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The national title race received a major makeover in an upsetting couple of days for a bunch top-ranked teams. Half of the top 10 teams in the country lost in the fifth weekend of the season, including defending national champion and fourth-ranked Florida falling 20-17 at home to Auburn on a last-second field goal. No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 7 Texas, No. 10 Rutgers and No. 13 Clemson were also all handed their first losses Saturday ... all by unranked opponents. Add to that No. 5 West Virginia's 21-13 loss to No. 18 South Florida on Friday night, plus No. 6...

Sheriff: Man Shot 2 on Way to Game COLUMBIA, S.C. - A man killed a 60-year-old woman and shot a store clerk to get cars on his way to see his brother, who was playing football at the University of South Carolina, authorities said Saturday. Demetrius M. Pepper, 24, was arrested outside of the stadium where the team was playing a scrimmage game, Newberry County deputies said. His brother, Nathan Pepper, is a rising junior defensive lineman for the Gamecocks. Deputies said the elder Pepper stole his first car after shooting its owner at a Greenville convenience store around 7:45...

Putting freedom above football By Michelle Malkin   ·   December 27, 2006 08:39 PM The Baltimore Sun publishes a deeply inspiring story about a young college football player who puts service first. Wow: There were signs. They were small signs, but they were there, and they suggested that Maryland guard Donnie Woods was serious about quitting football to defend his country. An American flag hung from his locker, and he kept another in his room. Favorite movies? United 93 and World Trade Center. The hunter green camouflage Terps football hat he always wore. His criminal justice major. Nobody, though - not...

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) -- Wake Forest completed the finest road performance in Atlantic Coast Conference history against a team it had trouble beating anywhere. Now, after defeating Maryland 38-24 Saturday night, the No. 20 Demon Deacons will take their successful road show to Florida to play for the league championship. "Wake Forest (10-2, 6-2) will be seeking its first ACC title since 1970 next Saturday against Georgia Tech in Jacksonville. The teams did not face each other this season. The final game of a crazy ACC regular season matched two of the league's most surprising teams in a duel...

Troy Smith and Ohio State did it all, overwhelming Michigan with offense, winning the Big Ten title and streaking into the national title game. The Wolverines may have another shot at the Buckeyes though -- they, too, can still make it to the BCS title game in Arizona. Smith and the top-ranked Buckeyes put their dazzling speed on display with a barrage of big plays, and they needed every one of them to beat an inspired Michigan team, 42-39 on Saturday. The Game of the Century, the first 1 vs. 2 matchup in this storied rivalry, was played a day...

AUBURN, Ala., Oct. 14 — It can be a merciless existence in the Southeastern Conference, with a team’s schedule stacked with Top 25 opponents and fierce crowds of up to 107,000 people screaming from start to finish at a visiting squad. Given all that, it was not exactly surprising that No. 2 Florida, trying to stay in the national championship hunt, was finally taken down by the SEC gantlet here Saturday night in Jordan-Hare Stadium. The Gators were surrounded by a howling crowd of 87,541, which revved up the Auburn defense in the second half as the No. 11 Tigers...

Here we go! This should be a great game. I don't know and kinda doubt it will top last night's game or even the games from 2 nights ago, but this will be a much better game than last year's BCS title game.

WASHINGTON -- A playoff system could be used in major college football and the so-called "plus-one" model for determining a national champion should be reconsidered, the head of the Bowl Championship Series told Congress on Wednesday. When House Subcommittee on Commerce Trade and Consumer Protection Chairman Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., pointed out that lower divisions have playoffs for football, BCS coordinator Kevin Weiberg said: "It certainly, congressman, is possible to have a playoff at the Division I-A level, as well. We have chosen not to go down that path." Between jokes about needing tickets for bowl games and remarks about more...

Here's why Southern California is No. 1 in The Associated Press preseason poll: Every player who scored a touchdown in the Trojans' 55-19 victory over Oklahoma in last season's Orange Bowl is still playing for USC. And so is Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart, who threw five TD passes. Leinart, Reggie Bush and the rest of Pete Carroll's crew provided a scary glimpse of what was to come in 2005 when they wrapped up their second straight national title on that warm January night in Miami. This year's goal is three in a row, something that's never been done. ``It's...

Auburn needs an upset. The Tigers are still stuck behind first-place Southern California and second-place Oklahoma in the Bowl Championship Series standings, heading into the final weekend before the national title game is decided. Third-place Auburn needs to beat Tennessee in the Southeastern Conference title game Saturday and hope for USC to lose at UCLA or Oklahoma to fall in the Big 12 title game against Colorado to earn a spot in the Orange Bowl and play for the BCS championship. USC improved its BCS grade in the standings released Monday to .9834, and padded its lead over the Sooners...

Preview: Michigan at Minnesota Nov. 6, 2002 By Chris David VegasInsider.com Two teams in the Big Ten apparently headed in different directions square off this weekend, as No. 13 Michigan travels to the Metrodome Saturday night to face Minnesota. The battle for “The Little Brown Jug” has been anything but. The Wolverines have won the last 13 meetings, including last season’s victory at home as 16-point favorites, 31-10. Michigan has won 30 of the last 32 meetings in this series. The Wolverines are also unbeaten in their last eight meetings at the Metrodome.

The dream comes to Neil Parry often. In it, the San Jose State special teams player sprints down the field on a kickoff. He "blows up" the opponents' blocking wedge, breaking through to the ball carrier. When it is suggested that the perfect end to the dream sequence is him making the tackle, Parry says, "You're reading my mind. I think about that all the time, too, man." The significance of this nocturnal fantasy is that the 22-year old body of Neil Parry is not whole. Thirteen centimeters below his right knee, doctors removed his leg in late October 2000....