The scores rolling in today will be more interesting than usual. A lot of games last weekend had scoreboard results that didn’t reflect how the game was played.   Let’s see how these teams fare today.

Louisville 35 Memphis 28 as a pair of non-offensive TD’s for Louisville as Memphis outgained them 481-299.  Louisville did win rushing 166-130.

Utah 40 Wyoming 7 really didn’t reflect how this game was played.  Wyoming actually outgained Utah 252-242 and outrushed them 184-23.  But turnovers were 5-0 in favor of the Utes.  Only 2 of Utah’s 5 TD’s were scored by their offense.

North Carolina 29 Notre Dame 24 saw Notre Dame win yardage 472-322 (though they were outrushed) and first downs 27-21.  But it was another 5-0 turnover disaster.  The Tar Heels cause (some would say “benefit from”) a lot of turnovers.

Minnesota 27 Illinois 20 despite a 550-315 total yardage edge to the Illini, including 25-16.  Minnesota did outrush the Illini 116-88. A 3-1 turnover edge assisted the Gophers.

Notice three of the four “lucky winners” above actually outrushed the opponent that appeared to dominate them statistically.  That tends to be a recurring theme, and you don’t want to get caught up rewarding teams too much for cheap passing points.

I’m sure others are focused on “wrong side” results in Michigan State’s win over Northwestern and West Virginia’s surprisingly close win over Syracuse.  But Michigan State jumped out to a 17-0 lead and led the whole way, and the game shape effected both the game plan and the defensive intensity.  Yards per play were pretty equal in that one.  Pat White was out with injury for West Virginia, so it’s tough to punish them and reward Syracuse.

Let’s see if the “good luck” teams come back to earth today while the “hard luck” teams struggle.