College Football Shifts and Surprises

Many times the final score doesn't tell what really happened in a game, or how good or bad a team might be. This is why it is essential to dig into every box score. Sometimes a team can score 35 points, but the offense didn't really do much or a QB had a below average game. Look into that. Find out WHY it happened. Was it a fluke? Or just a bad game?

Southern Miss, for instance, runs a fast, wide open offense for second-year Head Coach Larry Fedora. He used to run the wide-open attacks at Oklahoma State and has recruited speed for the Golden Eagles offense, one that averaged over 30 ppg last season.

He has a pair of sophomores who played great as freshmen in QB Austin Davis and WR DeAndre Brown. Yet, they failed to cover last week in a 26-19 win over Central Florida. It was a match-up of a potentially terrific offense against a team with a terrible offense, and Southern Miss had home field.

Why the close game? Well, it really wasn't, as Southern Miss dominated, holding the edge in yards 409-194. They were sloppy in the red zone. Fedora said, "I knew it was going to be a tough game. Good teams find a way to win when they are not playing their best and we did that. By no means am I happy with the offense."

That's an example of a team being better than the final score might suggest. Kansas State, on the other hand, has some major problems on offense, as was evident in a surprising loss to UL Lafayette. Bill Snyder is trying to find a QB after losing Josh Freeman to the NFL.

Junior quarterback Carson Coffman completed 13 of 25 passes for 178 yards and an interception. He split time with senior Grant Gregory in the first half before playing the entire second half. "The defense did everything they could," he said. "We just didn't get it done on offense. We've got a lot of work to do." The kid is right.

What bothered K-State coach Bill Snyder the most was that Louisiana-Lafayette played like the stronger team. They head out to play at UCLA this weekend, a team with a fine defense but problems on offense.

UCLA (2-0 SU/ATS) is unbeaten and has been perfect ATS, but this offense has looked weak behind redshirt freshman QB Kevin Prince. They are off a stunning 19-15 win at Tennessee, but the offense was terrible with 186 yards. The Vols' defense battered the Bruins' offense for much of the day but survived. Just don't go rushing out to get an early number on UCLA potentially upsetting USC later this season.
Nebraska has a relatively new senior QB in Zac Lee, who didn't play much last year. But Lee is looking sharp, throwing for 340 yards and four touchdowns as No. 22 Nebraska routed Arkansas State on Saturday. He completed 27 of 35 passes to 11 different receivers and threw no interceptions. But all of that has been at home, and this weekend is the first road game for Nebraska - at Virginia Tech! They will face a very talented Hokie defense, won that won 35-30 at Nebraska last season.

Back to Article Listing