Northwestern-Indiana: Kain Colter Has A Certain Set of Skills

Like Liam Neeson, Kain Colter has a certain set of skills. 

With Michigan off this week, I turned to my current school for football sustenance...yes, the Northwestern Wildcats. Excuse me, the undefeated Northwestern Wildcats.

I actually did not end up going to this game, but I really thought about it. I really, really did. And, really, it's the thought that counts (thousands of Northwestern fans nod in agreement).

Okay, that was not very nice, but still: what gives, Northwestern fans? Are things that different here that a 4-0 team can't sell out Ryan Field? I have no idea what the official attendance figure was, but on TV there were clearly some pretty empty patches throughout the stadium. I know it was just Indiana and all, but c'mon man.

Anyway, here are some football thoughts to keep me sane during this bye week and while deciding who to "root" for in this MSU-OSU tilt.
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Just to get this out of the way so I don't say it 30 times: Indiana is terrible, so much of this should be taken with several boulder-sized grains of salt. Nonetheless, Northwestern is not a team for which you could dismiss any single opponent with complete nonchalance. Northwestern has fielded some nice teams in the Fitzgerald era, but they haven't necessarily been immune to the egregious loss. For instance, NU lost to: New Hampshire in 2006, Duke in 2007, and Army last season.

Thus far, Northwestern has taken care of business, often with a very new and decidedly un-Northwestern-like formula: the ground game and defense. The Wildcat defense (particularly the secondary) had been an enormous weakness over the years in spite of Fitzgerald's defensive pedigree. Likewise, the running game had not been functional since Tyrell Sutton left Evanston after 2008.

After taking on three straight BCS conference foes, including an opener on the road at Syracuse, the Wildcats dispensed with all three, classily, intellectually, and generally in an agreeable manner befitting a warrior-poet-gentleman.

After tacking on a victory against the Coyotes of South Dakota last week*, the Wildcats began the Big Ten with a 2-1 Indiana team coming off a bye after losing to Brady Hoke's venerable alma mater in Muncie.

*I like to think that the South Dakota roster consists of a literal pack of coyotes running around on a football field while howling lugubriously at things.

The Offense 
Once again, Northwestern's offensive attack has largely been ground-based thus far, and that trend continued today. Northwestern sped to a 27-0 lead after its opening drive in the second half, capped by a 15-yard scamper by QB/RB/WR Kain Colter.

Redshirt sophomore pocket passer Trevor Siemian actually started the game at quarterback for NU, as the Wildcats continue to go with the poor man's version of Michigan's old Brady-Henson set up in 1998/99. Despite each QB having a distinct weakness, Northwestern has rotated the two to great effect, even if the competition to date has not exactly been exceptional (although it was better than many non-conference slates around the country).

After NU's first two drives ended in punts, Kain Colter took the reins and NU went running like Forrest Gump. The Wildcats went 80 yards on six straight runs (three from Venric Mark, three from Colter) en route to a touchdown, an 8-yard run from Colter. This is the New Northwestern, manifested in a single drive.

Siemian entered the game again to start the second frame. Powered by a Mark rush for 18 and two straight 16-yard passes to Colter and Christian Jones, the Wildcats eventually settled for a 44-yard field goal from potential Lou Groza candidate Jeff Budzien. Northwestern added another touchdown--another 8-yard run from Colter--on its next drive via some more Siemian passing and nifty rushing from Mark and backup tailback Mike Trumpy.

NU added another field goal before the end of the half to go up 20-0, and everything was coming up Milhouse.

After going up 27-0 after the second half's opening drive, Mark fumbled at the end of a 25-yard run near the IU 36, ending what likely would've been another scoring drive. NU bounded back to deliver another TD drive on the back of a 26-yard Colter run and two big passing plays from Siemian to Christian Jones and Rashad Lawrence, ending with Mark punching it in from a yard out.

With IU returning the next kickoff for a score, the score was 34-21 and the pressure was back on the offense after the defense had held the clean sheet through the first half. The Wildcats once again cut through the IU defense like Balboa cutting his way through the forests en route to the Pacific; Budzien chipped in another 29-yarder to take the lead back to 16.

Northwestern had been fairly careful with the ball to date, turning it over only three times coming into today. Unfortunately, the 'Cats coughed up a fumble and two interceptions (one from both Colter and Siemian) against the Hoosiers. The first pick turned into a missed field goal from IU and the fumble was converted via the long Kofi Hughes touchdown grab. Luckily, Siemian's INT in the fourth quarter, with NU up 39-27 and driving deep into IU territory, lead to a fairly lackadaisical three and out for IU.

It was an especially bad pick for Siemian, as he was locked onto Colter in 2004 Chad Henne fashion, but the miscue didn't end up hurting the 'Cats.

Colter then did his thing, finding holes up the middle and on the perimeter in the IU defense. He even took another rush to the house, a 30+ yard scamper that was regrettably called back for holding. Nevertheless, NU soldiered on, plugging away against a horrific IU run defense, eventually leading to yet another Colter TD run on an expertly run zone read. IU actually tackled the running back on the play, which is pretty much a zone read coach's dream. Colter then simply schooled the IU edge defender, #42 David Cooper, before running 22 yards for a relatively easy score.

With the score being 44-29 in NU's favor with only five minutes to go, the game was basically over...just kidding, it wasn't, as the NU secondary still had some derp left in the tank.

The Defense 
The other encouraging development for the Wildcats this season, other than the running game, has undoubtedly been the defense. After a shaky affair in the Carrier Dome, the NU defense has hunkered down of late, holding its last three opponents to a total of 33 points. The Wildcats weren't near the top of the rankings in total defense, turnovers forced, red zone defense, or third down defense, but they were a respectable 37th in scoring defense coming into today.

After a first half in which the Wildcats completely stonewalled the hapless Hoosiers--keeping them to 113 yards of offense and zero points--the second half resembled a dam's complete collapse, with the Hoosier offense being the oncoming flood (I'm pretty sure that's the first time that has ever been said).

The secondary issues of old began to rear their ugly head once again, as Kofi Hughes, probably Indiana's most talented player, went to work against Quinn Evans (a Stanford grad transfer) et al. After an IU touchdown drive powered mostly by some expert running from tailback Stephen Houston, Hughes reeled in two consecutive receptions of 28 and 35 yards respectively, the latter being a fairly impressive TD grab in the end zone. The NU lead was back to 13, at 27-14.

After the aforementioned 1-yard Mark TD, Indiana's Tevin Coleman returned the ensuing kickoff 96 yards for the score, representing possibly the first kickoff return for a score this season that I have actually seen live (I think).

With the score at 37-21, the IU offense went back to work near the end of the 3rd and into the 4th, executing a 7-play, 69-yard TD drive that included a 33-yard pass from backup QB Nate Sudfield (who had taken over for Cameron Coffman in the second quarter) on NU corner Nick VanHoose. IU scored and Kofi Hughes converted the two-point conversion to make it a one score game at 37-29. What had once been a blowout was no longer, and Northwestern's built up cache of defensive good will had seemingly been squandered in three quarters.

After NU went up 44-29, Sudfield completed a 46-yard bomb to Cody Latimer on Quinn Evans, taking it to the NU 11. After two straight Houston rushes and a fumbled Sudfield snap on third down, IU had to go for it on fourth, but not before a ridiculous false start penalty. After a failed fade attempt to Kofi Hughes in the right back corner, the game was essentially salted away for the Wildcats. Game blouses.

Special Teams 
Jeff Budzien has to be one of the best kickers in the country. He went 3/3 on the day, continuing his perfect mark on the season.

Punter Brandon Williams only punted twice but did a nice job, using his two opportunities to boot 45- and 46-yarders.

The kick/punt return game wasn't a factor for the Wildcats on the day, but it was for their opponent. The Hoosier took six kick returns back for an average of 36.6 yards per, including the aforementioned 96-yard score from Tevin Coleman. Northwestern can't afford to offer more capable teams that kind of space on returns going forward if the defense is to be protected.

Miscellaneous Minutiae 

• Kain Colter. Colter is a poor man's Denard, but if there is anything that Colter absolutely does better than Denard, it is the zone read. I was honestly kind of jealous watching him run it to perfection over and over again. Yes, it was only Indiana yada yada yada, but Colter seems to have the basically innate quick twitch decision-making with the zone read that Denard for whatever reason hasn't really ever had. Of course, it remains to be seen if Colter can continue to do this against teams with some semblance of a defense; he passed the ball three times today for two yards and an interception. 
• More offense-related awe: the Wildcats amassed 704 total yards (!), including 6.8 YPC. IU is clearly very terrible, but that is impressive nonetheless. FWIW, it broke NU's single game school record. 

• Mark Five. GET IT, MARK FIVE. Okay I'm done. Despite his stature, Mark continues to plug away and deliver big plays for NU on the ground as the QB situation continues to sort itself out. Mark ran for 139 yards on 26 carries (4.8 YPC) and a touchdown. The only blemish on the day for the 5'8'' Texan was a fumble near the end of a long run into IU territory. 

• Drops. NU has a surprisingly deep group of wide receivers, but from what I've seen thus far this season, drops have been an issue from time to time. Late in the third quarter, Demetrius Fields dropped an easy pass in the end zone that really shouldn't have been. It lead to a field goal and ultimately didn't matter, but it's just something to monitor going forward. 

• Good times, bad times. All kidding aside, IU does have some offensive talent, namely Kofi Hughes and Stephen Houston. Still, IU's offensive explosion in the second half should give NU fans some pause after. After being held in check in the first half, IU scored 29 in the second--albeit with the help of a kickoff return for a TD--and amassed over 300 total yards in that time. NU corners, Nick VanHoose and Quinn Evans, were victimized deep from time to time. The Hoosiers also ran the ball at 5.7 yards a pop, which is a bit worrisome for the 'Cats with run first teams like Michigan, Michigan State, and Nebraska still left on the divisional docket. 

• An injury note. One potential explanation for the secondary's collapse: star safety Ibraheim Campbell left with an injury after a pretty jarring hit on an IU offensive player. I don't remember seeing him out there in the second half, so, take that FWIW. 

• Jeff Budzien=the Robbie Gould of Evanston. It was another perfect day for the NU kicker, who went 3/3 with a long of 44. He's 8/8 on the year, although he has yet to attempt anything past 50 yards out. So, like I said...Robbie Gould. NU won't be able to run roughshod over the Big Ten--yes, even the terrible, lowly Big Ten--the way it has done through five games, so I have to think that Budzien will get many more chances to test out that leg. 

• Well, this was fun. Michigan bye weeks are horrific, horrific things, but it was nice to get into a game on some level this week. I will be rooting for the Wildcats the rest of the way (as long as it doesn't affect Michigan's chances to win the division, of course). I'll play myself out with this once again: 

Shameless Self-Promotion Time (The Wide Receivers)

(HT: Mike DeSimone)

It's the bye week. I'm bored. Michigan is off this week and we all have a gaping hole in our lives that must be filled by retrospective stuff. Warning: I may talk some Northwestern football/other pro teams that I root for kind of soon just because I feel like it. So, there's that. ANYWAY, onward to this week's second helping of self-promotion. Like Denard, I am breaking all sorts of records here (Good Denard, not Bad Denard).

• I said some things about the wide receivers over at Maize n Brew from the Alabama game through whatever the Notre Dame game was. Some of it was good, some of it was hopeful, some of it was in between. I'll probably be posting at least one other position review over there in the coming days, so head over there and check it out. 

HTR's Top 25: Week 4

Previous dubious assertions: HTR's Official Meaningless Preseason Top 25, Week 1, Week 2, Week 3

(HT: Mike DeSimone) 

Rank	Team
1	Alabama
2	Oregon
3	LSU
4	Florida State
5	Georgia
6	West Virginia
7	Stanford
8	Texas
9	South Carolina
10	USC
11	Notre Dame
12	Kansas State
13	Florida
14	Clemson
15	Ohio State
16	TCU
17	Michigan State
18	Oklahoma
19	Louisville
20	Northwestern
21	Mississippi State
22	Baylor
23	Nebraska
24	Oregon State
25	Boise State

Out: Michigan, Missouri, UCLA, Arizona

• Your weekly reminder that the Big Ten is a festering stinkfest of stink. Need I say more? Iowa loses again, Michigan drops a Kafkaesque one in South Bend, Michigan State allows the might Fightin' Ron Englishes and the venerable PROCESS to hang around for far too long, Ohio State was only up 6 on the lowly Blazers of UAB at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Illinois lost to Louisian Tech by 28 at home, Wisconsin only beat UTEP by 11 and lost Ball early in the game to another head injury...it's bad. Michigan can win this thing, even in spite of its 2-2 start, but you and I both know that it doesn't mean much this year. Still, a conference title is a conference title, and given Michigan's current drought in that department, I will take it without complaint. 
• LSU Les Miles around, Oregon takes advantage. Like everyone else, I'm bumping Oregon up to #2 for now based on this week's games; the Ducks handled an Arizona team that has shown itself to be surprisingly competent--formidable, even--and LSU struggled with a downright bad Auburn team. Yes, we're only four weeks into the season, but if Alabama can just go ahead and knock off LSU in Baton Rouge and Oregon takes care of business, we might be getting another Oregon vs. the SEC national title game, which I think we can all agree would be approximately 942 times better than another LSU-Alabama rematch. 
• "I've made a huge mistake."--Missouri "GOB" Tigers. Missouri took on its second SEC foe and left with its second thumping at the hands of a ferocious South Carolina team. Quarterback play has always been the issue under Spurrier's tenure at USC East--which is still funny to type out or even think about given his reputation--so if Connor Shaw can continue to be the gritty runner and efficient passer that he was this past Saturday, the SEC East better look out. 
• Your other weekly reminder: NORTHWESTERN IS UNDEFEATED Y'ALL. Hit it, one more time: 
• Free fallin'. Arkansas...I mean, what is there to say? It's hard not to feel bad for John L. Smith, but at the same time everyone kind of knew that this was coming. Arkansas is 1-3 heading into the part of the schedule that is actually supposed to be difficult, and man, even getting to bowl eligibility looks like an uphill battle. Only in college football can a team like Arkansas be 1-3 while squads like Oregon State and Rutgers remain undefeated. If college football were a person, it would definitely be Maximus standing amid the fallen favorites yelling "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?" into perpetuity. 

Shameless Self-Promotion Time (Notre Dame)

With the upcoming bye week, it is a good time to take a timeout on the season in order to reassess some things, to maybe: talk to your family, go "outside", read a book, watch The Program and secretly wish that Tim Waymen was currently on Michigan's roster (then smack yourself in the face for thinking this), etc. (HT: Mike DeSimone)

Michigan is 2-2, and man this season has not been that much fun so far. In any case, here's this week's helping of self-promotion:

• Over at Maize n Brew I talked about Saturday's game/thing/whatever-you-even-want-to-call-that against Notre Dame. I think the bye week will be good for all of us, players, coaches, and fans alike. It isn't all doom and gloom. Michigan might not be "playing Michigan football" on offense, as Hoke will say whenever Michigan doesn't play well, but the defense was pretty good, and that is not something that should be discounted after several straight seasons of bumbling defensive incompetence. Unfortunately, with Michigan starting 2-2, the seemingly unanimous preseason prediction of 9-3, give or take a game, is looking like it will fall on the lower end (i.e. 8-4). Michigan has next week off, which is good for guys like Brennen Beyer and Stephen Hopkins, and will give Devin Gardner a chance to heal after his run in with that metal photographer's stand (that is, assuming that his injury is of the short-ish term variety, which it very well might not be if Internet rumblings are to be believed). 

Notre Dame Preview: Once Is A Mistake, Twice Is A Coincidence

After a brief hiatus--UMass being, you know, UMass--I'm back to the Friday morning previewin' game. Given that it is Notre Dame, most of this could probably be whittled down to "Denard Robinson needs to do Denard Robinson things", but...here it is, anyway. 


Time: 7:30 ET (NBC)
Place: Notre Dame Stadium--South Bend, IN
Line: Notre Dame -5 1/2
Mood: Like someone at a craps table, hoping for one more run before retreating into the night. 

(HT: Mike DeSimone)

The Exposition 
Making an attempt to explain the last three games in this series is as useless as counting the stars in the sky or pondering the meaning of life: really, they happened and they're there, and that's all you need to know. That doesn't mean that we can't mythologize or look back through layers of intoxicating nostalgia, it's just that these three separate 3-hour events, twice in Ann Arbor and once in South Bend, defy any attempts at empirical or rational reckoning. Try to explain last year's Notre Dame game to a friend and all the clocks within a one mile radius will begin to melt and Salvador Dalí will emerge from a wormhole to smack you across the face and say bastante. 

Sure, these past performances certainly will be hanging in the air over Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday, a reminder to ND fans and players of how things can go so utterly wrong, of how deep the abyss is, as well as the concern that there might be even further depths which remain to be visited. Of course, on the Michigan side, it will all be a subtle nod to the power of magic. The power of Denard Robinson, like gravity, is unseen but knowable and therefore some sort of benevolent sorcery, kind of like having Gandalf on your side. You don't know where he will come from and at what point in the proceedings, but he eventually does, and with spectacular results, results that make you feel as if your cause is...invincible. 

With that said, the aforementioned is nice to talk about but not as important as many will have you believe. Past performance does not ensure future results, and magical coincidence is more often than not just magical coincidence. When Michigan and Notre Dame meet, especially in South Bend, all layers of reality and preconceived notions are stripped away, which is basically just a roundabout way of telling you to take them there record books and throw 'em out.

Like every Michigan-ND game, there's an unnerving anticipation in the buildup that is only intensified by the 7:30 start time. Although both teams have already faced big tests and marquee opponents, this is still the one of the primary forks in the road in each team's season. Lose and feel the expectations temper and languish. Win and, rightly or wrongly, watch the expectations soar.

Michigan Offense vs. Notre Dame Defense 
I know that the whole "just do what Alabama did" became somewhat of a meme this week, but there are some similarities between Alabama and ND: they both deploy the 3-4 defense that deploys a rush linebacker sort that goes by a special name. For Alabama, it was the "Jack" linebacker. For the Irish, the position is branded the "Cat" linebacker position, which doesn't seem very cool, creative, or in any topical but okay Notre Dame  coaches too busy thinking about football to come up with good gimmicky position names.

While I'm not sure just yet that Prince Shembo is as good as Courtney Upshaw was for Alabama at the JLB spot, he's pretty darn good (and also fantastically named). Shembo had his best game of the season last week against MSU, amassing 9 of his 15 total tackles on the year, including a sack (2 TFLs). At, 6'2'' 250 and sporting the #55, I'm kind of reminded of Brandon Graham, which probably isn't an accurate comparison but whatever. He is a terror, and Michael Schofield (and Vincent Smith) will need to be on their pass pro games if Denard is not going to be Shembo'd into oblivion.

I'm not positive that Diaco will release the hounds when it comes to the defensive ends, #89 Kapron Lewis-Moore and #7 Stephon Tuitt, but the linebackers have certainly been aggressive the last couple of seasons. This has allowed Denard to do Denardian things once he's gotten out to the second level. I think this will need to happen again, as I don't see Michigan's interior line having much success moving NT Louis Nix; again, I'm not sure that Nix=Jesse Williams, but he is definitely very good. As I read Ace's FFFF post yesterday, the section on Nix sort of reminded me of, yup...Jerel Worthy. That is not a very good thing of which to be reminded.

Quite frankly, Michigan will not have much reproducible success running the ball with Toussaint; if any back has success in this game, I have a strange hunch that that back is Vincent Smith. Michigan will find itself in passing situations fairly often, and Smith could prove useful swinging out to the flat and/or filling into the zones which blitzing, hyperactive linebackers have just vacated in the middle of the field. Of course, the only problem with that is that Smith is of course tiny--see: Denard's INT against Air Force--and Denard being who he is will probably lead to some more dangerously errant passes. Throw it high enough but low enough for it to hit Smith in the fingertips and you're looking at a basic tip drill for the D.

Al Borges made a nice point in one of this week's pressers about his confusion regarding the fans' strange insistence that rushing yards only "count" when they come from a running back; against Notre Dame, Michigan has gotten it done on the ground with Denard and Denard alone. Is that type of strategy sustainable? Well, you tell me, 2010 and 2011 scoreboards. However, can it happen again? I'm not so sure.

The only scenario in which I see Michigan having some success on the ground with somebody not named Denard is, you guessed it, by successfully attacking Notre Dame's vulnerable, depleted secondary. Andrew Maxwell and his receivers were not able to take advantage of ND's secondary despite having 8+ defenders in the box with regularity, but I'd like to think that Michigan's QB and receivers are significantly more dangerous than their Spartan counterparts.

In short, yes, I am unironically saying that Michigan should go with the Alabama gameplan this week. ND's defense is several degrees inferior to Alabama's but is also quite possibly the best defense left of Michigan's schedule. I'm definitely not saying that we shouldn't run Denard much for fear of injury or something (as was the theory behind that strategy on 9/1), but running Denard left and right right off the bat is something that ND will be ready for.

Michigan Defense vs. Notre Dame Offense 
Listening to the MGoPodcast this week, the consensus seems to be that Everett Golson is sort of in his ur-Denard (to borrow Matt Hinton's phraseology) stage as a quarterback: a not necessarily accurate guy who can make big plays but also mess up the basic ones. He is an exciting prospect, certainly more exciting than Rees and Dayne Crist were, but still very much in the inchoate stages of his development.

Like Denard, Golson is not exactly Cam Newton; at 6'0'' 185 (according to his official Notre Dame profile, at least), he's bound to be called things like "slight" and "willowy" and "probably-needs-to-eat-more". Regardless, he has flashed the playmaking ability that is giving me some bad flashbacks of the 2004 Ohio State game in which a young Troy Smith had himself a day against a favored Michigan team. Needless to say, we have to hope that when Notre Dame drops back to pass, Golson's arms turns into a Ramen noodle or something and that Michigan's can mitigate the lack of a formidable pass rush by keeping contain and not letting Golson run around a la Smith circa 2004.

In average passing situations--i.e. when Golson isn't just freestylin' and profilin'--Michigan should be okay. Notre Dame's receiving options don't really worry me, and I think our corners will be just fine. Tyler Eifert is the next guy in a long line of Notre Dame NFL quality tight ends, but Eifert seems to be more of the hyrbrid WR/TE Greg Olsen/Travis Beckum/etc. sort than a traditional pseudo-lineman with clubs for hands that only catch 1-yard play action passes in goal to go situations. Eifert can really play, and will be a matchup problem when going up against pretty much anybody in Michigan's back 7; strangely, however, Eifert did not record a reception against MSU last week.

Otherwise, there isn't a Michael Floyd in this group, although these are still ND recruits and thus capable of doing damage; after all, let's not forget that our starting corners are likely J.T. Floyd, a sometimes maligned former safety and Raymon Taylor, a still fairly green true sophomore. I have great faith in Taylor, and he's been my "guy who I'm irrationally excited about" since he got playing time early on in the 2011 season. Still, the thought of him playing the field corner spot on the road with a taller receiver like DaVaris Daniels across the way from him or a speedster like TJ Jones (who is most famous for doing this). He did also do this last year to make it 24-7, making the situation seem nearly hopeless for the Wolverines:

Similarly, Robby Toma is a tiny, white receiver and is therefore Wes Welker, so Michigan will need to keep an eye on him and Jones on screens and other slowly developing plays (e.g. the above drag route). 

Unfortunately, like on offense, Michigan is at a disadvantage up front. Notre Dame has an experienced line that will look to run the ball with multiple backs, with Cierre Wood being the headliner and Theo Riddick and George Atkinson providing quality depth. The Irish didn't have an extremely prolific day running the ball, but they were actually fairly effective, with 27 carries going for 129 yards (4.8 YPC, with Golson's sacks taken out). Two things: a) compare that to how Michigan did against MSU last season on the ground and b) remember that Michigan's defensive front is nowhere near as good as MSU's, and you have two fairly worrisome things going on. 

While Notre Dame's receiving corps doesn't necessarily have a star, it's not too difficult to imagine ND racking up a yardage total that equals or exceeds last year's 513. Unless the light suddenly turns on and Campbell, Washington, etc. can finally get any sort of push at the POA, Michigan is in for a long day. Even with a less refined passer in Golson in the game, Notre Dame will still threaten to drown Michigan in a tidal wave of yards and first downs. The Michigan defense's life preserver will once again have to be forced (and unforced) turnovers on ND's part. 

What Needs To Happen, Fergodsakes 
On offense:

• The Rex Grossman philosophy of offense. I'm pretty sure Al Borges is secretly a big Rex Grossman fan, and that will hopefully show on Saturday by going deep early and often. Remember the Northwestern game last season? Michigan needs to attack downfield just like they did against the Wildcats. 
• Please no I-form running. This goes without saying, but Michigan spent an inordinate amount of time during UTL last season plugging away from under center with no success. I'm pretty sure we've all learned our lesson at this point, and it's pretty apparent that Michigan's interior trio is not moving anybody in traditional running sets. 
• Accurate Denard, don't be a mirage por favor. Fairly self-explanatory, but if Michigan is going to mitigate the disparity in respective line strength, Denard will need to complete some passes from the pocket early on at every level (dumpoffs, intermediate routes, and deep). Like many teams these days, I expect DC Bob Diaco to keep his ends mostly in contain mode, so rolling Denard out could be asking for a lot of balls harmlessly falling to the turf after Tuitt or Lewis-Moore do their best Dikembe Mutombo impression. 

On defense:

• Like a broken record...say it with me: BEND BUT DON'T BREAK. This is just simply Michigan's calling card until Michigan's youngsters become upper classmen. ND will rack up yards, they will probably get at least one first down on a given drive more often that not, and they will probably score in or around their 2011 total. 
• Show me time. With Desmond Morgan looking like he's back in the starting lineup, it's time for him and Kenny Demens to reassert themselves as the starters, especially on the heels of a recent charge by freshmen James Ross III and Joe Bolden. Morgan had a bit of a tough time against ND last season, and he's struggled to start the season and then had a "head problem" that kept him out last week. I would rather not have to see too much of Bolden and Ross on Saturday, and that means Morgan/Demens playing competently. Nobody's asking for big plays or anything--that's what Jake Ryan and Frank Clark are for--but not completely whiffing on the edge and being ready to take on blockers without getting engulfed would be nice things. 
• BRING. THE. HEAT. Nobody needs to tell Mattison to be aggressive, but Michigan will need to bring the heat from time to time. Golson isn't actually end-of-2004-Troy-Smith yet, so Michigan can make some hay taking a page from MSU's playbook and bringing pressure through the middle, overwhelming ND's interior line, and allowing the secondary to handle their men in single coverage. Michigan will get beat from time to time, but I don't see any way around it: Michigan needs to force a turnover or two, and I don't see that happening without calling in an air strike or two. It is "unsound", sure, but desperate times and circumstances call for desperate measures. Hey, just remember that we were trying to do this with Greg Robinson not too long ago and you'll feel a bit better. 

Predictions of Negligible Worth 
I, like you, have that faint glimmering hope that Denard will finish his career as ND's ultimate kryponite, and that he has one more soul-crushing, virtuoso performance in store for the Irish. With that said, attempting to accomplish something a third time takes that thing from mere coincidence to trend, and I'm not entirely sure that what we have here is some sort of underlying, fundamental trend. That is, I'm not sure that Michigan can beat Notre Dame, no matter what, just because we have Denard Robinson.

This is essentially a greatly scaled down version of the Alabama game. Notre Dame is not Alabama by any means, but they do have strong defensive talent in the front 7 and they do have a solid offensive line and a deep group of talented tailbacks. They will try to enforce their will on Michigan's decidedly average front, and Michigan has no choice but to hope for mistakes on ND's part from time to time...which, to be fair, ND has been happy to oblige the Wolverines with of late.

I know I said this last year, and I have no idea what ND's final record will be this season, but I think this ND team is better than this Michigan team. The same thing could have been said leading up to the 2009, 2010, and 2011 matchups; of course, that did not stop Michigan from winning each of those games. Michigan has discovered the alchemic route to gold, that being a little bit of luck and a lot of Denard Robinson.

As always, a "prediction" is a defraying of the sum of all predictions. That is, which outcome is the "most likely" to take place? Saying that one thing will happen does not preclude the belief that any other option is also possible.

With that said, I think we are bound for a 3+ hour drive to anticlimax. I don't see Michigan generating enough offense to keep up, and I don't think we are in for Denard Eviscerates Notre Dame Part III. Likewise, I don't see where the playmaking will come from in the Michigan defense (outside of Jake Ryan, that is).

In the end, I think Michigan goes to South Bend and takes a loss in a game that will essentially reflect what probably should have happened last season: Notre Dame accumulates around 500 yards or so and generally controls the game from start to finish. Everett Golson hasn't been around long enough to convince anybody that he is or isn't prone to committing silly turnovers, but it's obvious that he isn't as careless with the ball as Tommy Rees. As such, I don't think that Michigan can expect to be kept in the game with unforced and untimely errors from the ND side. Michigan takes an ugly and only cosmetically close loss in South Bend, a game that will come to be seen as the Godfather III of the Denard vs. Notre Dame saga.

Score: Michigan 17, Notre Dame 27 

Who Are You and Why Do We Care: Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Let's get the video out of the way... 

Is there a rivalry here?

You bet. In 1887, players from Michigan went to Notre Dame to teach the students how to play the game of football. Michigan played against Notre Dame in November of 1887, and won in a blow out. The Wolverines won seven straight games before Notre Dame recorded their first victory in 1909 by the score of 11-3. The series has been incredibly even since then. Since 1909, there have only been two occasions where one of the teams beat the other more than two times in a row. Notre Dame won four games from 1987-1990, and Michigan is currently in a three game win streak. If Michigan wins this year, it will be the first time since the early 1900s that a four game win streak has occurred. Notre Dame ranks in Michigan's top three rivals, along with Michigan State and Ohio State. 

What has happened the last three years?!

2009 was Rich Rodriguez's second season at Michigan. After the incredibly disappointing 2008 season, and one victory against Western Michigan, the Wolverines looked to make a statement against #18 Notre Dame. Michigan scored two touchdowns in the first quarter; one by Brandon Minor and the other on a kick return touchdown by Darryl Stonum (this was also Michigan's last kick return touchdown). Notre Dame responded with touchdowns from Jimmy Clausen to Golden Tate and Michael Floyd. The first half ended Notre Dame 20 - Michigan 17. The only touchdown in the third quarter was from Tate Forcier to Kevin Koger, and a minute into the fourth quarter, Tate ran 31 yards to put the Wolverines up 31-20. Sadly, the eleven point lead would evaporate after another Golden Tate touchdown and an Armando Allen run put the Fighting Irish in the lead with five minutes to go. Forcier was not finished, and with 11 seconds left in the game, he threw a five yard pass to Greg Mathews for the touchdown, and the 38-34 victory. 

In 2010, Michigan traveled to South Bend for the first road game of the season. In Denard Robinson's first road start, the game was all about him. I will not be able to list these stats better than Adam Rittenberg did yesterday on the Big Ten Blog: 

In 2010, he set Michigan, Big Ten and Notre Dame records in rallying the Wolverines to a 28-24 victory in South Bend. Making his first career road start, Robinson shattered his own team total offense mark with 502 yards; set team records for total plays (68) and single-game road rushing (258 yards); recorded the fifth-highest rushing effort in Michigan history; set the Big Ten quarterback rushing record; recorded the longest run in Notre Dame Stadium history (an 87-yard scoring dash in the the second quarter) and the second-longest ever against the Irish (88 yards by Michigan State's Dick Panin in 1951); and set the single-game total offense record by a Notre Dame opponent. 

Other than Denard, the other story of the game was Notre Dame's Quaterback situation.  Dayne Crist started the game, but got injured. He was replaced by Tommy Rees, who immediately threw an interception before being replaced by Nate Montana (as in Joe Montana's son), who threw a pick of his own. Crist came back in for the second half and was a drastic improvement. For the second year in a row, a last minute drive was necessary after Kyle Rudolph rumbled down the field for a 95 yard touchdown that put the Fighting Irish up 24-21. Robinson lead the Wolverines down the field and ran for a 2 yard touchdown with 27 seconds left in the game to seal the game 28-24.

(Beware of Jay-Z in the background)

All of you should know about last season. Notre Dame came to Ann Arbor for the first ever night game at Michigan Stadium. The Under The Lights Game featured interesting "throwback" uniforms, face palm guy, and surprising gameplay. Since you all know what happened, I'll keep the recap short, and you can watch the video. After three quarters of not moving the ball offensively, Michigan was losing 24-7 going into the fourth quarter. That is when the Michigan offense remembered they were allowed to move the ball down the field, and put points on the board. A one yard fumble recovery touchdown by Denard to start the fourth quarter, followed by a Jeremy Gallon touchdown reception put the Wolverines within striking distance. A Robinson interception with a few minutes left made many believe the game was over. Michigan got the ball back and Denard threw a beautiful screen to Vincent Smith who ran for a touchdown with 1:12 left in the game. Of course, the game was not over. Tommy Rees lead the Irish down the field, and threw a pass to Theo Riddick to put Notre Dame in the lead 31-28 with 30 seconds remaining. Jeremy Gallon put on Harry Potter's invisibility cloak to get wide open and get the Wolverines within striking distance. With 9 seconds left, Brady Hoke and Al Borges decided to go for the win not the tie. Denard threw a jump ball to Roy Roundtree in the endzone, who came down with the ball with 2 seconds remaining. Michigan won the game 35-31. 

(Look at these fans, the game is over. They're still here!)

What do they look like?

Notre Dame's official colors are Gold and Navy Blue, although sometimes Green makes an appearance. They have two logos. Their primary logo is composed of a block N and D. Their secondary logo is the fighting Irishman.

Their main home uniforms are blue jerseys with white jerseys worn over gold pants. The away uniforms are white jerseys with blue numbers worn over same gold pants. 

While Navy Blue is their main color, Green is heavily associated with the Irish. They have worn many varieties of green uniforms over the years. This includes last year's green based uniforms worn against Michigan. Full explanation of the green uniforms here. 

The Fighting Irish are nicknamed the Golden Domers for good reason: their gold helmets. While the team has worn multiple alternate uniforms over the years, the one thing that has stayed relatively the same is the gold helmet. Well, until this year. I still have no idea where they came up with this monstrosity: 

Speaking of those terrible helmets, there is a terrible uniform that goes with it (Not these though). The Irish will wear these against Miami (YTM) later this season. 

After last seasons' game featured both Notre Dame and Michigan wearing alternate uniforms (look at all the stripes!!!), this season should be a return to normalcy. 

Do they have good coaches?
In 1918, Knute Rockne was hired as Notre Dame's head football coach. Knute would go on to one of the best coaching tenures in all of college football. From 1918 to 1930, he lead the Irish to a record of 105-12-5 winning three national championships along the way. He has the highest winning percentage of any coach in football history. Sadly, in 1931- at the young age of 43 - Rockne died in a plane crash.

Frank Leahy was hired in 1941, after playing for Rockne at Notre Dame years earlier. He coached Notre Dame for 11 seasons, and attained a record of 87-11-9. This record gives him the second highest winning percentage of all time, behind only Rockne. He lead the Fighting Irish to 39 straight games without a loss and four national championships.

After a 2-7 record in 1963, Ara Parseghian was hired. He attained another incredibly impressive win percentage at .836 with a record of 95-17-4 and captured two national championships.

Lou Holtz became the head coach of the Fighting Irish in 1986. Although his first season finished under .500, he went on to an impressive 100-30-2 record as Notre Dame head coach. Holtz lead the Irish to nine consecutive New Year's Day bowl games, five top ten finishes, and a national championship.

Lou Holtz's resignation in 1996 lead to a string of four different coaches. Bob Davie was at the helm from 1997 to 2001. Davie's Irish didn't make it to a bowl game in either 1999 or 2001, and lost the three bowl games they attended. In 1999, Notre Dame was placed on probation by the NCAA for the first time in team history. In 2001, Davie was fired and replaced by Tyrone Willingham. Willingham was the first black head coach in Notre Dame history. After just three seasons, and a 21-15 record, Willingham was fired.

Following 14 years as an assistant to Bill Belichick for the Giants and Patriots, Charlie Weis was hired to be Notre Dame's head coach. Weis was given five whole seasons to prove that he was worth the $2 Million a year the Irish were paying him. His first two seasons were very successful, with back to back BCS Bowl bids (and losses). In 2007, things took a turn for the worse as the previously 10-3 team went 3-9. That was followed by a 7-6 season and a 6-6 season. Finally, after the 2009 season, he was fired and replaced by Brian Kelly.

Kelly was known as a man who could turn a program around. He started at Division II, Grand Valley State, and turned them into a perennial championship team. He was then offered the head coaching job at Central Michigan University. In three seasons, the Chippewas went from a 4-7 team at the bottom of the MAC to 9-4 MAC champions. Before the bowl game in 2006, Kelly was named Cincinnati's head coach. Under Kelly, the Bearcats never had more than three losses, and in 2009, Cincinnati went 12-0 and earned a birth to the Sugar Bowl to face Florida. The Bearcats got smashed by Urban Meyer's Gators, but that was after Kelly left to be Notre Dame's head coach.

Since Kelly took over at Notre Dame, he lead the Irish to back to back 8-5 seasons. This season they are currently 3-0, so we will see what happens.

Where do they play football?
Notre Dame Stadium is the home of the Fighting Irish football team and Touchdown Jesus. The stadium was built in 1930, and looks incredibly like a miniature Michigan Stadium. The stadium originally held 59,075 people, and now holds 80,795. The first night game in Notre Dame Stadium history was held in 1982, and the first night game with permanent lights was held last season against USC. The most noticeable thing about Notre Dame Stadium is Touchdown Jesus. The mosaic is 134 feet high and 68 feet wide, and shows Jesus with his arms up signifying a touchdown.

Do they have a goofy mascot?
From 1930 to 1963, Notre Dame's mascot was an Irish Terrier. The first terrier was named Brick Top Shuan-Rhu. Later the dogs took the name Clashmore Mike.  Starting in 1965, the Notre Dame Leprechaun became the official mascot of the university. The first man dressed up as a Leprechaun with Clashmore Mike at a game against Oklahoma in 1963.

The university holds tryouts to become The Leprechaun. The potential leprechauns must compete in mental and physical challenges before leading a five minute mock pep rally, answering Notre Dame trivia, dancing an Irish Jig, and doing 50 pushups. They also must have the ability to grow a chinstrap beard and have "a special love for the tradition and spirit of Notre Dame in their hearts."

Prediction Time. Based on everything but football: Michigan 31 - Notre Dame 28. 

Miscellaneous Minutiae, 9/19/2012

Hope For Pahokee Update: Martavious Odoms's "Hope For Pahokee" Kickstarter is getting closer to its goal but isn't quite there yet. So far, 759 backers have donated $30,917 of the $35k goal. If you haven't donated yet, do it! Let's not let this fail because of a short Internet attention span (or any other reason, really). 

Yes, I'm talking about Northwestern again. If you haven't noticed by now, I'm a grad student at the venerable Northwestern University these days, and have thus followed the Wildcats' football program somewhat closely for the last eight or nine months. It has been somewhat of a breath of fresh air from the monumental expectations and resulting disappointment that comes with being a Michigan fan. Obviously, I am a Michigan fan first, and it's not even close, so don't worry (not that you were, person that isn't reading this, probably). Still, there's something inherently good about rooting for a program like Northwestern, one that does things The Right Way (if you are rolling your eyes, that's fine) and makes the most of what it has, usually without the major expectations and glowering spotlights of major college football programs...and I better stop there before I literally transform into one of those NCAA PSAs about athletes going into something other than sports. 

Say what you will about the quality of Northwestern's wins thus far, but 3-0 is 3-0. The strangest thing about is, other than the shootout that was the Syracuse game, the Wildcats have done it largely with defense and a strong running game, powered by Kain Colter, Venric Mark, and Mike Trumpy. Make no mistake about it, Michigan's matchup against the Wildcats will not be an easy one. All my kidding about being warrior poets and whatnot aside, the Wildcats play a decidedly grit-astic brand of football that belies their reputation as a spread team with little defensive speed and/or talent to speak of. 

In any case, here's Lake The Post's take on this season's proceedings: 

Wow. That’s a pretty good feeling to wake up to this morning.  Rewind for a second. If someone had told you that after week three, NU would be 3-0, one of only three teams in the B1G undefeated and, the facilities plan would be announced, you may have pulled out your checkbook.

I will conclude this Northwestern section that is probably annoying you by saying this: I don't think that we, as Michigan fans, say "wow" enough.

Meanwhile, back to the supposed focus of this blog...it's Notre Dame week. It was Notre Dame week even before the UMass game even ended, if we're being honest with ourselves. Brady Hoke said some things about Notre Dame:

 I really don't know how to feel about this game. I'll have a preview up later this week, but, needless to say, this might be the biggest Notre Dame game since the 2006 contest. I know that we've won in South Bend in two of our last three trips down there, but there's still that residual anxiety enduring from our winless streak there stretching from the Remy Hamilton game winner in 1994 up until the "oh wide open" game in 2006. Michigan has won the last three seasons on the back of some pretty serious offensive sorcery the past three years, but I'm getting the feeling that the same cannot happen this time around if Michigan is going to win.

Wondering about whether or not Notre Dame is truly "back" is a useless endeavor better left to people interested in pointless narratives and STORYLINES, but this game will be won--WARNING, ENTIERING CLICHE LAND NOW--in the trenches. For that reason, I have a pretty disagreeable feeling about this game in the pit of my stomach right now, but maybe that will change between now and Saturday.

The future of the rivalry. Speaking of Brady Hoke talking about ND, he weighed in on the future of the rivalry:

Hoke loves playing Notre Dame. But, if for some reason the Fighting Irish aren't on the Wolverines' schedule at some point down the road, Hoke won't exactly be heartbroken.

"They've got to do what they need to do for them," Hoke said Monday. "If (the Michigan-Notre Dame series) continues, it's great.

"If it doesn't, then we'll move forward."

As a person who has accepted Brady Hoke's "no chicken on pizza" as the law of the land since last week's radio show, you may take this with a grain of salt, but...I generally agree. I'm not necessarily one of those people that wants to see ND disappear from the schedule out of some sense of misplaced spite or whatever, but it would be nice to get some other teams on the schedule. I don't think that this is a novel or controversial opinion.

NO RESPECT. Matt Hinton reveals his Week 3 top 25, and it does not include Michigan. If Michigan sports talk radio had a PAWWWLLL equivalent, I would so be calling into it right now. Not really. Of course, Hinton explains his rationale as incisively as you'd expect:

September rankings are always a "Damned If You Do/Damned If You Don't" proposition. By mid-October or so, resumés are fleshed out, and everybody more or less agrees on what they're looking at and how to assess it. But what exactly are you assessing when a significant chunk of the country has yet to play a meaningful game? What is the criteria?

In the past, I've hewn to a strict resumé approach that might, for example, jump Louisiana-Monroe into the top ten for an early upset over a top-ten team, and let the deck sort itself out over the course of the season.

So, that's fair. It feels weird to see teams like Rutgers, Iowa State, and Oregon State in there and not Michigan, but the Wolverines have not had the opportunity to do anything of note outside of the Alabama, a game Michigan was probably not going to win even if it pulled out the greatest game it has ever played.  I would imagine that a win in South Bend would propel the Wolverines into his top 25, if not his top 15.

I'm sure he would agree, but when you really get down to the business of attempting to construct a top 25, you really begin to realize how byzantine and completely arbitrary college football really is. That is part of its charm, I guess, and I wouldn't trade college football for anything in the world. Still, college football comes with the underlying notion that attempting to place teams on a relativistic spectrum of quality is like trying to decide whether Beethoven or The Beatles were more influential than the other. In a few words: it is impossible. As long as you accept that, you'll be doin' just fine.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being Not Russell Wilson. For a team that was a preseason favorite to win the Big Ten, this is not exactly news you want to hear heading into the fourth week of the season with a running game working about as well as the average person does in the morning before having their coffee:

Wondering if Danny O'Brien will be Wisconsin's starting quarterback when the Badgers take the field against UTEP on Saturday the answer is: Maybe.

While offensive coordinator Matt Canada intimated O'Brien would remain the team's starting quarterback, he wouldn't commit to it.

Like everybody, I just sort of assumed that Wisconsin would be able to withstand the exodus of offensive lineman to the NFL and assistant coaches to Pitt, but that has decidedly not been the case thus far. The Badgers take on a 1-2 UTEP team that should result in a fairly stress-free win before a trip to Lincoln the next week, a primetime derby against a Nebraska team looking to avenge last year's thumping in Madison.

This has not been the first time that people have questioned Bret Bielema's ability to be the primary braintrust of the Wisconsin program in spite of his sterling record. After winning 21 games in his first two seasons in Madison (12-1 in 2006, 9-4 in 2007), Bielema led the Badgers to a disappointing 7-6 season in 2008 (of course including what was probably the most embarrassing loss to Michigan that Wisconsin has ever taken), leading to the usual gripes about how his first two seasons were made possible on the backs of Alvarez recruits, yada yada yada.

In any case, this 2012 Wisconsin football team should continue to be an interesting case study in the importance of assistant coaches, those behind-the-scenes shadows that are more important than any of us can really ever know (whether in a good or a bad way). With uncertainty at the quarterback position and a running game that has been almost unnervingly bad, it's not difficult to imagine this season spiraling out of control for the Badgers if Nebraska is able to return the favor in Lincoln.

More? Sit down around the fireplace kids and let's talk to Uncle Barnhart about what we learned this week.

HTR's Top 25: Week 3

Previous dubious assertions: HTR's Official Meaningless Preseason Top 25, Week 1, Week 2

via LSUfreek, obviously

Another week of college football came and went, and although we are still stuck in the mostly barren wasteland that is non-conference play, there were more than a few upsets this week. Virginia Tech somehow fell to a horrific Pitt team, Michigan State fell at home to Notre Dame, USC took a loss in Palo Alto, Ohio State almost lost to a seemingly mediocre Cal squad, and Utah bounced back from their loss against Utah State to pick off BYU in the Holy War in what was a mostly nonsensical finish.

We're still approximately a week or two away from these rankings not being a completely formless sea of shifting tectonic plates, but for now this will have to do.

Rank	Team
1	Alabama
2	LSU
3	Oregon
4	West Virginia
5	Georgia
6	Florida State
7	Stanford
8	USC
9	Texas
10	South Carolina
11	Clemson
12	Oklahoma
13	Notre Dame
14	Ohio State
15	Florida
16	TCU
17	Michigan State
18	Kansas State
19	Michigan
20	UCLA
21	Louisville
22	Arizona
23	Northwestern
24	Missouri
25	Nebraska

Out: Virginia Tech, Tennessee
Idle: Oklahoma, Oregon State, Colorado (JUST KIDDING they played, allegedly)

• With a powerful running game (forced to dip into secondary options once the starter got dinged up) and a staunch defense and special teams, they completed their third victory in a row against BCS competition this season. Who is this defensive/running game juggernaut of which I speak? Alabama?LSU, maybe? Of course, I am talking about none other than the Northwestern University FIGHTIN' FITZGERALDS. The Wildcats have been a shining light amid a sea of darkness for the Big Ten thus far this season; with games against South Dakota and Indiana coming up, a 5-0 start is all but assured for the warrior poets from Evanston. The Wildcats have gone with the Brady/Henson arrangement at QB with Kain Colter and Trevor Siemian, and there's a good chance that Siemian will eventually be "the guy." Anyway, bask in the warm glow of the Warrior Poets' battle hymn: 


• Elsewhere in the Big Ten. Ohio State, following the "hey let's make the quarterback do everything" style of play that Michigan has perfected the past three seasons, required a 72-yard strike from Miller to Devin Smith in the late stages to finally put away a Cal team with a loss to Nevada to its name. Wisconsin continues to be Bizarro Wisconsin, with nary a running game to be found; they required a missed field goal to beat the Aggies of Utah State in the final seconds. That's not a good look. Indiana did what Indiana does, and by that I mean lose to Ball State. Michigan State could not do much of anything against an Irish team that might actually be rounding into a legitimate team that could do some real damage if not for a brutal schedule the rest of the way. Otherwise, everything else went okay: Penn State got its first win, Minnesota is now 3-0, a Burkhead-less Nebraska team dealt with Gus Malzahn's Arkansas State squad, Purdue decidedly did not respect The Process en route to a thumping of EMU, and Iowa lost another tailback in an ugly win against their buddies from Cedar Falls. WOO, FEEL THE EXCITEMENT OF BIG TEN FOOTBALL. 

• Hey Alabama: maybe chill out a bit, okay. This is all just for fun. I did not watch this game, but this is pretty much the definition of the game that you can consume via osmosis. "Oh, did you hear about Arkansas?" *exchange of uncomfortable looks* "Yeah..." Sure, Arkansas was without Tyler Wilson, but if the relevant picture in this SMQB "Agony and Ecstasy" post is any indication, Wilson probably dodged a bullet by not participating in this one anyway. 

• "I'll be deep in the cold, cold ground before I recognize Missourah!"Actually, not really. I like Missouri and think they should be just fine in the SECE, last week's game against UGA notwithstanding (which was a ballgame until the curious fake punt call by Pinkel). James Franklin (not the Vandy HC) was out, leaving the door open for backup Corbin "Most Likely Name For a Birkenstock Enthusiast" Birkstresser, who did alright against an Arizona State defense that inceptioned many nightmares into the brains of Illinois' backup quarterbacks. He only went 21-41 with a YPA of 4.8 and 1 INT, but he did pitch in a TD on the ground. Who knows if ASU is any good at all, but Mizzou held serve at CoMo and that's all that matters. Having a +3 turnover margin and holding your opponent to 2-12 on third down is a pretty easy path to a W. 

• Thomas Jefferson ain't walkin' through that door. Another team/coach that I was a fan of coming into the season: UVA and Mike London. Unfortunately, that mostly irrational liking has taken a bit of hit thus far this season. The Cavs were fairly lucky to beat Penn State, and this past Saturday's 56-20 loss at Georgia Tech...is not a good luck. I bought into the Mike London hype train and decided to mostly ignore the fact that UVA would have to replace quite a few starters, but oh well. You're going to completely misread at least a few teams each season, and UVA definitely falls under this category for me. Still, they're 2-1, so all is not lost.