Real Kato Blog: College Football Recap: Week 9

Michigan rolls over Purdue; N.C. State gets shutout by Florida State.

Michigan 36, Purdue 14. Michigan played a complete game and bounced back from last week's loss, rolling up 535 total yards including 339 rushing. Now, Purdue is not a very good team; however, Michigan desperately needed a win to silence those who were looking for another second-half collapse. The offense finally found some success with I-formation running, though the thing that made me the happiest was seeing some outside zone running. There were a couple of bad interceptions (one from Denard Robinson and one from Devin Gardner) and the defense let a cheap touchdown through, but otherwise it was a total throttling.

Grades: Offense B+, Defense A-. A solid effort on both sides. The passing game needs a bit of work and we'll need to see if Michigan can execute like this against a real defense, but... I think at the start of the season anyone would have been happy with 7-1 and a tie for the division lead.

N.C. State 0, Florida State 34. Well, I got Florida State's score right. But Glennon was ineffective all day (completing mostly short passes, while frequently throwing incomplete on third down and tossing two interceptions). The running game was a disaster... 36 yards on 28 carries. N.C. State still has bowl hopes but next Saturday's game against UNC is a must-win.

Other Notable Games

Lots of big games on Saturday.

#3 Oklahoma State walloped Baylor 59-24 and is in the driver's seat to play the LSU/Alabama winner in the BCS title game... but of course they'll still have to get by Oklahoma later this year.

#5 Clemson was shocked by Georgia Tech 31-17; Clemson can kiss their national title hopes good-bye. The Tigers still leads the ACC, but this game ends what looked like a magical season.

#6 Stanford had to rally to beat USC in overtime, 56-48. Stanford showed some flaws but if they can win out and beat Oregon, they'll have a legitimate BCS claim too.

#17 Houston ran up 73 points on Rice, winning 73-34. Houston is still undefeated but with their weak schedule, they probably have no hope of a BCS title shot. An at-large bid is still in the realm of possibility, though.

#9 Oklahoma demolished #8 Kansas State 58-17. Wow. Hard to believe Oklahoma lost to Texas Tech (who, though they were ranked #20, lost to Iowa State 41-7 this week).

#10 Arkansas squeaked by Vanderbilt 31-28.

#11 Michigan State lost to #14 Nebraska 24-3. LOLWUT, Sparty? The Spartans are now in two different circular relationships: they beat Michigan who beat Notre Dame who beat them, and they beat Wisconsin who beat Nebraska who beat them. Nebraska now controls their own destiny in the Big Ten, and Michigan State will be in the uncomfortable position of having to root for Michigan to beat Nebraska in a couple of weeks.

#12 Virginia Tech struggled but managed to get by Duke 14-10.

#15 Wisconsin loses another heartbreaker; this time it's Ohio State, winning 33-29 on a last-minute touchdown. Suddenly Wisconsin is two and a half games back in the Leaders division behind.... Penn State?! And meanwhile Ohio State is tied with them?! Fortunately for the Badgers, both Penn State and Ohio State have a tough remaining slate of games, while Wisconsin gets Minnesota next week.

But speaking of Minnesota, they managed to beat Iowa 22-21. Iowa was looking like they were making a comeback to be a contender in the Legends division, but now... I'm more confident of Michigan's chances against them next Saturday.

#16 Texas A&M was upset by Missouri 38-31. I think this spells the end of the illusion for A&M; they looked good after defeating Baylor, but it turns out Baylor wasn't that good either.

#19 Penn State beat Illinois 10-7 on a late touchdown drive, after having virtually no offensive production all day. Illinois is getting their annual reality check. Meanwhile Penn State has smoke-and-mirrored its way to a 8-1 record and a solid lead in the Legends division. Of course, their final three games are Nebraska, Ohio State, and Wisconsin, and it's hard to see them winning out. But even one out of three might be enough to get them to the Big Ten championship.

#22 Georgia beat Florida 24-20. I can't say I'm sad to see Florida at 4-4 and practically out of contention in the SEC.

UNC demolished Wake Forest 49-24. UNC is quietly worming its way up the Coastal division and still has a shot to get to the ACC championship. Hopefully the Wolfpack will put a stop to that next week.

Virginia beat Miami 28-21. I don't understand what's happening in the ACC.

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