Code Orange

Update 3:45

Syracuse 38, Louisville 35 - Final

Update 3:41

The Fat Lady gets on the stage.

Syracuse recovers the onsides kick.

Florida tacks on a field, but is still in upset danger, only leading Mississippi 30-24.

Update 3:39

The Fat Lady must wait a little longer. Louisville puts up another touchdown, closing the margin to 38-35, but with only 56 seconds left, they need the onsides kick and some help.

Ball State tacks on a field goal to extend their lead to 40-35 over Nebraska with 7:05 left.

Akron 27, Kent State 20 - Final
Illinois 27, Indiana 14 - Final
Update 3:26

Louisville takes the turnover and turns it into 7 points, but is it too little, too late? 38-28. Syracuse. We also just passed 1,000 yards of offense in the game.

Nebraska scores to pull within 2 of Ball State - 37-35, with 9:21 left.

South Florida 37, North Carolina 10 - Final

Update 3:22

Louisville finally gets a break as Syracuse has their first turnover in the game while driving to seal the deal.

Meanwhile, Duke and Navy continue to try to score more points in a single game than either program probably did all season last year, as they each score again and Duke maintains a 43-32 lead.

Update 3:18

Mississippi pulls within 3 of Florida as another upset reappears on the radar. It’s 27-24 Gators with 14:33 left.

Update 3:16

Meet the New Boss, same as the Old Boss. Louisville continues their habit of getting into Syracuse territory and then having their drive stall - in this case by Brohm throwing his 2nd interception of the day. They take 3 minutes off the clock and get nothing out of it. It really looks like this is Syracuse’s game now. We’re now passed 900 total yards of offense in the game.

Meanwhile, the Cornhuskers better start sweating as Ball State opens up a 9 point lead, 37-28 with 12:50 left. Navy also closes the gap against Duke to 36-31.

Update 3:05

West Virginia finally ends the misery, finishing out a 48-7 win over East Carolina. Meanwhile, Mississippi is doing everything they can to hang with Florida. They score their first touchdown, and it’s 27-16 Gators.

Origional Post

It’s time for a new post for the new set of games coming up. Of course, we have 3 upsets we’re looking at right now. Syracuse leads Louisville 38-21 with 10:13 left in the game, Ball State leads Nebraska 31-28 at the end of the 3rd quarter, and Duke leads Navy 36-25 at halftime.

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.

Here are some games you might want to watch Saturday:

Georgia Tech (2-1) at Virginia (2-1) - 12:00 PM

Yes, even though Virginia looked like they were going to have another bad year after losing to Wyoming, they’ve come back to beat Duke and North Carolina - not exactly the cream of the crop in the ACC. On the other hand, Georgia Tech hasn’t really beaten anyone either - Samford and Notre Dame. This might be a good measuring stick to see how good these Coastal Division teams really are.

Appalachian State (3-0) at Wofford (2-1) - 3:00 PM

Ok, I know this is a I-AA (or FCS) game, but the Mountaineers are coming off a rather lackluster performance against Northern Arizona last week as they go on the road for the first time since the Michigan game to open their Southern Conference schedule. They open against Wofford, who isn’t necessarily a pushover, having destroyed Charleston Southern, and giving a respectable fight against N. C. State, actually out gaining the Wolfpack in that game.

Michigan State (3-0) at Notre Dame (0-3) - 3:30 PM

Can Notre Dame pull out a win? With UCLA, Boston College, and USC all on the list of upcoming teams, this is probably a must-win game for Notre Dame, not only to get back on track, but to have a hope of having a winning season. Otherwise, their best chances for wins may be their last two games of the season: against Duke and Stanford.

Penn State (3-0) at Michigan (1-2) - 3:30 PM

How good is Penn State? Has Michigan finally recovered from their beatings at the hands of the MountainDucks? We’ll see. If Michigan gets trounced again, Lloyd Carr can probably start packing his bags, and Michigan can start making hotel reservations for Detroit.

Maryland (2-1) at Wake Forest (1-2) - 3:30 PM

This game is an important hurdle for Maryland in their quest for the ACC Atlantic Division title, and a must win if they want to keep pace with Clemson. Meanwhile, for Wake Forest, they have to try to finally get a win over a quality team under their best lest they start looking like the Wake of old.

South Carolina (3-0) at LSU (3-0) - 3:30

Steve Spurrier sure knows how to coach a team, doesn’t he? I’m not sure many people expected South Carolina to do much this season, especially after a lackadaisical 28-14 win over Louisiana Lafayette in the season opener, but now the other USC looks like they may contend for the SEC East title, having already beat Georgia and with Tennessee looking less than stellar. Of course, there is that other team Spurrier used to coach they would have to get by first. For LSU, this is a surprising early season test for them on their road for the SEC and National titles.

Kentucky (3-0) at Arkansas (1-1) - 6:00 PM

The other surprise of the SEC East - Kentucky - goes after a team that was supposed to be tagging along with LSU in the SEC West - Arkansas. However, Alabama put a quick end to that last week. Arkansas really needs this win if they want to stay in the SEC West race. Two conference losses would spell almost certain doom in the divisional race.

Connecticut (3-0) at Pittsburgh (2-1) - 7:00 PM

It may say something about the Big East that Pittsburgh, at 2-1, is tied for 6th in the Big East because 5 of the teams in the conference are still undefeated. Connecticut is one of those teams. However, they haven’t really played anyone yet (Duke, Maine, and Temple). This will be a good measuring stick game to see who has a good chance of trying to assail the Big Three in the Big East.

Georgia (2-1) at Alabama (3-0) - 7:45 PM

Another big SEC game. Georgia can’t afford another SEC loss before getting into their divisional schedule, while Alabama can actually start looking like a legitimate rival for LSU in the West if they can pull off a win against the Bulldogs. This creates the curious situation where we have two teams - South Carolina and Alabama - with two coaches - Steve Spurrier and Nick Saban - fighting with the teams they used to coach in a battle for their division titles.

Iowa (2-1) at Wisconsin (3-0) - 8:00 PM

Iowa hopes that their loss to lowly Iowa State was just a rivalry game blunder and not a sign that their team isn’t exactly what everyone was expecting it was (not that that’d be new). After all, their only wins are against Northern Illinois and Syracuse - not exactly powers. This will be Wisconsin’s first Big Ten test of the season.

Washington State (2-1) at Southern California (3-0) - 8:00 PM

This is a potential trip-up game for USC as Washington State fared reasonably well against the other major opponent they faced in Wisconsin. Meanwhile, USC finally looked like a national championship caliber team last week against Nebraska. Luckily for USC, there is no one to look forward to until their game against Oregon on October 27th, so they should be ready for this game.

Washington (2-1) at UCLA (2-1) - 10:15 PM

Both of these teams are coming off tough losses - Washington not being able to finish the deal against Ohio State and UCLA getting utterly embarrassed by Utah. We should get a good idea of how good these two teams really are in this game. The winner of this game has a leg-up for 4th in the conference, and may be able to battle for 3rd or even 2nd.

	Oklahoma	62
	Tulsa	21

Ouch! That has to hurt.

I must say, Oklahoma looks like one of the most impressive teams so far this season. Of course, the only team of note that they’ve played is Miami, but Oklahoma has yet to score fewer than 50 points a game this season (they’ve scored 79, 51, 54, and 62) while the 21 allowed tonight is the most all season so far.

This was also a 2-0 Tulsa team, one who just beat Brigham Young last week.

Speaking of Miami, while I don’t think they’re Top 25 material, they can’t be too bad - they beat Texas A&M Thursday.

I’m striving for Code Orange to be a college football blog in which I blog about college football in general, but may get off on tangents about particular teams such as Syraucse (because I went there), Virginia Tech (because I work there), or Appalachian State (because my family has numerous connections to them).

So, while I named this blog after my alma mater, I won’t really focus on them unless something just catches my eye in particular. In any case, I hope you enjoy this blog.

Also, you can visit my now defunct ratings system if you wish, which has a computer ratings system that I devised for the years 1996-2006.

I hope you enjoy the site. I know that week 4 is a little late to start blogging about the season, but oh well.