warning: This was supposed to be up earlier but all computers in the WWTL offices failed us miserably. Not that anyone was coutning on this being up at a certain time, but sorry for the delay and the appearance of being rushed -- which it was. This is the second time this has been typed up, arrrrggh.
And now, for all the news from the Big11Ten that you may have missed after you fell into a drunken stupor following the thrilling PSU v CC match. Just some quick scores, a stat or two from each game and what that might mean to PSU.
Ten of the eleven teams started their season on Saturday. Who didn't? Purdue.
Class comes first.And in no particular order, the rest of the teams and their results.
The NU defense also heald Syracuse to just 225 total yards of offense. Not a good day for the Orange, but good news for PSU fans as the Nittany Lions make the trek to Syracuse later this season.
Northwestern: 30 Syracuse: 10
Like every other team in the league, Northwestern started off the season with a softy. Granted, their opponent came from a BCS conference and has at least some history as a good football school, but Syracuse just isn't what it used to be. NU running back Tyrell Sutton absolutely dominated in this game, putting up 144 yards on 21 carries. This game aired on Big Ten network and so we got to see a bit of it, and Sutton was absolutely running guys over out there. Pretty scary. Northwestern's backs ran for a total 269 yards on the day, averaging 6.4 per carry.The NU defense also heald Syracuse to just 225 total yards of offense. Not a good day for the Orange, but good news for PSU fans as the Nittany Lions make the trek to Syracuse later this season.
Northern Illinois: 27 Minnesota: 31
Minnesota was looking to keep the tradition alive and lose to a non-BCS foe in week 1, and what a shocker, they almost did!
It took a touchdown with 22 seconds left to get the win for Minnesota. Surely there's more to the story, but we're just looking at box scores. Minnesota and Northern Illinois put up 425 and 398 yards, respectively. Pretty big numbers, which is probably more a testament to the lack of defense than anything else. Minnesota allowed 326 yards through the air, so we're guessing that whole "call up the junior college guys to play with the big boys" strategy didn't work.
On a more positive note, Adam Weber and Eric Decker both showed up in the first game of the season. Weber went 24/37 for 298 yards and two TDs. No picks. Decker caught 10 balls for 89 yards and a TD.
If Minnesota can find a defense, they might put together a good team one of these years.
It took a touchdown with 22 seconds left to get the win for Minnesota. Surely there's more to the story, but we're just looking at box scores. Minnesota and Northern Illinois put up 425 and 398 yards, respectively. Pretty big numbers, which is probably more a testament to the lack of defense than anything else. Minnesota allowed 326 yards through the air, so we're guessing that whole "call up the junior college guys to play with the big boys" strategy didn't work.
On a more positive note, Adam Weber and Eric Decker both showed up in the first game of the season. Weber went 24/37 for 298 yards and two TDs. No picks. Decker caught 10 balls for 89 yards and a TD.
If Minnesota can find a defense, they might put together a good team one of these years.
Michigan State: 31 Cal: 38
This is probably the only time we'll ever give props to Michigan State for anything, but they actually scheduled a legit team to open the season. The Spartans shipped out to Berkeley and played a close game, but just couldn't gain the lead at any time. MSU threw for 321 yards, while only running for 81.
Defensively, they allowed the Bears to run for 203 yards as well as pass for 264.
We're not football experts, but the ability to run, and stop the run seem pretty important.
This is probably the only time we'll ever give props to Michigan State for anything, but they actually scheduled a legit team to open the season. The Spartans shipped out to Berkeley and played a close game, but just couldn't gain the lead at any time. MSU threw for 321 yards, while only running for 81.
Defensively, they allowed the Bears to run for 203 yards as well as pass for 264.
We're not football experts, but the ability to run, and stop the run seem pretty important.
Akron: 17 Wisconsin: 38
As expected, PJ Hill ran all over the place. We're not sure why PJ got 26 carries against lowly Akron, but our guess is that when it takes you nearly 3 quarters to seal the deal against a MAC team, you gotta keep rollin out the starters.
"Visit PJ Hill's website." - PJ Hill
As a team the Badgers ran for 404 yards. That's just scary no matter who you're playing. Should be interesting to see what happens when they play that Penn State defense. Most people seem to agree that the defense was a little less than stellar, so let's hope they improve before they have to deal with a couple dozen doses of PJ Hill running down their collective throats.
Quick note: Wisconsin vs Northwestern from 2000 is on BTN right now. Good God was astro turf a terrible idea.
Quick note: Wisconsin vs Northwestern from 2000 is on BTN right now. Good God was astro turf a terrible idea.
Iowa: 46 Maine: 3
Maine and Iowa are probably two of the most boring states in the Union. With that in mind, lets move on to the next game.
Western Kentucky: 13 Indiana: 31
Have you heard of the Kellen Lewis show? Ole Kellen, fresh off suspension, lead the team in rushing with 185 yards and passing with 144 yards. At least one of those numbers is pretty impressive and makes up for the other a bit. Lewis figured in on all four of Indiana's touchdowns, two of them coming on runs of 75 and 62 yards. Again, that's pretty scary. Let's see what happens against a legitimate opponent before we start making a real judgement, but thats still pretty impressive running figures for a quarterback.
No word on Lewis' reception stats.
Brooks Bollinger just ran for 34 yards.
Indiana and PSU don't face off until late in the season and there's not a whole lot we can use in the scouting report (mostly because we didn't see the game) because of the quality of opponent and it's likely that Indiana didn't even open up the book in this game. All we know is: stop Kellen.
No word on Lewis' reception stats.
Brooks Bollinger just ran for 34 yards.
Indiana and PSU don't face off until late in the season and there's not a whole lot we can use in the scouting report (mostly because we didn't see the game) because of the quality of opponent and it's likely that Indiana didn't even open up the book in this game. All we know is: stop Kellen.
Ohio State: 43 Youngstown State: 0
We (actually just one of us, speifically) dropped the ball on finishing off the Big11Ten team previews, but if we had gotten the Ohio State one up before the season started, it would have been all about how the fate of OSU largely rests on the shoulders of Beanie Wells.
So there's all this noise about how Beanie is going to be important and blah blah blah, so what does Sweater Vest do? He leaves him in one play longer than he needed to and he ends up getting himself banged up. Fortunately for OSU it doesnt sound like anything really serious that could keep him out for any length of time. It's also fortunate for residents of south-central Ohio, as the collective tears of Buckeye nation would have formed a new tributary to the Ohio River.
Buckeye fans also got their first good look at Pryor. He threw for 35 yards and rushed for another 52 -- including a touchdown run. We hope that's all he ever scores in this league, but we're sure he'll be a threat for the Lions somewhere down the road.
Boeckman also had a fair game, completing 14 of 19 passes for 187 yards and two TDs.
Not a lot to take from this game, as it's just one step in tuning up for the big USC game in week 3.
Buckeye fans also got their first good look at Pryor. He threw for 35 yards and rushed for another 52 -- including a touchdown run. We hope that's all he ever scores in this league, but we're sure he'll be a threat for the Lions somewhere down the road.
Boeckman also had a fair game, completing 14 of 19 passes for 187 yards and two TDs.
Not a lot to take from this game, as it's just one step in tuning up for the big USC game in week 3.
Missouri: 52 Illinois: 42
Wow, can't wait to play Illinois. Juice Williams threw for 451 yards and 5 TDs. In other offensive news, the Illini balanced out that passing attack with 81 yards on the ground. Missing Rashard much?
The final score shows a 10 point loss, but the game was effectively over after Missouri took an 18 point lead heading into half-time. Illinois would never get within one score for the rest of the game.
The stat of the game for this one has to be Juice's 451 yards through the air, but on the other side of the ball, Chase Daniel threw for 323 while Missouri's backfield ran for another 226.
Those are some big and balanced numbers for any offense, but if Missouri wants to hang on to their top 10 spot they better learn to slow down some offenses. 451 yards to Juice Williams? He never threw for more than 220 last season. After this game, he's already 1/4 of the way to matching his total passing yards for all of last season!
The final score shows a 10 point loss, but the game was effectively over after Missouri took an 18 point lead heading into half-time. Illinois would never get within one score for the rest of the game.
The stat of the game for this one has to be Juice's 451 yards through the air, but on the other side of the ball, Chase Daniel threw for 323 while Missouri's backfield ran for another 226.
Those are some big and balanced numbers for any offense, but if Missouri wants to hang on to their top 10 spot they better learn to slow down some offenses. 451 yards to Juice Williams? He never threw for more than 220 last season. After this game, he's already 1/4 of the way to matching his total passing yards for all of last season!
Michigan: 23 Utah: 25
For the second season in a row, Michigan loses to a non-BCS team.
We here at WWTL could not be happier.
Sure, Michigan's down so it's not really all that surprising, but we love it none-the-less.
Unfortunately, we didn't get to actually see the game so our recap cannot be as detailed as we would have liked. All we know is that neither team could move the ball on the ground, and Michigan couldn't really move it through the air either.
Utah rushed for only 36 yards, although a big -66 gets attributed to the 6 sacks Michigan got. Michigan also rushed for 36 yards, but they didn't have any negative yardage because of sacks. They legitimately earned their 36 yards.
Passing didn't really seem to work well for Michigan either. Threet and Sheridan combined for 167 yards, but they have two nice touchdown plays -- especially Threet's 33 yarder to Junior Hemingway in the fourth.
We won't know what to make of this game until the season ends. Is Michigan that bad? Is Utah that good? We'll give Michigan credit and say all of this can be attributed to a new coach, new system, blah blah blah, and they'll only improve from here. Michigan's not what they used to be, but they still have top tier athletes and once things start clicking, they'll be back challenging for the second best team in the Big11Ten.
For the second season in a row, Michigan loses to a non-BCS team.
We here at WWTL could not be happier.
Sure, Michigan's down so it's not really all that surprising, but we love it none-the-less.
Unfortunately, we didn't get to actually see the game so our recap cannot be as detailed as we would have liked. All we know is that neither team could move the ball on the ground, and Michigan couldn't really move it through the air either.
Utah rushed for only 36 yards, although a big -66 gets attributed to the 6 sacks Michigan got. Michigan also rushed for 36 yards, but they didn't have any negative yardage because of sacks. They legitimately earned their 36 yards.
Passing didn't really seem to work well for Michigan either. Threet and Sheridan combined for 167 yards, but they have two nice touchdown plays -- especially Threet's 33 yarder to Junior Hemingway in the fourth.
We won't know what to make of this game until the season ends. Is Michigan that bad? Is Utah that good? We'll give Michigan credit and say all of this can be attributed to a new coach, new system, blah blah blah, and they'll only improve from here. Michigan's not what they used to be, but they still have top tier athletes and once things start clicking, they'll be back challenging for the second best team in the Big11Ten.
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