Daily Blog - Tuesday September 8th

....Additional News and Notes

Last Tuesday I gave you my Top 25 but what I’ll do on Tuesday’s during the season is use my Tuesday Blog to catch you up on other games that I did not go in depth on in my Monday blog. When I write my Monday News & Notes I have generally gone through about 20-25 play by plays for game from that weekends action. Some of the News and Notes is also taken from articles that I read about the games. This Tuesday N&N will include the information from the games that I have gone through since Monday’s blog and is approximately half the games. I also will update you on other interesting developments and take a peak at the Top 25 polls that have been released and give you my comments. In a week or so, I will have my computer power ratings Top 25 which I will also release on Tuesday’s.

ALSO EVERY TUESDAY FOR THE FIRST 4 WEEKS I WILL BREAK DOWN THE NON-CONFERENCE FORECAST FOR THE SEASON (CLICK HERE). ONCE THE CONFERENCE GAMES BEGIN IN EARNEST I WILL HAVE THE PROJECTED STANDINGS FOR THE CONFERENCE GAMES.

The Wednesday Blog each week will be my Top 25 Forecasts for the week. Last week they went 20-3 including upset picks of Baylor over Wake Forest, Miami over Florida St and Idaho over New Mexico St.

The Thursday Blog each week will be my picks for top QB, RB, WR and defenses of the week. I will also have my upset pick of the week on there and have in depth writeups and list 4 or 5 honorable mentions in each category. I will also have Fantasy Football picks available from CFFinsiders.com.

The Friday Blog will be my forecast of EVERY FBS Coll Football game of the week. I will also have my computers projected score of each game & projected yards. I will also have my Plus Minus ratings forecast, the fan vote forecast & more.

The Saturday Blog will be my NFL SELECTIONS for the week with the computer forecasts on each. We will also have Josh Buchanan’s forecast of EVERY FCS game complete with my computer projected yards and points!

The Sunday Blog will be my computers picks for the top 25 team performances for the week.

The Monday Blog is the MEATY News and Notes which takes you behind just the final scores of the games and gives you interesting things you probably did not know about each game.

Before I get to the News & Notes let me review the Top 25 upset poll. The non-ranked team that most people chose (32%) to upset a ranked opponent was Notre Dame who dominated Nevada 35-0. There was 29% of you that agreed with me and picked Miami, Fl to pull the upset over Florida St which of course they did Monday Night.

Now, here is this Tuesday’s News & Notes:

I know Rutgers looked horrible on Monday. Their defense basically gave up a FD a play in the first half (or so it seemed). My pick of Rutgers to win the Big East looks like a joke right now. I will let you know that last year I was doing a radio show the week after Florida lost AT HOME to Ole Miss and fell to #12 in the polls. I was on a radio show and they asked me who I thought would win the National Title now that Florida had been “eliminated”. I said FLORIDA! They were startled but at the end of the season Florida won the title. I still think Rutgers will be 4-1 when they host Pitt and Rutgers will be off a bye with their true frosh QB having 4 starts under his belt while Pitt will be on a short week and traveling after playing a conference game the week before. I will stand behind my pick and remember in college football perceptions change in a very short period of time.

Now let's run down some of the notes I made while going thru the play by plays....

While OU QB Sam Bradford missed the 2H LW after getting injured he did play the entire 1H. BYU still had an impressive 245-164 yardage edge in that 1H with Oklahoma at full strength...

San Diego St had 7 FD’s in the 1Q and scored TD’s on their first two drives against UCLA and led 14-3 but had just 4 FD’s after that. They still played it much closer than the final. The key play may have come in the 4Q as SDSt trailed 26-14 and lined up for a 35 yard FG to get them within one score. UCLA not only blocked the FG, but they returned it for a TD (a ten point swing, 33-14). SDSt’s final 3 drives were SOD at the UCLA 40, intercepted at the 7 and intercepted at the 20...

Kansas St had a 273-122 yd edge at the half and was in complete control when they fumbled a punt at their 18 late 3Q. Massachusetts got a TD 4 pl later then blk’d a punt for a TD and stunningly with just 18 yards offense, turned it into a 21-17 game. K-State took over with 5:41 left and converted on 3rd & 5, 3rd & 12, 3rd & 2 and was able to run out the clock but in reality the game was not as close as the final...

Vanderbilt had a 33-4 FD edge and 621-115 yards vs W Carolina. Amazingly they only led 28-0 into the 4Q as VU fumbled into the EZ for a TB and missed a 43 yd FG in the 1H. They also missed a 32 yd FG in the 3Q...

Louisville had a 22-7 FD edge and 429-101 yd edge vs Indiana St but going through the play by play, they were never as dominant as those stats would indicate, only winning 30-10...

Yesterday I mentioned Arizona’s statistical dominance over Cent Mich with a 246 yds rushing and 202 passing while holding a potent CM offense to just 182 total yards. Ariz settled for 5 FG attempts (made 4) and ended the game with a 7 yd run to the on the CM 1 yard line when a TD would have made some of their fans very happy...

USF was not as impressive as the final score vs Wofford. WU runs a wingbone offense and did take their opening drive 68/12pl for a TD. The game was tied at 7 when WU had consecutive bad snaps on punts and USF drove 8 yds for a TD with :36 left in the 1H and got a safety with :01 left for 9 easy points. USF also scored 2 TD’s in the final 8:18 of the game as they led just 26-7 prior to that. WU did come in #10 in the FCS so USF’s win over them was the largest margin any team had vs a top 10 FCS squad...

One highlight you probably won’t see on ESPN happened in the Idaho/New Mexico St game. RB Princeton McCarty was on his way to a 68 yd TD run but tripped over his own feet at the 1 yd line. HC Akey did give him the ball on the next play and he got the TD...

Ariz St LB Mike Nixon had 3 int vs Idaho St including one he ret’d for a TD and K Thomas Weber tied a school rec with 5 FG’s. ASt had a 20-4 FD edge and 407-37 yd edge. Starting QB Danny Sullivan was pulled from the game with 9:14 left in the 3Q and a 26-0 lead and backup QB Brock Osweiler led the Sun Devils to 24 pts with his longest drives 59 & 55 yards...

Nixon wasn’t the only defensive player to get 3 int’s. North Dakota S Joel Schwenzfeier had 3 int’s off of Texas Tech QB Taylor Potts to tie a school record. Potts ended up hitting 34-48-405 yards connecting with 10 different receivers in their 38-13 win. Potts had 85 career attempts with just 2 int’s coming in and had his 3 int’s on 48 att’s here. Leach has said that Potts is better prepared in his first year than any of the QB’s that have taken over and he is his sixth starting QB...

Wyoming frosh S Shamiel Gary picked off 3 passes as they had a 5-1 turnover edge vs Weber St. Weber’s Cameron Higgins hit 32-51-322 but had 5 int’s...

Here’s an eye opening stat for Charleston Southern/Florida. At the half, CS had 206 yards and 12 FD’s against what could end up as being the best defense in college football this year. Urban Meyer did say “we played one defense or two defenses basically” saying the vanilla formations were meant to not give anything away to future opponents. Tim Tebow had 2 TD passes dropped but Florida did lead 42-3 at the half and played mostly backups in the 2H. Tebow’s last play came with 7:55 left 2Q and the Gators scored TD’s on 5 of his 6 poss...

S Illinois came in #7 in the FCS poll and led Marshall 14-7 at the half with a 163-141 yd edge. MU battled back to a 28-14 lead and were up 34-21 when they had a 4th & 1 at the SI9 with 3:35 to go. Had they punched that TD in they could have won by 18, but they were SOD. SI went 91/12pl getting a TD with 1:31 left to pull within 3 but MU rec’d the onside kick...

Not only did Southern Miss win 52-0, they ended the game with a 1st & gl at the 2 and took a knee 2x. Southern had a 631-171 yd edge vs Alcorn St...

Going through the play by play in the Nebraska/Florida Atlantic game, it was not quite the perceived 49-3 blowout. In fact, at the half FAU had an 11-9 FD edge and was only outgained 219-179. FAU had a 46 yd FG blk’d after a 10pl/42yd drive and went on a 71/11pl drive with backup QB VanCamp in but settled for a 21 yd FG after a 1st & goal at the 3. Nebraska got 28 and 51 yd TD passes and got a TD on 4th & goal at the 1. The Huskers did control the 2H with FAU int’d at the 14, SOD at the NU32 and 21 yd lines. They did finish tied with 18 FD’s...

Usually when a team plays a weak FCS foe they yards gained at the end of the game are by the “lesser” team. Kansas only led Northern Colorado 28-3 after 3Q’s with NC having 2 long drives end on a missed 25 yd FG and a made 29 yd FG. The Jayhawks scored 2 late TD’s, one with 4:38 left and then after rec’ing a fmbl with 2:29 left, tacked on a TD with :33 left to extend it to a 49-3 win...

Southern actually led Lafayette 12-7 after 1Q. In the game they were int’d in the EZ, int’d at the 6 and SOD at the 5 as Southern rolled up 380 yards offense (ULL did have 533)...

NW State went 3 & out on their first 4 poss and Houston scored TD’s on their first 5 drives of the season going 86, 63, 53, 58 and 98 yards with the drives consisting of just 5, 4, 3, 8 and 6 plays and led 35-0 early 2Q en route to a 55-7 win...

Army’s road win over E Michigan was impressive and they actually led 27-7 in the 4Q before EM got a garbage TD with 3:31 left. Army finished the game at the EM13 in their 13 point road win and had a 300-40 rushing edge...

After the 3rd drive of the 3Q Wisconsin had a FD at the NI30, led 28-6 and at this point had a 446-142 yd edge but missed the FG with12:13 left. N Illinois drove 76/9pl for a TD then after an int on the next play, converted on 3rd & 11, 3rd & 15 and 4th & 7 and got a TD with 2:47 left. NI then rec’d the onside kick and got to the Badger 37 but on 4th & 3 with 1:08 left their pass was incomplete. The Badgers, after their 2nd drive of the 3Q led 28-6 with a 391-130 yd edge...

Clemson led 30-7 at the half vs MTSt with MTSt not crossing midfield and their only TD coming on a 68 yd FR TD. Willy Korn lost the starting QB job to Kyle Parker and in his first series, had the fumble which was ret’d 68 yards. His 2nd series of the game came in the 3Q and he was int’d on the 2nd play. He did later come in with 2:17 left and guided CU 56 yds to the MT17 where they took a knee. In the 4Q MT was SOD at the CU38, 5 and 24...

Washington St played a good game vs Stanford as they went on a 75/19pl drive but settled for and missed a 19 yd FG in the 1Q and took their opening drive 80/8pl for a TD in the 3Q to pull within 22-10 and at this point the yards were 254-249. SU got an 88 yd KR for a TD and later converted on 4th & 3 setting up a 30 yd FG to lead 32-13. With 5:21 left, they went for it on 4th & 2 at the WSU40 and Gerhart had a 48 yd TD run to ice the game...

A look at LA Tech/Auburn statistically shows domination as Auburn had 301 yards rushing, 255 passing for a 556-245 yd edge. It’s a game that was closer than the final. LT went on a 93/18pl drive trailing 10-7. Instead of taking the lead, they settled for a 20 yd FG with just :23 left in the half, 10-10. After the squib kick, Auburn got 2 plays and a 49 yd FG to lead 13-10 at the half. The 2nd key play happened when Auburn, on 3rd & 5 from its own 7 got a school record 93 yd TD pass to lead 20-10. With the score 23-13 in the 4Q, Auburn got a 17 yd TD pass on 3rd & gl from the 17, 30-13 (12:45) then after a 29 yd punt drove 65 yards in 13pl for the clinching TD with 5:27 left...

Sanford played UCF very well, in fact they had a 304-271 yd edge and led 24-21 in the 4Q. After a 39 yd PR UCF started at the SU32 and after a pers foul on 3rd & 9 they got a 9 yd TD pass to take the lead and escape with a 4 pt win...

The Mississippi/Memphis game was much closer than the final score. Ole Miss had a 349-284 yd edge and actually only led 24-14 with 9:09 left. Ole Miss drove 69/7pl for a TD then after a fumble, got a 1pl/17yd TD pass to McCluster, 38-14. Memphis from its 48 went for it on 4th & 10 and was called for intentional grounding then Ole Miss on 3rd & 18 handed off to Davis who rushed 29 yds for a TD with just :06 left...