Updated: November 16, 2005, 6:47 PM ET

Just For Argument's Sake ...

From whether Auburn should have let Georgia score to why USC is playing Fresno State to why Notre Dame is No. 6, Ivan Maisel tackles all the hot topics.

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Maisel By Ivan Maisel
ESPN.com
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From nagging questions to soapbox moments to Heisman hype, Ivan Maisel tackles the hottest topics in college football.

1. Should Georgia have let Auburn score?
John Vaughn
John Vaughn got a ride after his field goal beat Georgia.

Reset: Georgia leads Auburn 30-28 with a little more than two minutes to play.

After that stunning fourth-and-10 pass from Auburn quarterback Brandon Cox to wide receiver Devin Aromashodu, after Aromashodu sprinted 62 yards with the ball, after Georgia corner Paul Oliver punched the ball out of Aromashodu's grasp and into the end zone, after Tigers wideout Courtney Taylor dived on it and cradled it in the back corner -- whew -- the officials awarded Auburn a first-and-goal at the Georgia 3 with 1:53 to play.

It was the worst of both worlds for Georgia. Not only did the Bulldogs give up a desperation pass that turned into a big play, but Auburn didn't get the touchdown, so the Bulldogs didn't get the ball back.

That's where the gray area began. The Georgia coaches discussed letting Auburn score. Should a team do its best on every single play, or should that be sacrificed for the greater good of the best chance to win the game?

"We thought about it," Georgia offensive line coach Neil Callaway said. "We discussed it. By the time we got the ball back, there would be a minute and a half left to go 80 yards."

Georgia would have needed a touchdown. When it appeared that Taylor had scored, Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville held up two fingers. The Tigers would have led by either four or six.

Coach Mark Richt decided to play it the traditional way. Auburn bled the clock down to :08. Georgia clung to the hope that there would be a bad snap, a bad hold, an errant field goal the length of an extra point. Kicker John Vaughn nailed a 20-yard kick. The Tigers won, 31-30.

"It was one of those things," Callaway said, "Where you're damned if you do, damned if you don't."

2. Why is USC playing Fresno State this late in the season?
USCFresno State It's rivalry weekend, and the Trojans are playing … the Bulldogs? A team not even in the Pac-10? A team that's not only perennially good, but this-year good?

I know what you're thinking because it's what I'm thinking: USC coach Pete Carroll is willing to take on all comers. Fresno State's motto is, "Anybody, anytime, anywhere." USC got tired of Fresno State saying, "What are you, scared?"

That's not what happened -- well, maybe Carroll and everyone else at USC got tired of Fresno State calling every 15 minutes asking for a game -- but the Trojans agreed to play because, well, there wasn't anyone else.

First, you have to understand USC's nonconference scheduling philosophy: one Notre Dame, one game against a team big enough to demand a home game in return and one store-bought home game.

The Trojans had the Irish this season. They had Arkansas, with a return trip set for next September. And they had, well, until late February, no one.

In the 2001 USC media guide, the 2005 schedule listed Temple. The Owls fit the profile. They would come to Los Angeles without a return game. But Temple, perhaps coming to its senses, dropped out. And go figure, Trojans couldn't find anyone who wanted to travel across the country to play a team that has won 32 consecutive games.

They didn't know that last winter. USC had won only 23 consecutive games. But you get the point.

"We talked to probably 35 schools," USC associate athletic director Steve Lopes said. "At that point, everyone is filled."

USC had some flexibility, however, precisely because it isn't playing UCLA this week. The Trojans also had an off week Sept. 10. When ABC coaxed the Trojans and Bruins into moving their game to Dec. 3, USC acquired two more off weeks.

"Fresno had been calling Darryl [Gross, the former No. 2 at USC, now the Syracuse athletic director], and calling me," Lopes said. "We knew they had an opening, and we knew they wanted to play us."

Fresno State didn't have anyone bail out on it. In recent years, Fresno State played at Oklahoma and at Tennessee without a home game in return because Texas Tech and Oklahoma State bought themselves out of fulfilling the "and home" part of home-and-home deals.

The Bulldogs kept trying to find a game. They didn't want to add a second I-AA opponent. Once this game became a possibility, school officials asked the Western Athletic Conference and ESPN to keep Nov. 19 open for a possible USC game.

And now it's here. One of the best games on rivalry weekend will match two teams that have never played one another in the regular season.

Enjoy.

3. Has anyone seen more of the good and bad in college football than this guy?
Charlie Whitehurst
Charlie Whitehurst is 23-15 as a starter.

Clemson quarterback Charlie Whitehurst laughed at the suggestion that he has been starting for the Tigers for eight seasons.

"I've been here so long, and played so many games," Whitehurst said Tuesday. "I still think I'm going to play at Clemson next year."

Hyperbole aside, Whitehurst has been the quarterback for the Tigers since the middle of his redshirt freshman year. He started 37 consecutive games before sitting out the Duke game earlier this month because of a sore shoulder. He returned last week against No. 17 Florida State and led the Tigers to a 35-14 rout.

That raised Clemson to 6-4, and Whitehurst's record as a starter to 23-15. He has experienced more highs and lows than most college football players. With Whitehurst as quarterback, the Tigers have been nationally ranked, and they have failed to go a bowl. They have routed highly ranked teams -- Whitehurst has six victories against the Top 25 -- and they have been humiliated at Wake Forest (45-17 in 2003) and at Duke (what does the score matter? It was Duke).

He has been rated as one of the top quarterbacks in the country, and he has been booed. (The rating sticks, though. Whitehurst already has received an invitation to play in the Senior Bowl in January).

In sum, Whitehurst seemed like an ideal candidate to look back at the close of a college football career.

Best game: "I think I've probably got two, for different reasons. Our biggest win was probably Florida State two years ago. We weren't supposed to win. They were No. 3 in the country. We went out there and beat 'em [26-10], beat 'em really bad, to tell the truth. Coach [Tommy] Bowden was probably on his way out. We ended up winning our last four.

The other one was when we beat South Carolina (27-20) my redshirt freshman year. I had started three games prior to that. I kind of experienced college football for the first time. It was a night game, a rivalry, a fourth-quarter comeback. It gave me a sense of belonging."

Worst game: "The next game. We beat South Carolina and we got to the Tangerine Bowl and got unbelievably worn out by Texas Tech [55-15]. I threw four interceptions and got knocked unconscious toward the end of the fourth quarter. I had taken so many hits. I remember how high I was the week before. I learned anything can happen. That's what you take away from that. It can change so quick."

Best throw: "I don't know. There have been some big ones in some big games, and in practice. You're really on most of the time. You really have to do it well in practice. There have been a lot of good ones and a lot of bad ones."

Funniest moment in a huddle: "Well, we run a no-huddle offense."

OK, then, funniest moment: "My old center, Tommy Sharpe, was a 5-foot-10, 5-11 guy, one of the toughest guys I ever played with. He had a problem with throwing up on the ball. It happened a couple of times in practice. It happened against Georgia a couple of years ago on the first play of the [first] game. I fumbled the snap. It was slippery!

"One day in practice, we're in the shotgun, I'm looking at the defense, and he's throwing up again. I don't know it. The ball goes right through my hands, hits my chest and bounces away. It took me until I had jumped on it to realize what had happened. Luckily, it was the last play of practice, so I got that jersey off pretty quick."

The meaning of Clemson-South Carolina: "It's mean. You don't know, especially being from out of state [Whitehurst grew up in an Atlanta suburb]. I went through it as a redshirt and didn't play. I figured it out pretty quick. There's a hatred on both sides. I don't see how a rivalry can be any more intense."

Three of Whitehurst's 23 victories have come against the Gamecocks. On Saturday, he has the opportunity to become the first quarterback in Clemson history to go 4-0 against South Carolina.

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