Real Kato Blog: College Football Recap

Woot, college football has returned.

Michigan 31, Western Michigan 7. Oh, the distractions, the many distractions. The Michigan world held its collective breath coming into this game. For the third year in a row, Michigan was playing a talented underdog. With all the silly allegations about violating NCAA rules, with Rich Rodriguez having to cope with a lawsuit about a real estate scam, with commentators all over the place yakking about how the team was divided, it was easy to predict that Michigan would come out flat and disoriented.

They did not.

Tate Forcier had a stellar game, looking poised and confident for a true freshman in his first collegiate start. Denard Robinson picked up a fumbled snap and zipped through the WMU defense for a 43-yard touchdown. The much-maligned Michigan defense gave up only 38 yards rushing, and came up with three turnovers. The defensive line was stout and quick against WMU's 300-pound offensive linemen; Brandon Graham seemed unblockable at times. And I was particularly impressed with Obi Ezeh, who had a lackluster season last year. Ezeh led the team with eight tackles, including 1.5 for loss. I watched him sniff out a screen pass on one play, recognizing the play well before the screen was even thrown.

Michigan jumped out to a 31-0 lead at halftime, then coasted through the second half (playing a lot of backups). Nick Sheridan came in for a few plays (and was intercepted, natch). Even David Cone took some snaps.

This was a statement game... and the statement is, "Michigan is back".

Offense: A-. A solid day for the offense. The running backs weren't quite as productive as I thought they should be; part of the blame rests on the quarterbacks, who didn't always make the correct handoff read on the spread option plays. But you can't really complain about a 31-0 halftime lead, 439 total yards, and 4.8 yards per carry rushing.

Defense: A-. The front seven was monstrous; Brandon Graham was a pure terror against WMU's ponderous right tackle. I didn't like the big plays given up in the second half; Notre Dame is sure to try to throw deep on Michigan early and often. And the blitz packages, while varied, seemed a bit slow to develop; I'd like to see them get to the quarterback more quickly. But again, not much to complain about here.

N.C. State 3, South Carolina 7. If not for a turnover on State's first offensive play, this game could easily have gone the other way. State's defense played well most of the game. But the offensive line didn't seem strong enough to open holes in the South Carolina defense, and there were at least three occasions where State failed to come up with a big play because the receiver wasn't in the correct position to catch the ball. State should improve over time, but I predict they'll continue to struggle against quality defenses.

Big Ten

(#6) Ohio State 31, Navy 27. Navy almost pulled off the stunner. With Ohio State up 29-14, OSU coach Jim Tressel decided to go for a fourth-down conversion instead of kicking a field goal to go up by three possessions. Navy ripped off an 85-yard touchdown on the next play, then came up with an interception and another touchdown minutes later. Inexplicably, Navy attempted a pass play for the two-point conversion attempt, despite the fact that Navy had been successfully running their triple-option attack all day. The pass was intercepted and returned for two points for OSU, effectively ending the game.

OSU looked awfully sloppy in this game. If they play like this next week against Southern Cal, it'll be laughable (i.e., I will laugh at OSU).

(#22) Iowa 17, Northern Iowa 16. Iowa escaped by blocking a last-second Northern Iowa field goal... twice. Northern Iowa attempted a field goal on first down with seven seconds left to play. Iowa blocked the low line-drive field goal attempt, but allowed Northern Iowa to recover the ball, giving them another opportunity with one second left. The Northern Iowa kicker hit a low line-drive kick again, and the kick was blocked again to seal Iowa's win.

Iowa was predicted to finish high in the Big Ten rankings... they didn't look so good against a I-AA opponent.

Minnesota 23, Syracuse 20 (OT). Syracuse QB and former Duke basketball player Greg Paulus, once rumored to be considering a transfer to Michigan, throws an interception in overtime to seal the win for Minnesota.

Illinois 9, Missouri 37. I don't know what it is about Illinois coach Ron Zook, but his teams always seem to be a disappointment. Illinois came out flat in this game, and a Missouri team that replaced most of its starting offense from last year ripped Illinois for 442 yards.

Top 25

(#14) Boise State 19, (#16) Oregon 8. This team should have been significant for Boise State's dominant victory over a BCS team, but instead it will forever be remembered for Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount punching Boise State's Byron Hout after the game. You'd think that perhaps Do Not Punch Opponents would be high in the list of coaching lessons for players, but maybe coaches for some reason assume that players already know that kind of thing.

(#9) Oklahoma State 24, (#13) Georgia 10. Georgia was hoping to rebuild quickly after losing Matthew Stafford to the NFL last year, but it looks like they've got some work to do. With no offense to Georgia fans, I have to cheer every time an SEC team loses, because I'm sick of all the "SEC is the best conference" chatter from the ESPN talking heads.

(#3) Oklahoma 17, (#20) BYU 20. It was big that Oklahoma lost, but the biggest news is that Heisman-winning quarterback Sam Bradford left the game after spraining the acromioclavicular joint in his throwing shoulder. He'll probably be sidelined for weeks, if not the entire season. Oklahoma fans, with Bradford out along with star tight end Jermaine Gresham, I think your national title hopes are over.

(#5) Alabama 34, (#7) Virginia Tech 24. The Evil Nick Saban wins again. I think VT coach Frank Beamer will soon start facing the same sort of criticism that Lloyd Carr faced: "Nine-win seasons aren't good enough; give us someone better."

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