Indiana explodes on offense in season opener, beating the Gamecocks 45-10​

This was only the third meeting between Indiana and South Carolina, and the first time in the regular season.  The Gamecocks' first visit to Bloomington did not go well.  The first quarter was scoreless for the first 5 minutes, but Indiana had a big edge in field position.  They finally got on the board with 1:49 remaining in the quarter on a 41-yard touchdown pass to WR Ricky Jones.  After forcing a quick three-and-out, QB Nate Sudfield threw a 62-yard TD to WR Anthony Cooper.  On the very next play from scrimmage, South Carolina's Ashley Powers bounced a run outside for a 75-yard rushing touchdown to cut the lead to 7.  That was really the only lapse the defense had, as they held the Gamecocks to 164 yards and 3 points for the game other than that play. 

After missing a couple sure touchdowns due to bad throws, Indiana caught a couple breaks just before halftime.  Still leading 14-7, the Hoosiers picked off Joe Anderson on consecutive possessions and immediately turned both into touchdown passes to Ricky Jones.  Jones and Cooper both ended up with over 100 yards receiving and combined for 5 touchdown catches. 

South Carolina added a field goal on their first drive of the second half but it was all Indiana after that, adding 17 more points before the game was over.  True freshman QB Brian Walker came in just before the end of the third quarter and looks to be a promising player for the future.  He may even get more playing time this year if Sudfield gets hurt or struggles.  Walker went 2/2 for 36 yards and 1 TD and also rushed 4 times for 49 yards.  At 234 pounds (more than HB on the current roster and just a few pounds shy of both FBs), the QB punishes any defenders trying to bring him down. 

If Indiana can keep up the offensive firepower, they could really make some noise in the Big Ten this year. 

It's not often that Penn State and Georgia square off, but when they do you can expect a ton of hard hits and a couple of concussions to go along with them.  This match up was relatively low scoring with both squads trading a touchdown a piece in the 1st quarter, and after that it was pretty much all Penn State.  Not a dominating performance, as the Nits still gave up 332 yards on defense, but a win is a win and that's all the #17 ranked Nittany Lions needed to continue their trek to BCS relevance.  Stud RB Akeel Lynch was pretty much the star of the show, rushing for only 55 yards but racking up six catches for 132 yards as the Bulldogs decided they didnt wanna cover him!  Next up for PSU is #20 Louisville at home, and they are looking to put the stamp on the Cardinals as well. 

The Michigan State Spartans never had a chance in this opening day matchup vs the defending Champions.  Leading 24-0 at half time the Hogs could do no wrong dictating MSU’s every move and by late in the third the Arkansas defense would step up their play to capitalize on some throws of desperation by the QB of the Spartans.  41-7 in the fourth with the game well in hand the Razorbacks put a few backups in to get the starters some early rest for week 2’s showdown versus a talented Clemson squad that is hoping to avenge a 41-14 ass whipping the Tigers took last season.  This is a different year so the Hogs will go into this game with no expectations other than solid play on both sides of the ball.  GG Fmode11 ​

The Wake Forest Demon Deacon traveled to East Lansing to face the Spartans who were returning home after getting shellacked in their week 1 trip to Arkansas.  The Spartans were outplayed in nearly every facet of the game and coach Fmode knew there would be some growing pains this year due to losing 7 starters to the NFL draft last year.  Coach EAsportsKiLLer85 brought his team on the road in as many week for another game against a B1G opponent.  When this season's schedule was released there was a lot of animosity coming out of Winston-Salem towards the schedule makers.  Although the Demon Deacons played Penn State strong putting up over 300 yards on offense but struggling to covert third downs, nothing went right this week in East Lansing for Wake Forest. 

The game started with Spartans taking the ball and being forced into a 3rd and out.  From here Coach Fmode had his concerns as his team's offense had struggled mightily in their week 1 game.  These struggles would be short lived though.  Beginning on MSU's 2nd offensive drive MSU QB O"Connor was able to convert multiple short third downs to get MSU into the redzone, calling his own number on a read option run for a 12 yard TD (highlight on d-wire).  The Spartans would end the day with 354 yds of offense, score 7 TD and the defense would add a safety. 

A long and painful afternoon for the WF offense as they were only able to net a total of 28 yards of offense for the game while turning the ball over 3 times.  On top of the turnovers, the scrambling WF QB was sacked for 6 times, often trying to make a play when no one was open down field. 

GG EAsportsKiLLer85 as you stuck with it when nothing was going your way.  A road game, with a new team is never easy.  Good luck the rest of the way in the ACC. 

On a warm, sunny afternoon in East Lansing the #20 Spartans hosted the #16 Irish in a battle for the Megaphone Trophy.  Michigan State were coming in off their record performance against a hapless Wake Forest squad who was sent back to NC with their tail between their legs and Notre Dame who punished Purdue.  The Notre Dame defense is one of the best in the country (see below) coming into the game and MSU had prepared with a 3-fold strategy.  Run, Run, play action. 

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Notre Dame received the opening kick and on the first play from scrimmage attempted a deep post route and threw the ball directly to Freshman Corner, converted to Free Safety, Willie Franklin.  Unfortunately MSU was unable to move the ball against the stout 3-4 defense of Notre Dame and was forced to punt.  On the ensuing punt, MSU put the Irish on the 1 yard line to start their 2nd offensive series.  This would not go well.  On first and ten, from their 1 yd line the Irish inexplicably call a play-action deep pass, a slow developing play that MSU blows up with BOTH defensive tackles getting to the Irish QB forcing the safety (highlight on d-wire). 

Irish forced to punt the ball to MSU, and MSU would drive into Irish territory this time finally getting the offense going on the legs of Tompkins this time who was able to use his speed to find the limited amount of holes in the line and get the Spartans offense a FG. 

The Spartans offense would be bottled up much of the rest of the afternoon as they were able to get drives going up to mid-field and then being forced to punt.  MSU did turn the ball over once as QB O'Connor tried to beat bump and run coverage, but the Irish safeties were just too fast to get the ball past them.  Stud MSU WR Burbridge was able to get over the middle for multiple catches (8) as the other two MSU WR were having trouble holding onto the ball.  Could have been due to the fact that Notre Dame was big hit sticking EVERY tackle.  It's amazing the MSU offense escaped this game with no injuries. 

In the end, MSU defense chased Notre Dame's QB all over the pocket and forced multiple off throws.  In addition to some bad drops by their wide receivers that helped MSU, ND just could not get much rolling other than their one TD drive.  MSU utilized RB Tompkins to run clock and keep the Irish off the field resulting in a +12:30 in possession time. 

MSU heads to South Beach next week against the Top 5 'canes from Miami.  Their next three games will decide the season as the generous schedulers have put MSU on the road against #5 Miami, #8 Ohio State and #6 Wisconsin .  Notre Dame returns home to host #24 Michigan. 

On first and ten, from their 1 yd line the Irish inexplicably call a play-action deep pass, a slow developing play that MSU blows up with BOTH defensive tackles getting to the Irish QB forcing the safety (highlight on d-wire). 

Click to expand...

I saw this highlight and was wondering who the hell would call play-action on their own 1.  Then I realized it was the CPU lol

Coach tarheel got his tenure as maryland coach off with a bang by overcoming two first half tunrovers and coming from behind to defeat the pittsburgh panthers 24-17 to win there first acc game of the year.  Tied at 7 mid second the terrapines fumble on two straight poessissions giving the panthers a 17-7 halftime lead.  Marylands defense dominated the second half while the offense stopped turning the ball over.  The terrapines finally took the lead back on a 3 yard td run from hb Thompson with 5:43 left in the game.  The defense continued to dominate by picking off passes on the panthers last two poessissions and adding a field goal to hang on and win 24-17.  Maryland improved to 4-3 and 1-3 in the acc and have an off week before hosting a top five Clemson tigers team in two weeks. 

Strong Defense Leads the Nittany Lions into the National Championship Game

Well well well, there they were - the two powerhouses of the Big 10 standing on a neutral field ready to do battle for the right to go to the National Championship Game.  Coach Cortney Wiggins lead a tough Iowa team lead by Heisman-leading RB Greg Garmon into the trenches against a ridiculously talented front 7 of Penn State (exaggerating).  The two squads traded big blows throughout the first half, with Garmon ripping off touchdown runs of 58 and 38 yards.  Unfortunately Garmon, the one guy the Hawkeyes couldn't afford to go down dislocated his elbow in the 2nd qtr and was done for the season - a crushing blow.  The Lions roared back every time with touchdowns to match, knotting the score @ 21-21 into halftime.  Coach Cudy must've lit a serious fire under his defense's ass because they came out like a completely different ballclub in the second half holding Iowa SCORELESS after the second quarter.  PSU scored 13 points in the 2nd half and that was the margin of victory as the Lions go into the National Championship Game battle tested and ready to take what is rightfully theirs.