NCAA recap, September 9

More college football ...

Central Michigan 17 at Michigan 41: I'll tell you what. Michigan may not be able to take very much away from this game, but their opponents sure will. Rollout punting may become very popular in the Midwest this year. When your net punting average is over 40 against Michigan, with Steve Breaston returning kicks, you're doing it right.

Ohio 35 at Northern Illinois 23: Great quote from this game. The guys mention that the Cubs are playing later today, one says that they're a game out of the wild card, right? The other says they're a game out of 15th. Then he says they'll win the division next year. The first guy asks him to confirm that, and the second guy says "We all have the same bosses, I've probably said too much anyway."

Frank Solich, Joe Novak. Lots of running. This Garrett Wolfe guy, he's pretty good. Another star RB at Northern Illinois. Who would have guessed? Ohio did a good job of passing out of the 'bone, though. I think some people still underestimate the quality of football played in the MAC. It won't happen much longer.

Western Illinois 10 at Wisconsin 34: No surprises here, as Wisconsin makes a stop on the I-AA Express. One thing I noticed is that the backups didn't execute particularly well for Wisconsin. I'd write it off as inexperienced coaching, but we'll have to see. Twelve men in the huddle, penalties, poor decisions on kickoff returns ...

Ohio State 24 at Texas 7: Looks like Mack Brown decided to go back to not winning big games, now that he's got his ring ... Just joking! Kind of. Yes, a couple of key plays helped keep Texas from staying in this game, but that's part of being a great team, making plays at crucial times. Ohio State did and Texas didn't. Well, there's also this thing about an untested QB vs. a senior QB ... although I thought it was interesting that most current Buckeyes have plenty of room on their helmets. Seems like in the old days, there were more than a few players who had to use the other side ...

With this game, plus the Penn State and Michigan results, and Drew Tate out for Iowa this week, I think Ohio State is separating themselves from the pack. That's no guarantee they'll walk into a BCS bowl, but the odds sure look good right now.

Howard 7 at Hampton 46: I tried to watch the second half of this game, I really did, but the announcers on ESPNU were awful. It was like they just miked a couple of guys in a bar who were watching it on TV. They didn't know the difference between illegal substitution (12 men in the huddle, for example: 5 yards) and illegal participation (12 men on the field, 15 yards) ... there were other things ... it was bad. It's too bad. As I like to mention, I-AA football is solid too, and I'd like to see just how good Hampton is going to be this season (with the blocked XP costing them against Grambling last week).