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How To Football: Week 11 (Pt. 1)

Breaking down this week’s midweek matchups in college football

NCAA Football: Dollar General Bowl-Buffalo vs Troy John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

Howdy y’all. It seems like this happens every single year, but we are currently in day seven of 20 consecutive days of football in some form, the majority of it being collegiate football. Regardless of how you feel about playing football in this environment, we might as well make the most of it and enjoy it.

We’ll come back on Friday to break down the weekend, but let’s first run through the midweek matchups.

Schedule as of 1:30 Monday
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Football Night In Ohio Shift

  • Akron-The Ohio University of Ohio at Ohio (OH): The Bobcats lost a tight season opener to CMU 30-27. Meanwhile on the other hand, Akron got completely blown away by Western Michigan 58-13, entering into the competition for worst team in college football.
  • Kent State-Bowling Green: The Golden Flashes beat Eastern Michigan 27-23 by holding off a late charge from the Eagles while the Falcons took the L against Bowling Green 38-3.
  • Miami (OH)-Buffalo: The only game between week one winners Monday night, Buffalo beat NIU 49-30 and Miami beat Ball State 38-31. Jaret Patterson had a night against the the Huskies, rushing for 137 yards on 20 carries, averaging 6.85 yards per carry with two touchdowns.

Directional Michigan Shift

  • Eastern Michigan-Ball State: Cardinal running back Caleb Huntley also had A Night last week, running for 130 on 21 carries (6.19 ypc) and a pair of touchdowns. I’m not entirely sure how Eastern Michigan got within a one score game against Kent State, and I watched that game. But the important thing is that the Eagles have shown signs of something resembling an upward trajectory.
  • Toledo-Western Michigan: Okay, this one should be a good one, a real good one. The game between the only two teams to really win in blowouts last week, the margin for this game should be around a field goal. I get that it’s not a sexy sell, but I’m going to watch intently.
  • Central Michigan-NIU: I guess this game will tell us one way or another if NIU has a bad defense or it Buffalo is that good.

I Got The Boise Blues Shift

  • Colorado State-Boise State: The Broncos may have gotten dropped cold by BYU last week, but that’s more of a credit to the Cougars than it is a debit to the Broncos. However, Steve Addazio picked up his first win as head man of the Rams with a win in the Border War against Wyoming 34-24. Boise should still be able to win, but they’ll have to earn it.

Off The Schneid Shift

  • Iowa-Minnesota: Both Iowa and Minnesota picked up a much-needed win last week after starting 0-2. The Hawkeyes beat a wildly unpredictable Michigan State 49-7 while the Golden Gophers beat Illinois 41-14. The winner of this week not only gets The Floyd Of Rosedale but breaks even at .500.
  • FAU-FIU: I’ll simplify this one for you. FAU is good, FIU isn’t. However, while FIU is 0-3, they are winless due to a combined 14 points, but nine of those points came against Jacksonville State with the remaining five coming against Middle Tennessee State and Liberty, which is pretty much the inverse of your expectations.
  • ECU-Cincinnati: If there’s a god in heaven, this one will be over quickly and painlessly for ECU.