By Elton Alexander Plain Dealer Reporter Cleveland -- The opening week of Mid-American Conference football gave an early indication that the defenses for Miami, Akron and Kent State could evolve into title timber . . . if their offenses don't wear them out before the leaves begin to fall. The national story line is how bad Florida's offense was...
By Elton Alexander
Plain Dealer Reporter
Cleveland -- The opening week of Mid-American Conference football gave an early indication that the defenses for Miami, Akron and Kent State could evolve into title timber . . . if their offenses don't wear them out before the leaves begin to fall.
The national story line is how bad Florida's offense was against Miami. But the RedHawks had something to do with it. They dominated the time of possession, 34:44 to 25:16, held the Gators to 99 yards rushing and just 212 yards of total offense. The angst is over the three fumbles Florida had. But Miami threw four interceptions in its 34-12 loss.
The difference was that Florida's offense was able to generate a few big plays. Meanwhile, Miami's stagnant offense could only generate 212 yards of total offense, 'with just 4 yards rushing on 22 attempts. The RedHawks also were sacked twice.
Zapped Zips: Syracuse is at the opposite end of the spectrum from the nationally ranked No. 4 Gators. So what the Zips' offense displayed against the Orange -- 3 points and 166 yards of total offense in a 29-3 setback -- is cause for immediate concern.
Akron's defense, however, displayed big-play capability. Defensive end Shawn Lemon must have been notified that Akron only had 11 sacks last season. He recorded one sack for the Zips for minus-9 yards, and returned a fumble 29 yards. Teammate linebacker Brian Wagner returned an interception 34 yards, forced a fumble and had 12 tackles.
Garder Webb should offer a tonic for the Zips' offense to step forward this week. But after that, SEC's Kentucky and Big Ten's Indiana await. If the offense isn't geared up by then, it will be tough to expect Akron's defense to play at a high level over the course of the season.
Sparks, but no fire: Certainly its 41-10 victory over Murray State last week showed that Kent State has more than its share of big-play weapons. But its 'failures to convert first downs on third-and-short, (1-of-5 on third-and-4 or less) or to sustain many long drives in crunch time, kept a defense -- now minus senior defensive end and sack specialist Monte Simmons with a broken leg for a month -- on the field entirely too long. </p>
Evidence? There were a combined 10 drives by both teams after Kent took a 34-10 lead with 6:26 left in the third quarter. Only once did KSU mount a drive longer than five plays or 'take more than 2:14 off the clock. Expect upcoming Boston College, Penn State and many MAC teams to make Kent's offense pay if it continually fails to close out games.