Real Kato Blog: College Football Recap: Week 11

I go 0-2 in my predictions this week as Michigan wins and N.C. State loses.

Michigan 31, Illinois 14. Well, this was a surprise. Michigan ran the ball for 223 yards against a good Illinois defense; meanwhile, Illinois only rushed for 37 yards. Part of this was Zook being Zook: it did not seem like he was doing much to test the edge of Michigan's defense, which had been a weakness all year. To Al Borges' credit, he mostly abandoned the drop-back passing game with Denard, focusing on zone running for a large percentage of the plays.

But most of Michigan's win rests of the play of the Greg Mattison's defense, which was stellar. Mike Martin was disruptive all day, and J.T. Floyd shut down one of the Big Ten's best receivers. It is reassuring to be able to rely on Michigan's defense after years of floundering under various defensive coordinators going back to the Ron English days.

The offense failed to convert on a number of red zone opportunities... this was a bit troubling. It's also a bit troubling that Denard Robinson himself was largely ineffective for a lot of the game; most of Michigan's offense came from Fitzgerald Toussaint, who had a monster day. Denard banged his wrist and Devin Gardner played much of the second half, and had a decent day. If Michigan can be lackluster on offense and play the second-string quarterback and still come away with a 17-point win, I'll take it.

Suddenly the roller coaster of expectations for this team is on an upswing again, as Michigan could finish the year at 10-2 if they win their two remaining home games, against Nebraska and Ohio State. Both will present tough matchups for Michigan but both games are at home. If Michigan's defense continues to play well and the offense finds its groove again, look out.

Grades: Offense B-, Defense A. The offense seemed a bit out of sync, though that's largely due to just one guy: Illinois DE Whitney Mercilus, who utterly pwned Mark Huyge for most of the day. But the interior of the line played well and Fitzgerald Toussaint looked great. On defense, no complaints whatsoever.

N.C. State 10, Boston College 14. Uh, what the hell. N.C. State's offense fell apart in this game. State had a chance to score what could have been a winning touchdown, but threw an interception in the end zone. Except for that and a couple of other drives, State went nowhere—especially on the ground, rushing for just 47 yards. B.C. was equally inept on offense but managed to scrabble together one more touchdown drive than the Wolfpack, and that was enough. With that loss, N.C. State's bowl chances look grim. They'll need a mammoth upset at home against Clemson to have any shot.

Other Notable Games

#1 LSU struggled against lowly Western Kentucky in the first half, but pulled away to win 42-9.

#2 Oklahoma State obliterated Texas Tech 66-6. I thought this game would be a lot closer.

#3 Alabama beat Mississippi State 24-7. Alabama is still inching towards a rematch against LSU in the championship game; but I think voters might be inclined to put a one-loss Oklahoma team in that game instead, if Oklahoma can beat Oklahoma State.

#7 Oregon had too much speed for #4 Stanford and won 53-30. Stanford is effectively out of the championship race, while Oregon now has a shot to get back in it.

#5 Boise State lost to TCU 36-35 in the upset of the week, after TCU scored a late touchdown and two-point conversion, and Boise State missed a last second field goal. This ends the Broncos' BCS hopes. There was a collective sigh of relief among BCS commissioners and conference administrators over not having to deal with Boise State crashing the BCS party.

#9 Clemson kicked a last second field goal to beat Wake Forest 31-28. Clemson has clinched the ACC Atlantic division; their only conference game remaining is against N.C. State next week.

#10 Virginia Tech beat #21 Georgia Tech 37-26 on Thursday. VT is 9-1 and is on track to take on Clemson in the ACC title game, but they still have to get by UNC and Virginia to close the season.

#19 Nebraska beat #12 Penn State 17-14. Penn State fans were in tears for various reasons during the whole game. Some were quoted as saying they deserved to win the game after all they'd been through this week. My opinion: you deserve nothing. By spending the week saying "We Are Penn State" and "We Support Joe Paterno" after all that's happened, you effectively showed solidarity with a child molester and people who let it happen. You should have spent the week saying "We Are... Sorry and Angry."

#13 South Carolina held off Florida 17-12. Florida's dismal season continues.

#14 Kansas State beat Texas A&M in a wild four-overtime 53-50 game.

#15 Georgia demolished #20 Auburn 45-7. Auburn minus Cam Newton equals mediocrity.

#16 Texas lost to Missouri 17-5. Yes, 5. Texas has three quality opponents left and is looking at another mediocre season after their promising start.

#17 Michigan State thumped Iowa 37-21. Michigan State will probably land in the Big Ten title game, where we can only hope that Wisconsin gets a chance to avenge their fluke loss.

West Virginia beat #23 Cincinnati 24-21, handing the Bearcats their first conference loss. Cincinnati still controls their own destiny in the Big East, but faces a pretty good Rutgers team next week.

#25 Baylor had to rally from a three-touchdown deficit to get by lowly Kansas, 31-30.

Florida State beat Miami (FL) 23-19, scoring three field goals along the way.

Ohio State lost to Purdue in overtime, 26-23. Oh, Buckeyes... your tears are so salty. Did you really start to believe that this was going to be a good season?

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