Team Grades: Week 2
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A+:
Cincinnati-The way they dominated Oregon State in every facet of the game gives Cincy an A+. I'm tellin' you guys, Cincinnati is a spectacular football team.
Buffalo-The Bulls dominated Temple in this game. They outgained the Owls 414-141. That's saying something considering how bad both of these teams are. They're about on par and the Bulls dismantled Temple on their homefield. Drew Willy was 20-22!
Oregon-The Ducks found a way to generate 4 turnovers from Michigan as they came into the Big House and stomped on the Maize and Blue. They outgained Michigan by 259 yards. It was all-out domination. You have also got to love the statue-of-liberty play and the fake statue-of-liberty play.
Oklahoma-Wow. Just.......wow. That was an awesome game by the Sooners. It looked like Sam Bradford was playing North Texas again. We all know Miami's offense stinks, but Oklahoma held them to under 200 yards of total offense. Absolutely dominating performance.
LSU-Yet another dominant game from the guys from Baton Rouge. Virginia Tech's defense was supposed to play them close, what happened? All I can say is LSU is scary, scary good.
Kansas-We know they're playing Southeast Louisiana State, but come on. -31 yards rushing for the Lions. That says it all right there. They only had 3 penalties which shows how disciplined they are.
Western Kentucky-How about this stat for you? Western Kentucky had FOUR non-offensive touchdowns. They beat West Virginia Tech 87-0 and had a 49-0 lead after the 1st quarter. Tech only had 12 yards of total offense.
A:
Iowa-It was a great game for the Hawkeyes as they demolished Syracuse. The Orange couldn't move the football at all and Jake Christensen was solid. The offense didn't look too great, but the defense held Syracuse to 103 yards of total offense and only ONE yard during the 1st half! They did turn the ball over 3 times, so that gives them an A.
Purdue-I think the Boilermakers are for real this year. Eastern Illinois is a better team than Indiana State and the defense only kept the Panthers to two FGs. Curtis Painter had a huge day with 348 yards and 6 TDs.
Georgia Tech-You gotta hand it over to Samford, man, their offense was better against Georgia Tech than Notre Dame's (lol). Regardless, the Yellow Jackets were totally dominant in their 69-14 victory. The backups got a lot of reps in this one. They had 389 yards on the ground!
Marshall-Personally, I think Marshall stinks, but they played very well for themselves in this ballgame. I'd give them an A for their overall performance. West Virginia didn't distance themselves until late, but Bernard Morris looked pretty good, for once, and they were winning the battles in the trenches.
Louisiana Tech-Of course, Hawaii is definitely beatable on the road, but LT went tit-for-tat with the Warriors. There was never a moment in this game where Hawaii became dominant and pulled away. Derek Dooley isn't too happy, but the Bulldogs left a nice effort out on the field. They were a failed 2-point conversion in overtime away from winning the game.
A-:
Bowling Green-From watching this game, I thought that the Falcons had another solid performance. After going into the Metrodome and knocking of Minnesota, they were neck-and-neck with a decent Michigan State team. I didn't see two teams stinking it up, I saw two pretty good football teams with MSU pulling away late.
Baylor-Was there something wrong with the ESPN bottomline? I thought I saw it say that North Texas won the game against SMU last night and Baylor had scored like 69 points. Maybe it was just a mirage, but the Bears dominated the Owls 42-17. Blake Szymanski was deserving of an SSO Gameball with his 412 yard, 6 TD performance. From what I read, Baylor's offensive line was awesome.
Oklahoma State-After a disappointing effort against Georgia, the Cowboys were without Bobby Reid for whatever reason. Zac Robinson came in and was very efficient against a solid FAU team. They had a knack for the big play with an INT return for a touchdown from Andre Sexton and 3 offensive plays that were 30+ yard touchdowns.
Rutgers-In a game that wasn't even as close as the score indicated, Ray Rice had a huge day running for 175 yards. Also, Mike Teel was efficient again. The defense forced 3 INTs from Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada.
USF-Coming off of a lackluster game against Elon, the Bulls walked into Jordan Hare Stadium and pulled off an overtime win. You know, I don't really think of this as a big upset because considering how speedy and quick USF is and how average Auburn is going to be this year, it just didn't come off as very surprising. The Bulls had a ton of balance in this game against a very good Auburn defense. The line had trouble blocking and, if you watched the game, I'll bet you noticed the special teams had some issues. Of course, Auburn turning the ball over 5 times might've had something to do with it.
Washington State-The Cougars got lit up on defense, but I think that's also a product of San Diego State probably having the most improved offensive unit in the country. Alex Brink set a school record with his 469 yard day. I like Wazzu this season, they have a good offensive football team.
B+:
Minnesota-Yeah, I know Miami OH took them to the brink, but it was good for the following reasons. Tim Brewster wants to change the Minnesota attitude, correct? Well, this was step one. Whenever it appeared that the other team was coming back and about to win the game, it always seemed that Glen Mason's crew folded and went into the fetal position. This game will go a long way in stamping out part of the previous regime's negative atmosphere. Plus, it was just good to get win #1 considering the way they played last week against Bowling Green. The Golden Gophers just didn't seem to be phased at all by the upset against the Falcons last Saturday, that's why they get a B+.
Miami OH-Yes, I know Raudabaugh threw a horrible INT in overtime and they lost the game, but give Miami OH a bunch of credit. Down 28-12 in the middle of the 4th quarter, they didn't quit and the came storming back. I liked how the Redhawks played in this game, it was pretty much a draw with Minnesota.
Pitt-The Panthers pretty much dominated this game. It was apparent that they let up on Grambling State after the first half as the Panthers only outscored the Tigers 3-0 in the 2nd half. Kevan Smith was decent as was the rushing attack. That defense of their's still needs some work.
Penn State-I don't think that the Nittany Lions played to their potential in this game, but give credit to Notre Dame's D. I didn't really watch the game that much, but when I did, I thought that the Irish defense played pretty well for themselves considering the lack of offensive production.
UAB-The Blazers came to play against FSU. They didn't let the crowd intimidate them at all and they played fine. They didn't look near as bad as they did against Michigan State last week. But let's not forget, it's not like they did this all on their own.....
Fresno State-The Bulldogs didn't look too hot last week against Sacramento State, but it appears that this is still those tough-nosed Pat Hill-coached Bulldogs who come to play whenever a big opponent is on the schedule. Texas A&M didn't look to great, so that's why I give Fresno State a B+. Brandstater was efficient and the pass defense came through whenever McGee wanted to throw.
South Carolina-In a very evenly-contested matchup, the Gamecocks came through on defense. It really was a great game and even though Georgia had 341 yards (not a bad day for Spurrier's defense), they were held to 4 FGs. Jasper Brinkley came through with the final INT to seal the deal, but South Carolina looked pretty good out there.
Colorado State-Hey, give the Rams a lot of credit in this one. They exposed some holes in Cal's defense BIG-TIME. CSU actually outgained California, never a good thing. I thought their defense held up but they had no counter to DeSean Jackson and that was the difference in this game.
Texas-Hey, TCU is no slouch. They eventually wore the Horned Frogs down and they blew it open late in the game. They were getting beat up early on but the depth was the difference. TCU just couldn't move the football against a tough Longhorn defense.
ECU-A last second FG gave the Pirates the victory in this game. Wish I would've seen it, but I forgot about it totally since it was CSTV! Darn. Anyway, James Pinkney was absolutely terrific shredding the North Carolina defense to a tune of 406 yards!.........He's the backup! Probably not anymore though. Looking at the stats, they let T.J. Yates throw all over them but the 2 turnovers was probably what did UNC in.
Washington-They were outgained by Boise State, but they did force 4 turnovers. They took advantage of the home field and played pretty well. Jake Locker was pretty efficient passing and he led the team in rushing.
Cal-I know their defense isn't up to snuff, but Colorado State came to play. I didn't see Cal handing it to them at all. The offense was good as usual and they avoided the trap game with a solid victory.
Nebraska-Pesky Wake Forest played a pretty good game and the Cornhuskers escaped Winston-Salem with a nice victory. Sam Keller was pretty good and I thought the two teams played to a draw. The game-changer was the INT in the redzone by Brett Hodges.
Wake Forest-They played extremely well in a loss. The one problem with Wake Forest is that they're not doing what they did last year in order to win games. The Demon Deacons always won the turnover battle and always did the little things right. If they get careless with the football, those close wins they had last year turn into losses.
Florida International-They only lost by 16 this week! When they went into Happy Valley, the Nittany Lions demolished them 59-0. It was nice to actually see them compete, something they haven't been able to do since the brawl last season.
B:
Georgia-I actually thought Georgia played pretty well. Maybe it was me, but they looked good. South Carolina was a little bit better though and that was the difference. Matt Stafford could've been more accurate, but the Gamecock D was good.
Boston College-The Eagles spoiled Tom O'Brien's return to Chesnut Hill with a decent 37-17 game. Boston College played pretty well as a whole but Matt Ryan needs a better day if he wants to keep up in this Heisman race. NC State turned the ball over 7 times. Not really sure if that's NC State's or Boston College's doing.
Nevada-It was nice to see the Wolf Pack bounce back from a horrid showing in Lincoln last week. They got totally shut down during Week 1 but they exploded for 541 yards of offense! They certainly do have some mental toughness and they were in control for most of the game.
Ball State-There's the Nate Davis we all know and love! The Cardinals busted out their offense against dilapidated Eastern Michigan. Davis had 306 yards and 4 TDs, a nice showing after last week's disappointing game against Miami OH. The run D was stout enough holding Eastern to about 100 yards rushing. They will need to be ready for Navy next week, but it looks like Ball State is back on track.
Alabama-The Crimson Tide smothered Vandy's offense yesterday in a 24-10 victory. Keep in mind, Vanderbilt is a solid team. Nick Saban is off to a 2-0 start and has a major test against Arkansas next week. They played a fine game.
Florida-The Gators had penalties left and right and the pass defense got beat up. Troy is not Texas Tech, but they still hung 31 points on Troy. They need some work before they take on Tennessee next week. Even with this said, Tim Tebow played a nice game and the Gators had 500 yards of total offense.
Troy-You know, hey, the defense got beat up but it was supposed to. I like what I'm seeing from the Trojans so far and it seems like they're the best of the Sun Belt bunch. They've been beaten soundly by Arkansas and Florida, but they haven't been full-scale blowouts which is a positive sign. Oklahoma State, you better watch out next week!
Air Force-These guys ran all over the Utes looking like Fisher DeBerry's teams of old. 334 yards on the ground against a solid Utah team is no joke. Shaun Carney was definitely the player of the game in this one. It seems to me that Air Force has always played Utah pretty close over the last few years. They made some crucial goal line stops against the Utes in this game so kudos to the defense.
West Virginia-Even though they didn't necessarily come to play against Marshall, they dominated the second half and scored 42 of their 48 points in it. Steve Slaton took a while to get his engine running, but they rolled when it was obvious that they had to pick up the slack.
Clemson-The game wasn't
as close as the score shows with UL Monroe scoring twice late in the game. Cullen Harper was extremely efficient in this game as the Tigers racked up the yards with a 503 yard day. Surprisingly, they didn't run the ball too much with C.J. Spiller and James Davis. The defense got torched by UL Monroe for 419 yards.
Michigan State-They looked alright out there against the Falcons. Brad Hoyer was efficient through the air and the MSU ground game was the difference. The run defense also didn't let Bowling Green do too much.
UConn-Tyler Lorenzen looked pretty good and the defense didn't let Maine do anything. The Black Bears were held to 2 of 14 on 3rd downs and they were stopped to a 158 yard day of total offense.
Central Michigan-It was nice to see the Chips bounce back from that horrible game in Lawrence last week. They were outgained by Toledo but they managed a 52-31 victory.
Arizona State-They got down 14-0 after the first quarter due to a Colorado defensive score. They did wake up though and they outscored the Buffs 33-0 to close out the game. Dennis Erickson has a good team on his hands in Tempe.
B-:
Kentucky-Believe it or not, they did not play up to their potential in this game. They won by 36 points, but Kent State rolled offensively and they did turn the ball over 4 times in this game. Andre Woodson wasn't great as he only threw for 218 yards.
Missouri-Whoa man! Can Chase Daniel rack up the yards or what? He had 330 yards and 5 scores in yesterday's ballgame. But the Tigers only get a B-? Well, the reasoning for that is Ole Miss had 534 yards of their own. They aren't exactly known for their offensive ability.
Ole Miss-The Rebels weren't terrible in this game, but the defense was a little disappointing. Seth Adams and BenJarvus Green-Ellis had big games.
Tennessee-The Vols were getting all they could handle from Southern Miss, but they pulled away late and controlled the 2nd half with a 22-3 output. They didn't let Damion Fletcher get going at all which was one of the reasons they won the game 39-19.
Southern Miss-Even though they were dominated late in the game, you had to have liked their 1st half performance. I didn't see much of this game either, but I thought Southern Miss had a nice day at the office. The Golden Eagles should use somewhat close game against an SEC power as motivation throughout the C-USA season which kicks off against ECU next week.
UCLA-The Bruins looked above average in this one, but they played more disciplined and committed fewer turnovers than BYU. That was obviously the difference in this game.
BYU-Just like I said above, the Cougars turned the ball over twice and made 7 more penalties. You can't do that on the road against a team as good as UCLA.
TCU-They looked very solid going into halftime, but the defense wore out. That was a bit surprising. The Horned Frogs don't have a great pass defense, but it got beat up as the game progressed. Don't look at the score and think TCU isn't any good though, they gave up 415 yards, but they're still a solid football team that just didn't have enough depth in the tank at the end.
Ohio-The Bobcats went into Lafayette and won the game. This was one of the most evenly matched games considering the Cajun's ability to move the chains with their ground game. They surrendered 534 yards but ultimately won the game in the 2nd half outscoring ULL 21-3.
Utah State-I like what I'm seeing from the Aggies. They're bad, but I'm not so sure they're Temple-bad. They have competed with UNLV and Wyoming in consecutive weeks giving the Cowboys all they could handle. They actually scored 15 points in the 3rd quarter with an INT return for a touchdown to take the lead into the 4th quarter! Wyoming settled down and scored 15 of their own in the 4th, but it was a good performance.
UL Lafayette-They blew the game against Ohio. Their 2nd half wasn't as good as they hoped, but they fumbled the ball at the 2 yard line at the end of the game. They only lost 31-23, so they had a shot to win the game with a TD and a 2-point conversion. The did rack up the yards, ULL has looked very, very good on the ground so far.
MTSU-What I saw was a Louisville team that just wasn't prepared and didn't have their heads in the game. But Middle Tennessee battled. It was amazing that they gained as many yards as they did. I mean, let's not forget, they had one of the most anemic offenses in the nation last year. They had FIVE-HUNDRED-AND-FIFTY-SEVEN YARDS! Amazing.
Kansas State-They were okay this week against SJSU winning 34-14. It was pretty much what we expected from the Wildcats.
North Texas-How about that? Either Todd Dodge has made significant improvements or SMU has one of the worst pass defenses ever. For an offense that was so, so, so bad last season, they racked up 601 yards through the air. That's right, SIX HUNDRED AND ONE. That is stunning.
Indiana-I don't know, I saw bits and pieces of the game and they didn't look that great. Western is very sad at this point. I think they're deserving of a B- after seeing a little bit of their game. They did roll in the 1st half but they did allow the Broncos to come back in the game.
New Mexico-The Lobos had a solid victory last night. They let the Aggies throw all over them for 473 yards, but Donovan Porterie and Rodney Ferguson had a nice night.
Mississippi State-The Bulldogs pretty much owned Tulane, nice game.
UTEP-The Miners were in control for the first half before Texas Tech pulled away.
C+:
Northwestern-They didn't look as good as in Week 1 when they easily defeated Northeastern. The Wolf Pack moved the ball like crazy against them. They did win at the last second on a TD pass, so that's good news.
Kent State-They held their own against Kentucky, but they self-destructed near the end. They gave Kentucky 4 turnovers. It wasn't the best they could have played.
Virginia-Hey, they finally got some offense going! Either way, not a very good game. They were only playing Duke.....
Toledo-The Rockets still need some work after getting shelled in the final quarter by 21 points. They outgained CMU and still lost pretty handily.
Notre Dame-Yeah, believe it or not, I actually thought Notre Dame held their own for a while. They were supposed to get beat up even worse than they did against Penn State. Plus, this mediocre team went into Happy Valley. So it was a nice outing for Jimmy Claussen to get his feet wet.
Duke-At least they didn't get clobbered.
Ohio State-While you've got to hand it to the Ohio State defense for shutting Akron down, the offense wasn't very good and they Buckeyes only took a 3-2 lead into halftime. There's no way they can play like that against Washington on the road next week.
Wyoming-It took the Pokes a while before they woke up against Utah State. They needed 15 points in the 4th quarter to pull away.
UNLV-I know they almost took the Badgers out, but that had A LOT to do with the Badgers just being "out of it".
Arizona-It was nice to see Willie Tuitama get going........finally. The defense did okay but they did give up 24 points to Northern Arizona. Let's keep in mind though, they did beat the Lumberjacks, but they're Northern Arizona, not Cal.
Colorado-The Buffs disappointedly fizzled late in the game. I didn't like what I saw from them beyond the point where it was 14-0, but then again, that could just be a testament to how good Arizona State is.
Akron-Ehhhh, they deserve a C+ for hanging with Ohio State early on.
UL Monroe-They hung tight with Clemson, but the score was closer than it should have been. The Warhawks scored twice late in the game to make it seem close. Calvin Dawson had a nice day though.
Boise State-These guys played a good team in Washington and their defense settled down in the 2nd half. Taylor Tharp was bad and they need to find someone at QB.
Navy-They played a better team in Rutgers but they got their butts handed to them. That's 2 consecutive mediocre outings and they need to do better. Kaheaku-Enhada tossed 3 picks.
Vanderbilt-Maybe it was just me, but I thought the Commodores hung in there pretty well. Even though they lost pretty easily, they didn't appear to do too bad. They looked average, which, I suppose, is the definition of a C+.
Texas Tech-The Red Raiders didn't take control of this game and let UTEP be in the driver's seat before they took over in the 2nd half. Michael Crabtree and Graham Harell lit it up in that half.
North Carolina-As an ACC team (no disrespect to ECU), they shouldn't let the Pirates run up and down the field on them. Butch Davis was planning on having a more-stellar opening for his ballclub. It was a back-and-forth kind of game and they lost it at the end.
New Mexico State-Their defense stinks, but we already knew that. You've got to love their offense though.
C:
Virginia Tech-What a horrible showing for the Hokies. They were supposed to keep it close with their defense but instead, they got steamrolled. Part of that had to do with LSU being just flat out awesome and the other part was Virginia Tech just being overrated.
Texas A&M-They were bad on defense and this is the second week in a row. Not a good sign. Brandstater is terribly ineffective yet he had a good day against this defense. They were lucky they won this game. When you have a team down, especially one like Fresno State who is always geared up to play the bigger teams, you must put them away and that's something they didn't do.
San Diego State-At least Chuck Long has an offense to build around. They only managed to score 17 points, but they found a way to move the football for 399 yards. The worst part about this Aztec team has been the fact that they are rich in offensive talent but they never produce. This game didn't exactly go how they wanted it to, but at least they have some positives.
Miami-Oklahoma is dang good, but I wished we saw Miami do a little bit better than they did. The team seems to have only seen minimal improvement from last year; they stop teams but they get stopped themselves. It wasn't a pretty sight in Norman this week.
C-:
Oregon State-The Beavs turned the ball over 7 times as the QB situation did them in big time. They still have a nice team, but if they can't find a QB, this won't be the last time the quagmire has screwed them over.
Illinois-The Illini had 400 yards of offense, but they never really put the Leathernecks away. WIU kept it close, but they couldn't score. Give credit to Illinois' defense, but the offense needs to score more than 21 points against an FCS team if they even want to think about going to a 2nd-tier Big 10 bowl game.
Maryland-Come on. Seriously. Clobber FIU someday.
Idaho-The Vandals had a great day from Deonte Jackson who ran for a school-record 214 yards. However, they certainly did get helped by SEVEN fumbles, four of which were given to them by Cal Poly. They staved off a late comeback against the Mustangs.
Eastern Michigan-They sort of held up against a potent Ball State passing attack. It wasn't necessarily a good game, but they kinda played up to their potential.
D+:
Tulane-It wasn't a great opening for the Green Wave. They let a bad Mississippi State team control the game from start-to-finish.
Utah-Even though the Utes lost two of their offensive stars, they shouldn't lose to Air Force. 'Nuff said. They're adjusting to a new system and they should have a more potent offense than that. Kyle Whittingham should be on the hot seat.
San Jose State-Ouch. Kansas State rolled through the Spartans and they also suffered an injury to QB Adam Trafalis. It wasn't a pretty outing as they lost it 34-14 (with a late TD).
FAU-This is really based on my expectations of the Owls. I think they have a solid team and I think they could've played Oklahoma State closer. They just didn't get the breaks, I suppose. They were 3-15 on 3rd downs and that makes it hard to sustain drives.
Auburn-USF had a nice win, but you'd be lying if you said none of it had to do with Auburn's apparent lack of interest in the game. Too many fumbles, too many missed blocks, and too many missed throws by the average Brandon Cox.
D:
Louisville-The Cards had no ability whatsoever to hold Middle Tennessee. And the sad part is, their offense is horrible. I think their mistakes are correctable though because it just seemed like they were ill-prepared. They had better get better against Kentucky. They had over 700 yards of offense though.
Syracuse-Ewwww, they are one atrocious football team.
Rice-Is their defense horrible, or what?
Florida State-They dominated the game late, but I don't want to hear excuses about the 5 day rest. Nu-uh, not gonna have any of it. FSU just isn't very good, plain and simple.
NC State-The Wolf Pack basically gave the game away. Harrison Beck threw 5 INTs and the team as a whole had 7 turnovers. Horrible. I thought Tom O'Brien was supposed to get rid of this stuff?
Northern Illinois-Hey, they outplayed SIU, but that's no excuse. They shouldn't be losing this kind of game.
D-:
Hawaii-Man, I can't even really comprehend what just happened in Ruston last night. I know Hawaii was on the road, but they almost beat Boise State on the road last season. So I don't know.
Michigan-Terrible. Horrible. Perplexing. Throw in a negative adjective, they'll fit the description. Carr must go!
Western Michigan-They battled and came back (when the game was already lost). Words cannot express how disappointed I am in Western Michigan thus far.
Army-Carson Williams should've been the starter from the beginning. You need to be able to score more than 14 against Rhode Island to compete at the FBS level.
Temple-Argh, I'm ashamed for buying the Temple hype (and believe me, there was "hype"). I picked the Owls to win and in doing so, I forgot how bad they actually are. Buffalo is a better team and I've been thinking that from the start, but the Temple/Navy game changed my mind. Darn it.....Back to the game, Temple had -36 yards rushing..........AGAINST BUFFALO!!!!!!!!
Iowa State-What is their problem? They got manhandled against Northern Iowa. Brett Meyer is losing it, he threw 2 INTs and no TDs. They had 4 turnovers. The defense was good enough, but when are they going to learn that they can't keep turning the ball over? I thought ISU might surprise us even though I didn't think they were going to a bowl game. I thought they had a slim chance. I guess we can dismiss whatever hope we have for the Cyclones this season, they might be winless when it's all said and done.
Wisconsin-No real excuse for needing a TD late in the game to beat UNLV. I think this had to do more with Wisconsin being bad, which explains the very low grade.
SMU-You've got to be kidding me, there's no way their pass defense is
that bad.
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