Tennessee Wants To Return The Favor
Tennessee running back Jay Graham deserves an award for understatement.
“It’s a big game, you know,” Graham said.
It’s No. 4 Florida at No. 2 Tennessee in what promises to be one of the most attractive college football games of the season.
It’s a showcase meeting between two Heisman Trophy candidates - Florida’s Danny Wuerffel and Peyton Manning of Tennessee.
It’s a grudge match - especially in the eyes of Tennessee players, coaches and fans.
“This is the game we’ve been waiting a year for,” said Ray Austin, a Tennessee defensive back. “This game was definitely a motivator for us in summer workouts. That was one of the worst defeats ever in university history.”
He was referring to last year’s game in which the Volunteers led 30-14 in the second quarter at Florida before losing 62-37.
Meanwhile, top-ranked Nebraska may be in for a test at Arizona State.
“I don’t think we’re really thinking of payback or anything like that,” Sun Devils linebacker Scott Von der Ahe said. Trying to keep it close would be more like it for No. 17 ASU, which lost 77-28 last year to Nebraska after the Cornhuskers scored 63 points in the first half.
Call it a crunch-brunch when Notre Dame plays at Texas.
“This is is a good game for us to prove that we can beat a top-ranked team, a team with as much hype as Notre Dame,” said QB James Brown of Texas, which was smashed 55-27 last year at Notre Dame.
Brown will square off against Irish quarterback Ron Powlus, but it is the Notre Dame rushing attack that most worries the Longhorns.
“Notre Dame tends to just run it right at you until you prove that you can stop them,” said Texas coach John Mackovic.
“This will be tremendous challenge for our defense,” Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz said.
Penn State should have few problems extending its winning streak over Temple to 21 games, and Ohio State should have even less trouble beating Pitt.
xxxx Today’s Top 25 games (1) Nebraska at (17) Arizona State (2) Tennessee vs. (4) Florida (5) Penn State at Temple (6) Texas vs. (9) Notre Dame (7) Ohio State vs. Pittsburgh (8) Michigan vs. Boston College (11) N. Carolina vs. Georgia Tech (13) Alabama at Arkansas (13) Auburn vs. (21) LSU (15) Southern Cal at Houston (16) Kansas State at Rice (18) Virginia Tech vs. Rutgers (19) Iowa at Tulsa (20) Virginia at Wake Forest (23) Syracuse at Minnesota (24) Washington vs. Arizona (25) Oregon at Washington State