Week 4 Recap

There were no major upsets this week. There were a couple close calls, but no stunners. But there were some stunning scores. I apologize for this one being late and abbreviated, I originally had 12 games recapped, but being a student comes first.
How I fared: This week I was 4-1, making me 16-6 overall. I did pick Kansas State to beat Texas, and well, that didn’t happen. But all in all, the week was a success.

Notable Games
15Michigan 24 Connecticut 21; Once again, Michigan came close to losing to an opponent that was not supposed to put up a fight. This week’s scare came against Connecticut. To beat the Huskies, Michigan needed to score 17 unanswered points in the second half. Brendan Gibbons hit the game winning FG came with 4:36 left in the game. Some other interesting stats besides the final score are that UConn was 1-11 on 3rd down and Michigan had the ball 10 minutes longer than Connecticut. That doesn’t reflect well on Michigan’s ability to score. Like last week, turnovers plagued Michigan and QB Devin Garner who threw 2INT as well as losing a fumble that Ty-Meer Brown recovered and returned for a Connecticut TD. Garner went 13/25 for 111 yards and rushed for a TD. The key player for the Wolverines was RB Fitzgerald Toussiant and his 120 rush yards and 2TD, one of which came after Desmond Morgan picked of UConn QB Chandler Whitner. He was 16/32 for 159 yards as well as 2TD. Michigan has a bye this week; I hope for their sake they use it well.

22Notre Dame 17 Michigan State 13; When looking at the box score of this game the first thing that caught my eye was penalties. Notre Dame had 8 for 86 yards and Michigan State had 10 for 115 yards, four of which were pass interference. The Fighting Irish went up 17-10 at the start of the 4th quarter and Michigan State got the final points of the game with a FG with 10:40 remaining in the game. Notre Dame QB Tommy Rees was 14/34 for 142 yards and a TD to TJ Jones. Their other TD came form Cam McDaniel on the ground. MSU QB Connor Cook was 16/32 for 135 yards and a TD pass to Macgarrett Kings Jr. Much like Michigan, Notre Dame has not looked too great the past 2 weeks. Unlike Michigan, Notre Dame does not have a bye, but rather get to welcome the 14th ranked Sooners to South Bend. Will the Irish continue their dominance over Oklahoma, or will they fall like they did to Michigan?

Fresno State 41 Boise State 40; This is the second time we have seen Fresno State beating a team by one in a high scoring game. This is also the second time I watched the entire first half of a Fresno State game but missed the second half (this time due to travel difficulties instead of sleep). These two teams put up a lot of yards: FSU-522 BSU-561. Of those 522 for the Bulldogs, only 62 came from rushing as compared to 200 rush yards for the Broncos. Since 2001, Boise has controlled the rivalry winning 11 of 12. I mention this because the Fresno State QB who lost the game in 2001 was David Carr, the older brother of current QB Derek Carr. Derek had a very good game going 39/60 for 460 yards and 4TD. Davante Adams and Josh Quezada each caught a TD with Josh Harper catching the other two. Quezada also rushed for a TD. For Boise State, QB Joe Southwick was 31/45 for 313 yards, an INT, and rushed for a TD. Grant Hedrick was threw an 18 yard TD to Troy Ware. The other scores for BSU came from Aaron Balthazar(2 rush TD) and Jay Ajayi(rush TD). Boise State is not the best in the MWC this year, and now Fresno State has earned their way into the top 25.

Georgia Tech 28 North Carolina 20; The score might be close, but the time of possession was about as far apart as possible with Georgia Tech having the ball 20 minutes longer than UNC. North Carolina was up 13-0 after the first quarter, but that was about the end of their day. They scored 7 points in the 2nd quarter and none in the 2nd half. Georgia Tech came alive after the first 15 minutes and scored all 28 of their points. QB Vlad lee was 7/12 for 104 yards and TD with one on the ground as well. David Sims had 99 rush yards along with a TD and Robert Goodhigh also rushed for 100 yards. UNC QB Bryn Renner was 14/29 for 218 yards, 2TD and an INT. Eric Ebron was on the receiving end of 108 yards and a TD with Sean Tepley catching the other. The Tar Heels other TD came form Romar Morris on the ground.

Virginia Tech 29 Marshall 21 3OT; This game was not on my list of exciting games at the beginning of the week. Though it was not a high scoring game, it was a long one. Marshall also did not score after the 1st half. Neither team was able to make a FG; VT was 0/3 and Marshall was 0/2. Virginia Tech was only able to convert 2-16 on 3rd down, but was 3-4 on 4th down. Perhaps the play of regulation for the Hokies was when Derek DiNardo ran back a blocked Marshall punt for a TD. Neither team was able to score in the first two overtimes. A PI call on Marshall in the 3rd OT led to VT QB Logan Thomas running the ball in for the winning score and 2 point conversion. Marshall was unable to respond and the game ended. Logan Thomas was 18/34 for 181 yards, a TD, 2INT, and 2 rush TD. RB Trey Edmund also rushed for 110 yards. Marshall QB Rakeem Cato was 19/41 for 218 yards, 2TD, and 2INT.

Rutgers 28 Arkansas 24; Rutgers 28 Arkansas 24; Arkansas fans were certain they would tie their record from last season, even though they didn’t have their starting QB. Maybe that is what the players thought too. The Hogs were up 24-7 with about 2:30 left to go in the 3rd quarter. That’s where Rutgers and Gary Nova took over. A bad Arkansas punt was returned 58 yards by Janarion Grant for a TD. That score gave the momentum to the Scarlet Knights, and they never gave it back. Right before the end of the half, Rutgers would have faced a 3rd and 21 were it not for a late hit penalty on Jarrett Lake. This put Rutgers at the Ark15 and two plays later, Nova connected with Tyler Kroft for a TD and Rutgers’ first points of the game. Arkansas’s offense did not look good in the first half; they relied on the defense and special teams along with Rutgers’ mistakes. A fumble recovery and trick pass from the punter to the snapper on 4th down led to a FG and Tevin Mitchell picked off Gary Nova and ran it in for a TD. The “trickeration” continued one play after another Rutgers’ fumble when RB Jonathan Williams threw a 21-yard TD to TE Hunter Henry. Unfortunately for the Hogs, that was the end of their production. Rutgers used the punt return and lack of experience in the secondary to come up with 2 more TDs. Both of which were passes from Gary Nova to Leonte Carroo. The first came on 4th and 12. The Hogs were blown out in the quarter they had dominated all season. Rutgers was able to stop our run game and the Razorbacks had a total of 101 yards. But the Hogs were also able to hold Rutgers’ RB Paul James to just 80 yards.

Top 25
1Alabama 31 Colorado State 6
3Clemson 26 North Carolina State 14
4Ohio State 76 Florida A&M 0
5Stanford 42 23Arizona State 28
6LSU 35 Auburn 21
7Louisville 72 Florida International 0
8Florida State 54 Bethune Cookman 6
9Georgia 45 North Texas 21
10Texas A&M 42 SMU 13
13UCLA 59 New Mexico State 13
16Miami(FL) 77 Savannah State 7
17Washington 56 Idaho State 10
18Northwestern 35 Maine 21
19Florida 31 Tennessee 17
20Baylor 70 ULM 7
24Wisconsin 41 Purdue 10
25Texas Tech 33 Texas State 7

Other Games
USC 17 Utah State 14
Texas 31 Kansas State 21
Utah 20 BYU 13
Kansas 13 Louisiana Tech 10
Oregon State 34 San Diego State 30
Northern Illinois 43 Eastern Illinois 39
UNLV 38 Western Illinois 7

Shutouts or 50+ Scored
Virginia 49 VMI 0
Washington State 42 Idaho 0
Ohio 38 Austin Peay 0
Maryland 37 West Virginia 0
Penn State 34 Kent State 0
Cincinnati 14 Miami(OH) 0
Mississippi State 62 Troy 7
Iowa 59 Western Michigan 3
Nebraska 59 South Dakota State 20
Old Dominion 59 Citadel 58
Western Kentucky 58 Morgan State 17
Pittsburgh 58 Duke 55
Wyoming 56 Air Force 23
Syracuse 52 Tulane 17
UAB 52 Northwestern State 28
Ball State 51 Eastern Michigan 20

*Stats and scores from ESPN.com