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

John Beck, JaMarcus Russell, Brady Quinn, Duke Offense, & More

Past Hot and Not: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4

Who’s Hot …

Michigan run defense
Michigan's run defense is number one in America allowing a mere 36.4 yards per game. That's more impressive than it might seem considering the competition holding Vanderbilt to 42 yards, Central Michigan to 16, Notre Dame to four, Wisconsin to 12 , and Minnesota to 108. Up next is a Michigan State team that's ninth in the nation in rushing, but inexplicably ran for only 82 yards against Illinois.

BYU QB John Beck vs. TCU
The senior Cougar star was fantastic in the 31-17 win over TCU this week making his team the lead dog in the Mountain West race. Against the Horned Frogs over the last two years, Beck completed 53 of 88 (60%) passes for 838 yards and eight touchdowns.

LSU QB JaMarcus Russell
Russell wasn't bad in the 7-3 loss to Auburn completing 20 of 35 passes for 269 yards, but he has been flat-out nuclear against everyone else. Against UL Lafayette, Arizona, Tulane and Mississippi State, LSU won by a combined score of 187 to 30 with Russell completing 61 of 80 (76%) passes for 977 yards and ten touchdowns with only one interception. He didn't even play a full sixty minutes in most of the games. A road trip to Florida is up next week.

Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn vs. Purdue
Brady Quinn is going to miss Purdue when he's off to the NFL next year. In three games vs. the Boilermakers, Quinn has completed 84 of 120 passes (70%) for 1,188 yards and six touchdowns averaging 396 yards per game.

Temple time of possession
Since Temple seems to occupy a permanent residency in the Who's Not list, here's one thing the team is number one in: time of possession  The Owls have hung on to the ball for 35:21 over the first five games. That :36 seconds more than the number two team, Air Force. Part of the problem is a defense that gives up scores quickly, but at least this is something slightly positive.

Who’s Not …

Duke offense
Against Wake Forest in week two, Duke got a 27-yard field goal, a 39-yard field goal, and a 47-yard touchdown catch from Jomar Wright in the 14-13 loss. That's been it. In the other three games against Richmond, Virginia Tech and Virginia, the Blue Devils were outscored 86-0. Currently, Duke is dead last in America in scoring offense and 117th in total offense gaining just 204 yards per game. Things might go from bad to worse with Alabama, Florida State, and Miami up next.

Arizona State QB Rudy Carpenter
How's the call of Rudy Carpenter over Sam Keller looking at the moment? Carpenter, who was a cool, calm, accurate freshman last year leading the nation in passing efficiency, has crashed this year completing just 54% of his passes with 11 touchdown throws and nine interceptions. The Sun Devils bottomed out in the 48-13 loss to Oregon with just 33 yards passing on a 6-for-19, one interception day from Carpenter.

Utah QB Brett Ratliff
Brett Ratliff got the starting quarterback job after it was determined that Brian Johnson needed to take the year off to led his injured knee heal, and the results haven't been stellar. Ratliff was amazing over the final two games of last year throwing for 631 yards and eight touchdowns with an interception in wins over BYU and Georgia Tech. This year, he was great against the lousy teams like Northern Arizona and Utah State, but stunk against the good ones. On the year, he only has 830 yards and eight touchdown passes with four interceptions following a 5-of-21, three interception, 30-yard day in the 36-3 loss to Boise State. You can't blame the pass protection since the Utah offensive line has yet to allow a sack in five games.

Penn State WR Derrick Williams
Considered by many to be the nation's number one recruit in 2005, Williams caught 22 passes for 189 yards with a game-winning touchdown grab against Northwestern before getting knocked out for the year. He was supposed to explode this season and be the next-big-thing at Penn State, but it hasn't happened yet with only 14 catches for 126 yards and a score. He did come up with 56 yards on the ground with a touchdown, but that was against Youngstown State. By comparison, Deon Butler caught 11 passes for a school-record 216 yards in the win over Northwestern.

Stanford's run defense
You'll have to forgive Notre Dame's Darius Walker if he's walking around campus this week giggling. Next week's opponent, Stanford, has the nation's worst run defense allowing 282.8 yards per game despite having its best outing of the season by allowing only 166 yards and two scores in the 31-0 loss to UCLA. Oregon ran for 298 yards and four scores, San Jose State ran for 342 yards and four scores, Navy got 368 yards and four touchdowns, and Washington State ran for 240 yards and two touchdowns.