Inside The Boxscores – Week 5
Northwestern 49 – Navy 40
The Midshipmen gained 678 yards of offense but committed 5 turnovers, leading to 21 Wildcat points. Navy wasn’t forced to punt in the game and had 8 drives that were longer than 60 yards.
Pittsburgh 23 – Rutgers 3
Pittsburgh held Rutgers to 154 yards of offense with only 2 in the first half. They also held the Scarlet Knights to –12 yards on the ground. Rutgers had 5 turnovers leading to 14 points for the Panthers.
Michigan 10 – Utah 7
Michigan dominated with 22-9 first down advantage and a 361-221 total yard advantage. They held Utah to 13 yards rushing on 20 carries. Michigan’s only fumble cost them a TD when Chris Perry coughed up the ball diving over the pile and Utah recovered for a touchback.
Wisconsin 31 – Arizona 10
The Badgers remained undefeated by gaining 425 yards of total offense. They forced two turnovers and blocked a punt, which set up their second touchdown. Arizona’s only TD came on a 70-yard run by Clarence Farmer.
Penn St. 49 – Louisiana Tech 17
Penn St. out yarded Louisiana Tech by only 12 yards and had just two more first downs. But turnovers were costly for the Bulldogs. One interception was returned for a touchdown, while another INT set up a 3 play, 24 yards scoring drive for a TD and a recovered fumble set up a 1 play, 3 yard TD. A long punt return also set up another TD for the Lions.
Mississippi 45 – Vanderbilt 38
The two teams combined doe 957 yards of total offense. Vanderbilt scored the first 21 points in the 4th quarter to tie the game but Eli Manning led the Rebels on a 9 play, 80 yard drive to get the game winning TD. The Commodores had the ball at the Rebel 47 with 15 seconds remaining but fumbled to end the game.
Louisville 45 – Army 14
Army actually committed no turnovers for once, but their special teams broke down in this game. Back-to-back touchdowns were scored by Louisville off a punt return of 80 yards and a blocked punt recovered in the end zone. The last two Cardinal TD’s were drives of 31 and 22 yards due to punting special teams once again. Army was held to just 140 yards total offense and 26 yards rushing.
Wake Forest 24 – Purdue 21
The Deacons piles up 248 yards rushing and benefited from five Purdue turnovers. The Boilermakers missed three field goals in the 4th quarter including a 44-yard attempt with 16 seconds remaining.
San Jose St. 38 – Illinois 35
There was over 1,100 yards of offense in this game. The game was back and forth most of the way with the Spartans kicking a 37-yard field goal as time expired. San Jose St. did hold the ball for 13 minutes longer.
Notre Dame 21 – Michigan St. 17
The game was pretty much a defensive battle that included 17 punts went down to the last minute. A Notre Dame 60 yards TD pass with 1:15 remaining gave the Irish the lead back after squandering a 14-3 lead. The Spartans had one last shot at the end zone, but the Jeff Smoker pass was intercepted to end the game.
Colorado 31 – UCLA 17
The Buffaloes rushed for 325 yards while holding the Bruins to 62 yards on the ground. Colorado scored on four of their five second half drives, with the fifth drive ending the game.
Ohio St. 23 – Cincinnati 19
The Bearcats out yards the Buckeyes 413-290 but committed three costly turnovers in the 4th quarter. Gino Guidugli threw two interceptions, one at the Ohio St. 18 and the other at the Ohio St. 15. A fumble in-between the 2 INT’s set up the go ahead Ohio St. touchdown.
Florida 30 – Tennessee 13
The Gators scored the first 24 points and never looked back. The weather was causing havoc with the center exchange for Tennessee. In the second quarter, the Vols ran a total of 12 plays with two punts and three fumbles. Florida converted the turnovers into 10 points and scored two TD’s after the two punts.
Georgia Tech 28 – BYU 19
BYU out yarded the Yellow Jackets 353-327 but two early turnovers in Georgia Tech territory got them off to a slow start. Once again, Lance Pendleton took over for an ineffective Bret Engemann at QB for BYU.
Kansas St. 27 – USC 20
The Wildcats almost blew a 27-6 lead, but escaped after USC turned the ball over on downs to end the game. USC did not get an offensive TD until the 4th quarter – their first TD was a fumble return. Kansas St. could have put the game away, but fumbled the ball in the end zone and allowed USC one last chance.
NC State 51 – Texas Tech 48
NC State held the ball for an amazing 22 minutes longer than the Raiders. Texas Tech missed a 39-yard field goal in regulation that would have won the game.
Nevada 31 – Rice 21
The Wolfpack out yarded the Owls 534-366 and doubled their first downs 28-14. Rice held a 14-10 lead before Nevada scored the next three touchdowns to put the game away. Rice scored on an 80-yard run and 71-yard pass.
Air Force 23 – Cal 21
Air Force did a great job holding Cal to five field goals before giving up a TD with 31 seconds remaining. The 2-pt conversion for Cal was no good preserving the win for the Falcons. Air Force put together three solid TD drives in the second half to take the lead.
Oregon St. 59 – Fresno St. 19
The Beavers dominated once again with a very balanced attack of 286 yards rushing and 224 yards passing. Oregon St. scored TD’s on 6 of 7 possessions spanning the second and third quarters.
Florida St. 48 – Duke 17
Duke gained 138 yards in their first two drives but then the Seminole defense buckled down by allowing 99 yards in the 2nd and 3rd quarters on eight Duke drives. The Blue Devils had two good looking TD drives in the 4th quarter but the game was well out of reach and came against the non-starters.
Alabama 20 – Southern Miss 7
The Tide held Derrick Nix to 56 yards on 13 carries and held the whole offense to 146 total yards. Southern Miss only got 8 first downs and their only TD came on an interception return. Their longest drive consisted of 34 yards before fumbling.
Baylor 37 – Tulsa 25
The Bears picked up their first win of the year by gaining 450 yards of offense, even though they committed 5 turnovers, which led to 13 Tulsa points. While the first half was great for Baylor, the second half was just the opposite and looked more like the normal Bears. One touchdown, five turnovers and two punts in half number two after scoring on every drive in the first half.
Virginia Tech 13 – Texas A&M 3
The Hokies held Texas A&M to 152 yards of total offense. The Aggies longest drive consisted of 8 plays. The Aggies did do a decent job on the Virginia Tech running game holding them to 127 yards and a 2.7 ypc.
South Carolina 42 – Temple 21
Temple had more first downs 22-18, more total yards 341-298 and held the ball for almost 13 minutes longer. But unfortunately, 2 interceptions led to 14 Gamecock points, including a return on the 4th play of the game. Temple moved the ball down the field their next two drives for two scores but could get nothing going again until late in the 4th quarter when the game was already decided.
Oklahoma St. 52 – SMU 16
The Cowboys jumped out to a 45-0 halftime lead and played conservative the rest of the way. They scored on all seven first half drives gaining 350 yards in the half. Six of seven first half drives for SMU were 3 plays or less.
Texas 41 – Houston 11
Texas held Houston to 8 first downs and 152 yards of offense with 108 of those yards coming on two drives in the third quarter. The other 11 drives consisted of 20, 8, 2, 4, 3, 8, -8, 5, 2, 0 and 5 yards. Texas was very balanced with 233 yards rushing and 244 yards passing.
Miami 38 – Boston College 6
BC held a 6-3 late in the 2nd quarter until Miami scored a TD with 28 seconds left in the half. A missed field goal and two fumbles led to 21 Miami points in the second half.
Memphis 38 – Tulane 10
The Tigers finally got some offense going, gaining 395 total yards. Tulane had two good drives in the first half of 68 and 70 yards but were only able to get 3 points out of it.
Hawaii 31 – UTEP 6
UTEP had 6 more first downs and held the ball for 17 more minutes but could only muster 2 field goals. Hawaii hurt themselves with 115 yards in penalties.
Washington 38 – Wyoming 7
The Huskies recorded a school record 36 first downs and racked up 549 yards of offense. The score could have been much worse but Washington fumbled 4 times, all in Wyoming territory.
(Added games to the schedule to follow)
Connecticut 37 – Ohio 19
The Huskies scored 24 points in the final quarter to pull off a come from behind victory over the Bobcats. Uconn actually scored the final 31 points after trailing 19-13. Chad Brinker rushed for 159 yards in the losing effort.
Clemson 30 - Ball St. 7
Clemson finished with 412 yards of total offense and was very balanced. They had 203 yards rushing and 209 yards passing. Clemson started slowly, not scoring until the 2nd quarter, but they held Ball St. in check after the Cardinals initial scoring drive. They forced four punts and four turnovers the rest of the game.
Kentucky 44 - Middle Tennessee St. 22
The Wildcats racked up 510 yards of total offense. They drove 85 yards for their first score and recovered a fumble at the Blue Raider 33 yards line setting up another TD. Kentucky was able to cross midfield in 9 of their 12 drives. Middle Tennessee cut the lead to 2 early in the third quarter but could not get anything else after that. They were stopped on downs twice inside the Wildcat 30-yard line.
Miami Ohio 27 – Kent 20
Joshua Cribbs ran for 127 yards and passed for 189 yards, but it wasn’t enough. Kent has a 17-14 lead in the 3rd quarter but Miami scored the next 13 points to put the game away. Out of 12 drives, Kent’s longest was only 3:00.
Virginia 48 – Akron 29
Akron out gained the Cavaliers 495-414 and had 8 more first downs, but two interceptions by the Zips, a blocked punt and a turnover on downs led to 28 points for Virginia.
Iowa 48 – Utah St. 7
Iowa completely dominated the Aggies with 531 yards of offense and put the game away in the 3rd quarter with scores on two punts and a 75-yard run.
Minnesota 41 – Buffalo 17
The Gophers doubles the Bulls on first downs 23-13 and out yarded them 489-217. Minnesota scored on their first 5 drives while holding Buffalo to punts on their drives sandwiched in. Buffalo did score on two lengthy drives in the 2nd quarter to cut into the Minnesota 31-0 lead, but it was too late by then.
Indiana 39 – Central Michigan 29
Central Michigan had a 13-point lead in the 3rd quarter, but a fumble at their own 12-yard line followed by a safety cut the lead to 4 points. A punt and then a missed field goal set up the last two touchdowns for Indiana. The teams combined for 992 yards of offense.
Idaho 48 – San Diego St. 38
The Aztecs eclipsed the 600 total yards mark on offense for the second consecutive week and lost both. They were stopped on downs twice in Vandal territory in the 4th quarter – once at the 9-yard line and the other at the 37-yard line. JR Tolliver had another monster game with 14 catches for 184 yards and 3 TD’s, while Adam Hall threw for 505 yards and 5 TD’s with no INT’s.
Maryland 45 – Eastern Michigan 3
The Terps ran up 567 yards of offense and had 13 more first downs than the Eagles. Eastern Michigan was inside Maryland territory five times but could only come away with three points.
Arkansas St. 33 – La-Monroe 21
Arkansas St. rallied from a 21-10 second half deficit by scoring the final 23 points. La-Monroe was held to 59 yards rushing on 30 carries.
Iowa St. 42 – Troy St. 22
The Cyclones won by 20 despite having 3 less first downs and having only 48 more total yards. They scored 14 points on a blocked punt in the first and on punt return in the fourth.
Bowling Green 39 – Kansas 16
The Falcons racked up 503 yards of total offense and scored 36 unanswered points to defeat the second Big 12 school in as many weeks. Bowling Green scored two touchdowns in 1:08 in the second quarter because of two Kansas fumbles. In all, three Jayhawk turnovers led to 21 points.
Toledo 38 – UNLV 21
UNLV doubled the first downs 26-13 and had 215 more total yards than the Rockets but still lost by 17 points. Toledo scored the first 24 points and UNLV had drives of 41, 51, 44 and 52 yards where they were unable to come away with any points.
TCU 16 – North Texas 10
North Texas held TCU to 178 yards and only 8 first downs, but a punt from deep in their own territory gave TCU excellent field position setting up their only TD drive of the night. North Texas drove the ball 70 yards in three plays to get their lone TD late in the 4th quarter.
New Mexico St. 24 - New Mexico 13
New Mexico St. had only 54 yards passing but rushed for 266 yards. The one New Mexico turnover led to a TD for the Aggies.
La-Lafayette 34 – UAB 0
UAB only had 8 first downs and held the ball 19 minutes less than the Cajuns. UAB also committed four turnovers, one that was returned for a TD.