Real Kato Blog: College Football Recap: Week 7

Michigan State wins dirty over Michigan; N.C. State was idle.

Michigan 14, Michigan State 28. Well, what can I say about this game... the Spartans played a dirty game, the officials missed several crucial calls, and Al Borges' playcalling was inexplicable.

If you don't believe me about the dirtiness, you must have missed this (watch at about the 29 second mark):

And there were the two backwards passes from MSU that were called incomplete instead of fumbles, Al Borges calling a play action pass on fourth and inches, Al Borges calling inside zone reads against the strength of the MSU defense instead of outsize zone plays or bubble screens, and Michigan calling twice as many passing plays as running plays on a day with 30 MPH winds... it was a frustrating, infuriating day.

And yet, in the end, I'm not as upset as I thought I'd be. Thinking about it, I realize that I knew all along that Michigan was not going to have an undefeated season. The loss was going to come inevitably. Sure, it's bad that it came to Juggalo Jersey Shore U, but you know, Michigan may still end up winning the Legends division of the Big Ten and going to the Big Ten championship game. There's still a bunch of football left, and I still believe the problems with this team are correctable. But I put most of the blame on Borges... I think play-calling is 80% responsible for the loss. If the problems are to be fixed, it has to start with him.

Grades: Offense F, Defense C. The defense wasn't the main problem, but they did give up 21 of MSU's 28 points, mostly due to an inability to stop the run. Against MSU's inexperienced offensive line, that's inexcusable. As for the offense, well... yuck.

Michigan gets a bye week to rest, heal, and hopefully fix the playbook.

Other Notable Games

#6 Oklahoma State beat #22 Texas 38-26. We must might see a battle of Big-12 unbeatens on December 3rd.

#8 Clemson came from behind to survive against Maryland 56-45. Clemson is still in the driver's seat for the ACC title, but even undefeated they will likely miss the BCS championship due to their weak conference schedule.

#9 Oregon beat #18 Arizona State 41-27.

#12 Georgia Tech was upset by Virginia, 24-21. This was a real surprise and a disappointment for the Yellow Jackets, but they're still in good shape in the ACC Coastal division.

#15 South Carolina survived against Mississippi State 14-12, in their first game without former quarterback Stephen Garcia.

Ohio State's defense dominated #16 Illinois and the Buckeyes won 17-7. The Illini were finally exposed by a good defense. Ohio State only completed one pass for 17 yards, but it was enough.

#19 Virginia Tech beat Wake Forest 38-17.

#21 Texas A&M crushed #20 Baylor 55-28.

#24 Auburn beat Florida 17-16. Florida is in for a long year.

Penn State struggled to get by Purdue 23-18. A lot of people are talking about 6-1 Penn State as a sleeper team in the Big Ten, but I'm not buying it; they have yet to win against anything resembling quality competition.

#4 Wisconsin only managed to score 59 on Indiana, winning 59-7.

Iowa knocked off Northwestern 41-31. Northwestern is a good team; they just aren't finding ways to win.

Miami (FL) beat North Carolina 30-24.

USC beat Cal on Thursday, 30-9. USC has quietly sneaked up to 5-1, though there schedule gets much more difficult from here. Ditto for Washington, who beat Colorado 52-24 to improve to 5-1 as well.

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