Real Kato Blog: College Football Recap

Michigan gets whacked; N.C. State is idle; three squeakers and an upset in the top 10.

Michigan 10, Penn State 35. Uh, yeah. Aside from an impressive opening touchdown drive for Michigan, the offense looked like the offense of last years: a comedy of errors. Dropped passes, fumbles, sacks, interceptions, penalties, ugh. I think Michigan was too quick to abandon its ground game; Michigan's offensive line was opening up some holes in the Penn State defense. Perhaps the loss of David Molk (who finally came back from a foot injury only to sprain his knee in the opening possession) was the problem.

I have several general complaints. One: Denard Robinson simply can't be trusted to run the offense; he doesn't take care of the ball properly. Two: either our receivers aren't quick enough to separate themselves from defenders, or Tate Forcier isn't making his downfield reads correctly. (I suspect it's a combination of both.) Three: our secondary continues to suck in man coverage.

I have a few specific officiating complaints about this game. There was an illegal formation called in the second quarter which was completely and utterly wrong. I went back to the replay and Michigan was lined up correctly. That cost Michigan a big gain and first down on a promising-looking drive. Later on that drive, Denard Robinson threw an interception.

Later in the game, Michigan's defense had come up with a third-down stop, but was then called for roughing the kicker during the punt. Mike Williams fell down and brushed the kicker's plant foot. Call that running into the kicker, perhaps, for a five yard penalty, but roughing, and an automatic first down? Come on. Yes, it was the fourth quarter, and Michigan was already down by three touchdowns at this point, but there was a still a glimmer of hope. Penn State went on to consume five more minutes off the clock and kick a field goal, the final points scored in the game.

Offense: F. Just ugly play all around. Brandon Minor played hard but couldn't carry the team on his own. The offensive line failed to provide adequate pass protection for most of the day; Tate Forcier made a bunch of bad reads and poor decisions; the receivers dropped a half dozen passes. Four turnovers. 2.8 yards per carry rushing. 20% on third down conversions. Just, ugh.

Defense: C-. Brandon Graham was his usual monster self, but the line was gashed on running plays a lot, and the secondary gave up big play after big play. Our safeties, were as usual, a weakness. Oh, and PLEASE stop giving up those long kickoff returns, kthxbai.

Big Ten

(#6) Iowa 15, Michigan State 13. Oh, Sparty. Michigan State looked like they had this game won when the scored the game's first touchdown with a minute and a half remaining. But Iowa marched right back down and threw the game winning touchdown, on fourth-and-two with two seconds in the game. Michigan State was actually favored in this game. Iowa is now 8-0 and still on track for a BCS bowl, and perhaps even the national championship.

Northwestern 29, Indiana 28. Northwestern was down 28-3 in the second quarter before rallying to win, on a field goal with 21 seconds left in the game.

Top 25

(#1) Florida 29, Mississippi State 19. It was only 16-13 going into the fourth quarter, but Florida then scored two touchdowns, including one off an interception.

(#2) Alabama 12, Tennessee 10. Alabama had to block Tennessee's last-second 44-yard field goal attempt to escape the monumental upset.

(#7) USC 42, Oregon State 36. USC's vaunted defense got shredded for 482 yards by Oregon State's offense, but USC was helped by a late 63-yard punt return for a touchdown to stave off the upset.

(#8) TCU 38, (#16) BYU 7. TCU's keeps its BCS hopes alive by thrashing BYU.

Clemson 40, (#10) Miami 37. Clemson's always been a talented but underachieving team. This time, they pulled off the win over a pretty good Miami squad.

(#11) Oregon 43, Washington 19. I think this might be the year Oregon breaks through and beats USC. We'll find that out in the showdown next weekend.

Oklahoma 35, (#25) Kansas 13. Kansas quickly gives up its undeserved ranking.

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