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."
Other Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week nominees
for the weekend of Oct. 27 included:
• 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.
2012 FWAA ALL-AMERICA
COMMITTEE |
Mark Anderson |
Las Vegas Review-Journal |
Mountain West |
Lee Barfknecht |
Omaha World-Herald |
Big Ten |
Kirk Bohls |
Austin American-Statesman |
WAC |
Jimmy Burch |
Fort Worth Star-Telegram |
Big 12 |
Jon Gold |
CBS Sports |
Pac-12 |
Vahe Gregorian |
St. Louis Post-Dispatch |
SEC |
Tommy Hicks |
Mobile Press-Register |
Sun Belt |
Ron Higgins |
Memphis Commercial Appeal |
Conference USA |
John Silver |
Manchester Journal Inquirer |
Big East |
Phil Steele |
Phil Steele Publications |
National |
Greg Wallace |
Anderson Independent-Mail |
SEC |
John Wagner |
Toledo Blade |
Mid-American |
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