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1985 Today (Part Three)

Part One
Part Two

A major rankings shift after Week Four saw Mizzou jump to #11 after knocking off #5 Texas.  Would they jump further after another round of major upsets in Week Five?  Lots of top-ranked teams playing on the road...

Gameday is in Athens for #21 South Carolina at #7 Georgia...

Week Five Games of Interest

September 28
#11 MISSOURI > Indiana (we’ll say 45-27)

Click 'Full Story' for more.

#1 usc > ARIZONA STATE
Pittsburgh > #3 WEST VIRGINIA (hey, it happened)
#4 Florida > MISSISSIPPI STATE
#6 Wisconsin > WYOMING
#21 South Carolina > #7 GEORGIA (it happened too)
#8 Oklahoma > MINNESOTA (what an awful matchup)
#9 OHIO STATE > Washington State (Wazzu falls to 0-5)
#10 Penn State > #17 RUTGERS (tossup game)
#11 MISSOURI > Indiana
#12 Texas > STANFORD
#16 Auburn > #13 TENNESSEE (another ranked team is upset at home)
Maryland > #14 MICHIGAN (the Terps aren’t App St, but they get the job done)
#15 VIRGINIA TECH > Syracuse
#18 ARKANSAS > New Mexico State
#19 Oregon > #22 NEBRASKA (Huskers get smoked in Lincoln)
KENTUCKY > #20 Cincinnati
Appalachian State > #24 WAKE FOREST (App St had to beat somebody)
#25 KANSAS STATE > North Texas
Kansas > FLORIDA STATE (I tossed this one around a while, but you know what?  FSU’s not any better than ATM, and KU won in College Station...)
Colorado > ARIZONA (nice road win for Coach Nick Nolte)
Georgia Tech > CLEMSON (Tigers fall to 0-3, and Bowden is almost fired on Sunday)
IOWA STATE > Iowa
OKLAHOMA STATE > Miami-OH

Seven more ranked teams fall, including awful losses by #3 West Virginia and #14 Michigan...meanwhile, in just three weeks Missouri has moved from #24 to #10.  And now they’ve got their biggest home game in quite some time coming up...

Week Six Games of Interest

So here’s a matchup that’s just a wee bit bigger now than it was in 1985: #4 California at #10 Missouri.  It’s Mizzou’s second Top 5 opponent of the year already, but for the first time in 30+ years, that’s not a very big obstacle.  Of course, Gameday’s in Baton Rouge for #3 Florida at #2 LSU, but still...big game.  

I’m very torn, picking this game.  Around this time of the season (early-October), two things happened with Cal: 1) they became the only team to beat Oregon with a healthy Dennis Dixon (on the road, no less), 2) they had a bad loss to Oregon State that effectively ended their season.  Their highest and lowest points both came around the time of this game.  However, this is the first weekend in October.  Let’s say this game made it onto ESPN’s schedule...maybe an 8pm kickoff?  Ringing any bells?

October 5
#10 MISSOURI > #4 California (41-20...I just couldn’t help it...nobody would have beaten Mizzou that first weekend in October)

#1 USC > Oregon State
#2 LSU > #3 Florida
#5 Wisconsin > MICHIGAN
#21 KANSAS STATE > #7 Oklahoma (Hear me out on this one: in K-State’s first conference game, they whooped Texas on the road; in OU’s, they lost at Colorado.  This is the only weekend all season that K-State would have won this game.)
ILLINOIS > #9 Ohio State
#11 TEXAS > Rice
#12 AUBURN > Ole Miss
#13 South Carolina > PITTSBURGH
#14 OREGON > Washington
#15 WEST VIRGINIA > #16 Virginia Tech
#17 Arkansas > TCU
#18 TENNESSEE > Wake Forest
#19 byu > COLORADO STATE
#20 Boston College > RUTGERS
TEXAS TECH > #22 Texas A&M
#23 GEORGIA TECH > North Carolina
#24 KENTUCKY > Clemson (Tommy Bowden gets fired after an 0-4 start)
#25 KANSAS > Eastern Illinois
FRESNO STATE > Hawaii
NEBRASKA > New Mexico (Keller’s last stand...though I will say that UNM looked pretty darn good in the bowl game the other day...in fact...)
New Mexico > NEBRASKA (heh heh heh)
AIR FORCE > Notre Dame (Irish fall to 0-4, Charlie Weis gets contract extension)
Drake > IOWA STATE (yup)
OKLAHOMA STATE > Tulsa

Four Top 10 teams fall, and once again the rankings are all shook up...

  1. LSU (3-0)
  1. USC (4-0)
  1. Wisconsin (4-0)
  1. Missouri (4-0)
  1. West Virginia (4-1)
  1. Georgia (3-1)
  1. Florida (3-1)
  1. Oregon (5-0)
  1. Penn State (4-0)
  1. South Carolina (5-0)
  1. California (4-1)
  1. Texas (2-1)
  1. Auburn (4-0)
  1. Kansas State (5-0)
  1. Arkansas (4-0)
  1. Tennessee (2-1)
  1. Illinois (3-1)
  1. Boston College (5-1)
  1. Ohio State (3-1)
  1. Oklahoma (1-1)
  1. Texas Tech (5-0)
  1. BYU (4-1)
  1. Georgia Tech (3-1)
  1. Kentucky (4-0)
  1. Kansas (5-0)

For Week Seven, Gameday will follow the #7 Gators home to Gainesville, where they’ll take on #16 Tennessee...