College Football Week 6: What We Learned

            Nebraska squared off against an undefeated Missouri team on Thursday night and came away victorious.  The weather conditions were extremely poor with the rain causing both teams to make mistakes.  Nebraska trailed 9-0 at halftime and 12-0 at the end of the third quarter.  They came out and put up 27 unanswered points in the final 15 minutes to get the win and the cover.  Nebraska?s defense was outstanding giving up just 225 total yards and forcing 3 turnovers.  The Huskers are now 4-1 overall and a perfect 5-0 against the spread making them one of the most profitable teams to bet on in college football.  The offense struggled as they were only able to gain 263 total yards themselves but Zac Lee took over down the stretch to lead his team to victory.  Lee went just 14 of 33 for 158 yards but threw 3 touchdown passes in the 4^th quarter which was the difference in the game.

North Carolina State was picked by many experts to win the ACC Atlantic Division and a dark horse to make it to a BCS Bowl game.  That is not going to happen especially after NC State?s embarrassing 49-28 home loss to Duke!  Yes, Duke.  NC State was favored by 15 points in that game and just got absolutely pummeled.  Duke gained over 500 yards of total offense and quarterback Thaddeus Lewis threw for 459 yards and 5 touchdowns.  The Wolf Pack secondary is a huge concern for this team as they are now just 3-3 overall and 0-2 in conference play.  It?s also worth mentioning that 2 of their three wins came against Division IAA teams: Gardner Webb and Murray State.  NC State needs to fix their defense in a hurry if they are going to salvage their season; giving up over 500 yards to Duke is unacceptable.

            Florida got its first real test of the season playing on the road in a hostile environment in Baton Rouge against the 4^th ranked LSU Tigers.  It wasn?t pretty but Florida prevailed with the win and the cover.  Heading into the game the big question mark was whether or not quarterback Tim Tebow was going to play.  Tebow did play but it looked as if Urban Meyer was being cautious with his play calling to protect Tebow.  He still ran the ball 17 times but for only 38 yards.  However, it was vintage Tebow grinding it out for a hard fought win.  The biggest storyline of this game was how well the Florida defense played.  This has got to be one of if not the best defense in college football.  They held a speedy, athletic LSU offense to just 3 points and 162 yards of total offense.  Jordon Jefferson was harassed all night by the Florida pass rush and simply couldn?t get anything going as he only threw for 96 yards.  Florida proved that it?s not just about Tebow and that the defense can be relied upon to win big games as well.