Real Kato Blog: College Football Recap

Sorry this is so late... I've been busy with election stuff.
Michigan 34, Ball State 26. N.C. State 23, Georgia Tech 21.

Michigan 34, Ball State 26. I didn't watch this game, thinking there'd be nothing to worry about. Erk.

There's been a lot of talk about how close this game was. But Michigan did come away with a win, and looking closely at the game recap, I'm not terribly worried about the close result. Michigan dominated through most of the game, racking up 507 yards of offense (including 352 yards rushing), and held Ball State to just 47 yards rushing. Really, a handful of big plays were responsible for keeping Ball State in the game: a rare fumble by Mike Hart in his own end zone, an interception return for a touchdown, and a couple of defensive lapses by second-string players late in the game.

Many good things happened. The ground game was very impressive; both Hart and freshman Brandon Minor rushed for more than 100 yards. Steve Breaston caught a lot of passes. Mario Manningham was able to play some snaps, and should be full speed by next week.

The bad: a pick-six interception, a fumble leading to a safety, and eight penalties.

Grades: Offense B, Defense B.

N.C. State 23, Georgia Tech 31. Well, the good news is that it wasn't a complete self-destruction that led to N.C. State's loss this time. The bad news is that N.C. State simply got outplayed. They couldn't contain Georgia Tech's running back Tashard Choice without leaving receiver Calvin Johnson open for big plays. And on offense, their ground game stalled, and Daniel Evans only completed 40% of his pass attempts.

Now, nine penalties for 93 yards doesn't help either. But at least this time, N.C. State didn't turn the ball over, and the defense did get two interceptions from Reggie Ball.

Grades: Offense C-, Defense C+.

Other News

Ohio State 17, Illinois 10. If anyone breathed a bigger sigh of relief than Michigan, it would be Ohio State. OSU led the whole game, but didn't dominate. Illinois held OSU's vaunted offense to just 224 total yards, while gaining 233 yards themselves. Troy Smith was sacked three times and completed just 13 of 23 passes, while rushing for only 37 yards on 11 carries. You may note that Eastern Illinois and Ohio University both gained more yards on the Illinois defense.

Louisville 44, West Virginia 34. Louisville is now the one fighting for the national championship berth. This was an entertaining game. Are the offenses that good, or are the defenses that bad? No way to know for sure until they play in a bowl game.

Florida 25, Vanderbilt 19. Speaking of close calls, you gotta question whether Florida is a championship-caliber team. If not for a couple of blocked punts, this might have turned into the upset of the day. Vandy rang up 391 yards, and it seemed like when Florida quarterback Chris Leak wasn't on his back being sacked, he was throwing one of his three interceptions. Hey Florida, look out for a hungry Florida State team with something to prove on November 25th.

LSU 28, Tennessee 24. Well, there go Tennessee's chances at winning the SEC and getting to the national championship. Florida would have to lose twice against unranked teams for Tennessee to get in.

Cal 38, UCLA 24. Cal continues to impress. Many are saying they will be Michigan's likely opponent in the Rose BowlÉ assuming Michigan loses to OSU.

Arkansas 26, South Carolina 20. Arkansas had to fight off Spurrier's feisty squad, but they keep their title hopes alive.

Wake Forest 21, Boston College 14. Wake is suddenly looking pretty impressive. They've got a tough slate of games ahead (Florida State, Virginia Tech, and Maryland) but they're in control of their own destiny to win the ACC. Who would have believed that would happen?

Wisconsin 13, Penn State 3. This is a good Wisconsin team, don't you doubt it. Penn State has a stout defense, but their offense is going to figure out how to put some points on the board, if they want to win games.

Oklahoma 17, Texas A&M 16. This clears the path for Texas to cruise into the Big Twelve championship game.

Maryland 13, Clemson 12. Maryland is the other surprise team of the ACC. They've got a big game against Wake Forest to end the seasonÉ assuming they can get by Miami and Boston College first.

Virginia Tech 17, Miami 10. Just a year ago, this would have been a huge game. Now, yawn.

Michigan State's coach John L. Smith has been fired; he'll be gone after this season.

Penn State coach Joe Paterno broke his leg during the Wisconsin game when one of his players ran into him. He should be okay to coach this Saturday.

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