DALLAS (FWAA) 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 nominees
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.