Real Kato Blog: College Football 2018 Week 6 Recap

Michigan wins comfortably; NC State wins ugly.

Michigan 42, Maryland 21
This wasn't really as close as the score indicates. One Maryland touchdown was on a 98-yard kickoff return. Another came in garbage time at the end of the game. The only touchdown that could be seen as legitimate came in not-quite-garbage-time when Michigan already had a bunch of backups in. (Some due to injury, but still.) Maryland had only 220 yards of offense, and that number was 142 before their last garbage-time drive. Michigan had 465 yards of offense including 10.5 YPA passing. This was a pasting.

There's a lot to be happy about and not much to complain about. The Michigan OL continues to improve. The defense, despite being down several starters on the defensive line, dealt with Maryland's tricky offense without much problem. And Ben Mason is turning out to be a star at fullback.

At this point, Michigan is 5-1 but with the meat of the schedule still yet to come. Only two of the six remaining games look like comfortable wins; the rest will all be dogfights. It starts with Wisconsin next week.

NC State 28, Boston College 23
NC State can be thankful that their four-turnover performance didn't come against a better team. As predicted, BC couldn't really keep up with NC State's athletes, but stayed close in the first quarter thanks to two interceptions, and staged a late rally in the fourth quarter thanks to two fumbles.

Minus the miscues, NC State had a pretty good day, racking up 533 yards of offense. Running back Reggie Gallaspy rushed for 104 yards and Ricky Person tacked on another 92; the development of the rushing game over the past few weeks is encouraging.

State faces a showdown against Clemson on November 20th. The good news is that the Pack has a bye and therefore an extra week to prepare. The bad news is that Clemson also has a bye and an extra week, so :shrug:.

Penn State, bye
Penn State did not play.

Notable Games
Pretty eventful week. #19 Texas knocked off #7 Oklahoma 48-45. This got Oklahoma DC Mike Stoops fired. It also drastically reduces Oklahoma's chances of reaching the playoffs. Oklahoma's record suddenly doesn't look very impressive; the UCLA win in particular looks pretty meaningless. With only one more game against a ranked team left on the schedule (#6 West Virginia on Nov. 23) the Sooners might need some help to get a playoff bid.

#22 Florida upset #5 LSU 27-19, which wasn't that much of a surprise.

#6 Notre Dame whomped #24 Virginia Tech 45-23, as expected.

#8 Auburn lost to Mississippi State 23-9, which was a bit of a surprise; but the Bulldogs had only previously lost to Florida and Kentucky, and those aren't such bad losses in retrospect.

#10 Washington squeaked by UCLA 31-24. Poor UCLA. (Consolation: Nebraska is also still winless, losing 41-24 to #16 Wisconsin.)

#13 Kentucky finally lost, falling 20-14 to Texas A&M. I still think they're a good team, though, and they just might challenge Georgia in the SEC East.

#14 Stanford lost to Utah 40-21, a fact that we can probably blame on star tailback Bryce Love having to sit out due to injury.

#17 Miami barely beat Florida State 28-27.

#20 Michigan State lost to Northwestern 29-19, and I'm not in the least bit surprised. Northwestern has looked better than MSU through the course of the season despite MSU's better record.

Oddly Undefeated Teams
NC State 5-0; Colorado 5-0; Cincinnati 6-0.

Oddly Winless Teams
UCLA and Nebraska, still, each at 0-5.

Ken's Top Ten
#1. Alabama 6-0
#2. Ohio State 6-0.
#3. Notre Dame 6-0.
#4. Clemson 6-0.
#5. Penn State 4-1.
#6. Oklahoma 5-1.
#7. Georgia 6-0.
#8. Washington 5-1.
#9. Michigan 5-1.
#10. Florida 5-1.

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