2015 e-Systems College Football Pool – Week 7 Results

Legendary coach John Heisman once told one of his teams, “Gentlemen, it is better to have died as a small boy than to fumble this football.” While I do not agree to the point to that level, it is nevertheless a valid argument that turning the ball over will cause your team to lose, and sometimes badly.  To illustrate:

• Alabama had four interceptions against Texas A&M.  They returned three of them for touchdowns in a 41-23 win.  It was the first time in Alabama history that the Crimson Tide had three pick-sixes in a game.
• Utah State forced eight turnovers, including seven in the first half alone, in a 52-26 rout of Boise State.  It was the most turnovers by an FBS team in a single half in the last ten years, and the most Utah State had forced in a game since 2003.
• Michigan only had a single turnover, but it was a costly one, as their punter dropped a snap, then had the ball knocked out of his hands and directly into a Michigan State player’s and returned for a touchdown on the final play of the game to give the Spartans a most-improbable 27-23 win.

I know that I’ve already made a lot of mention of Baylor’s high-flying offense this year, but special mention has to go to Corey Coleman, a wide receiver on the Bears.  With three touchdown catches against West Virginia in last week’s 62-38 win, he is up to sixteen for the year.  Not only does that set a Baylor record for touchdown receptions in a season only halfway through the year, but it’s more than 111 of the other 126 FBS teams have as a whole.  Some truly incredible offensive numbers are being posted down in Waco.

It’s lost in the national hype over Ohio State and the craziness that was Michigan State-Michigan, but you might need to take a longer look at what the boys from Iowa City are doing.  With their 40-10 win over Northwestern, Iowa has placed themselves in the driver’s seat for the Big Ten West title.  The Hawkeyes are 7-0 and rank fourth nationally in rushing defense, twelfth in total defense, and tenth in scoring defense.  No one left on their schedule is ranked, meaning Iowa could easily be 12-0 going into the Big Ten Championship game, and if they pull the upset there, how could you leave them out of the playoff?

Pity the poor Boston College defense.  The Eagles might have the best defense in the country, according to statistics.  They’re first in rushing defense.  They’re fifth in passing yards allowed per game and in pass efficiency defense.  They’re third in opponents’ third-down conversion percentage.  They’re first in total defense.  They’re fourth in scoring defense.  They’re also 3-4 and winless in the ACC.  Take away games against FCS opponents, and they’ve scored 41 points in five games.

Other one-offs: with their 52-31 win over Oregon State, Washington State owns wins over both FBS teams from the state of Oregon, and a loss to the state’s only FCS school, Portland State…Georgia Southern is averaging one yard short of 400 in rushing offense, and still has not lost a Sun Belt Conference game since joining the conference last year (they’re currently 11-0)…the player with the most rushing yards in a game is not Leonard Fournette, Ezekiel Elliot, Derrick Henry, or Dalvin Cook, but Tyler Ervin of San Jose State, who had a 300-yard game against Fresno State…three teams from the American conference are now ranked, as Houston, Memphis, and Temple continue to enjoy undefeated seasons.

In small-school news, College Gameday, the big ESPN pregame show, makes its annual pilgrimage to a smaller school for one week.  This year, they have chosen Harrisonburg, Virginia, home of James Madison University, for their annual rivalry game against Richmond.  The 6-0 Dukes are an offensive juggernaut this year; they are first in FCS in total offense, third in rushing offense, and second in scoring offense.  Richmond is not a pushover, however, as they come into the game 5-1 with their only loss to Maryland.  The overall series is 17-15-1 in favor of Richmond, but James Madison has won the last two games.

Congratulations to rocky tide, who wins week seven in a tie-breaker over mayhall!  Each finished with 136 points.  With that win, rocky tide has back-to-back weekly wins!  Eric G was next with 135 points, and rdl4bama had 134.

Standings after seven weeks (dropping two lowest weekly scores):

Another nineteen games are on the slate this week as we begin the second half of the season.  Again, note that there are three games before Saturday, so it’s important to pick early and make sure you set your points on the picks!  The first game is Temple at East Carolina, Thursday, October 22 @ 7 PM ET, so make sure to get your picks in by then!