No one expected Pittsburgh to walk into UCF and pull off the upset, but Panthers fans hoped the game would be competitive. Instead, they saw their team get blown out again in what’s becoming a disturbing trend for this team.
Pittsburgh only had a chance to win this game if they could dominate the game on the ground. Instead, they were dominated when they tried to run the football. 33 carries for 109 yards will get the Panthers beaten on a weekly basis.
Paul Johnson needed a win in the worst way and he got a convincing one on Saturday. Beating Bowling Green won’t get him off the hot seat, but it should cool things down in Atlanta for a week.
The triple option gave the Falcons absolute fits. In the end, Georgia Tech rolled up 372 yards on the ground. Add in 160 yards from TaQuon Marshall through the air and it’s easy to see how this one got out of hand. We didn’t learn much about the Yellow Jackets on Saturday, but they got the blowout win they needed.
Wake Forest fired their defensive coordinator after getting lit up by Notre Dame last week, but we didn’t learn too much about the Demon Deacons’ new scheme against the Owls. The Deacons led this game 42-3 at the half and were never forced to show much defensive creativity.
Once again, Greg Dortch was the star in this one. He had 11 catches for 163 yards and four touchdowns in approximately one half of football. If you haven’t seen him play, make it a point to tune in. He’s got a lot of Desean Jackson to his game.
It may seem harsh to drop Florida two spots after a road win, but they should have lost this game. If not for Bobby Petrino’s coaching mistakes, the Seminoles would have returned to Tallahassee with an ugly loss.
Deondre Francois deserves a lot of credit for hanging in there and powering this offense to a victory. The run game didn’t show up against Louisville, but he carved the Cardinals’ secondary up for 294 yards and four touchdowns. He’s clearly this team’s best quarterback and it’s nice to see him start to play like it.