Who's Hot & Who's Not ... Week Three

All things Miami, Georgia's D, USC's O, ACC running games, and more

Past Hot and Not: Week 1 | Week 2 

Who’s Hot …

Houston QB Kevin Kolb
Think about the old days at Houston of chucking and ducking, running and gunning. Think about the high-octane passers like Heisman winner Andre Ware and Sports Illustrated cover boy David Klinger. Considering the program's recent history, it's impressive that Kevin Kolb has become the school's all-time leading passer, overtaking Ware, going past the 10,000-yard mark after a 297-yard performance against Grambling. For the year, Kolb has completed 73 of 107 passes for 880 yards and eight touchdowns with an interception leading the Cougars to a 3-0 record.

New Mexico State QB Chase Holbrook
Hal Mumme has his man. Holbrook transferred to New Mexico State to follow Mumme from Southeast Louisiana and is now bombing away in the air raid attack. The 6-6, 235-pound sophomore threw for 381 yards and two touchdowns against SE Louisiana, 472 and four touchdowns against New Mexico, and 347 yards and three scores against Texas Southern. What's more impressive about the start has been Holbrook's ability to limit mistakes with only two interceptions while completing 67% of his passes.

Wake Forest
Since the ACC stinks this year, could this be the year Wake Forest shocks the world? It's 3-0 for the first time since 1987, has an honest shot of being 4-0 with a battle against an average Ole Miss team next week, and can actually dream of 5-0 with Liberty coming up the week after. The Demon Deacons have allowed just 12 points per game against Syracuse, Duke and UConn and have given up just three points in the second half.

Georgia Defense
What's the perfect way to help a true freshman quarterback like Matthew Stafford get his feet wet? Have a great defense to stop everyone cold. Georgia has gone over 132 minutes without allowing a point with shutouts of South Carolina and UAB over the last two weeks. The D is fifth in the nation allowing  204 yards per game and if fourth in scoring defense allowing 12 points in the opener against Western Kentucky. Expect the play to continue with Colorado (114th in the nation in scoring) and Ole Miss (100th in the nation in scoring offense) up next.

USC's scoring offense
Utah beat Carson Palmer and USC 10-6 in the 2001 Las Vegas Bowl. Since then, USC has scored 20 points or more in 54 straight games. After the 28-10 win over Nebraska, the Trojans have passed the 20 point mark in 56 of its last 57 games and have averaged 42.6 points per game since the loss to the Utes.

Who’s Not …

Temple scoring offense
Temple's offense is on an epic pace. It's last in the country in scoring thanks to three points against Buffalo, zero against Louisville and nada against Minnesota. In the 14 games as an independent, after being booted from the Big East, the Owls have averaged. 0.96 points per game putting up more than seven points just five times.

All things Miami
Miami University and the University of Miami have combined to start the season 0-5 against D-I teams. In its last three games against D-I opponents, the once mighty Hurricanes have been outscored by a total of 84 to 20. Throw out the Florida A&M game and "Da U" has lost four of its last five. Even more puzzling has been the crash by Miami University with an 0-3 start to the season losing to Northwestern, Purdue, and to lowly Kent State. The problem for a team thought to be a main contender for the MAC title has been an offensive line that gave up 15 sacks so far. The Miami Dolphins are 0-2 after a horrible loss to Buffalo.

Florida International in close games
The Golden Panthers closed out 2005 with three straight wins with a three-point win over Western Kentucky and a four-point victory over Middle Tennessee. Now, Don Strock's team can't buy a break losing its first three games by a total of seven points. It lost by one to Middle Tennessee, by one to South Florida, and by five against Bowling Green. Maryland is up next.

The Big 12
The once proud league has taken it on the chin over recent weeks. Texas was beaten badly at home by Ohio State two weeks ago to kill the league's main national title threat. Last week, Nebraska lost to USC after putting its West Coast offense on the shelf, Kansas lost at Toledo, Iowa State lost at Iowa, Oklahoma lost at Oregon, Baylor lost at Washington State, and Texas Tech lost at TCU, Colorado lost at Arizona State. Texas A&M needs a late goal line stand to get past an awful Army team.

ACC running games
Baylor has the nation's worst running game averaging a mere 19 yards per outing, but it's trying to implement a Texas Tech-like passing offense. There's no excuse for Florida State, who's 118th in the country averaging 49 yards per game. Virginia's ground game is 117th, Duke's is 113th, Boston College's is 90th, Virginia Tech's is 83rd, and NC State's is 70th. Eight of the ACC's 12 running games rank in the bottom half of the national rankings.