Team Grades: Week 4
<TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD>Another week, more grades:
A+:
Oklahoma-Man, these guys are so good. When Bradford tossed the pick, I thought it might be close, but another opponent up, a 40-point drubbing, and the Sooners will go on with their day.
Syracuse-Even though the Orange defense was awful, these guys get an A+ for winning their first game of the year. Wow. It really is amazing when you get drubbed by Washington, Illinois, and Iowa and then you come out and beat Louisville in Papa John's Stadium where they're almost unbeatable. Kragthorpe is feeling the heat and Greg Robinson's seat just got a little cooler. Taj Smith averaged 43.3 yards per catch.
Ohio State-Man, is Northwestern this bad? Good Lord. Either that, or Ohio State finally has awakened from the doldrums of averageness. They really didn't even do that much offensively with 396 yards of total offense, but the defense gave up 0 rushing yards and 120 yards of total offense.
UCF-It's possible that these guys, not Southern Miss, are the favorites to win the division this year. George O'Leary was confident that this would be one of his better teams, and he's probably correct. Even though they turned the ball over 3 times, this performance was so dominating that it's worthy of an A+.
Texas-The Longhorns finally woke up against pathetic Rice. They're looking like a D2 team with the way they've been playing, but McCoy was on fire for 333 yards. The Owls could only get -11 rushing yards against Texas.
Kansas-The Jayhawks hung another merciless 50-pointer on a defenseless foe. FIU did some things offensively, but Kansas just breezed through this game.
USC-The Trojans looked great again for the second straight week led by John David Booty's 4 TD passes. It was a close game for the first quarter, but USC really opened it up in the second quarter.
UNLV-Utah has some issues, but give UNLV some love for pitching a shutout. The Rebels pretty much played Utah to a draw on the stats sheet, but it was a matter of capitalizing. Frank Summers was excellent as they pulled off the upset against Utah.
Colorado-Miami OH isn't terrible, but Colorado finally exploded offensively. Dan Hawkins has been miserable over his first season and three games as head coach of the Buffaloes, but, out of NOWHERE, Colorado took off for 634 yards! This is stunning. And the defense was awesome keeping Miami OH underneath the 200-yard mark. Absolute domination.
USF-The Bulls totally dominated North Carolina in this game. The USF defense was too overpowering for the Tar Heels, but USF also found a way to manage getting 428 yards of total offense.
Miami-The Hurricanes dismantled Texas A&M with relative ease. The offense finally, FINALLY, got going with 402 yards to show for it. The defense was awesome as usual at stopping the run. Goodson, McGee, and Lane couldn't get anything going.
West Virginia-This is the team many expected to see coming into the year. They have really drilled some mediocre teams, but you couldn't help but be impressed with their game yesterday. They were one yard shy of eclipsing the 600 yard mark. Probably the most notable stat though was how well the defense did. They had a shutout going before ECU scored a touchdown in garbage minutes.
A:
Auburn-Basically, the Tigers get an A instead of an A+ for letting New Mexico State hang in there for one half. But Auburn ran away in the second half outscoring New Mexico State in it by a score of 34-0. They generated 6 turnovers in the game.
BYU-Air Force has done pretty well so far this season, but the Cougars didn't let them do anything. They out gained the Falcons by 221 yards. They really got Harvey Unga going which is key to future success.
New Mexico-Los Lobos (is this correct Spanish?) totally dominated the game against Sacramento State who is terrible at their own level. The passing game did some nice things, the defense was excellent, and Rodney Ferguson got his motor churning. Impressive game.
LSU-The Tigers didn't exactly dominate the box score, but they did get the job done. The fake to the kicker was excellent.
Clemson-The Tigers offense is awesome. It also helps when you have a team horrible at stopping the run in NC State. C.J. Spiller, James Davis, and even Jacoby Ford picked the Wolf Pack defense apart. The Clemson D held NC State to 202 yards of total offense. Andre Brown couldn't get going at all and Daniel Evans and Harrison Beck were absolutely atrocious. Flat out domination.
Wake Forest-The Demon Deacons didn't look to pretty to begin the game, but boy, did they finish or what? The Jordan Steffy INT set the Terps back big-time and it was a great win to stay alive in the ACC for Wake Forest.
Ball State-Nebraska's defense has been getting progressively worse as the season moves on, but Ball State's offense is really, really something. It took them a while to get up off their feet when they had an inexplicable loss to Miami OH to begin the year. Since then, they've been great offensively and they hung 600 yards on Nebraska. They lost the game on a missed FG, but you have to give the Cardinals a bunch of credit in this game.
Oklahoma State-You need to give credit to the Cowboys for pulling this thing out. Yes, they gave up 718 yards to Texas Tech, but the offense was certainly there. They don't play that much defense to begin with, so that's not much of a surprise. They executed better on 3rd down conversions, they had fewer penalties, and they forced two turnovers as opposed to OSU's one turnover. They did the little things right and it cost Texas Tech in this game.
Texas Tech-If SSO grades Okie State as an A, Tech needs one as well because these guys played to a draw. 718 yards of offense. Wow. That's Texas Tech in its finest. But they met up with a team that could match them score for score and they didn't do those little things; it lost them a crucial game in Big 12 play. Either way, both offenses were tremendous and the effort for both teams was great to see. Give 'em both an A!
A-:
Michigan State-Beating Notre Dame is no easy task these days, but they were efficient against the Irish. The defense for MSU stepped up even though it hasn't been as good as GT, Penn State, or Michigan when it came to defending the putrid Irish offense. Brian Hoyer needs to make better throws or they won't do anything in Big 10 play.
Michigan-They won a game against a ranked opponent without Chad Henne. With the way they've played over the first two games of the season, that can't be overlooked. Once Henne does come back, they'll be fine. Mallett did what he had to do and Mike Hart had a great day on the ground. Michigan's defense stepped up for the second week in a row giving the Wolverines an A-.
Georgia-They won in overtime on the first offensive snap. The Georgia Bulldogs were marching downfield before Coutu missed the FG. It was a well played game by the Bulldogs.
Alabama-Again, another close match with the loser deserving a similar grade. Alabama was neck-and-neck all day with Georgia, but they just didn't come through when it mattered most (overtime).
UConn-The Huskies got out gained by Pitt. Part of that were the Panthers' SIX turnovers which sets up UConn with a smaller field and it forces Pitt to throw. So, I'm just going to disregard that and focus on how big of a win this was for UConn. For some reason, many people had Pitt winning this game, but UConn came out fired up ready to put that Temple game behind them. 4-0 start!
UTEP-Eh, they were only playing Texas Southern who hasn't even won a game yet, but they did do some nice things. Offensively, they really got the ball rolling and it was just a nice day at the office. TSU QB Tino Edgecomb probably did too much against the Miner defense and they're going to need some shoring up to do before heading into conference play. Even so, it looks like Price's ballclub is well on their way to go bowling.
Houston-The Cougs did a great job of keeping Kyle Bell from not doing too much. Bell only had about 3.2 yards per carry. Houston found themselves down at halftime 17-3, but they exploded in the second half for 5 TDs.
Oregon-Is the Ducks' offense great, or what? Dennis Dixon was lights out again with 4 TD passes 367 yards. Stanford is doing some great things on offense under Jim Harbaugh, so the 402 yards against Stanford isn't as bad as it might have been last season.
Stanford-They got blown out, but again, compared to the expectations coming into this year, Stanford has been great so far. At least they're playing with a renewed sense of urgency to get things done. They've played pretty well so far against UCLA, Oregon, and San Jose State.
UCLA-It was good to see the Bruins bounce back from that disaster against Utah last week. Patrick Cowan played well at QB and the ground game ripped Washington to shreds. People need to lay off the Huskies a little bit, they still have a lot of work to do.
Cal-Keeping with the A-/Pac-10 theme, California beat up Arizona pretty good. Longshore was effective and Justin Forsett ran wild.
B+:
Purdue-The Boilermakers had a nice game, but I was kind of disappointed in their offensive output. They scored a TD on defense and on special teams, so it was a great effort all-around from the team.
Arizona State-It took them a while, but they finally woke up and dominated this game. Oregon State was bit by the turnover bug yet again, but ASU ripped off a 44-13 run to close out this game. Rudy Carpenter was awesome with 4 TD strikes and 361 yards.
Marshall-Well, they didn't get killed against Cincinnati. The score says 40-14, but the offense moved the ball against a very tough Cincy defense. The Bearcats moved the ball at will offensively, but the Herd didn't play too poorly for themselves.
Boston College-The Eagles weren't very sharp in this game turning the ball over left and right. Matt Ryan had a big day for an easy win over an Army team that was mainly within striking distance because Boston College was apathetic. They did have 573 yards of offense.
Tennessee-The Vols had a tough time putting Arkansas State away, but they did late in the game. The passing game was surprisingly effective considering how good Arkansas State's secondary is. Kudos to Erik Ainge and crew. They let Reggie Arnold do too much on the ground.
Troy-Yet another 500+ yard day on offense. Can these guys fly or what? They have been impressive and they got it done with balancing out the scheme. The ground game, led by Kenny Cattouse, had 271 yards while the passing game, led by Omar Haugabook, had 297 yards. Troy did get run over on the ground and they need to fix that defense which is pretty unusual for them.
Florida Atlantic-Another good performance from the Fighting Schnellenbergers. They picked off Daniel Meager and the brand-new North Texas spread passing attack three times with Rusty Smith doing his damage for 322 yards. Tavious Polo had TWO MORE INTs! Amazing, this guy is 2007's Dwight Lowery or Stanley Franks.
Western Kentucky-The third Sun Belt team in a row, the Hilltoppers upset winless Middle Tennessee last Thursday on a missed 34-yard FG. They dominated on the ground against what was a tough MTSU defense last year. The Blue Raiders have some issues that need solving, but WKU has a bright future.
Kentucky-It took a while for the Wildcats to get rolling, but the offense was consistent for a while and then it exploded in the 4th quarter.
Arkansas-Pretty much, another super-close game that could've gone either way. The final TD was due to the field position that Arkansas handed over on a missed 4th down conversion.
Virginia-Jameel Sewell was actually effective for once which was the difference in this game. GT had their opportunities, but the Cavalliers took control. The play right after the muffed punt was one of the few times I had recently seen Virginia click offensively.
Virginia Tech-The Hokies let up on William & Mary. The Tribe probably wanted Lang Campbell to come back for another game of eligibility. W&M could only muster 262 yards of total offense against VT's defense as they went on to a 44-3 win (it was 41-3 at the half).
B:
Tulane-Yeah, SE Louisiana shouldn't be playing them that closely, but Matt Forte ran for 303 yards on 40 carries leading the Green Wave to their first win of the season.
Akron-The Zips were not bad against KSU. They executed and, as always in tight games, that earned them the victory.
Kent State-Julian Edelman couldn't complete the pass at the end of the game and the Golden Flashes lost the Wagon Wheel, but I was impressed with both teams. KSU should not have blown it the way that they did, but Akron took it from them, they didn't just give it to the Zips.
Georgia Tech-They should have won this game. Even without Tashard Choice, letting Virginia, a team that has no WR ability and scored 3 points against Wyoming, score 21 points is bad. They're too good of caliber to be letting stuff like that happen. But they played decently enough, I'll give them a B.
Western Michigan-Finally, thank God they played up to their potential. It really wasn't a pretty win against Central Connecticut State. They only out gained the Blue Devils by 166 yards but they did force five turnovers.
Hawaii-Without Colt Brennan, they still should have hung 80 on a team like Charleston Southern. It took the Warriors forever to get going and maybe it's just a matter of motivation, but you can't lead by 11 at halftime against the Bucs. I wouldn't be too comfortable from what I've been seeing if I were a Hawaii football fan.
San Diego State-They let Portland State throw all over them (Mouse Davis is on the coaching staff there), but they fired back with almost 600 yards of their own. Brian White tossed 4 picks for PSU. SDSU played a fine game offensively which is their strength.
South Carolina-The Gamecocks did some good things against LSU, but getting controlled by the best team in the nation is not really anything to worry about. They have a good football team that should still compete for the SEC East crown of Florida slacks off like they have been doing.
Ole Miss-Speaking of those Gators, Seth Adams picked the Florida secondary apart with ease. That's not a good sign if you're Florida, but for Ole Miss, getting that kind of offensive production is a major plus. The defense got ripped up, but they didn't break too often and just giving Florida a football game will go a long was as far as momentum is concerned.
Illinois-In a game ridden with turnovers, the Illini got it done on the ground which made the difference. Rashard Mendenhall had a great game running for over 200 yards.
Arkansas State-They hung pretty tight with Tennnessee for a while. I was a little disappointed in their secondary considering how good each of their safeties are. Reggie Arnold played very well.
B-:
Navy-The Middies ran all over Duke's defense and (what?!) they did it with the passing game! Unbelievable, I know. Kaheaku-Enhada had 217 yards passing which is Texas Tech-esque in Navy terms. They also steamrolled Duke on the ground for 300+. They still have some major, major defensive issues.
Duke-The Blue Devils really blew this one with their aggressive play calling late in the game. The INT return and a scramble by Jarod Bryant set up a game winning FG. They did some really good things through the air with Thaddeus Lewis and that offense, as expected, has been vastly improving.
Army-Even though Boston College was holding themselves back, Army was pretty solid on defense. If they weren't on, Boston College could've had 800 yards if they wanted to considering the gap in talent.
Northern Illinois-At this rate, it was just nice for them to get a win. After an 0-3 start that included losses to Southern Illinois and Eastern Michigan, they almost blew the game against Idaho. They had a 35-7 lead at one point and they needed a Larry English sack on 4th down (inside the 30, mind you) to keep Idaho from winning the game with a 42-35 final.
Idaho-The Vandals also deserve some credit for coming back. It took them a while, but they finally got to defending that home turf of theirs called the Kibbie Dome. It was too bad it had to end like that because the play for the first half was so horrible.
Maryland-What was lost in the Terrapins' collapse was the fact that they did play a pretty good game. They picked off Riley Skinner 4 times and they got some good things going on the ground with Keon Lattimore. I dunno, they looked solid out there and had they won, I'd probably give them a B+. It was a very evenly contested match.
Indiana-Illinois controlled the game from the get-go, and it was kind of puzzling. Indiana just couldn't seem to put it together.
Buffalo-The Bulls are an upstart football team capable of giving some other ones a ballgame. They might be able to do some damage in MAC play. They gave Baylor a bit of a scare, but the Bears were never really in a position to lose the game. Willy threw a few INTs which would've made a huge difference had he not done so.
TCU-They won the game, but they still obviously have some issues to work out. Offensively, they could only muster 250 yards against a horrible SMU defense. It was good to see Marcus Jackson coming in the game though. The defense was shaky yet again allowing the Mustangs to get 352 yards offensively.
SMU-The Mustangs played a decent game, but again, they just stink. They're not going to do anything this year. They converted 25% of their 3rd downs which made it difficult to sustain drives.
Bowling Green-Tyler Sheehan was great once again, but I don't think Falcon Nation is too comfortable with the way their pass defense played. Adam DiMichele tossed 4 TDs against the pass D. Their play down the stretch of the 4th quarter was a little shaky.
Temple-They didn't play particularly well, but any close game for Temple is a positive. They got some things done through the air that they must be proud of. They also showed how disciplined they were only committing two penalties.
Toledo-The Rockets are great at defending the Glass Bowl, but they got outplayed somewhat. Although they do deserve some credit for getting the ball back three times along with a defensive and special teams touchdown. They won the game 36-35.
Wisconsin-The Badgers, yet again, didn't really come to play against Iowa. Which isn't good, they're in front of Camp Randall Crazies on a primetime, Saturday night football game. What is their deal?
Iowa-Played them close enough, but they only managed 3 points in the second half. They just don't look like a very good football team but defensively, that's another story altogether. They look great on defense.
C+:
Baylor-Buffalo is still Buffalo and they shouldn't be within range of a BCS conference team (even if it is Baylor). I'm not really sure why they ever agreed to go TO Buffalo in the first place. Blake Szymanski was decent through the air and he made some plays with his legs in earning a victory.
Mississippi State-They were without Michael Henig (which we all know is absolutely devastating to this Bulldog offense), but they did okay offensively and held the run n' shoot offense of the Runnin' Bulldogs at bay. They did bend a lot, but they hardly ever broke and they looked okay in this affair.
Arizona-These guys officially have some work to do. Already 1-3 with losses to New Mexico and BYU, the Wildcats stink. They turn the ball over far too many times.
Missouri-Illinois State has a solid football team, but Missouri's defense is very bad. After yesterday, the Tigers have the nation's 89th ranked defense facing offensive juggernauts such as Illinois, Ole Miss, Western Michigan, and Illinois State.
Washington State-They got steamrolled, but, hey, can you blame them?
North Texas-The Mean Green did alright for themselves against a good FAU team. Winning isn't all that important right now. It's all about setting the groundwork for a poor man's Texas Tech which is occurring.
New Mexico State-It was a 21-20 game at halftime before Auburn blew their doors off. They turned the ball over too many times to really remain that competitive.
Tulsa-They didn't look that bad out there for a while. Oklahoma eventually had their way with them, but you can't say they didn't battle, especially on offense.
Florida-Not a very good game from the Gators. They haven't fared all that well when they've headed into Mississippi. The Rebels do not have a very good team and there's no reason why they shouldn't have won by 20 points.
Penn State-The Nittany Lions should've known what was coming. Come on, Michigan was so one-dimensional in that game, they should never have even made it across midfield. The Penn State offense was anemic as well and could've done much better.
Notre Dame-Hey, this is their first game not ending up in the D range! Congratulations. They also scored two touchdowns which is something they can build upon. The offensive lineman were much more physical than in weeks past.
Minnesota-The Golden Gophers battled back, but they still made mental errors here and mental errors there. That's the stuff Brewster is supposed to be getting rid of.
Colorado State-They were very average in this game. Houston, not known for their run defense, totally shut Kyle Bell down. They didn't have a lot of success doing anything in the second half.
C:
San Jose State-They finally got their first win of the season against a pesky Utah State team. Adam Tafralis needed a last-minute TD to secure the victory. Kevin Robinson ate their special teams alive.
Utah State-They played them tough in Logan but they just didn't have enough to come out on top. SJSU dominated the game statwise, but Kevin Robinson kept setting them up with great field position which was why this game was close in the first place.
Wyoming-The Cowboys get a C for pulling out the victory in dramatic fashion, but they were B-A-D all game and there's no reason why Ohio shouldn't have been able to put them away. Wyoming turned the ball over seven times! They got flagged seven times for 102 yards! It was an ugly win.
Ohio-They get a C for letting Wyoming stay in the game. How does a team not put somebody away after that?
Oregon State-The awful, dreadful QB play continues to do Oregon State in. The Beavers turned the ball over six times, five of those coming off of interceptions from Sean Canfield. Bernard was good as usual, but the QB play is haunting Oregon State from being a really good team.
UL Lafayette-The Ragin' Cajuns had tremendous success on the ground against a weak Troy defense. Michael Desormeaux continues to screw his own team throwing two interceptions. He was the team's leading rusher though. Troy smoked ULL's defense.
C-:
Eastern Michigan-Coming off of a win against Northern Illinois, the Eagles respond by getting out gained against Howard? Is this a joke? Man. Good luck winning the rest of the way when you've got Vanderbilt, Michigan, Ohio, Northwestern, Western Michigan, Toledo, and Bowling Green the schedule (I'll give 'em a good shot against Central Michigan, more on them later).
Washington-They moved the football against UCLA a little bit (who hasn't so far?) but the run defense was pathetic. They couldn't stop Markey if their lives depended on it.
Air Force-People were hoping that the Air Force Falcons would improve to 4-0, but they had no shot going into Provo. BYU's defense really came to play after getting drilled by Tulsa though. Air Force is still working on finding some sort of passing game.
D+:
Texas A&M-Miami was pumped, but could you guys play a little better next time? The Aggies have been totally overrated by the media getting out gained by Montana State and letting a very poor Fresno State team walk into Kyle Field and almost beat them. We should've seen this one coming.
Nebraska-Ball State has a good offense folks, and I wouldn't have an issue with this game if Nebraska let them move the football a little bit. But 600+ yards? Wow. My pick to win the Big 12 this year? Yeah, just forget I ever wrote that on this site, okay?
East Carolina-West Virginia is scary, scary good, but ECU knew how to defend them last year. This year, they go into Morgantown and get drilled. It was a disappointing effort from the Pirates.
North Carolina-The Tar Heels got drilled on national TV. It was a shame that they got defeated so badly. Butch Davis needs to be thinking about next season.
D:
Memphis-The Tigers were supposed to at least give UCF a game. I know the Knights are probably one of the best non-BCS teams out there, but give me a break. This game was over by the first quarter and the Memphis defense gave up over 600 yards.
Pitt-Losing to UConn isn't such a big deal (it is to their bowl aspirations though), but the way they did it was awful. They gave UConn six turnovers to work with and it was a horrible all-around football game.
FIU-I'll grade FIU pretty easily if they compete, but this game wasn't close at all. Another drubbing from the Kansas Jayhawks.
Iowa State-The Cyclones continually wallow in futility this time dropping a game that they should've easily won to Toledo, a bad Toledo team, might I add. Brett Meyer played well but not well enough.
Cincinnati-The Bearcats, even though they won by 26 points, let Marshall roll on offense. I may be being way too rough on the Bearcats, but Marshall's offense is too mediocre and Cincy's D is too good to let them get 337 yards of offense.
D-:
Rice-Again.
Miami OH-What in the world was that? Like I said earlier about Colorado, Miami is no Florida International. I'm still trying to figure out how A) Colorado scored 42 points and B) how Miami OH got shut out. They're hurt by injuries, but they've got to be a little bit better than that. Surprising.
Northwestern-I don't care who you play, if you lose to Duke and back that up with a 58-7 loss to Ohio State (and the defense pitched a shutout), it's worthy of a D-.
Utah-What in the world happened to these guys? They score 44 against UCLA and 0 against UNLV? It's going to be a rollercoaster ride this year.
NC State-Their play against Clemson was totally inexcusable. They got crushed.
CMU-Of course, CMU finds their way back into the D- echelon. How, in God's name, can you lose to North Dakota State by 30 points when you went to a bowl game the previous year? How does that happen? It's stunning, it really is.
Middle Tennessee-Ironically, both of these teams met up in the Motor City Bowl last season (I was there, Ford Field is a nice place). It's stunning how far both of these programs have fallen within the span of 9 months.
Louisville-And, how can we leave the Cardinals off of this list? The defense has no concept of how to tackle players.
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). New avatar too from the movie by the same name.
