Thursday Night Report

Apologies for the dearth of material; all hell has broken loose for me.

Boston College pulled it out against Virginia Tech on a rainy, soggy night to become the first #2 team to defend its ranking in October (USC, Cal and USF all lost as #2 this month). They didn't do it without some wild heroics. After offensive lameness all night, BC got it together with a 92-yard touchdown drive in two minutes. After getting a good onside-kick bounce against Special Teams U to re-start at the BC 34, BC quarterback Matt Ryan threw the game-winning touchdown twice (the first was called back for a holding penalty), finally leading his team to the win with 11 seconds remaining. A Heisman moment, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, if there ever was one.

It's too bad for BC that their two national-TV games have been their poorest performances - Notre Dame and Virginia Tech. But they won, and they should stay #2 for winning in one of the tougher places to play outside the South. And just like USF, they would have fallen to #10 or worse - after losing to the eight-ranked Hokies. LSU didn't fall that far when they lost at Kentucky.

Wild-card note: Doug Flutie couldn't be on the ESPN broadcast crew for his alma mater's biggest game in two decades - because he was being inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame for his three Grey Cups in the CFL. His cup truly runneth over.

PAC-10 ACTION THIS WEEK

News break: Arizona is just not a good football program. An extended summary in my Daily column. They're not Notre Dame-type bad - they can move the ball and make plays on defense - they just can't win, and they're very unstable mentally. The slighest second-half miscue sends the team over the edge. It all flows from Mike Stoops and his unstable personality.

Arizona has the chance for a final self-knockout punch against Washington, who gave up over 600 yards in offense and 400+ rushing yards to Oregon.

Speaking of the Ducks, they are rolling, they've forgotten the loss to Cal, and they are ready to knock a teetering USC team off the ledge.


Cal - who has lost two straight to unranked opponents - goes to Arizona State. The Sun Devils are anxious to prove they are for real (I think they are) and start a Murderers' Row of Cal @Oregon, @UCLA, and USC at home. If they win all those, they should be #1, Ohio State be damned.

UCLA makes no sense. They lose 44-6 at Utah, and lose at home to Notre Dame, one of the poorest college teams I've ever seen, and strap it on to go undefeated in the Pac-10. The Bruins go to Pullman to face Washington State, who's having trouble getting enough bodies to man the ship. I still don't think UCLA is for real, but a bad trip to the Palouse might make me think differently. WSU won at the Rose Bowl 37-15 last year, but there is nowhere near the same amount of defensive talent on this year's Cougar team.