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College Football Recap: Week 5
Sunday, 2011 October 2 - 9:48 pm
Michigan stomps Minnesota 58-0; N.C. State struggles against Georgia Tech, but makes the score respectable with some garbage-time touchdowns.

Michigan 58, Minnesota 0. Well, what can you say: Michigan played near-flawless football and Minnesota couldn't do anything right. This game was over before halftime. Minnesota is simply just an awful team, especially when their only good player (quarterback Marqueis Gray) is out with an injury.

Michigan came out with all kinds of wacky trick plays in the first half. There were a couple of two-quarterback plays, where Devin Gardner took the snap and Denard Robinson was a wingback (in a double-wing option look). Vincent Smith had a halfback option pass play where he threw for a touchdown. I think the idea is to impress upon future opponents that Michigan has a dazzling array of trickery to draw from, so they'll be punished if a cornerback drops coverage to contain the run, or if a linebacker fails to account for a quarterback as a receiver. Defenders will have to stay at home, and that'll make the regular offensive plays more successful.

Or, it could be that Al Borges just said, "Hey, it's Minnesota... might as well practice some of the fun stuff while we have the chance."

I'm not totally convinced that Michigan is as dominating as they looked Saturday, but there's certainly reason to be hopeful. The secondary looks competent; Al Borges has found the spread plays that suit Denard's talents; and Brendan Gibbons was actually making field goals.

Grades: Offense A, Defense A. Can't argue with the results this week, even if it was against a sucky opponent.

N.C. State 35, Georgia Tech 45. This game was not nearly as close as the score suggests; GT was up 42-14 with ten minutes left, and State's three late touchdowns were largely meaningless. As I feared, the Tech option attack was too much for State's banged-up defense. There is some reason to be hopeful for later games as James Washington emerged as a possible answer at tailback... but Glennon is still not a dynamic playmaker, and the defense will likely continue to struggle.

Other Notable Games

Pitt upset #16 South Florida 44-17. Notre Dame lost to USF; Pitt lost to Notre Dame; USF then loses to Pitt. Weird.

#3 Alabama beat #12 Florida 38-10. Florida scored on their opening play from scrimmage on a long pass play but Alabama dominated after that.

#7 Wisconsin utterly dominated #8 Nebraska, 48-17. Wisconsin is awfully, awfully good with Russell Wilson at quarterback.

Auburn scored a late touchdown to upset #10 South Carolina 16-13. South Carolina has a perennial problem with consistency, it seems.

#13 Clemson whacked #11 Virginia Tech, 23-3. Clemson has Georgia Tech and South Carolina still on its schedule, but there's a very real possibility that they'll run the table and end up undefeated. However, given the weakness of the ACC this year, Clemson may end up out of the national title game anyway.

#18 Arkansas beat #14 Texas A&M 42-38. The cameramen seemed to take great pleasure in showing the A&M fans suffering in the stands.

#15 Baylor lost to Kansas State 36-35. KSU is now 4-0 and takes the Big 12 Cinderella position away from Baylor.

#17 Texas beat Iowa State 37-14. Texas's real test comes next week against Oklahoma.

#24 Illinois held off Northwestern 38-35. Northwestern looked like the better team until Dan Persa left the game with an injury.

Penn State struggled to squeak by Indiana, 16-13. Penn State has serious problems on offense.

Michigan State beat Ohio State 10-7. This game was 10-0 before OSU scored a touchdown in the final minute; MSU inexplicably sent a blitz and allowed an OSU receiver to make a big play. OSU clearly hasn't figured things out on offense, though the return of the Tat-gate suspended players next week will almost certainly help them.

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