Reggie Bush ran for 260 yards and two touchdowns on Saturday in No. 1 Southern California's 66-19 victory over No. 11 UCLA, the 34th consecutive win for the top-ranked Trojans and 16th straight against a ranked opponent.
Now only Texas stands between USC (12-0, 8-0 Pac-10) and a perfectly historic season.
The Bowl Championship Series will make it official today: Trojans versus Longhorns on Jan. 4 in the national title game.
PHOTO: AP
The festivities at the Coliseum started with a warm farewell to a senior class that's been part of one of the greatest dynasties in college football history. Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart was last to be honored with a long standing ovation before USC and UCLA played for the 75th time.
Against the 115th-ranked run defense in the country, USC made its intentions clear for the start. Keep it simple and let Bush put a punctuation mark on his Heisman campaign. No doubt both Bush and Leinart will be in New York next Saturday when the big bronze trophy is handed out. And after the way Bush finished off the regular season, it certainly seems like it's his turn hold the hardware.
On the second play from scrimmage, Bush zipped off tackle for 28 yards.
PHOTO: AP
USC ended up driving 70 yards on 16 plays without completing a pass. UCLA (9-2, 6-2) held the Trojans to a 35-yard field goal by Mario Danelo. It was a small victory and one of the few UCLA would be able to chalk up in its seventh straight loss to USC.
No. 2 Texas 70, Colorado 3
At Houston, Vince Young made four touchdowns as Texas embarrassed Colorado, a predictable result that gave them a spot in the BCS title game, Jan. 4 in Pasadena.
With the game well in hand, some 'Horns fans clad in burnt orange could be seen sniffing yellow roses in the stands. The Yellow Rose of Texas -- certainly it will be popular symbol in the Lone Star State over the next few weeks. The Longhorns (12-0) are going for their first undisputed national title since 1969, when Darrell Royal worked the sidelines.
Saturday's win, which was the eighth-largest margin of victory in the program's 113-year history, gave Texas its first Big 12 title since 1996 and the first title of any kind for Brown, the veteran coach who built a reputation for his ability to recruit great teams, but never take them to the ultimate destination.
Many felt there was no way Brown could have messed it up with this group. Against Colorado (7-5), it was never in doubt.
But even though they were playing against a vastly overmatched opponent -- a team they had already beaten 42-17 in the regular season -- the Longhorns deserve credit.
Tulsa 44, UCF 27
At Orlando, Florida, Tarrion Adams had three touchdowns, two of them rushing, and Tulsa's defense shut UCF out in the second half as the Golden Hurricane claimed their first league title in 20 years.
The win sends Tulsa (8-4) to the Liberty Bowl against Fresno State. UCF (8-4), which lost for the second time in 10 games and had a major turnaround season under coach George O'Leary, is expected to play in the Hawaii Bowl on Dec. 24.
Adams had a 15-yard touchdown catch and a 6-yard scoring run in the first quarter -- then sealed the win with a 25-yard run with 6:17 left in the third as Tulsa won for the sixth time in its last seven games. The Golden Hurricane's last league crown came in 1985, when Tulsa won the Missouri Valley Conference.
Paul Smith completed 13 of 20 passes for 205 yards and two scores for Tulsa, which held UCF to 55 yards in the second half. Uril Parrish had 100 yards and a touchdown for the Golden Hurricane, and Adams finished with 81 rushing yards.
Tulsa's Garrett Mills had eight catches for 152 yards -- giving him 1,183 for the year, a new NCAA record for most receiving yards by a tight ends in a season. Brigham Young's Chris Smith had 1,156 in 1990.
Kevin Smith ran for 108 yards and a touchdown for UCF, which snapped a 17-game losing streak earlier this season and will play in a bowl for the first time in the school's 10-year football history.
Navy 42, Army 23
At Philadelphia, Adam Ballard ran for 192 yards and two touchdowns, leading Navy over Army in the 106th meeting between the service academies.
Bowl-bound Navy had 490 yards rushing, including 99 from quarterback Lamar Owens. Reggie Campbell added a 54-yard TD run and Owens had three TD runs for Navy (7-4).
The Midshipmen have won four straight and six of the last seven games against Army to take a one-game lead in the overall series at 50-49-7.
Zac Dahman tossed three TD passes for Army (4-7), which had a four-game winning streak snapped.
Navy outscored Army 134-31 in the previous three meetings, winning each one by 28 points or more. But the much-improved Black Knights came out strong, and led 10-7 midway through the second quarter.
No. 13 Georgia 34, No. 3 LSU 14
Atlanta, D.J. Shockley threw two TD passes to Sean Bailey, Bryan McClendon set up another score with a blocked punt and Georgia won its second Southeastern Conference championship in four years.
Cheered on at the supposedly neutral site by a crowd dressed largely in red and black -- not surprising, considering the Georgia campus is only about 75 miles east of Atlanta -- the Bulldogs (10-2) earned the SEC's automatic berth in the Jan. 2 Sugar Bowl.
Normally, that would mean a trip to New Orleans, but this isn't a normal year. The Sugar Bowl has shifted to the Georgia Dome, forced out of the Big Easy by the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.
The Bulldogs were in Atlanta the previous week for a 14-7 victory over rival Georgia Tech. They were even more dominant at the Georgia Dome, defeating an LSU team that came into the day clinging to the faint hope of playing for the national championship.
No. 12 West Virginia 28,
South Florida 13
At Tampa, Florida, Pat White ran for 177 yards and two touchdowns Saturday night, leading West Virginia in its final tuneup for a Bowl Championship Series appearance.
Nine days after running for 220 yards against Pittsburgh to break the Big East rushing record for a quarterback, White was just as impressive in helping the conference champions finish unbeaten in league play for the first time since 1993.
The redshirt freshman scored on second-half runs of 65 and 76 yards and finished with his fourth game with at least 100 yards rushing. He also completed 5 of 10 passes for 89 yards and a touchdown as the Mountaineers amassed 394 yards of total offense -- 305 of that on the ground.
The victory was the sixth straight for West Virginia (10-1, 7-0) and gave the Mountaineers at least 10 wins in a season for the first time since 1993 and just the fifth time in school history.
Steve Slaton rushed for 89 yards and one TD for the Mountaineers, and West Virginia's defense limited Big East rushing leader Andre Hall to 75 yards on 20 carries for South Florida (6-5, 4-3).
Despite finishing with a two-game losing streak, USF still expects to receive its first invitation to play in a bowl game.
No. 16 Louisville 30,
Connecticut 20
At East Hartford, Connecticut, Michael Bush rushed for three touchdowns in his first appearance since missing two games with a sprained foot and Hunter Cantwell threw for another score to lead Louisville over Connecticut.
The Big East rushing leader finished with 121 yards to go over the 1,000-yard mark for the season. It was his sixth 100-yard rushing game of the season and his 23 touchdowns rushing this year set a single-season school record.
The Cardinals (9-2, 5-2) were without Big East passing leader Brian Brohm, who went down for the season with a knee injury last week. But they didn't miss a beat.
Cantwell, making his first start, threw for 271 yards, completing 16 of 25 attempts.
Florida St. 27,
No. 5 Virginia Tech 22
At Jacksonville, Florida, Willie Reid returned a punt 83 yards for a touchdown, the defense continually harassed Marcus Vick and Florida State upset Virginia Tech.
The Seminoles (8-4) snapped a three-game losing streak -- the program's first since 1983 -- and won the league title for the 12th time in 14 years. They turned around a disappointing season and earned a Bowl Championship Series berth in the Orange Bowl, where they likely will face No. 4 Penn State.
Few could have envisioned that matchup. Not after Florida State was outscored 89-36 in losses to North Carolina State, Clemson and Florida.
Boosters and fans were calling for coach Bobby Bowden to fire his son and offensive coordinator, Jeff Bowden.
Some were even talking about the elder Bowden stepping down after 19 losses in the last five seasons. Others were already looking ahead and guessing how many in a row the team would lose; Florida State hasn't lost four in a row since 1975, the year before Bowden arrived.
Vick led the Hokies (10-2) to consecutive touchdowns in the fourth quarter -- a 29-yard pass to Josh Morgan and then a 4-yard run -- that cut the lead to 27-15. He capped a 93-yard drive with a 1-yard TD run with 1:45 to play that made it 27-22.
But Tech, without any timeouts, failed to recover the onside kick. The Seminoles ran out the clock from there -- and celebrated another ACC title.
Champagne corks often pop and loud, boisterous cheers are usually heard around Constitution Dock when the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race line honors winner finishes in the Tasmanian state capital. There were no such celebrations this year when the defending champions on board LawConnect won the race in the early hours of yesterday morning, as it came about 24 hours after two sailors died on separate boats in sail boom accidents two hours apart on a storm-ravaged first night of the race. LawConnect, a 100-foot super maxi skippered by Australian tech millionaire Christian Beck, sailed up the River Derwent at just after 2:30am.
‘BOWLINE’ AND ‘ARCTOS’: Roy Quaden was hit on the head by a boom, while Nick Smith was struck by the main sheet and thrown across the boat amid rough seas Two sailors have been killed in separate incidents in the treacherous Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, officials said yesterday, as a string of yachts retired in powerful winds and high seas. One of the crew members, 55-year-old Roy Quaden on Flying Fish Arctos, was hit on the head by a boom as the fleet raced down the New South Wales coast, race organizers said. The other man, 65-year-old Nick Smith, was struck by the main sheet aboard Bowline and thrown across the boat, said David Jacobs, vice commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia. “Unfortunately, he hit his head on the winch, and
Liverpool on Thursday powered seven points clear at the top of the Premier League as the title favorites survived a scare in their 3-1 win against Leicester City, while Bruno Fernandes was sent off in Manchester United’s dismal 2-0 defeat against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Erling Haaland missed a penalty as crisis-torn Manchester City failed to end their dismal run with a 1-1 draw against Everton, but it was United’s travails and Liverpool’s remarkable run that took center-stage. Arne Slot’s side were shocked by Jordan Ayew’s early strike at Anfield, but the leaders recovered their composure to equalize just before the interval through Cody
Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan yesterday dumped defending champions Germany out of the United Cup with world No. 2 Alexander Zverev sidelined by an arm injury barely a week away from the Australian Open. The upset in Perth sent the Kazakhs into the semi-finals of the 18-nation tournament. In Sydney, women’s world No. 2 Iga Swiatek led Poland into the last eight by winning a rematch of her 2023 French Open final against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic. Britain also progressed to the quarter-finals with Katie Boulter’s dominant 6-2, 6-1 victory over Australia’s Olivia Gadecki enough to guarantee they won their group. The US and
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