Time to take a look back and see how our opponents have held up to my preseason prognostication. Three games is plenty to make sweeping assumptions with, right?
2010 Season Preview - Week 4 v. West Virginia, Sept. 25th<---READ THIS FIRST
Strength
Against such a weak slate of Coastal Carolina, Marshall, and Maryland you'd expect some gaudy stat lines on both sides of the ball. Not bad so far with 20 TFL for over 100 lost yards and 8 sacks(all against Maryland), the bulk of that coming from Berry, Irvin, and Neild up front. Still very strong against the run, yielding only 188 yds this season (135 from their surprisingly tough OT test at Marshall)
Only 1 INT on the year, and they are allowing about 200 yds through the air. This could be worse this week as Brandon Hogan is still questionable after being suspended for a DUI after the Marshall game. His replacement Pat Miller had a terrible game against Maryland last week. The other D injury of note is LB Pat Lazear who has been out all year with a preseason injury, though his replacement Anthony Leonard is making the most of his opportunity and is the current lead tackler.
Weakness
Again, temper your thoughts due to the competition, but so far I was flat wrong. Geno Smith is looking good. 70% completions for 800 yds and 7 TDs spread nicely between Austin, Sanders, and Bailey. That O-line may still be a worry though, already giving up 6 sacks this year. Add to that starting G Josh Jenkins on the questionable list after a knee scope this week and the fact that Drake Nevis has been informed that Geno Smith is made out of chocolate chip cookies and he might be in for a world of hurt. Only 1 pick on the year, but I think Zod will change that.
The Rest
Again, thanks to Geno's emergence, I got another one wrong. Noel Devine has still got it, but so far he seems more like an afterthought on paper. Just over 100yds a game and only 2 TDs so far this season. His ypc is down almost 2 yds from last season to 4.8 and that's against what was supposed to be much weaker competition. His potential is still scary though. Be glad our DBs are all track stars, because I still fear we'll need them to hunt him down. I half expect this all to be some sort of ruse by Bill Stewart to overlook him. I will remain nervous every time he touches the ball.