Real Kato Blog: College Football Recap: Week 11

Michigan wins an ugly one at Purdue; N.C. State rolls over Wake Forest.

Michigan 27, Purdue 16. The first statistic that will jump out at you is this: ten turnovers, five by each team. Denard Robinson was responsible for four himself, with two fumbles and two interceptions. Yes, it was raining and the ball was wet... but that means ball security should have been a point of emphasis.

But the second surprising statistic is that the Michigan defense did not give up a touchdown. Purdue's defense scored a touchdown on a fumble return, and Purdue kicked three field goals. (Oh, if only Michigan had a competent kicker like that.) Otherwise, the defense bottled up Purdue most of the day, even without Jonas Mouton and Mike Martin, who were out with injuries. Now granted, Purdue is down to its third and fourth string quarterbacks, who are easily the worst passers Michigan has faced all year. But in previous games Michigan has made bad passers look good. This time, the secondary played well against both the run and the pass; even Obi Ezeh had a number of good plays.

The main thing is that Michigan got the win, and improves to 7-3 on the year. With Wisconsin and Ohio State coming up (and Michigan a big underdog in both of those games), it was important to win this one.

Grades: Offense D+, Defense A-. Never thought I'd see those grades this year. Not only did the offense turn the ball over, but they failed to get a push against Purdue's stout defensive line. The passing game managed to make just enough plays, but this offensive effort was perhaps the worst of the year. Thankfully, this was the best defensive performance of the year too.

N.C. State 38, Wake Forest 3. Uh, Wake Forest is simply awful this year. Their only two wins came against Presbyterian and Duke. There's no way N.C. State was going to lose this game. Russell Wilson threw for 300 yards. It is a bit of a concern that State only managed to rush for 59 yards, though.

State keeps pace in the ACC Atlantic Division and controls its own destiny for the ACC playoffs. They'll need to knock off North Carolina and Maryland over the next two weeks; both games are winnable but dangerous.

Notable Games

#1 Oregon barely survived against Cal, winning 15-13. Cal had a go-ahead field goal called back by a penalty, and missed the subsequent attempt. Cal's defense was surprising, containing an Oregon offense that had been averaging 55 points a game and had never scored less than 42 this season. If there's such thing as a moral victory in football, this would be one for Cal.

#2 Auburn needed to pull away late against a gutsy Georgia team 49-31.

#3 TCU had to survive a furious comeback by San Diego State, hanging on to win 40-35. A lot of pundits are no longer on the TCU bandwagon after this week; Utah's loss (see below) and this close outcome suddenly makes TCU seem less dangerous.

#4 Boise State stomped Idaho 52-14. Will they jump up in the BCS standings after weak performances by the top three? Probably not... it's just Idaho.

#6 Stanford benefited from a phantom personal foul call to win against Arizona 16-14. Arizona, you were robbed.

#7 Wisconsin beat Indiana 83-20. Yep. 83 points. (ESPN had a lot of fun with the fact that Wisconsin's basketball team only scored 83 points once last year, and that was also against Indiana... and also on the 13th day of the month.) Many of those came with backups in the game. Did I mention that Michigan plays Wisconsin next week? Eeeeeek.

#9 Ohio State beat Penn State 38-14. Penn State was in the game for the first half, but turnovers killed them in the second half. Ohio State also caught a lucky tipped pass for a touchdown. Penn State is now 6-4 and has Indiana and Michigan State left to play.

#10 Oklahoma beat Texas 33-16. Texas is 4-6 and might not even get to a bowl game this year. Reminder: Texas was ranked #5 in the pre-season.

#12 Alabama beat #10 Mississippi State 30-10. But Alabama has been eliminated from the SEC championship race, and even if they crack the top ten, they're not likely to get a BCS bowl bid.

#13 Iowa lost to Northwestern 21-17. I've always maintained that Northwestern was a dangerous team, and they've had Iowa's number over the past several years. Iowa's BCS hopes are dashed. The win was costly for Northwestern, though, as quarterback Dan Persa was injured and is out for the season.

Notre Dame beat #14 Utah 28-3. It turns out that Utah sucks; the win over Pitt at the start of the season wasn't as impressive as it seemed at the time. Utah's loss hurts TCU's resume.

USC beat #18 Arizona 24-21. USC still has some life despite the postseason ban. Expect them to take out their frustrations against Notre Dame in two weeks.

#20 Virginia Tech beat North Carolina 26-10. VT is now 8-2 and 6-0 in the ACC. Who would have thought that VT would rebound this way after falling to Boise State and 1-AA James Madison to start the year?

Minnesota beat Illinois 38-34. Illinois has gone from the darlings of the conference to the ugly ducklings. They still need to find a win against Northwestern or Fresno State to become bowl-eligible. I wonder how much longer Ron Zook will keep his job?

#23 South Carolina beat #22 Florida 36-14 as Steve Spurrier finally beats his former team in The Swamp and takes the Gamecocks to the SEC playoffs for the first time. South Carolina absolutely dominated this game. Florida's first touchdown came on an opening kickoff return; the second was late in the game when the outcome was already largely decided. I don't see how Florida was still ranked coming into this game... they'll easily fall from the rankings now. (Reminder: Florida was ranked #4 in the preseason.) Oh Florida... your tears are so salty.

Florida Fan

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