Code Orange

Update 2:59

And Syracuse marches down the field and has their first real scoring “drive” of the day with an 8 play, 73 yard drive capped off by a 17 yard touchdown pass.  Syracuse has now passed 350 yards passing and 400 yards of total offense.  It won’t matter whether Louisville’s offense is finally in full gear if their defense can’t stop anyone from scoring.  At this rate, we’re looking at 1,000 total yards gained for these two offenses today.  Syracuse 38, Louisville 21 with 10:13 to go.

Nebraska and Ball State keep swapping scores.   And the score stands at 31-28 Ball State.  There have been 6 lead change in the game already.

Georgia Tech also finally takes the lead on Virginia, 23-21.

Update: 2:46

Louisville’s engine appears to have finally gotten started, as they march down the field for the 2nd time in 3 series to put another 7 on the board, though they did make it harder on themselves, committing 30 years in penalties in the drive. They have 14 minutes to make up the other 10 points. Syracuse 31, Louisville 21.

Duke isn’t giving up yet, scoring again, putting two more Blue Devil touchdowns on the board. They now lead Navy 36-25 at halftime. Meanwhile, another upset special appears to be fading as Bowling Green opens up a two touchdown lead on Temple.

Nebraska and the other Cardinal team from Ball State swap touchdowns, and Ball State keeps leading 24-21. Florida finally opens a margin on Mississippi, taking a 21-6 lead.

Update 2:31

And then Syracuse picks off Brohm for the first time today, and Louisville turns it over for the third time (Syracuse has not turned the ball over yet). Louisville is lucky to get away with only giving up a Field Goal. It’s now 31-14 Syracuse.

Update 2:26

Louisville can’t get a break to save them. After scoring their first touchdown, Syracuse came back and ran back the kickoff for their own touchdown. Now that Louisville finally pulled to within 7, Syracuse has a 2-play 72 yard drive, capped by a 60 yard pass to Shadle to expand the lead back to 14: 28-14.

Syracuse has now gained more yards today than in any game this season, gaining 330 yards. They are keeping up with Louisville’s offense, gaining 33 rushing yards against Louisville’s 37 and passing for 297 more yards, against Louisville’s 305.

The difference in this game has been Syracuse’s big plays. They have now scored on a 79 yard pass, a 60 yard pass, a 42 yard pass, and a kickoff returned for a touchdown. Louisville, meanwhile, has been able to move the ball, but not enough to get into scoring position.

Ball State has also retaken the lead against Nebraska, 17-14.

Update 2:22

Louisville once again moves into Syracuse territory. However this time Louisville sticks it into the endzone with the help of a 15-yard penalty on Syracuse. One felt that it was going to happen sooner or later. You can’t keep allowing Louisville into your territory on every drive and hope that it stalls every time.

Syracuse 21 Louisville 14 now with 6:00 left in the 3rd Quarter.

Meanwhile, Navy says “not so fast” to Duke geting a 2nd straight win, as they retake the lead 25-22. Georgia Tech has now also pulled to within 1 of Virginia, 20-21.

Update 2:13

With Syracuse backed up with 2nd and 9 on their own 10, Curtis Brinkley just railed off Syracuse’s longest run of the season at 20 yards.

Navy also strikes back, closing the gap to 22-17 against Duke.

Update 2:05

This is starting to look like one of those boring TV series: the same thing happens every episode. In this case, the same thing is happening in every Louisville drive: they move the ball into Syracuse territory then the drive stalls.

Oh, And Duke is now ahead of Navy 22-10.

Update 1:57

Louisville gets the ball to start the 2nd half, immediately marches into Syracuse territory, only to immediately fumble the ball away. That’s Louisville’s second lost fumble today.

Today seems to be the day of the underdog: Temple is putting up a fight against Bowling Green, Duke is going for two in a row against Navy, Ball State is giving Nebraska all they can handle, and Mississippi is hanging with Florida.

Halftime Scores

Here are some scores for you, all at halftime:

Syracuse 21, Louisville 7
West Virginia, 27, East Carolina 0
South Florida 20, North Carolina 3
Kent State 7, Akron 7
Illinois 20, Indiana 7
Temple 21, Bowling Green 21
Virgina 21, Georgia Tech 17
Nebraska 14, Ball State 10
Clemson 24, N. C. State 14

Update 1:28

Multiple updates this time. First off, if Syracuse is using a bend-but-don’t-break defensive plan this week, it seems to be working as Louisville once again marches into Syracuse territory, only to have their drive stall before they can get within field goal range.

Also, Ball State has now tied Nebraska at 7, and Duke takes a 6-3 lead on Navy.

Update 1:22

Immediately after I post that, Syracuse throws a 43 yard pass to go up on Louisville 21-7. Syracuse has now scored more points in the first half against Louisville as they have in any of their first 3 games, and they have now already passed their average total yards per game, having gained 223 total yards, and that’s with -3 yards rushing. The Orange have already passed for in this game than they have in any game all season as well - beating out their 223 yards passing against Illinois.

Update: 1:20

Syracuse has now eclipsed their average passing yards per a game, thus far passing for 180 yards as they are driving down the field again after holding Louisville to four straight incomplete passes on the Syracuse 30 in the previous drive.

Mississippi has also added another field goal to pull within 1 point of Florida.

Update: 1:10

Florida finally gets on the board early in the 2nd quarter, getting ahead of Mississippi 7-3, Nebraska has only been able to put up 7 points in the first quarter against ball state, and you’d think that Louisville would have more than 158 yards passing with Brohm passing 14 for 18.

Update: 12:59

Mississippi strikes first in their game against Florida, kicking a field goal. They lead 3-0.

Louisville also survives the fumble, forcing Syracuse to punt (they got lucky by running the kickoff out to the 50 before). Syracuse got down to the 34 before committing a penalty and getting sacked. This game has had a net total of 0 yards rushing so far - Louisville has 9 yards of rushing while Syracuse sits at -9 yards.

Updated 12:52

This Louisville/Syracuse game looks more interesting. As pathetic Syracuse has looked in their first three games, they continue to hang with Louisville. Louisville ended a 5 play, 67 yard drive with a touchdown to tie the game at 7. Syracuse then returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown, then immediately recovered a Louisville fumble on the Cardinal’s next offensive play. Louisville is now in serious danger of going down two touchdowns against the Orange.

Louisville can only hope that their offense is enough to make up for their defense - a defense which is even allowing an offense ranked pretty much at the bottom of I-A football to move the ball.

Posted 12:48

Louisville appears to be showing that, no matter how good your offense may be, you still need a defense as Syracuse leads them 7-0 at the end of the first quarter, having already passed for 142 yards today. Syracuse only averages 167 passing yards and 199 total yards a game. Of course, Louisville allows 235 passing and 429 total yards a game themselves.Meanwhile, Virginia is putting a beating on Georgia Tech 21-7 nearing the end of the first quarter. Maybe Georgia Tech isn’t as good as we thought. Either that or Virginia really got their act together after they Wyoming game.

There aren’t any other significant stories going on as of yet today.