Early Season Reports – Big 12

Colorado

Recap:  Colorado is hurting with losses to Colorado State and Toledo.  Last week’s 24-0 win over Wyoming helps a little.

Stats so far:  Colorado ranks 103^rd with 3.09 yards per rush attempt and 104^th with 5.6 yards per passing attempt.  Overall, they have averaged 26.3 points and 342.7 yards on offense per game.  Defensively, they are 93^rd with 4.46 yards allowed per rush attempt and 110^th with 9 yards allowed per pass attempt.  Overall, they have allowed 25.7 points and 410 yards per game.

Coming up:  Buckle up, Buffaloes.  Three more losses seem imminent with trips to West Virginia and Texas and a home game against Kansas.  One win here would be beyond noteworthy.

Iowa State

Recap:  Wins over North Dakota State and Kent State are fine, but the blowout loss to Iowa should cause major concern.

Stats so far: ISU is 19^th with 5.41 yards per rush attempt and 99^th with 5.8 yards per passing attempt.  Overall, they have scored 23.7 points and gained 383 yards on offense per game.  

Week Four Picks

My goal last week was to get over .500 and I almost did it (Thanks for nothing, Nebraska and Michigan State!)  I went 6-6 in Week 3 and am now 11-12 overall.  My frustrating evenness got me thinking that I might be better off just flipping a coin.  So here to challenge me in a pick-off this week is a handful of change I dug out of the car!

How the coins pick:  First flip will determine the winner, with heads representing the home team.  The coins will then be flipped again until the opposite side comes up.  The number of flips it takes to get to the other side will determine the margin of victory (1 flip = 3, 2 flips = 7, 3 flips = 10, etc.)

Tonight’s game pits #4 Ole Miss against South Carolina.  I don’t feel like I really know who Mississippi is yet, as they haven’t really played anyone challenging.  South Carolina, on the other hand, has been in all kinds of situations, including a game that featured 10 total points and one that nearly broke 80.  The game’s at South Carolina and something inside is telling me take the Gamecocks by 10.

Quarter:  Ole Miss by 3.  Dime:  Ole Miss by 7.  Nickel:  Ole Miss by 7.  Penny:  South Carolina by 3.

Early Season Reports – Sun Belt

Arkansas State

Recap:  Arkansas State has a 61-0 win over Mississippi Valley State and a 38-9 loss to Nebraska.

Stats so far:  Arkansas St. ranks 17^th with 5.51 yards per rush attempt and 37^th with 7.9 yards per passing attempt.  Overall, they have averaged 35 points and 385 yards on offense per game.  Defensively, they are 30^th with 2.96 yards allowed per rush attempt and 77^th with 7 yards allowed per pass attempt.  Overall, they have allowed 19 points and 281.5 yards per game.

Coming up:  The Red Wolves take on Troy, Iowa and Louisiana-Monroe.

Florida Atlantic

Recap:  Florida Atlantic has served as a punching bag for Nebraska and South Carolina in blowout losses.

Stats so far: FAU is 101^st with 3.11 yards per rush attempt and 102^nd with 5.7 yards per passing attempt.  Overall, they have scored 9.5 points and gained 332.5 yards on offense per game.  Defensively, they are 120^th with 8.15 yards allowed per rush attempt and 108^th with 8.7 yards allowed per pass attempt.  Overall, they have allowed 43.5 points and 503 yards per game.

Early Season Reports – Independents

Army

Recap:  Army has wins over the MAC’s Eastern Michigan and Ball State and a loss to the ACC’s Duke.

Stats so far:  Army ranks 42^nd with 4.74 yards per rush attempt and 115^th with 5 yards per passing attempt.  Overall, they have averaged 23.3 points and 319.3 yards on offense per game.  Defensively, they are 20^th with 2.6 yards allowed per rush attempt and 64^th with 6.7 yards allowed per pass attempt.  Overall, they have allowed 22 points and 278 yards per game.

Coming up:  The Black Knights will take the Big 12’s Iowa State, Tulane, and the SEC’s Vanderbilt.

Navy

Recap:  After nearly pulling off an upset of Ohio State, Navy blasted Louisiana Tech and lost at Pittsburgh.

Stats so far: Navy is 72^nd with 3.81 yards per rush attempt and 31^st with 8.1 yards per passing attempt.  Overall, they have scored 24.3 points and gained 317.7 yards on offense per game.  

Early Season Reports – SEC

Florida

Recap:  The defense of the National Championship began with crushing wins over Charleston Southern and Troy.  SEC rival Tennessee proved a little tougher, but Florida still came away with a nice 10-point win.

Stats so far:  Florida ranks 1^st with 7.06 yards per rush attempt and 14^th with 9 yards per passing attempt.  Overall, they have averaged 47 points and 536.7 yards on offense per game.  Defensively, they are 34^th with 3.03 yards allowed per rush attempt and 5^th with 4.2 yards allowed per pass attempt.  Overall, they have allowed 7.3 points and 224 yards per game.

Coming up:  The Gators travel to Kentucky before a crucial road trip to LSU.  Sneaky Arkansas awaits their return.  As with the entire season, anything less than perfection is a disappointment.

Georgia

Recap:  After sputtering in a loss to Oklahoma State, Georgia regrouped and won shootouts against South Carolina and Arkansas.

Early Season Reports – Conference USA

East Carolina

Recap:  After a narrow win over Appalachian State, East Carolina took beatings from West Virginia and North Carolina on the road.

Stats so far:  East Carolina ranks 96^th with 3.33 yards per rush attempt and 112^th with 5.1 yards per passing attempt.  Overall, they have averaged 22 points and 268 yards on offense per game.  Defensively, they are 52^nd with 3.48 yards allowed per rush attempt and 113^th with 9.3 yards allowed per pass attempt.  Overall, they have allowed 30 points and 396 yards per game.

Coming up:  The Pirates will face UCF, Marshall, and Southern Methodist.

Marshall

Recap:  Marshall has a couple of close wins over Southern Illinois and Bowling Green to go with a blowout loss to Virginia Tech in their 2-1 start.

Stats so far: Marshall is 46^th with 4.4 yards per rush attempt and 92^nd with 6 yards per passing attempt.  Overall, they have scored 19.3 points and gained 328.7 yards on offense per game.

Early Season Reports – ACC

Boston College

Recap:  After cruising through Northeastern and Kent State, Boston College found themselves on the wrong end of 25-7 at Clemson.

Stats so far:  Boston College ranks 74^th with 3.8 yards per rush attempt and 85^th with 6.3 yards per passing attempt.  Overall, they have averaged 31.7 points and 281.3 yards on offense per game.  Defensively, they are 16^th with 2.46 yards allowed per rush attempt and 1^st with 3.4 yards allowed per pass attempt.  Overall, they have allowed 10.7 points and 187.7 yards per game.

Coming up:  Boston College will take on Wake Forest before big-time meetings with Florida State and Virginia Tech.  The goal will be to go at least 2-1 in those 3 games.

Clemson

Recap:  Clemson has solid wins over Middle Tennessee and Boston College, but fell short in a comeback attempt against Georgia Tech.

Stats so far: Clemson is 84^th with 3.59 yards per rush attempt and 81^st with 6.4 yards per passing attempt.  Overall, they have scored 29.7 points and gained 333.3 yards on offense per game.

Early Season Reports – Mountain West

Air Force

Recap:  Air Force blasted Nicholls State, then lost a close game at Minnesota before trouncing New Mexico 37-13.

Stats so far:  Air Force ranks 32^nd with 5.01 yards per rush attempt and 8 with 9.7 yards per passing attempt.  Overall, they have averaged 40.7 points and 444.3 yards on offense per game.  Defensively, they are 70^th with 3.98 yards allowed per rush attempt and 36^th with 5.9 yards allowed per pass attempt.  Overall, they have allowed 11 points and 256 yards per game.

Coming up:  The Falcons have some tough contests with San Diego State, fellow service academy Navy and conference powerhouse TCU.

Brigham Young

Recap:  BYU started off with a bang as they edged Big 12 giant Oklahoma.  After a dominating win at Tulane, they were everybody’s favorite potential BCS Buster.  That bubble was popped when Florida State came to town and put a 54-28 hurting on the Cougars.

Early Season Reports – Pac Ten

Arizona

Recap:  After two wins over Central Michigan and Northern Arizona, the Wildcats lost on the road to Iowa.  Two more road trips await Arizona before they return home.

Stats so far:  Arizona ranks 2^nd with 6.43 yards per rush attempt and 92^nd with 6 yards per pass attempt.  Overall, they have scored 23.3 points and gained 420 yards per game.  Defensively, they are 49^th with 3.38 yards allowed per rush attempt and 15^th with 5.1 yards allowed per pass attempt.  Overall, they have given up 16.7 points and 248.7 yards per game.

Coming up:  Arizona faces dangerous Pac-10 foes Oregon State and Washington on the road, then returns home to host Stanford.  The Wildcats must win one of these tough games and would like to get two.

Arizona State

Recap:  Arizona State has beaten up on lowly Idaho State and Louisiana-Monroe and will face a much tougher opponent in Georgia this week.

Early Season Reports – MAC

Akron

Recap:  Akron shut out Morgan State 41-0 in between losing to Big Ten opponents Penn State and Indiana.

Stats so far:  Akron sits at 88^th with 3.52 yards per rush attempt and 67th with 6.8 yards per passing attempt.  Overall, they have averaged 23 points and 297.7 yards on offense in their first three games.  Defensively, they are 56^th with 3.61 yards allowed per rush attempt and 64^th with 6.7 yards allowed per pass attempt.  Overall, they have allowed 23 points and 332.3 yards per game.

Coming up:  The Zips visit Central Michigan, then host Ohio and visit Buffalo in two MAC East matchups.

Bowling Green

Recap:  After beating Troy by 17, Bowling suffered two 7-point losses on the road to Missouri and Marshall.

Stats so far: Bowling Green ranks 114^th with 2.26 yards per rush attempt and 88^th with 6.1 yards per pass attempt.