Week 1 Full Review

Well the MWC ended the week well going 5-3 and 2 0f 3 loses were by less then a touchdown. Lets get started by going in order of game times.

31-28 0T

This game I watched the majority of it because it started at 10 am local time for me. I was really surprised how well Cody Hawkins the freshman from Colorado played, actually both QB’s started off extremely well in the first half. Colorado State’s offense looked very well with Caleb Hanie tearing apart the Buffalo defense, and TE Kory Sperry scoring 3 TD’s and gaining 103 yards. Also, CSU has one of the best names in college football in Johnny Walker who had 74 receiving yards. The real spark came for the Rams when Kyle Bell rushed for 135 yards and a TD, but it took 40 carries to achieve that. CU also looked very good matching the Rams point for point and also carving up the Rams secondary. The one thing that hurt the Rams was that the 4th quarter where the Rams had the lead and scored zero points and allowed Colorado to tie the game with only 13 seconds left. As for overtime Colorado scored first, but the only interception Hanie threw all game came at the worst time in overtime. Overall the Rams looked very good in their offense, but a few things for next game the Rams must get more yards per carry, because Kyle Bell can not get 40 carries a game and the passing defense needs work.

 

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3-23

The Virgina trip to Laramie was not a kind one when Wyoming dominated the Virgina Cavaliers in every aspect of the game. The defeat was a slow death for Virgina, and it looks like the Wyoming defense is still strong after losing multiple starters. The Cowboys held Virgina to 108 total yards from scrimmage with 6 yards rushing and 102 yards passing with two quarterbacks. Karsten Sweed looked real good throwing to 9 different receivers and threw for one score and 253 yards. The running game of Wyoming punished Virgina for 221 yards.  Wyoming looks like they could be a team to contend for one of the top three spots in the conference.

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3-34 

It is hard to take too much from this game when the Falcons play a I-AA team, but it did give the Falcons a chance to practice their new passing oriented offense.  The Falcons did have a good showing defense giving up only 180 yards.  As for the Falcon offense they still ran for 279 yards and only threw for 176 yards.  The real test when Air Force goes on the road to Salt Lake City to take on the Utes next week in an early conference tilt.

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 7-20

This game was shown on Versus and yes BYU dominated a game that was really boring and bland.  BYU’s rush defense was amazing giving up only 32 yards, but the pass defense was decent in that they only allowed one touchdown and that was done very late but did give up 223 yards.  However the last score was done against BYU’s backups and so were 65 of the total passing yards.  The offense was productive, but no where near last years standards which included throwing the deep ball.  The offense that was called was for Max Hall was appropriate in that it was his first collegiate start.  The offense was to throw short passes that were 3-8 yards and that worked very well for BYU.  The player of the game was Harvey Unga ran for 67 yards and a score, but then he also caught a touchdown pass and 127 yards receiving.

 

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 0-27

TCU started its BCS run by showing up and beating shutting out Baylor.  Andy Dalton in his first start managed the game well throwing for 205 yards and tossing one touchdown.  I was surprised that Marcus Jackson did not get any snaps, but he did get 3 rushes for 17 yards while in the game.   Even though not one wide receiver stepped up Dalton found 10 different receivers.  The only odd thing about the game that was Aaron Brown who is predicted to be one of the top backs in the conference only had 6 touches for 32 yards.  As for the defense the Horned Frogs shut out Baylor even without All-American candidate Tommy Blake who sat out the game.

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6-10 

In a defensive struggle the Lobos could not come back after the early 4th quarter touchdown by the Miners.  Rodney Ferguson was the only Lobo to really show up and dominate the Miners by running for 132 yards but zero touchdowns.  On the other hand Donovan Porterie had a good percentage but only threw for 190 yards, but that drive in the second that led to a field goal when inside the 5 is what hurt the Lobos in this game.  It is amazing that the Miners won by only throwing for 80 yards with two players playing the QB position.  The Miners did run for a respectable 129, but 36 yards came on the last score of the game.  This game came down to New Mexico not taking care of chances, they were inside the 5 and only got a field goal.  The Miners were lucky to escape with a victory the Lobos had no turnovers to UTEP’s one pick and only 209 yards from scrimmage.