Editor's note: Phil Steele of Northcoast Sports continues to crush the books this fall with a dominating 10-4 (71%) spot on college football. Find out more about Phil and his selections on VegasInsider.com. Click to win!
NEWS AND NOTES
Middle Tenn and Louisville had a wild 1H with the teams having 5 TD's in the first 4:33 and the first punt of the game was with :58 left in the half. The game slowed down in the 2H and the teams "only" combined for 100 points and UL finished with a 729-555 yd edge. UL RB Anthony Allen set a school record with 275 yds rushing...
Alabama won for the 20th consecutive time over Vanderbilt and was even more comfortable than the final would indicate. They finished with a 371-232 yd edge but VU gained 85 of their yards on the final 2 drives including a TD with 7:22 left. VU QB Nickson was hampered by a sore hamstring all game and struggled hitting 5 of 18 passes for 67 yards and Bama fans outnumbered VU fans...
Buffalo held Temple to -36 yds rushing on 25 carries...
Utah St trailed 14-6 vs Wyoming but got a 38 yd IR TD and after another int two plays later, got a 1 pl, 16 yd TD pass for 2 TD's in 1:07 to lead 18-14. WY battled back for the lackluster 32-18 win...
Nothing fluky about N Iowa's upset of Iowa St. In fact NI led 24-6 when they missed a 41 yd FG with 10:43 left and ISU would gain 149 of their 399 yds on their final 3 drives with the game out of hand...
Michigan suffered their worst lost since losing to Ohio St 50-14 in 1968 which was the year before Bo Schembechler was hired. Ironically, since Schembechler passed away the day before the OSU game, UM has not won a game going 0-4. They've yielded a 14-3 ratio in those 4 losses, its first 4 game losing streak in 4 decades and they opened the season with 2 straight losses at home for the first time since 1959. It's been 40 years since Michigan has lost 4 consecutive games. The Oregon/Michigan game could have had a lot more points as at the half UO had a 392-302 yd edge. For the game, UM was int'd in the EZ, fmbl'd at the UO 23, missed a 42 yd FG and had a 4th & 4 pass from the 8 incomplete in the EZ. The Ducks settled for a 23 yd FG, missed 49 & 29 yd FG's, fmbl'd at the UM 6 and were SOD at the UM 1. UO's 624 yds were the 2nd highest total UM had allowed in 128 years of football...
Two games into the season Pitt has had 2 QB's win their first starts. Bill Stull started the opener with a win over E Michigan but was lost for at least a month with a torn ligament in his right thumb. Kevan Smith started vs Grambling and was 15-22 for 202 yds. Heralded true frosh Pat Bostick who basically cost himself the starters job by taking a 2 week leave of absence in Aug only had 1 pass attempt which was int'd. He could have made it an all-true frosh backfield as LeSean McCoy (PS#8, LY prep school) rushed for 107 yds on 17 carries...
Last week Minnesota rallied from a 21-0 halftime deficit but lost in OT. This time UM led Miami, OH 28-12 with 8:35 left but Miami rallied for OT where UM prevailed. Each team had 577 yds offense!...
E Michigan's Dontayo Gage ret'd a KO 90 yds for a TD vs Ball St which set EM's Rynearson Stadium record for longest KR and it was the first KR for a TD for EM since 1993...
Northwestern appeared in control vs Nevada early leading 7-0 but then Nev took charge and would pile up a 337-149 yd edge at the half leading 24-10. They led 31-27 when N'western got a TD with :21 left and the Cats tacked on a safety on the final play of the game for the 36-31 win. Nevada had a 30-20 FD edge. NW's top RB Tyrell Sutton inj'd his ankle in the 2Q and did not return after gaining just 14 yds on 3 carries...
Neb's Zackary Bowman was considered one of the top CB's for the upcoming NFL draft but reinjured his knee and thought lost for the first month of the season. Boman showed he's indeed back by getting an int'd in the EZ with 6:05 left to help the Huskers hang on to a 20-17 win over Wake Forest. Neb which had rushed for 413 yds vs Nevada had just 27 yds rushing at the half and finished with 117. Despite having to travel 1,165 miles and playing in the smallest stadium they've played in since 1971 (31,500 seat) a good portion of the crowd was clad in red. That int was the third time this year a WF QB was picked off in the EZ in just 2 games...
Washington St's had some outstanding QB's including many 1st round DC's but Alex Brink set a school record with 38 completions as he hit 38 of 47 for 469 yds (469 is 3rd highest). Brink holds the school record with 531 yards vs Oregon St in 2005. He had 304 yds in the 1H and sat out most of the 4Q...
San Jose St QB Tafralis inj'd his shoulder in the 3Q while playing WR and SJS used 4 different QB's in Tafralis, Myles Eden (6-13-26), Sean Flynn (4-5-31) and Jordan LaSecla (2-3-29) but Kansas St led 34-7 before allowing a garbage TD with 10:29 left...
Utah was playing without their top QB and top RB and was upset by Air Force at home. They had chances at the end as trailing 20-12 they had 2 cracks at the 1 yd line but were stopped both times and AF held on for the win...
Auburn/USF was a strange game in the fact that Auburn turned over the ball 5 times but USF missed an amazing 4 FG's. Auburn's D was already playing without LB Blackmon and S Savage and lost CB Whilhite and LB Johnson during the game to inj and Tuberville said "We were so beat up we played our 2nd Tm LB's and DB's in the 2H." USF jumped out to a 14-0 lead but needed OT to deliver as our Underdog Play of the Week...
Oklahoma St QB Bobby Reid was talked about as a possible All-Big XII candidate at the start of the year but he found himself on the bench for the final 3Q's vs Florida Atlantic and backup Zac Robinson hit 14 of 20 for 250 yds engineering the 36 point rout...
TTech's Graham Harrell posted his career high in completions for the 2nd straight game hitting 48 of 64 passes. TT trailed 28-17 at the half but outscored UTEP 28-3 in the 2H rolling to the 14 point win.
LOOK OUT #5 TEAM IN THE COUNTRY
Two weeks ago the #5 team in the country (Big Ten frontrunner Michigan) was upset by Appalachian St. Last week, another Big Ten member (Wisconsin) stepped into the #5 role and it appeared they were on their way to a stunning upset. UNLV led 13-12 in the 4Q when UW got a TD and 2 pt conversion with just 1:53 left to take a 7 point lead and UNLV's 4th down pass was incomplete. UW was far from dominant with only a 348-306 yd edge...
Syracuse had a grand total of 1 yd offense in the 1H vs Iowa and Iowa finished with a 408-103 yd edge with most of the Orange yards coming late...
Hawaii was fortunate to escape LA Tech with a win. They needed a 49 yd FG with 1:34 left to tie it and then LT (in OT) went for the win but their 2 pt conversion came up short and UH escaped winning by 1...
Baylor QB Szymanski threw for a school record 412 yds in a 42-17 route of Rice as a 3H selection on these pages. The two schools played for the first time since 1995 which was the last SWC season...
While Miss St and Tulane were tied 17-17 at the half, MSU dominated as a 4H on these pages for us with 27-8 FD and 489-243 yd edges.
TURNOVERS CAN BE A KEY
Harrison Beck was making his first road start for NCSt and Boston College, which was fired up to take on former Coach Tom O'Brien was led by Sr QB Matt Ryan who is a proj'd 1st round DC next year. Surprisingly, Beck had over twice as many yards hitting 26 of 50 for 321 yds while Ryan hit just 15 of 34 for 142. The key to this one was TO's as NCSt had SEVEN. A 14 yd IR TD gave BC a 14-10 lead in the 2Q and NCSt was int'd in the EZ with :42 left in the half. A snap on a punt was fmbl'd and BC drove 13 yds for a TD in the 3Q and NCSt was also int'd at the 7 as part of their 7 TO's. NCSt had a 407-373 yd edge but was blown out by 20...
W Michigan's Brandon West broke school records for all-purp yards (346) and KR yds (212) but WM amazingly turned it over on 5 straight poss in the 2nd & 3Q's and a close 10-7 game was turned into a 10 point loss.
MISLEADING FINALS, FRONTDOOR/BACKDOOR COVERS
It appeared Cincy dominated Oregon St in a 34-3 win but OSU actually had a 310-229 yd edge. The key to the game was SEVEN turnovers and that does not even include a blk'd punt for a TD, basically 8 TO's. Oregon St's Sammie Stroughter took a personal leave of absence and did return last week. He is by far the team's best receiver and also their top returnman. He showed some rust fumbling a punt at the 2 which set up a UC TD, but he should improve weekly...
For a good portion of the game, Marshall appeared on their way to an upset as they actually led #3 ranked WV 13-6 at the half. WV backers had to be glum laying 25 pts and only leading 27-23 with a little over 10:00 left but WV scored 3 TD's incl a 55 yd, 3 pl drive for a TD with just 1:40 left to get the backdoor push...
Clemson QB Cullen Harper hit 20-26 passes for 270 yds and set a school record with 5 TD passes vs ULM. ULM RB Calvin Dawson rushed for 121 yds, his 7th straight 100 yd game as ULM actually had 2 backs top 100 yards including Frank Goodin (102). CU led 49-13 with 10:00 left but ULM went 68 yds in 9 plays and after they punted on their next poss, got a 1 play, 48 yd TD run by Goodin with 1:59 left for the backdoor cover...
BYU had not lost since a 30?23 OT defeat to Boston Coll and if you went by statistics, they dominated UCLA with 23-15 FD edge 435-236 yd edges!! UCLA got a 56 yd IR for a TD and led 20-3 at the half despite being outFD'd 11-6. BYU rallied to pull within 20-17 and appeared to have the cover in hand when they punted with 5:02 left. UCLA went 46 yds in 10 pl and got a TD with 1:12 left for the frontdoor cover and BYU was SOD on 4th & 10 at their own 45...
Missouri jumped out to a 28 point lead over Ole Miss before allowing a couple of garbage TD's including one with :04 left in the game to make the final respectable. Ole Miss had a shot at the pointspread push as they trailed by 13 one play into the 4Q but they were SOD at the MO 25 and then with :24 left in the game were int'd a the MO 3 yd line threatening the backdoor push. Green-Ellis rushed for 226 yds. MO led 35-7 as Chase Daniel had at least 309 total yards for the 8th time in his last 9 games...
New Mexico St had a 30-20 FD edge vs NM and 581-496 yd edge. New Mexico St scored a TD with 1:16 remaining to cut it to 44-34. They then recovered the onside kick driving to the NM 2 but their 4th down pass was incomplete missing the backdoor cove...
Florida vs Troy fits in both categories of Misleading Final and Frontdoor Covers. UF jumped out to a commanding 49-7 lead at the half then started turning their attention towards Tenn. Troy battled back for the apparent backdoor cover getting a 26 yd TD pass with 7:00 left in the game to pull within 52-31. UF, with Tebow still in, rec'd the onside kick and got a TD with 2:50 left for the frontdoor cover...
Ohio trailed ULL 20-10 at the half and 23-17 after 3Q's. They did not lead vs the spread until they got a TD with 4:32 left for the frontdoor cover. ULL went on a 77 yd drive and was at the UO 2 yd line when they fmbl'd and ULL lost despite a 534-416 yd edge..Texas did not appear to have a shot at the cover trailing TCU 10-0 in the 3Q. They were fortunate to tie it at 10 after 3Q's but got the cover thanks in part to a 20 yd FR for a TD which put them ahead ATS for the first time mid-4Q.
UNDERDOG INTERCEPTION RETURNS
There were 3 games that started out with int's that put big favorites in the hole. A deep pass by Penn St was int'd along the sideline by Walls and ret'd 73 yds for a TD and ND, a large dog, jumped out to a 7-0 lead. PSU did get a 78 yd PR for a TD and led 14-7 at half with just a 100-78 yd edge. ND got a 43 yd PR to the 7 setting up a 22 yd FG to pull within 17-10 mid-3Q. PSU got ahead of the spread for the first time with a 62 yd, 10 pl drive and a 5 yd TD run with 7:40 left getting the frontdoor cover. They nearly gave up the backdoor cover as the Irish had a 1st & goal at the 7 but on 4th & goal at the 10 a high pass from Clausen went through the WR's hands and was int'd in the EZ...
On Florida St's 3rd offensive play vs UAB, on 3rd & 12 they were int'd and ret'd 21 yds for a TD putting them in a 10-0 hole and FSU actually trailed 17-10 at the half. Unlike the other two games mentioned in this section, FSU did not come back and cover as they did not get their first lead until late 3Q, 24-17 and UAB even tied it after that...
Colorado got a 35 yd IR TD and then after a fumble, a short drive for another TD to stunningly lead Arizona St 14-0. ASU still controlled with a 407-204 yd edge but had tons of special teams mistakes including having Colorado take a FG off the board after their LB jumped on the C's back which set up their 2nd TD. ASU would rally and took the spread lead in the 3Q, 33-14 holding on for the cover.
WIN STREAK SNAPS
Three of the nation's top 4 longest win streaks were snapped this past week. We used Washington as a 3H LPS and called for them to end Boise's nation's longest win streak. BSU RB Johnson saw his streak of 7 straight 100 yd games end as well. BSU did keep one streak going as they are now 0-13 in road game vs BCS conferences. UW controlled things throughout leading 24-7 mid-2Q and then played conservatively in the 2H...
BYU had their win streak snapped (see Misleading Finals)...
Two streaks that were not snapped this past week was Duke losing their 22nd straight game and FIU losing their 14th straight.
KEY POINTSPREAD PLAYS
There were numerous key pointspread plays in the Navy/Rutgers game that Navy lost by a half point. Twice deep in RU terr, Navy was int'd in the EZ as QB Kaheaku-Enhada became the first Navy QB in 10 years to throw 3 int's in one game. Those were keys but the 2 biggest plays happened late in the half and late in the game. RU QB Teel was sk'd and fumbled and Navy rec'd with :41 left 1H but a ref overturned it and ruled it an incomplete pass and there was no review. On the next play RU had a 22 yd TD pass with :34 left in the half to lead by 17. At the end of the game, Navy got a TD with :52 left to pull within 18. A 2 pt conv would have put them within 2 scores but shockingly Johnson opted for a 1 pt which left them 3 scores behind and did not even onside kick and Rutgers got the 1/2 point cover...
Sam Bradford is the nation's leader in pass efficiency as he had another great game tying a school record with 5 TD passes and he hit 19 of 25 for 205 in his 2nd start. OU dominated Miami, Fl with 25-7 FD and 411-139 yd edges fumbling on their first poss of the 2H but scoring on their final 5...
Toledo/C Michigan traded scores and were tied 34-34 but CM forced a punt and got a long PR setting up a TD and Toledo's last 2 poss were both SOD, one of them setting up a short CM drive turning a tight one into a blowout...
Three special teams plays gave Duke the cover vs Virginia. UVA led 14-0 but had a snap go over the P's head for a 22 yd loss and a safety. UVA went on an 11 pl, 67 yd drive but had a 22 yd FG blk'd. They still led 17-2 at the half with a 196-87 yd edge. A high snap on a punt lost 19 yds and Duke took over at the UVA 17 getting a TD on 3rd & 10 and 2 pt conversio. After UVA fmbl'd the KO, Duke got 1 FD and a 21 yd FG with their longest scoring drive going 17 yds, they lost 24-13 but covered...
Fresno St had just 78 yards and 5 FD's in the 1H and trailed 19-0 but rallied before coming up short in 3 OT's. We actually had a 3H College Totals Club Play on Over 51' in the game. It was tied at 22 when A&M got a TD with 1:52 left. FSU faced a 4th & goal at the 3 with 51 points on the board when Brandstater hit a wide open pass that went in the EZ for the TD sending it to OT and while the final score of 92 points appears to be an easy over, but it was hardly that.
BUBBLE BURSTS
Many times an underdog will play a great game in the 1H but look at the scoreboard and find themselves tied or trailing and then not be able to play with the same emotion in the 2H. Colorado St played a tremendous game vs Cal in the opening half. In the 1H CSU had a 13-7 FD edge but Cal got a 37 yd FG with :51 left to take a 17-14 lead. Cal went ahead and led 34-14 before CSU rallied for 2 TD's in the final 3:47 to make it close. For the game, CSU had 458-391 yd and 22-14 FD edges.
