Oct. 31, 2005
With their 16-15 win at Tennessee, the South Carolina Gamecocks are the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week, as selected by the pollsters of the FWAA’s Grantland Rice Super 16 Poll for games of the weekend of Oct. 29.
Josh Brown hit a 49-yard field goal with 2:45 to end South Carolina’s 12-game losing streak vs. the Vols. Quarterback Blake Mitchell was 22-for-36 for 242 yards and Sidney Rice had eight receptions for 112 yards for South Carolina.
“We thought we had a chance to make history if the ball bounced our way, and it did,” head coach Steve Spurrier said after the game. The other Tostitos Fiesta Bowl Bowl National Team of the Week nominee for the weekend of Oct. 29:
Rutgers (6-2): The Scarlet Knights clinched their first winning season since 1992 with a 31-21 win over Navy. Their 6-2 start equals the school’s best since 1979.
Texas (8-0): Quarterback Vince Young rushed for a career-high 267 yards and two scores and threw two touchdown passes as the Longhorns rallied from a 28-9 deficit to beat Oklahoma State, 47-28.
UCLA (8-0): The Bruins scored 21 points in the final 7:04 and Drew Olson connected with Brandon Breazell on a 23-yard touchdown pass in overtime as the Bruins avoided Stanford’s upset bid, 30-27.
The FWAA has named a national team of the week since the 2002 season. This is the first season that the award has been sponsored by the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.
The 16 pollsters of the Grantland Rice Super 16 Poll decide the weekly honor. Each Monday during the 2005 college football season, the FWAA will name the Tostitos Bowl National Team of the Week through Nov. 28.
The Grantland Rice Super 16 Poll will be released each Monday afternoon from Oct. 10 through Dec. 5 and then following the BCS championship game in the Rose Bowl. The top-ranked team in the final poll will be awarded the Grantland Rice Trophy as the FWAA’s national champion. The FWAA has awarded the trophy each season since 1954. USC is the two-time defending FWAA national champion and was ranked No. 1 in the initial 2005 poll.
Since 1971, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and Tempe, Ariz., have hosted five games that have decided the college football national championship, including two Bowl Championship Series title games. The 2006 game will be played on Jan. 2 and will be the final game played at Sun Devil Stadium. The Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, along with the BCS Championship Game, will move to the new Multi-Purpose Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., beginning in 2007.
For more information on the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week, go to www.footballwriters.com or www.tostitosfiestabowl.com.
2005 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Teams of the Week Sept. 3: TCU Horned Frogs Sept. 10: LSU Tigers Sept. 17: Michigan State Spartans Sept. 24: South Florida Bulls Oct. 1: Alabama Crimson Tide Oct. 8: Penn State Nittany Lions Oct. 15: USC Trojans Oct. 22: Northwestern Wildcats Oct. 29: South Carolina Gamecocks
