Temple's Pierce a weekend warrior

PLAYERS OF THE WEEKEND

Local: Bernard Pierce, again. The junior ran for a season-best 189 yards, most of it after halftime, and three touchdowns (18, 25 and 69) on Friday in Temple's 34-16 win over visiting Kent State.

National: Denard Robinson accounted for five touchdowns as Michigan finally beat Ohio State.

AROUND TOWN

St. John Fisher 27, Delaware Valley 14

The host Aggies (11-1) had five turnovers and lost in the second round of the Division III playoffs for the third straight year. They also lost at home in 2009.

The Cardinal (10-2), who knocked off an unbeaten team on the road for the second consecutive week, advanced to the quarterfinals for the third time (also 2006 and '07). Next they'll travel to 12-0 St. Thomas (Minn.).

Del Val beat SJF in the second round in Doylestown in 2005, 26-20, on two late scores.

SJF used backup quarterback Ahmed Hassanien (threw for 93 yards, ran for 28) after Ryan Kramer was injured at Johns Hopkins the week before. Cody Miller carried 24 times for 145.

The Cardinal, which led 17-14 at the half, had four interceptions after getting five the previous game.

Del Val freshman Aaron Wilmer, who had thrown six picks before this, was 29-for-41 for 241 yards. He also ran for 74.

FRAUD FIVE

-- UCLA: Nice effort - a 50-0 loss to Southern Cal. Now go to Oregon. With a loss, at 6-7, will have to apply for NCAA waiver to go bowling, even as the Pac-12's South Division champion.

-- Virginia: It's OK to lose to Virginia Tech, even at home. But maybe not by 38-zip, especially when you're playing for a spot in ACC title game.

-- Arkansas: I know it was at LSU. But when you're No. 3, you shouldn't be getting outscored 41-3 in the last 35 minutes.

-- Penn State: I realize it has been a really rough few weeks, but 45-7 with everything at stake is still 45-7.

-- Utah: Shouldn't be losing at home to Colorado, although I guess at some point someone had to after 23 straight Buffalo road losses. But especially not with a chance to go to Pac-12 final, which a victory would have achieved.

Dishonorable mentions go to Miami, which closed with a home loss to Boston College; Wake Forest, which lost by 34 at home to Vanderbilt; and Rutgers, which lost by 18 at Connecticut when it could have clinched a piece of what would have been its first Big East title.

NATIONALLY SPEAKING

The last time a rematch in a bowl game decided the national title was after the 1996 season, when Florida got revenge against Florida State in the Sugar Bowl, 52-20, 5 weeks after they'd lost as No. 1 at No. 2 FSU, 24-21.

But the Gators needed an Ohio State upset of unbeaten Arizona State in the Rose Bowl to put them back in contention. That was in the pre-BCS days, when certain teams had to go to certain bowls regardless.

That, of course, hasn't been the case for more than a decade now. It's all about getting No. 1 matched up against No. 2. And after that it's every BCS bowl for itself, for better or whatever.

Well, if the objective is to get the best two teams together on Jan. 9 in New Orleans, then it sure looks as if that will happen this season. Even if LSU loses to Georgia in Saturday's SEC title game. Unless maybe the final is something like 35-10. And that might not be enough to keep the Tigers from seeing Alabama again.

LSU won at Alabama in overtime on Nov. 5, 9-6. The Tigers' body of work is off the charts. Just ask the computers. So even if they lose to a team that's won 10 in a row, how are you going to drop them behind Bama, which actually seems to benefit from not winning its division? That being said, how are you going to drop 'Bama from No. 2? Even if Oklahoma State beats Oklahoma by a bunch. It would be different if OSU, Stanford, Virginia Tech or perhaps Boise State was unbeaten. But they're not. And they don't appear to have better one-loss resumes than 'Bama or LSU, if it loses to Georgia.

Short of a playoff, sometimes maybe this system actually works the way it's supposed to.

DID YOU NOTICE?

-- South Carolina has won 10 games for the first time in 27 years.

-- Missouri and Kansas met for the 120th and probably last time, since Missouri is headed from the Big 12 to the SEC.

-- Mississippi State beat Mississippi for the third straight time, something it hadn't done since 1942.

-- Florida State won at Florida for the first time since 2003, despite only 95 yards offense. The teams had as many first downs (18) as punts.

-- Virginia, which hadn't been held scoreless at home in 172 games, suffered its worst shutout since 1984 (55-0 to Clemson) when it was blown out by Virginia Tech, 38-0.

-- North Carolina State came from 27 down with 6 minutes left in the third quarter to beat Maryland by 15. The Terps, under first-year coach Randy Edsall, tied a team record with 10 losses. Eight were by double digits, a first. They lost their last eight. And one of their wins was over FCS Towson. They went 9-4 in 2010 for Ralph Friedgen.

-- Baylor completed a 4-0 month by breaking a 15-game losing streak against Texas Tech, a week after it beat Oklahoma for the first time. Before that the Bears had gone 4-47 in November in the Big 12. Tech, which lost its last five after winning at Oklahoma, had a losing season (5-7) for the first time since 1992.

-- Kutztown (11-2), coming off its first playoff win, lost at New Haven (11-1) in the second round of the D-II tournament, 44-37. Senior Marshall Vogel (Hatboro-Horsham), was making his first career start because of an injury to Kevin Morton, passed for 356 yards and five TDs.