Week 3 NCAA Football Roundup

March Madness is almost here, right?:  The Iowa State Cyclones have overcome all odds and started off 3-0.  Huskies fans are already lined up at the box office for basketball tickets.  QB Steele Jantz didn't have a very good game, throwing 3 picks to his 1 TD, but he led the final TD drive and has an awesome name, so all is forgiven.  On the other side, Connecticut had the ball and was driving at the end of the game, but turned the ball over on downs at the Iowa State 37 with under 1:30 left.  If you're reading this and live in Connecticut, you should file an application for the position of QB at UConn, because it sure couldn't hurt right now.  Connecticut's total passing stats on the season: 38/86 (44.2% Completions), 2 TDs, 5 INTs.

In other basketball school news, Kansas got absolutely run off the field by Georgia Tech on Saturday, losing to the tune of 66-24.  Georgia Tech's triple option offense completely toyed with Kansas' defense, rushing for 604 yards on merely 50 carries (12.1 yards per carry!).  The first carry of the game by Georgia Tech RB Orwin Smith said all we needed to know about what was to be expected of the Jayhawks defense:

Georgia Tech scored on the first play of their possession 3 times, and no Georgia Tech player toted the rock more than 9 times.  Orwin Smith had 265 yards on 5 rushes and 2 receptions, and 3 TDs.  Remember how I said Kansas would be awful?  This is the proof.

The Roof is on Fire: Auburn defensive coordinator Ted Roof should probably get some treatment for those first-degree burns that Utah State, Mississippi State and Clemson laid on him.  Utah State and Mississippi State both had the chance to win the game with a last-second drive the first two weeks after dismantling Auburn's defense, and Clemson actually capitalized on their offensive success, putting up 624 yards and holding Auburn to 24 points.  QB Tajh Boyd made everyone forget about former QB, now Colorado Rockies prospect Kyle Parker, going 30/42 for 386 yards and 4 TDs.  He had an especially encouraging rapport with freshman 5-star WR Sammy Watkins, who had 10 catches for 155 yards and 2 TDs, as well as 7 rushes for 44 yards.  Watkins is clearly going to be the centerpiece of this offense, and he was phenomenal against the Auburn Tigers.

On the other side, Michael Dyer was his usual self (16 rushes, 151 yards, 2 TDs), and Barrett Trotter was extremely mediocre (12/25, 198 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT).  Auburn can't win with this formula, and the wheels finally fell off.  Auburn has allowed more than 3 times as many yards as Alabama this season (Auburn: 1,603 yards, Alabama: 510 yards).Their luck has disappeared, so until they sure up their defense, this is a 7-5 caliber team.

Vanderbilt is really 3-0.  Seriously, it's true: Vanderbilt's students may need to put down the textbooks and come to the football games now, because there's actually a decent product on the field.  Vandy is 3-0 after completely dominating Ole Miss 30-7.  Vandy forced 5 turnovers and held Ole Miss to 234 total yards.  In turn, Vanderbilt rushed for 281 yards and QB Larry Smith added on an efficient day in the passing game, albeit unspectacular (13/20, 103 yards).  RB Zac Stacy accounted for 160 of the rushing yards on a mere 11 carries.  Vandy actually has 10 interceptions on the year already and is allowing a mere 14 points per game.  Don't expect this undefeated streak to continue however.  The Commodores are 10th in PPG in the SEC against their cupcake schedule (33 PPG), 10th in yards per game in the SEC (318, even behind LSU), and they're only converting 24% of their third downs this season.  The train should come off the tracks pretty soon here, but they at least have a shot at a bowl game, which for Vanderbilt is exciting.

God is finally on Notre Dame's side:  Notre Dame systematically dominated MSU this weekend 31-13. Michigan State pulled the score to 14-10 early in the 2nd quarter and Notre Dame answered quickly with two touchdowns to go up 28-10 and put the Spartans too far behind to recover.  The Irish defense was outstanding against the run, taking away Michigan State's biggest weapons Le'Veon Bell and Edwin Baker and holding them to 53 yards on 17 carries.  Kirk Cousins had to attempt 53 passes, and while he totaled 329 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception, he was pretty ineffective if the Irish double-covered WR B.J. Cunningham.  Taking away Cunningham's 12 catches for 158 yards, Cousins had about 40 attempts for 179 yards, which is awful.  The secondary is worrisome when you can't even stop the one guy you need to, but at the same time, they did a good job limiting Cousins outside of throwing to Cunningham.

On the flipside, the Irish offense was fairly mediocre.  The Irish turned it over by fumbling on their second drive and Tommy Rees throwing his lone interception on their third drive, and the game looked set up to be another letdown for the Irish, but they recovered.  Jonas Gray and Cierre Wood were effective on the ground rushing 26 times for 126 yards, but the Notre Dame offense was held largely in check.  They had 3 long touchdown drives, and outside that, had literally no success on offense (239 of their 275 total yards were on those 3 drives).  While they at least capitalized on their minimal red zone opportunities, the offense didn't look in sync, and could be a concern for the Irish going forward.  Tommy Rees was more efficient this week, but still didn't look great, and may not be the quarterback to lead them to relevance again.

By land or sea, Navy's pretty good:  We can pretty much always expect the same season from Navy.  About an 8-4 record, a bowl win, and a couple near upsets against big-time BCS teams.  They quite nearly pulled off an upset against the South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday, who pulled off a 24-21 win.  Unfortunately for the Midshipmen, Marcus Lattimore had a different idea.  He singlehandedly carried the Gamecocks to a victory, toting the rock 37 times for an unbelievable 246 yards and 3 TDs.  Stephen Garcia added on 204 yards passing in a very efficient effort.  He did throw a pick but that was the lone South Carolina turnover, so they could live with it.  Navy's running game surprisingly was literally equally effective to South Carolina's, as both teams averaged 5.8 yards per carry.  Navy led the game three times, including at the start of the fourth quarter, but couldn't mount one last touchdown drive.  Very impressive effort by Navy, and depending on their schedule, they may have one more major upset effort in them.

Good Effort!
- Pittsburgh led Iowa 27-10 with 12:49 left in the game, but Iowa responded with the biggest comeback in school history to win 31-27.  Hawkeyes QB James Vandenberg won Big Ten player of the week honors.
- Temple led Penn State late in the game, but Penn State took a 14-10 lead with 3:06 left in the fourth quarter.
- Duke beat a real, live football team this week that isn't in Division I-AA!  Duke beat Boston College 20-19.
- Minnesota beat a real, live football team too, beating Miami (OH) 29-23 by putting up 13 points in the fourth quarter.
- Washington put up 38 points against the vaunted Nebraska defense, but still lost 51-38.
- North Dakota led Fresno State 22-21 entering the fourth quarter, but Fresno State scored with 10:28 left in the game to win 27-22.

Participation Awards!
- While there was worse this week, Toledo got whooped on national TV by Boise State 40-15 this week, so they get a mention.
- Purdue beat SE Missouri State 59-0.  Good thing Purdue got their offense out of the way this week, they face Notre Dame in their next game.
- Georgia put a 59-0 beatdown on Coastal Carolina, holding them to 112 total yards.
- Wisconsin took down Northern Illinois 49-7, and Russell Wilson had his first 300+ yard passing game as a Badger.
- Oregon beat the real Missouri State 56-7, putting up 681 yards of offense, highlighted by LaMichael James' 204 yards and 3 TDs on 12 carries.
- Baylor destroyed Stephen F. Austin 48-0.  Robert Griffin III went 20/22 for 265 yards and 3 TDs along with 78 rushing yards and is totally still winning that September Heisman.