UConn Opponents Review: Week 3

South Florida: After going down 7-0 to North Carolina State in the first quarter, Mike White threw a career-long 75-yard touchdown pass 10 seconds later. That's where things stopped going well for the Bulls, as the Wolfpack led 35-7 at halftime and went on to win 49-17. South Florida's Chris Dunkley returned a punt for a touchdown midway through the first quarter that was negated by a holding penalty. NC State was 11 for 16 on third downs and outgained USF 589 to 159, running 86 plays to USF's 47.

Not only did NC State have 30 first downs compared to USF's eight, but NC State held a fifteen minute advantage in time of possession. The win was N.C. State's first away from home since October 2012. North Carolina State easily covered the two-point spread and almost went over the over/under of 52 points by themselves.

Temple: The Owls had a bye and will play FCS Delware State - who lost to Towson, 21-7, last week.

Tulane: The Green Wave got their first in win of the season in their new stadium, defeating, Southeastern Louisiana, a directional state school from the FCS, 35-20. Redshirt quarterback Tanner Lee finished the day completing 14 out of 30 attempts for 238 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions. SE Louisiana did go 11-3 last year - losing two of those games by a combined 11 points and the third game to TCU (their only FBS opponent). Tulane covered as one-point favorites. Yes, Tulane was only favored by one at home against an FCS team.

East Carolina: The Pirates went up 21-0 in the first quarter - as predicted in last week's recap - before Virginia Tech scored with 47 seconds left in the half. Virginia Tech was able to tie the game with two fourth quarter touchdowns - the last one coming with 1:20 left in the game. ECU was able to win the game on a quarterback sneak with 16 seconds left. Shane Carden, who I am a huge fan of, finished 23 for 47 with 427 yards, three passing touchdowns and the game-winning touchdown run. The Pirates won as 10-point underdogs.

Central Florida: The Knights kept it close for the first half, trailing 14-10 to the Missouri Tigers at halftime. Then the wheels fell off as they were shutout in the second half while Missouri scored 24 points, giving the Tigers a 38-10 victory. UCF did have a twelve-minute time-of-possession advantage, but had four turnovers while only forcing one. Missouri's quarterback, Maty Mauk, finished 14 for 24 for 144 yards, but threw four touchdowns.

Army: Army kept it close (read: covered the first half spread) against Stanford, eventually falling 35-0. They were outgained by over 200 yards against the No. 15 Cardinals. After rushing for 341 yards and seven touchdowns on 54 carries in their first game against Buffalo, Army could only gain 198 yards on 56 carries. Three Army quarterbacks combined to go 3 for 5 for nine yards and one interception.

Cincinnati: After starting the season with two weeks off, Cincinnati showed that the extra preparation helped, demolishing Toledo 58-34, easily covering the 10-point spread and destroying the over/under of 58. The Bearcats were up 34-0 with 10:14 left in the SECOND QUARTER! Gunner Kiel, a transfer from Notre Dame, led the Bearcats to a touchdown on each of their first six possessions, while throwing only three incomplete passes. Kiel finished the day 25 for 37 with 418 yards and six touchdowns. He also added 24 yards on four carries.

Hosey Williams rushed for 103 yards on 14 carries. Toledo does not play much defense, so do not get too excited from this game. The Rockets did finish with 563 total yards, so the Bearcats do need to work on defense, though a lot of those yards were against depth players. The Bearcats have another easy game this week against Miami (OH), who hasn't won a game since October 27, 2012.

Memphis and SMU: Both had byes.