Weekend in Review: Campbell proves himself at Auburn

Jason Campbell was a victim of America's instant gratification syndrome.

The same culture that wants its Big Mac -- now! -- also loses its patience when allowing college quarterbacks to develop.

Campbell found out quick that there's not much room for learning curve in the SEC when he arrived at Auburn. The fifth-year senior didn't have that big, signature victory until this year. After helping beat Tennessee on Saturday night, he has two of them.

The Tigers, behind Campbell, whipped Tennessee 34-10 in Knoxville. Campbell, from Taylorsville, Miss., is playing his best football. Some of the Auburn fans now jumping on the bandwagon haven't showed the patience it sometimes takes for quarterbacks.

"There's so much hype in recruiting now that they think once they're recruited they're going to be great players right out of the box," Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville said Sunday. "That just doesn't happen, especially with quarterbacks. It takes two to three years of playing, learning, making mistakes.

Campbell seemingly was blamed for everything from bad crop prices to hurricanes early during his stay on The Plains. The reality? After Saturday night, Campbell is 7-4 against top 10 teams. His 23 career victories put him behind only Stan White (29) and Pat Sullivan (26) in school history.

A point has been made: Campbell hasn't arrived. He has always been there. At midweek, the coaching staff debated whether to even use audibles in the craziness of Neyland Stadium. After reflecting on Campbell's development, Tuberville gave the go-ahead.

"We felt like we could control the line of scrimmage," Tuberville said, "By controlling the line of scrimmage, we felt like we could even make mistakes with audibles and still have a good game. We gave Jason the leeway, and it worked out pretty good."

To the point Campbell completed 16 of 23 passes for 252 yards.

Al Borges is Campbell's fourth offensive coordinator in his career. Things seemed to have clicked in the Gulf Coast offense. It was symbolic Saturday's victory came against a team that has two freshmen quarterbacks. What Tennessee has to wait for, Auburn might get this year because of Campbell. He threw for 240 yards (12-for-15) in the first half alone to help the Tigers to a stunning 31-3 lead.

Jason Campbell has compiled 23 wins in a Tigers uniform.(AP)

"All day long I heard about these two other quarterbacks on television, and they never mentioned Jason," said Tuberville. "But it was his demeanor that helped us win this game."

Campbell and Auburn deserve each other. The school has an inferiority complex having to live in the shadow of Alabama's decades of greatness. The quarterback probably feels like he never has been fully accepted. But if there is one thing about Auburn, it loves its own. If Campbell keeps this up, he'll go up on a wall somewhere with Shug Jordan, Pat Dye, Bo Jackson and Pat Sullivan. The season is becoming that special.

Really, Campbell had done a lot in his career but nothing as big as beating LSU. With his team trailing 9-3, Campbell directed a 59-yard drive in the final seven minutes. Within that drive, he converted a fourth-and-12, then threw the game-winning 16-yard touchdown pass with 1:41 left to play.

"I kept thinking that something bad was going to happen again," Campbell said. "I knew it was finally our turn to win one of those kinds of games."

With good reason.

In 2002 Campbell rallied Auburn from a 23-7 deficit to tie Florida 23-23. The Gators won in overtime 30-23.

That same season he ran for a 21-yard touchdown to put Auburn up 21-10 at Georgia. The Bulldogs rallied to win 24-21.

Last year, he drove the Tigers down the field against Ole Miss. With his team down by four and on the Rebels 3-yard line, Campbell spotted a wide-open Ben Obomanu, who dropped the ball with 40 seconds left.

"It got to a point where I wondered what could happen next," Campbell told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Good things come to those who wait -- for the criticism to die down. Campbell has two great running backs (Ronnie Brown and Cadillac Williams) to take the heat off. Borges' offense fits him like a tailored suit. Auburn (5-0) can have realistic dreams about an SEC title and contending for a national championship.

The Tigers have only two road games the rest of the season and play Georgia at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Nov. 13.

Why not Campbell and the Tigers? All it takes is some patience.

Ex-pat Buckeyes

It was revenge of the Ohio nerds.

Three native Ohioans played key roles in Northwestern's 33-27 upset of Ohio State late Saturday. Safety Jeff Backes, defensive tackle Luis Castillo and coach Randy Walker all are from the Buckeye state. They helped leave the Buckeyes in a state of disbelief.

Noah Herron's 1-yard scoring run in overtime set off a wild celebration in Evanston not seen since the Gary Barnett days of the mid-'90s. The victory was the Wildcats' first over Ohio State since 1971. It was Ohio State's first loss in Evanston since 1958 and couldn't come at a worse time.

The Bucks were undefeated, ranked in the top 10 and had visions of the Rose Bowl -- at least.

"It's hard to put into words," Backes said. "I came here with a dream to beat the Buckeyes and it's been 33 years. This is one I will never forget."

For one of the few times in Jim Tressel's tenure, his team didn't win a close one. Northwestern had leads of 20-10 and 27-17, but the Buckeyes tied it scoring 10 points in the final nine minutes. Tressel is now 13-2 in his past 15 games decided by a seven points or less.

Usually reliable Mike Nugent missed a field goal on Ohio State's overtime possession. That meant Northwestern needed any score to win. Herron provided it.

"Thirty three years is long enough," said Walker, who came to the school from Miami (Ohio).

Castillo was right earlier in the week when he said Ohio State's offense was "mediocre." It has become painful at times to watch Justin Zwick try to move the offense. But that comment lit a fire under the typically touchy Buckeye Nation. Ohio State struggled to move the ball all night as it has much of the season. Quarterback Justin Zwick completed only 18 of 38 passes.

The result leaves three undefeated teams in the Big Ten -- Purdue, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Getting over The Hump

Ron Gardenhire had to feel a little bit like the pickup team that got kicked off the YMCA court by the men's over-40 league.

Hey, we got a permit.

The Minnesota Twins manager was seething over Saturday's game with Cleveland being halted after 11 innings. The teams left the field tied 5-5 because the Metrodome had to be converted to football for Saturday night's Minnesota-Penn State.

Reports said Joe Paterno wanted the kickoff no later than the 7 p.m. CT start so his team could fly home that night. The Twins had agreed to start their game at 11:10 a.m. But the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission was contractually bound from allowing a new inning to start after 2:30 p.m. CT.

"I thought we were a professional team," Twins outfielder Torii Hunter said. "Unbelievable. That's why we need a new stadium."

How and the city of Minnesota allowed this to happen is incomprehensible. An All-Star game has ended in a tie. The Marlins were forced to play home games on the road this season because of a hurricane and didn't get to bat last. The Metrodome is a joke for baseball and not much better for football.

Ridiculous. On the last day of the season, while Gardenhire was surely trying to arrange his playoff rotation, he had to find enough pitchers to complete the suspended game on Sunday and then play the scheduled game.

Don't blame the Gophers. Coach Glen Mason has been lobbying loudly for years about his program's need for an on-campus stadium. The Metrodome is also home to the NFL's Vikings.

Oh yeah, Minnesota won the game 16-7 to move to 5-0.

Farewell Tigers

In the same game Georgia stepped up as an SEC and national contender, LSU waved goodbye to its chances of being either.

The Tigers (2-2, 1-2 in the SEC) are all but mathematically eliminated from SEC West contention. Its chances at repeating as a national champion died a couple of weeks ago in Auburn. The Tigers' SEC chances expired after a 45-16 loss to the Bulldogs.

The Tigers still haven't settled on an effective quarterback rotation. The running game with Alley Broussard and Justin Vincent is questionable. And on Saturday, the defense just choked much of the game. Defensive backs were in position to make plays but didn't, getting torched for five touchdown passes from David Greene.

It took Georgia's brassy approach to expose the Tigers' aggressive defense. Few teams have time to throw against the LSU blitz. When they do, receivers are usually locked up.

Georgia's plan from the beginning was to go deep.

"It was All-America this and All-America that," Georgia receiver Fred Gibson said. "I don't want to take anything away from those guys, but we've got some pretty good wide receivers here. We can make plays, too."

"It will be interesting to see how we respond to this loss," said Nick Saban, whose team gave up the most points since he arrived in Baton Rouge. "The goal of this program is to have a dominant program."

Scoping the nation

• Five top 25 teams lost, but the most damaging hit was taken by West Virginia. The Mountaineers had national championship visions after starting 4-0. Now they might not be the best team in the Big East considering Saturday's performance. Old conference foe Virginia Tech knocked them off 19-13. Coach Rich Rodriguez lost tailback Kay-Jay Harris to a sprained knee early on. Quarterback Rasheed Marshall scored the game's only touchdown. "To lose this game really hurts," said linebacker Scott Gyorko. "It's devastating."

• In the most significant use of instant replay to date, three plays were overturned in the Michigan-Indiana game. Two reviews during the final two minutes of the first half delayed the game a total of 14 minutes. The final review in the fourth quarter ended in Indiana being awarded a touchdown. A Matt LoVecchio pass had been ruled incomplete but after review, his throw was ruled a catch. Michigan won 35-14.

• Just when you thought Miami was ripe, the Hurricanes were back to their old selves Saturday at Georgia Tech. In a 27-3 victory, the defense ravaged Tech quarterback Reggie Ball to the point coach Chan Gailey was contemplating a quarterback change. Ball, previously a rising ACC star, completed only eight of 25 and threw three interceptions.

• Meanwhile, Brock Berlin stepped away from the brink by throwing for 200 yards and three touchdowns. Coach Larry Coker had hinted Berlin was about to lose his job. Miami played its most complete game in its first ACC road game. The defense still has allowed only one offensive touchdown.

• The bad news is that left tackle Eric Winston is out for the season with what looks like serious ligament damage in a knee. The 6-foot-7, 310-pound giant was Miami's best offensive lineman.

• Three of the top 10 programs since the beginning of the 2000 season were playing within 80 miles of each other on Saturday. Miami (at Georgia Tech) is No. 1 at 50-4, Georgia is No. 6 at 44-12, LSU is No. 7 at 42-13.

• They're calling it one of the biggest Pac-10 games in years. No. 7 Cal did its part by trouncing Oregon State 49-7. No. 1 USC (4-0) is off but plays host to the Bears (3-0) this week at the Coliseum.

• Aaron Rodgers stayed in a neck-and-neck battle with Purdue's Kyle Orton for the nation's pass efficiency lead. The Cal quarterback missed only four of 16 throws while tossing three touchdowns in a 49-7 victory over Oregon State.

• Meanwhile, Orton was spectacular at Notre Dame. His four touchdown passes give him 17 for the season without an interception. Favorite receiver Taylor Stubblefield caught seven passes for 181 yards and two scores. Purdue hadn't won at Notre Dame since 1974. It's barely October, but this kid looks like a lock for the Heisman if the Boilers keep winning.

• Wisconsin (5-0) held its fifth consecutive opponent to a touchdown or less in a 24-7 victory over Illinois. The Badgers have given up only 26 points (5.2 per game).

• One more possible BCS buster busted: Fresno State was upset at Louisiana Tech 28-21. That takes the shine off the Oct. 23 Fresno-Boise State game in Boise. That winner could have had serious Fiesta Bowl momentum. Now, if Fresno wins that game, the WAC will have lost its two best BCS bowl candidates.

• Texas' Cedric Benson ran for 188 yards in the Horns 44-14 Oklahoma tuneup victory over Baylor. Don't know whether this is a good or bad thing heading into the Red River Shootout: Benson has the national rushing lead with 186.5 yards per game.

• Efficiency alert: Auburn's Junior Rosegreen had as many interceptions (four) against the Vols as Tennessee's leading receiver had catches.

• Georgia's David Greene completed 10 passes, five went for touchdowns against LSU.

• Louisville's Eric Shelton rushed 12 times in a 59-7 rout of East Carolina and scored five touchdowns.

• Spurlock and Flatt are not the latest yee-haw sensation on CMT. Michael Spurlock took over for Eli Manning at Mississippi and lasted two games. He was replaced by Ethan Flatt, who had four interceptions and a fumble against Wyoming. The duo was falling down the charts before Saturday having combined for all of one touchdown pass this year. Flatt then threw two touchdowns to Lorenzo Townsend in a much-needed 28-21 victory over Arkansas State.

• Navy (5-0) probably will win the Commander-in-Chief Trophy in consecutive years for the first time since 1981. Its dramatic 24-21 victory at Air Force on Thursday almost assures the trophy will be clinched on Dec. 4 against hapless Army.

• Speaking of the Knights, was there any more gut-wrenching loss on Saturday? Army rushed out to a 17-0 lead at home against TCU. It lost its 19th consecutive game when the Horned Frogs scored the winning touchdown with 41 seconds left. Army lost 21-17.