Oklahoma drops big college matchup to Notre Dame

The Sooners and the Fighting Irish met Saturday in a battle to determine both of their fates in the national championship picture.

Notre Dame emerged victorious.

In a game that many anticipated would be a close game in which the Sooners’ prolific offense produced the formula to beat Notre Dame’s defense, the Irish stayed true to form, defeating Oklahoma 30-13.

Despite amassing 379 total yards in the matchup, Oklahoma was held to a season-low number in points and rushing yards. Oklahoma QB Landry Jones passed for 356 yards but was forced into an interception.

To make things worse for the Sooners, the running game could not get anything established, racking up only 55 yards on the ground at the game’s end. Notre Dame still hasn’t allowed more than 17 points in any game this season, making the Sooners another victim.

“We knew what we could do. Today’s no surprise,” Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o said. “We knew that if we came to work, we came into today with confidence and everybody doing their job, that we would be fine. I’m glad we came out the right way.”

Although the loss hit the Sooners and their national title hopes hard, Oklahoma still sits at No. 2 in the Big 12 — a bit of light at the end of this season’s tunnel.

“We’re better than we were at the start of the season,” Jones said. “We hit a bump in the road. Maybe the national championship’s not in the picture, that’s probably gone, but we still have the Big 12 and a bowl game up in front of us.”

Kansas State rolls Texas Tech, claims No. 2 spot in BCS

Another week in college football came and went, and the Kansas State Wildcats defeated another Top 25 opponent.

Kansas State solidified itself as the No. 2 team in the country by knocking off No. 14 Texas Tech, 55-24. The Wildcats jumped Oregon and sit right in front of Notre Dame in the rankings.

Heisman candidate and pundit favorite Collin Klein reeled off another impressive performance against the Red Raiders, passing for 233 yards and two touchdowns while running for 83 yards and another pair of touchdowns. John Hubert helped keep the offense running strong, adding two rushing touchdowns to Kansas State’s scoring barrage.

Defensively, Kansas State did a decent job, augmenting its productivity by forcing Tech into three turnovers. Despite a shaky start for the No. 5 offensive unit in the country, the defense held up strong and kept the momentum on their side.

“We were playing well defensively,” Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder said of the shaky first half. “Offensively, we hadn’t figured it out yet. Sometimes you have to spar a little bit to get going.”

Printed on Tuesday, October 30, 2012 as: Oklahoma falls out of Top 10 after loss to Irish