincinnati game? When giving the Bearcats' leading rusher Isaiah Pead's stats, it read like this:..........I. Pead 21 carries, 169 yards.........
• I used to think Notre Dame was the most polarizing team in college football. But now I think Boise State may have taken their place. Seems you love them or hate them.
• Speaking of Boise State, how long will it be before a big name program calls Broncos' head coach with a $2+ million offer?
• I've watched a lot of football in my time, but I don't think I've ever watched a game in which nine TDs were scored in one game by three different players all wearing the #8 (See Kentucky at Florida).
• Think Stanford's good now? Just think how good they'd be if Toby Gerhardt would've stayed for his senior season.
• Is it just me, or is the Final Verdict on ESPN's College Football Final the worst 3 minutes of college football TV each week.
• Should we be more suspect of Oklahoma's record? Take the Florida State meltdown game out of the equation and the Sooners have beaten Utah State, Air Force and Cincinnati by grand total of 11 points.
• Speaking of Oklahoma, with Texas's loss to UCLA and OU's near miss at Cincy, this week's Red River Rivalry almost turned into the Red River Recovery.
• The Frowny-Face paper bag worn by Lee Corso was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time.