Oct. 29, 2012
DALLAS (FWAA) – Any doubts about Notre Dame’s place among the nation’s top 10 teams were put to rest Saturday, as the Fighting Irish (8-0) won a 30-13 blockbuster at No. 8 Oklahoma to earn Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week honors for games of the weekend of Oct. 27. The announcement came exclusively on SiriusXM Radio’s “College Sports Today,” hosted by Mark Packer and Eddie George.
Everett Golson threw for 177 yards and scored the decisive touchdown on a 1-yard plunge in the fourth quarter. Notre Dame is now the only team in the country that has defeated four ranked teams, and the fourth came in Norman, where Oklahoma was 79-4 under Bob Stoops prior to Saturday.
“We knew what we could do. Today’s no surprise,” said Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o, who had an interception and 11 tackles, two of them for losses. “We knew that if we came to work, (if) 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.”
The other Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week nominees for the weekend of Oct. 27 were:
– Georgia (7-1): The Bulldogs’ defense came up with six takeaways, and Todd Gurley rushed for 118 yards as Georgia kept its SEC title hopes alive with a 17-9 win over No. 3 Florida in Jacksonville, Fla. Two Georgia interceptions killed Florida drives at the end of first two quarters as the Bulldogs clung to a 7-6 halftime lead.
– Kent State (7-1): The Golden Flashes captured their first-ever win over a nationally-ranked opponent with a 35-23 win over previously-unbeaten and 18th-ranked Rutgers on the road. The win moves Kent State another step toward its first bowl berth since 1972.
The Football Writers Association of America has named a national team of the week since the 2002 season. This is the eighth season that the award has been sponsored by the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.
Members of the FWAA All-America Committee decide the weekly honor. Each remaining Monday during the 2012 college football regular season, the FWAA will name the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week. The winner will be announced through Nov. 26 at 9:30 a.m. ET on the SiriusXM College Sports Nation channel.
Founded in 1971, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl has hosted seven games that have decided the college football national championship, including four Bowl Championship Series title games. This season, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl will be played on Jan. 3, 2013, at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., and the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl will be played on Dec. 29, 2012, at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Ariz.
The Football Writers Association of America, a non-profit organization founded in 1941, consists of more than 1,200 men and women who cover college football for a living. The membership includes journalists, broadcasters and publicists, as well as key executives in all the areas that involve the game. The FWAA works to govern areas that include gameday operations, major awards and its annual All-America team. For more information about the FWAA and its award programs, contact Steve Richardson at tiger@fwaa.com or 972-713-6198.
For more information on the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week, go to footballwriters.com or fiestabowl.org.