Let’s hear it for conference play starting next week! Here’s what stood out to me during the last week of (mostly) non-conference games:
Illinois 23, South Florida 47
I watched not quite a quarter of this on Friday night, and wow, was it sloppy. The things that stood out to me the most? THIRTY-ONE penalties for 293 YARDS, roughly even between the teams. If I were a fan of either team, I would have been throwing things.
Also, something to keep an eye on if your team faces South Florida: Through two games and less than a quarter of this one, they had four blocked kicks/PAT attempts this season.
Michigan 29, Air Force 13
It’s always weird to watch a team face the triple option when they so rarely do. This was not Michigan’s best game, and their red zone issues continue — in ten trips, they have one touchdown. It’s a good thing for them that freshman Quinn Nordin has turned out to be such an accurate kicker. In fact, he tied a school record this weekend with five field goals in a game.
Air Force, for their part, didn’t attempt a pass in the first half. Their first attempt of the game, shortly after halftime, was deflected and nearly picked off. Give them credit though- they played well and never showed any quit. As is typical of the service academies, they played a very disciplined game as well.
I do have a quick question about Air Force. If they’re the Falcons, how come their helmets have a lightning bolt on them? I’m seriously curious- if anyone knows, hit me up on Twitter @LastWordLindsay
Purdue 35, Missouri 3
Is… is Purdue back? They’ve now won back-to-back games for the first time in five years. It certainly seems that the Boilermakers have a decent run game, with three TDs on the ground yesterday, and quarterback David Blough was a respectable 22/28 for 187 yards and a touchdown. THIRTEEN different players caught a pass for Purdue in a game where the time of possession was as lopsided as I can remember. The Boilermakers held the ball for nearly three-quarters of the game. Next up for Purdue: a visit from Michigan. We’ll have a much better idea of whether they’re for real after that.
On the flip side, what the hell is going on at Mizzou? They were pretty good not that long ago.
USC 27, Texas 24 (OT)
I won’t go into too much detail with this one, since a lot of you probably watched it, but a) Texas may be onto something with this freshman QB, and b) was that the same Texas D that gave up 51 to Maryland two weeks ago?
Uniform of the Week
In honor of their mascot’s 65th birthday, Minnesota put him on their helmets this week. I need to know where I can get a hockey version of one of these. It’s Minnesota, there must be one.
Happy birthday Goldy!
Surprises of the Week
Northern Illinois 21, Nebraska 17 No matter what I expect from Nebraska, I’m wrong. If I think they’re going to have a down year, they’re good. If I think they’ll be good, they stink. This year, I thought they had an outside chance at winning the Big Ten West, so of course they lost to Northern Illinois.
Memphis 48, UCLA 45 Some UCLA brain cramps let the Tigers stay in the game, and they capitalized. Keep in mind that this was a noon kickoff, and the game was played in Memphis. UCLA traveled on Thursday to let their guys have extra time to acclimate to the time change, but this was still essentially a 9 a.m. start for the Bruins.
Mississippi State 37, LSU 7 I admit to having a soft spot for LSU, mainly due to this handsome guy, but I was not expecting this. I rushed home from hockey practice to catch the ending of what I thought would be a good game. Neaux such luck.
Stay tuned next week as conference play starts, and remember to check back later today for the LWOS Top 25 rankings!
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