Week 3 Top 25 Team Performances

Week 3 News and Notes

Rutgers moved its record to 6-1 in Big East meetings vs USF winning the Thursday night game and becoming a major player in the Big East chase. USF settled for a pair of FG’s early then were SOD on 4&1 at theRU28 and were also int’d at their RU23 and RU got a 51 yd FG to only trail 6-3 at the half. USF fmbl’d the punt at its own 37, was int’d at their own 30 setting up a RU TD, had a 2nd & gl at the 5 but was int’d in the EZ, and were SOD at their own 42.

Florida St absolutely dominated Wake Forest with a 612-126 yard edge and the majority of Wake Forest’s yards came on a 34 yd run on their 2nd drive and a 41 yd pass that was originally ruled incomplete. At the half FSU led 38-0 with a 357-70 yd edge and RB Chris Thompson showed great speed with 197 yards on just 9 carries including 74 and 80 yd TD runs. FSU went through the motions in the 2H in their 52-0 shutout win.

Duke Johnson continues to impress with Miami, Fl and had 4 td’s vs Bethune-Cookman scoring on 3 different ways. He had a 95 yard KR td, td runs of 28 and 1 yards and a 50 yd td catch. UM actually trailed 7-0 early and it was 7-7 with 6:00 left in the 1H but the Hurricanes would slowly pull away getting a td with 3:56 left to put them up by 28 which came after B-C faked a punt from their own 26. UM only had a 426-355 yd edge.

Dayne Crist hit 19-39-303 yds for Kansas but Casey Pachall was much more efficient hitting 24-30-335 for TCU. Crist threw an int on the first play from scrimmage. KU still made a game of it vs TCU in fact, they only had a 214-166 yard deficit at the half and trailed 7-6 before TCU got a 37 yd FG with :04 left in the half. Trailing 20-6 Kansas was SOD at the TCU36 on 4&10 and their last poss they drove 90/11pl but Cryst fmbl’d going into the EZ and TCU rec’d for a tb with 1:16 left.

Nebraska sat Rex Burkhead for the 2nd straight game and HC Bo Pelini, who had the flu, missed the 2H. DC John Papuchis led the lead on the field for the 3Q and was the acting HC. Nebraska came out in the 3-4 alignment rather than its normal 4-3 and held Arkansas St to 286 yards and probably could have won more than the 42-13 final as it was 28-3 at half and they fumbled into their own EZ for an ASU td then on the next drive, fmbl’d at the ASU23, then fmbl’d the punt at their own 15 setting up an ASU FG. Their final drive got to the ASU1 but they fumbled with :39 left in the impressive win.

Virginia Tech had won 13 straight road games, the longest standing streak in the country but Pitt put that to an end. Tino Sunseri, whose had a less than storied career, hit 19-28-283 yds vs what was thought to be one of Bud Foster’s best D’s yet. There is nothing fluky about the final as Pitt had a 27-14 FD edge and 537-324 yd edge and they have a 2-headed monster at TB as Ray Graham rushed for 94 yards on 24 carries and true frosh Rushel Shell (PS#4) added 157 on 23 carries with the two chipping in another 32 yards in receiving. Pitt even missed a 35 yard FG at the end of an 8pl drive and missed a 33 yd FG at the end of a 9pl drive in the 1H. It was VT’s largest halftime deficit since 2007.

Purdue ran for 392 yards vs E Michigan and may have vaulted itself into the favorites role for the Big Ten Title game. PU blk’d a punt to set up one td in the 1H but gave up a 26 yd IR td and only led 13-6. PU got a 51 yd TD pass with 5:20 left in the half, an 87 yard td run with 2:01 left in the half then after an int drove 33/6pl for a td with :09 left in the half, taking a close 13-9 game into a 33-9 lead at the half. PU did have a 321-116 yd edge.

It seemed liked the last one with the ball would win between Northern Illinois and Army. Army did finish with a 30-19 FD edge and their triple option offense had three 100 yard rushers in Raymond Maples (159) Larry Dixon (136) and Trent Steelman (116). While Army trailed by as much as 13, they battled back to lead after 3Q’s. NI got a 3&10, 81 yd td pass to retake the lead but Army, after a NI fumble got a 15 yd td run by Steelman to go up 40-35. The key play for NI happened when down 5, on 3&12 they got a 28 yd pass to the Army 19 and they got a td with 4:29 left. Army on 4&4 was SOD at the NI44 with 1:52 left.

Connecticut was fired up to face their former HC Edsall who left them. Amazingly the game had 45 points despite the two teams producing a combined 428 yards with UC having a slight 223-205 yar edge. UC got a 58 yd PR td for one score and after a 32 yd punt drove 36 yds for another td and led 14-7 at the half. They added a 6 yard drive for a 34 yd FG after recovering a fumble and it was 24-21 and Maryland got to the CU32 but on 4&17 fired incomplete with :17 left. Perry Hills hit just 10-24-109 while Chandler Whitmer hit 10-16-68.

Auburn was trying to avoid their first 0-3 start since 1950 and for ULM it was almost deja vu all over again. Last week ULM was down 28-7 when they shocked Arkansas and vs Auburn they trailed 28-14 into the 4Q. AU had their chance to put the game away. Leading 28-14 AU’s Blakley on FD from the 20, ran 50 yds down the sideline heading to the EZ but fumbled and ULM recovered at the 5. Two poss later, AU was int’d at the ULM30 and ULM went 59/9pl and 65/9pl for td’s, the latter with 1:18 left to force OT and missed a FG to start OT and AU was able to escape.

Minnesota’s MarQueis Gray was injured against W Michigan with the score 10-7 late 2Q. Max Shortell came off the bench and hit 10-17-188 and in the key play of the game on 3&18 hit a 53 yd td pass with :30 left in the half to give the Gophers a 20-10 lead. WM missed a 42 yd FG in the 3Q and down 28-23, got to midfield but on 4&18 gained just 16 yards with a great tackle by Minnesota.

Oregon continued their pattern of getting up big then letting up late. At the half vs Tenn Tech UO had a 381-48 yd edge. They only led 35-7 because TT recovered a punt at the UO23 and got a 23 yd pass on the next play to jump out to a 7-0 lead. The Ducks scored td’s on their first two 3Q poss to go up 49-7 but “only” won by 49 points, which disappointed some of their backers. UO finished with a 652-177 yard edge and 28-12 FD edge. Bryan Bennett got to lead 6 Duck drives in the 2H with 1 int, 3 punts and td drives of 52 and 65 yards.

It was actually a tough loss for Cal as they missed 3 FG’s and had a td called back on penalty. The key play of the game was when Brendan Bigelow looked like he was tackled for a 3 yd loss then it looked like a 2 yard gain but he spun, put his arm down, stayed balanced and raced 81 yards for a td in the 3Q to get Cal back in a game as they had trailed 20-7. Bigelow then had 16 and 59 yd runs on the next drive. OSU’s offense had just 25 yards and 0 FD’s on 14 plays in the 3Q. After Cal had tied it with 8:10 left, Cal missed a 42 yd FG with 4:20 left and Miller hit a 72 yd td pass with 3:26 to put OSU ahead. Cal was int’d at the OSU38 with 1:08 left and actually finished with a 512-412 yd edge and 22-14 FD edge.

I’ve got to hand it to this Penn St football team. They had two tough losses to open but Coach Bill O’Brien has this team playing hard every week and they absolutely dominated Navy 34-7. Navy did have a 371-341 yd edge and their QB Trey Miller had both feet heavily taped due to an ankle injury. He was even walking with a limp. He hit just 6-13-22 and ran the ball 18x for 21 yards. Navy was int’d at the PSU10, SOD at the PSU29, SOD at the PSU25, fumbled and PSU got a 74 yd FR td to make it 34-0. Navy was also SOD at the PSU6.

Iowa’s leading rusher vs Northern Iowa was Mark Weisman, an Air Force transfer, who is 6’0” 225 and was the #1 FB at the end of August. He rushed for 113 yards on 24 carries vs Northern Iowa. IU did have 11 and 12 play drives but settled for 24 and 19 yd FG’s and were also SOD at the 1 yard line with 2:51 left, up 27-16 in their lackluster win over a decent Panther team.

Denard Robinson who last week actually had more total yards than Michigan had as a team, put up 397 yards of total offense and 3 TD’s in Michigan’s rout over Massachusetts. Ironically, UMass top RB Michael Cox is a Michigan transfer and he rushed for 76 yards on 18 carries. Just two years ago UMass almost upset Michigan at home. Eight different players scored for Mich in the 63-13 rout and they had a 585-259 yd edge.

Akron showed a lot last week vs FIU piling up 411 yards vs a good D on the road. I expected them to blow out Morgan St and that they did. They actually amassed 43 FD’s and 753 yards in their blowout win! QB Dalton Williams hit 37-48-146 and tied a Zip record with 5 td passes and the 66-6 final is not a fluke over the overmatched FCS foe.

Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel did great in the 1H vs Florida and now, only taking on SMU’s D, Manziel let his talent shine threw. He hit 20-36-294 while rushing for 124. It was SMU’s most lopsided home loss since 2002 (Okla St 52-6). Texas A&M even suspended RB Christine Michael and S Steven Campbell just before the KO. It was 7-0 when Manziel got a 48 yd td run to go up 13-0 with 3:26 left in the half and they would make it 20-0 at the half with a 317-109 yd edge. The Aggies scored td’s on their first 4 poss of the 2H to blow it open, 48-3.

Georgia Tech had not topped 50 points in an ACC game since 2000 but playing with revenge vs Virginia, they did just that. Last year UVA ruined their perfect season as they came into that game 6-0. UVA had a bye the week prior. This year UVA did not have a bye and GT had a 594-297 yard edge. UVA QB Michael Rocco was benched for Phillip Sims. Sims had an off performance the previous week but directed two 4Q drives with the game out of reach hitting 6-8-56, perhaps opening up a QB controversy. The score was 49-7 when GT fumbled the punt at their 28 and Sims on 4&3 hit a 25 yd td pass. Then trailing 56-14, Sims directed them 75/12pl and they got a garbage 14 yd td pass on the last play of the game.

Arkansas would have had to play a perfect game to stay with Alabama but had a couple of key plays go against them early. Bama on their first 3 poss did not even get a FD while Arkansas had a drive to the Bama22 but 2 key plays put them in a hole. They had a high snap over the P’s head and Bama took over at the 6 and got a td run, then Arkansas had a 41 yd FG hit the upright. Arkansas recovered a punt at the Bama20 but it was ruled that the progress was stopped by the PR so Bama got the ball. Amazingly, Brandon Allen, as a senior in HS had a 38-0 ratio, threw an int in the 2Q setting up a Bama td and then another int was ret’d 46 yds to the 3 setting up Bama’s 2nd short td and it was 24-0 at the half. An amazing stat is the fact that Bama only had a 9-7 FD edge at the half and Arkansas sort of gave up in the 2H as Bama controlled matters, 52-0.

Louisville was on its way to an absolute blowout of North Carolina. It was 36-7 at the half. UNC slowly chipped away and when they blocked a punt and drove 4 yards for a td they got within 11. UNC then got a 50 yd td pass Morris to pull within 39-34 then UL actually fumbled the KO at their own 23 and UNC recovered. With a great chance at winning the game and a 1st & gl at the 9, UNC’s 4th & 4 pass into the EZ was dropped and UL escaped.

Northwestern had 34 FD’s and Boston College had 22. NU had 560 yards offense and BC 316 but the story was each team went on long drives all game long and settled for FG’s. NU went on a 12pl drive for a 40 yd FG, a 10 pl drive for a 21 yd FG, a 12 play drive for a 29 yd FG, a 9 play drive for a FG and a 15 play drive but fumbled at the BC5. BC went on a 12pl drive for a 22 yd FG and a 95 yard drive and all that came before the half. In the 2H BC went on a 9pl drive but fmbl’d at the NU4. NU went on a 93/19pl drive but settled for a 19 yd FG. BC went on a 9pl drive for a 34 yd FG. NU went on a 12pl drive but took a sack and punted. NU actually ran 100 plays in the game with 60 rushes and 40 passes. Both teams need work in the redzone.

Syracuse had won 29 straight game vs current FCS members but Stony Brook came in #16 in the FCS poll. They threw a scare into Syracuse as SB led 17-14 at the half and Syr didn’t get comfortable until getting a td with 5:53 left to put them up by 11. Syr did have a 549-311 yd edge.

UCF dominated FIU in the 1H leading 23-0 with a 249-26 yd edge but didn’t play with the same intensity in the 2H and only came away with a 33-20 win. FIU gained 280 yards in the 2H.

NC State had a 22-14 FD edge and led 31-0 but S Alabama drove 72/4pl and got an 8 yd TD pass with 5:20 left which disappointed some Wolfpack faithful who were hoping for a shutout at that point.

Furman and Clemson are just 30 miles apart. Sammy Watkins returned to the lineup for CU and had 52 yards on 4 rec’s and also a sparkling 58 yd td run. Clemson only led 20-7 at the half then after a Furman int drove 14/5pl for a td. During the game, Furman was SOD at the CU35 and 20 yd lines and also on 4&gl from the 3, was int’d in the EZ for a TB. CU won going away 41-7 even with Florida St on deck.

Seth Doege hit 27-35-340 basically playing a half vs New Mexico as they had 449 yards and a 42-14 lead. Texas Tech scored 3 td’s in 2:59 with NM having just 1 snap in that span. NM had a 98 yd KR with 2:06 left in the half to pull within 28-14. TT went 79/7pl getting a td with :34 left then rec’d a sky kick on the KO and got an 11 yd td with :05 left in the half. TT opened the 3Q with a 71/6pl drive for a td with 12:35 left, their 3rd td in 2:59 and took a 28-14 game to a 49-14 blowout.

Western Illinois came in 2-0 but their wins were vs a Div II team and Butler who is a nonscholarhsip FCS program. Iowa St dominated with a 27-8 FD and 504-178 yd edge. They led 31-0 when WI avoided the shutout with a FG in the 4Q.

Middle Tennessee/Memphis was not as big a blowout as the score would indicate. Memphis led 10-7 when MT settled for a 19 yd FG to tie it at 10. MEM then fumbled the KO and MT got a 43 yd FG. MT then got a 68 yd IR td for a 20-10 lead then after a fumble with 3:22 left, drove 13 yds for another TD, 27-10. MEM fumbled the opening KO of the 3Q and MT drove 39/9pl for a td and jumped out to a 41-17 lead in the 3Q. Mem did get a td with 1:29 left on a 50 yd drive and MT finished with a 439-399 yard edge and 27-23 FD edge.

Tulsa RB Ja’Terian Douglas rushed for 163 yards and 2 td’s on just 5 carries with 67 and 73 yd td runs. TU had 479 yards at half and a 479-271 yd edge vs Nicholls St. They went through the motions in the 2H with just 87 total yards.

Georgia piled up a school record 713 yards vs Florida Atlantic but this game was actually 14-14 in the 2Q with UGA having a hangover after their effort vs Missouri. They also sat down LB Jarvis Jones and 2 of their def starters due to the foe. Both of UGA’s frosh RB’s topped 100 yards with Todd Gurley (111) and Keith Marshall (104).

Dan McCarney used a ball control offense which held the ball for 37:04 vs Kansas St and KSU came in averaging over 300 yards rushing per game and North Texas held them to 143. It was 7-7 when KSU got a td with 2:24 left for a 14-7 lead in the half and NT had a 174-142 yd edge. NT went 88/14pl for a td, to only trail 14-13 at this point and had a 262-142 yd edge. KSU then went 77,75 and 64 yds on drives for td’s and a 35-13 lead before NT got a td with 2:31 left.

Mississippi St got off to their first 3-0 start since 1999 and have now won 13 consecutive non-conf games. Chad Bumphis had 3 td receptions, the first MSU player to do so since 1969 (Sammy Milner vs Florida). Troy was pumped up as they had a school record 29,013 fans for the rare SEC opponent and Troy finished with a 572-457 yd edge and Troy led 7-3 but fumbled a punt setting up a MSU 40 yd TD. They fumbled at the MSU28 and was int’d at the MSU5, int’d at the MSU42 and missed a 26 yd FG at the end of a 74/15pl drive in the half so they trailed 23-7 at half despite a 322-225 yd edge. They did get as close as 23-21 but MSU26 got 2 FD then went for it on 4&2 at the Troy30 and converted They went for it again on 4&5 and got a 25 yd TD pass to Bumphis to go up by 2 scores. Troy got a 40 yd FG with 4:07 left and MSU was able to get 2 FD’s and run out the clock.

Washington had 45 points in the 1H vs Portland St which tied the school record for most points in any half. They did get a blk’d FG and int for td’s and PSU fired their DC during the week and HC Nigel Burton who is a former Washington safety, took over the play calling duties. UW, off that 41-3 loss to LSU, onside kicked on the first play of the game and rec’d which set up a short TD and they led 45-0 at the half and coasted.

W Virginia scored td’s on their first 4 poss in dominating fashion vs James Madison in a game played in Washington Redskins Stadium. WV had a 348-79 yd edge at the half and JM got a 20 yd td run with :49 left to “only” lose by 30.

Marshall had their chances to beat Ohio. They took their first 2 poss 75/12pl and 85/10pl for td’s, 14-0. OU scored a td and a FG then went on a 96/13pl drive and got a td with :39 left to lead 17-14 at the half. MU led 24-17 when OU on 4&5 got a 27 yd td pass with 10:43 left to tie. MU was driving for the game winning score when they fumbled and OU not only scooped it up but ret’d it 48 yds to the MU31 with 4:46 left. OU got 1 FD and kicked a 38 yd FG for the lead with 1:37 left. MU went 48/7pl but on 2&10 from the OU27 was int’d at the 15 and OU held on. MU had a 491-399 yd edge.

LSU only led Idaho 21-14 when they got a 7 yd td pass with :30 left for a 28-14 lead. LSU still finished with a 472-213 yd edge. Dominique Blackman hit 23-36-174 had 4 int, 2 of which were ret’d for td’s and LSU scored 35 points in the 2H.

The temp at KO was 97? for the San Diego St/North Dakota game, which was the hottest it had been for a SDSt home game since 1984. The Aztecs went for it on 4&9 at the ND29 with 1:52 left leading by only 8 and fired incomplete but ND was sk’d on 3&10 and gained 16 yds on 4&17 and was SOD in the Aztecs 49-41 win.