My big game for Saturday!

This year's NCAA Big Plays...

week 1 NONE
week 2 Aug 31... Iowa St. -21 WON 45-3
week 3 Sep 7... Iowa -5 PUSH 29-24, TCU -6 WON 48-24
Utah -14 WON 40-13

This week I have only 1 big play - Florida State -14.5.
The reasons:

Florida State plays this week at Maryland in what shapes up to be a blowout. So far this year Maryland has looked bad. Their first game against ND they lost 22-0. They only had 133 net yards with 21 rushes for 16 yards (!) and 12 of 32 passes for only 117 yards with 3 INT's. ND had 45 rushes for 130 yards and 17 of 27 passing for 226 yards with no INT's. That's bad when ND can pass that well agains't your D! ND also had a huge edge in time of possession - 41 min to 19 min. Overall spanking of Maryland. In Marylands 2nd game they won 44-14 over the Akron Zips. Big deal. If you look closely at the numbers the game was a lot closer. Maryland had 327 net yards with 50 rushes for 209 yards but only 10-19 passing for 118 yards. Akron had 319 total yards with 34 rushes for 82 yards and 20-35 passing for 237 yards. Again, Maryland's opponent threw well agains't them. Time of possession was equal. Basically the offenses played to a standstill but the big part of the game was the 3 INT's and 1 fumble Akron gave up. Also, Maryland had 4 punt returns for 112 yards which gave them great field position. ALSO (!), Akron committed 16 penalties for 132 yards. Those three components (turnovers, return yards given up, and penalties) gave the game to Maryland. Otherwise the game would have been alot closer.

Florida State won their first game at a very good Iowa State team 38-31. Florida State led 24-0 in the first half before becoming complacent and finally winning by 7. They allowed 38 rushes for only 130 yards. Iowa State came back late through the air. In Florida State's 2nd game they won at home 40-19 over a good Virginia team. In that game they were leading 33-0 into the third quarter. They allowed 33 rushes for only 62 yards in this one. Virginia put their points up late through the air agains't Florida State's reserves with their final TD coming with only 29 seconds remaining.

Florida State has a 12-0 record agains't Maryland with those winning by an average of 32.7 points! Last year Florida State had a down year only going 8-4, and Maryland went 10-2 and going to a BCS bowl. Even with that, last years game at Tallahassee had Florida State blowing out Maryland 52-31. This year's Florida State team is much better with their QB Rix in his second year at the helm and a powerful running game, with Maryland keeping basically their same defense but losing their star running back this year, ACC 2001 Offensive player of the year Bruce Perry, to injury and losing their team leader QB Shaun Hill to graduation. Maryland's offense has struggled badly without him as their Junior QB Scott McBrien has looked awful. Maryland also has their starting WR Parsons out for this game so the offense will struggle to put any points on the board in this one agains't a very good Florida State defense. Another huge element is that while Maryland is badly banged up, Florida State had last week off to heal up and prepare for this one. This game will be on ESPN, and Florida State will want to show the nation how good they are after letting Iowa State to come back earlier in the year on national TV. That game caused Florida State to drop from 3rd to 5th in the polls. They will not let that happen again, and next week they have Duke at home so they will not be looking ahead. Maryland won last years ACC crown (the first time Florida State hasn't won it since joining the league) but this years team is pale in comparison to that team. Their offense is absolutely horrible without Perry and Hill. Look for Florida State to lead big early and keep it up, as Maryland will not be able to throw the ball at all to get the hated back-door cover. Florida State HUGE 45-10 over Maryland.