Week 3 (9/18) Thoughts

It's hard to complain about a 56-14 win for Utah. But Terrance Cain continues to struggle in the beginning of games. With a minute to go in the half, Utah was only up 14-0. Against New Mexico, who I believe is the worst FBS team this season (although San Jose State made a case for themselves by struggling to beat SUU last week). Utah scored 28 points over a 6 minute span beginning just before halftime. But 14 of those points were from defensive and special teams touchdowns. The offense also turned the ball over and New Mexico returned it for a touchdown. I know that Cain doesn't make Wide fumble, but it just seems like the entire offense as a whole plays worse with Cain in there. He went 20-23, but of his three incompletions, two were in the first quarter and they were overthrown balls to open receivers in the endzone. Passes I'm nearly certain that Jordan Wynn would hit with ease. But Wynn is going to start throwing this week so hopefully he can play this week. Either way, Utah is an extremely talented team and deserves their #13 ranking.

On to the rest of the country, NC State has been impressing me. I know that Cincinnati is imploding already after only three games, but watching NC State, they looked like a good football team. They made Cincinnati look like they didn't know what was going on. Russell Wilson (QB) really bounced back from his bad performance against UCF by throwing for 333 yards and 3 TDs. He's a good quarterback, but is also inconsistent. He's only a junior so they could make a good run next year too. But I feel like the ACC is wide open. I'd pick that the NC State at Florida State game on Thursday Oct 28 will end up deciding the winner of the ACC Atlantic.

Kansas, what a joke. So far this season they have beaten Georgia Tech and lost to Southern Miss and North Dakota State. I find it interesting that teams who came out of nowhere and were near the top are now back where they were. Kansas, Missouri, South Florida, Cincinnati, just to name a few. Missouri needed a last minute touchdown to beat San Diego State. SDSU did look pretty athletic from what I saw, though. They actually had the same number of yards (440). Aztec RB Ronnie Hillman had a couple long TD runs (93 and 75 yards).

If anyone is doubting Nevada, look again. They just killed Cal. QB Colin Kaepernick now has a combined 13 passing and rushing touchdowns through three games. If he doesn't get hurt, Nevada and Boise State could both be undefeated heading into their game on November 26. I think Nevada is going to give Boise State a run, and that game in is Reno. We could be talking about Nevada in a BCS game instead of Boise State this year (if Utah and TCU both lose).

The top teams continue to blow everyone else out of the water. Mark Ingram has 9 carries for 151 yards and 2 touchdowns in the first game in his first game of the season. Ohio State demolishes Ohio 43-7 (it was 43-0 after three quarters) despite Pryor throwing two interceptions. I was surprised with how well TCU handled Baylor. I thought Baylor would hang around and give TCU trouble, but that game was 35-3 at the half. Stanford is joining the teams at the top following Andrew Luck. I know it was a late game for Wake Forest (kickoff at 11:15 PM east coast time), but it was 41-7 just before halftime. Stanford make Wake Forest look like an FCS team and Luck threw for 4 touchdowns. Oregon only beat Portland State 69-0, no 70 point win this week. I guess maybe if they had tried in the fourth quarter they could have scored one more point. Oregon may not be the best team this year (they might be though), but I think they are the most explosive/dangerous. Darron Thomas completed 9 passes, 4 of which were touchdowns. Arizona also looks like an elite team. They built a big lead, then let Iowa come back to tie it, but ended up taking the win at the end. That's what happens when you have three turnovers and 12 penalties. Give Nick Foles credit for fighting hard to win that game.

A number of games came right down to the end. Arkansas had a 14-point lead on Georgia on the road in the fourth quarter, then Georgia came back to tie it. With under a minute to go, they decided to stop tackling and let Arkansas score to take the win. Auburn came back after being down 17-0 in the second quarter and sent the game against Clemson into overtime. After Auburn got a field goal, Clemson drops a pass in the endzone. Then on Clemson's field goal attempt, the kick went in but the center did an illegal snap. On the retry, he missed. What looked like an impressive win for Auburn was really only a win because Clemson dropped a pass in the endzone and their center doesn't know how to snap the ball. Michigan State vs Notre Dame went down to the end. I don't even want to talk about that crapfest. If I could choose a game where both teams lose, this would most likely be it. I will say one thing...Michigan State cheated the clock at home to give us instant replay. They cheat the clock at home again, what will happen this time?

Michigan, oh where is your defense? They struggled early because they had their first turnover of the season, gave up their first sack, and missed a field goal all in the first quarter. But still, they never led by more than 18. AGAINST UMASS. Sure, UMass is a better FCS team, but they're still an FCS team. This Michigan "defense" is just pathetic. I still ranked them #25 because they're undefeated and have beat a couple decent teams (well, maybe decent. UConn just lost to Temple and Notre Dame is dumb) and their offense is just explosive. Denard Robinson was actually outrushed by a teammate this week. But he still went over 100 yards on the ground and over 200 yards through the air. If they decide to start tackling, it could be a good year. But that defense is going to get eaten alive but the top half of the Big Ten.

Florida, where is your offense? They have struggled in every single game so far this season. At least this week it was against Tennessee. Demps had 26 carries. In case you haven't seen Florida, that's a lot for one back to have at that school. Going back to the beginning of 2009, this is the fourth time that a player has had more than 20 carries in a game. All three others were last year, and all three times it was Tim Tebow in games where the offense struggled (Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi State). I'm still not sold on the Gators, so I still have them back at #16 and I feel like that might be high. In fact, I had a hard time ranking teams 15-25 as high as they were besides Auburn, NC State, and Fresno State.

Fresno State beat Utah State. Big deal, right? I think Utah State is a decent football team. And Fresno had already giving Cincinnati a beating in the season opener. Maybe they shouldn't be ranked, but I didn't know who else to rank (USC? Florida State? Air Force?). I think that Fresno State beating up on Utah State in the second half secures their spot as third place in the WAC. The Bulldogs definitely seem to be a second half team.

Other non-BCS schools worth mentioning, Boise State and Houston. I thought Boise State would have trouble traveling to Laramie to play the piss and poop. I was wrong. Boise outgained the Cowboys 648-135. That's just ridiculous. Wyoming rushed 28 times for -21 yards. They were sacked 4 times for 26 yards and a -26 yard rush (snap over Carta-Samuels' head), so they had 25 rushes for 31 yards. Whose idea was it to run the ball that much? Houston will be mentioned for the last time this season, most likely. They were already being beaten with no hope of coming back against UCLA when they lost their biggest playmaker in QB Case Keenum. Keenum will be out for the season, a very difficult loss for the Cougars. Now they will probably just be another Conference-USA team.

One last point. Jake Locker is the third best QB. In the conference. If he's lucky. Andrew Luck (Stanford) and Nick Foles (Arizona) are both better than Locker. Darron Thomas (Oregon) looks to be better, but hasn't had the same competition. Kevin Riley (Cal) and Matt Barkley (USC) could also both make cases for why they're better than Locker. So the Heisman hype (and any hype, really) can just die now.

Utah, Auburn, and Michigan are all 3-0. Utah's future looks very bright, Auburn's and Michigan's futures have small lights that are flickering. I think the separation between Oregon, Alabama, Ohio State, TCU, and the rest of the country got a lot fuzzier today with Arizona, Stanford, and Nebraska really stepping up.