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

IU passing, Michigan run D, USC and Illinois turnovers, and more.

Past Hot and Not: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5
Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9

Who’s Hot …

Indiana tandem of QB Kellen Lewis to WR James Hardy
Who's the hottest Big Ten pass-catch combination? Smith to Ginn or Gonzalez? Yeah, but Indiana freshman QB Kellen Lewis to sophomore WR James Hardy has been more amazing. Even in the loss to Ohio State, Hardy caught six passes for 45 yards, but against Iowa and Michigan State, Lewis threw for 516 yards and eight touchdowns, with two rushing scores, in the wins with Hardy catching 14 passes for 187 yards and seven touchdowns. Hardy has 18 touchdown catches in 17 career games. 

Middle Tennessee S Damon Nickson
The junior became the first player in Sun Belt history to pick off four passes in a game returning one for a touchdown in the 34-20 win over UL Lafayette. He also recovered an onside kick, led the team with six tackles, forced a fumble, returned two kickoffs for 60 yards, and returned a punt for 14 yards.

Oklahoma's offensive backfield
Talk about picking up the slack, with Adrian Peterson out, junior Allen Patrick has been the workhorse rushing 71 times for 272 yards and a touchdown in key wins against Colorado and Missouri. QB Paul Thompson hasn't been explosive, but he has completed 28 of 45 passes (62%) with three touchdowns and a rushing score over the last two games.

Florida Atlantic Defense
The Owls don't score all that much, but over the last three games, Howard Schnellenberger's defense has been a rock allowing just 13 points to Southern Utah, UL Lafayette, and Arkansas State. ASU netted just 104 yards, the Ragin' Cajuns gained 228 and managed just two field goals, and SU didn't get on the board until garbage time in the fourth quarter. Up next is Middle Tennessee, the current favorite to win the Sun Belt title.

Michigan's run defense
Michigan isn't just stuffing the run, it's wiping it out. To put what the Wolverines are doing in perspective, TCU is third in the nation in run defense giving up 61 yards per game. That's over twice as many as Michigan, who's giving up 28.4 per game. Texas is second allowing 41.2 per outing, but that's partially due to playing teams like Baylor and Texas Tech who do nothing but throw. The Wolverines stopped Northwestern for -13 yards in the 17-3 win, and held Penn State, Michigan State, Minnesota and Wisconsin under wraps. All rank in the top half of the nation in rushing.

Who’s Not …

USC turnover margin
USC is currently 71st in the nation in turnover margin with 11 turnovers and ten takeaways. While that might not seem like that big a deal, consider that the Trojans were +14 in 2001, +18 in 2002, +20 in 2003, +19 in 2004, and +21 in 2005. There's a correlation between the team's recent average play and the mistakes. USC lost four turnovers, and didn't force any, in the 33-31 loss to Oregon State.

Purdue offense
Talk about falling off the map, one of the nation's best offenses over the first seven games of the year, and the Big Ten leader in total offense and passing offense, has managed just three points against both Wisconsin and Penn State gaining a total of just 526 yards in the two games. Fortunately, Michigan State is up next.

Turnovers in North Carolina
There's a reason the Wolfpack and Tar Heels are sliding.  NC State is 118th in the nation in turnover margin losing 16 and gaining six, North Carolina is dead last losing 22 and taking away eight, and Duke is 112th losing 22 and gaining 13. On the plus side, East Carolina is 38th.

Illinois in the second half
Over the last four weeks, Illinois led Indiana, Ohio, Penn State and Wisconsin in the second half and led three of the four (Penn State the exception) in the fourth quarter, and lost all four.

The Big 12 North
Just when it looked like the gap between the two Big 12 divisions was closing, there was this weekend. Missouri got rolled over at home by Oklahoma 26-10, Nebraska, a week after losing at home to Texas, got its doors blown off by Oklahoma State 41-29, and in divisional battles, Iowa State took yet another step back in a horrendous season in a blowout loss to Kansas State, while Colorado lost to Kansas. When all is said and done, it's possible just Nebraska, Missouri and the Kansas/Kansas State winner will get bowl bids from the North.