Early Games
Ul Lafayette appears to be getting it together. The Ragin’ Cajuns obliterated Texas State on Tuesday, and got a complete game from both the offense and defense for the first time this season. Texas State has done a nice job competing in several games, but the Bobcats were overmatched here and the game was never in doubt.
Pittsburgh got the jump on a beat up Virginia Tech squad and made it stand up. There some anxious moments late for the Panthers, but a late Hokies drive fell short and Pitt earned a much needed win. Chad Voytik flashed some running ability, and while his ceiling certainly seems limited, he’s likely to be a better QB when he uses his legs. The Virginia Tech upset at Ohio State seems more far fetched now than ever.
Utah rode the legs of Devontae Booker to a thrilling double OT win at Oregon State. This game was a close yawner for the first three quarters, but it blew up in the fourth frame and ended up being very exciting at the finish. The Utah QB situation remains in flux, but this team can obviously run the ball and the Utes are playing tough defense. Tough loss for the Beavers, and it’s the type that’s often the toughest to rally from.
Boise State won the stats by a comfortable margin in the Milk Can rivalry game with Fresno State. But the Bulldogs hung tough and this game was in doubt till the late stages. The Broncos ultimately toughened up defensively in the final quarter and got the win, but I liked the way Fresno State hung in.
Rough night for Temple as the Owls got drilled at Houston. The Owls had problems throughout with turnovers, and they had no answer at all for Cougars QB Greg Ward, Jr. It certainly appears as though Houston is a much better team with the QB change taking place and they were overwhelmingly superior in this romp. Sharp money laughed all the way to the bank in this game.
Saturday
Kansas State outlasted Oklahoma thanks to three unexpected gaffes by the Sooners kicker. A brutal loss for Oklahoma, as they won the stats by a pretty good margin and really should have won the game.
Maryland earned its first ever Big Ten home win as they rallied from an early 14-0 deficit to kayo Iowa. The big play was a William Likely pick six early in the fourth quarter that stretched the Terrapins lead to ten and they never looked back.
Minnesota is now 3-0 in league play as the Gophers won a thriller against improving Purdue. David Cobb had a big game on the ground for Minnesota and Ryan Santoso was the hero with his 52-yard FG serving as the game winner.
West Virginia dealt Baylor’s playoff hopes a critical blow with a 41-127 upset. Mountaineers QB Clit Trickett outplayed Bears signal caller Bryce Petty and was tremendous at crunch time in what is a very big win for the WVU program.
Big comeback by Florida Atlantic. The Owls were down to Western Kentucky 31-14 at halftime, but QB Jaquez Johnson had a great second half and hit a 61-yard TD pass with less than two minutes remaining for the win.
South Florida was trailing Tulsa 30-14 midway through the third quarter but Bulls QB Mike White got hot and the Golden Hurricane defense collapsed yet again.
Virginia won the stats against Duke, but the Blue Devils made the more important plays on both sides of the ball and eked out a 20-13 win over the Cavaliers.
Clemson played great defense and got just enough production from its banged up offense to get past Boston College. Tigers QB Cole Stoudt hung tough in spite of hurting his shoulder in a gritty win.
Central Michigan flattened out off a very big win at Northern Illinois and the Chippewas got knocked off by Ball State. Clear case of a team not used to winning much recently bouncing off a significant road victory.
California has been in one crazy game after another and the Bears were on the wrong side of the latest one as they dropped a 36-34 duel with UCLA. Brett Hundley had a monster game for the Bruins, who ended a long streak of futility at Berkley.
Alabama was awesome in a complete demolition of Texas A&M. This was the slaughter of the say, with the stats every bit as dominating as the 59-0 tally might indicate. No one played better than the Tide on this Saturday.
San Jose State manaaged to overcome some ill-time blunders and survived regulation when Wyoming missed a fairly long FG at the finish. The Spartans then got it together on OT and got a nice road win at Laramie.
No Gurley, no problem for Georgia. Nick Chubb exploded for 204 yards on the ground as the bulldogs won 45-32. The final was misleading as this clash was never in any doubt.
There didn’t figure to be much defense between Georgia Tech and North Carolina, and the game lived up to billing. Last team with the ball wins type of shootout and the Tar Heels got the deciding TD with just 20 seconds remaining.
Florida bottomed out in a disastrous outing against Missouri. The Tigers had 42 points despite only 119 yards of total offense, a ratio I’m quite sure I’ve never seen. The Gators had six turnovers in what can only be described as a total humiliation.
Colorado State kicked two long FG’s inside the last two minutes to come from behind against Utah State. This was a huge win for the Rams, who had their first sellout since 2004 and the crowd rushed the field after Jared Roberts kicked the game winner.
Those expecting an Ole Miss letdown got surprised as the Rebels bombed Tennessee. The Volunteers were -4 in turnovers and that eliminated any chance they could compete here.
Nebraska at Northwestern was a tossup at the half, but the Cornhuskers romped down the stretch. Ameer Abdullah did his usual damage on the ground and Tommy Armstrong Jr. did a good job managing the game for Nebraska.
LSU put together its strongest game of there season as they crushed Kentucky. The Tigers probably could have won this even bigger than the 4-13 final, but this game could well be the buy signal for the Bayou Bengals.
Iowa State always competes hard and the Cyclones took Texas to the wire in a shootout. The Longhorns escaped with the 48-45 win on a late drive and short FG by Nick Rose.
BYU put up some big offensive numbers, but they killed themselves with turnovers and Nevada’s Cody Fajardo took full advantage. The Wolf Pack are now 3-3 off the 42-35 upset and are continuing to show some nice improvement from last year’s squad.
Arizona State was very impressive in a rather one-sided win over Stanford. Mike Bercovici had another good game under center for the Sun Devils and the Stanford offense malfunctioned moist of the night.
Finally, an absolute corker between Notre Dame and Florida State. The Seminoles were extremely fortunate to win when a late Notre Dame TD was wiped out on an offensive pass interference penalty. I thought the Irish deserved to win this game, but credit the ‘Noles for finding a way to preserve their perfect record.
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