Week 3, 2007: dshban's Opinion

ACC conference play begins in Week 3

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA -- After last week's piss poor showing out-of-conference, we'd see if the ACC was really that bad.

Well, not really, now they're just playing each other.

But this week had 5 conference matchups, and two games with ACC teams playing OOC opponents. Let's tackle those games first.

Appalachian State 7, Tulane 17. Syracuse 56, SE Missouri State 31. That's enough of that.

The first ACC conference game was Tennessee-Martin at Samford. The Skyhawks were expected to win, by me at least. They won out of conference last week, they had the best recruiting class last off-season...

Samford 31, Tennessee-Martin 28.

What?

Behind a 12 reception, 169 yard, 2 touchdown performance by WR #80, Samford upset Tennessee-Martin, 31-28. Michael Jackson from the Skyhawks ran well, gaining 181 yards and a touchdown on the ground, while also catching 3 balls for 35 yards and a touchdown, but Samford still won. Why?

Who the fuck knows, I didn't watch the game. It was probably the inexperienced UTM secondary, or something.

Second, we had Wofford travel to... oh, it's Wofford, never mind. They lost.

But wait, I hear you say, that's not nice! Well, yeah. I was kidding. They played Tennessee State, and lost 42-10. See what I was trying to avoid? It's like a car wreck - everyone just wants to look. Freshman quarterback Jeremy Bowling played well for the Terriers, I must say, passing for 137 yards (and 1 touchdown) and rushing for 77 more. But QB #8 of the Tigers outshone him, passing for 249 yards (and 4 touchdowns) and rushing for 111 more. There's your defining stat, right there.

Jacksonville State faced Eastern Illinois, and in a mild upset, the Panthers beat down the Gamecocks 33-10. The beatdown was more of a surprise than the win itself, I must say. 350 yards passing and 3 touchdowns for QB #12 from EIU, while Jacksonville State's ROLB #43 had 10 tackles and a tackle for a loss. But the 'Cocks could only manage 10 points, and usually that won't get you a win.

In the first of the two videoed games, Eastern Kentucky travelled to Murray State for a rivalry, of sorts. It was 36-21, and closer than the score indicated. The Racers were in it for most of the game, but allowed two kick return touchdowns by EKU, which pretty much screwed them.

And finally, two of my most vocal coaches clashed as Furman and joshuahuskers took on Tennessee Tech and Thompson. It was close, but the Paladins came out on top, 17-14. Martin Nolen, a freshman receiver for the Golden Eagles, accounted for all of his teams' points with 5 receptions for 139 yards and 2 touchdowns, but a balanced effort from Furman gave them the win.

Week 3, 2007 Video courtesy of YouTube: