Sunday’s List of 13: Wrapping up a college football Saturday

Sunday’s List of 13: Wrapping up a college football Saturday

13) Boise State 36, Florida State 31:
— Seminoles led this game 31-13 with 3:00 left in first half; they didn’t score again.
— Plays from scrimmage: Boise 108, FSU 62. Boise had 38 first downs.
— Broncos have a good freshman QB in Hank Bachmeier (30-51/407 yards)
— Third down conversions: Boise 10-19, FSU 1-12

12) USC 31, Fresno State 23:
— USC’s QB JT Daniels got hurt; he was replaced by freshman Kedon Slodis, whose QB coach in high school was NFL Hall of Famer Kurt Warner.
— How was Jeff Tedford fired by Cal? Fresno has only 3 starters back on offense but they went toe-to-toe with USC here. Tedford is an excellent coach (Aaron Rodgers’ college coach).
— Fresno had the ball in the red zone in the last 2:00, but threw an end zone pick.
— Clay Helton went for it on 4th-and-1 near midfield with 2:20 left up 8 points; he didn’t make but was bailed out by his defense.

11) North Carolina 24, South Carolina 20— Mack Brown’s return to the sidelines was a success, though not before a mind-numbing mistake when they took a knee instead of punting in the last 0:20, giving the Gamecocks the ball on the UNC 47.

Tar Heels trailed this game 20-9 after the third quarter, but rallied with 98-95 yard TD drives for the win. Brown was out of coaching for five years; I enjoyed his TV work, but he seems happier to be back coaching.

10) Auburn 27, Oregon 21:
— Auburn started a freshman QB in its opener for first time since 1946.
— Ducks led 14-6 at half, 21-13 after third quarter, but were scoreless in 4th quarter.
— Auburn outrushed Oregon 206-90.

9) Houston Texans were very busy Saturday:
— Houston acquired LT Laremy Tunsil, WR Kenny Stills from Miami for two 1st round picks and a 2nd round pick.
— Texans traded DE Jadeveon Clowney to Seattle, dumping his $16M salary.
— Houston also acquired RB Carlos Hyde from the Chiefs, and DB Keion Crosson from New England in separate deals.

Houston’s Bill O’Brien is getting ripped on social media for these moves, but we’ll see how this all works out. Texans gave up 66 sacks LY, the most for a playoff team since 1999, so acquiring Tunsil seems like a good idea, even if they overpaid some.

Dolphins, on the other hand, seem to have given up on this season before Labor Day; giving away your LT and your best WR is similar to what the Raiders did LY when they traded Kahlil Mack to Chicago and Amari Cooper to Dallas for draft picks.

8) Best wishes to New Mexico coach Bob Davie, who was hospitalized after the Lobos’ 39-31 win over Sam Houston State with chest pains. No word on how serious it is.

7) Nebraska 35, South Alabama 21— Cornhuskers scored two TD’s in the third quarter before they ran an offensive play; a pick-6 and a punt return TD. Nebraska ran ball for only 98 yards, which is alarming.

Someone at Caesars Palace wagered $2,000 on Nebraska’s money line; he had to sweat a decent amount before he collected his $12.50 winnings. Not even enough to buy a decent lunch.

6) I-A teams that lost to I-AA opponents:
— Central Arkansas 35, Western Kentucky 28 (WKU led 28-14 after 3rd quarter)

Close calls/red flags:
— Iowa State 29, Northern Iowa 26 OT
— Kansas 24, Indiana State 17
— UConn 24, Wagner 21
— Minnesota 28, South Dakota State 21
— UAB 24, Alabama State 19
— Arkansas 20, Portland State 13
— UTEP 36, Houston Baptist 34
— Old Dominion 24, Norfolk State 21
— West Virginia 20, James Madison 13
— San Diego State 6, Weber State 0

5) Michigan State 28, Tulsa 7— Total yardage in this game was 303-80, MSU.

In college football, sacks count as rushing yardage; in this game, Tulsa had 25 rushes for minus-73 yards; they were 16-27/153 passing. Spartans’ defense scored nine points, as Tulsa botched two shotgun snaps that padded the ridiculously bad rushing numbers.

4) Upsets:
— Georgia State (+26.5) 38, Tennessee 30— Panthers were 2-10 LY, 1-7 in Sun Belt. Tennessee has its fourth offensive coordinator in four years. Learning takes time.
— Wyoming (+18) 37, Missouri 31
— Nevada (+11) 34, Purdue 31— Kid that made the game-winning 56-yard FG was put on scholarship after the game, meaning he actually got paid for making that kick.
— North Carolina (+10) 24, South Carolina 20
— Boston College (+4.5) 35, Virginia Tech 28

3) Wake Forest 38, Utah State 35— Both teams passed for 400+ yards; Wake converted 13-24 third down plays. State had 8 penalties for 84 yards; Deacons one for 15 yards.

2) Memphis 15, Ole Miss 10— Yardage was 364-173 Memphis; they led 13-0 at halftime, then held on for dear life.

1) A big problem with the epidemic of quarterback transfers is that it leaves more teams very thin under center. A starter gets hurt or struggles, and it is a disaster.

UCLA’s quarterback is obviously struggling, but the Bruins don’t have anyone with experience to step in for him— they’ve got all young backup QB’s, two freshmen and a sophomore.

Chip Kelly has some work to do; the kid was 8-26 passing and lost two fumbles in the red zone, not exactly a stellar performance in a 24-14 loss.

Armadillo