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Troy/FIU was a misleading 42-33 final as the Panthers managed to score 17 of their points in the final 1:10 of the 1H and on the final play of the game. Troy jumped out to a 28-10 lead but FIU got a 49 yard 6 play drive for a TD with 1:10 left in the half then after a fumble got a 22 yard FG with :08 left to cut it to 28-20 at halftime. Troy led 42-20 after 3Q’s. FIU got a TD with 6:03 left to cut it to 15. Their last gasp appeared to end when on 4th & goal from the 6 they fired incomplete but Troy on 4th & 12 took a knee on its own 2 with :04 left and FIU got a 2 yard TD pass with no time remaining to only lose by 9.

San Jose St made a game of it against Fresno St early even leading 14-7 after the 1Q. After San Jose St missed a 42 yard FG with the score tied at 14, Fresno got 2 TD’s and a FG in the final 5:21 of the half to lead 31-14 with a 310-159 1H yard edge. FSU was up 41-14 when they punted with 1:01 left and San Jose St got a 59 yd TD pass with :09 left to “only” lose by 20.

A look at the score shows a dominating 35-15 Utah win over UNLV but the Utes were fortunate. UNLV actually had a 23-14 FD edge and the yards were even at 327. UNLV blew a ton of chances and also set up Utah for some easy scores. After a Utah fmbl UNLV had a 1st & goal at the 3 but settled for a 21 yard FG. UNLV went on a 71/10pl drive and once again had a 1st & gl but this time a holding penalty brought back a 5 yd run and they settled for a 26 yard FG and trailed 7-6 mid-2Q. Utah got a 51 yard drive for a TD but then returned an interception 31 yards to the 8 and got a TD 2 plays later to lead 21-6. UNLV was driving to get back within a score but Clayton was intercepted. The return was fumbled and Johnson picked it up and raced 64 yards for a Utah TD and it was 28-6 with 1:11 left in the 1H. UNLV got to the Utah 21 with :07 left when the Utes called time out. The Rebels threw one more incomplete pass but amazingly the clock ran out on them and they didn’t even get a FG. UNLV trailed by 22 points at the half despite having a 186-154 yard edge! UNLV went on an 8 play drive for a TD to open the 3Q but missed the 2 point conversion, 28-12. After a Utah 3 & out the Rebels went on a 55/10 pl drive but settled for a 37 yard FG. UNLV had a 1st & goal at the 7 but faked a FG and it fell incomplete from the 13. Utah went 87/7 pl for a TD to make some of their fans happy as they went up by 20 with 12:55 left. UNLV had a couple more chances. They went 79/9 pl but on 4th & goal from the 2 their pass fell incomplete. UNLV punted on their last drive with 3:07 left.

It took UCF 21 offensive possessions to score a point on Miami’s defense as last year both of their TD’s came on defensive and special teams scores. This year UCF missed a 32 yard FG on its first drive (65 yards, 12 plays). Miami went 80 yards in 8 plays and 35 yards in 9 plays for a TD and FG and led 10-0 at the half. Miami went 51 yards in 3 plays for a TD to open the 3Q, but UCF went 80 yards in 9 plays and finally got an offensive score with a TD, 17-7 (9:18). Miami’s P fumbled the snap and kicked the ball out of bounds at the 2 but UCF was intercepted on 3rd & goal at the 6. Miami drove for a 46 yard FG and led 20-7 after 3Q’s then went 61 yards in 9 plays for a TD to go up by 20 with 10:46 left. Miami went on a 12 play drive eating up nearly 8:00 punting with :48 left and finished with 28-11 FD and 363-229 yard edges.
Arizona St and Washington both went on a long TD drives to open the game. Two possessions later ASU got a 65/4pl drive for a TD and led 14-7. Each went on a long drive but UW was intercepted at the 1 and ASU fumbled into the EZ for a touchback. UW went on a 50/16pl drive but missed a 48 yard FG on the 2Q’s final play. ASU missed a 41 yard FG early 3Q. ASU drove 87/7pl for a 24 yard FG and UW drove 72/7pl for a 23 yard TD run and led 17-14 after 3Q’s. ASU drove 38/9pl but missed a 40 yard FG with 6:56 left and UW drove 67/8pl for a 29 yard FG to tie it with 3:50 left. On 3rd & 1 UW passed incomplete and punted with :13 left and ASU returned it 9 yards. Apparently headed for overtime, ASU threw a deep pass which was caught for a 50 yard TD for the win with :05 left.

Alabama got a 77 yard IR TD early in the game but the Tide also settled for a 25 yard FG, fumbled at the South Carolina 44 and missed a 49 yard FG. They led 13-6 at the half with a 207-119 yard edge. SC missed a 50 yd FG early 4Q and after SC punted with 7:55 left, Mark Ingram took over. He got every touch on the next drive running six times for 68 yards including his 4 yard TD run with 4:54 left, 20-6. SC went 71 yards in 14 plays but was SOD at the 4.

Stanford had some big leads against Arizona. After a 19 yard TD pass, they led 28-13 with 3:04 left in the 2Q. UA drove 89 yards in 12 plays for a TD with :18 left. At the half Stanford had a 315-235 yard edge and led by 8. Stanford led 38-29 when they missed a 36 yard FG which would have put them up by 11 with 12:42 left. Arizona struck quickly getting a 43 yard TD run with 10:06 left to pull within 2. UA fumbled at their own 27 but Stanford dropped a FD pass on 4th & 2 with 5:27 left. Arizona got 1 FD and then on 3rd & 17 Grigsby got a 57 yard TD run to give Arizona the lead, 43-38. Stanford got to the Arizona 12 but on 4th& 10 fired incomplete.

Virginia Tech led 3-0 with 3:54 left in the half. Georgia Tech would complete just 1 of 7 passes in the game but got a 51 yard pass to Thomas down to the VT12 which set up a TD with :32 left 2Q to make it 7-3 GT. At the half VT had a 130-108 yard edge and GT had only 57 yards rushing in the first 2Q’s. GT scored 2 TD’s on their first 3 possessions of the 2nd half to lead 21-10 but fumbled at the VT20. VT drove 77 yards in 6 plays for a TD with 4:52 left, 21-16. GT faced a 3rd & 7 when they got a 39 yard TD run with 3:00 left to make it 28-16. VT went 61 yards in 5 plays for a TD with 1:48 left but GT recovered the onside kick.

Despite being forced to start true frosh QB Dantin due to the injury to Aaron Opelt, Toledo was in control in the 1H vs Northern Illinois as they had a 204-57 yard edge and led the game 14-0. It could have been worse but Toledo fumbled at the NI10. NI drove for a TD with 1:27 left in the half and UT missed a 50 yard FG and the Rockets led 14-6. After NI went on a 13 play drive for a TD, Toledo fumbled at the NI21. A Toledo interception at their own 12 set up NI for a 2 play drive for a TD and NI led 19-14. The Huskies had an xp blocked after their first TD and missed the 2 point conversion after scoring their 3rd TD. UT drove 90/10pl for a TD to make it 20-19 (2ptng) with 7:03 left. Toledo punted with 2:43 left and NI got a 4th & 13, 21 yard FD pass out to their 43 and a 28 yard pass to the UT29 but a 42 yard FG was blocked with :44 left as the Rockets hung on.

North Texas/Florida Atlantic was a wild one. NT led early 2Q 19-7 (2 missed xp’s for the Mean Green) but FAU scored the next 30 points to lead 37-19 after the Owls took their first drive of the 3Q 75/9pl for a TD. FAU punted on their next 2 possessions and were SOD at the NT35 with 12:06 left and NT went 65 yards in 2 plays for a TD to take the lead, 40-37. NT was SOD at the FAU29 with 8:06 left and FAU drove 71 yards in 7 plays for a TD with 4:55 left for the lead. NT got 1 FD but was SOD at their own 39 and FAU ran out the clock.

Missouri/Oklahoma St was closer than the final. In fact, at half Missouri had a 323-224 yard edge. During the game, Missouri went on a 78/14pl drive but settled for a 21 yard FG and they were SOD at the OSU 34, 21 and 10 yard lines on three separate drives. OSU got a 26 yard IR TD mid2Q and scored a TD with :02 left in the half to actually lead 24-17. For the game Missouri had a 393-351 yard edge but OSU did lead 33-17 almost the entire 4Q.

Normally when a game is on TV, I immediately pick up on a misleading final. The Maryland/Virginia game was on in the upper left-hand corner TV set, the one I pay the least amount of attention to but I’m still surprised that this one slipped through the cracks. I just looked at the play-by-play and Maryland had 17-9 FD and 284-201 yard edges despite losing 20-9. It was a game of blown opportunities and bad breaks for the Terps. In the 2Q Maryland held Virginia to -3 yards on 19 plays. They did fumble at the Virginia 25 in the 1Q and would have a 4-1 turnover deficit in this game. Maryland was SOD on 4th & 2 at the Virginia 40 but led 6-3 at the half settling for FG’s of 48 and 30 yards on a game played on a cold, drizzly day. Maryland drove 53 yards in 8 plays but settled for a 29 yard FG and led 9-3. After Virginia got a 31 yard FG, Maryland was intercepted and returned 32 yards for a TD. Maryland then drove 45 yards in 12 plays and 42 yards in 11 plays but missed 37 and 44 yard FG’s and still trailed by 4. They went for it on 4th & 17 from their own 2 with 1:47 left and were stopped and UVA punched in a TD on the next play. UVA totalled 2 yards of offense on their 2 TD drives.