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NEWS AND NOTES[/b] - There has not been a #1 vs #2 matchup in the regular season since 1996 when Florida met Florida St...Connecticut RB Terry Caulley rushed for 95 yards and is now just 17 yards short of becoming UC’s all-time leading rusher (Wilbur Gilliard ‘92-’95)...Ball St was able to sign a rare VHT QB in Nate Davis (PS#35). Despite the presence of a solid veteran QB like Joey Lynch, Davis saw plenty of action in the opener vs E Michigan and threw 3 TD passes hitting 7 of 8 for 108 yards. He has a good shot of taking over the starting job at the MAC school...Kent appeared to have a 65 yard TD pass but LB Reese of Minnesota knocked the ball out of his hands from behind at the 1 and then was able to recover in the EZ. Later Kent went on a 15 play drive and had a 1st & goal at the 1 but settled for a 20 yd FG and missed and trailed 17-0 at the half. In the 2H they turned the ball over on their first 5 poss and UM got 4 TD’s off the turnovers and rolled to a 44-0 win...Arizona St did not lead N Arizona until getting a 35 yard int return for a TD on the first play of the 4Q. They would add 59 and 91 yard drives, the latter with 3:25 left to escape with a 35-14 win over a IAA team...It looks like Mack Brown made the correct choice at QB using Colt McCoy. McCoy led five 1H drives and 4 resulted in TD’s and also guided two 2H TD drives while Jevan Snead had just 1 TD in 3 drives and that was a 29 yard drive following a rec’d fmbl...Iowa only led 17-7 with 6:44 left in the 3Q but scored on their final 4 drives of the game including a 40 yard, 7 play drive when they took over with 3:43 left and got a TD with just :06 left in the game instead of taking a knee on 1st & goal at the 1. Montana recorded its lowest point total vs a Div I opponent since 1982 and is led by Wash St transfer QB Josh Swogger and Iowa St RB Greg Coleman...Last year The Citadel had 4 FD’s and 81 yards vs Ole Miss and 5 FD’s and 91 yards vs Florida St but topped those totals combined with 173 yards in the first HALF vs Texas A&M but still came up short in a 35-3 loss with the Aggies getting 1 & 12 yd drives for TD’s after TO’s in the 1H...Louisiana-Lft is just a one hour drive from the LSU campus but amazingly had played for just the 2nd time since 1928 after being shut out for 10 straight years by LSU in games dating back to 1924. They booted a FG in the 2Q vs the Tigers to break that shutout streak. JaMarcus Russell won the LSU starting QB job in Aug and hit 13 of 17 for 253...Rutgers RB Ray Rice rushed for 201 yards. RU did lead N Carolina 21-10 but NC finished with a 403-362 yd edge. In the 1H RU fmbl’d at the UNC 11 but in the 2H, UNC was SOD at the 1 and their final drive, down by 5, got to the RU 29 but they were int’d with 1:52 left...Northwestern last year avg’d 500+ ypg behind Brett Basanez who left as the school’s career leading passer. It took a while for NW’s offense to get rolling and his replacement, Mike Kafka was just 7 of 11 for 26 yards in the 1H but a blk’d punt for a TD ignited NW and they did have 69 and 80 yd drives for TD’s on their next 2 poss in a 21-3 road win dedicated to former HC Randy Walker...John L. Smith is the career win leader at Idaho and was an asst under Dennis Erickson there back in the 1980’s. Perhaps he took it easy on his former school as Michigan St led just 24-17 with 9:51 left. Smith was 53-21 at Idaho in his 6 seasons and the Spartans didn’t clinch it until a 22 yd FG with :30 left to go up 27-17...Ohio St’s 2004 defense was loaded with talent, many of whom were selected in the 2006 NFL draft. It was also young with just 4 returning starters and in the first three Big 10 games allowed 33, 28 and 33 points. This year OSU has an even younger D (9 new starters) and against N Illinois they allowed Garrett Wolfe to rush for 171 yards and have another 114 in rec and this week will be their first major test...Rice did almost all of their damage vs Houston in the 2Q. For the game Rice compiled just 304 yards but trailing 14-0 after 1Q, the Owls went on 77, 45 and 45 yd drives for TD’s and also got an 80 yd TD rec by Smith. Beside the 183 yards in the 2Q and just 100 yards in the other 3Q’s combined...Nebraska only led LT 15-10 with 2:36 left in the 1H but drove 78 yds in 12 plays for a TD with :06 left. They added 72, 67, 64 and 49 yd drives for TD’s in the 2H finishing with a 584-305 yd edge...Penn St has our #1 rated LB corps in the country. Joe Paterno, realizing that was a strength of the team, switched the team from its familiar 4-3 and often employed a 3-4 vs Akron. Akron nearly got the backdoor cover as trailing 34-9 with 6:28 left, they drove 65 yds in 10 plays for a garbage TD with 2:45 left. After a punt they worked to the PSU 38 yd line but ran out of time...Sylvester Croom took the blame for Miss St’s first shutout loss in the season opener since 1967. Trailing 6-0 early in the 4Q Croom opted to go for it on 4th & 1 at the SC 46 and they lost 1 yard. On the very next play, SC got a 54 yd TD pass on a trick play from Newton to Boyd and SC would go on to a 15-0 win. SC had zero yds rushing on 14 att’s in the first 2Q’s and keep in mind the Bulldogs had a top 35 defense last year. Miss St used frosh QB Tray Rutland for a good portion of the game and while he showed potential he hit just 6 of 15 passes with 2 int and the Bulldogs had 161 total yds offense...The Rocky Hinds era got off to a good start for UNLV. QB Hinds, a USC transfer, hit 24 of 42 for 322 yds and WR Ryan Wolfe set a UNLV frosh record with 160 yds receiving. UNLV did have 506 yds offense but also had a 67 yd fmbl return for a TD and 12 yd blk’d punt for a TD...Washington had their smallest home crowd since 1981 (52,256). They were up comfortably over San Jose St but allowed a TD with 2:03 left to get the Spartans back within one score before rec’ing the onside kick. SJSt QB Adam Tafralis hit 28 of 35 passes for 323 yds vs what must be labeled a questionable UW secondary. The Huskies had 265 yds and 13 FD’s in the 1H and 468 for the game...Wyoming did have a 31-5 FD edge vs Utah St but were only leading 17-7 in the 4Q. A short pass turned into a 51 yd TD when RB Holden broke a tackle, they added a 20 yd IR for a TD and after another TO, another short TD blew the game open 38-7 in a matter of 5:00...Texas Tech WR Jarrett Hicks DNP vs SMU and may be gone for the year (acad). For the first time in Coach Leach’s tenure at Tech, he has a VHT QB in Graham Harrell. In Harrell’s first game he hit 34 of 49 passes for 349 yds vs SMU. Tech got the frontdoor cover with a TD with 6:33 left and Leach is known for throwing the ball late in the 4Q. Tech finally replaced its Astroturf surface with new Field Turf...Bobby Reid had 2 TD passes LY but had 4 in the opener as Oklahoma St blasted Missouri St, 52-10. Our power ratings had the Cowboys as a 42 pt fav. Reid hit just 8 of 17 but for 165 yds...
STREAK ENDERS - Tennessee had been 0-6 vs Top 10 teams in Neyland Stadium since 2000 but absolutely dominated Cal in the opener. UT opened as a 2.5 fav but the line moved to Cal -3. Eric Ainge, who we said would be the most improved QB in the country this year, looked like it in the opener hitting 11 of 17 for 291 yards. UT piled up a 260-86 yd edge and led the game 35-0 with Cal even getting a 97 yd drive for a garbage TD with :09 left.
GUTSY CALL - Last year Pete Carroll went for it on 4th & 1 when a FG would have tied the game and was rewarded with a TD. Charlie Weis was rewarded with an equally gutsy call. Trailing 10-0 and being outplayed, the Irish took over with 4:45 left and had only 40 yards offense for the game. They went 80 yards in 14 plays but on 2nd & goal from the 7, he called a QB draw by Brady Quinn. Had Quinn been tackled prior to the goal line, it would have been with :11 left and they may not have been able to get off another play and would have been shutout at the half. As it was, Quinn burst into the EZ and ND took the momentum to only trail 10-7. The Irish finished the game with 384 yards offense and escaped GT with a 14-10 win.
TURNOVERS MAKE A DIFFERENCE - It is extremely rare for a team with a -5 TO deficit to win a football game and while Arkansas did not have to play the perfect game vs USC, they could not afford to have such a big deficit. USC’s first 3 scoring drives vs Arkansas were 28 & 3 yards (after fmbl’s) and 28 yards and they led 13-0. Ark went on an 80 yd, 13 play drive and scored a TD with 2:23 left in the half but USC, against the prevent, got a 44 yd FG and led 16-7. The Hogs turned it over twice more in the 2H setting up 28 and 31 yd drives for TD’s and USC rolled to a 50-14 win...Utah came up -3 in TO’s vs UCLA. The 1H was basically even as Utah had a 208-206 yd edge. The big turning point came after Utah’s QB Ratliff led them to an 80 yd TD drive to tie it at 7. Kyle Whittingham inserted Oklahoma transfer Grady into the lineup and he threw an int which was ret’d 28 yards for a TD by frosh Verner. It was the Bruins first IR TD by a frosh since 1989. That helped the Bruins lead 19-10. In the 2H, Utah bobbled the snap on a 37 yd FG and did not get the kick off and UCLA in the 96˚ heat had 72, 44 and 68 yd drives to blow it open with Utah turning it over on their final 2 poss...It’s not often a team has a 4-1 TO deficit and wins but the Sooners accomplished that. OU’s new QB Paul Thompson hit 8 of his first 10 passes including a 47 yd TD pass for a quick 7-0 lead but Thompson had a pass bounce off his WR with 3:35 left in the half and they were int’d at the 10. On the next drive, Thompson was int’d at the 3 on a badly thrown ball stopping a second TD drive for the Sooners. After Peterson ran the ball on the first 11 plays of the 2H, OU got a TD to lead 14-7 but Peterson would fmbl the Sooners 4th TO of the game and they only won by 7...Pitt dominated the 1H vs Virginia with a 256-86 yd edge but an int with 1:00 left in the half on a poorly thrown ball, set up the Cavs for a 13 yd drive for a TD and Pitt only led 17-10. The TO gods were more than kind to Pitt in the 2H as they had 19 and 78 yd IR for TD’s, the latter with 3:34 left in a 38-13 blowout win.
UNUSUAL YPP’s - The normal ypp for an offense in college football is roughly 15.0 or for every 15 yds for every point a team scores. There were some unusual games this past weekend ypp-wise. Bowling Green QB Freddie Barnes was supposed to be a 1 game substitute as starter Anthony Turner was susp for the opener. Barnes rushed for 158 yards, a school record for a QB and his 21 yd TD run put BG up 7-0. Wisconsin did get a blocked punt for a TD and despite BG’s D holding the Badgers to 321 yards, they allowed 35 points and the ypp was 9.17. The Badgers had a 17 yd drive for a TD with :17 left in the 2Q after a long PR. Barnes hit 12 of 19 for 82 yards passing...Georgia’s Mikey Henderson had an apparent 64 yd PR for a TD but he started to celebrate early and dropped the ball through the EZ for a TB. He atoned for that with a 67 yd PR for a TD on the next series. UGA accumulated 48 pts but had just 295 yds offense and the QB controversy is on. Five of UGA’s scoring drives started in WK territory including 18 and 27 yarders. Joe Tereshinski hit just 7 of 17 for 90 yards while Matthew Stafford came off the bench hitting 3 of 5 for 40 including a 65 yd TD drive. UGA’s ypp was an amazingly low 6.14!...New Mexico St piled up 515 yds offense but only scored 30 pts (17.2 ypp). By comparison, UGA and UW combined for 621 yds and had 83 pts...UTEP only had 243 yds offense by 34 pts (7.14 ppg). The Miners actually missed 3 FG’s early but UTEP rec’d a fmbl for a TD...The Ohio Bobcats scored 29 pts vs Tenn Martin including a 35 yd fmbl ret for a TD and a safety and amazingly had just 144 yds (4.96 ypp!).
INJURIES OF NOTE - Clemson LB Anthony Waters, who was their leading tackler in 2005, suffered a sprained knee in the 3Q vs Florida Atlantic and his status for this week is in doubt...Oregon RB Jonathan Stewart, of whom Bellotti expects great things from this season, inj’d his right ankle in the 3Q and did not return. In just 2.5Q’s of work, Stewart was living up to Belotti’s advanced billing by rushing for 168 yards and 2 TD’s...Benjamin Mauk, Wake Forest’s starting QB, was taken off the field on a stretcher with a broken right arm vs Syracuse. Backup Riley Skinner hit 1 of 1 for 13 yds in his place. WF did have a 363-136 yd edge but did not cover.
NCAA RULE CHANGES - One change to speed up games this year is the clock stops after a change of poss. Some coaches have been slow to adjust to it. In the Rhode Island/Connecticut game, RI blk’d a punt and rec’d it at the UC 37 with :11 left in the half. Amazingly, they did not get a play off as the clock starts after the ball is spotted and the game went to the half.
HEISMAN WATCH - Troy Smith hit 18 of 25 passes for 297 yards and 3 TD’s. One concern for Buckeye Heisman watchers is that the votes may be split between Smith and Ted Ginn Jr. Ginn Jr. had 4 catches for 123 yards and 2 TD’s and returned 4 kicks for 69 yards...Kenny Irons rushed for 183 yds for Auburn and we still feel they will run the table this year and go unbeaten, which would make him a Heisman contender.
OVERTIME SKEWS SCORING NUMBERS - One of the strengths of our Power Plays System is that is eliminates OT yds and points as well as garbage yds and points at the end of a blowout. To use an example of the strength of Power Plays, we look at the Toledo/Iowa St game this past week. At the end of regulation, UT and ISU had combined for a 23-23 final. Due to the fact that in OT, a team is given the ball 25 yds away from the EZ and this one went 3 OT’s, the teams piled up nearly as many pts in OT as they did in regulation. We are sure some newsletters later in the year will be spouting on about this matchup having strong offenses and weak defenses due to the high ppg but as mentioned, it was only 23-23 at the end of regulation and you can probably get some value on Under in games in future weeks.
MISLEADING FINALS, FRONTDOOR AND BACKDOOR COVERS - Florida actually trailed S Miss 7-0 until the last play of the 1Q when they tied it and only led 14-7 at the half. SM trailed 21-7 when they were int’d and ret’d 25 yards to the 11. The Gators got a TD but failed on the 2 pt conversion which would have put them ahead of the spread with 14:25 left. SM drove to the UF 14 but were SOD on 4th & 14 with 8:47 left and Leak led the Gators to an 82 yd, 7 play drive for the frontdoor cover with 6:20 left. The Gators kept the backdoor closed when SM was SOD on 4th & 5 at the Gator 19 with 1:16 left...A pointspread play of the week came in Navy/E Carolina game. Although the Midshipmen had 403 yards rushing and EC had 359 yards total offense, the Total was only 51’. Navy did miss a 37 yd FG in the 1H and fmbl’d at the EC 20 yd line on FD in the 3Q. EC got a TD with 4:57 left to make it 28-23. EC went for the 2 point conversion and got it to seemingly put the game Over. However, it was ruled that the receiver had stepped OOB so the 2 pt conv was ruled no good leaving the game at 51 pts. Navy drove to the EC 14 yd line where they took a knee.
IAA HANDICAPPING - We pointed out last year not to overreact to losses or poor performances vs IAA teams. IAA foes tend to get far more “up” for the games than do their IAA opponents. Colorado had never played a IAA team and had there been a line on the game, the Buffs would have likely been a 35 point favorite on Montana St. It was not the type of debut Dan Hawkins would like. Montana St outgained CU 288-216 and prevailed 19-10. James Cox, who struggled in the bowl, hit just 8 of 22 for 110 yards as the Buffs starting QB...If there was a line on the game New Mexico would have been a 17 pt fav over IAA Portland St. NM had 21-13 FD and 339-223 yd edges and led 6-0 at the half. NM was SOD on 4th & 1 at midfield and Portland St drove for a TD to lead 10-6. PSU clinched it after NM fmbl’d the punt at their own 29 and the Vikings added a TD for the stunning upset...Purdue found very little motivation for Indiana St, a team that had avg’d just 17.5 ppg in 2005. They only led the Sycamores 26-21 at the half but dominated the 2H pulling away to a 60-28 lead before allowing a drive for a garbage TD with just :02 left on the clock and the 60-35 final...Maryland led William & Mary 24-7 at the half and 27-7 after 3Q’s allowing a late 49 yd TD pass for what seems an unimpressive win over W&M but they went through the motions in the 2H...No team suffered more attrition in the offseason than USF (see Season Ending Injuries at philsteele.com). McNeese St actually led USF 10-7 at the half in a game USF would have been a 28 pt fav in. Starting QB Julmiste was injured and Matt Grothe came off the bench to hit 9 of 13 for 171 yards guiding USF to 34 pts in the 2H. Moise Plancher, their starting RB, was also injured in the game...Villanova actually outgained UCF 322-304 but missed 2 FG’s, were SOD and had a costly int in a 35-16 loss. UCF did lead 28-7 at the half...Illini fans are excited about Isiah “Juice” Williams (PS#11) and he took the team on a 12 play, 61 yd march in the 2Q for a TD but also fmbl’d at his own 33 on the next poss and hit 2 of 4 for 25 yds off the bench with 26 yds rushing...Kansas St would have been 17 pt favorite over Illinois St but trailed 17-16 with 8:25 to go. They got a 9 yd fmbl ret for a TD to take the lead but allowed Ill St to drive for a TD. Ill St opted to go for the win but their 2 pt conv was stopped with 3:02 left. K-St, despite being outgained 346-207, pulled out a 1 point win in Ron Prince’s first game as HC. K-St did not get their first FD until late in the 1Q...2005’s IAA champ, Appalachian St gave NC State a good game but came up short 23-10 and their offense managed just 6 FD’s and 133 yds...Duke lost to a Div IAA team for the first time in 9 games (since 1978) and appear headed for a winless season. They lost their starting QB over the summer and ex WR Marcus Jones started and hit 2 of 6 passes for 11 yards. Duke went to true frosh Thaddeus Lewis (PS#71) and he hit 15 of 24 for 148 yds but the Spiders won a season opener for the first time since 2000 and shutout the Blue Devils 13-0.
DIFFERENT SITUATION DIFFERENT RESULTS - Sometimes looking at a past score or even stats can be misleading. An example, last year we had a 4H Small College Play on Army minus the pts over Ark St at home. As expected, Army romped 38-10. Some of the reasons for that selection was that Army was playing in its home finale, the game was played in chilly weather vs a team from the south and Ark St had a huge game on deck which would determine whether or not they got to a bowl and win the SBC Title. The Army game meant nothing to them and it showed. This was Ark St’s home opener and Army was actually a road fav in the game but Ark St dominated this year despite the fact Army returned 16 starters. Ark St had a 321-165 yd edge...John Parker Wilson who is replacing Brodie Croyle looked good for Alabama hitting 16 of 29 for 253 yds. Colt Brennan, who should lead the NCAA in passing this year, threw for 350 yds vs a rebuilding Alabama defense. Keep in mind last year in the bowl game we had a 4H on Alabama because they had perhaps the top defense in the country and that stop unit held a potent Tech offense to 329 TOTAL yds, this year they have just 4 starters back.
STREAK ENDERS - Tennessee had been 0-6 vs Top 10 teams in Neyland Stadium since 2000 but absolutely dominated Cal in the opener. UT opened as a 2.5 fav but the line moved to Cal -3. Eric Ainge, who we said would be the most improved QB in the country this year, looked like it in the opener hitting 11 of 17 for 291 yards. UT piled up a 260-86 yd edge and led the game 35-0 with Cal even getting a 97 yd drive for a garbage TD with :09 left.
GUTSY CALL - Last year Pete Carroll went for it on 4th & 1 when a FG would have tied the game and was rewarded with a TD. Charlie Weis was rewarded with an equally gutsy call. Trailing 10-0 and being outplayed, the Irish took over with 4:45 left and had only 40 yards offense for the game. They went 80 yards in 14 plays but on 2nd & goal from the 7, he called a QB draw by Brady Quinn. Had Quinn been tackled prior to the goal line, it would have been with :11 left and they may not have been able to get off another play and would have been shutout at the half. As it was, Quinn burst into the EZ and ND took the momentum to only trail 10-7. The Irish finished the game with 384 yards offense and escaped GT with a 14-10 win.
TURNOVERS MAKE A DIFFERENCE - It is extremely rare for a team with a -5 TO deficit to win a football game and while Arkansas did not have to play the perfect game vs USC, they could not afford to have such a big deficit. USC’s first 3 scoring drives vs Arkansas were 28 & 3 yards (after fmbl’s) and 28 yards and they led 13-0. Ark went on an 80 yd, 13 play drive and scored a TD with 2:23 left in the half but USC, against the prevent, got a 44 yd FG and led 16-7. The Hogs turned it over twice more in the 2H setting up 28 and 31 yd drives for TD’s and USC rolled to a 50-14 win...Utah came up -3 in TO’s vs UCLA. The 1H was basically even as Utah had a 208-206 yd edge. The big turning point came after Utah’s QB Ratliff led them to an 80 yd TD drive to tie it at 7. Kyle Whittingham inserted Oklahoma transfer Grady into the lineup and he threw an int which was ret’d 28 yards for a TD by frosh Verner. It was the Bruins first IR TD by a frosh since 1989. That helped the Bruins lead 19-10. In the 2H, Utah bobbled the snap on a 37 yd FG and did not get the kick off and UCLA in the 96˚ heat had 72, 44 and 68 yd drives to blow it open with Utah turning it over on their final 2 poss...It’s not often a team has a 4-1 TO deficit and wins but the Sooners accomplished that. OU’s new QB Paul Thompson hit 8 of his first 10 passes including a 47 yd TD pass for a quick 7-0 lead but Thompson had a pass bounce off his WR with 3:35 left in the half and they were int’d at the 10. On the next drive, Thompson was int’d at the 3 on a badly thrown ball stopping a second TD drive for the Sooners. After Peterson ran the ball on the first 11 plays of the 2H, OU got a TD to lead 14-7 but Peterson would fmbl the Sooners 4th TO of the game and they only won by 7...Pitt dominated the 1H vs Virginia with a 256-86 yd edge but an int with 1:00 left in the half on a poorly thrown ball, set up the Cavs for a 13 yd drive for a TD and Pitt only led 17-10. The TO gods were more than kind to Pitt in the 2H as they had 19 and 78 yd IR for TD’s, the latter with 3:34 left in a 38-13 blowout win.
UNUSUAL YPP’s - The normal ypp for an offense in college football is roughly 15.0 or for every 15 yds for every point a team scores. There were some unusual games this past weekend ypp-wise. Bowling Green QB Freddie Barnes was supposed to be a 1 game substitute as starter Anthony Turner was susp for the opener. Barnes rushed for 158 yards, a school record for a QB and his 21 yd TD run put BG up 7-0. Wisconsin did get a blocked punt for a TD and despite BG’s D holding the Badgers to 321 yards, they allowed 35 points and the ypp was 9.17. The Badgers had a 17 yd drive for a TD with :17 left in the 2Q after a long PR. Barnes hit 12 of 19 for 82 yards passing...Georgia’s Mikey Henderson had an apparent 64 yd PR for a TD but he started to celebrate early and dropped the ball through the EZ for a TB. He atoned for that with a 67 yd PR for a TD on the next series. UGA accumulated 48 pts but had just 295 yds offense and the QB controversy is on. Five of UGA’s scoring drives started in WK territory including 18 and 27 yarders. Joe Tereshinski hit just 7 of 17 for 90 yards while Matthew Stafford came off the bench hitting 3 of 5 for 40 including a 65 yd TD drive. UGA’s ypp was an amazingly low 6.14!...New Mexico St piled up 515 yds offense but only scored 30 pts (17.2 ypp). By comparison, UGA and UW combined for 621 yds and had 83 pts...UTEP only had 243 yds offense by 34 pts (7.14 ppg). The Miners actually missed 3 FG’s early but UTEP rec’d a fmbl for a TD...The Ohio Bobcats scored 29 pts vs Tenn Martin including a 35 yd fmbl ret for a TD and a safety and amazingly had just 144 yds (4.96 ypp!).
INJURIES OF NOTE - Clemson LB Anthony Waters, who was their leading tackler in 2005, suffered a sprained knee in the 3Q vs Florida Atlantic and his status for this week is in doubt...Oregon RB Jonathan Stewart, of whom Bellotti expects great things from this season, inj’d his right ankle in the 3Q and did not return. In just 2.5Q’s of work, Stewart was living up to Belotti’s advanced billing by rushing for 168 yards and 2 TD’s...Benjamin Mauk, Wake Forest’s starting QB, was taken off the field on a stretcher with a broken right arm vs Syracuse. Backup Riley Skinner hit 1 of 1 for 13 yds in his place. WF did have a 363-136 yd edge but did not cover.
NCAA RULE CHANGES - One change to speed up games this year is the clock stops after a change of poss. Some coaches have been slow to adjust to it. In the Rhode Island/Connecticut game, RI blk’d a punt and rec’d it at the UC 37 with :11 left in the half. Amazingly, they did not get a play off as the clock starts after the ball is spotted and the game went to the half.
HEISMAN WATCH - Troy Smith hit 18 of 25 passes for 297 yards and 3 TD’s. One concern for Buckeye Heisman watchers is that the votes may be split between Smith and Ted Ginn Jr. Ginn Jr. had 4 catches for 123 yards and 2 TD’s and returned 4 kicks for 69 yards...Kenny Irons rushed for 183 yds for Auburn and we still feel they will run the table this year and go unbeaten, which would make him a Heisman contender.
OVERTIME SKEWS SCORING NUMBERS - One of the strengths of our Power Plays System is that is eliminates OT yds and points as well as garbage yds and points at the end of a blowout. To use an example of the strength of Power Plays, we look at the Toledo/Iowa St game this past week. At the end of regulation, UT and ISU had combined for a 23-23 final. Due to the fact that in OT, a team is given the ball 25 yds away from the EZ and this one went 3 OT’s, the teams piled up nearly as many pts in OT as they did in regulation. We are sure some newsletters later in the year will be spouting on about this matchup having strong offenses and weak defenses due to the high ppg but as mentioned, it was only 23-23 at the end of regulation and you can probably get some value on Under in games in future weeks.
MISLEADING FINALS, FRONTDOOR AND BACKDOOR COVERS - Florida actually trailed S Miss 7-0 until the last play of the 1Q when they tied it and only led 14-7 at the half. SM trailed 21-7 when they were int’d and ret’d 25 yards to the 11. The Gators got a TD but failed on the 2 pt conversion which would have put them ahead of the spread with 14:25 left. SM drove to the UF 14 but were SOD on 4th & 14 with 8:47 left and Leak led the Gators to an 82 yd, 7 play drive for the frontdoor cover with 6:20 left. The Gators kept the backdoor closed when SM was SOD on 4th & 5 at the Gator 19 with 1:16 left...A pointspread play of the week came in Navy/E Carolina game. Although the Midshipmen had 403 yards rushing and EC had 359 yards total offense, the Total was only 51’. Navy did miss a 37 yd FG in the 1H and fmbl’d at the EC 20 yd line on FD in the 3Q. EC got a TD with 4:57 left to make it 28-23. EC went for the 2 point conversion and got it to seemingly put the game Over. However, it was ruled that the receiver had stepped OOB so the 2 pt conv was ruled no good leaving the game at 51 pts. Navy drove to the EC 14 yd line where they took a knee.
IAA HANDICAPPING - We pointed out last year not to overreact to losses or poor performances vs IAA teams. IAA foes tend to get far more “up” for the games than do their IAA opponents. Colorado had never played a IAA team and had there been a line on the game, the Buffs would have likely been a 35 point favorite on Montana St. It was not the type of debut Dan Hawkins would like. Montana St outgained CU 288-216 and prevailed 19-10. James Cox, who struggled in the bowl, hit just 8 of 22 for 110 yards as the Buffs starting QB...If there was a line on the game New Mexico would have been a 17 pt fav over IAA Portland St. NM had 21-13 FD and 339-223 yd edges and led 6-0 at the half. NM was SOD on 4th & 1 at midfield and Portland St drove for a TD to lead 10-6. PSU clinched it after NM fmbl’d the punt at their own 29 and the Vikings added a TD for the stunning upset...Purdue found very little motivation for Indiana St, a team that had avg’d just 17.5 ppg in 2005. They only led the Sycamores 26-21 at the half but dominated the 2H pulling away to a 60-28 lead before allowing a drive for a garbage TD with just :02 left on the clock and the 60-35 final...Maryland led William & Mary 24-7 at the half and 27-7 after 3Q’s allowing a late 49 yd TD pass for what seems an unimpressive win over W&M but they went through the motions in the 2H...No team suffered more attrition in the offseason than USF (see Season Ending Injuries at philsteele.com). McNeese St actually led USF 10-7 at the half in a game USF would have been a 28 pt fav in. Starting QB Julmiste was injured and Matt Grothe came off the bench to hit 9 of 13 for 171 yards guiding USF to 34 pts in the 2H. Moise Plancher, their starting RB, was also injured in the game...Villanova actually outgained UCF 322-304 but missed 2 FG’s, were SOD and had a costly int in a 35-16 loss. UCF did lead 28-7 at the half...Illini fans are excited about Isiah “Juice” Williams (PS#11) and he took the team on a 12 play, 61 yd march in the 2Q for a TD but also fmbl’d at his own 33 on the next poss and hit 2 of 4 for 25 yds off the bench with 26 yds rushing...Kansas St would have been 17 pt favorite over Illinois St but trailed 17-16 with 8:25 to go. They got a 9 yd fmbl ret for a TD to take the lead but allowed Ill St to drive for a TD. Ill St opted to go for the win but their 2 pt conv was stopped with 3:02 left. K-St, despite being outgained 346-207, pulled out a 1 point win in Ron Prince’s first game as HC. K-St did not get their first FD until late in the 1Q...2005’s IAA champ, Appalachian St gave NC State a good game but came up short 23-10 and their offense managed just 6 FD’s and 133 yds...Duke lost to a Div IAA team for the first time in 9 games (since 1978) and appear headed for a winless season. They lost their starting QB over the summer and ex WR Marcus Jones started and hit 2 of 6 passes for 11 yards. Duke went to true frosh Thaddeus Lewis (PS#71) and he hit 15 of 24 for 148 yds but the Spiders won a season opener for the first time since 2000 and shutout the Blue Devils 13-0.
DIFFERENT SITUATION DIFFERENT RESULTS - Sometimes looking at a past score or even stats can be misleading. An example, last year we had a 4H Small College Play on Army minus the pts over Ark St at home. As expected, Army romped 38-10. Some of the reasons for that selection was that Army was playing in its home finale, the game was played in chilly weather vs a team from the south and Ark St had a huge game on deck which would determine whether or not they got to a bowl and win the SBC Title. The Army game meant nothing to them and it showed. This was Ark St’s home opener and Army was actually a road fav in the game but Ark St dominated this year despite the fact Army returned 16 starters. Ark St had a 321-165 yd edge...John Parker Wilson who is replacing Brodie Croyle looked good for Alabama hitting 16 of 29 for 253 yds. Colt Brennan, who should lead the NCAA in passing this year, threw for 350 yds vs a rebuilding Alabama defense. Keep in mind last year in the bowl game we had a 4H on Alabama because they had perhaps the top defense in the country and that stop unit held a potent Tech offense to 329 TOTAL yds, this year they have just 4 starters back.
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