CFB Week 9 Tuesday

KENNESAW STATE @ FIU - 7 PM

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So we've seen such extreme data points from FIU.

So which FIU defense is going to show up for this one? Because Kennesaw State is moving the ball... and apparently, it doesn't even matter who's playing QB.

Amari Odom took over at QB and Kennesaw State's offense took off. Then he was dealing with an injury and the original starting QB, Dexter Williams returned from injury and got the start. Didn't matter... Kennesaw State's offense still rolled.

So is FIU capable of stopping this offense? I'm not 100% sure which QB we're gonna see but I don't think it matters. The bigger question is... what are we supposed to do with these two data points?

I actually don't like how Kennesaw's coming off a bye week. We saw last week with Delaware... that was an offense that looked unstoppable. They played a very bad Jacksonville State defense and looked completely out of rhythm, especially early in the game. This kinda seems similar... Kennesaw's offense seems to have found something... 4 good offensive games in a row. Now they have a bye week... I wouldn't be surprised if the offense looks a bit out of rhythm early in this game. On the other side of the ball, I gotta say Kennesaw's playing some defense as well.

Look at the last 3 games from Kennesaw. I don't know the status of CB Caleb Offord. He's their starting CB and didn't play in the LT game. He was held out after warmups with a minor injury. I can't find anymore information on that. Other than that, Kennesaw State's been pretty forunate health-wise on this side of the ball.

This FIU offense... tough to get a feel for. Jenkins had been struggling... he even got benched in the UConn game. Back to back games where FIU got blown out.

But then, just when we were counting Jenkins and this FIU offense out... they come out and play a really efficient game on the road at Western Kentucky.

I really dk what to do with this one. I was big on Kennesaw State coming into the season. But I think the market might have taken this a bit far. We're laying a full 3 on the road at FIU? It's not like FIU is a terrible team. The problem is... we've seen such extreme data points from FIU. It would only be FIU at +3.5.

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WESTERN KENTUCKY @ LOUISIANA TECH - 7:30 PM

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Well last week, we saw one of the worst Western Kentucky games we've seen during Tyson Helton's tenure here. That was ugly.

But Western Kentucky is not the only team in this game coming off an embarrassing performance. LA Tech just got smoked by Kennesaw themselves. They had a 7-0 lead in that one also.

So which of these two teams is bouncing back here? The premiere matchup is on this side of the ball. Western Kentucky is an offensive team and Louisiana Tech is a defensive team.

I gotta say... can't believe this Louisiana Tech defense. It almost doesn't even make sense. Sonny Cumbie is an offensive give. This is year 4. Jeremiah Johnson left.. a lot of the starters left... and somehow the defense seems to be even stronger.

And if you take the UTEP game out and look at the last 3, it seems this team is vulnerable to the pass. It's not like these are elite passing attacks.

The problem is... it's really hard to unsee what Mcivor showed us last week. The 2nd interception wasn't his fault... it was 3rd and long and it was a deflected ball... but the 1st and 3rd interceptions were bad.

I personally think it was just an off game. Remember, this is not a Freshman. This guy has almost 10,000 career pass yards. He's a 4 year starter. He was actually looking pretty efficient in the two games before that.

Now you might be thinking "well Kyle, Mcivor's had run support in his last few games. I doubt he's gonna have run support on he road against this Louisiana Tech defense". Which is definitely a solid point.

But do we consider this Louisiana Tech defense to be the same right now? Remember, LA Tech just lost their team captain, leading tackler and best player, Kolbe Fields. Kolbe Fields was preseason CUSA DPOY.

Weather is supposed to be ok. It's supposed to rain a little bit in the morning but should be completely fine long before kickoff. I expect WKU's offense to bounce back here. On the other side of the ball, the question we have is... did Western Kentucky's defense get exposed a bit last week?

Here's the problem... can LA Tech exploit it? Because they've really been struggling to run the ball recently... and it's not from a lack of trying. They've got 120 rush attempts in the last 3 games and here are the results.

It looks like Blake Baker is fine and has officially won the starting job. He left the Kennesaw game injured but I'm reading he's been practicing and should be good to go. He's also got solid numbers under pressure which is clutch against this WKU pass rush. The problem is... this offensive line is banged up. They just lost RT Kenneth Bannister in the Kennesaw game and he's been ruled out. Their starting RG has missed the last two games and I'm not sure if he's back.

This should not be above a FG. Western Kentucky gets right here.