Sunday Morning QB

By Tom Hanson
WagerWeb.com Contributing Writer

The luck of the Irish is alive and well.

It wasn't exactly a sequel of the "Game of the Century" -- the 10-10 tie between No. 1 Notre Dame and No. 2 Notre Dame 40 years ago -- as the No. 12 Irish were supposed to beat unranked Michigan State on the road Saturday. But how Notre Dame rallied to seal the victory will be remembered for sometime. Call it the "Comeback of the Year."

Notre Dame, a WagerWeb.com 2 1/2 point favorite, trailed 31-14 after halftime. At the end of three quarters, the Irish were behind 37-21.

But Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis remained cool. He didn't get upset when the Irish missed an extra point that would have put them within a field goal of tying. He didn't panic and waste all of his timeouts after the Irish moved within four with four minutes remaining.

It was as if Weis knew Irish cornerback Terrail Lambert was going to pick off a Drew Stanton pass and return it 19 yards for the game-winning touchdown. If was if Weis knew Michigan State was going to be its own worst enemy. What were the Spartans thinking throwing into triple coverage on third down, deep in their own territory, late in the game?

Michigan State head coach John L. Smith didn't think his team threw enough in the fourth quarter.

"Well, I thought we got conservative," Smith said. "But I don't know how comfortable Drew felt at that time, and after going through that ... Yeah, we got conservative. We probably should have come back and started to throw it earlier because (the rain) had let up a little bit."

It became the best comeback in Notre Dame history since the 1979 Cotton Bowl when Notre Dame trailed Houston 31-12 heading into the fourth quarter. In that one, Joe Montana threw the game-winning TD to Kris Haines as time expired. That game is known in South Bend "The Chicken Soup Game."

This win might be dubbed "The $8 Million Dollar Comeback." By improving its record to 3-1, Notre Dame stays alive for an at-large bid for a BCS bowl game.

Irish QB Brady Quinn reminded everyone of Montana on Saturday in East Lansing. After getting off to a shaky 2-of-8 first quarter, Quinn finished with five TD passes and 319 yards passing.

Quinn may have played himself right back into the Heisman Trophy race.

"When we went in at halftime, I said if we don't play 30 minutes of complete football we don't have a chance," Weis told the ABC sideline reporter after the game. "These kids have a lot of heart."

COMEBACK II: The Georgia Bulldogs started one freshman quarterback and turned to another one to lead them to a dramatic fourth-quarter comeback.

The ninth-ranked Bulldogs didn't come close to covering the WagerWeb.com -27 line. But at least they remained undefeated with a 14-13 win over Colorado.

Georgia trailed 13-0 heading into the fourth quarter. In comes Joe Cox for freshman Matthew Stafford, who struggled to the tune of 8-for-16 passing and 76 yards against a winless Colorado team.

Up for the challenge, Cox completed 10-of-13 passes for 153 yards.

Looks as if Georgia found a new starting QB. Bulldogs head coach Mark Richt wasn't too quick to make that announcement.

"We'll look at the film and try to be real certain about what happened," said Richt, dancing around the issue. "I imagine there'll be some computers blowing up with people hitting the Internet, speculating about who will play quarterback."

As for the Bulldogs barely beating a struggling Colorado team, Richt considers that the nature of a long season.

"You just know it's gonna happen," Richt said. "I don't care who you're playing, you're going to have a game where you're in trouble and you have to suck it up and you've got to get your guts checked and find out what you're about."

OUT OF LUCK: After winning back-to-back double-overtime thrillers, No. 20 Boston College found itself on the other end of a fantastic finish.

N.C. State sophomore QB Daniel Evans, making his first career start, engineered a fourth quarter 72-yard drive to propel the Wolfpack to 17-15 win over the Eagles, who were 7-point WagerWeb.com favorites.

With eight seconds remaining, Evans found John Dunlap for a 34-yard TD.

Boston College could only watch as its magic ran out.

"We've been living close to the edge," Boston College head coach Tom O'Brien said, "but it caught up to us. Once again, we had our chances but we didn't finish the game offensively or defensively."

Evans, the son of former Wolfpack quarterback great Johnny Evans, may have helped saved Coach Chuck Amato's job. N.C. State evened its record to 2-2 with the improbable victory.

"They never stopped believing," Amato said of his team and not about whether he'll keep his job.

HEISMAN LEADER: Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson remains my leader to win the Heisman Trophy. Peterson only ran for 128 yards in the Sooners' 59-0 blowout of Middle Tennessee State. But Peterson scored three touchdowns and only played in one series in the second half.

Peterson and the Sooners now have an off week before facing Texas on Oct. 7. This will be a make-or-break game for Oklahoma and Peterson's Heisman hopes.

West Virginia running back Steve Slaton may have fallen off the pace with a dismal performance against the East Carolina Pirates. Slaton was held under 100 yards (80) for the first time this season. Slaton did have five catches for 110 yards and a touchdown.

MISSING IN ACTION: Joe Paterno, Penn State's 79-year-old head coach, had to leave the field in the first half of the Nittany Lions' matchup against No.1 Ohio State.

Paterno said he was battling a flu bug and did return until the fourth quarter.

When reporters asked about his illness, Paterno appeared to be his old self.

"Guys, can we talk about the game?" Paterno said of the loss to Ohio State. "Are you guys writing a medical journal? I always thought if I could read the Sunday paper after a loss, I didn't need a doctor. I'll see if I can read tomorrow's paper."

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