The 38-24 loss to the Buffs in Boulder cost the Cougs one spot in the rankings ahead of the Apple Cup against the Huskies.

After two small gains in the first weeks of the College Football Playoff rankings, the Washington St. Cougars’ first loss in more than two months has dropped them a spot to No. 23. The 38-24 loss in Boulder is what the CFP considers a “good loss”, considering the Colorado Buffaloes ranking at No. 9 this week which helped keep the Cougs in the top-25.

Ahead of their annual rivalry meet up, the Washington Huskies jumped one spot to No. 5, thanks in large part to the Louisville Cardinals’ blow out loss against the Houston Cougars 36-10, dropping them to No. 11.

The USC Trojans made easy work of their rival UCLA Bruins last weekend as Clay Helton’s squad continues their late season surge, now up to No. 12. The Stanford Cardinal moved nowhere in the rankings following their retention of The Axe in Berkeley last weekend, staying at No. 24.

The Utah Utes, meanwhile, plummeted following an embarrassing 30-28 loss at home to the struggling Oregon Ducks, down from No. 12 all the way to No. 22. That loss combined with Colorado’s win means the Utes can only play spoiler to the Buffs this weekend and vault the Trojans in the Pac-12 Championship.

Here’s the rest of the top-6: 1. Alabama Crimson Tide 2. Ohio State Buckeyes 3. Michigan Wolverines 4. Clemson Tigers 5. Washington Huskies 6. Wisconsin Badgers.

What do you think of this week’s rankings?

The Bucks are in good shape.

Ohio State had a tough time with Michigan State on Saturday, coming away with a 17-16 victory in less than ideal conditions in East Lansing.

After that result, the Buckeyes come in at No. 2 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings as we come down the stretch. They remain behind Nick Saban’s Alabama Crimson Tide, just as the rest of the country has all season.

The Buckeyes will have one final test in the regular season against the Michigan Wolverines. A win there would help the Buckeyes in fulfilling their College Football Playoff hopes moving forward, whether that turns into a Big Ten Championship game appearance or not.

Navy and Houston were newcomers to the rankings at No. 25 and No. 20 respectively. The Big Ten was represented well in the top 10 with Michigan at No. 3, Wisconsin at No. 6, and Penn State at No. 7 to go along with the Bucks at No. 2.

Here are your entire College Football Playoff rankings:

Watch: Clay Helton’s Q and A following the Washington Game and ahead of their game with UCLA

Helton was impressed with the Trojans’ performance in all three phases against Washington. In particular Coach Helton liked the mental toughness the team had on Saturday. Their ability to drown out the media hype, the crowd noise, and the quality of their opponent and focus on doing their job was exceptional according to Helton.

Helton said the key to continuing their success is to keep doing what they are doing, to continue their same level of preparation and to continue focusing on the next game. That was how they rebounded from a rocky start to go on a 6-game winning streak. As the Trojans continue to climb the rankings and the national spotlight shifts toward them it may become more difficult to focus but the mental toughness the team showed against Washington is a positive sign.

UCLA has not had the season they were hoping for but certainly pulling off a the upset over bitter rival and double-digit favorite USC would be huge for them. When sizing up the Bruins Clay Helton said their defense stands out the most. Helton credited the UCLA defense as one of the best defenses in the Pac-12. He also shared praise for the Mike Fafaul for stepping up at quarterback and handling himself well after Josh Rosen’s injury.

You can watch the full interview below:

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Eagles are 5th among FBS teams

Another year, another strong academic showing for Boston College’s student athletes.

Boston College athletics posted a 95 in the most recent release of the NCAA’s Graduation Success Rate, good for 5th among FBS schools. The only schools ahead of BC were Notre Dame, Stanford, Northwestern, and Duke — the usual suspects.

Also impressive was the GSR for the football team, which clocked in at a 90, good for 9th best in the country.

According to BCEagles.com, Boston College has posted at least a 95 GSR across all sports every year since the GSR has been published, dating back to the 1998 matriculating class.

With some of the problems BC athletics is facing, it’s good to see that the Eagles still have their identity as a strong academic school in the top athletic conferences. Say what you will about the results on the field lately, but the strong academic tradition is a point of pride for the program and a big advantage in recruiting.

Congratulations to all of the BC teams for their strong showing! It’s definitely something to be proud of.

When you’re tailgating in your backyard and counting down the days until the Cardinals play football again.

Spread check (football): Louisville by 14.

A reminder that the College Football Playoff Rankings show won’t be on at its usual time of 7 p.m. Instead, the rankings will be revealed on ESPN between the Kentucky/Michigan State and Duke/Kansas games. Should be around 9:10 p.m. or so.

I think the Cards check in at No. 5, but let’s try not to get too high or too low regardless of what happens. Unless we’re worse than five. If we’re worse than five then we riot.

But seriously, there’s a guaranteed loss ahead of us and several scenarios at play that weren’t available a week ago. We’re in the great game now, and the great game is terrifying.

Ray love the kids.

.@KKcards After last night’s win, Ray went today to read to an awesome groups of kids from Norton Elementary! #CardsCARE .@GoCards pic.twitter.com/gueGJlF1Od

— Louisville LCARE (@LouisvilleLCARE) November 15, 2016

Campus Insiders’ weekly rankings of the best coaches in college football has Bobby Petrino up a spot to No. 3.

I went on a Houston podcast to talk about Thursday night’s game. You can listen to it here.

We already know we have better singers. Thursday it’s time to prove that we have better football players.

Seriously though, Louisville has the third-best amateur choir in the whole f—ing world. That’s pretty awesome.

Suck it, Houston.

NCAA Tournament soccer is coming to Lynn Stadium this weekend. Here are your details.

No more gear needed, this outfit nailed it.

@CardChronicle how do I get this cutie featured on your site? (If you need more Cards gear we got it) pic.twitter.com/JLFnFYrlyr

— drm (@drose_martin) November 12, 2016

The ACC Digital Network presents (video) Lamar Jackson’s eight most impressive rushing touchdowns of the season so far.

Ballin’.

The Louisville Cardinals, a flight above the rest. #L1C4 pic.twitter.com/XGSdysyfRk

— Louisville Athletics (@GoCards) November 15, 2016

U of L hoops signee Malik Williams is one of the 50 players on the preseason watch list for the Naismith High School Player of the Year award.

People continue to believe that Louisville has the best chance of any team in college football to take down Alabama.

1. Louisville: Whenever you have a quarterback of Lamar Jackson‘s caliber, you have a puncher’s chance. His 46 total touchdowns speak for themselves. His speed and quickness would give Alabama’s front seven fits, and his ability to move the ball downfield through the air would put added stress on a secondary that’s somewhat susceptible to the deep ball. Think of Jackson as Cam Newtonand Louisville as the 2010 Auburn Tigers. Newton got the credit, but Michael Dyer was a productive running back, and while that defense wasn’t incredibly talented, it was opportunistic. With Louisville, there’s no looking past Brandon Radcliff, who is averaging 7.2 yards per carry, and there’s no discounting a defense that ranks in the top 25 in sacks and has forced 22 turnovers, which is four more than Alabama.

Let’s stop speculating and put all the theories to the test. Pretty simple.

U of L football fanatic Rick Pitino used part of his postgame press conference last night to ether the announcing from the Wake Forest game Saturday night.

Pitino’s advice for sports commentators,,,,https://t.co/ysCTqHD3UM pic.twitter.com/O2OFLS70f2

— cn|2 Sports (@cn2_Sports) November 15, 2016

Awesome.

Louisville fans in the New York area might think seriously about attending the Heisman Award Dinner and Gala on Dec. 12. I’m guessing the Cardinals will be discussed more than in years past. Here’s how you can get tickets.

A former Northwestern basketball player is suing the school and alleging some pretty shady ish.

“Shady, dirty, and underhanded” Behavior

The suit states that NU staff berated the nationally recruited basketball player and put Johnnie in an “internship” under which he worked as a janitor instead of permitting him to train and play with his teammates. The school also pressured him to sign a blank “Roster Deletion” form by which he would be “voluntarily withdrawing” from the team, the suit states, even though Johnnie did not want to leave Northwestern.

The complaint also alleges that unknown individuals within Northwestern falsified timecards in an attempt to create misconduct as grounds for taking away Johnnie’s athletic scholarship (going so far as to even misspell his name on one such timecard), and even asked about his willingness to accept a cash payment to “go away,” among other things.

Amid Northwestern’s tactics, Johnnie reached out to multiple Division I basketball programs and received uniform responses: they would bring Johnnie onto their program if he could play right away, according to the lawsuit. Because Johnnie could not play right away due to the anticompetitive rules, the schools would not accept him.

“This case is a prime example of the catch-22 that student-athletes are forced into,” Berman said. “And while NCAA-member universities play fast and loose with the readily available athletic talent they recruit, there are real futures on the line, and real student-athletes are suffering because of these systemic, overbearing regulations that take away their options.”

The suit states that Johnnie no longer has an athletic scholarship and no longer plays Division I basketball. Instead of pursuing his dream of playing professional basketball after graduation, he is forced to train on his own in an effort to keep up his skills honed through years of competitive basketball.

Graduation success rate for Louisville student-athletes has risen 17 percent in the last 12 years, which is good. In case you were wondering.

Barry Hinson is an American treasure.

Southern Illinois basketball coach Barry Hinson GOES OFF on Razorback fans: “Get your butts back in this gym” #WPS #ARNews pic.twitter.com/FCNIP2GKfm

— Austin Kellerman (@AustinKellerman) November 15, 2016

V.J. King knows he’s going to make a lot of mistakes early on in his Cardinal career, which is why he’s leaning on the team’s veterans for help. It’s working so far.

Another thing that needs to be factored into the CFP formula, in my opinion.

Yardage Differential (per game)

+298 Louisville
+238 Ohio St
+232 Alabama
+220 Michigan
+175 Clemson
+140 Washington
+87 Wisconsin
+41 PSU

— Pick Six Previews (@PickSixPreviews) November 15, 2016

Louisville is No. 5 in the college football power rankings from Uproxx.

Bill Connelly’s The Numerical is always worth your time.

Old Dominion, the team Louisville will face in its first Battle 4 Atlantis game, won at Richmond last night for the first time in 19 years.

It’s all happening.

@CardChronicle pic.twitter.com/iKgMsFoBPO

— Blake Kistner (@YoloBrolo13) November 15, 2016

Is being a conference champion unofficially a pre-requisite for making the College Football Playoff? This year will tell us yes or no.

Houston QB Greg Ward Jr. is pretty banged up, but should be good to go for Thursday night’s game.

A viewing option for those of you watching the game in Louisville:

This Thursday Night come out to Somewhere Restaurant & Bar & support the PFF & watch both CARDS Game! 15% of Sales go to the PFF 3pm-12am RT pic.twitter.com/TvIXHC8yT6

— Petrino Family Fnd. (@PetrinoFamFnd) November 14, 2016

Jaylen Johnson is taking pride in his rebounding as a junior, and it’s showing.

The only race still undecided when it comes to the Heisman Trophy is the race for second.

Tom Fornelli of CBS makes the case for Louisville being No. 2 in the new CFP rankings.

2. Louisville 9-1 (4): My formula loves Louisville. It may consider Alabama the best team in the country, but it wants to have Louisville’s babies. All season long, my formula has had Louisville ranked higher than in any other polls, and even after the loss to Clemson, the Cardinals fell from No. 2 in these rankings to No. 5 … a full 10 spots ahead of the Clemson team it had just lost to.

And now the Cardinals have climbed back up to No. 2, though it had nothing to do with Clemson’s loss, it just took advantage of the Michigan and Washington losses. Truth be told, Clemson’s loss actually hurt Louisville a bit just because it hurt a strength of schedule that was already weak.

Which brings me to the point I wanted to make about Louisville.

While my formula loves it, the College Football Playoff committee doesn’t.

Now, it’s entirely possible that when the new CFP rankings come out on Tuesday night, Louisville will be in the top four, but I don’t think that’ll be the case. I believe that loss to Clemson will keep the Tigers ahead of the Cardinals, and the truth is, I have a hard time arguing it should be the other way around.

I just have to believe that the only way Louisville reaches the playoff is if Clemson loses to Wake Forest this weekend, because it has no shot of getting in unless it wins the ACC. This is a Louisville team with a 43-point win over Florida State, and the most exciting player on the planet in Lamar Jackson, but it won’t have the resume it needs to get past not being the ACC champion.

Beating Houston this week would help matters a bit, but Houston’s stock has taken a hit in recent weeks as well, and right now Louisville’s second best win is probably Duke. That’s simply not enough to get the job done.

In other words, Wake Forest is going to have more fans than it’s ever had before this weekend.

State of the U (Miami) has Louisville at No. 1 in its new ACC power rankings.

CBS’ Jerry Palm predicts that U of L will be No. 5 in tonight’s rankings.

And finally, R&R is live from the Troll Pub today from 3-6 talking about last night’s win over Bill and Mary as well as the new CFP rankings. Listen here.

Assuming MSU doesn’t shock the world, the young back should be fun to watch on Saturday.

After showing impressive potential against Bowling Green and Rutgers early in the season, freshman running back Demario McCall was left on the sideline as the going got tough for the Buckeyes during the four-game stretch in October. However, with Ohio State’s back-to-back 62-3 victories over Nebraska and Maryland, the North Ridgeville grad has again struck the fancy of the Buckeye faithful. With H-back Curtis Samuel on pace to have a record-setting season, many have already penciled him into the 2017 NFL Draft. If that’s the case, McCall just might be the next explosive playmaker for OSU.

While recent memory is more than enough to remind Buckeye fans of Michigan State’s ability to spoil the Scarlet and Grey’s postseason hopes, S&P+ rankings forecast a comfortable 30-point victory for Ohio State. While fans shouldn’t count their victories before their hatched, if that is in fact what happens, this could be an opportunity to see what McCall is able to do against a tough-nosed defense that head coach Urban Meyer says on film still looks as tough as ever.

With their season almost certainly over after their game against Penn State a week from Saturday, there should be no underestimating the motivation of a proud team looking to play spoiler after figuring out how to win, beating Rutgers 49-0 last weekend. So, just keep in mind that whether is was 1998 or 2015, the Spartans have a knack for upending the Buckeyes’ postseason plans.

So, for the curiosity and entertainment value of seeing how the young back does against the Spartans, McCall is the offensive player to watching against Michigan State this weekend.

The stats

Name: Demario McCall
Number: 30
Position: Running Back
Year: Freshman
Height: 5’9
Weight: 182 lbs.
Rushing: 273 yards, 3 TDs
Receiving: 84 yards, 1 TD

In his limited playing time this season, most long after the game has been decided, McCall has proven that he has the speed and elusiveness to be a difference-maker at the collegiate level.

Coming out of high school, he is a little undersized for the pounding of a full Big Ten schedule, but strength coach Mickey Marotti will certainly work to improve that, and as a recruit, McCall was clocked in the 40-yard dash at 4.54 seconds. Needless to say, this back has the makings of a special player.

As evidenced in the above highlight, he has both the speed to run away from defenders, the fast-twitch muscles to move laterally, and the vision and decision-making to find holes.

Opposition research

Mike Granse-USA TODAY Sports

There is no doubt that since former OSU defensive coordinator Mark Dantonio took over as the head coach in East Lansing in 2007, the Michigan State Spartans have been one of college football’s best defensive units, finishing in the Top-10 nationally in Total Defense in four of the last five years. However, this season has not been nearly as positive, having given up 30 points or more in five games, the most since 2009.

The decline in productivity is especially startling when comparing the 2015 team to this year’s. Last year, MSU ranked 12^th in Defensive Passing S&P+ and 15^th in Rushing. Through 10 games in 2016, they currently rank 105^th and 63^rd.

On both sides of the ball, Dantonio has been forced to rely on unproven players more than he has with his traditionally veteran-laden teams of the past, and that has led to an uncharacteristically high number of penalties; 67 flags accounting for 641 yards in 10 games, which ranks as 106^th in the country out of 128 teams. While the inexperienced squad has caused both penalty and productivity issues for the Spartans this season, it could set them up nicely to rebound next year.

This season, junior linebacker Chris Fry leads the team in tackles with 57, and senior LB Riley Bullough, who missed time with injury earlier this season, has turned in double-digit tackles in three of the five Big Ten games that he’s played in, Northwestern (12), Michigan (14), and Illinois (11). With the Spartans all but eliminated from bowl consideration, certainly the All-Big Ten performer would like to make his mark in one of his last high-profile games.

What to watch for

If this Saturday’s game is anything like the last two (which there is no guarantee that it will be), McCall should start seeing playing time at some point late in the second quarter or early in the third. After the Nebraska game, Meyer said that in addition to a lack of physical strength and experience, the one thing keeping the freshman from the field more often is a lack of ball security in practice.

However, the coach noted that he is already seeing improvements on that front. “He’s a very want-to guy,” Meyer said. “He’s not defiant. So he will play. He’s earning the right to play around here.”

On the first offensive play after halftime against Maryland, McCall took a swing pass from quarterback J.T. Barrett, and turned it into a 32-yard gain. While he was racing past defenders on the sideline, it is noticeable that he was keeping the ball high and tight, but in his exposed right arm. While the technique was sound, switching the ball to his outside arm might have prevented a turnover had the tackle knocked the ball loose. Correcting small things like this could get McCall more touches in the season’s home-stretch.

If McCall continues to work on taking care of the ball, there’s no doubt that he has the potential to contribute to future Buckeye squads, but also to this one as a possible playoff berth unfolds. With senior Dontre Wilson leaving the Maryland game due to injury, and still struggling to figure out how to be most productive, McCall’s speed and escapability could prove to be valuable against teams who haven’t yet considered him one of the team’s major weapons.

Ohio State will take on the Michigan State Spartans this Saturday at 12 p.m. from East Lansing. The game will air on ESPN, and Land-Grant Holy Land will have all of your coverage before, during, and after the game.

A running back to keep an eye on for this 2017 class

There’s not a lot of good depth on the Arizona Wildcats’ roster at the moment, which undoubtedly includes the running back position. Nick Wilson is likely out for the season, Orlando Bradford was dismissed, and J.J. Taylor suffered a broken ankle in the first Pac-12 game of the season.

That forced Rich Rodriguez to move Samajie Grant to the backfield and left Zach Green as the lone scholarship running back available. The staff would like to have five scholarship running backs, which means that Arizona is in the market for one more, as Nathan Tilford is already committed for the 2017 class.

There aren’t too many available running backs that Arizona is targeting, and there are a few who are off the board. 3-star running backs Drake Beasley and Chris Brooks tell me that they have not talked to the staff in quite some time.

But there is one running back who the staff has on hold, 5-foot-9, 190 pound Miles Reed out of Centennial (Corona, CA).

Arizona snatched Taylor out of Centennial last recruiting cycle, and he lived up to the playmaking hype during the time in which he was available. Now, his former teammate is a guy that is on Arizona’s radar.

Reed currently holds offers to Montana, Hawaii, and just picked up Washington State in October. He is also receiving attention from Arizona State, Nebraska, Oregon, and USC. He was also recently named a Blue-Grey All-American.

The coaching staff hosted quite a few satellite camps this summer, one of which was at Centennial High School, where Reed first came into contact with the staff.

“My first communication came over summer when they hosted a camp at Centennial. I met with Coach (Miguel) Reveles and kind of stayed in touch here and there,” Reed said about the camp. “Me and Coach Reveles are cool.”

Reed has been to campus before on an unofficial visit, and tells me that the Arizona offer is one that he is really looking for.

“I took an unofficial there and I loved the facilities,” he explained. “The coaches were great, the fan atmosphere is like no other, and I could see myself in a program like Arizona’s.”

The Centennial running back still communicates with his predecessor, who has also been helping with his recruitment.

“We talk fairly frequently,” Reed said about his relationship with Taylor. “I know he’s also been trying to help out my recruitment so we talk a lot about U of A. Positive things. Usually about his recovery, how my seasons going or about school and how he is liking it.”

Taking over the running back duties, Reed took on 206 carries for 1,626 yards and 27 touchdowns. He averaged 7.9 yards a carry, with over 162 yards per game.

He is currently unranked by all recruiting services, but with these numbers at the No. 7 ranked high school in the nation, you shouldn’t need rankings to evaluate him.

You can watch his senior year highlights below.

It will be interesting to see who Arizona truly targets at the running back spot. There aren’t too many options that I am aware of, with O’Maury Samuels, a Michigan commit, being one the main targets. You can also expect Arizona to look for some running backs after the season, making a big push before National Signing Day.

For now, it seems as if Reed is an option they are looking into, and feel as if he is a guy that would commit immediately if he received the offer, which I think would be the case.

The Oculus has fallen for the first time.

I was going to write a post that was doom and gloom, scorch the earth kind of post. Then Washington lost and Michigan inexplicably bit the dust. That made me feel better. I’m trying to have perspective and remind myself that it has been an amazing ride—and Clemson is still in prime position to make the playoff, if not controlling their own destiny.

I’ll begin and end with this reminder—Beat Wake (not one team went undefeated last year, even Bama lost once last year).

But make no mistake, this was a tough game to watch. We played horribly against NC State and deserved to lose that game because of turnovers, but this is the first game where the defense got beat. This is the first time this season that the defense got out-schemed and the first time in a long time where we got beat up front on both sides of the ball for a lot of the game. How can a team with this much talent lose to Pitt (and really should have lost to NC State)?

POSITIVES

If the committee sticks to its criteria, Clemson is still in the playoff. We have a head-to-head victory against Louisville and we will ultimately have a conference championship over them if we win out. Michigan and Ohio State still have to play each other and Washington has an awful OOC schedule (the committee already penalized the Huskies for in Week 2 of the rankings). I think UW will drop another game, probably the Apple Cup to Washington State. AP and Coaches poll voters are not making reasoned logical decisions when they rank Louisville ahead of Clemson. Louisville’s coastal foes have been UVA and Duke—both have losing records. GT and Pitt have winning records. Marshall and Charlotte have losing records. How is this even a discussion? Beat Houston and Kentucky and then maybe you have some semblance of an argument—not now.

Win out and we should be in per the committee protocol of valuing head to head and conference championships. Clemson also has 4 AP top 25 victories, more than any undefeated or one loss team. Things get weird if Penn State gets in the mix or the ridiculous Oklahoma love reaches a fever pitch. Still, Pitt beat Penn State and Oklahoma doesn’t have a championship game.

The real question is whether or not Clemson can beat Wake, USCjr, and VT.

Let’s try to remember this down the road. Clemson can be beaten by any team, any week. I backed off of saying anything because I thought the blowout against Syracuse proved that we were going to out talent everyone on the remaining schedule. Looking at the game now, I think we had a superior defensive wrinkle and benefited from the injury to their starting QB. This team has significant flaws.

When in doubt, just throw it up to Mike Williams already. If you are going to throw it in the endzone, put it up in back corner to MW.

Sorry, those are all my positives.

NEGATIVES

Oline

Lack of an interior run game. Lack of a run game.

I thought we went away from the run game a bit too much and should have tried to loosen up the interior with some more runs to the perimeter—quick pitches, jet sweeps, etc. You just can’t throw 70 times. Obviously, the DW injury hampered the run game, which really hurts our offense because our Oline can’t block anyone in the A gap without the zone read threat. But the reality is when we needed a yard, a single yard up the middle—we couldn’t find it. We haven’t found it all year and it ain’t the RB.

What is the problem? One problem is a predictable scheme and play calling. We need to pay someone a lot of money to help ScElliott with breaking tendencies and coming up with some creative new plays and packages. Elliott seemed to revolutionize the offense when he made his splash against Oklahoma and last year the stripped down scheme worked because we had more talent and folks didn’t adjust. Well, they had all offseason to key on what Clemson was doing. We have not adjusted.

Might I suggest we steal the Canada Pitch right away and implement it against Wake. Pitt runs the same jet motion that Clemson used to run (we used to have more eye candy and motions and shifts like Pitt used against us but we totally stripped that away).

The next problem is the interior line players. We had some hiccups in the game with two freshman tackles starting (can we please have a recruiting class of more than 15-16 players!! Can we not get it up to at least 18??), but the problem was once again the interior of the line getting no push. On the most important play of the game, fourth and 1, who falls down once again flat on the ground—allowing his man to go and make the tackle? I can remember at least 5 short yardage falls/fails. Its unacceptable. Hearn should start splitting reps with Simpson.

The Leggett blocking was bad.

Remember when our line was supposed to be one of the best in the country?? Laughable. We are 86th in the country in rushing. That is bad and then you add in all the penalties. Holding calls and hands to the face from Morris. Just a bunch of miscues.

Rest of the Offense

We threw a ton and caught a lot of balls, but we also had some easy catches that were dropped. RayRay had one on an easy third down late in the second half go right through his hands. Scott juggled a couple down the field. MW and Cain both had a drop. We were awesome on offense until the 4th quarter, don’t get me wrong, but we still shouldn’t be dropping easy balls if we are truly WRU.

How could we not score in the 4th Q after Pitt’s best secondary player Whitehead went down to a gruesome injury with 10 minutes left in the 3rd Q? Can’t get the ball kicked to the plus side of the field, the 40 and not turn it into points at the beginning of the 4th.

RayRay can’t give up field position on those punts.

How about this, on the first and goal play before the interception, Gallman is stacked up in a giant pile. Clemson could have collectively moved the pile (everyone can push the pile in college football, QBs, TEs, WRs, everyone) and Gallman falls forward to the 2 yard line, but Pitt stood us up. Pitt was stronger and more physical than our offense.

Refs

Here it is. The worst call of the season.

I’m not even going to talk about the Boulware call (a product of hypersensitivity after the suplex) or some of the other questionable PIs. The above is one of the worst calls I have seen in a really long time.

ACC crews, after the Louisville game and the Petrino whining about the refs, believe that the Clemson secondary commits a lot of pass interference. As if the book it out or something. We play too physical and don’t get the benefit of the doubt on calls. The Fields hold, the Smith PI, Tank PI, etc. all borderline calls and the players must adjust (of course this wasn’t going both ways and Clemson can point to Renfrow being held in the endzone as an equally egregious no-call). But, man, so many 3rd down calls…wow…

The above Wallace call is indefensible.

This was the same crew who called our GT game. I don’t think some of those refs should be calling games at the Div. 1 level (to be clear, it is a couple of refs on the crew and not the entire crew, and no I’m not getting into the conspiracy theories swirling—if you watch the crew multiple weeks, it’s just bad refereeing). I think the ACC should look into dismantling the crew at the very least (and I will leave it at that).

Defense

No one could stop the shovel pass. It really isn’t on the DE who is playing the QB and pitch. The Safety is in a tight spot because they have to stay disciplined on the back end but must attack immediately when the pitch happens. LBs must recognize when the Olineman kick out and not get blocked.

It is not like the TE or FB were more athletic than our guys. We just got out-schemed and our guys couldn’t adjust in-game. OC Canada, to his credit, didn’t run the play once or twice, but kept going back to the well.

We got the reason why Muse isn’t playing more, busted coverage on the second Pitt TD. If it wasn’t him it was Joseph’s responsibility.

Overall the linebackers looked horrid. If it wasn’t Ben Boulware looking completely lost in coverage, it was Boulware and Joseph getting caught in the wash or ineffectively blitzing (the TE got a bit of a push-off on the TD catch to be fair to Boulware). I think it is time to explore more Dime looks that get Boulware off the field in passing downs. Joseph lost the TE on the 4th down TD before the half (either it was him or Jadar or both).

Can we not cover a quick TE screen to the flat??

Van Smith also had a bad game. He had a ton of awful run fits and was getting confused with some of Pitt’s looks. I’m hoping that Jadar Johnson was just feeling the effects of the calf injury because he got beat in the open field a few too many times.

The defensive line was pretty good but gave up a ton of yards on the ground. You have to acknowledge that Connor is a great back, but I can see some of the younger guys hitting the wall. Albert Huggins needs to stop eating snacks if he wants to play.

Coaching

I’ve already gone after both staffs, but Dabo has rightly accepted a lot of the blame. I don’t understand the third down and fourth down calls or the play design though. On the third and one play, you have Leggett and Milan Richard as your primary blockers in the hole. Leggett misses his block and Richard gets pushed back a yard. The only person sustaining a block is Garrett Williams on the outside. Then on fourth down you get a toss stretch play where Wilkins gets to block the smallest guy on the field and everyone else can’t even lock on a man. Leggett gives bad effort, Hearn falls, Williams is on the other side of the play and can’t do anything. If you go jumbo, put them in the phone booth. How about we slip Leggett out down the field on that play? All 11 men on defense were at the line of scrimmage. How about a bootleg there for a one yard QB run? How about we use the jumbo on third down and punt it on fourth?

Just a frustrating outcome for a team busting at the seams with talent.

But, hey, according to GA folks we lead for White and TL. Its not all bad.

Yeah. Time to move on. Beat Wake (remember, not one team went undefeated last year, even Bama lost once last year).

#BeatPennState

It is senior week here in Piscataway as Rutgers prepares for their final home battle of the season. Coming to town for this one is Penn State. Everybody hates Penn State. Rutgers is 0-2 against Penn State, although should be 1-1. Christian Hackenberg still should not have won that game.

Coach Chris Ash spoke to the media today about Penn State, but really talked about his seniors. Coach and the players want this game for the seniors. This is their last home game, and, for some, the last game of their careers.

Coach started off his press conference by saying this week’s motivational speaker compared this team and program to a Bamboo Tree. Basically, the analogy was that you can take care and water a Chinese Bamboo Tree everyday for years and the roots will thicken and grow stronger but the tree looks the same. After five years, the tree itself will start to grow. This is not Ash saying it will take five years to build this program, he is just preaching patience.

Coach Ash knows of the ‘rivalry’ Rutgers and Penn State have as well as the fact that a lot of the players on these teams know each other and have played against each other in the past. Ash brushes it off as every game is a big game no matter who the opponent. I do not buy that because he was a part of Ohio State and Michigan the past two years and those are not just ‘normal’ games.

Ash straight up tells the media that this game on Saturday is for the seniors. They are preparing for the seniors and they want to win for the seniors. Playing spoiler for Penn State’s Big Ten championship aspirations is not as significant or as important to him as playing and winning this game for his seniors.

One of his more influential seniors, Darius Hamilton, is someone who deserves a lot of credit. Ash says that without Hamilton, a lot of what he has done and tried to do this season would not have happened. Hamilton may not be the most vocal of athletes, but, when he does speak up, everybody listens. Having Hamilton’s support throughout the year has been imperative and highly appreciated by Ash.

Ash got asked a question about the attendance in the stadium but he brushed it off as something he cannot control. He did make it a point to kind of ask everyone to come out to this game for the seniors. It is a natural ‘rivalry’ and it is senior night. Ash is hoping for the Banks to be rocking Saturday night to help support this team en route to a Nittany Lion beat down.

Speaking of seniors, Janarion Grant got brought up. Grant’s rehab is going great and a decision as to whether or not he will be announced with the seniors on Saturday is still unclear. Whether he is announced or not has no influence as to whether or not he will be going to the NFL or not. That decision will not be made until December Ash says. Either way, Grant has been around and is in good spirits with rehabilitation going well, which is all good news.

If Rutgers can pull off this monstrous upset of Penn State, their year will feel complete. They came so close their first year in Piscataway, and not so close last year. The third time is the charm, right?

#BeatPennState

For just the second time this season, a Sun Devil football game is scheduled for an afternoon kickoff.

The Arizona State Sun Devils may be focused on their Thursday game against Utah this week, but some news regarding their game in 12 days was announced Monday morning.

The team’s trip to Husky Stadium – scheduled for November 19 against the Washington Huskies – will kickoff at 5:30 p.m. MST (4:30 p.m. in Seattle) and be broadcast nationally by FOX.

The last game of the regular season – a November 25 trip to Tucson for the Territorial Cup – has already been scheduled. That game will start at 7:30.

Arizona State currently sits at 5-4 with just three games remaining on the year.