Week 4 College Football Review

A couple of Top 10 teams got the crap scared out of them Saturday, but managed to escape with victories. The Georgia Bulldogs, 27-point home chalk vs. an 0-3 Colorado Buffaloes team, had to score two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to avoid the upset. CU outrushed the Dogs 173-54, but Georgia freshman QB Joe Cox, who didn’t enter the game until late in the third quarter, went 10/13/153 yards and two TDs, tossing the 20-yard game-winner with 46 seconds remaining.

The Bulldogs jump back into SEC play with a trip to Mississippi this Saturday for a game with the Rebs, while Colorado visits Missouri.

The Virginia Tech Hokies, 28-point home favorites over the Cincinnati Bearcats, trailed at halftime and had to come from behind before finally outlasting UC 29-13.

Cincinnati held V Tech to –8 yards rushing in the first half, and led 13-12 after three quarters. But the Hokies broke through to take a 22-13 lead, and iced the game with an interception return for a score.

V Tech also blocked a punt for a safety in the first half, giving them nine points on defense for the day.

The Hokies host Georgia Tech this week, while the Bearcats entertain Miami-Ohio.

Notre Dame used a bit of the luck of the Irish and a total collapse from their opponents to both keep their national championship hopes alive and save their financial backers some cash when they came from behind to shock the Michigan State Spartans 40-37 Saturday night in Lansing.

MSU led 17-0 in the first quarter Saturday, 31-14 at the half and 37-21 with under 10 minutes to go in the game. But after ND scored to pull within 10, Michigan State QB Drew Stanton fumbled, leading to another Irish TD. Then Stanton threw a stupid interception that was returned for yet another score, which gave the Irish the lead. Stanton then capped the MSU collapse by trying to squeeze a ball in on a deep out that was batted around and picked off.

Michigan State outrushed the Irish by a 248/47-yard margin. But Notre Dame’s comeback gave great relief to all those who wagered on them as three-point road favorites. A push is better than a loss.

The Irish finish up the Big 10 portion of their schedule when they host Purdue this Saturday. This season, Notre Dame is 2-1 in the B10, beating Penn State and Michigan State and losing to Michigan. The Spartans will try to shake off Saturday’s shock this week before welcoming hapless Illinois to town.

The Michigan Wolverines, trying to avoid a letdown after their huge win over Notre Dame last week, spotted the Wisconsin Badgers the first TD of the day Saturday, putting UW up 21-0 vs. the spread. But Big Blue held the Badgers to just 12 rushing yards on the day, and eventually managed to pull out a push with a 27-13 victory.

Wisconsin stuck tough for most of the game, holding on for a 10-10 late into the third quarter. But Michigan scored 17 straight points to take a 27-10 lead, giving their financial backers realistic hope. The Badgers, though, needing three scores late in the game, kicked a field goal to put the final winning margin right on the point spread.

A note about Michigan’s run defense numbers: the Wolves have held a lead, at points substantial, during each of their four games this season. Their 18.5 rushing yards allowed per game ranks (only !) second in Division 1. Wisconsin got 54 yards from RB P.J. Hill, but QB John Stocco was credited with –34 yards because of four sacks. No doubt about it, Michigan is very tough to run the ball against. But the numbers may be a bit skewed.

The Iowa Hawkeyes haven’t been anywhere near as impressive as the linesmakers seem to think they should be. Iowa struggled to build a 24-0 lead over a bad Illinois team Saturday, then gave up the “oh, by-the-wayer” TD to lose the cover as 21-point road chalk. Remember, Iowa needed a goal-line stand to hold off a bad Syracuse team (although they played that game without starting QB Drew Tate), and then trailed Iowa State into the third quarter last week. The Hawks may be 4-0, but they’re 0-3 against the spread. Things will get awfully interesting Saturday night when Iowa hosts Ohio State in what should be a classic Big 10 battle.

The Cal Bears seemed to have regrouped after their season-opening butt-kicking at the hands of the Tennessee Volunteers. Cal outrushed Arizona State 237-139 and scored three times on defensive returns in a 49-21 rout (and cover as eight-point home favorites) Saturday night. The Bears have now scored 133 points in their three home games this season. Cal visits Oregon State this Saturday, while ASU hosts Oregon.

Southern Cal backers found out that it’s tough for your team to cover 22 points when they only score 20. The Trojans held host Arizona to about 25 actual rushing yards Saturday, and pulled away from a 3-0 halftime lead to win 20-3. The Wildcats have now scored one TD against their three Division 1 opponents this season, albeit those games have been against USC, LSU and BYU.

Southern Cal visits Washington State this Saturday, while Arizona hosts Washington.

Speaking of the Huskies, UW pulled off probably its biggest win in head coach Ty Willingham’s first two seasons with the program Saturday, coming from 16-0 down to beat UCLA 29-19 as three-point home underdogs. The Bruins host Stanford this week.

The Clemson Tigers avoided a letdown a week after upsetting the Florida State Seminoles in Tallahassee, pounding North Carolina 52-7 as 17-point home chalk. Clemson steps out of the ACC by hosting Louisiana Tech this Saturday, while UNC has a week off to regroup before visiting Miami for a bout with the Hurricanes Oct. 7.

Why were the Minnesota Gophers favored in a Big 10 road game? It may have been by only 2 ½ points at Purdue Saturday, but it was the Boilermakers who came away with a 27-21 win. Minnesota outrushed Purdue 208-174 (excluding QBs’ #s), but the Boilers turned a blocked field goal into a TD, intercepted a pass in the end zone with the Gophers at the four-yard line late in the first half, and later turned a Minnesota fumble into a field goal. The Gophers also chose to punt with just over two minutes to go in the game, and Purdue was able to run out the clock from there.

Minnesota hosts Michigan this Saturday, while the Boilers visit Notre Dame.

The Texas Longhorns defeated the Iowa State Cyclones 37-14 Saturday in Austin, but could not cover the spread as 25-point favorites. ISU also covered the spread as 14-point road dogs at Iowa last week.

And one has to wonder what the Indiana Hoosiers will do once their Big 10 schedule begins. IU lost to UConn Saturday 14-7, getting outrushed 257-0 (!) in the process. And their only TD came on a kick-off return. The week before, the Hoosiers lost to Southern Illinois. This is not a good team.

Indiana hosts Wisconsin Saturday.

The USA Today’s Top went 10-0 straight up over the weekend, but just 2-7-1 against the spread. Top-ranked Ohio State needed two late interception returns for touchdowns to cover as 17-point home favorites against Penn State, and Louisville survived the letdown after trouncing Miami-Florida a week previous in beating and covering (as 14-point road chalk) at Kansas State. But USC (-22 at Arizona), Auburn (-42 at home vs. Buffalo), West Virginia (-22 road chalk against East Carolina), Florida (-27 at home vs. Kentucky), Georgia, Texas (-25 as home favorites against Iowa State) and Virginia Tech all won outright but failed their investors. Michigan pushed the line as 14-point home favorites against Wisconsin.

Home dogs came out allright on the week, going 7-4-1 against the spread, and winning four games outright (Purdue +2 ½ vs. Minnesota, Washington +3 vs. UCLA, North Carolina State +6 ½ vs. Boston College and New Mexico +9 ½ vs. UTEP). Illinois (+21 vs. Iowa), East Carolina (+22 vs. West Virginia) and Arizona (+22 vs. USC) all also covered the spread Saturday.