#BoxScoreReview
Everything you may have missed from a busy weekend in college football consolidated into short gambling friendly game capsules.
Buffalo 55 – Akron 24
There was nothing fluke like about the Bulls domination of the Zips. Buffalo outgained them by 306 yards while racking up 30 first downs compared to Akron’s 15.
Northern Illinois 27 – Toledo 24
Toledo scored the game’s most important touchdown of the game with 2:14 remaining to sneak in the backdoor as +3.5 point underdogs. Toledo lost starting QB Michael Julian to a concussion and normal starter Logan Woodside made attempted 5 passes before being removed for Dwight Macon. Neither team turned the ball over and yards were pretty evenly matched, accurately reflecting the game’s final score.
UMASS 24 – Ball St 10
The Minutemen dominated Ball St, outgaining the Cardinals 569-286. Umass gained 424 of their 569 yards through a high flying passing attack led by Blake Frohnapel who left the game with a lower body injury later. After Blake’s departure the Minutemen wouldn’t attempt a single pass in the games final 8 minutes.
Bowling Green 30 – Kent St 20
It appeared the Falcons would soar to an easy cover en route to a 2nd straight MAC east title…but that wasn’t the case. BG built a 20-0 lead 4 minutes into the 2nd quarter but wouldn’t score again until the beginning of the 4th. Colin Reardon relieved ineffective Kent starter Nathan Strock leading the Flashes to a cover despite being outrushed 212 to 22 on the evening.
Cincinnati 54 – East Carolina 46
ECU and Cincy combined for over 1,100 yards in freezing conditions at Paul Brown Stadium. The Pirates faced a 38-20 deficit early in the 3rd before they stormed back to take a 46-45 lead with just over a minute remaining. Cincinnati would score 10 points in the game’s final 15 seconds including a fumble return for a TD as time expired.
UTSA 12 – Southern Miss 10
There was no offense on display when the Roadrunners mustered 4 field goals to get by USM. The game’s only TD came on a 22 yard Nick Mullens TD pass mid-way through the 3rd quarter for the Eagles. UTSA QB Austin Robinson attempted 44 passes for 175 yards passing, a robust 4 yards per attempt.
USC 38 – California 30
California backers had to think they were dead in the water +14.5 when they trailed 31-2 late in the 1st half. Cal scored the final TD of the half and ran off a 21-7 2nd half to get in the backdoor. Both teams picked up 27 first downs and turned the ball over once. The strength of USC’s offense came via 3rd down conversions where they went 9-16 compared to Cal’s 3-15 (did go 5-6 on 4th down). Nelson Agholor snagged 16 balls for 216 yards in USC’s winning effort.
UCF 31 – Tulsa 7
UCF obliterated Tulsa both in final score and in terms of yardage where they outgained the Golden Hurricane 506-201. Under backers never had to break a sweat as UCF built a 31-7 lead before the end of the third quarter. Dane Evans was awful for Tulsa at QB, 9-28 wont ever get it done on the road.
Ohio St 31 @ Minnesota 24
Minnesota’s passing game was non existent in their loss (but cover) against Ohio St. The Gophers threw for 85 yards while running the ball for 218 in the losing effort. OSU showed a bit more balance running the ball for 289 yards while throwing for 200. Minnesota trailed 31-14 mid-way through the 4th before scoring the game’s final 10 points.
Penn St 30 – Temple 13
Temple picked up a grand total of 8 first downs in their loss at Penn St. Yardage wasn’t that disparate where the Lions outgained the Owls 366-248 and won the turnover battle 5-3.
Georgia Tech 28 – Clemson 6
Clemson appeared poised for a big road win at Tech with a 3-0 lead, driving for a TD before Deshaun Watson went down with a major knee injury. Cole Stoudt entered and promptly throw an interception that turned into an 85 yard return. Clemson never recovered as Tech outgained the Tigers 353-190 holding the Tigers passing attack to all of 65 yards.
Western Kentucky 52 – Army 24
Leon Allen appeared poised to have the best rushing numbers of any back on Saturday (not named Melvin Gordon), carrying 33 times for 345 yards.
Iowa 30 @ Illinois 14
Iowa took out their frustration from the loss to Minnesota against Illinois, outgaining the Illini 587-235. Iowa showed a very balanced attack, running for 303 yards while throwing for 283.
UNC 40 – Pittsburgh 35
Pitt and UNC had a barn burner in Chapel Hill but the Panthers were unable to hold 2 separate 14 pt leads. Pitt went up 35-34 with 3:33 to play but UNC scored the game winning TD with 50 ticks left. The Panthers ran for 305 yards and only attempted 16 passes, winning the time of possession battle 35:30-24:30
Central Michigan 34 – Miami Oh 27
Air Force 45 – Nevada 38
Air Force ran for 342 yards in their OT win against Nevada. Reno had a slight 28 yard advantage over the Falcons but never led despite the game’s back and forth for 4 quarters. Don Jackson and Cody Fajardo both ran for over 100 yards in the Wolfpack offense but it was the AFA trio of backs (each with 16 carries or more) that combined for 272 yards.
Western Michigan 51 – Eastern Michigan 7
It’s not often a 44 point win is somewhat misleading but that’s what happened in Kalamazoo. WMU led 48-0 at the half before they took their foot off the gas against their in-state rival. The Broncos only outgained EMU 497-370 for the game largely because they only gained 84 yards the entire second half.
Marshall 41 – Rice 14
Marshall’s 27 point victory wasn’t nearly as lopsided as the box score would have predicted. The Thundering Herd got revenge for a 41-24 conference championship loss last season by outgaining the Owls 581-180 on the afternoon and converting 12 of 16 3rd down opportunities. Doc Holiday’s team displayed outstanding balance yet again, throwing for 297 yards and rushing for 284 in the dominant effort. Devon Johnson eclipsed the 100 yard barrier for the 8th time in 9 games.
NC State 42 – Wake Forest 13
NC State saw one of the biggest line moves of the weekend, moving from -12.5 out to -17 and steam didn’t disappoint. The Pack stymied Wake’s offense, holding them to 219 total yards and a robust 1.7 yards per rush. NCSU actually lost the time of possession battle but used big plays in the ground game to rack up 362 yards rushing on 46 carries.
TCU 34 @ Kansas 30
Appalachian St 37 – Arkansas St 32
App St dominated Arkansas St as nearly 2 touchdown underdogs, outgaining the Redwolves 549-314 and picking up 29 first downs to their 14. Arkansas St actually trailed 37-20 deep into the 4th until scoring the final 2 touchdowns less than a minute apart to shrink the margin of defeat. Marcus Cox carried the offense for the Mountaineers, running the ball 40x for 229 yards.
Navy 52 – Georgia Southern 19
Navy may have won by 32 points but they barely eeked out a win on the stat sheet vs Southern. GSU turned the ball over 3 times but were only outgained by 17 yards in the losing effort.
Alabama 25 – Mississippi St 20
Mississippi St out first downed and out gained Alabama despite losing the game. State needed a late 4th and 4 touchdown conversion to sneak in the backdoor with only 15 seconds remaining. Alabama led 19-3 at the break and were actually listed as 3.5 point favorites in the 2nd half…a stanza in which they were outscored 17-6.
Memphis 38 @ Tulane 7
There’s nothing in the final stat line that indicated a Memphis blow out of the Green Wave…well aside from 5 Tulane turnovers. Memphis benefitted from 2 defensive touchdowns in the game and finished the afternoon with only 334 yards compared to Tulane’s 351.
Wisconsin 59 – Nebraska 24
Judging by the final score you’d never believe Wisconsin tailed by double digits in the 1st quarter. Nebraska built a 10-0 lead before Wisconsin went on a 59-14 scoring run. The Badgers held Nebraska to 180 yards of offense while picking up 627 of their own. Melvin Gordon was the story, breaking the NCAA single game rushing record held by Ladainian Tomlinson by picking up 408 yards rushing.
Northwestern 43 @ Notre Dame 40
These Midwest “rivals” played one of the weekend’s most entertaining football games. They combined for 8 turnovers, well over 1,000 yards, and efficient third down offense. The biggest surprise? NU did this all as 18 point underdogs…
Florida International 38 – Middle Tennessee St 28
An otherwise even football game turned in FIU’s favor because of a +4 turnover margin. MTSU gained more yards, picked up more first downs, and converted more 3rd downs but squandered a 21-3 lead early in the 2nd quarter when the Golden Panthers rattled off 4 straight TD’s culminating with a 79 yard pick 6.
Oklahoma 42 – Texas Tech 30
Both teams found their offensive stride, one through the air while the other pounded the rock all afternoon. It appeared that OU was going to get the front door cover with an 11 yard run to go up 42-24 when only 1:33 remained. However Tech had other ideas, throwing a 39 yard TD pass as time expired to get back inside the number at the game’s final whistle.
Rutgers 45 – Indiana 23
Rutgers put together a 35-10 2nd half to blowout out Indiana and become bowl eligible in the process. Rutgers was actually outgained 473-429 but benefited from a +2 turnover margin.
Arizona 27 – Washington 26
Washington won the boxscore battle but came up just short on the scoreboard in Tucson. The Huskies racked up 504 yards to Arizona’s 375 with the lion’s share of the difference coming from a UW rushing attack that picked up 245 yards. Both teams turned the ball over 3x on the afternoon.
Utah St 28 – New Mexico 21
Tennessee 50 – Kentucky 16
Tennessee got out to an early lead and then coasted, building a 33-13 HT lead before piling it on in the 2nd. Tennessee nearly doubled up Kentucky’s yardage and first down output on the strength of 345 all purpose yards from Josh Dobbs.
Hawaii 13 – San Jose St 0
Hawaii shut out the Spartans in “dominating” fashion, at least on the scoreboard. However the Warriors were outgained 462 to 240 and out first downed 24 to 11. The Spartans were done in by 3 turnovers and couldn’t muster a single point even though they ran 30 more plays than their opponent.
Utah 20 @ Stanford 17
UL Lafayette 34 – UL Monroe 27
A defensive minded game turned into a 4th quarter shootout with both teams mustering 14 points in the final stanza. ULL only attempted 14 passes, electing to run the ball 47 times meanwhile ULM chucked it around 56 times compared to 21 runs. The Warhawks ground game was non-existent, netting -39 yards on those 21 rushing attempts.
BYU 42 – UNLV 23
Georgia 34 – Auburn 7
Georgia’s defense held Auburn largely in check after their 10 play, 70 yard opening TD drive. UGA was +10 in first downs and were +120 in yards. Auburn’s 3 turnovers put them at a bigger disadvantage as UGA ran the ball for just short of 300 yards in the victory.
South Alabama 24 – Texas State 20
South Alabama found a way to steal a home victory even though they were outgained, out first downed, and -4 in turnovers. Jaguars starting QB Bridge missed his second straight start as well.
Missouri 34 – Texas A&M 27
Missouri dominated the Aggies on the stat sheet, 587 to 341 in offensive output including 335 yards rushing. Mizzou trailed 20-13 early in the 3rd before scoring 3 straight touchdowns in just over 8 minutes to close the quarter. Texas A&M came up 1 yard short of a game tying TD with under 2 minutes to go.
Texas 28 @ Oklahoma St 7
Texas held OSU to a grand total of 192 yards. The Horns took a 19-0 lead into the half and ended up holding the ball for 38:37 on the evening. Texas’ running game was held in check but Tyrone Swopes went 24 of 33 for 305 yards passing.
Florida St 30 @ Miami 26
USF 14 – SMU 13
USF erased a 14 point 4th quarter deficit scoring the go ahead touchdown with only 4 seconds remaining. I won’t waste more time talking about this game…
Michigan St 37 @ Maryland 15
Arkansas 17 – LSU 0
Arkansas and LSU played the ugliest football game of the entire weekend but it was a thing of beauty for the Razorbacks who broke a 17 game conference losing skid. Arkansas outgained LSU 264-123 holding the Tigers to a 1.1 yards per carry average. Despite the limited offensive output Arkansas still somehow was 10 of 17 in converting 3rd downs.
UTEP 35 – North Texas 17
UTEP scored touchdowns on their first 4 drives of the game, building a 28-0 lead using the momentum to earn their first bowl bid in an eternity. Jami Showers only attempted 11 passes as the Miners did their main damage on the ground carrying 46 times for 351 yards.
Boise St 38 – San Diego St 29
Oregon St 35 – Arizona St 27
It’s a rare occurrence a team can go 1 of 12 on 3rd downs and win a game as a touchdown underdog. OSU outgained the Sun Devils 498 – 367 rushing for a season high 247 yards in the winning effort. Oregon St trailed 24-14 at the half before using a 21-3 2nd half surge to pull off the outright upset.
