Past Hot and Not:
Week 1 |
Week 2 |
Week 3 |
Week 4
Week 5 |
Week 6 |
Week 7 |
Week 8 |
Week 9 |
Week 10
Week 11
Who’s Hot
…
The Air Force
running game
New head
coach Troy Calhoun was going to run a balanced attack that used QB Shaun
Carney as more of a passing threat to get the ball downfield. A funny
thing happened along the way; the Falcons became unstoppable on the
ground. No. 2 in the nation running the ball, behind Navy, averaging
298.5 yards per game, Air Force has rushed for 1,291 yards and 12
touchdowns over the last three games. In last week’s 55-23 win over San
Diego State, Air Force tore off 569 rushing yards and eight scores with
Chad Hall, Jim Ollis and Ty Paffett all running for more than 100 yards.
Calhoun’s first year was a rousing success going 9-2 and finishing
second in the Mountain West.
Boise State QB Taylor Tharp
It’s not just about Ian Johnson and the running game in Boise
anymore as senior QB Taylor Tharp has thrown for 2,839 yards and 27
touchdowns with just eight interceptions. Three of the picks came in the
second game of the year, a loss to Washington which was the team’s lone
gaffe on the year, and he has thrown only one pick in the last four
games. In his last three games, he has completed 80% of his throws for
824 yards and nine touchdowns, and is coming off a four-touchdown
performance against Idaho. Now comes the real fun with the showdown
against Hawaii.
Utah
Dismissed
and left for dead in mid-September after losing to UNLV 27-0 for an 0-2
Mountain West start and a 1-3 overall record. Since then the Utes have
cranked out seven straight wins to cement themselves in the third spot
in the conference behind BYU and Air Force thanks to a defense that’s
allowed just 13 points over the last three weeks and 40 points over the
last five games. The rivalry date with BYU closes out the regular
season.
Minnesota
After dogging the Gophers all year, it’s only fair to give a little bit
of time to one of the positives. Minnesota might have had its worst
season ever, but there’s reason for optimism with star QB Adam Weber
just a freshman. He set school records for passing yards, total offense,
passing yards and completions going 258 for 449 for 2,895 yards with 24
touchdowns and 19 interceptions, while running for 617 yards and five
scores. He closed out his first year by throwing for 352 yards and two
scores, and running for 87 yards, in the 41-34 loss to Wisconsin.
Florida WR Andre Caldwell
The Florida senior caught three passes for 103 yards in the season
opener against Western Kentucky, but suffered a knee injury against Troy
and was out/limited with just two catches for 18 yards over a five-game
stretch. He was fine against Kentucky and Georgia, and then everything
clicked in as he has become Tim Tebow’s main man with 33 catches for 415
yards and three touchdowns over the last three weeks, highlighted by a
13-grab day against Florida Atlantic. The showdown with Florida State
closes out the regular season.
Who’s
Not …
Arkansas
pass defense
The
overall stats don’t appear to be that bad. After all, Arkansas is 40th
in the nation in pass defense, allowing 211 yards per game, and sixth in
the country, and second in the SEC, in pass efficiency defense. However,
there have been problems over the last three weeks with major breakdowns
in shootouts. Tennessee didn’t need to bomb away, with Erik Ainge only
completing 12 of 25 passes for 128 yards with two touchdowns in the
34-13 win, but last week, the Hogs gave up 421 yards and four touchdown
passes to Wesley Carroll and Mississippi State. On the plus side the
picked off four passes, but three games ago they gave up 364 yards and
two scores to South Carolina. Up next is LSU, who’s only averaging 229
passing yards per game.
The Pac 10
Talked about as one of the strongest conferences in the country, if
not number two behind the SEC, the Pac 10 took a serious overall hit
this week when it lost a national title contender (Oregon) and its
Heisman front-runner (Dennis Dixon). The conference is also in danger of
potentially losing a second BCS team if Oregon loses to Oregon State in
the Civil War, UCLA needs to beat either Oregon or USC to become bowl
eligible, and Cal won’t likely get to play near home in the Emerald Bowl
since Oregon State can’t go to the Sun Bowl two years in a row. The
league has taken a big hit recently because of …
California
There was a moment on October 13th when the Bears were
driving against Oregon State with a chance to be the number one team in
America. A brain-cramp by backup quarterback Kevin Riley led to a loss,
and ever since Cal has lost five of six games with the one win coming by
three at home to a bad Washington State team. Remember, this slide all
came after a win at Oregon. After last week’s 37-23 loss to a Washington
team without Jake Locker, thanks to 334 Husky rushing yards, Cal needs a
win over Stanford in two weeks to get to seven wins.
Kentucky’s offense
While UK has the SEC’s No. 1 passing offense and overall is
averaging a solid 427 yards per game, the one-time juggernaut of an
attack has struggled to keep up the pace. Over the last three weeks, the
Wildcats have been held to just 322 yards per game with a mere 297 last
week against Georgia. UK has netted fewer than 100 rushing yards in
three of the last four games. Tennessee comes to Lexington to close out
the regular season.
The State of Mississippi and turnovers vs. LSU
In the season opener, Mississippi State lost six interceptions and a
fumble in the 45-0 loss to LSU. The Tiger defense has been great all
season long, but didn’t come up with more than two interceptions in any
game since the opening-day win until the trip to Ole Miss. The Rebels
threw three picks and lost a fumble meaning all of Mississippi has
turned it over 11 times with no takeaways.
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