FIRST WEEKEND
This was a very interesting weekend in college football. It actually started last Thursday when #11 Wisconsin rolled over the Mountain West's UNLV and Mississippi State held a clinic on rushing for 309 yards and 645 yards of total offense against Memphis. In this game time of possession was not a factor as Mississippi State had possession for under 23 minutes the entire game, just under 40% of the time.
Friday saw a real barn burner in Baylor. I wish I could have been here to see this one. There was 57 points scored in the first half with Baylor up 34-23. Then the Bears scored 13 unanswered points in the third quarter to lead by 24. TCU made a valiant effort, scoring 25 in the fourth quarter, only to see the Bears culminate a 60-yard drive in the last 4 minutes to kick a 37-yard field goal. TCU's defense was not what it was last year, giving up over 560 yards total offense.
One of the early games on Saturday saw Utah State go into Auburn to start off the season facing the 2010 national champion Tigers. I used to live in Utah and I remember when Utah State would go to places like Nebraska just to get a slice of the money. I don't think they had any illusions that they could beat them back then. The last 10 years they have not had a winning season, the closest being 4-7 in 2002.
However, I think the mindset has changed there. They went into Norman to face the preseason #7 Oklahoma Sooners last year and stayed with them, eventually losing 31-24. They were behind 21-17 with ten minutes left in the third quarter, but could get no closer and held the mighty Sooner offense to just 31 points.
This year they went into the mighty SEC and unfortunately could not hold on. With 10 minutes left, they executed a 14 play, 65 yard drive that took over 6 minutes off the clock to score a touchdown and put them up 38-28 with under four minutes left. It only took Auburn 1:31 to go 65 yards for a score to bring them within three. They then executed an onside kick to perfection and went down to score another touchdown to win.
Utah State came into Auburn with a good game plan--ball control. They had two drives of at least 7-minutes or more, one 6 minute drive and one 5 minute drive. All totalled-just over 26 minutes. Two of those drives were in the fourth quarter totalling over 11 minutes. Too bad the defense could not come through. They were certainly given enough rest.
BOISE STATE STARTING STRONG
The Boise State Broncos went into the Georgia Dome to face Georgia. Technically this was a neutral site, but there's nothing neutral about Georgia playing in their home state against the perennial BCS busting Broncos. They showed that they are a team to be reckoned with again this year, now wearing the conference banner of the Mountain West.
The Bronco offense performed as usual under the leadership of senior Kelvin Moore--390 yards total offense, 28-34 for 261. Their defense is what kept the Bulldogs at bay. Georgia's three scores came on a run of 80 yards in the 1st quarter, a 36-yard TD pass in the 3rd, and a 51-yard TD pass in the 4th. The rest of their yardage consisted of 57 yards rushing on 30 carries and 149 yards on 27 attempts passing. So the Bronco defense beat up on this SEC opponent pretty good keeping the Bulldogs from ever getting close after the first half.
BYU COMES THROUGH, BARELY
BYU started out this season as an independent, after playing in the old WAC and the Mountain West Conferences. Their first game was SEC opponent Mississippi on the road. Mississippi wanted to come back from their 2010 record of 4-8. That record may not look to great until one realizes that they are in the SEC Western Division against teams like Auburn, Alabama, Arkansas, LSU, and Mississippi State. Pretty hefty competition. Their only win in SEC came against Kentucky. They wanted to come out strong in their home opener.
BYU wanted to show the nation that they could compete against the "big boys", going into the SEC and then this Saturday traveling to Austin to face Texas. There have been times in the past where they have proven themselves mostly on the bowl scene. The Independent status gives them an opportunity to play a meatier schedule with the likes of Ole Miss, Texas, Utah, UCF, Oregon State, and TCU. Five of those six games are on the road, though the game with Utah is only 43 miles north of Cougar Stadium, that could be considered a home game.
Not only was their playing status different, they employed an entire new offense under coordinator Brandon Doman, a former quarterback at the Y. Bringing a new system to the team can take some time getting used to, even though the offense had 9 starters returning. That may have been the reason for its sputtering offense in the first half against Ole Miss.
BYU showed some pretty good offense against Mississippi. However, it always seemed to stall through a combination of penalties, negative rushing yards, fumbled snaps, and incomplete passes. They scored 0 points in the first half with only 104 yards of offense. The BYU defense played fairly well, holding Ole Miss to 44 yards in just 16 plays for the first 26 minutes of the game. On their next possession they changed quarterbacks and executed a 49-yard, 8 play drive ending with a field goal. So while BYU had more yardage, they were not ahead on the scoreboard.
A team's first possession in the second half is crucial. It sets the tone for the team, especially on the road. BYU's first possession started out quite well. They moved the ball 67 yards to the Ole Miss 22 yard line, only to have Jake Heaps throw an interception that the Rebels ran back for a touchdown. Their next possession of 66 yards ended in a missed field goal of 31 yards. Again BYU moved the ball--again no points.
Early in the fourth, Ole Miss kicked a field goal to go up 13-0. BYU finally mounted a drive ending in a touchdown to cut the lead to 13-7. Ole Miss' next possession resulted in a fumble caused, recovered and scored by Kyle Van Noy, putting BYU up 14-13 which was the final score.
This certainly was not pretty for the Cougars. New offense, new coordinator can cause even the hardest working team to hit-and-miss for the first game or two. One has to give credit to the never-say-die attitude. It's what kept them in the game and eventually gave them the win.
Teams like Utah State who get no respect from the AQ conferences, showed that they need to be taken seriously as they almost pulled a very big upset against the reigning national champion and #19 ranked Auburn. They played their best for 56 minutes against the SEC powerhouse. Unfortunately, the game is 60 minutes long. Boise State proved that they can play on anyone's home turf as good or better than at home.
Notre Dame under their new coach lost their home opener
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