BUSINESS AS USUAL:
NC State took care of a depleted Central Michigan squad by 34. It's looking more and more like the Wolfpack's plan this year is to pick the carcasses of mid-majors who've shed all the talent from the bowl teams the previous year, but hey, you can only play the games they put in front of you. That being said, the three teams they've beaten break down into a couple of 1-win squads (with wins over Lamar and New Hampshire, respectively) and a squeaker over an FCS team.
Miami 49, USF 21 - Skip Taggart's got a lot of work ahead of him repairing the damage of the Skip Holtz era. A lot of work. Kudos to Al Golden's team for taking care of business.
KEEPING HOUSE:
Pittsburgh 14, Virginia 3 - Duke put up more than 50 on Pittsburgh. Now think about what that says about Virginia's offense.
Clemson 56, Wake Forest 7 - I think the line on this one was 34 1/2. I'm guessing most people took the over.
Florida State 48, BC 34 - Closer than it should have been, and I'm a BC alum. Considering how thoroughly the sad-sack Trojans mauled BC, the fact that they were able to hang 34 on Florida State should be worrisome to somebody.
Virginia Tech 17, Georgia Tech 10 - One of these teams is going to a bowl in Charlotte. And the other one's going to Shreveport.
ALMOST WHOOPS:
Duke by 7 over Troy - Barely escaping, at home, against a mid-level Sun Belt team is not good. Giving up over 500 yards, at home, to a mid-level Sun Belt team is not good. Being one holding penalty away from getting clocked, at home, by a mid-level Sun Belt team is not good. Navy's running backs have got to be licking their chops at this, in a structured, disciplined way.
WHOOPS:
And here it is, the no-win scenario for UNC. They have to play East Carolina because the legislators like seeing in-state schools play each other (and having popular in-state schools play less popular ones boosts attendance figures and sells merch), but the game's a trap. Win, and it's just what everyone expected. Lose, and God help the boys in Carolina blue.
Guess what we got this time? A 25-point spanking, giving up over 600 yards of total offense, letting the other team run over 100 plays, in front of a sparse crowd? Let's just say this isn't going to help Larry Fedora in his annual performance review.
So: No in-conference upsets, one embarrassing near miss no one will remember, a couple of red flags for FSU and UNC got some 'splainin' to do. Probably the biggest winner this week was idle Maryland, who saw the West Virginia team they clocked upset scandal-ridden Oklahoma State.
Next week: BC draws Army, and UVA could be in trouble against Ball State. The rest is in the family.
No comments:
Post a Comment