Dave Preston is an AP Top 25 voter. Read his latest rankings here.
What is the Latin phrase…caveat emptor? Part of the economics of the sport of college football is the “buy” games regarding non-conference foes.
For example, while Virginia Tech and Marshall swapped home sites the last two years (Maryland and Virginia will do the same) many schools will pay a lower-tier school for one visit without a return trip (think Maryland-Towson last year, Virginia-Richmond last week, or James Madison and Gardner-Webb Saturday night).
Everybody wins in this scenario: The visiting team gets a fat check to be used toward its program as well as the remainder of the school’s athletic department while the home team gets the revenue from an additional home date. It’s not a rule that the home team HAS to win, although they do most of the time. Except when they don’t
Saturday No. 8 Penn State escaped upset with a second half rally against Bowling Green (I vaguely recall a year when the Nittany Lions scheduled three MAC teams, although it didn’t make PSU eligible for that conference championship), while No. 20 Arizona staggered its way to victory over Northern Arizona (Pac-12 After Dark lives in spirit). But the big doozy was the defeat of No. 5 Notre Dame at home to Northern Illinois 16-14. The Fighting Irish paid the Huskies $1.4 million dollars to play in South Bend, and NIU will be smiling all the way to the bank and win column. And while this isn’t a complete surprise (ND lost at home to Marshall two years ago after paying $1.25 million), it deals a serious blow to the playoff hopes of a Fighting Irish team that doesn’t benefit by playing in a conference and doesn’t have the toughest schedule moving forward. Caveat Emptor…
Maryland (1-1, 0-1 Big Ten) last lost a “buy game” in 2015 when Bowling Green helped usher the end of the Randy Edsall era with a 48-27 drubbing. Saturday, they stumbled in their conference opener 27-24 to Michigan State as the Spartans kicked the game-winning field goal with one second left. “We had our offense on the field for a drive to win it, we had our defense on the field for a drive to win it, and we had our special teams on the field to give us a chance to go ahead two scores,” Coach Mike Locksley said after the loss. “Three phases and they weren’t able to take the victory.” The cold autumn arrives a few weeks early.
Terrapin Triumphs: Tai Felton continues to be a machine, making 11 catches for 152 eight catches for 107 yards and a touchdown. Glendon Miller tallied two interceptions, giving him three over the first two games of the season. And Bryce McFerson averaged 48.5 yards per punt.
Terrapin Troubles: The defense was roasted for 363 yards passing that included deep shots of 34, 57, and 77 yards. The running game was held to 2.8 yards per carry. Special teams missed a 41-yard field goal that would have put them up ten with four minutes remaining. And penalties came at the worst moments: from pushing back a third and one to allowing a re-kick of a missed field goal five yards closer to a pass interference penalty that jump-started the Spartans final drive.
Next: Saturday night at 8 p.m. on the road against 2-0 Virginia on the ACC Network.
Navy (2-0, 1-0 AAC) wasted no time pulling away from Temple in their conference opener: an first quarter-safety led to their first touchdown drive of the day and they’d keep that two-possession lead for the rest of the afternoon in a 38-11 rout that felt more impressive than their week one win over Bucknell. But before one gets too excited let’s remember that these Owls have now lost 28 of their last 32 league games.
Midshipman Medals: Blake Horvath threw for 112 yards and a touchdown while running for 122 yards and three scores. Even with added emphasis on the pass the ground game pounded out 297 yards on 5.8 per carry. Colin Ramos led the defense with 15 tackles as the Mids kept the visitors out of the end zone until the fourth quarter and owned a five-touchdown lead.
Midshipman Miscues: the offense converted just 5-13 third downs while the defense allowed Forrest Brock (not to be confused with Brock Forrest) to complete 65% of his passes. The usually stellar (when he’s not being overworked) Riley Riethman averaged just 39.2 yards per punt. When we’re splitting hairs on punting, you know it’s been a good day.
Next: Sept. 21 at 3:30 p.m. against AAC favorite (and 2-0) Memphis on CBSSN.
Virginia Tech (1-1) needed a big effort against Marshall, and not just because the Thundering Herd beat the Hokies last year in Huntington, West Virginia, or because an 0-2 start would undo much of the progress made last fall under Head Coach Brent Pry. Saturday the 1999 team that played for a National Championship was honored at Lane Stadium, not like they needed any additional pressure. Tech answered the challenge and never trailed, scoring on all three of its second half possessions to pull away 31-14.
Hokie Highlights: Bhayshul Tuten rushed for 120 yards and a touchdown while making four receptions. The offense committed zero turnovers while the defense held the Herd to 5-17 on third down. Jaylin Lane got the scoring underway with chants of “BEAMER BALL!” by returning a punt 58 yards for a touchdown.
Hokie Humblings: the offense took a while to get going, going three-and-out on three of their first seven possessions. Eight penalties for 58 yards will not sit well either.
Next: Saturday at 6 p.m. at 0-2 Old Dominion on ESPN+ (they couldn’t get this on the CW?).
James Madison (2-0) came close to suffering a loss in its buy game with Gardner-Webb, needing a fourth down stand in the red zone to end the Runnin’ Bulldogs’ eight-and-a-half-minute drive (covering 15 plays) in the fourth quarter. JMU escapes with a 13-6 victory but deals with plenty of questions moving forward.
Duke Do’s: George Pettaway rushes for 84 yards while making four catches for 32 yards. The defense tallied a pair of interceptions while Jacob Dobbs notched ten tackles.
Duke Dont’s: the offense went 3-12 on third down. And JMU barely beat GARDNER-WEBB. AT HOME.
Next: Sept. 21 at 2-0 North Carolina (TBD).
Virginia (2-0, 1-0 ACC) is coming off a season where they started 0-5 for the first time since 1982, so every little victory looms large for Coach Tony Elliott and company. Saturday they went into Winston-Salem and opened conference play with a 31-30 win at Wake Forest by scoring a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns to rally back from a double-digit deficit. And things get more fun this week as a former conference foe comes to Scott Stadium.
Cavalier Congrats: Anthony Colandrea threw for 357 yards and three touchdowns while Malachi Fields made 11 catches for 148 yards. Antonio Clary tallied 11 tackles and one of the defense’s six sacks. Daniel Sparks averaged 46.8 yards per punt.
Cavalier Concerns: Colandrea also threw two interceptions, and the offense moved the chains on only 3-14 third downs. The running backs combined to gain 49 yards on 14 carries. The defense allowed 403 yards passing.
Next: Saturday night against 1-1 Maryland at 8 p.m. on the ACC Network.
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