2011 Who's Hot & Not
Week 9
By
Richard
Cirminiello
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2011
Who's Hot ... Week 9
Who’s Not ...
10. SMU
Everything appeared to
be coming together for the Mustangs with a five-game
winning streak and victories over TCU and UCF. And
then the Mustangs went on the road, and then the
offense decided to stop playing. After averaging 40
points per game over a four-game stretch, the
Mustangs have scored just ten points over the last
two weeks in blowout losses to Southern Miss
and Tulsa to all but bow out of the Conference USA
title chase.
9. Washington State
There was so much
promise and so much potential after a 3-1 start,
with a win over Colorado, but the Cougars have hit
the skids over the last four games. Last week's loss
to Oregon wasn't a stunner, and neither was the loss
to Stanford, but losing to UCLA hurt and the home
loss to Oregon State was a killer. Now Wazzu has to
win three of its final four games against Cal,
Arizona State, Utah, and Washington to go bowling.
8. The Kansas Run Defense
Giving up 604 rushing yards and seven touchdowns to Georgia Tech will skew the overall stats, and then the pass defense went bye-bye for three weeks against Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, and Oklahoma. Over the last three weeks, the defensive front has been a disaster allowing 247 yards and two scores to Oklahoma, 261 yards and six touchdowns to Kansas State, and 441 yards and five touchdowns to Texas.
Up next is Iowa State.
7. Arkansas Pass Defense
Uh, Arkansas, you do know that Ole Miss and Vanderbilt can't throw, right? After holding Auburn to 104 yards through the air, the Hogs had problems with the Rebel passing game, giving up 219 yards and a score, and last week, allowing 240 yards and a score to Vanderbilt. On the year, everyone but Missouri State and Auburn have thrown without much of a problem on the Hog secondary, even though it's 31st in the nation in pass efficiency defense. South Carolina takes its turn next week.
6. Troy QB Corey Robinson
Last year the sophomore was one of the bright young
stars on the Sun Belt scene, throwing for 3,726
yards and 28 scores on the way to a co-Sun Belt
title. He threw for 200 yards or more 11 times and
finished out the year with 299 yards or more in five
of the final six games. This year, Troy's defense
can't stop anyone and Robinson, despite bombing away
for 300 yards or more for a four-game stretch, has
gone cold. Over the last two games he's thrown for a
total of 332 yards with no touchdown passes ad four interceptions in season-killing losses to ULM and FIU. Troy, a Sun Belt championship staple, is 1-3 in conference play.
5. California on the Road
The Bears needed
overtime to get over a miserable Colorado team in
early September. That's been it for the fun away
from home, getting blown out by UCLA and Oregon to
go along with a loss to Washington. Counting the
2009 Poinsettia Bowl, the Bears are 2-9 in their
last 11 games on the road. They close out the season
at Stanford and Arizona State, so at 4-4, to go
bowling they need to beat Washington State and
Oregon State over the next two weeks.
4. The SEC East
With Vanderbilt's loss
to Arkansas, the Commodores are 1-2 vs. the West.
Florida is 0-3, Kentucky is 0-2, Tennessee is 0-2,
and South Carolina is 1-1. Georgia is the bright
spot, going 2-0 against Mississippi State and Ole
Miss, the only teams to lose to the East. Tennessee
and South Carolina each have to go to Arkansas, and
Georgia has to face Auburn. If the East loses those
three games, it'll finish the year 4-14 before the
lamb-for-the-slaughter date in the SEC Championship.
3. Colorado's Running Game
There was a time when the Colorado running game was as dominant as any offensive force in college football. That was a long, long time ago. The Buffs aren't exactly playing LSU and Alabama every week, but they've only hit the 100-yard rushing mark three times so far. Over the last four weeks, Colorado hasn't hit the 100-yard mark and didn't get a rushing score in three of the four games. The ground game is last in the Pac-12 and 114th in the country, and up next is USC, 16th in the nation against the run.
2. Navy
The Midshipmen went 2-10 in 2002, winning the opener against SMU and the season finale against Army, but losing the ten games in the middle.
They hadn't lost three games in a row since then,
and now they're on a six-game losing streak after
getting obliterated by Notre Dame. The defense is getting destroyed, mostly because the line is the second-worst in America in tackles for loss, while the running game is falling a bit flat. The yards are there, but for a team that's giving up points in bunches, comebacks with this attack don't work.
Fortunately, Troy, at SMU, at San Jose State, and Army finish up the year, and there's a chance for a four-game winning streak to go bowling.
1. Maryland
And Ralph Friedgen was let go, why? Maryland started
the season out with so much promise and potential,
beating Miami in a 34-24 thriller, giving hope that
the program was about to take things to another
level under Randy Edsall. There was a 28-3 win over
Towson, and that's been it for the fun with six
losses in the last seven games including blowouts to
Florida State and last week against a Boston College
team that had yet to win a game against an FBS team.
The Terps are 118th in the nation in run defense and
110th in passing efficiency. Up next is the home
finale against Virginia before closing out with road
dates against Notre Dame, Wake Forest, and NC State.
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2011
Who's Hot ... Week 9