Week Six NCAA News

In a week where the top teams did what they had to do to maintain their ranking, the Top 25 has not changed much. The only big story this week is the emergence of Ball State. The 25th ranked Cardinals of Ball State break into the Top 25 for the first time.

"It's flattering obviously, but there's so much season left to play," sixth-year Cardinals coach Brady Hoke said in a conference call with reporters Sunday. "You have to evaluate the season at the end. We've got a lot of big games ahead of us."

After routing Baylor, the top spot still belongs to the Oklahoma. The Sooners received 51 first place votes and sit atop the ranking for the second week in a row...

The Ohio State Buckeyes head to Madison, Wisconsin to take on the Badgers in primetime on Saturday night. With both no. 14 Ohio State and no. 18 Wisconsin both having their sights set on a National Championship, this is a must win game. The loser will be all but eliminated from contention.

Odds makers are calling the Buckeyes a 1 1/2 point favorite as they head into Camp Randall Stadium for the first time in almost five years.

Ohio State will be looking to put their mid-September loss to USC behind them and start building some momentum as they head down the stretch...

The no. 6 ranked Penn State Nittany Lions will be trying to prove that they are worthy of the top ten ranking this week as they travel to Purdue to take on the Boilermakers. Since 2003 the Nittany Lions are 9-16 on the road overall. Odds makers are calling Penn State a 13 1/2 point favorite with total set at 58.

Although Penn State has been almost unbeatable at home as of late, but it hasn't been nearly as successful playing outside of Beaver Stadium.

"Obviously, we've been beaten on the road a lot recently"...

After last week's impressive victory over Georgia the no. 2 ranked Alabama host undefeated Kentucky in an SEC matchup Saturday afternoon. Odds makers are calling the Crimson Tide a 16 point favorite at home against the Wildcats.

Although Kentucky heads into their conference opener with the nation's number one scoring defense...

Friday night the 8th ranked BYU Cougars travel to Utah State to take on their cross state rival Aggies. The 4-0 Cougars head into the end of their non-conference schedule after posting two consecutive shutouts against UCLA, 59-0 and Wyoming, 44-0. Odds makers are calling BYU a 28 1/2 point favorite.

The Cougars look to extend the NCAA's longest winning streak to 15 games. Quarterback Max Hall leads their explosive offense that is ranked 7th in passing and 11th in points scored. Hall has thrown for almost 1300 yards and 15 touchdowns in just 4 games so far in 2008. The red-shirt junior's fantstic start has earned him some well deserved early Heisman Trophy consideration...

The Oregon State Beavers are coming off one of the greatest college football betting upsets from last week's stunning win over USC. Now 2-2, the Beavers head to Utah to take on the 15th ranked Utes. Odds makers are calling Utah an 11 point favorite with the total set at 53.

Thursday night at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, the Beavers will be looking to keep the upsets rolling. Oregon State and the stand-out freshman running back Jacquizz Rodgers will have to contend with the Utes no. 5 defense against the run...

Thursday night the 10th ranked South Florida Bulls host the Pitt Panthers as they begin their Big East schedule. The 5-0 Bulls look to start conference play just as they ended it a season ago, with a victory over Pittsburgh. Odds makers are calling South Florida a 14 point favorite at home with the total sitting at 49.

The South Florida offense is led by quarterback Matt Grothe. the Junior signal caller has thrown for 1,175 yards and 8 touchdowns in five games for the Bulls. Grothe also leads South Florida in rushing with 219 yards and a touchdown...

For most of this decade, Boise State has been the team to beat in the WAC. After quarterback Cole Brennan and Hawaii ripe the title away from the Broncos in 2007, the 17th-ranked Broncos are hungry to reclaim that title.

They take their first step in doing that Wednesday night as the begin conference play at home against the 2-1 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs. Odds makers are calling the 3-0 Broncos 22 point favorites against the Bulldogs.

"What else do you say? They're very deserving of all the attention that they've been getting," said Louisiana Tech coach Derek Dooley. "They invested in their program."...

After breaking into the Top 25 the 5-0 UConn Huskies have been dealt a serious blow. According to team sources their senior quarterback Tyler Lorenzen will be out 6-8 weeks.

UConn coach Randy Edsall announced Monday that quarterback Tyler Lorenzen, who broke his right foot in Friday's victory over Louisville, will miss six to eight weeks because of the injury.

Tight end Steve Brouse, also suffered a broken leg, will be out for six to eight weeks as well...

The new Top 25 poll is out and the no. 1 ranked team in the nation is the Oklahoma Sooners. This comes after a crazy weekend that saw three top five teams lose and a total of nine ranked team see defeat.

It began on Thursday night with the USC Trojans stunning loss to the Oregon State Beavers and continued straight in to Saturday.

The Sooners beat the 24th ranked TCU Horned Frogs 35-10. After his team's win, Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford said, "I think we talked (Friday) that anyone can beat anyone on any given Saturday, and that's why you've got to come out and you've got to play"...