Tag Archives: Denard Robinson

What We Learned Week 3

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  • Geno Smith went to complete 34 of 39 passes for 411 yards, moving past Marc Bulger (8,153) to set the school record for career yards passing (8,191).  He also has thrown for 734 yards and nine touchdowns. All while only throwing nine incompletions in two weeks.  Yes, the same number of incompletions as touchdowns.  Just like RG3 last year. Continue reading →

What We Learned…Week Two

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  • Utah State broke a 12 game losing streak to in-state rival Utah.  The Aggies hadn’t beaten Utah since 1997, and not in Logan since 1996.
  • With it’s win over UConn, NC State is now 9-1 in weeks after a loss, ranging back to 2010
  • Minnesota scored 16 points in the first quarter against New Hampshire. The Golden Gophers hadn’t scored that many points in the opening quarter since 2005 (20 points vs Florida Atlantic). Last season, Minnesota only scored more points once all last season (20 points in second quarter of season finale against Illinois.
  • The last Ohio State quarterback to rush for three touchdowns in a game was Art Schlichter against Illinois in 1978.  Braxton Miller did it Saturday.
  • Penn State starts 0-2 for first time since 2001 and just the 5th time in the last 45 years.
  • Before Sam Ficken went 1-for-5 on field goals for Penn State, the last player to miss four-or-more FG in one game was Josh Zahn of UAB. Zahn was 2-for-7 at Tennessee on 9/25/2010.
  • Auburn “accumulated” -2 pass yards in the first half at Mississippi State. The Tigers are the second team this season to have negative pass yards in a half; Northern Illinois netted -1 pass yard in the second half vs Iowa last weekend. The Tigers last had negative pass yards in a half in 2005, when they had -2 pass yards in the second half vs Alabama.
  • Mississippi State’s win included numerous firsts. The victory broke a string of unsavory trends for the Bulldogs. They had lost 10 out of the last 11 against Auburn — including four straight — and hadn’t won an SEC opener since 1999.  It was also coach Dan Mullen’s first victory against the SEC Western Division’s best four teams. He was 0-12 combined against Alabama, LSU, Arkansas and Auburn until Saturday’s breakthrough.
  • Miami started playing games in 1926, but Saturday’s loss was just the sixth time that the U ever allowed 50 points in a game.
  • Collin Klein now has 5 career games with at least 3 rush TD and 1 pass TD. Since 2000, that is the most of any FBS player.
  • Marcus Lattimore records his 33rd career TD (30 Rush, 3 Rec), tying the school record by George Rogers and Harold Green.  He has played in only 22 games.
  • Clemson’s DeAndre Hopkins is the first player this season with three receiving touchdowns in a game this season, and he did it before halftime. The last player with three receiving touchdowns in a half? West Virginia’s Tavon Austin, who did so in the first half against Clemson in the Orange Bowl.
  • Second straight year the Sacramento State Hornets have beaten a Pac-12 opponent on the road in the last play of the game.  They defeated Oregon State last season.
  • Through two games this season, Notre Dame has turned the ball over just twice, eight fewer than the 10 turnovers the Irish committed at this point last season.
  • Denard Robinson finished with his 3rd career game with at least 200 yards passing and 200 yards rushing. That’s the most of any FBS player since 2000.. one more than Vince Young had.
  • Denard Robinson is the 4th player in FBS this season with multiple 50-yd Rush TD in the same game, joining Duke Johnson, Davon Johnson, and Johnathan Franklin. He is the only Michigan player to do it since at least 2004. Robinson’s longest run in Week 1 against Alabama was 9\nine yards.
  • Denard Robinson now has three career rushing TD of at least 70 yards. That is tied for the most among all active FBS players.
  • Matt Barkley passed for 187 yards and 6 TD, becoming the first FBS player since at least 2000 to have 6+ pass TD and fewer than 200 passing yards in a game.
  • If it seems that no lead is safe in college football, the schools on this list can surely relate. Texas A&M, Memphis, Kansas and Nevada all blew halftime leads on Saturday and are among the the teams that have seen the most halftime leads evaporate since the start of the 2011 season.
  • Florida stepped up its defense after halftime Saturday. Texas A&M averaged 5.8 yards per play in the first half with 28.3 percent of its plays gaining 10 yards or more. In the second half, the Aggies averaged 2.8 yards per play, and managed just one play that gained 10 yards or more. All six of Texas A&M’s second-half drives ended in punts, including four “3 & outs.” The Aggies had no punts in the first half.
  • For a second straight week, Michigan State held an opponent without an offensive touchdown.  The only two touchdowns the Spartans have allowed this season have some on interception returns.
  • Iowa State beat Iowa 9-6 for its first win in Iowa City in 10 years.
  • This was Iowa’s first loss under Kirk Ferentz when they held a team to fewer than 10 points. Before today, they had been 33-0 in such games.  Iowa State didn’t score in the second half.
  • Wisconsin’s last regular season non-conference loss came in 2003 at home against UNLV. It’s last regular season non-conference ROAD loss came in 2001 at Oregon.
  • With Wisconsin’s, Nebraska’s and Illinois’ losses to Pac-12 teams, Big Ten schools are 5-26-1 at Pac-12 schools since 1993 (the year Penn State joined the Big Ten).
  • After showing some signs of rust last week in a 35-21 victory over North Carolina State, Jimmy Hunter caught three touchdowns — the first time since 2003 that a Tennessee receiver ended up with that many in a single game.
  • Tennessee exceeded the 500-yard mark in total offense for a second straight week. The Vols hadn’t gained 500 yards in back-to-back games since 2000.
  • The win is Louisiana-Monroe’s first over a ranked team since joining the FBS in 1994, and it is the school’s first over an SEC team since defeating Alabama in 2007.  The Warhawks are 4-34 against the SEC, with their only other win coming against Mississippi State in 1995.
  • It is also the Sun Belt Conference’s first win over a top 10 team.
  • Six players ran for touchdowns as Georgia Tech (1-1) had 712 total yards, the second-highest total in school history, including 469 yards rushing. The Yellow Jackets had a school-record 768 yards in a 66-24 rout of Kansas in 2011.
  • LSU has won 39 straight against non-conference opponents in the regular season, tying a Football Bowl Subdivision record first set by Kansas State. Next weekend, the Tigers play Idaho, another non-conference opponent, and the game is at home, where LSU has won 19 straight.
  • Mississippi defeated Texas-El Paso 28-10, improving to 2-0 for only the second time in 10 seasons.
  • The Bowling Green Falcons improved to 4-0 in season openers under head coach Dave Clawson.
  • The Ohio Bobcats (2-0), who opened with a win over Penn State, have won eight of nine dating back to last season.
  • Damien Williams’ rushing total of 156 yards was the most for a player in his first game at the Sooners’ home field, and he became only the fourth player at the school to eclipse 100 yards rushing in each of his first two games. Adrian Peterson was the last to do it, in 2004.
  • Casey Pachall and Trevone Boykin combined to complete all 17 passes for TCU — the most in FBS history without an incompletion.
  • Gary Patterson was presented a crystal ball in recognition of his 110th career victory — one more than former school-record holder Dutch Meyer, who led the Frogs to their only AP national championship in 1938. Patterson is 110-30 overall with 10 shutout victories one game into his 12th season.
  • Houston and Louisiana Tech combined for 1,291 yards of offense and 78 first downs in a game that lasted four hours and eight minutes.
  • SMU intercepted seven passes and recovered two fumbles by Stephen F. Austin.
  • Northern Arizona’s win over UNLV was Northern Arizona’s (1-1) first win over an FBS team in 25 years.
  • Oklahoma State freshman Wes Lunt threw for 436 yards, fourth-most in school history and the Big 12 record for a freshman, and connected with Tracy Moore for four touchdown passes

Week Four Weekend Observations

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  • Cincinnati held NC State to only -26 rushing yards Thursday night. The -26 rush yards are the fewest rush yards in a game by an ACC over the last 10 seasons.
  • Georgia Tech was held to a field goal in its first drive vs North Carolina. This is the first time this season that the Yellow Jackets didn’t score a TD on their opening drive.  The 4-0 start is their first since 1990, when they shared the national championship with Colorado. Continue reading →

Week 2 Observations

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  • Brandon Weeden rewrote the Oklahoma State record book against Arizona with 42 completions on 53 pass attempts. He finished with 397 passing yards, narrowly missed throwing for 400 yards for the 4th time in his career. Continue reading →

>Week 2 Observations

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>Week Two was one that many had circled on their calendars because of some of the perceived “big-time” matchups.  But more about those later.  Some of the earlier games turned out to be pretty good.

  • West Virginia provided for the first drama of the weekend when they faced off with in-state rival Marshall.  Down 21-6 with six minutes left, the Mountaineers rallied for a 24-21 OT win.  They scored the game-tying touchdown and two-point conversion with 12 seconds left in regulation.  
  •  Minnesota continued to struggle with teams from the FCS, as they lost to South Dakota 41-38.  Junior Dante Walker, making only his second start at quarterback for the Coyotes, accounted for 433 yards, three passing touchdowns and two more rushing for South Dakota, which is just in its third year as an FCS program.
  • A week after being upset by North Dakota State, Kansas needed to bounce back against Georgia Tech.  And bounce back they did, as the Jayhawks hung on for a 28-25 home win.  The win snapped an eight-game losing streak.  Freshman QB Jordan Webb threw for 179 yards, three TDs, and one interception in his first career start, while freshman RB James Sims ran for 101 yards and a TD in his college debut. 
  • Last week, I told you to watch out for stud freshman Marcus Lattimore.  Well, he more than lived up to the hype in South Carolina’s 17-6 win vs. Georgia.  He rushed the ball an astounding 37 times for 182 yards and two touchdowns.  Welcome to the SEC.
  • The biggest upset of the week belonged to James Madison who upset Virginia Tech 21-16.  The win against the Hokies, the team’s second loss in five days, is just the second win for a lower-level opponent against a ranked team.  Quarterback Drew Dudzik led the Dukes with two rushing touchdowns and also threw a 77-yard bomb for the team’s first score.
  • Michigan-Notre Dame is the one prime game that actually ended up being pretty good, going down to the last seconds.  Denard Robinson continues to look like the real deal, but might need to not carry the ball as much.  He finished the game with a QB – school record 502 yards total offensive yards, including 252 rushing yards on 28 carries.  He also happened to score with 27 seconds remaining to win the game and earlier had the longest run in Notre Dame Stadium history, an 87-yard touchdown.
  • Ohio State-Miami was supposed to be one of the big games.  Well, it got a little out of hand, thanks to Jacory Harris’ four interceptions.   OSU used a 33-10 outburst in the second and third quarters to erase a 7-3 deficit after one quarter.  Terrelle Pryor threw for 233 yards and a TD and ran for 113 yards and a TD as the Buckeyes improved to 27-2 at home under Jim Tressel against nonconference opponents. Dating back to last season, Harris has five touchdowns and 12 interceptions in the Hurricanes’ last five losses. 
  • Florida State also  laid down a big one as they came to Oklahoma and got throttled by the Sooners 47-17.  It was 44-7 after three quarters.  Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones threw for 380 yards and four touchdowns against a defense coached by his coaches brother, Mark Stoops.  The Sooners won their 32nd straight game at Owen Field, extending the nation’s longest home winning streak.  Jones finished 30 for 40 without an interception. His 321 yards by halftime were the second-most in a half in Oklahoma history, behind only 2008 Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford’s 350 in the first half of a 79-10 blowout against North Texas in the 2007 season opener.
  • Mark Ingram missed his second straight game, but Alabama didn’t miss a beat yet again, as they beat visiting Penn State 24-3.  Trent Richardson bruised the Nittany Lion defense Saturday night, gaining 93 of his 144 rushing yards after contact with a defender.  He also had a touchdown.  Freshman quarterback Robert Bolden struggled in his first road start, completing 13-of-29 passes for 144 yards and two interceptions. 

>College Football Week 1 Observations

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>

  • SEC teams better be very, very scared.  South Carolina’s Marcus Lattimore looks like he is the real deal.  Yes, he rushed 14 times for only 54 yards, but his two touchdowns and the speed he showed coming off of his rushes will be something that Gamecock fans should get used to.  The schedule gets harder than Southern Miss, but he looks as if he can live up to his high ranking he was given coming out of high school.
  • Utah won its 18th straight game and continually looks as if will be a force to reckoned with as they prepare for their exodus to the Pac 10.  Their upset win over Pittsburgh showed again how stout their defense might be.  However, if the Utes are to continue winning, they will need to learn to be able to keep a lead.
  • USC looks as if will be dominant again of offense, but their defense looked suspect against a mediocre Hawaii team.  While the offense set records, the defense gave up 588 yards, which was even more than the Trojans gained (544).  Matt Barkley went 18-for-23 for 257 yards and five touchdowns and no interceptions.  Marc Tyler overtook Allen Bradford for the running back spot and showed he was worth the promotion after rushing for 154 yards on 17 carries.  
  • The Illinois-Missouri game turned out to be better than expected.  Illini QB Nathan Scheelhaase looks legit and had an impressive debut in his first ever collegiate game.  His running ability will be something opponents will have to watch out for, as he has speed and moves like a running back or wide receiver.  Missouri quarterback recovered from a slow start and looked very impressive, completing 34-of-48 passes for 281 yards.  Receiver T.J. Moe looks like he might be the next in a long line of successful wide outs for the Tigers.
  •  Florida looks as if it might still have some kinks to work out.  Their offense looked dreadful against a MAC team that won a total of two games last year.  They had only 44 yards through three quarters.  
  •  Robert Bolden, Penn State’s first freshman starting quarterback since 1992, had a very impressive debut, completing 20-of-29 passes for 239 yards and two touchdowns.  He will have a tougher matchup this week though, as the Nittany Lions face off with Alabama.
  •  Sophomore Denard Robinson made his first game as a starter a memorable one, becoming the sixth quarterback since 2005 to run and throw for 185 yards or more.  His 197 rushing yards were the most ever by a Michigan quarterback in a single game.  His style of play looks to fit more of Rich Rodriguez’s style than last year’s starter Tate Forcier.