Legal Commentary

College Football Results, Thursday, September 3, 2009

By Andis Kaulins

Our call: Troy over Bowling Green 30-24. Result: In a surprise, Bowling Green stunned Troy 31-14, as Clawson and Ruggiero celebrated a successful coaching debut with the Falcons, with Tyler Sheehan throwing for 339 yards on 32 of 44 pass completions and Freddie Barnes catching 15 (!) passes for 157 yards and 2 touchdowns. The game was closer than the score indicated as Bowling Green trailed 14-0 before reeling off 31 straight points, 17 in the last quarter. The Troy offense managed just 3.5 yards per play in gaining 304 yards while the Falcons gained 389 yards on 94 plays for a 4.1 net average yards per play. W-L and Odds: We failed to call the winner but beat the spread. Thus far we are 0-1 W-L and 1-0 against the spread.

Our call: South Carolina over NC State 35-34. Result: South Carolina won 7-3 in a defensive struggle. The SEC is known for its defense and this game showed it. NC State had a chance to win it with 4 minutes left, but Russel Wilson's pass bounced off the hands of double-covered Jay Smith, as Wilson set an ACC record of 272 consecutive passes without an interception. NC State will get its share of wins this year if the offense gets a bit more innovative. But the evening belonged to the Gamecocks who outgained the Wolfpack 256 to 133 as the South Carolina defense only allowed 2.3 yards per play while the Gamecock's gained 4 yards per play. W-L and Odds: We called the winner and beat the spread. Thus far we are 1-1 W-L and 2-0 against the spread.

Our call: Ball State over North Texas 54-14. Result: North Texas beat Ball State 20-10 in what can only be regarded as a sensational upset, as the Mean Green were 1-11 last year and ranked dead last in the YPPSYS ratings of all Division I-A FBS teams, while Ball State finished 12-2 the past season. In fact, in 2007 and 2008 the Mean Green allowed more points per game than any other FBS team. The decision in 2006 to hire Todd Dodge, the USA Today High School Coach of the Year in 2005, was not looking too good. How could a turnaround like this possibly happen? In part, Dodge has now instituted his offensive system and is getting some of the players he needs for that system. In part, departed Cardinals head coach Brady Hoke's stock just went up 1000%. But perhaps defensive coordinator Gary DeLoach has worked wonders this year for North Texas that he could not yet work last year with the players available after coming to the Mean Green from UCLA. DeLoach as the defensive coordinator for North Texas in 2002 ranked 3rd nationally in scoring defense. In the game against Ball State, the Mean Green put up 512 yards total offense on 6.1 yards per play while the Cardinals gained 309 yards on 5.2 yards per play. A massive improvement for North Texas, but a sign of great difficulties at Ball State. W-L and Odds: We did not call the winner and did not beat the spread. Thus far we are 1-2 W-L and 2-1 against the spread.

Our call: Utah over Utah State 49-10. Result: Utah extended its nation's longest winning streak to 15 in a passable 35-17 win over Utah State but turned the ball over 3 times and the defense had leaks, permitting a 96-yard TD run by the Aggies Robert Turbin, and thus showing that Ute head coach Kyle Whittingham has a lot of work to do this year. New Ute quarterback Terrance Cain completed 20 of 30 passes for 286 yards, 2 TDs and 1 interception. Matt Asiata ran for a career-best 156 yards. Utah fumbled the ball away twice. The Utes gained 519 yards on 6.5 net average yards per pay, but permitted Utah State 342 yards on 5.7 net average yards per play, which is much too much. Utah also failed to score once after three tries from the 1-yard line, so this is also a substantial concern, because if you can not make the TD from that close in the red zone, you have a problem. W-L and Odds: We called the winner but did not beat the spread. Thus far we are 2-2 W-L and 2-2 against the spread.

Our call: Oregon over Boise State 24-23. Result: Any doubts that Boise State of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) has arrived on the major college football scene were put to rest by this game against a very strong Pac-10 Conference opponent. Oregon got a rude awakening as they were thumped by the Broncos 19-8, who held them to a mere 152 yards total offense for a miserable average of 2.62 yards per play, while Boise State itself gained 361 yards on a 4 yards per play average, also not optimal. Boise State lost 3 fumbles - otherwise the result for Oregon would have been worse than it was, although the Ducks also threw a costly interception. W-L and Odds: We did not call the winner and did not beat the spread. Thus far we are 2-3 W-L and 2-3 against the spread.

Our call: Villanova (FCS) over Temple 30-21 Result: Villanova won 27-24.
Our call: Kent State over Coastal Carolina (FCS) 34-14 Result: Kent State won 18-0.
Our call: Indiana over Eastern Kentucky (FCS) 34-28 Result: Indiana won 19-13.
Our call: North Dakota State (FCS) over Iowa State 31-24 Result: The Cyclones won 34-17 as head coach Paul Rhoads, who came from Auburn, starts out as a winner.
W-L and Odds: We called three of the four winners - there was no official line. Thus far this season we are 5-4 W-L and 2-3 against the spread.

Full post as published by LawPundit on September 04, 2009 (boomark / email).