little from there and it ought to be simple. >> it sounds simple but it schblt all isn't. all of a sudden you have a different set of problems. >> it is an improving race car, andy. he's finished six and third respectfully. last time he made the changes, he said he needed to roll better through the center. he got them too lose and coming back in for a couple more adjustments. dave? >> on the other side of the garage, his teammate, david stremme, was fourth week in this morning's practice. i had a chance to david briefly about this morning's run. i said it's pretty good. are you doing what's kurt is doing or something different? he said, we're doing what kurt is doing but we deposit staidn' that way. i thought we ran decent here but when we went to kurt's setup, it was great. since then, he said, we started sharing information back and forth. so stremme's been able to give a little information back as they changed setup and tweaked them.

>> they ran fourth in that session. hears a driving looking for a ride and motivated to show up on the racetrack. >> it would be important for david bush to have teammates like stremme to get your set upclose and get some things that would help you along the way. >> here's a driver with no teammates this year. surprisingly only one joe gibbs racing car in, but it is a good one. he's the guy with the momentum. talking about danny hamlin. >> and this is kind of racetrack, too. >> expect him to be extremely good tomorrow. getting the good start in this chase. >> denny's always been pretty good on flat racetracks. what is it about a driver that some guys are natural and very comfortable on tracks that have very little banking? >> i think you look at your really good short-track racers in guys that are able to -- knew whatthey needed to feel and denny is a driver, he doesn't need a brake. and mike ford said denny

hamlin's good at that. >> i think you hit on something important there, dale. talking about the brakes. that's the whole thing with flat-track racing. you've got to slow down and listen to the brakes. i think denny ma'am lynn dohamld job getting off the brake. before he gets to the corner he's off the brake and that's how you make time on flat corners. >> remember as a rookie, he won both races at pocono, which is essentially a flat racetrack. high-speed track where you got to get through the corners in a hurry. we talked about he doesn't have a teammate in the chase. he does have a couple of teammates on the racetrack. here's kyle busch, who just missed the chase last week at richmond by eight points. >> very disappointing for that team. and m & ms, they were hopeful he would make it. they still have a chance to win a bunch of races and do it next year. >> this is a great opportunity if these guys look at it like that.ñi i know they want to battle for a championship. that's what they set out to do. but these are the exact type racetracks they struggled out

two years. even though they have been very good at other places, they can take this time to really work on that type of setup for these cars. >> here's the 1 car, a little bit different paint job for martin true exjx jr. he's also the teammate to our polesitter, juan pablo montoya. >> picking up where they left off, one and two. they need assurance and that got some here. i guarantee, if i see my teammate be that fast yesterday, i would have had exactly what he had in there. but i got to think brian's found something. he's a good shock guy, andy. and i think that's important on these racetracks. i believe he's come up with something. >> and keep it turning and keep it tight on the corner. that's all important and brian patty is very good at that. >> here's one of the pleasant surprises of the day. third quickest in this session is the 88 car of dale earnhardt jr. he did not make the chase, but, e.j., you were talking about how

teams used the final races to get sorted out this year. here's a team that has a long way to go. >> yeah, they do. they're making improvements. we ride along with dale jr. here down the front straightaway. they have an opportunity here. about 900 rpms out of turn one and he gets off the brake and let the car roll. trying to get back to the throttle and wide open as soon as you possibly can but have you to work the 24r089throttle here. dale jr., i listened to him scanning in the first practice session and he was descriptive to what he was looking for with his race car, what he was doing. i think that feedback certainly helped him. >> last call, dale earnhardt jr., started fourth and finished fifth, and led 79 laps. this was a very good racetrack for him and his team. we'll see if that can happen again here on sunday. final practice session coverage on "happy hour" for the nascar sprint cup cars. juan pablo montoya is our polesitter and he's atop the speed charts here in this final

session. montoya, truex, earnhardt jr., montoya, truex, earnhardt jr., kurt - ( saw whirrs ) - the craftsman cordless c3 line. - ( blower hums ) - twenty-five tools, - one battery. - ( battery packs click ) - bring on the to-do list. - ( drill whirrs ) innovation. better value. craftsman. trust. in your hands. proclaims "gq" magazine. did you see that? the interior "positively oozes class," raves "car magazine." "slick and sensuous," boasts "the washington times." "the most striking vw in recent memory," declares-- okay, i get it already. i think we were in a car commercial. ♪ yeah ♪ yeah.

we invite you to join us for live coverage, the first race in the chase for the nascar sprint car cup comes your way from new hampshire sunday, 1:00 eastern time live on abc, beginning with nascar countdown, hosted by ail enbestwick. one year ago it was boys from

fenway that got it done first and second here at new hampshire. >> ñiedwards, talking about it. a 1.9 race. he made -- biffle was shot out of a canyon. >> good job, boys.ñr ♪ just my championship ride >> good, smart driving. >> what a difference a year makes for the roush fenway drivers. finished just shy of a championship, 69 points in jack of jimmie johnson. this year, well, edwards has not gone to victory lane. i think he qualified well and starts this race fifth. he struggled in both the morning session and this one here right now. >> i guess i can think, how did he qualify fifth? he's not been good really all

weekend. but this qualifying lap -- >> i think he's a little surprised with the fifth place qualifying effort because they weren't very good in the practice yesterday. he got in one. >> lap when he needed it. >> greg biffle, you mentioned, winless this year and winless a year ago coming into new hampshire. and won the race here and also won the next week at dover delaware. >> biffle's confident he can do that again. he said we won good the last time two times in new hampshire. won last fall, went on to win dover. he feels like he can duplicate that feat. >> it's just as shocking to me carl edwards can be so good in the nationwide car and so good last year in the cop car and this year we are entering the victory lane. in fact, roush fenway hasn't been to victory lane in the last 24 consecutive cup races and as proud as jack roush is, that has

to be surprising to them. >> each of these guys tell you they follow a little behind with this car. they have things really good. they didn't see there were that many directions they could go to and put them kind of behind the 8 ball right now. >> they started out yesterday 35th in practice. they were 23rd in this morning's practice. faster qualifying yesterday. carl gave kudos to the 16 team. in fact, we have been relying on them, using their setup, using their input to try to get better and carl just pulled out of the garage and the team told me he's struggling with tight in the center and they can't seem to fix it right now. >> if you can't fix that and make your car roll through the center here, andy, you're going to have a lot of problems. if you're loose in and loose on the exit and just tight in the middle, you're only going to compound that problem. >> that spot is so hard, and that's why these tracks are so fuss traiting. if you can't roll the center of the corner, you really can't work on the car. you have to fix that problem first and then start working on the other parts, entry and the

exit. >> one of the dodges in the chase heres is 9 car of kasey kahne making his second chase ii his career. he doesn't have a win here. has one top five beginish, fourth co -- finish, one in the fall 2060of . a lot of discussion with the merger announced this team would be going away from dodge and to ford in 2010. ness whthis is what kasey kahne had to say in his press conference -- >> i don't really know who it is either. so it's just -- i don't know. there's not a lot of answers out there right now. i don't know if it's because we're in the middle of a lot of things or we just don't have a person in that position. i think robbie loomis is supposedly going to be that guy. but don't think he is yet. so is it foster? but you can't get anything out of foster. it's hard to say, you know, who that is. i think it's because we're in a lot of different things right now but i just feel so confident

and so comfortable with kenny. and with the team that he has surrounding him and that's surrounding us. if i didn't have that, i would be a mess. i wouldn't know what to think. >> this weeki the vice presiden and managing director of competition, mark mccartel and richard petty motorsports parted way. still part of a big state of flux over here with this organization. >> i might stip ep on toes and e people mad. i will tell you what i heard and know about this situation. the people over ñihere, if this organization is trying to make racing decisions that are business people that are maybe really good in other areas, but the racing side of it is not their expertise. and casey and elliott and a.j. and these guys are all very concerned about the direction and who is in charge and getting the things done they feel like they need on the racetrack. >> i feel like the 9 team is going to be okay. i think it's time to go to the the championship will be

difficult but being in the chase, the performance is there. they're pretty good week in and week out. he just said he feels comfortable with his crew chief getting there. so they will be okay. the problem will be the other teams who are not quite up to par. how do they get there? they need a direction to fix some of the problems with the other team. >> you said the other thing, kenny francis is the saving grace. robbie loomis is great if he's able to be in the position needs to be. kenny francis is the glue holding this together, along with great talent in kasey kahne. >> let's update the performance on the racetrack of the 9 car. dave? >> as we started this session the biggest complaint the driver had was no rear grip. they went to work on the car after eight laps on track, spent 10, 12 minutes in the garage area. moving things around in the back of the car to try to give kasey more rip grip. but it's what he felt he needed in the racetrack. >> kasey kahne, will he this try

to i get him dialed in. how special it will be for this operation and richard petty motorsports if they could motorsports if they could poss - ( saw whirrs ) - the craftsman cordless c3 line. - ( blower hums ) - twenty-five tools, - one battery. - ( battery packs click ) - bring on the to-do list. - ( drill whirrs ) innovation. better value. craftsman. trust. in your hands.

back in new hampshire, coverage of "happy hour" final practice session for the sprint cup cars. here's the 83 car of brian vickers ha has come out of the garage area after changing that splitter. >> he's not missed too much track time. he's got about 26 laps on the board.

they're getting done what they need to do, even though they did take the time to change it. but it's important, andy, when you make changes, like you pointed out earlier, when you have big changes you needs to make, it could affect your performance. you need to take that team, even though you might lose a few minutes and it seems to be paying off, brian's running good laps out here. >> vickers trying to get up to 1350e speed. >> here's a guy who has the speed and having a discussion there. juan pablo montoya. jaime? >> it's interesting combs in for wholesale changes and gets out of his car and unlike most of the drivers, talking to brian patty now. he said the brakes were shattered and they opened it up. maybe andy can elaborate on that a bit. so far he's going with the car and making it better. >> the top seed mark martin has been working on his race car. he describe td as a moving target. nothing they have done in the

small change area has made the car better. alan said that would probably be the case during this practice. little changes will make a little difference, especially turning in the corner, which is their biggest concern. the guy who hits that right here is going to win the race. guys? >> no doubt about it, dave. certainly they are dialing in. alan has been so good for mark martin this year. earlier you heard jaime talking about juan pablo complaining about the brakes too far. what are they talking about, andy? >> they're talking about the opening in the grille. they opened it up and put more air on the brakes. one thing that happens here, it's a short track but long threadways. the brakes get really hot when you push the petal down and then you have that long cooling time. well, that heat cycle gets so hot and so cold, it can warp the rotors. so sometimes it's better to keep the rotor a little warmer. in other words, don't open quite as much air on those things and let the overall temperature be a little higher. that will smooth that chattering ou out. that's what they're talking about there.

>> as a driver, that's what they have. you don't know which way you will go but it get good feedback. >> here's jeff gordon, four-time champ. he's the six seed because he only has the one victory. >> smoke out of the back of the car. >> turns the corner a little bit and splitter got on the ground. he unloads those front tires and some of that is splitter smoke as well. >> we will ride along with jeff and see how hard he's having to work on the corner. down into corn three now. not a lot of wheel put in the car. needs it turning pretty well. have to go back to the right. >> that's a good shot. loves to see that there. hey, i'm a little snug in the middle. and then i'm loose off, you see him turning around the back corner. >> what does this racetrack do to the course of the race? does the track heighten up over the hours of the afternoon? >> that's generally the direction this goes.

this track will get tighter as we go throughout the day and that's what the drivers will face. you want to be careful. one thing they fight is there's races here this afternoon that will be difficult to overcome. the race car, first race of tomorrow, will be totally different about what you will see 50, 60 laps. >> after 50, 60 laps, the track does kind of settle down. one thing we have seen with this car, if you start out loose, it's almost impossible to get it tightened up. even if the track does tighten up. it's just one of those things that kind of a good car is not -- this is the way it's going to be. it's not going to just get tighter. sometimes it will get looser. >> here's the feel-good story of the weekend. at least in my book. bobby labonte, 2000 cup champion, jumping in an underfunded chevrolet and qualifying his best qualifying of the year, eighth. >> that's a good story, man.

i'm telling you. bobby labonte. it tells what you a good race car driver he is. >> it's a good opportunity to showcase his talent. back out with jimmie johnson here. >> let's update the 48, the champ. >> andy, what were you saying about when these cars get a little loose, they're what? >> tough. >> they're tough to fix. hard to fix that. >> that's the thing that got jimmie johnson yesterday in qualifying. >> he will start in the outside in row eight. after this practice, they started with a long run, 20-lap run, to see how cart would react. that was okay. then they went to tweaking it, just to fine tune it a little bit. the run before, he was tight in the center so they were trying to work some of the looseness actually back in. >> actually doing a pretty good job with it, dave. in the ten-lap averages, they're second to mon toyia. they're not bad. if you look at the 15-lap averages, mark martin is the fastest with jimmie johnson second. they're doing a pretty good job

with the race car. >> dave was talking about the qualifying effort yesterday. he got loose. coming to get the green flag off turn four. as the driver, really hard to overcome that. you try to put that out of your mind and it will not do that off the next corner i get to. but chances are it's going to be likely. they made a quick adjustment there. >> there's a shock adjustment. disconnected the sway bar. there's a couple quick things they can do. don't even have to put it in the stall. do it at the end and quick pull out. >> look at the numbers for jimmie johnson. once the race begins, he's focused. averages fifth place and almost sixth place finish a year ago. although coming into this year, although coming into this year, he - ( saw whirrs ) - the craftsman cordless c3 line.

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new hampshire motor speedway coverage of happy hour. final practice session as we are set for sunday's race number one in the chase for the nascar sprint cup. show you where the chase drivers who are seeded first through 12th are practicing here in the final session. you see mark martin is seventh. look at tony stewart, way back in 23rd position. what's going on with smoke, dave? >> most recently, doc, they've gotten a lot happier about this race car. earlier on in the day, the car was chattering the rear end. that's a loose condition that tony was describing to his crew. so they changed the cross weight on that car to try to help that and i got a thumb's up from the crew on that helping.

just a minute ak i checked with them again and they say -- i think it's more of an average versus a quick time versus quick time, they say they picked up .4 during this practice session. as they look at what they were doing with the 14 car, they're really please the right now. >> they have moved from the mid-30s to the mid-20s now so they are -- they are better than they were.ñi so i think that's why they're optimistic. >> yeah. it's really hard. we noted this a number of times. if you don't lay down that fast lap at the first part of practice, it's really hard to come back and make that number better but they've obviously done that. >> tony qualified on the outside front row will he will start aside juan pablo mon toyia. here's the 77 car of sam hornish. two top five finishes for

hornish, two at pocono. dave? >> i hear wondering aloud, is he doing the same thing as kurt busch and stremme? he said, no, we're doing our own thing. i like it that way in june. they had a top ten finish, strategizing their way to that. he said we're still working on it here but i like the way we have it set up versus what they have. >> the penske portion as a whole has been on the upswing. you see that with the 77 and kurt busch and even david stremme. he's been up in the top 15 just about every practice session. he's racing for a job but doing a good job right now. >> yeah. i have to look at the kurt busch setup in particular. he's up there second on the chart, finished second last week. he's in the chase. i would have to take a look at that, if nothing else, and maybe give it a try and see if sam might like that. >> it's good to run one quick lap but really important to be average. this is a five-lap average of those in happy hour, and you see

montoya top of the list, kevin harvick. our team responding now. look down who makes the spot. a.j. almondalmonddinger. >> that's what you see of that team late. they have a good the last few races. looks like they will have another one sunday. >> he's the only driver this year has run all of the races and has yet to lead a lap. he's come so close three to four different times taking the leader, at least leading one under caution but doesn't reflect on how well this team has run and how far he has come in just a year. >> you see name on the hood of the car. irwin city auto group. saw that on the side of dave dion's race cars for years and years. bringing back a name from the past. that might get a lot of you fans that don't know what i'm talking about. but dave dion was a great driver and came down south quite a bit. ran at hickory speedway when my

dad was promoting there. >> he came down with his old converted school bus and drove it all the way to the south. talking about some of the drivers from the northeast. how about this kid from lung, joey logano. he came here with his dad at the age of 5 and sat in the stands. and he picked the exact seat that day where mark martin sat on the pole and won the race and now he's racing against these guys. >> it's a dream come true for this kid. he's so deserving. does such a great job behind the wheel on and off the track. he's a good kid. >> became the youngest winner in nascar sprint cup history back in june. one month and four days on a race where wasn't that much of a pacter a factor. >> got the team on a different strategy in that race. i think that's what will be so interesting about tomorrow. we talk about this being a short race and you might not have to come to pit road a lot of times but if you can get yourself on a

little different strategy and some of these chase guys might decide to do that, and others that aren't in the chase, they upset the apple cart and throw that in there. it will be fun to watch. >> he grew up three hours from the race car and this was the first track he watched the nascar pit cup series. and because the pit strategy and and because the pit strategy and help with the weatherman, - ( saw whirrs ) - the craftsman cordless c3 line.

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"happy hour" coverage continuing here at new hampshire. there's the number one seed in the chase for the nascar sprint cup, mark martin. it's already been a memorable year for this 50-year-old driver. >> the best car is running out front right now. mark martin! >> we won! ♪ it's just a championship it's just a championship ♪ >> beautiful sight for mark martin. ♪ chgs ride ♪ championship ride >> mark martin, number one seed in the chase, and what a story for 509-year-old driver and we apologize, i did yesterday, part of the story and i'm proud of it. he has a luimited schedule and rick hendrick said, i want you

get you a win. mark martin said, if i can put you in the chase, it will be icing on the chase. now he's in the chase and held his team in the weekend after getting in the chase and says, guys, now let's go for the cake. mark martin will be a factor, you got to believe, in this ten chase for the championship. you got to believe, big time. >> he signed up for another year 2011 now. >> he has them up front. >> in this practice, he actually moved up to fourth quickest. kind of hard to do in the middle of a practice to actually move up late after they've gone out in that first wave. but we have seen mark martin do it. seen quite a few cars do it. this is one of the very few tracks you can see that happen on. >> martin now fourth overall in the speed charts. what about his teammate jimmie johnson? johnson now being showed seventh in this final session. dave? >> doc, jimmie johnson came into the pits, four tires, fuel of fuel, no changes, and it only took five minutes because they wanted to get down to the end of

practice here, car balanced, where they wanted it. they just wanted to see what it would do with fuel and fresh rubber on the car. they made basically no changes and sent him back out. >> that's a good thing to do. when you feel like have you a good car. made a lot of changes. gone through a series of things. then what you want to do is put a set of tires on t. build up the fuel. okay, this is what we've got tomorrow. how will this thing act? just make to changes and put four tires on and go out and see what you got. >> the good thing is, if it acts the way you anticipate it's going to, that's good. when it doesn't act like that, then do you blame the tires or start holding back on adjustments? >> well -- >> that's a good one. we will talk about it for sure. >> the fastest lap of this session and the most consistent speed in this session, both of those awards go to that 42 car, juan pablo montoya. >> guys have certainly stepped their became up here as we have gotten closer to the chase and now he's actually in it.

>> he's got 25 total laps in this practice session and his fastest lap was the fifth. mark martin has 43 laps total and his fastest lap on lap 49. see what montoya can do here. >> as we watchmon toya go in. one thing i have noticed with his race car, talk about guys moving up on the corner, he's able to keep his car down and not challenge that wall. his car is turning well and he's got good grip off the corner. >> kurt busch turning second here. the word we're hearing this week, pat clisen, the crew chief, announced he will not be back after this year, moving on to michael waltrip, which is will be martin truex jr. we have been told pat is not in

the race shop during the week because this dodge team is working on stuff for 2010 and 2011. they don't want him to see that he is being asked to come to the racetrack and basically run the operation as a crew chief on race weekend. >> i have been in this situatiosituatio situation. pat childress was there. and i made the decision i would leave the next year. the last couple months of the season, i saved them the shock but, i tell you, it was a big divide in there. team trying to get ready for next year and try to balance that with winning the championship in the current season. i can understand where they're coming from. i'm not sure that's the right way to keep the crew chief out of the shop if you're going to try to win the championship. jaim jaime? >> andy, i was able to confirm that pat and the crew chief told kurt busch wednesday he is not allowed to come to the shop. the reason he's at the racetrack is his driver, kurt busch, wants him calling the races throughout this chase. so there you have it, doc. >> i can't figure that one out, but maybe they can just have him

stay in a part of the shot. needs to be there as a leader as the team on weekends and try to get that blue deuce into the championship here in '09. we'll cover it all beginning 1:00 eastern time sunday. nascar sprint cup series race number one in the chase on abc beginning with "nascar countdown." you like drag racing? we have nhra coming your way. nhra nationals qualifying at 11:00 eastern time and the finals tomorrow at 7:00 eastern time on espn2. "nascar now" prerace edition. we will set the stage for the chase. presented by five hour energy at 10:00 a.m. eastern and wrap up the weekend and tell you how it happened and why it happened happened and why it happened here at new hampshire. announcer: "it looks like nothing else on the road right now," proclaims "gq" magazine. did you see that? the interior "positively oozes class," raves "car magazine." "slick and sensuous," boasts "the washington times." "the most striking vw in recent memory," declares--

okay, i get it already. . in a car commercial. ♪ yeah ♪ yeah. - ( blower hums ) - twenty-five tools, - one battery. - ( battery packs click ) - bring on the to-do list. - ( drill whirrs ) innovation. better value. craftsman. trust. in your hands.

how important is track time in until snm? a few minutes left in "happy hour" and we have 25 cars searchling and trying to dial it in. one is the 5 car of mark martin. >> doc, i wanted you to get the assessment of mark's car in practice. here's his radio. >> all i care is are lap times. don't care how it's driving. if there was issues bad, i would tell you but i'm not that good here. so i don't know what -- what perfect would be for where we're at.

>> they will come into the meeting and say, man, my car's not good. i don't know what's taking place here. and he says only one time all year has mark came in and said, "man, is my car good." and that was at chicago and he thanked us. he said if mark ever comes in and says my car's good, i'm changing to what he's got. >> mark won 192 laps in chicago. if mark thinks he's close to being good, you better watch out. dale earnhardt jr. is also on the racetrack here trying to get up to speed. not bad in this session. let's listen in. >> from 55 to exit. >> it gets into the center so great with this change in the front. it's awesome. but in the gas from the 55 to

exit in the gas, you know, i've got a little more wheel in it. i should be -- i should be taking this big oracle exit at some point be straightening up sooner and i'm driving the cars basically all the way out to the wall with this big x on it. >> really good information there that he's giving. what he's saying he can't get the car aimed right. back that up, okay, we need to make that car turn better in the center of the corner. so he's looking for the arc to come out and keep turning as you come off the corner. >> the reason he wants to fix that, it will make it difficult to pass somebody. if he's on the inside and needs that room, he can't get his car to turn, he will have to come out of the throttle and make it difficult to make that pass. >> good information about junior there. >> the 11 car, denny hamlin, he

is seventh on the speed cart. montoya atop the charts. polesitter. kurt busch who's still on the racetrack. martin truex, martin, johnson, earnhardt jr. and now hamlin. >> you're right, 25-plus cars still on the racetrack. everybody's still looking for the perfect setup. >> less than a minute to go here in the final practice session. guys, your honor thoughts on what we have seen here in "happy hour?" >> montoya's still the man to beat. no doubt. he's led every practice session and qualifying as well. looks like he's got it well in hand. although these other cars are starting to catch up to him. >> i think we see mark martin and jimmie johnson getting their cars dialed in. could be a good day for dale jr. this team seems to be on the upswing. >> montoya, polesitter. he will turn 34 sunday as he makes his 100th career start. could get his first win on an oval track as a member for the chase for the nas char sprint

cup? our live coverage coming your way 10:00 eastern time. coming up next -- espn2's "college football primetime." mountaineers of west virginia against the tigers of auburn. so long from new hampshire. captions by vitac >> mark: well, that 50% went up to 100%. it is a certainty for real. and the ominous skies appeared about 45 minutes ago. it was actually very pleasant, a little bit of drizzling and then the skies proceeded to become more and more gloomy looking. that's what we saw moments before the torrential downpour ensued and the skies opened up at jordan-hare stadium and it is now 73 degrees and this is what it looks like down on the field. the field is soaked and it has brought up a whole bunch of

unique circumstances here. i'm mark jones along with bob davie. the game events management staff told us that the game clock actually they'll wait until they let people back in. they tried to evacuate the stadium. the fans that remain here do so at their own risk. they will wait 30 minutes after the last lightning strike and then let the fans back into the stadium. let the teams warm up for a few minutes and get the game under way. if and when we play, bob davie, what does it have in terms of an effect. >> bob: it's rained about as hard as i've ever seen. sudden situation and coaching staffs. i always felt if it's an advantage it's to the home team. they're in that big spacious well air-conditioned locker room and have plenty of jerseys, shoes, socks, towels where the visitor is limited. i think if there is an advantage it goes to the home team. you've played in wet spikes and wet football shoes.

they have an unlimited supply in the home locker room. >> mark: we expected to see a bunch of fireworks, instead rain drops. wendi nix. i never thought we'd hear them say "have you seen rain." we're an hour away from getting the kickoff started. right now the score is mother nature, 1, auburn, west virginia, 0. back to you, wendy. >> mark, thank you very much. and welcome into a much drier situation. our college football studio here is bristol with robert smith and todd mcshay. i'm wendi nix. one of those weeks, that's not the only deluge but biggest upset to date. right to usc/washington. peter carroll. joe mcknight takes it in for the

td. this will be easy. >> nice and simple. hand the ball off to joe mcknight. >> easy except we're tied. aaron corp into double coverage what can happen. >> maybe we want that true freshman quarterback back. >> you're clair vowant. barkley warming up but don't see him. corp neverly intercepted again. he wasn't quite on today. 41 seconds to play tied at 13. jake locker who was hooks up with jermaine kearse for the big first down. seven seconds to go. eric faulk, no stage bigger than this. nails the 22-yard field goal and washington who went winless in 2008 upsets usc, the biggest upset to date. receive sarkisian loves it. 16-13. these never live up to the hype. aaron corp, 13-22, an interception.

how much steve sarkisian's st-- how much that helped. they knew this trojan offense very well. >> no question about it. steve sarkisian was the offensive coordinator last year. nick holt was the defensive coordinator. not the fact that they had familiarity. don't forget they're not running that offense and defense now for usc either. so that definitely had an impact on the game. you thought coming into the game that the talent deefficiency they would have from usc and lack of depth might be a concern in this ball game. schematically we knew they would have the players in the right position. but certainly man-to-man they matched up when they needed to. >> i didn't think the quarterback switch was going to make that big of a difference. when you look at aaron corp you saw someone with more experience than matt barkley. going neck and neck with barkley coming into the season and got injured. fully healthy coming into the

game. i thought we'd see him run more and use mobile. we didn't get to see it. i think he knew this was his one shot to maybe win the job back and clearly was trying to force the ball too many times into coverage and ultimately i think that was one of the big differences in the game for usc, no consistency at the quarterback spot for the trojans. >> shocker to be sure. if you are looking for west virginia, auburn we are in a weather delay. a lot of rain and lightning in the area. about 30 to 40 minutes at least until kickoff. in the meantime, let's go to the swamp. >> stay with us. >> stay with us. why not. tim tebow sporting the professor look. >> becoming popular. clark kept before he takes it off. >> tim tebow out of the shotgun scrambles. hello. >> what is the phrase? something about knees -- a knee benner is -- >> knee benner is a jaw breaker. tebow. >> write that one down. >> pumped up.

powering his way into the end zone. florida up 10-3. third quarter. gators on the move, tebow keeps it scrambling. breaks the tackle down the sideline for the first down. >> started to take over the game really. two turnovers earlier on but 76 rushing yards. the tim tebow show in the second half. >> go figure. >> hands off to jeffery demps, tebow by the way, he should have benched that guy. best guys are behind him. come on. tim tebow. well, florida rolls over tennessee but by 10, 23-13. this was, however, i think closer than a lot of people thought and given all the drama that went into it. lane kiffin hired and a lot of rhetoric. but in this case there was back and forth so we'll start with florida. and think a question about tennessee. what did you glean from this when you look at the gators. >> they had to come and play

physical. i think the offense has work to do. the line is not great and tennessee defense that has good talent but not the elite level of talent that florida will see in a team like old miss down the road. they learned something and got to be able to protect better outside of tim tebow there wasn't a lot to be excited about. >> tennessee was starting to run the ball well. it was a lot of individual effort but that could be a little bit of concern. tim tebow took over the game. does jump a great job of faking to the running back and gets the mesh so deep and on the fake it's really hard to follow the football. i mean there are a lot of times the cameraman loses it. we end up losing it when watching the games. he does an incredible job. he will be sorely missed when he leaves florida. >> florida has won all four

meetings against tennessee since urban meyer took over. i know every coach is cringing when i suggest there could be a moral victory here. but, again, it also could have been a lot worse. did we learn anything about tennessee, robert? >> i think we did. and when i go back to hardesty things like that can't happen unless the offensive line is blocking. crompton, the effort they showed in the ball game clearly was the difference early on in keeping the ball game close. stipes in games like this where everybody get their adrenaline so hyped up, so much talk and hype all throughout the week really all throughout the year talking about lane kiffin's comments and all the things that urban meyer was saying in response, i think they just did a great job of keeping this ball game close. >> if you're tennessee you look at this and say we're young, we're lonely going to get better. boy, we can be a physical football team when we want to. lined up. looked right at florida. 11 starters and we ran the ball

on them. we have a lot to be excited about on that side and defensively berry stepped. >> the whole scheme, there's confidence there. i think tennessee clearly has a lot to build off in this loss. >> also, did you know eric berry, a big fashion guy in his spare time. he reads fashion magazines. mul multifaceted so you know. >> pin suits. >> you heard it here. >> and virginia tech, more nuttiness, one of those weeks, hokies fired up to take on 19 nebraska in blacksburg, roberts, fields it, cuts up the middle. >> that was zach lee. so 15-10. nebraska right here. tyrod taylor. the safety didn't rotate over in time. but clearly nobody was covering the guy there.

>> and nebraska played excellent defense and then some mental mistakes in the end, todd, that cost them. >> you saw that one play. you can't have a bigger mental breakdown. tyrod taylor who finished the day with 12 of 27 passing negative 22 rush yards gets one opportunity. comes up big. throwing that touchdown pass and virginia tech in a game to be honest with you they were flat out played for 3 1/2 quarters go on to win 16-15 and stole one in blacksburg. >> one of those ones where you say score cards may be not pretty but effective. tyrod taylor been so determined it would seem to throw the ball this season todd, obviously he can do things with his feet extremely well. >> creating in the pass but as i said negative 22 rushing yards. he's got to get above the line of scrimmage. >> let's move to south bend where notre dame was looking to bounce back after that loss to michigan last week. today it was michigan state who

came calling. kurt cousins. right here, hits blair white. as's going to be a touchdown. michigan state with the 30 -- >> little smart guy. >> doesn't have any speed. can't get open deep. >> other than that he's all right. >> over five minutes to play. jimmy clausen to golden tate. >> wow. >> playmaker, great speed there. >> by the way, i like that move. >> dive into the band. >> 1:16 to play. first and ten, cousins, oh, man, a wide-open larry caper in the end zone. it was a big missed opportunity. >> and cousins threw it well at times. inconsistencies has hurt them at the quarterback position. >> the nail in the coffin, the interception by kyle mccarthy. it did not look for awhile like notre dame would hold on to win and do and a win for charlie weis' team. there was some type of injury. 22 of 31, 300 yards, 2 touchdowns. >> the great wide receiver got

injured, as well. >> broken collarbone so michael floyd out for a couple weeks. >> right now to lsu. eric hollands has the call. bonus coverage. west virginia and auburn game in a lightning and weather delay looking at half an hour until kickoff of that game. >> you get a sense, third personal foul that these schools separated by 55 miles? they know about each other a little bit. i think there's talking between the schools. >> referee: after the play, number 56 on the defense, 15-yard penalty. first down. they call it on riley. glad you could join us. i'm eric collins with brock

huard. louisiana-lafayette never defeated lsu, a team just 57 miles away from lafayette. most of those games played well back. over 70 years ago. mason, underneither, incomplete looking for ladarius green. either these two clubs scored on the first two possessions, lsu able to -- lafell a 16-yarder and afterwards interception by chad jones converted into a touchdown to holiday where we stand, 14-0. just starting the second quarter. chris mason out of the shotgun. booker, next in the backfield. booker, can't hang on. a lot of passes that are supposed to be fairly

conservative. >> brock: you want to hear from the quarterback? the quarterback says i'm putting the ball in their hands and he'll say, chris, take a little off. you don't node the rpms. give yourself a chance to save the ball. critical turnover. a lot of drops tonight for the ragin' cage ragin' ca ragin' cajuns. >> an awkward position on the field. from the 35, complete. first down. marlon miller. second grab of this possession. needed 10. they get 11. >> brock: he is a tough kid. does not flush with pressure. stands in there. and credit joseph there