Real Kato Blog: College Football 2012: Week 7 Recap

Hey look! A Sunday update for a change! Michigan wins easily; N.C. State rests.

#25 Michigan 45, Illinois 0.
Sooo, Illinois, I guess overestimated you when I predicted you to score. This was a thorough butt-kicking in every aspect. Yardage: Michigan 527, Illinois 134. That is just flabbergasting. Michigan had 6.9 YPC on the ground and 11.6 YPA through the air.

The Michigan front seven on defense looked tremendous again, bottling up Illinois all day long. On offense, Denard had his usual good day with 128 yards rushing, and three other backs combined for 218 more yards.

I can't really find anything to complain about in this game... easily Michigan's best so far.

Grades: Offense A, Defense A.

Heroes: Denard Robinson, Kenny Demens, Jake Ryan.

Goats: None!

N.C. State (bye)
N.C. State was off this week; they'll get ready to play Maryland next Saturday.

Notable Games
As noted before, Michigan State lost in OT to Iowa 19-16. Is Iowa suddenly better than expected, or is MSU just that bad? Don't forget, this is an Iowa team that lost to Iowa State and Central Michigan; their wins before this point has been against Northern Illinois, Northern Iowa, and Minnesota. I don't think Iowa is very good.

Wisconsin stuffed Purdue 38-14. If you don't think the Michigan win over Purdue showed that Purdue was overrated, maybe this game will convince you.

#8 Ohio State outlasted Indiana 52-49. Indiana is a team that lost to Ball State 41-39... how are they competitive against MSU and OSU in back-to-back games? I think OSU may have some serious defensive issues, particularly against spread teams. Purdue will be an interesting challenge for them next week.

UNC survived against Miami FL 18-14. UNC is quietly hanging around as an ACC contender, and their remaining schedule is pretty soft aside from the NCSU game in two weeks.

#9 LSU managed to beat #3 South Carolina 23-21 in a minor upset. That eliminates another unbeaten team; now #4 Florida (6-0) is the surprise second-place SEC team behind Alabama.

Texas Tech demolished #5 West Virginia 49-14, knocking off another unbeaten team. WVU is a boom-or-bust kind of team; if the offense struggles at all, the defense isn't nearly good enough to keep them in games against quality competition. Kansas State comes to town next week.

Speaking of #6 KSU, they knocked off Iowa State 27-21 and remain unbeaten; that's good enough to rise to #4 in the polls this week.

#7 Notre Dame beat #17 Stanford in a controversial overtime finish; it appeared that Stanford may have converted a fourth-down touchdown attempt to tie the game in OT, but the runner was ruled down and the play was upheld on replay. Notre Dame is lucky to escape with this win and remain unbeaten. Man, I wish Michigan had another crack at these guys.

#13 Oklahoma crushed #15 Texas 63-21. Texas now has back-to-back losses and has a pretty tough game coming up against Baylor. Texas was peeking at the top 10 in week 6, but now they may be looking at a 7-5 season.

#19 Mississippi State held off Tennessee 41-31. UT is now 0-3 in the SEC, which I wouldn't have expected after watching them play NCSU.

#22 Texas A&M beat #23 Louisiana Tech in a wild 59-57 game.

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