Team Grades: Week 7
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A+:
USF-The Bulls throttled UCF and, you know, the Knights aren’t exactly a terrible football team. They didn’t let Kevin Smith get going at all and Matt Grothe had a huge day. The defense for the Bulls is the real deal and that’s why they’re so darn good.
Kansas-The Jayhawks were excellent as Mother Nature couldn’t even stop them. The game was delayed twice, but it had no effect on Kansas at all. Kansas won the game 58-10 looking very deserving of their top 25 ranking.
Oklahoma State-The Cowboys were awesome stepping into Memorial Stadium and trouncing the Cornhuskers. The game was 38-0 at one point and the rushing game amassed 317 yards! How did Nebraska become the Vegas favorite to win this game?
Kentucky-LSU is the best team in the nation and Kentucky, KENTUCKY, took them out! What a great victory for Rich Brooks and crew. I thought that the first OT touchdown for the Wildcats a rip-off, but they were probably going to score anyway so I’ll give them that one. Andre Woodson was cool and collected throughout the entire game. Terrific win.
Oregon-Wow, is Oregon good or what? 53-7 against an average Washington State football team. Dennis Dixon really tore them to shreds.
Texas Tech-Wow! The Red Raiders smoked Texas A&M. Crabtree didn’t catch any touchdowns, but Graham Harrell was great yet again with 425 yards and 3 TDs. What might be overlooked here is the defense for Texas Tech. A&M got some yards on the ground, but they couldn’t cash them in for points. It was a bend-don’t-break performance which is all they need to do to win.
Temple-Temple won! Temple won! TEMPLE WON! Wow. Congrats guys, you deserve it. They found a way to score three unanswered touchdowns in the 4th quarter to win the game.
Michigan State-Sparty is back! The Spartans really don’t appear to be headed for a downward spiral judging by their huge win over Indiana. Indiana isn’t a bad football team and MSU just came out fired up to prove a point. MSU had 19 more first downs, they outgained them by 369 yards, and Indiana was held to 22 yards rushing. Javon Ringer proved how, once again, he’s one of the most underrated backs in America.
A:
Ohio State-These guys made a case for being ranked #1 yesterday with a great game against Kent State. The Golden Flashes aren’t the greatest of opponents, I know, but the defense was really sound once again. They weren’t as stout against Eugene Jarvis as expected, but that might be because Jarvis is a really good running back.
Iowa-The Hawkeyes really played Illinois’ option game to perfection. They never let any huge plays happen and they just played their man and made their tackles. The defense was excellent while the offense, surprisingly enough, moved the football pretty well.
Texas-Iowa State is awful, but it was a great thing to see Texas finally, FINALLY, blow somebody out. Colt McCoy was brilliant as was the Longhorn defense.
Utah-The game against San Diego State wasn’t nearly as close as the score indicated. The Aztecs were out gained by 303 yards. The running game got going with Darrell Mack.
Oklahoma-The Sooners looked excellent against a solid Missouri team. The turnovers didn’t exactly set them up with a lot of field to work with, so that would explain Missouri having more yards. But OU did look like one of the better teams in the nation.
Oregon State-You have to give credit to the Beavers. They did the same thing in 2005 when they weren’t really expected to win against Cal. The biggest thing to take away from this game was the fact that Canfield didn’t throw an interception. That’s the only thing that’s holding Oregon State back from competing for the Pac-10 title. If he doesn’t mess up, OSU could be in the top tier of the Pac-10.
Arizona State-Did you see the Rudy Carpenter pass? He was pretty much getting strangled before completing that tough pass on 3rd down. Anyway, the game was really close, but all of a sudden, Arizona State exploded in the second half outscoring Washington 31-3.
A-:
Virginia Tech-Yes, it’s Duke, but this was the second game in a row where you really liked what you saw from Virginia Tech. Sean Glennon came off of the bench and play marvelously. The defense was great as usual keeping Duke to under 200 yards of offense.
Michigan-I like the Wolverines all of a sudden. These guys have strung five wins in a row including victories against Penn State and Purdue. Purdue isn’t a great team and they don’t do well at all against superior competition, but Michigan stuck it to them taking a 48-7 lead at one point. That’s impressive. Although the Hart injury could cause some issues.
Ole Miss-The Mississippi Rebels finally came up with a good performance under Ed Orgeron. Only problem was, it was a loss! That was tough one too considering Shay Hodge came in from out of bounds on the long pass.
Miami OH-The Redhawks were supposed to win this game, but like THAT? Bowling Green was in it for about one second before Miami OH shut the door on them. It really was a huge surprise. The offense got rolling easily tacking 499 yards on the board. The defense hasn’t played like that all year. They held the potent Bowling Green passing attack to 207 yards.
Boston College-This was another game where the score was closer than the actual game. Notre Dame only scored one offensive touchdown and the other one came on defense. Boston College racked up 459 yards and Matt Ryan was solid once again.
North Carolina-For a team that isn’t very good, Butch Davis has them playing at a high level. South Carolina is a top 15-type football team and the way he got UNC prepared to play was something really special. It’s a shame that they had to lose because they pretty much outplayed South Carolina.
Louisville-Hey, are the Cardinals back? Good question, I’m not so sure myself. The defense finally made some tackles, for once. There were still some blown coverages, but for the most part, it was a heckuva lot better than their defensive performances against Utah, Middle Tennessee, and Syracuse.
Arkansas State-Boy, were these guys impressive? 681 yards of offense! Reggie Arnold ran for 225 yards on 24 carries. It was 24-21 at one point before the Indians blew it open for a final score of 52-21.
Middle Tennessee-Wow! The only team that the Blue Raiders have been able to do this to was Louisville. They tacked on 490 yards of offense and it looks like Dwight Dasher is the guy. They did turn the ball over 4 times, but they did beat Memphis by 14 in a solid effort.
Kansas State-The Wildcats played awesome at home against a tough Colorado team. Their defense made Cody Hawkins play the worst game of his young career. Josh Freeman was solid yet again. A 27-point win is always nice.
B+:
Wake Forest-Is there any magic left? The Demon Deacons of Wake Forest came through with a huge victory against the Noles of FSU. They did it by almost gaining 400 yards against a super-tough FSU D. The Kenneth Moore TD pass really put things away for Wake.
Rutgers-After a stunning start to the football game, Rutgers pulled it back together and scored the last 38 points of the football game. It was a little bit alarming that they were this close to losing to a team that lost to Miami OH that got drilled 42-0 to Colorado, but it was a win nonetheless. Rice was decent.
Buffalo-The Bulls’ defense got torn to shreds, but how about James Starks? The guy ran for 244 yards and three scores! It was an impressive day for the guy and don’t look now, but Turner Gill is quietly turning Buffalo around a little bit.
New Mexico-The Lobos played a terrific game and the weather was no match for the guys from Albuquerque. New Mexico moved the ball very well against a stingy Wyoming defense.
Mississippi State-The Bulldogs actually looked somewhat decent against Tennessee last night. They were right in the thick of things before the Vols took over. For an offense that has been as stagnant as it has been over the last few weeks to manage 338 yards would be the equivalent of Texas Tech getting 800 yards or something. Congrats on finally moving the football!
Penn State-The Nittany Lions played very well against a decent-enough Wisconsin team. Anthony Morelli looked pretty solid, something that he hasn’t been over the course of his career. The team looked unflustered with all of this stuff surrounding them.
Virginia-The defensive performance for the Cavs was a delight to see. The offense didn’t do that great, but that was expected. Both teams played pretty well and both teams are “for real”. I really like Virginia though and they do have a chance to compete for the division crown. Although I like VT there, they have a shot.
Air Force-They didn’t look great, but they did look like the Fisher DeBerry teams of old. The Falcons ran the ball for 385 yards and they force Hanie to throw 4 picks.
UAB-The Blazers didn’t play very good defense, but they finally got a victory! How about that? UAB had a 19 point run that was unanswered before Tulane finally scored. However, a win is a win for Neil Callaway and he’ll take this 26-21 victory.
North Texas-Hey, UNT is off the schneid! Not bad. They forced Kinsmon Lancaster to misfire for two, that’s right, two, touchdowns. That’s probably the most stunning thing this season. Not Appy State, Stanford, or Kentucky/LSU, the fact that the Mean Green scored two defensive touchdowns in one game is amazing!
Auburn-Is there a better defense that has two losses out there? The Tigers are really impressive on this side of the ball. This defensive slugfest came down to a last-second FG for Wes Byrum. As a matter of fact, Auburn didn’t even need a touchdown to win this game, three FGs got it done.
B:
Navy-I won’t give the Midshipmen all of the credit in the world here considering they only beat a mediocre Pitt team, but they did have some guts for hitting the FG at the end to send it into overtime. This was a much-needed victory for the Middies.
Northwestern-The Wildcats were awful ever since opening up the game 7-0. Minnesota went on a 35-7 tear but Northwestern regained their composure and tied up the game into overtime. Again, C.J. Bacher was terrific. They held up on a failed two-point conversion and won, 49-48.
Georgia Tech-The Yellow Jackets really got Tashard Choice going as he cranked out 207 yards on 37 carries against a tough Miami defense. The score might not indicate it, but Georgia Tech played pretty well on Saturday. They out gained the Miami offense by 155 yards.
LSU-It’s not like they didn’t play very well, but the passing game was less-than-impressive. The rushing game was pretty solid and it’s not like the defense was that bad. They were outplayed and they played pretty well for themselves.
USC-The Trojans found the second coming of Reggie Bush in Joe McKnight. The kid’s a true freshman and he’s already looking like the kind of game-changer that Reggie Bush was. They looked shaky, again, against Arizona but they pulled out the victory by basically owning the last quarter.
Houston-The Cougars were on the ropes heading into the 4th quarter against Rice. Lucky enough for them, the offense exploded in this game and saved the day. Even though they turned the ball over FIVE times, Houston’s offense mustered 748 yards in a defensive shredding of the Rice Owls. Donnie Avery had 346 yards receiving!
Northern Illinois-This is one of the Huskies’ first good grades of the year. Even though they lost, again, they didn’t look awful. They almost caught a heartbroken Western Michigan team off-guard. It wasn’t quite good enough, but they didn’t play awful for the first time all year.
TCU-Offense? That word is unknown around Fort Worth, but they finally got a little taste of it against Stanford. Coming off of an upset against USC, the Cardinal got outscored down the stretch 14-3 before Andy Dalton ran out of the endzone at the end of the game. The defense wasn’t very good, but a win over a team on cloud nine after upsetting USC is a good win nonetheless.
Georgia-Any road win in the SEC is a good win and the Bulldogs got one against Vanderbilt. They did it on a last-second FG. It was good to see that Mark Richt is not okay with players celebrating at mid-field on the opposing team’s logo. I don’t think I would want to be one of those players during the next practice….
Missouri-The Tigers looked okay against OU and they did some things that they should be proud of. Oklahoma really is one of the better teams in the country and they held their own. The fumble return really put the game away, but Missouri is for real.
Louisiana Tech-Zac Champion was a huge difference-maker in his game against New Mexico State. He led the Bulldogs to two touchdowns in about the last six minutes of the football game to win it.
Southern Miss-The Golden Eagles played pretty well never really letting SMU get anything going as far as momentum is concerned. Damion Fletcher had a nice game and it looks like the Rice game is behind them.
ECU-I’m wondering where this offensive explosion has come from ECU. Rob Kass misfired three times, but he moved the ball and was efficient most of the time. The Pirates hung 507 yards on the UTEP defense in a nice road OT win. They scored 45-42.
B-:
Eastern Michigan-The first half of the game was an unimpressive one at that for Eastern Michigan, but they did storm back and that deserves some credit. The defense was awful but the offense came out of nowhere and produced.
Western Kentucky-The Hilltoppers were a little bit surprising with the way that they played Ball State. The Cardinals were supposed to blow these guys out of the water, but they have shown some promising qualities. They held the potent Ball State offense to 363 yards.
Arizona-The Wildcats weren’t that bad, but they didn’t look very good either. The only thing keeping them right in the thick of things in this football game was USC not playing very well. Willie Tuitama was accurate, but it didn’t result in very many yards.
UConn-They played well for the most part, but the Huskies sort of collapsed near the end of the game. They didn’t play well on defense to close out that drive where Virginia kicked the FG. Also, they were awful on that last drive self-destructing with a couple of botched snaps and a false start. That was awful.
Central Michigan-Are the Chippewas “back” under Butch Jones? Not really. He obviously has no idea how to coach defense. Any time Army gets 397 yards against you, there is work left to be done. They did force 7 turnovers though.
Fresno State-The Bulldogs still have a lot of stuff to fix before they return to the level that they were at only a few seasons ago, but at least Tim Brandstater isn’t losing games. Idaho moved the football though and the defense still has a way to go if they want to play in a bowl game.
Vanderbilt-They didn’t do that great on offense only mustering 310 yards. But you have to give them credit for fighting valiantly against Georgia. It was a pretty good effort even though they lost.
Cal-They had many opportunities to put Oregon State away but they failed. From what I saw, they didn’t give the game away, but there were some crucial moments that Cal didn’t capitalize on. The Oregon State goal line stand for example. They onside kick that was a bit questionable. The fact that they didn’t come up with a defensive stand on the 12-play, 55-yard drive that gave Oregon State the lead also hurts. And of course, Riley’s bonehead, freshman mistake on the last play.
Tulane-The Green Wave got Matt Forte rolling, but it wasn’t enough. They need to cut down on those penalties; they made 12 fouls for 89 yards. It looks, on paper anyway, that Tulane beat themselves.
Marshall-The Thundering Herd moved the ball offensively against Tulsa and they weren’t blown out. That alone is worth a B-.
Arkansas-The Auburn defense was great, but it’s beginning to look like Casey Dick is the real X-factor on this football team. If he stinks (which is usual), Arkansas isn’t going to do very well. Felix Jones and Darren McFadden won’t be able to win games by themselves in SEC play.
UTEP-The Miners pretty much played ECU to a draw. Trevor Vittatoe had a huge game passing with 409 yards against a decent ECU defense. They also got Marcus Thomas rolling, but it wasn’t quite enough as they settled for a FG first before surrendering a TD in OT.
C+:
San Jose State-Hawaii isn’t really the 16th best team in the nation. Plus, the Spartans got them on the road. But even with that said, they did play okay. They forced some turnovers from Brennan and the offense had some good moments.
Miami-Even with the way they played, they only lost by three points. They got totally outplayed, but they were with Georgia Tech every step of the way. I give Miami a C+ for hanging around while not playing all that well.
Rice-Rice’s defense is awful, so Houston gaining 700+ really isn’t that surprising. The fact that they even were in the football game is surprising. The offense seems like it’s beginning to get going again.
Western Michigan-Northern Illinois is a pretty bad team and they just let them hang around for the entire game. The final score was 17-13 and they proved yet again that they’re struggling defending the run. Justin Anderson was effective against the WMU front.
Stanford-Man, you can’t beat USC on the road and then lose to TCU at home. That’s a tough loss for Jim Harbaugh and crew. TCU hasn’t done anything offensively all year long before they locked horns with Stanford and that’s a rather dubious honor. Kimble ran pretty well against a good TCU front 6 though.
Cincinnati-The Bearcats suffered their first defeat of the year at the hands of Louisville. The worst thing about this loss was the turnover margin. That’s Cincinnati’s modus operandi, they win the turnover battle. This week against Louisville, they gave the Cards the ball four extra times. That’s what ultimately doomed them.
Colorado-Even though they lost pretty handily, I’m giving most of the credit to Kansas State. The only problem though is the fact that Cody Hawkins threw 3 picks which is his worst outing so far. The 3rd-down defense for KSU was fantastic and Colorado couldn’t do too much in this department.
BYU-Even though the Cougars won the game by 10, they did turn the ball over 4 times as they were really careless with it. This allowed UNLV to keep within striking distance for much of the game. But the defense was fantastic.
UNLV-The Rebels weren’t really that close, but the game was close (mainly due to BYU not putting them away). UNLV is improving, but they still need some work to do. They were outgained 441-217.
C:
FSU-The Seminoles were extremely disappointing one week after their solid win against NC State. Just when you thought they might be back to the Florida State of old, they lose to Wake Forest. They have some serious offensive issues because Antone Smith didn’t get going at all.
Kent State-They were supposed to get nailed against Ohio State, so that is no surprise. They didn’t show any flashes, pardon the pun, of doing anything better than they were expected to, so that’s why Kent State gets as C in a 48-3 loss.
Duke-Again, just like Kent State, they were merely average for themselves against VT and they didn’t show anything special. They couldn’t manage 200 yards of offense against VT’s awesome defense and they fell victim to “Beamer Ball”.
Syracuse-The Orange opened up the game 14-0 against Rutgers, but they got drilled a little bit afterwards. They moved the ball a little bit (for them) against Rutgers’ D. Syracuse was bad in this game, but they weren’t awful like they often look like.
Wyoming-It was a bit of a disappointing effort against New Mexico yesterday in the crazy weather. The Cowboy offense really stunk it up with 238 yards.
Notre Dame-They at least deserve an average C for their game against Boston College yesterday. It’s not like they were as awful as they were against Michigan, Georgia Tech, and
Idaho-They lost by 13, but they were sort of competitive. They didn’t look terrible like Idahos of year’s past. They have a special back in Deonte Jackson.
Colorado State-Are the Rams the best winless team in the nation? Yeah, but that doesn’t equate to a victory against a good Air Force team. The Falcons forced Caleb Hanie to toss 4 picks in the loss. The defense didn’t do a good job of standing up to Air Force’s offense.
Tulsa-The Golden Hurricane put on an offensive clinic and even though they won, they couldn’t put awful Marshall away at Skelly Stadium. That part was a bit disappointing and they let Marshall’s offense do all kinds of things.
Washington-I’m not really sure what to make of Washington’s performance. They looked solid in the first half, but they got lit up in the second. So, I’ll give them a C for the heck of it.
C-:
Minnesota-The Golden Gophers deserve some credit for opening up the ball game 35-14, but the collapse was Ron Mason-esque. It was a shame that Brewster decided to go for it to win the game. Stupid. Dumb. You’re not Boise State, kick the extra point.
Ohio-Guys, come on, it’s Eastern Michigan! Ohio rocked on offense but they let the Eagles do way too much offensively. They jumped out to a 28-0 lead and almost lost the game. They also turned the ball over four times.
Alabama-Could the Crimson Tide defend the forward pass at all in this game? I only saw a little bit of the game, but it seemed like Ole Miss at times just completed 20+ yards passes at will. It wasn’t a very good game defensively; they were out gained by Ole Miss.
Toledo-The Rockets wound up losing to Buffalo of all football teams, but they did move the ball very, very well. Toledo 518 yards of offense, but that’s saying something when you don’t win the game with that. It seemed like it was a matter of execution.
Tennessee-The Volunteers moved the ball pretty much at will nearing the end of the game finishing with 470 yards, but the defensive performance was a little…….well, bad. Mississippi State’s offense is very poor but they did some things that Fulmer probably isn’t too proud of. They could never really put the Bulldogs away until the end of the game.
San Diego State-They certainly didn’t play that great, but they did get smoked on the stat sheet. I guess you have to give them some credit for hanging around, but it really wasn’t that close.
Army-The Black Knights did okay for themselves on the road against Central Michigan, but come on, they turned the ball over 7 times. That’s not going to get Stan Brock any victories soon. The defense got carved up against Dan LeFevour, but they weren’t terrible.
New Mexico State-They pretty much lost because of Chase Holbrook’s sore ribs, but McDermott was decent enough. Louisiana Tech just made the plays when they were needed and the Aggies didn’t really accomplish that unfortunately.
SMU-Man, am I the only one who feels for Justin Willis? This guy is surrounded by nothing and his job is to make SMU competitive by himself. Southern Miss finally has looked like it’s back on track, but the Mustangs looked really bad in this game.
D+:
Pitt-The Panthers really didn’t play all that well against Navy considering all of the raw talent stockpiled in Pittsburgh. Dave Wannstedt’s awful coaching decision to go for the win really backfired. His job is in severe jeopardy and it’s insane because you have Cincinnati and USF being the ones that took advantage of the new Big East’s situation in 2005 while Syracuse and Pitt are the ones who aren’t exactly doing so hot. They almost gave up 500 yards to Navy.
UCF-They were at least supposed to give USF a game, weren’t they? One week after a closer-than-it-should-have-been effort against Florida Atlantic, a much better UCF team didn’t even compete. The defensive output was disappointing.
Baylor-Are the Bears seriously this terrible? They looked like it against Kansas. They turned the ball over five times without even making Kansas sweat. I thought Baylor could win a game or two in Big 12 play, apparently not.
Ball State-This is starting to worry me. Considering the way that they played on defense against Central Michigan, they were out gained by Western Kentucky! They won the game 35-12, but it took them a while to really get going. Brady Hoke needs to get this thing turned around. Ball State should be better than this.
South Carolina-The Gamecocks got totally outplayed by North Carolina and they almost blew it at the end. Steve Spurrier expressed his disgust at the offensive performance, and I can’t blame him.
Texas A&M-I’m confused as to how they got blown out so badly. They weren’t careless with the football and it’s not like they were stopped cold. They just couldn’t score against Tech’s defense. I’m very disappointed in Texas A&M’s performance.
Memphis-I’m giving the Tigers a D+ for the fact that it was pretty close, but you’re defense has to be pretty sad if it forces 4 turnovers and still loses by 14 points with a 242 yard differential. That’s not good.
D:
Hawaii-The Warriors once again let us down on the road. Colt Brennan, even though he threw for 545 yards, was inaccurate again tossing four picks! His Heisman chances are pretty much shot. There was a lull there where Hawaii allowed San Jose State to score 28 consecutive points. The one promising thing is that the defense is stepping up a little bit.
Bowling Green-What happened here? It’s not like Bowling Green is awful. This game was absolutely huge for their hopes of winning the MAC East and they blew it with an awful performance. They certainly did bring their D-game.
Wisconsin-The loss of Stocco hurts more than most people realize. Wisconsin has always had an underrated, efficient QB that moves the chains when they need to. Unfortunately, Tyler Donovan isn’t that QB. Also, the defense has some huge issues that it needs to fix. This team, outside of Michigan, is obviously the most overrated one this season.
Akron-The Zips didn’t play awfully, so I won’t give them a D-. But it’s Temple and giving up 21 points to close out the game is a no-no……come on………
UL Monroe-Losing to North Texas is much worse now than it was a few seasons ago. The Warhawk QB, Kinsmon Lancaster, tossed two picks that went the opposite way for a TD. Also, they didn’t do enough against North Texas’ D2-esque defense. Revell came in and played nicely, but it was a bad loss.
UL Lafayette-The Ragin’ Cajuns are one of the biggest disappointments in the nation. It might not have the same effect on the national scale, but this team was supposed to compete for the Sun Belt title. Now, they’re a doormat. Arkansas State had 681 yards of offense, most of that coming on the ground. I think this might be Ricky Bustle’s last season.
D-:
Purdue-Seriously guys, you’re better than that. I’m still trying to figure out why all of this offensive talent doesn’t do crap against defenses that are somewhat decent. Purdue’s defense still needs a lot of fixing; Tiller can’t be pleased. Painter wasn’t careful with the football at all and Michigan gained 458 yards of offense.
Iowa State-The Cyclones have some serious things that they need to work out. Coming into the game, I figured that Gene Chizik, considering he’s been around the Texas program, would have some answers for what they’re scheming to do. It turns out that I was dead wrong. It was a horribly played game.
Nebraska-The Cornhuskers have some big-time issues defensively. They can’t defend anybody at all which is really stunning. Callahan has some of these games where Nebraska just gets smoked and it really does have to stop.
Washington State-I’m aware that Oregon is really, really good, but isn’t Washington State a little bit better than that? They really looked awful and Bill Doba can’t be feeling too good about the situation that this football team is in. They gave up 551 yards of offense.
Indiana-Was there a more disappointing football team this week than Indiana? Maybe outside of Nebraska and Washington State, they were. Michigan State steamrolled them in a game that wasn’t close………ever. I saw the game on the Big 10 Network and it was just awful. This is what happens when a motivated team meets a team that isn’t.
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