It was another disappointing week for this league as the contenders all got blown out. That is, of course, excepting UAB who played really well and looked to shake off whatever ailed them against Alabama State in the first game of the year.
Some superlatives:
Highest Scoring Team of the Week: Charlotte 41 vs App State (56)
Lowest Scoring Team of the Week: UTEP 3 vs TTU (38)
Best Scoring Defense of the Week: LaTech 14 vs Grambling / Marshall 14 vs Boise St
Worst Scoring Defense of the Week: UTSA 63 vs Baylor
Most Total Yards: MTSU 604 vs TSU
Lowest Total Yards: Marshall 172 vs Boise St.
Least Yards Allowed: UAB 384 vs Akron
Most Yards Allowed: FAU 572 to UCF in an incomplete game
Most Rush Yards: Tre Siggers, UNT, 164 on 18 carries 1 TD
Most Pass Yards: Asher O’Hara 367 on 15/24 4 TDs 1 INT
Most Receiving Yards: Micaleous Elder, Charlotte, 119 yards on 7 catches
CR’s OPOTW: Asher O’Hara 470 total Yards 4 TDs 1 INT
CR’s DPOTW: Tavante Beckett/Brandon Drayton each with 13 tackles against Boise St.
CR’s STPOTW: Nick Vogel, 3 FGs vs Akron
Let us rank these teams. Power is an ancient formula that is akin to the “juice”, the “quan”, the “it” factor and other things meaning that a team is on everyone’s minds and also likely to beat the teams below them in the ranking.
1. UAB 2-0, 0-0
Last week this team was fourth but they are 2-0 and looked really good vs Akron. If TJ III can toss the ball to Parham and Watkins while Spencer Brown finds his legs this thing could be trouble for the weak division/conference.
Last week: 4th
2. Marshall 1-1, 0-0
Sure the offense did not look any kind of good but there will not be another team that good on the league schedule. UAB is probably more complete but this Marshall defense is legit.
Last week: 2nd
3. Charlotte 1-1, 0-0
Hey the highest scoring team in the league is in North Carolina, folks. Will Healy has this team putting up big numbers and if there weren’t some bad luck defensively and in special teams, this might have been an upset. So what if this defense does not look too formidable? What other team in this league is that good?
Last week: 6th
4. North Texas 1-1, 0-0
We can forgive the offense for not showing up for a quarter and even forgive the defense for allowing big plays because they are young. You only get one of these before we start to criticize heavily. Mason Fine has been so good for so long but no one is perfect. He had a bad game, throwing only for 152. Too much talent and too many offensive minds calling the shots for this to happen again.
Last week: 1st
5. Southern Miss 1-1, 0-0
Yes, this team looked poor against MSST, but there were some moments where the looked formidable. Those turnovers from Jack Abraham concern us, because he is a turnover machine and that does not fly in this league or in college football in 2019. The defense looked interesting and that might be good enough to challenge in this division.
Last week: 5th
6. Louisiana Tech 1-1, 0-0
On the one hand, a win is a win. On the other, you want these non-conference games across divisions to be blowouts for the home fans. This was not that and after a few up-and-down season Tech fans are not seeing the brighter side of these games.
Last week: 7th
7. Middle Tennessee 1-1, 0-0
Asher O’Hara shined bright and even though this win was a little tougher than it should have been we can credit Middle for performing well vs Michigan and then putting on an offensive show against TSU.
Last week: 8th
8. UTSA 1-1, 0-0
That loss to Baylor should maybe drop them further but they did win in a great way vs UIW. We will have to see if Baylor is just that much better or if the Runners got away with some fortunate QB magic against the Cardinals in week one. Frank Wilson was apologizing and that is not something we want to see.
Last week: 3rd
9. WKU 1-1, 1-0
For all the bad that comes with the loss, they did pull out a win vs FIU. There is something to be said for that kind of stuff and a conference win can be sold to the fans, the donors, and whoever else much better than a win over an FCS squad.
10. Rice 0-2, 0-0
Two weeks and two solid performances. Like ODU below, fans will eventually want to get wins and not have to decipher how much a loss was actually a good thing. The Owls have a good foundation but it is not solid just yet, and there is not much in the way of depth.
Last week: 12th
11. ODU 1-1, 0-0
That was a good bounce-back game against a talented opponent. The Monarchs have a ton of transfers and are finding their identity. Stone Smartt nearly led a comeback before the Hokies had a big kick return that set them up to seal it. That is not a bad way to lose, but eventually ODU fans are going to want a game they do not have to interpret.
Last week: 13th
12. FAU 0-2, 0-0
Losing to two very good teams is not shameful. Losing in the manner they did is. The defense was sliced up by UCF who did not look close to breaking a sweat. Lane Kiffin is apologizing after week two. That is not good. Robison said there is nothing to be gained from that loss.
Last week: 10th
13. UTEP 1-1, 0-0
They did not look much better against a good opponent, which reminds us all of how poor they played against the bad opponent the week before. Locksley played and well, that did not help.
Last week: 9th
14. FIU 0-2, 0-1
Remember when this was their year? Morgan was injured for a while, returned, but FIU still lost to a poor WKU team. Things are looking poor.
Last week: 11th
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