Daily Blog - September 14th

Every Saturday I have 12 TV's in front of me watching college games all day and night long. On Saturday night and into Sunday morning I go through the play by plays of about half the games and also read the game recaps for the games I cannot get thru the play by play. I give you interesting notes from what I have discovered by watching the games, or doing the reading, every Monday in my news and notes.

Once this is published on Monday I still have about 30 play by plays to go thru and have them all wrapped up by Tuesday. On Tuesday I give you the rest of the hidden information from this past weekends games and I will also have
the Projected Non conference standings for the next 2 weeks and then shift it to the Projected Conference standings the rest of the season. Don't forget on Wednesday I give you my projections on all games involving Top 25 teams.

Here are my Monday News and notes....

NEWS AND NOTES - It was a tough loss for Clemson vs Georgia Tech. The announcers on ESPN talked about an unstoppable GT offense as they jumped out to a 21-0 lead after 1Q. That unstoppable offense had a total of 1 FD in earning those 21 pts. They got an 82 yd TD run, an 85 yd PR when CU’s K faked a FG and punted instead. Later with GT facing a 4th & 13, it looked like they would try a FG but their K threw for a TD and they led 21-0. After GT took a 24-0 lead, CU dominated. They had a 319-91 yd edge from the 10:29 point of the 2Q to the 11:33 of the 3Q and led 27-24. After GT got a 34 yd FG, CU had a 38 yd pass to the 16 wiped out by a very questionable hold and punted and GT got the game winning FG with :51 left...

Penn St led Syracuse 28-0 when they brought in backup QB Newsome in with 5:43 left and had the ball at their own 32. Newsome, on 2nd down fmbl and SU recovered it back at the 16 and got a TD pass on the next play to make it 28-7. PSU ended the game at the SU 11...

Northwestern had a commanding 21-0 lead early 2Q vs E Michigan after a 70 yd IR TD. NW fumbled at their own 12 late 2Q to set up EM for a 33 yd FG. Each team went on a long drive to open the 3Q with EM getting a TD but NW settling for a 20 yd FG. NW fumbled a punt at their 36 setting up EM TD and then up 24-17 was int at the 6 with 7:04 left. EM then drove 79/9pl for the tying TD. NU got to the EM25 but after a hold and pass interference they faced a 1&35 but on 3&17 banged home a 49 yd FG for the win...

Florida actually punted twice and fumbled twice on their first 5 series vs Troy but after the Trojans lined up for a 37 yd FG and dropped the snap the rest of the game was all Gators as they scored TD’s on 6 of their next 7 poss with the other ending at the end of the half at the Troy. Tebow left this one with 6:44 left in the 3Q...

Pitt’s offense was good as they finished with 381 yards, but not 54 points good. Pitt got a 1pl, 23 yd TD pass after Buffalo fumbled a KO and had a 14 yd TD drive after rec a fmbl. In the 2H they got a 50 yd FR TD then an 85 yd TD run. Their final TD came after a 15 yd IR on a 2 yd drive. Surprisingly, UB amassed 510 yards in the game...

Indiana had a 249-96 yd edge in the 1H but W Michigan battled back and trailing 23-17 drove 72/11pl and got a 1st & gl at the 5 but fmbl’d and Indy ret’d it to the 24 with 1:20 left. After Indy took an intentional safety (:23), WM got to the 29 on a hook-n-ladder play that had an illegal forward pass...

BC almost got their 2nd straight shutout. BC led 34-0 when Kent St took over with 8:06 left. At that point KSU had just 114 yds offense but they went 65/13pl and got a 4 yd TD pass with 2:03 left...

There were major questions about Nebraska’s inexperience at QB heading into the year but Zac Lee has answered them. Against Arkansas St last week he hit 27-35-340 yd and 4 TD’s...

Two weeks ago VT had just 155 yards total offense vs Alabama but they surpassed that in the 1Q vs Marshall. At the half VT had a 345-139 yd edge and they had two 100 yard rushers for the first time since 2005 with true frosh David Wilson rushing for 165 and rFr Ryan Williams rushing for 164...

Louisiana Tech opened with a 74/10pl TD drive and 4pl later got an 85 yd PR TD by Phillip Livas and led 14-0. LT would have just 96 for the rest of the game combined and Navy led 18-14 at the half with a 189-116 yd edge and got ahead of the spread with 10:31 left with a TD and added another with 5:50 left and ended the game at the LT 22 yd line with a 393-167 yd edge...

Georgia/South Carolina were both off low scoring games and playing in a low scoring series. In fact, the winner of their series had not topped 20 pts in 7 of the last 8 years. Amazingly the two teams combined for 78 points. UGA did lead big, 38-23 but SC rallied to pull within 1 after a 35 yd IR early 4Q but the xp was blk’d so UGA led by 1. UGA got a 42 yd FG then SC got to the UGA7 but their pass into the EZ was batted into the air and incomplete...

The stunning part of the Texas/Wyoming game was that WY blk’d a punt for a TD with 1:32 left in the half and led 10-6. UT went 70/6pl for a TD with :24 left in the half and had a 237-99 yd edge as they led 13-10 and scored TD’s on 3 of their four 2H poss. WY gained 57 yds on the final drive of the game while trailing 41-10...

SMU led UAB 28-7 at the half and nearly blew the lead. UAB got an 80 yd WR reverse for a TD and a 30 yd FR TD after an int but they had an xp blk’d and at the end of the game, trailing by 2, had their 2 pt stuffed with :13 left...

An interesting fact is that it took over 6Q’s for WKU to finally force a punt. After not having forced one vs Tenn or in the 1H vs USF with 8:11 left in the 3Q, USF got an incomplete pass on 3rd & 4 and punted. WKU actually trailed 21-13 after 3Q’s but then gave up TD’s on USF’s first two 4Q drives in their 22 pt loss...

Kansas dominated UTEP last week as they had 26-7 FD and 576-208 yd edges but did only lead 3-0 after 1Q before rallying to an easy 34-7 win. On the last play of the game, Kan did get a 55 yd run by backup QB Pick down to the 10...

The Pac 10 was 3-16 when travelling to SEC schools since 1980 but UCLA managed to pull the upset in Knoxville. The game was tied at 10 at half and UCLA got 3 short drives for 3 FG’s to lead 19-10. UT went on 17 and 13pl drives but settled for a 28 yd FG and was SOD at the 2 and their final drive was SOD on 4th & 7 at their own 41...

Hawaii won a road game over a team from a BCS conf for the first time in 7 tries. While the FD were even (22) UH had a 626-403 yd edge and led 35-0 in the 2Q vs Washington St. WSU did have 5 TO’s in the 1H...

USC got their 10th straight win over a Big Ten team and Ohio St dropped its 6th in a row vs a Top 5 team but the Bucks played an excellent game. USC needed a TD with 1:05 left to pull out the win and their final drive included conversions of 3rd & 9, 4th & 1 and 4th & 1. At the end of the 1Q OSU had a 138-6 yd edge, was tied at 7 and the rest of the game USC had a 307-127 yd edge...

Tough loss last week if you had Stanford +3. SU dominated the 1H and should have been up by more as they had a 274-146 yd edge. Wake Forest rallied and was setting up for the game winning FG which would have given them the Push. They went for it on 3rd & gl at the 1 with :02 left and QB Skinner was ruled in the EZ for a TD although replay looked like he was short. The FG would not have been a gimme as WF K Popham was struggling to get his xp over the crossbar...

Wisconsin had 40 players sick with the flu during the week and almost were upset by Fresno St. Kevin Goessling who had 3 crucial missed FG’s last year vs UW, hit a game tying 40 yarder with :20 left to force OT but an int on the first play in the 2OT set up UW for the win. FSU appeared on their way to the upset but leading 21-17 when Goessling missed a 45 yd FG and UW got a 72 yd TD run by Clay. FSU’s previous 2 drives ended with an int at the 36 and an int at the 24 and FSU did have 24-19 FD and 468-413 yd edges...

CM had a 195-159 yd edge at the half vs Michigan St and finished with 418-316 yd and 27-17 FD edges. The Chips got the apparent tying TD with :32 left but went for 2 and was ruled OOB. They then rec the onside kick and missed the game winning 47 yd FG but offsides gave them another shot and a 42 yd’r squeezed inside the upright for their 2nd straight upset of a Big Ten team...

UNLV appeared on their way to the outright upset leading Oregon St 21-20 but the Beavers got a 33 yd FG with :07 left to escape with the win...

San Jose St was tied with Utah 7-7 in the 4Q but then a short pass went 51 yd for a TD to Brooks. The Utes, leading 21-14 added a 25 yd FG with :13 left to keep alive the nation’s longest winning streak..

Purdue outplayed Oregon for most of the game and finished with 451-356 yd and 24-17 FD edges but a failed 2 pt conv to end the game and had them fall 2 points short. PU RB Ralph Bolden, who had 234 yds in the opener, rushed for 123 on 29 carries. Without RB Blount, UO’s leading rusher was QB Masoli (84) while LaMichael James had 56 yards on 9 carries....

Kansas St led Louisiana 15-14 and UL had just 2 FD the entire 2H but QB Masson completed 4 passes for 30 yds on the final drive and UL got a 48 yd FG with :32 left to pull out the upset...

After looking so impressive in the opener, Missouri’s 27 points were the fewest in a victory since 2005 after trailing Bowling Green 20-6 midway thru the 3Q. Surprisingly vs a BG D that lost all 4 DL starters from LY, Missouri had their first scoreless 1Q at home since 2004 but managed to win.

FCS MATCHUPS - Russell Wilson bounced back from a tough effort vs S Carolina throwing 4 TD passes and hitting 15 of 21 for 228 yds vs overmatched Murray St. NCSt had 133 yd vs SC but put up 484...

Maryland led James Madison 21-6 in the 2Q but JMU scored 22 straight points to lead 28-21in the 4Q. MD tied it with 9:51 left and then in OT, JMU missed a 41 yd FG and MD nailed a 26 yarder for the win. JMU had a 268-123 rushing edge despite MD having a 19-12 FD edge...

Arizona won their 4th straight game for the first time since 2000 but only led N Arizona 14-10 in the 2Q. For the 2nd straight week, UA had a dominating stat edge but it didn’t show on the scoreboard as the Wildcats outgained NA 559-216 but only won by 17. NA, trailing 34-10, got a garbage TD late 4Q...

ULM outrushed Texas Southern 345-6 in their 58-0 win...

N Illinois actually had a 3 game losing streak vs W Illinois dating back to 1996 but rolled to a 41-7 win. NI only had a 20-16 FD edge but did have a 395-223 yd edge...

Ball St lost the majority of their O-line, their star QB and their coach and continued to struggle. MiQuale Lewis, their lone returning star, had just 21 yards on 14 carries vs New Hampshire and BS had just 9 FD’s in the 23-16 upset loss...

San Diego St led Southern Utah 35-9 in the 4Q before giving up a couple of late scores...

New Mexico St led Priarie View 21-3 in the 4Q but gave up a TD with 6:03 left and another with 3:01 left and only won by 3, 21-18...

One of my favorite theories is the Injury System which says teams give a fired up effort one week after losing a star player. Such was the case for Oklahoma. One week after losing QB Bradford and TE Gresham the D held Idaho St to 6 FD and 57 total yds. OU rolled up 29 FD and 566 yds and new QB Landry Jones hit 18 of 32 for 286 in their 64-0 win.

STADIUM DEBUTS - Minnesota got a win in their new home stadium but Air Force did have 24-14 FD and 386-326 yd edges. The Flyboys were SOD on 4th & 1 at the UM9 early 3Q but still led 10-3 after 3Q’s. UM would drive for a TD then Nate Tripplett who had 17 tackles, got a 52 yd FR TD and the Gophers went on to a 20-13 win...Akron won their first game in their new stadium 41-0 over overmatched Morgan St. It was AU’s first shutout since 1992 and the Zips had 23-3 FD and 436-127 yd edges.

POINTS LEFT OFF THE BOARD - LSU had a little trouble in the redzone vs Vanderbilt as they settled for FG’s of 27, 22 and 25 yards. They ended the game at the VU17. LSU had 22-12 FD and 326-210 yd edges but only won by 14.

SHORT WEEK HANGOVER - There were 8 teams that played last Sunday and Monday. Two had byes and 5 of the teams that did play, struggled...

Weber St had a 25-12 FD edge vs Colorado St and 316-306 yd edge. They missed an xp in the 2Q which didn’t seem crucial at the time, but proved to be. WS led 20-17 at the half and 23-17 after 3Q’s. WS had the ball, up by 6 and was int at the 26 and Colorado St drove 56/4pl for a TD with 8:31 left for the lead. WS went 70/17pl but on 3rd & 8 fmbl’d the snap and CSU rec at their 10 with :42 left to escape...

Rutgers had 4 TD’s in the 1H but just one of a drive of more than 2pl. The Knights led 52-7 at the half vs overmatched Howard with a 341-161 yd edge but in the 2H with their backups in, managed just a 30 yd FG and a missed 30 yd FG...

Granted, Jacksonville St’s QB is ex-LSU Tiger Ryan Perrilloux (PS#1) but Florida St trailed JSt 9-7 in the 4Q and after taking a 12-9 lead, needed a 33 yd FR TD to pull out a 19-9 win. FSU has not lost to an FCS school since 1969 but clearly showed a hangover after playing on Monday...

Cincinnati was the only team that did not suffer a hangover as they overwhelmed SE Missouri St. The Bearcats offense piled up 578 yds in a 70-3 win despite playing on just 4 days rest...

Memphis, after playing on Sunday, had to travel to face a fired up Middle Tenn team and MTSt had an 18-13 FD edge and 436-219 yd edge in their dominating 31-14 win. The game was actually 31-7 before MEM punched in a TD with 1:47 left.

TRUE FROSH QB? NO PROBLEM! - There were some big penalties and replays that hurt the Irish. Notre Dame moved the ball at will in the 1H with a 302-167 yd edge but only led 20-17. They missed a 28 yd FG on their opening drive and then had a 41 yd TD pass called back when replay showed the rec stepped out at the 22 and they settled for a 34 yd FG. Leading 17-14 the Irish got a FD to the 9 but it was wiped out by an illegal shift and they settled for a 42 yd FG and only led 20-17 at the half. ND fmbl at their own 26 setting up a UM TD and then the Irish had a 71 yd pass to the UM10 wiped out by a hold. UM got a TD on 4th & 3 when true frosh QB Forcier raced 31 yds up the middle for a TD. The Irish got 2 TD’s making one 2 pt conversion and missing another and leading 34-31. ND forced a punt with 3:07 left but Clausen fired a deep pass and then with WR Floyd inj, their backup WR took the wrong turn and another pass fell incomplete leaving UM with 2 time-outs and 2:13 left. Forcier took them 57/9pl a TD with :11 left for the win. True frosh Forcier was indeed impressive hitting 23-33-240 yd and rushing for 70.

SITUATIONAL EDGES / LETDOWN LOOKAHEAD - BYU was in a tremendous flat spot last week coming off their big upset of Oklahoma and had everyone talking about National Championship hopes with Florida St on deck. It showed early as they led just 3-0 after 1Q and it was 6-3 with 6:03 left in the 2Q. BYU woke up and scored TD’s on 7 of their next 8 poss and in the blink of an eye led 54-3 with 8:15 to go in the game and they took a knee on their final series. BYU finished with 35-9 FD and 527-162 yd edges...

Houston got their first win over a Top 5 team since they upset #3 Texas in 1984. UH has now won 3 in a row vs ranked foes after beating #23 EC and #24 Tulsa last year. Oklahoma St was coming off of their biggest opening win in program history after beating Georgia and appearing in the Top 5 for the first time since 1985. UH only led 10-7 when they got a TD with 1:37 left in the half then rec a surprise onside kick and went 62/6pl for a TD to lead 24-7 at the half with a 322-194 yd edge. OSU would get 2 long drives and an 80 yd PR and took the lead late 3Q (28-24) and led 35-31 with 11:22 left. UH had a 4th & gl from the 7 batted in air but it was caught for a TD. Later, trailing by 10, OSU had a 4th & gl from the 8 batted in the air and it fell harmlessly and the Cougars pulled the upset by 10...

Alabama was off their statistically dominating win over Virg Tech and only led FIU 20-14 at half and 26-13 after 3Q’s. Bama did finish with a 26-13 FD edge and 516-214 yd edge and finished the game at the FIU15...

Boise St showed no letdown or lookahead coming off of their big win over Oregon on Thurs with a huge game vs Fresno St on Friday night on deck. They usually do not show any flat spots on the blue turf however as LW's 48-0 shutout of Miami, Oh proved...

Tulsa was off a conf road win over Tulane and had a big game vs Oklahoma on deck and it did not matter. Tulsa rolled up 489-181 yd and 22-6 FD edges in their 44-10 win over New Mexico.

INJURIES OF NOTE - Connecticut had a 129-65 yd edge at the half vs N Carolina. They led 10-0 after 3Q’s but did lose starting QB Fazer to injury. NC went 78/13pl for a 22 yd FG with 10:56 left then went 76/13pl to get the tying TD with 2:36 left. UC had the ball at their 21 when a sk forced a 3rd & 23 from their 8 and they got a 22 yd pass but holding in the EZ was called and NC got the game winning safety. UC rec’d the onside free kick but only got to midfield...

With Juice Williams inj'd Eddie McGee QB’d vs Illinois St and hit 13-17-164 yd while rushing for 49 in a lackluster 45-17 win. Illinois also sat out MLB Martez Wilson, WR Benn and had 3 other suspended starters...

N Texas appeared on their way to a win over Ohio but QB Riley Dodge was inj’d and Nathan Tune hit just 9 of 15 for 69 yds with an int. A 69 yd IR TD gave Ohio a 20-17 lead and NT got to the 1 but settled for an 18 yd FG. The Mean Green lost in OT when OU went for 2 pt in the 2OT and converted. Despite the final being 31-30, OU had just 232 yds offense and NT just 301.

MISLEADING FINAL SCORES - TCU was in complete control vs Virginia allowing just 5 FD’s and 63 yds offense when they kicked the FG with 4:38 left to lead 30-0. UVA on 3rd & 10 got a 56 yd TD pass and then after a 35 yd PR got a 26/1pl TD pass to stunningly score 14 points and on their final 3 poss, they gained 106 yards...

The Duke/Army game was a misleading final. Both offenses struggled and both teams ended the game led by their backup QB's. After 3Q’s Duke led 14-13 thanks to a 19 yd TD drive after a fumble. Duke got a 72 yd TD drive early 3Q for a 21-13 lead. On 4th & 10 with just 1:48 left in the game Army QB Williams was int'd and ret’d 51 yd for a TD. On the next play, Duke added a 33 yd IR TD off of Williams with 1:32 left and Army then went 82/11pl and got a garbage TD on the last play of the game for 3 TD’s in the last 1:48...

California was not as dominant as their final vs E Washington. At the half EW had a 193-192 yd edge but Cal had scoring drives of 35, 3 (after 45 yd FR) and 38 yds (after EW SOD at their 38). Cal scored on their last 3 poss of the game incl taking over with 4:34 left and driving 74/9pl with their 3rd string QB for a TD with :18 left...

Last week Southern Miss had a 23-11 FD edge and 409-94 yd edge but only led 20-13 with 12:18 left. They got a TD with 1:53 left but fmbl’d a punt early 4Q and UCF got a 50 yd FG to pull within 7. SM had a 66 yd TD pass called back and punted with 7:27 left and they went 49/9pl for a TD and then went for 2 pts and the ATS push but were stuffed and UCF ret’d the ensuing KO 85 yd for a TD with 1:22 for the 26-19 final...

WV dominated E Carolina more than the 35-20 score would indicate. They had 25-13 FD and 509-237 yd edges even ending the game at the EC11. Two of EC scores were set up by fumbled punts as EC rec’d one with :51 left 1H and got a TD with :11 left and prior to that rec one at the WV6 and settled for a 23 yd FG. EC also had 26 yd TD drive after a 38 yd PR. WV was int at the 5 and then WV QB Brown, who had a career high 24-31-334 yds, missed a man open in the EZ on 3rd & 3.

THREE INTERCEPTIONS AGAIN - Last week we noted that there were 3 players that each recorded 3 int during the week. Iowa’s Tyler Sash tied a school record making 3 of Iowa’s 5 int vs Iowa St. Iowa dropped out of the Top 25 after a close win over N Iowa the previous week and had 24-15 FD and 426-303 yd edges. Iowa had not won at Iowa St since 2003 but rolled to a 35-3 win.