A&M shakes up national title race by beating Bama
TUSCALOOSA, AL - NOVEMBER 10: Quarterback Johnny Manziel #2 of the Texas A&M Aggies celebrates after a touchdown during the game against the Alabama Crimson Tide at Bryant-Denny Stadium on November 10, 2012 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. / Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images
Last Updated 7:19 a.m. ET
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. Before Oregon, Kansas State and Notre Dame took the field, they got some good news.
No. 15 Texas A&M upset No. 1 Alabama 29-24 on Saturday taking one less unbeaten team out of the race for the BCS championship game.
Johnny Manziel and the Aggies shook up the national title race in Tuscaloosa, Ala., jumping out to a quick three-touchdown lead and then holding on at the end to Alabama's 13-game winning streak.
The Southeastern Conference has won the last six BCS championships, but with Alabama losing and three other teams unbeaten, it will be tough for the SEC to even get in the game without help.
Kansas State made its case for No. 1 — in both the polls and the BCS rankings — with a thorough 23-10 victory at TCU. No. 4 Notre Dame methodically beat Boston College 21-6.
No. 2 Oregon, third in the BCS standings, routed California 59-17 late Saturday night.
Alabama would likely need to win out and have two of those three teams lose to reach the national title game.
No. 15 TEXAS A&M 29, No. 1 ALABAMA 24
Johnny Manziel and No. 15 Texas A&M shook up the national championship race by beating No. 1 Alabama 29-24 on Saturday.
The Aggies (8-2, 5-2), playing in the Southeastern Conference for the first season, also might have ended the league's run of BCS titles at six years.
The Crimson Tide (9-1, 6-1) didn't go quietly.
AJ McCarron nearly pulled off a second straight scintillating comeback. He threw one touchdown pass and motored the ball downfield before Deshazor Everett stepped in front of his fourth-down pass at the goal line with 1:36 left.
Manziel passed for 253 yards and rushed for 92 and led the Aggies to a 20-0 first quarter lead.
McCarron completed 21 of 34 passes for 309 yard but also was intercepted twice, ending his streak without getting picked off at 291 passes.
No. 2 OREGON 59, CALIFORNIA 17
BERKELEY, Calif. Marcus Mariota overcame a brief injury to throw for a career-high 377 yards and tie a school record with six touchdown passes as Oregon made a case for the top ranking in the country by beating California.
The Ducks (10-0, 7-0 Pac-12) withstood injuries to its entire starting defensive line and brief absences by Mariota and star running back Kenjon Barner to extend the longest active winning streak in major college football to 13 games.
The win over California (3-8, 2-6) could be enough to move Oregon up to No. 1 after top-ranked Alabama lost earlier in the day 29-23 to No. 15 Texas A&M. Even more importantly, the Crimson Tide loss cleared one potential rival for a spot in the BCS title game, leaving Notre Dame and Kansas State as the only other major undefeated teams eligible for a bowl. The Ducks are currently third in the BCS rankings.
No. 3 KANSAS STATE 23, TCU 10
FORT WORTH, Texas Collin Klein ran for two touchdowns, a week after leaving the game early with an apparent head injury.
The Wildcats improved to 10-0 for only the second time under coach Bill Snyder, and moved within two wins of likely reaching their first BCS championship game.
Only a few minutes after the start of Kansas State's game, and a rare turnover by Klein, SEC newcomer Texas A&M finished off its 29-24 victory at Alabama, the No. 1 team in the BCS standings and AP poll. The Aggies win gave their old Big 12 rivals at K-State a boost.
TCU (6-4, 3-4 Big 12) didn't take advantage of Klein's interception on the fourth play of the game. The Heisman Trophy hopeful then hit Chris Harper for a 62-yard pass, and ended that drive with a 7-yard TD run.
The senior quarterback was sacked a season-high three times while completing 12 of 21 passes for 145 yards. He had 15 carries for 50 yards.
Kansas State (7-0 Big 12), No. 2 in the BCS standings, has games left at Baylor and home against Texas.
No. 4 NOTRE DAME 21, BOSTON COLLEGE 6
BOSTON Everett Golson ran for a touchdown and threw for two more on Saturday night to help Notre Dame stay unbeaten.
Taking the field one hour after top-ranked Alabama lost to No. 15 Texas A&M, the Fighting Irish (10-0) remained in the hunt for a spot in the BCS title game. And a week after needing triple overtime — and a lot of luck — to get past unheralded Pittsburgh, Notre Dame eased past a longtime rival that had twice before spoiled its hopes of a No. 1 finish.
Golson completed 16 of 24 passes for 200 yards, connecting with Troy Niklas for a 7-yard touchdown at the end of the first half and with John Goodman from 18 yards out early in the second. Manti Te'o grabbed his sixth interception of the season — a school record for a linebacker — to end BC's last real chance at a comeback with just under 6 minutes left.
Chase Rettig completed 27 of 34 passes for 247 yards for BC (2-8), which is off to its worst start since 1989. Alex Amidon caught six passes for 84 yards to break the school's single-season record for receiving yards.
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Are today's journalistic greats so incapable of writing "Alabama", or writing the headline in a way that suggests the team has a pompous player whose surname is "Bama"?
What's your point?
I'm not, but you probably are.
For two reasons:
1. I'm not a Republican
2. http://politicaltruths.info/2010/11/16/red-states-mostly-welfare-states-dependent-on-blue-states-but-likely-too-uninformed-to-know-p2-tcot-teaparty/
This is CBS News for God's sake. I get vehemently upset at the continuous and complete lack of ability and can only presume the scribes, by whatever title given them, are the younger generation. They obviously have a total and utter lack of appreciation for their own language. Twitter kids. Video has killed the newspaper and novel and all written English is not far behind.
What is happening is the dumbing down of society as newspapers - previously institutions held to a higher standard in multiple regards - skip proofreading, formerly great reads like the Journal get bought out by scumbag sensationalist money grabbers, and the form itself dies off due to lack of interest. Any wonder we lost US News & World Report and other august periodicals? Newspapers dropping like flies? Wonder why?
Now we have 'typers' who string together two sentence fragments, skip punctuation altogether and invert use of the correct words. My God, I want to absolutely strangle these inept knuckle-draggers and their superiors. The correct use would be: one MORE unbeatern team and either holding on to end Alabama's streak or holding on at the end etc.
Good Lord, somebody get some discipline and rap the students, obviously still in a learning phase, on the head. Unbelievable!
P.S. A generalization; Editors, especially skilled and talented ones, cost money and Microsoft Word's grammar checker eliminates the need for such expensive, educated staff. Especially in our "new normal" where costs must keep being reined in, even beyond the levels of common sense or valuing/rewarding work. Then ask why people don't give a rat's...
P.P.S. I'm nearing middle age. But it's a generational stereotype meant to exploit agendas; in this case the one that all younger workers are lazy or unengaged. I know some 20-somethings who are capable as well but get shafted...
P.P.P.S. Having said all that, I don't disagree about the general dumbing down of society. We have people who say "Nobody owes anyone anything" but then get upset when a hurricane hits because they're not getting help. In 2005 and in 2012. Oh dear...