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College Football 2018 Week 10 Recap
Friday, 2018 November 9 - 10:57 am
Michigan trounces Penn State; NCSU beats FSU.

Michigan 42, Penn State 7
Well. That was unexpected.

A few things went as predicted. Penn State's offense is not as good without former OC Joe Moorhead, and the Penn State DL had trouble with Michigan's OL. What I did not expect is that Trace McSorley would become flustered after some early sacks and end up just 5/13 on the day for 83 yards and an interception. Penn State as a team only had 186 yards, and 75 of those came against the second-string defense in garbage time (along with Penn State's only points). Revenge was had for last year's loss, to be sure.

Michigan's offensive line looked stellar, which is a phrase I never expected to write this year. What's more, the Michigan staff has now apparently installed the complete offensive playbook, and the dizzying array of running plays that Michigan can deploy makes it very difficult for opposing defenses to find the right call. You're going to have your linebackers crash hard when they see pulling guards? Whoops, Michigan will zone-read and arc-block with the tight end, and there goes Patterson for 50 yards. Slant hard against the zone read? Here comes a belly play and a gaping backside hole (TWSS) for Karan Higdon. It's all the advantages of a modern spread offense, plus a functional downfield passing attack to go with it. Michigan's offense might not be as good as Alabama or Clemson, but it's getting there.

Meanwhile, poor Penn State. They're in dire need of a wide receiver who can catch a ball, and some better run defenders, and an OC who can make better adjustments, and an HC that makes better clock management decisions, and... well, you get the picture. I won't say the program is imploding because it's not; there's still a lot of talent there. But I think there's a reality check happening: not every school can contend for championships every year.

N.C. State 47, Florida State 28
So hurrah for the win, but let's be real here: this may be the worst FSU team in decades.

The Wolfpack cruised to a victory, and that's largely because FSU couldn't get out of its own way. With two turnovers and sixteen penalties, FSU couldn't take advantage of the fact that it outgained NCSU 445-417. There's a bit of a warning sign for NC State, especially in context with the loss to Syracuse: the pass defense is abominable.

Notable Games
#1 Alabama crushed #3 LSU 29-0. Sigh. Alabama is actually that good. Coming into this game we might have argued that Alabama hasn't played very good competition. This week they did and they were dominant. Only Georgia seems to stand in their way of another perfect regular season.

#2 Clemson ham-blasted Louisville 77-16. Remember when Louisville was good a couple of years ago? Me neither.

#3 Notre Dame struggled to get by Northwestern, but held on for a 31-21 victory. But Ian Book was hurt in the game, and we'll have to see how long he's out. A Notre Dame loss would greatly improve Michigan's chances of making the playoffs, FWIW.

#6 Georgia stomped #9 Kentucky 34-17. I'm still impressed with Kentucky, but Georgia was just better.

#7 Oklahoma beat Texas Tech 51-46, proving again that no one wants to play defense in the Big 12.

#8 Washington State beat Cal 19-13, which puts them in the driver's seat for the Pac-12.

#10 Ohio State struggled against Nebraska to win 36-31. None of the concerns about Ohio State's defense are going away, but the Buckeyes did manage to put together a functional running game for a change.

#11 Florida was upset by Missouri 38-17, which hopefully means I can stop talking about Florida now.

#13 West Virginia beat #17 Texas 42-41. WVU is a dangerous team right now; just as well that NCSU avoided the game against them earlier this year.

#15 Utah lost to Arizona State 38-20, throwing the Pac-12 South into further chaos.

#16 Iowa lost to Purdue 38-36, throwing the Big Ten West into further chaos.

Ken's Top 10
#1. Alabama 9-0
#2. Clemson 9-0.
#3. Michigan 8-1.
#4. Notre Dame 9-0.
#5. Georgia 8-1.
#6. Oklahoma 8-1.
#7. LSU 7-2.
#8. Washington State 8-1.
#9. Ohio State 8-1.
#10.West Virginia 7-1.
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