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Three weeks make a huge difference in college football.  By now, we know a little more about teams.  And, it helps when teams play inter-conference games.  It helps fans and experts alike measure teams against teams in other conferences and conferences as a whole against other conferences.  Therefore, the Pac 10 vs. the Mountain West Showdown this weekend goes a long way in evaluating the teams and the conferences.  After the MWC swept the Pac 10 in those games, fans might cry out to give their champion an automatic bid to a BCS Bowl game.  The Mountain West has fared well this year against other teams, but the “sweep” was astonishing.  Most pundits were predicting a 2-2 record for the MWC in this week’s match-ups.  TCU and BYU were favorites, but who would have thought that New Mexico would beat Arizona, and even more, UNLV would upset Arizona State in overtime in Tempe?  It is still a long year, and teams come out and play flat often.  There will always be games when a good team, a great one even, will squeak by against a much weaker team.

Battle for the Butter

Stony Brook vs. Maine
Dubbed by Mike and Mike in the Morning as the Battle for the Butter, these two played on Saturday with Maine picking up the win 28-13 behind 4 touchdown passes by Black Bear QB Adam Farkes.  Stony Brook had 4 turnovers, however, they held the ball almost 3 minutes longer.  It didn’t matter as Maine out-gained Stony Brook in total yardage 316 to 271.  The win puts Maine at 2-1 for the season.

Looking Ahead

Alabama who has looked pretty impressive this year including their 34-10 whipping of Clemson in their first game travels to play at Arkansas who is probably the worst 2-0 team in the country.  This game in intriguing because it is the first time this year that the Tide’s young Freshmen will travel to a hostile environment to play.  In spite of how good they are, and they are really good, these Freshmen will struggle at some point with mistakes.  While the game against Clemson was considered a road game, it was played in the Georgia Dome where the Tide had plenty of fans of their own.  In Fayetteville, it won’t be that way.  The Hogs also have some talented Freshmen of their own playing.  They have struggled early, but when the Razorbacks needed the scores, they made the plays.  With the Tide going to play in Athens against Georgia next week, this is a huge trap game.  Arkansas’ defense is not very good, but they have the weapons on offense that, if they avoid the mistakes, might keep them in the game.  And when that happens, well, you know what can happen.

Arizona State hosts Georgia.  Neither team looked particularly good Saturday, but Georgia won.  The ‘Dawg win was on the road at South Carolina, so Georgia has experienced its first road test.  The Sun Devils have not left the state of Arizona.  They have also experienced adversity, but they failed to overcome it losing at home to UNLV in overtime.  This is only the beginning of a tough stretch as Arizona State plays four straight ranked teams (Georgia, Cal, USC, Oregon) although Cal will not be ranked after losing to Maryland.  They have to travel to USC to take what should be a major beat-down.

Auburn hosts LSU.  If you like smash-mouth defenses, then this game is for you.  Auburn knocked off Mississippi State 3-2 on Saturday while LSU squeaked by North Texas 41-3.  LSU is not as explosive as last year, Auburn is still trying to find a rhythm offensively.

While UNT’s offense was productive last season and stands in a position to improve, the defense struggled and its ability to improve is uncertain.  The defense seemed unable stop any opponent last year, and was a nation’s worst in scoring at 45.1 ppg.  In an era of the high-flying, air-it-out football of the Sun Belt, UNT gave up 229.7 yards per game rushing.  Much of the damage in rushing defense was done against stellar run teams and nonconference foes Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Navy.  UNT still gave up 300 yards rushing to Louisiana-Lafayette, and only held one opponent less than 100 yards rushing (Florida Atlantic).  UNT didn’t do much better with pass defense ranking 95th giving up 256.8 yards per game.  UNT ranked 110 in turnovers at -11 for the year.

With six returning starters, it looked as if UNT had something to build upon, but yesterday UNT announced that Eddrick Gilmore will not return for UNT in the fall.  Gilmore was one of UNT’s few returning starters at Defensive Line, but certainly not the only Defensive Lineman with experience.  UNT will return the services of Sophomore OLB Craig Robertson who had 48 tackles and 5 interceptions.  Robertson finished the year with an Honorable Mention All Sun Belt Conference award.  They also will return Antoine Bush and Kartey Agbottah in the secondary.  The Mean Green may have gotten a big boost to its defense when it nabbed Alonzo Horton.  Horton was rated as a JUCO Top 100 by Rivals.

Coach Dodge has turned the defense over to former Defensive Coordinator Gary DeLoach in an attempt to shore up the defense.  DeLoach’s defenses were very good in 2001 and 2002 ranking first in the Sun Belt Conference.  DeLoach may have to count on some young players to help turn the defense around.  If he can find more young players like Robertson, he might make the turn quicker than later. Royce Hill of Cypress Ridge HS in Houston, Darien Williams of Vernon, TX and James Hamilton of Cedar Hill, TX look to be able to contribute early.  A darkhorse early contributer is Jeremy Phillips of Waller, TX.  His brother is All Mountain West LB Jason Phillips of TCU.  Phillips is a coach’s son, and former QB for Waller.  He may be too good to keep on the sidelines.

Special Teams

If any area was worse than defense, it might have been special teams.  UNT Punter Truman Spencer fell off his pace last year with a 34.2 Net Avg.  His actual punting average went up, so look for improvement in the punting game with better coverage.  UNT Place Kicker Thomas Moreland was 8 for 15 kicking and did not hit a field goal longer than 37 yards.  However, UNT signed JUCO kicker Jeremy Knott who was an NJCAA All-American kicker at Northeastern Oklahoma A & M.  Micah Mosely held the KR duties last year and returns for the Mean Green.  UNT will be searching for a new Punt Returner and a second Kick Returner.