Shut the door on Week 4

Photo courtesy of TheWolverineBlog.com. On a day filled with excitement, Michigan QB Denard Robinson (pictured above) stole the show with his legs.

By Josh Kramer

The College Football season is about a third of the way in, and I for one have not been disappointed.  Big time players and big time teams have lived up to the hype thus far.  Primetime matchups have turned into classics.  And there is a still a whole lot more of where that came from on the way.  Who cares about conference realignment.  Let’s just enjoy the current system, while we still have it.

Welcome to the Denard Robinson Show

-Generally when your starting quarterback throws for just 93 total yards during the course of a game, that is not a good sign.  In addition, when your QB tosses 0 TD’s, that is another bad sign.  Finally, when your QB tosses 2 INTS (and no TDs), that sounds suicidal.  It’s all good for the Big Blue though, since their quarterback is Denard Robinson.

-So what if Robinson has not been an electric passer this year, completing just 48.6% of his passes.  Robinson has seemingly regressed as a pocket passer thus far, but he has not lost a step in regards to his scrambling ability.  Yesterday, the super junior from Florida rushed 21 times for 200 yards.  In addition, he became the 2nd all-time leader rusher as a QB in Big Ten history.  If any of you had the opportunity to witness his beautiful 53-yard scamper yesterday, I do not foresee too many question marks.  The Wolverines are now 4 and 0 heading into Big Ten play.

Let’s party like it is 1999

-Did anybody see this coming?  Arizona State had just taken a heartbreaking loss at the hands of Illinois and looked to be in big trouble heading into a game versus Matt Barkley and the always tough USC Trojans.  ASU coach Dennis Erickson was just 1 and 8 all-time against the Trojans heading into last night.  Plus USC had defeated ASU 11 consecutive times.  Talk about a one-sided conference matchup.

-Well last night, it was 1999 all over again (the last time ASU beat USC).  Arizona State, at a raucous Sun Devil Stadium, ended up blowing out the perennial Pac-12 power in the 4th quarter.  And they did it by winning the battle of fundamentals.  Outside of the final score, the most important stat in nearly any given football game is the turnover margin.  Well Arizona State won the turnover battle 4 to 0, and walked away with a 21 point victory.

LSU “Wares” down opponents

-I will admit that West Virginia impressed me last night.  Or at least for three quarters.  WVU played some inspired football in front of a home crowd and even got within six points of arguably the best team in American with a little over a minute left in the third quarter.

-LSU showed a little vulnerability in the third quarter last evening.  The “best” defense in the country struggled with their tackling all night and it showed.  West Virginia put up 533 total yards of offense, including 463 in the air.  It is a good thing LSU does not let that type of thing face them.  So what if their defense was not on their A game.  They remained opportunistic and stuck to their game plan.  “Ware” down their opponents.  Spencer Ware and the LSU ground attack had a fairly typical evening putting up 186 yards on the ground, with the majority coming in the 4th quarter.  In addition, LSU special teams continue to make big plays.  LSU is just so big, athletic, and deep.  They consistently pull away from tired teams at the end of games.  And last night, in their 36th consecutive victory against a non-conference opponent, they won the 4th quarter battle 13 to 0.  And in return, they walked away from hostile Morgantown with a 26 point victory.

Cowboys shock the Aggies

-Sure both of these Big 12 powers had similar rankings (7 and 8).  But many expected A&M, the supposedly more well-rounded team to escape with a victory in College Station.  The Aggies were the home team who also had the “better” defense.  It didn’t happen.

-A 3rd quarter for the ages helped the Cowboys shock the Aggies.  Tannehill, the Texas A&M QB, was terrible in the 2nd half tossing 3 INTs.  Oklahoma State won the turnover battle, and despite a bonehead play from their star Justin Blackmon, came away with their 7th straight road victory.  OK State now will do all in their power to remain undefeated until their battle with the rival  Oklahoma Sooners at home on December 3rd.

Stay tuned for the next edition of TheSportsKraze.

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