Case of the Mondays: SMU on pace to set records no team wants to claim
Every Monday, Dr. Saturday editor Graham Watson looks back on the weekend that was and decides what she loved, what she hated (I have all the hot takes) and what she can’t wait to see again.
THE LOVE
There’s the UCLA offense: The UCLA offense that we expected to see at the beginning of the season finally showed up against Arizona State last week in a 62-27 victory. Apparently, all it took for quarterback Brett Hundley to snap out of his funk was a little hyperextended elbow. Hundley had 427 total yards and five touchdowns in the contest and put himself back into the Heisman conversation. UCLA is one of three teams that remain undefeated in the Pac-12 after seven teams entered the weekend with an unblemished record. The Bruins are still the favorite to win the Pac-12 South and the next two games against Utah and Oregon might determine whether it should be the conference’s representative in the playoff.
Don’t knock Akron’s chrome dome: Akron took a lot of Internet hate for its gold chrome helmets this weekend, but apparently those shiny domes were enough of a distraction to get a 21-10 win against Pittsburgh. This was the first time the Zips had defeated a Power Five conference team in six years and they held James Conner, the nation’s No. 1 rusher coming in, to just 92 yards on 25 carries. This is an Akron team that’s definitely seeing a resurgence under coach Terry Bowden. It won five games a year ago — after winning six the previous four years combined — and is 2-2 already this season. If the Zips can play with some consistency this season, there is a strong possibility the Zips could not only earn enough wins for its first bowl eligibility since 2005, but also could challenge for the MAC East.
Ohio State’s revival: Did we all write Ohio State off too quickly? After the Buckeyes upset loss to Virginia Tech, Ohio State’s year started to become a lost season. But after two impressive performances against Kent State and Cincinnati, reports of Ohio State’s demise might have been premature. The Big Ten has proven to have a couple top contenders in Michigan State and Nebraska, and the rest is a mixed bag. Saturday’s game against Maryland should be interesting because the Terps rank fifth in the conference in scoring and might be the best overall team the Buckeyes have faced this season. That game also might be the only competition Ohio State faces until it meets Michigan State in November.
THE HATE (hot takes a-plenty)
Florida State’s defense: Florida State isn’t the worst 4-0 team defensively — that honor belongs to Arizona — but it’s not far behind. The Seminoles are allowing 403.3 yards per game and 25.3 points per game so far this season. Florida State allowed 41 points to a North Carolina State team that hadn’t scored more than 40 points against a Power Five opponent since its 62-48 loss to Clemson on Nov. 17, 2012. Make no mistake, Florida State is not going to be inundated with teams that light up the scoreboard. But if its defense can’t make tackles or the offense can’t quit turning the ball over, the Seminoles are going to be in a lot of trouble against some of the better teams remaining on the schedule. Is Florida State really the No. 1 team in the country? Even though it’s still winning, it doesn’t look nearly as good as Oklahoma, Alabama or Oregon.
SMU’s road to winless: SMU is currently on pace to break the record for most points allowed per game in a single season. That record is 50.3 and was set by Louisiana-Lafayette in 1997. SMU, through four games, is currently allowing 50.5 points per game and things don’t appear to be getting any better. SMU has scored one touchdown this season and it came in garbage time against North Texas. It’s currently being outscored 202-12 and every game it’s inching closer to East Carolina’s 2010 record of 572 points allowed.
Brady Hoke: There isn’t much more to say here that hasn’t already been said several times in the past few days. Hoke held his weekly press conference Monday and was inundated with questions about quarterback Shane Morris, why he wasn’t pulled off the field and whether athletic director Dave Brandon had talked to him about his job status or about Morris. Hoke was combative and sullen and looked like a guy who knew the end was near. After the loss to Minnesota, I advocated for Hoke to be fired at the end of the season. However, if this is going to be a situation where he or his staff are endangering players for wins then the ties need to be severed immediately.
LET’S DO IT AGAIN
Cal and lots of offense: It used to be the Big 12 was the place to go for ridiculously high scoring games, but Cal has become a nice Pac-12 alternative to get a scoring fix. Cal’s past two games against Arizona and Colorado have been like porn to people who love lots of scoring (didn’t realize that was a pun until just now). In those two games, Cal has scored 104 points. So far this season, the Bears rank fifth in the country in scoring with 47.5 points per game, just a point fewer than Oregon. All that scoring has netted the Bears a 3-1 start, its best start since the 2011 season. Remember this is a Cal team that has won just four games in the past two seasons. Looks like teams are going to really have to bring their offenses if they want to keep up with the Bears, who are also allowing 35.75 points per game.
Is Air Force a player again? It’s been a couple years since Air Force won the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy — the award given to the winner of the round robin between the service academies — but Saturday’s 28-14 win against Boise State has Air Force fans thinking big. The Falcons visit Navy for the first leg of the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy this weekend and this year’s game should be as closer than many expected when the season began (especially after Air Force’s loss to Wyoming). With the exception of last year’s 28-10 Navy victory, every game between these two teams since 2008 has been decided by a touchdown or fewer. Navy has won nine of the past 11 Commander-in-Chief’s trophies, so it would be nice to see the race for this hardware become competitive again.
Clemson’s Deshaun Watson: Only the Clemson coaches can say why freshman Deshaun Watson wasn’t the starter at the beginning of the season, but it’s clear that he deserves to be the starter now. Watson threw for 435 yards and a school-record six touchdowns in a 50-35 win against North Carolina. While the Florida State loss was a setback, Clemson isn’t out of the race for the ACC Atlantic Division just yet, especially with the way Florida State has played in the past two games. Watson did put up his stellar numbers against a pretty bad North Carolina defense, but any confidence is good confidence for a freshman.
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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday
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