College Top 25 Round Up: Ohio State Rebounds While Mizzou Makes A Statement

OHIO STATE 66, KENT STATE 0

Player of the Game: J.T. Barrett – 312 yards, 6 touchdowns, interception

Fresh off of their upset loss to Virginia Tech last weekend, Ohio State took out their issues on Kent State. The Buckeyes posted 45 points on Kent State in the first half, including five of Barrett’s six touchdown passes. This was a significant improvement for Barrett who threw three interceptions and completed just nine of 29 passes. The boost in confidence is going to be needed if OSU is going to fight their way back into playoff contention.

Urban Meyer clearly had a point to make on the ground, too. OSU totaled 579 yards of offense with 235 of it coming on the ground. Curtis Samuel carried the ball only 15 times but still had 100 yards rushing and two touchdowns. All of this after the Buckeyes managed only 108 yards on the ground against Virginia Tech at home last Saturday.

Ohio State will play a tough Cincinnati team in two weeks before traveling to Maryland for their first Big Ten matchup.

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MISSOURI 38, CENTRAL FLORIDA 10

Player of the Game: Josh Augusta, one interception

Missouri made something of a statement (we think) by manhandling UCF at home this afternoon. Coming off of a tough loss in Dublin, UCF came out of the gates with a 10-7 midway through the second quarter. Missouri responded by scoring 31 unanswered points to end the game. Yeah, that’ll work.

Maty Mauk threw four touchdown passes on only 144 yards passing and the Missouri rushing attack added 178 yards in the win. Duron Singleton added a 60 yard fumble return for a touchdown to complete the spread.

Why was Josh Augusta the player of the game? This: Fat Guy Interception

The win gives Missouri a statement win ahead of the SEC portion of the season where they are expected to regress from the SEC East championship from a season ago. But UCF is a solid team, though they are now 0-2 on the season, and coming off of a BCS win. Maybe Missouri is going to be a little better than we originally anticipated.

Central Florida now hobbles into the season with a last second loss to Penn State and the loss to Mizzou. Things are not going to get much easier with Houston and BYU lurking in the next few weeks. UCF should be able to rebound and put up a nine-win season but the start is a little discouraging for a team that had high expectations for itself.

Central Florida has Bethune-Cookman next week while Missouri will host Indiana.