Daily Blog • September 5, 2010

Welcome to my Sunday Blog. During the offseason I had just one weekend blog but each week during the season I will take a look at the Top 25 performances from the just completed week with a little analysis as well as a quick review of the past weekend. On Monday I will give you my News & Notes where I delve deeper into every game that was played this past weekend, breaking down individual drives and giving you misleading finals and other interesting tidbits.

As far as my game grades go after the 2008 season was completed I devised a power ratings system, which lets me analyze at what level each team played during an individual game. This “game grade” takes into account the yards rushing, yards passing, points scored, rushing yards allowed, passing yards allowed and points allowed and factors them in against the opponent played and even factors in the site the game was played at.

With all these factors taken into consideration you will see teams that lost the game having a better individual game grade than teams that beat them simply because the team they played was superior and much less was expected of them.

Top 25 Performances of the Week So Far

Rk
Tm
FOE
Off Rush
Off Pass
Off Pts
Def Rush
Def Pass
Def Pts
TO's
Ttl Yd Diff
Gm Grade
1
OREGON New Mexico
392
359
72
39
80
0
4
632
117.7
2
ARIZONA AT Toledo
105
413
41
80
103
2
1
335
100.9
3
TCU AT Oregon St
278
176
30
90
180
21
-2
184
100.1
4
OHIO ST Marshall
280
249
45
44
155
7
3
330
98.7
5
MISS ST Memphis
197
372
49
41
196
7
1
332
95.7
6
CALIFORNIA UC DAVIS
230
287
52
14
67
3
0
436
94.6
7
ALABAMA San Jose St
268
310
48
84
92
3
0
402
94.3
8
UTAH ST AT Oklahoma
97
340
24
198
215
31
-1
24
93.2
9
GEORGIA Louisiana
184
193
55
14
114
7
2
249
91.3
10
N CAROLINA AT LSU
23
410
24
176
157
30
1
100
90.7
11
MICHIGAN Connecticut
287
186
30
138
205
10
1
130
89.7
12
TENNESSEE UT MARTIN
332
205
50
56
86
0
0
395
89.1
13
OKLAHOMA ST Washington St
291
253
65
112
212
17
2
220
88.8
14
WISCONSIN AT UNLV
278
197
41
110
105
21
-1
260
88.6
15
Utah Pittsburgh
122
283
27
82
184
24
-1
139
87.7
16
Fresno St Cincinnati
49
247
28
15
219
14
0
62
87.2
17
S CAROLINA S Mississippi
224
225
41
67
337
13
1
45
86.6
17
Hawaii USC
129
459
36
146
277
49
1
165
86.6
19
SYRACUSE AT Akron
202
229
29
55
111
3
-3
265
86.1
20
MISSOURI AT Illinois
98
281
23
200
81
13
3
98
85.8
21
STANFORD SACRAMENTO
213
316
52
54
113
17
-1
362
84.7
22
TEXAS AT Rice
196
172
34
89
131
17
1
148
84.6
23
FLORIDA ST SAMFORD
185
296
59
77
223
6
-1
181
84.4
24
BYU Washington
146
262
23
128
266
17
0
14
84.2
25
ARIZONA ST PORTLAND ST
242
311
54
54
209
9
2
290
84.1
25
AUBURN Arkansas St
367
241
52
43
323
26
-2
242
84.1

1. Despite breaking in a new QB and last year’s top RB LaMichael James being suspended for the game, the Ducks easily had the top performance of the week rolling up a 751-119 yd advantage and scoring 72 points against an overmatched New Mexico team.

2. Arizona used last year’s Holiday Bowl defeat as motivation all offseason and roared to a great start with a 518-183 yd edge over a Toledo team that beat Colorado in the same spot a year ago.

3. TCU only won by 9 over Oregon St but dominated the stat sheet with 454-270 yd edge over Oregon St. A couple of TO’s by the Frogs cost them a chance to win the game by a much larger margin.

4. Ohio St started their quest to make it to a 4th national title game in the last 9 years with a dominating win over Marshall. The Bucks were balanced offensively with 280 yards rushing and 249 yds passing and the defense limited the Herd to just 199 yds.

5. Miss St used two different QB’s effectively in their 49-7 trouncing of Memphis and gained 569 yards. The Bulldog D was so dominant that it did not even give up a 3rd down conversion until late in the 4th quarter.

6. California had a 331-32 yd edge at the half and cruised from their in their 52-3 win over FCS UC Davis.

7. No Ingram, no Dareus, no problem for the defending national champs as the Crimson Tide rolled San Jose St 48-3 and had a 578-176 yd edge.

8. Despite playing without their leading receiver and rusher from a year ago Utah St was still able to gain 437 yds against the Sooners and nearly pulled off the monumental upset in the 31-24 loss.

9. Georgia was playing without All-American WR AJ Green but still rolled up 55 points and limited Louisiana to just 128 total yards.

10. North Carolina HC Butch Davis did an outstanding job getting his depleted Tar Heels ready for a big game against LSU as North Carolina had a 433-333 yd edge and nearly pulled out a big comeback win in the 2nd half.