LUKE ULLESTAD ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
This past week in college football was an intense ride as three unranked teams managed to come out with victories.
In recent years, upsets have come early in the season and that tradition continued into last Thursday night and Saturday.
The number one upset came on Saturday night as the Iowa Hawkeyes defeated the No. 5 Nittany Lions from Penn State 21-10.
Penn State opened the game with a play-action pass from Daryll Clark to Chaz Powell for a 79-yard touchdown reception to put the Lions up 7-0 two minutes into the game.
After the opening score by Penn State, the Hawkeyes would steal the momentum and never look back. The Hawks scored 16 points in the final quarter to seal the win.
The fourth quarter was a nightmare for the Nittany Lions as Clark threw two picks and Iowa came up with a punt block by Adrian Clayborn in the opening minute of the final quarter. Clayborn ran the blocked punt back for a 53-yard touchdown to put the Hawkeyes in front 11-10.
Pat Angerer and A.J. Edds kept the momentum going with two late-in-the-game interceptions, to give Iowa a touchdown and field goal to move the score to 21-10.
The victory gave the Hawkeyes a seventh win in the past eight meetings with the Nittany Lions. The upset also moved the Hawks into 13th in the AP rankings.
The second upset came with the Gamecocks from South Carolina defeating the No. 4 Rebels out of Ole Miss last Thursday night, 16-10.
The Rebels, led by quarterback Jevan Snead, came into the match having scored 97 points in their first two games combined, 45 against Memphis and 52 on Southeastern Louisiana.
The Gamecocks came into the contest with a 2-1 record, losing to No. 21 Georgia in a tight match, 41-37.
Ole Miss, especially Snead, came out flat and continued to play poorly for the remainder of the game.
On the other side of the ball, Stephen Garcia connected on 16 out of 34 pass attempts with 220 yards and one touchdown.
The Rebels were having serious issues converting on third down, as they went 1-for-13. This, in itself, was the main reason the Rebels dropped this game to the un-ranked Gamecocks. For the most part, the match was a defensive battle.
The final upset in week four was the Oregon Ducks defeating the No. 6 ranked California Bears, 42-3.
The score was locked at three at the end of the first quarter. The Ducks began to quack in the second quarter as they put up 22 points, 14 in the third and three in the final quarter.
Of the three upsets, the Hawkeyes defeating the Nittany Lions was the best due to the action-packed fourth quarter.
Also, the fact that the Hawkeyes were unranked and came away with a decisive victory over No. 5 Penn State, really tells fans how much potential Iowa has in succeeding this season.