By now you’ve seen key highlights from all of Saturday’s upsets and thrillers. All the studio shows do a good job of that. But, they don’t often do a good job of letting you know whether or not the final scoreboard told the true story of the game. Let’s run through many of the major conference matchups for a slightly deeper dive.
I’ll start with Friday night’s triple crown because those surprising results all deserve attention.
Friday’s Results
*Stanford (+9.5) shocked Syracuse 26-24, winning rushing yards 173-26 and not much else. Syracuse won yardage 365-351, YPP 6.2 to 5.0 (Stanford ran 11 more plays), third downs 38-36%, and drive points (60+ yds) 21-10. Both teams had two TOs. Neither had a 4D failure. Stanford was helped by an INT return TD…which is what swung the result away from the yardage winners. Yes, market price was a bit too high. But, Stanford was still getting the best of it. Stanford’s offense only had one TD in 12 drives. Syracuse was 3/12. Maybe knock Syracuse down a point in your ratings…but not as much as the final score might have suggested.
*Illinois (+9) upset Nebraska 31-24 in OT (24), winning yardage 381-345, YPP 5.8 to 5.1, and third downs 54-53%. Nebraska won TOs 2-1. Both teams had a 4D failure. Both teams scored 17 drive points. Regulation told the story pretty well. Very evenly played game overall. Maybe lift Illinois a point, and drop Nebraska a point. Unless you already had it a virtual toss-up in Lincoln (which nobody did).
*Washington State (-13) only beat San Jose State 54-52 in OT (46), winning yardage 627-491 (on 95-75 plays), YPP 6.6 to 6.5, third downs 60-38%, rushing 237-116, and TOs 3-2. Both teams had a 4D failure. San Jose State won drive points 36-24, making more out of its yardage than Wazzou. With the game going OT on virtually even YPP, should definitely nudge these teams closer in your ratings. Maybe, account for Wazzou being in a letdown spot---just lift SJS a point or two.