| Daily Blog • Saturday, October 31st |
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GAMEDAY NEWS & NOTES
AUBURN - During their 3 game losing streak, Todd has been a 50% passer averaging 86.7 yards per game with an 0-2 ratio. Despite his struggles, Chizik said Todd will continue to be the starter.
NAVY - Navy ranks in the upper 4th of the NCAA in every defensive category, allowing 20.8 points per game (39th) and 316 yards per game (30th).
IOWA - The Hawks’ win over MSU was costly as LG Dace Richardson (1st Tm Midseason All-Big Ten & 2nd Tm All-American) was lost for at least the regular season with a broken leg. Iowa is the first Big Ten team selection since ’77 to win at MSU, PSU & Wisconsin in the same season.
MINNESOTA - Brew said that Weber is still his starting QB but that and he will go with a platoon system vs Michigan St with MarQueis Gray possibly rotating in on each series. The forecasts are calling for heavy wind, with rain or possibly snow and temps in the 30’s for UM’s first night game at TFC Bank Stadium.
ILLINOIS – Athletic Director Guenther said Zook will be back in 2010 in the press box at the Purdue game saying, “there will be changes but not at the top.” Guenther also gave similar votes of confidence to the Illini’s last 2 coaches: Ron Turner prior to the 2004 season and Lou Tepper prior to 1996 when he told a newspaper that Tepper would be back “no matter what”. WR Benn said the players are preoccupied with their on-the-field struggles and not Zook’s job status: “That wasn’t our concern. This (losing) is in-house. That (Zook) is out-house.”
MICHIGAN ST – Eleven of Dantonio’s 14 losses at MSU have come by 8 or fewer points.
PENN ST - Paterno said after Clark’s performance vs Michigan: “We have a big gun and we’re going to shoot him...we feel like we match up pretty well against just about anybody throwing the ball if the protection is good. Daryll’s playing at a very, very high level. We got a lot of trust in him. We feel like we can go after anybody.”
INDIANA - Lynch is under fire this week after going for it twice on 4th down late 3Q/early 4Q vs Northwestern. The first time they were stopped on downs with less than 2:00 left in the 3Q on 4th & goal at the 1 when Wildcat QB Evans tripped over the center while reversing his field. Northwestern then drove 98 yards for a TD. The Hoosiers were also stopped on downs at 4th & 3 at the NW33 with 7:04 left and to make matters worse the team used up all of its timeouts at that time.
NORTHWESTERN – Northwestern managed its comeback last week despite missing safety Smith and getting CB McManis knocked out from the game in the 1H after he reinjured his quad. McManis was replaced by a walk-on, Ricky Weina. Weina did block a punt which resulted in a safety. Also replacement safety Peters suffered a broken hand but continued to play. Safety Smith (thumb surgery) has missed the last 2 games but is expected to return and play with a club while the other safety Phillips (shoulder) has been limited due to injury. McManis is listed as questionable for this week’s game.
MICHIGAN - Center Molk (ACL) is out for the season. Molk had missed 4 games with a broken foot but returned to play the first series vs Penn St before suffering the injury. UM drove 70 yards for a TD on their 1st poss. Backup center Moosman had 2 botched snaps including one which resulted in a safety. Rod said there’s no question that Molk and RB Minor are the team’s 2 best offensive players.
TEXAS A&M - DC Joe Kines said that the defensive line has a huge task at hand vs the OL of Iowa St (ISU averages 327 lbs against an A&M DL that comes in at a 255 pound average, +72 lbs). Sherman said it will be a very physical week of practice as he is anticipating a lot of running for the Cyclones.
NEBRASKA - Pelini and Offensive Coordinator Watson both said last week that Lee played well despite the loss, his 2 late interceptions came on a 4th & 10 from the NU18 and the one prior went threw a WR’s hands. “He managed a great game, I’m telling you” Watson “He was perfect, as far as getting us in the right plays and doing the things we asked him to do in this game plan.”
BAYLOR- Briles admitted this week “We’ve got to play pretty flawless to be able to execute to get points”…Over the last three games the Bears have just 24 points and I know that time of possession isn’t a huge stat but the defense can’t get off the field as last week Oklahoma St had a 38-22 edge (ISU had a 36-24 edge & OU had a 33-27 edge), Briles says he isn’t in panic mode but a lot of the players are expressing their frustration.
COLORADO - OC Eric Kiesau replaced QB Hansen in favor of Hawkins because Hansen was waiting too long to throw “there were some small windows, and he has to understand they’re going to close really fast”. He did continue to say that Hansen is the starting QB and will use Hawkins in a more hurry-up tempo saying he is more comfortable with that.
OKLAHOMA – Head Coach Stoops was thrilled with the way his defense has been playing the last 2 weeks “Two weeks in a row we’ve shut down good teams. Those are explosive offenses…Our defense came up with some big turnovers, pressure, sacks.” OU has outscored opponents 58-0 in the first quarter this season.
KANSAS ST - Snyder was pleased with his defense last week but talking about the offense you would of thought Kansas St lost. “I don’t want to feel good about playing poorly…It’s not about being 3-1, it’s about whether the football team gets better. That hasn’t changed.” Snyder was upset at just 284 yards of offense despite RB Thomas’ career high 145 yards. “That sum it up…stinks…bad…We didn’t progress today offensively.”
TEXAS - Texas is 12-0 under Brown after the Red River Rivlary. The Horns have 6 TD’s off of the kicking game this season so far: 2 kick returns, 2 punt returns & 2 offensive blocked punts. Head Coach Brown went on to say that the “kicking game is the best since we’ve been here”
OKLAHOMA ST- Defensive Coordinator Bill Young said the Cowboys defense is playing its best football of the season. “That was one of the real points of emphasis this week.”
KANSAS - For the 1st time in 25 games, QB Reesing (worst game in his career) failed to throw a TD pass, breaking the nation’s longest streak.
Iowa St - Center Reggie Stephens underwent an appendectomy on Wednesday and is out for the game & possibly the year. This is a major blow as he was the anchor of an offensive line that started 36 straight games together and as the anchor, made all the calls.
ARIZONA - DE Brooks Reed (sprained ankle) did not play against UCLA, and he has barely played in the last 4 games. Head Coach Stoops said he wants to get Reed fully healthy for a difficult closing stretch that begins Nov. 14th at Cal.
ARIZONA ST – Arizona St is 4-3 overall and 2-2 in the Pac-10, but it will be difficult to get to six wins and avoid the 1st back-to-back losing seasons of Head Coach Erickson's long career.
CALIFORNIA - The Bears have accumulated nearly 600 rush yards in the last two weeks.
USC - Starting FB Stanley Havili missed last week’s game with a shoulder injury and is listed as questionable at best here. RB Joe McKnight is probable with a hand laceration.
OREGON - CB Talmadge Jackson, who is now the most experienced CB that Oregon has due to injuries to Walter Thurmond and Willie Glasper.
Oregon St - Despite missing some time in last week’s game vs USC, Jacquizz and James Rodgers are both listed as probable to go this weekend.
UCLA - Neuheisel said that Kevin Prince will start this week’s game vs OSU while true frosh Richard Brehaut will be used some in a limited role.
WASHINGTON ST - True freshman QB Jeff Tuel continues to impress after passing for 354 yards and two TD’s with no interceptions at Cal last week.
BOSTON COLLEGE - RB Josh Haden and QB Justin Tuggle have both decided to transfer.
FLORIDA ST- DT Justin Mincey, who had been all season with a sprained knee ligament, has decided not to redshirt and played last week vs North Carolina.
GEORGIA TECH - "Well, it's the same as it's always been," Johnson said. "Winning (Saturday) just made the game next Saturday that much bigger. We still have four games remaining (regular season)."
VIRGINIA - DE Zane Parr started in place of Matt Conrath (ankle) against Georgia Tech. He is likely out for a month.
VIRGINIA TECH - OC Stinespring said they want to get TE Greg Boone more involved in the offense. Said they have been trying but it hasn’t worked out.
HAWAII - UH starting QB Bryant Moniz is probable this week after he suffered what was determined to be a concussion last week when he was struck on the back of the head during a pile-up.
NEVADA - In the month of October so far, Nevada has rushed for 1,701 yards (559, 345, 313 & 484 yards in the last 4 games) on 205 carries for an average of 425 yards per game & an average of 8.3 yards per game with 19 TD’s.
LOUISIANA TECH - WR & Return Specialist Phillip Livas is battling turf toe and only practices once a week (on Thursdays). Livas’ toe won’t heal unless he sat out the remainder of the season, so the coaching staff limits what he can do as much as they can during practice and try to get as many plays out of him in a game as they can.
IDAHO - The Humanitarian Bowl continues to express interest in Idaho if Boise lands in another bowl.
UTAH ST - Starting QB Diondre Borel has evolved into a pretty complete play and is the perfect for the Aggies new offense.
SAN JOSE ST - Starting C Ronnie Castillo (ankle) is likely out this week and could possibly be out for the rest of the season. Robbie Reed will start this week for Castillo.
LOUISIANA - Bustle was embarrassed by a 51-29 loss at home last week.
FLORIDA ATLANTIC - QB Smith has not thrown an interception in 3 games (96 attempts); this time last year Smith had 14 interceptions, this year he has 3.
MIDDLE TENN - Under Stockstill, MT is the only SBC team to have at least a 3 game winning streak in each of the last 3 seasons. MT is 9-16 before Oct. 20 and 12-7 after Oct. 20 under Stockstill.
N TEXAS - QB Riley Dodge will return to the field this week. He practiced Tuesday and appeared to be back at full speed.
UNLV - WR Ryan Wolfe caught 11 passes for 118 yards in Saturday’s win over New Mexico to become the league’s all-time leader for career receptions.
TCU - The Horned Frogs has allowed 17 or more points just three times in the last 21 games. BYU QB Max Hall said the Horned Frogs were the best defense he’s faced in his career. “They were better than Oklahoma.”
San Diego St - QB Lindley has thrown at least one TD pass in 13 straight games and has thrown 9 TD’s the past two games.
Akron - Andre Jones became just the 2nd player in the NCAA this year to start 3 different positions.
Bowling Green - BG was 1-5 in redzone with 2 TO’s and a missed 26 yd FG.
Miami, OH – Head Coach Mike Haywood is the first Miami coach to lose his first 5 games.
Ohio - Ohio leads the NCAA with 26 takeaways.
MEMPHIS - RB Curtis Steele has been held out of contact for the majority of the week to avoid any extra hits on his knee. West said he expects Steele’s knee to bother him all season.
SMU - Mitchell suffered a dislocation of his non-throwing shoulder, but Head Coach Jones said he thinks Mitchell will be able to play this week.
UTEP - HC Price is concerned about UAB QB Webb’s running ability & said that they don’t have anyone on the scout team who can come close to replicating his combination of size & speed.
Southern Miss - Fedora may make some changes in his FG/PAT unit after K Estes missed a 23 yd FG & also missed 2 PAT’s. Estes isn’t totally to blame as SM has had issues with snaps & holds all season. Fedora wasn’t specific about what changes may be made.
HOUSTON – Head Coach Sumlin doesn’t believe that his team has played their best football yet.
| Here are My NFL Selections for Sunday November 1st |
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A note from Josh Buchanan: Before I get into my picks I would like to remind everyone that I am producing weekly prospect reports on the small school players throughout the season at www.buyscouting.com for purchase. You can also follow my weekly small school coverage at www.jbscouting.com.
JOSH'S WEEK 9 FCS FORECAST
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