College Football Week 11: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly (Live updates)

[caption id="attachment_27208" align="alignright" width="350"]Photo by Doug Holleman Photo by Doug Holleman[/caption] A huge slate of games for Lone Star state teams will keep us all busy from Saturday morning to evening, and it starts with some heavy hitters right out of the gate. Florida Atlantic 35, UTEP 31 The Good: UTEP running back tied the school-record for 200-yard rushing games in this heart-breaking loss. He accounted for 229 of the 237 total rushing yards and 38 of the 118 receiving yards. Jones is the UTEP offense and he did all he could to keep the Miners in this game. He scored two touchdowns on the ground and caught four of the team’s 13 receptions. Quarterback Ryan Metz passed for two touchdowns and receiver Cole Freytag caught a team-high five catches for 53 yards. The Bad: UTEP was one stop away from victory. FAU took over inside its own territory with less than a minute left on the clock and needing a touchdown to win. The Owls marched down the field, picking up chunks of yardage with relative ease. The decision to play soft coverage cost UTEP. The Miners couldn’t get pressure all game, recording one sack as a team, and FAU quarterback Jason Driskel capitalized with his only touchdown pass of the game with 25 seconds left. He went 20-of-25 for 233 yards and a touchdown, adding 79 yards on the ground. UTEP’s defense couldn’t handle FAU’s rushing attack. The Owls picked up 6.8 yards per rush. —Mike Craven, DCTF senior writerOklahoma State 45, Texas Tech 44The Good: After going three-and-out on its first three possessions, Tech’s offense got rolling and reeled off touchdowns on four straight possessions going into the half, thanks in large part to Patrick Mahomes and a surprisingly strong rushing attack despite Da’Leon Ward not making the trip to Stillwater. The Red Raiders ended up rushing for 142 — a number that could’ve been better had DeMarcus Felton not left the game with an ankle injury in the third quarter. The obvious recipe to beat Tech is to out-TOP them and outrush them, and through the first half, Tech flipped the script. Kliff Kingsbury deserves credit for a few great trick plays, including a fake punt on fourth-and-10 from his own 20 in a tie game and a perfectly timed onside kick down one score in the fourth quarter. The Bad: Felton’s injury in the third quarter didn’t look good, and that’s bad news for the Red Raiders. You know what else is bad news for Tech? Any game with James Washington on its schedule. The West Texas native and Cowboys receiver continued his career-long assault on the Red Raiders, who wouldn’t offer him a scholarship, with 158 yards and an 82-yard touchdown reception. After Tech recovered that fourth-quarter onside kick, fill-in running back Quinton White immediately fumbled and gave the ball right back to the Pokes. The Ugly: After Mahomes & Co. fought back to apparently tie the game with under a minute to play, Clayton Hatfield missed the ensuing extra point to leave Tech a point shy of forcing overtime. Replay showed a bad hold from Cameron Batson, but Hatfield was facing absolutely no rush, which made it even uglier to miss. Oh, and that Tech offensive line? Good lordy. If Mahomes wasn’t so great at moving around and improvising, the offense would be atrocious. It’s the worst Tech O-line in a long time. —Adam Bodedeker, DCTF contributorHouston 30, Tulane 18The Good: First-half Greg Ward looked like early-season Greg Ward, as the former Heisman candidate threw for two scores and ran for another to send the Cougars to the locker room with a commanding 28-10 lead over a Tulane team Houston should handle easily. The Cougars’ defense did a great job keeping Tulane at bay and racked up four sacks while also forcing a turnover. The Bad: The Cougars are the type of program that should put away a program like Tulane with relative ease. Instead, Houston struggled to do so in the second half and actually let Tulane almost make it a game late in the Cougars’ home stadium. Granted, Ward had to leave the game for a while with a shoulder injury before returning and basically handing the ball off until the final gun sounded, but it was an uninspiring second half for that #HTownTakeover offense. You can’t pay much attention to total yards in a game, especially if you’re going to nitpick a winning team for being outgained, but Houston was outgained by more than 50 yards. Yeah, the Cougars won, but it painted a clear picture of a tale of two halves for their offense. The Ugly: Houston couldn’t get any kind of running game going behind Ward and Duke Catalon. The former Texas back carried the ball 20 times but managed just 50 yards with one of those carries getting him 22. Do the math, that’s 19 carries for 28 yards. That’s not winning football, and it wouldn’t have been against many other teams not known as the Green Wave. —Adam Bodedeker, DCTF contributorWestern Kentucky 45, North Texas 7The Good: There’s not much to write about here with the exception of one play — on 3rd and 1 and hopelessly trailing 38-0, Andrew Tucker burst forward for a 71-yard touchdown run to provide not just 100 percent of the Mean Green’s scoring on the afternoon, but also more than 30 percent of North Texas’ total offense. That play was good! The rest of the game was, uh, not. The Bad: The Mean Green’s defense continues to be undermanned, and a loaded Western Kentucky offense gleefully exploited it today. QB Mike White torched North Texas to the tune of 316 yards and four touchdowns, helping the Hilltoppers hop out to a 31-0 halftime lead. But the more concerning issue comes with the rush defense, where Western Kentucky — led by Anthony Wales — churned out 214 yards on the ground. This is not a good WKU rushing attack, but the North Texas front seven continues to struggle to contain even mediocre running games. The Ugly: Freshman quarterback Mason Fine went down in the second quarter and never returned, and the word is that he suffered a sprained AC joint — basically, a shoulder injury. Alec Morris entered and didn’t do much, with his lone touchdown pass going the other way on a late Western Kentucky pick-six. If Mason Fine is out for any significant period of time, that would represent a crushing blow to North Texas’ narrowing bowl hopes. —Greg Tepper, DCTF managing editorIdaho 47, Texas State 14The Good: The Bobcats sure started off hot, forcing an Idaho three-and-out and following it up with an emphatic 8-play touchdown drive, capped by Stedman Mayberry’s 1-yard scoring plunge. A long touchdown pass from Tyler Jones to Thurman Morbley midway through the first quarter made it 14-7 Bobcats and seemed to imply that this would be a wild, closely fought shootout. SPOILER ALERT: It was not. The Bad: The offense completely dissipated after the first quarter, and it comes back to the running game, which was once again completely non-existant. The offensive line couldn’t get a push against an average Idaho defensive front, and the results were predictable: 28 carries, minus-18 yards. If not for Tyler Jones’ 11-yard scramble early in the game, it would’ve been even uglier. Simply put: when the Bobcats do not run the ball, they are a bad offensive football team. The Bobcats did not run the ball vs. Idaho; they were a bad offensive football team vs. Idaho. The Ugly: Woof, passing defense. Idaho’s actually not a bad passing offense — 58th in the nation — but the Bobcats made them look like the Peyton Manning-era Indianapolis Colts today in San Marcos. Matt Linehan carved them up for 336 yards, but it’s not the numbers that are most concerning, but rather the degrees. To wit: Texas State just couldn’t get the Vandals off the field on third down, as Idaho converted 6 of 13 third-down attempts. It was a defensive horror show, and it guaranteed that the Bobcats won’t just miss a bowl, but will have a losing conference record in Everett Withers’ first year at the helm. —Greg Tepper, DCTF managing editorLouisiana Tech 63, UTSA 35The Good: A win would’ve placed UTSA in the driver’s seat for a division championship. That’s the good news for UTSA. The Roadrunners weren’t expected to be playing meaningful football this late into the season. UTSA hired a new coach in the offseason after winning seven games over the previous two years. Frank Wilson arrived from LSU and in year one put UTSA into a position to play a game that matters in November. That hadn’t happened since 2013. Louisiana Tech proved too much for UTSA to handle, but the experience gained from playing in important games should have a lasting effect on the UTSA football program. Wide receiver Josh Stewart gained over 100 yards and running back Jarveon Williams ran for 95 yards and two touchdowns. The Bad: UTSA’s passing game struggled. Starting quarterback Dalton Sturm went 12-of-22 for 100 yards and zero touchdowns. By comparison, Louisiana Tech quarterback and former Hutto Hippo, Ryan Higgins, attempted just four more passes but finished with four touchdowns and 293 yards passing. The Roadrunners simply can’t find a consistent second option at receiver next to Stewart despite the position unit exploding with potential. UTSA’s second leading receiver had just 20 yards on three catches. The Ugly: UTSA allowed 63 points. It started when Louisiana Tech returned the opening kick 90 yards for a touchdown. UTSA later allowed a touchdown return after an onside kick attempt. The Bulldogs scored 35 first-half points and then tacked on 21 points in the fourth quarter when UTSA appeared to be on the verge of covering the spread. The UTSA defense allowed Louisiana Tech to rush for six yards per carry and gain 10 yards per pass. UTSA’s offense averaged 3.1 yards per rush and pass attempt. This allowed Louisiana Tech to outgain UTSA by 163 yards despite running 27 fewer plays. — Mike Craven, DCTF senior writerOklahoma 45, Baylor 24The Good: Called into significant second half action, freshman quarterback Zach Smith looked poised, comfortable and ready to be the Bears’ signal caller of the future. The former Grandview Zebra was 6-of-15 for 144 yards and a touchdown, while showing off one of the strongest arms you’ll find in college football. It was definitely the only bright spot on the day for Baylor. The Bad: The tailspin is in full force now. The Bears completely imploded in Norman, and that was apparent before Seth Russell left the game due to injury. Baker Mayfield carved up the Baylor secondary to the tune of 20 completions on 25 attempts for 300 yards and 2 touchdowns. The Sooners found ample space to run, totaling 253 yards and 4 touchdowns on the ground, with both Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine rushing for over 100 yards. The Ugly: Seth Russell suffered a gruesome leg injury that instantly horrified everyone on the field, and that was so bad that ESPN only showed it once and then refused to play it back again. In a stretch of mental and morale blows, it may have been the worst. After a blowout loss at home to TCU, offensive coordinator Kendal Briles missed some game prep this week to be in Indianapolis to meet with the NCAA. Star running back Shock Lindwood was left in Waco due to reported attitude issues. His replacement, Terence Williams, was injured in the first half and never returned. Then, to cap it all off, the heartbeat of the team, Russell, had his season cruelly ended after coming all the way back from a broken neck. The season isn’t over yet, but it looks like it’s only going to get worse. A group that looked like it could still be a very good team suddenly looks like it’s bordering on hopelessness with Kansas State, Texas Tech and West Virginia still to play. – Max Thompson, DCTF Director of DigitalSMU 55, East Carolina 31 The Good: The Mustangs defense created a whole hell of a lot of turnovers (five total), and that’s why this game was so lopsided. SMU reeled in three interceptions, and Horace Richardson turned the two that he snagged in touchdowns. Ben Hicks had another solid outing, throwing for 235 yards and three scores, and of course, Courtland Sutton was on the other end for 12 receptions, 166 yards and two scores. Ke’Mon Freeman and Braeden West ran wild, with both racking up over 100 yards on the ground. This was a total team effort, and it puts the Mustangs within a win of bowl eligibility with home games against USF and Navy still to play. Chad Morris probably couldn’t ask for more from his bunch right now. The Bad: SMU really had no answer for Zay Jones, one of the most prolific receivers in the conference and country. The Austin High product hauled in 12 receptions for 173 yards and a score, and was borderline uncoverable at points. The margins were also finer than they appeared, thanks to those two pick sixes. SMU narrowly outgained the Pirates 477-466, but for the same reasons you could say that’s a negative, you can very easily see the positive. The Mustangs’ defense wasn’t dominant, but it was definitely more opportunistic than ever. When you’re trying to turn a program mentality around, that’s huge. – Max Thompson, DCTF Director of DigitalWest Viriginia 24, Texas 20 [caption id="attachment_27211" align="alignleft" width="350"]Photo by Doug Holleman Photo by Doug Holleman[/caption] The Good: The Longhorns escaped a nightmare situation for coach Charlie Strong by pulling out a 45-37 win over Texas Tech last week, but this game had the potential to have a much bigger impact down the road for Strong’s future with the team. Texas stormed back from a 17-3 first half deficit to make it 17-13 before the half, and things were looking good heading into the second half. D’onta Foreman (35 carries for 167 yards) continued his dominance on the ground with his ninth game this season over 100 yards rushing, but the offense just couldn’t piece together enough scoring drives to pick up the win. The Bad: Texas had plenty of chances to pull out a win in this game. The Longhorns forced an interception on the opening drive of the second half, and proceeded to drive down the field into field goal range before having yet another kick blocked. Texas forced three interceptions and capitalized on one in the second half to bring the game within 24-20, but Shane Buechele’s fumble early in the fourth was a big turnover that killed a lot of momentum in the second half. Buechele drove the offense inside the 30-yard line to give the Longhorns a shot at the end-zone as time expired, but was unable to finish off the improbable comeback. The freshman took a beating from the Mountaineers defense, and the offensive line has to do a better job protecting him moving forward. The Ugly: The Longhorns could have clinched a bowl game with a big win over a good West Virginia team, but were unable to take advantage of multiple opportunities the defense created. Texas plays Kansas next week in what should be the sixth win they are looking for, but a win today would have been huge for Strong and the Longhorns. Now, they are looking at a very real possibility of another season ending with a losing record – depending on how things go down the stretch. – Brady Keane, DCTF InternRice 22, Charlotte 21The Good: Rice trailed 21-0 midway through the second quarter, and the Owls (2-8) looked to be well on their way to yet another disappointing loss. But for the first time this season, the Owls showed some fight and came back swinging. Tyler Stehling led Rice to 22 unanswered points and finished with 279 yards and a touchdown through the air with another 93 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Stehling accounted for 372 of the Owls’ 433 yards of offense, and it was enough to give Rice its first win against an FBS opponent this season. The defense put up its best performance since holding UTSA to 14 points earlier in the season, and held Charlotte scoreless in the second half to complete the comeback win. The 49ers gained just 263 total yards, and had just 105 yards through the air in the game. Rice held Charlotte to just nine total yards in the fourth quarter, and the Owls did not give up a first down on the 49ers' final three possessions down the stretch in a close game. The Bad: For a Rice team that has struggled as one of the worst teams in college football this season, there is no bad in a win against an FBS program. The Owls gave up 21 points to start the game, but were able to bounce back and claw their way to a win. It’s a big moral victory for David Bailiff and the Owls towards the end of a disappointing 2016 campaign. – Brady Keane, DCTF Intern