Real Kato Blog: College Football 2015: Week 3 Recap

Michigan wins easily last week but looked sluggish. NCSU continues playing cupcakes.

Michigan 28, UNLV 7
A lot of people complained about Michigan's performance against an inferior opponent, particularly Jake Rudock's inaccurate passes. I don't think I agree. Michigan ran out to a 21-0 halftime lead, then spent the second half running into 9- and 10-man fronts just to see if they could. Jake missed a few open passes, but one was a missed read because a defender in his sight line, and another seemed to be the tailback running the wrong route (turning downfield too early on a flare route). So I don't think there's cause for alarm.

I will say that Rudock doesn't have the best delivery I've seen. He has a long windup and doesn't have a lot of zip on out routes. But for the most part he seems to have a good grasp of the offense, and it doesn't surprise me when Harbaugh says he's the best quarterback on the team by a large margin.

NCSU 38, ODU 14.
Yawn. When NCSU starts playing real opponents, I'll have more to say.

Other Notable Games
It was quite the weekend for upsets and near-misses.

#1 OSU looked awful playing against Northern Illinois, squeaking out a 20-13 win. OSU turned the ball over five times and looked lethargic. NIU is a good team, but a #1 team shouldn't struggle like that.

#2 Alabama was upset by #15 Ole Miss. Ole Miss dominated most of the game; Alabama made a late comeback but couldn't pull it out. Alabama is still a good team, but clearly not as dominant as they've been in some recent years.

#3 TCU beat SMU 56-37, but the game was still in doubt until the fourth quarter.

#4 Michigan State beat Air Force 35-21. The game wasn't as close as the score, but Air Force can give anyone fits.

#6 USC lost to Stanford 41-31, which is baffling. Stanford just lost to Northwestern and USC was slated to contend for the playoffs.

#11 Clemson squeaked by a winless Louisville team 20-17.

#9 Florida State beat a pretty good Boston College team 14-0.

#23 Northwestern beat Duke 19-10.

#13 LSU crushed #18 Auburn 45-21. LSU doesn't have a quarterback, but tailback Leonard Fournette can beat most teams single-handed.

#8 Notre Dame beat #14 Georgia Tech 30-22. Notre Dame is playing with sophomore backup quarterback DeShone Kizer, but he's playing well enough that the Irish defense can make up the slack.

#10 UCLA beat #19 BYU 24-23. BYU almost had another miraculous win. This game was closer than it should have been, as UCLA's freshman quarterback looked like a freshman, while BYU continued to make wild big plays. BYU is scary but erratic. I'll get into that more in the Week 4 preview.

UNC crushed Illinois 48-14.

Indiana beat Western Kentucky 38-35; however, they lucked out because Minnesota beat Kent State 10-7 in this week's Worst Win of the Week.

Miami beat Nebraska 36-33. Nebraska is cursed this year.

Virginia Tech crushed Purdue 51-24.

Penn State beat the Rutgers Fightin' Tire Fires 28-3.

Iowa beat a pretty good Pitt team 27-24.

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