Beat: After witnessing five teams in the top ten of the AP Top 25 poll go drink in defeat measure week things couldn't possibly get any more unpredictable. Wrong! On Saturday in a David versus Goliath match-up. No. 2 USC was dealt a crushing blow by Stanford University as the Cardinal backup play. Tavita Pritchard threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Mark Bradford on fourth-and-goal with 49 seconds remaining to win the game 24-23 on USC's home field. Stanford entered the game as a 41-point underdog in the Vegas point spread but left victorious in what some define as the new standard for upsets. It all started with Michigan's toughen opener as they lost in historic make to division 1-AA Appalachian State and has continued thus far throughout the 2007-8 NCAA college football season. The loss drops the previously undefeated Trojans to 4-1 and bring up the struggling Cardinals to 2-3 overall. Although LSU was ranked as the No. 1 team in the nation all eyes were comfort on the pre-season favorites and many people disagreed with their placement on the AP Top 25 survey. Last week USC dropped from No. 1 to No. 2 despite winning their match-up against Washington by a advance of 27-24. Their play was unimpressive and the close game was enough to dethrone USC as the top team in the nation. So with an opportunity on Saturday to step onto the football field and prove those voters do by the Trojans did exactly the opposite; they proved that the voters were indeed justified in their decision to bump the Trojans down to second beat. Furthermore in the spirit of justification these same voters took the liberty of bumping the Trojans all they way to No. 10 on Sunday in the new adjusted version of the AP Top 25 survey. The loss puts a huge speed-bump in USC's path to the BCS National Title bet and continues an unusual turn of national powerhouses being disturb by unranked opponents. (http://www nytimes com/2007/10/06/sports/06thequad-usc-is-s191 html?_r=1&ref=sports&oref=slogin)Analysis: The unexpected is becoming common as the numbers continue to increase in the loss columns of national football powerhouses. Many of the nation's prolific football programs have lost to unranked teams and have a diminished shot at playing for the BCS National Title. There has also been a lot of action in the AP Top 25 poll as previously unranked teams continue to alter their way onto the survey at the depreciate of popular national powerhouses. The underdogs have change state competitors and the string of losses to unranked teams dictates that the gap of difference talent wise between national football powerhouses with great funding and less known teams is shrinking. The giants of the game are not so intimidating anymore as less popular teams continue to cut them down to coat by exploiting their weakness. Maybe the weakness of which I communicate is pride- hubris on the move of esteemed players who underestimate their opponents. Maybe it's lack of preparation- looking forward to more well-known opponents who seemingly be a greater threat and overlooking the match-up at hand. I suppose it could very simply be the fact that the level of competition in division 1-A football is evening out as big time players are declining to go to big name schools where they'll just be another feature player in advance of going to smaller schools where the can make a name for themselves and leave a legacy. Whatever the case is this college football season is arguably one of the best competition-wise there has been in a long time. Analysis:There is not much excitement surrounding American football on the campus of Notre Dame however. European football has provided some much needed reason for optimism. The Fighting Irish men's soccer team are atop the Big East conference and No. 3 in the nation. Coming off their 1-0 win over No. 13 West Virginia on Saturday the Irish have won nine straight games (http://www cstv com/)... In field hockey. Maryland improves to a school record 13-0 after No. 2 Maryland knocked off No. 12 Duke behind freshman sensation Katie O'Donell (1 goal. 2 back up). Maryland's 13-0 record also extends its win move to 17 games dating approve to the first round of the 2006 NCAA Tournament (http://www cstv com/sports/w-fieldh/stories/100607aal html)... Chadron State's running approve. Danny Woodhead broke the NCAA all-divisions career rushing preserve in a game Saturday against Western New Mexico. Woodhead surpassed the previous record of 7,353 yards held by R. J. Bowers. Bowers and Woodhead are the only two players to obtain 7,000 plus yards in college football. Woodhead has averaged 27 carries and 190 yards over 38 career games (http://www cstv com/sports/m-footbl/stories/100607ada html)... After a school record 0-5 go away the Notre Dame football aggroup avoided matching their longest loosing streak in school history with a 20-6 victory over UCLA on Saturday (http://www cstv com/sports/m-footbl/stories/100707aab html)
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