The Numerical, Week 9: 12 Quarterbacks Equal One Case Keenum

1: Field goals made in Boston College's 28-17 win over Maryland. This is notable because of how many the teams combined to attempt : five. B.C. went 0-for-2, Maryland 1-for-3; each team had one blocked. Combine this with the six turnovers (four for B.C., two for Maryland), and one gets the impression that weather may have had a part to play in this one, eh? Luckily for B.C., Rolandan Finch and his 243 rushing yards also had a role in the final score.

2: Punts botched by BYU in their 38-28 loss to TCU. The Cougars held TCU to just 283 yards, but they committed three turnovers and a turnover on downs, and they twice failed to accurately connect the snap from long snapper to punter without a glitch. Neither snap was particularly terrible, but punt Riley Stephenson either bobbled the snap or a blocker nicked it on its way to Stephenson each time. The first botch resulted in an easy, four-yard touchdown drive for the Horned Frogs; the second, a 38-yard scoring drive.

3: Beats per measure in a waltz. I was reminded of this while looking at Pittsburgh's drive chart from their 35-20 win over UConn. TOUCHDOWN (punt, punt), TOUCHDOWN (MFG, punt), TOUCHDOWN (punt, punt), TOUCHDOWN (punt, MFG), TOUCHDOWN.

Passes completed by California quarterback Zach Maynard to Tevin McDonald. McDonald, by the way, is a UCLA safety. The Bruins rode turnovers (five in all) to a surprisingly easy, 31-14 win over the still-bipolar Cal Bears. SMU's G.J. Kinne had the same connection with Tulsa's Milton Howell, who had three picks, a pass broken up and a tackle for loss in the Golden Hurricane's surprisingly easy 38-7 win over the Mustangs.

Points scored by Texas A&M in the final eight drives of their 38-31, overtime loss to Missouri. The Aggies watched a third double-digit halftime lead turn into a loss on Saturday, not necessarily because they went into a shell offensively, but because they made too many mistakes (three turnovers), and Missouri's defense started making plays. Mizzou cornerbacks E.J. Gaines and Randy Ponder combined to defense six passes (five passes broken up, one interception), four after halftime, defensive end Jacquies Smith stripped quarterback Ryan Tannehill as the Aggies were driving for a game-winning field goal attempt, and tackle Dominique Hamilton batted down a Tannehill pass on fourth-and-ballgame in overtime.

4: Combined passes attempted by Air Force quarterback Tim Jefferson and Army quarterback Max Jenkins in their respective easy wins over cupcakes (Air Force 42, New Mexico 0; Army 55, Fordham 0). Each completed one of their two passes, and Jenkins' completion went for a touchdown.

4.9: Average gain of the 18 passes targeting USC receiver Robert Woods in the Trojans' 56-48, overtime loss to Stanford. Woods caught just nine passes for 89 yards and a touchdown as the Cardinal did more to limit the spectacular receiver than virtually anybody else has this year. Of course, that opened up Marquise Lee (10 targets, seven catches, 94 yards) to a nice game. Meanwhile, Wake Forest's star receiver, Chris Givens, caught just six of the 11 passes thrown his way and gained just 42 yards (3.8 per target) in the Demon Deacons' 49-24 loss to North Carolina. And the 12 passes targeting Rutgers receiver Mohamed Sanu found their mark just five times and gained just 48 yarsd (4.0 per target). Not a great day for star receivers.

5: MAC East teams within one game of the division lead in the loss column. Temple leads the way at 3-2, Ohio State and Miami (Ohio) are 2-2, Bowling Green is 2-3 and Kent State is 1-3. Temple is by far the statistically superior team of the bunch, but a couple of losses have left them with quite a bit of work to do.

8: Number of Syracuse players who caught a pass from quarterback Ryan Nassib. I point this out just to illustrate that variety isn't always the spice of offense. Nassib's 40 pass attempts resulted in just 22 completions, four sacks and 3.4 yards per attempt as the Orange lost, 27-10.

12.6: Yards per pass attempt generated by Mississippi State quarterbacks Tyler Russell and Chris Relf in the Bulldogs' 28-16 win over Kentucky. They combined to go 15-for-21 for 264 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Slowly but surely, Kentucky's defense is regressing under the pressure of their awful offense.

13: Points scored by Florida in five trips inside Georgia's 40. They lost, 24-20, in part because they couldn't capitalize on multiple opportunities. They advanced into scoring range on each of their first four drives, but one drive resulted in a punt (first-and-10 from the Georgia 13 turned into fourth-and-35 from the Georgia 38) and one resulted in a missed, 38-yard field goal. Florida's offense is not proficient enough to blow that many opportunities right now. Of course, Iowa can relate. They drove inside Minnesota's 40 seven times but lost a fumble, missed two field goals, turned the ball over on downs and lost, 22-21. (Minnesota, meanwhile, scored 22 points on just four trips inside Iowa's 40.) Texas Tech and N.C. State, meanwhile, took out the middle man. Tech advanced beyond Iowa State's 40 just twice in their 41-7 loss, and N.C. State advanced beyond Florida State's 40 just once in a 34-0 loss.

14: Points scored by Virginia Tech in their first three drives against Duke. They gained 201 yards in 24 plays (8.4 per play) and looked ready to coast. However, they would not score again and had to rely on three missed Duke field goals (of 29, 38 and 57 yards) to avoid the upset. Tech quarterback Logan Thomas has oscillated between fantastic and baffling in his first year as the Hokies' starter. (In other words, he's looked like a first-year starter.)

18: Yardage margin from the first half of Oklahoma State's 59-24 win over Baylor. OSU outgained Baylor just 304-286 in the first two quarters, but three Baylor turnovers and two turnovers on downs allowed the 'Pokes to build an enormous, 35-0 halftime lead. For the game, Baylor actually outgained Oklahoma State, 622-601, but in fairness, they also ran 42 more plays (105 to 63).

24.6: Value, in equivalent points (as defined here), of the five turnovers committed by Colorado in their 48-14 loss to Arizona State. Three of the turnovers came inside the ASU 40, and when combined with the fact that ASU gained 222 yards (11.7 per play) and scored 21 points on their first four drives ... yeah, this one was over quickly. The Buffs were one-upped, however, by UAB; the Blazers committed five turnovers worth 30.7 equivalent points in their 59-14 loss to Marshall.

27: Yards gained by Kansas State in the second half of their 58-17 loss to Oklahoma. The Wildcats trailed just 23-17 at halftime thanks to a couple of interceptions and Collin Klein's sturdy legs, but they were just obliterated after halftime. Oklahoma gained 378 yards (11.8 per play) and scored 35 points, and KSU folded, gaining just 1.0 yards per play over 27 plays.

31: Points scored by Georgia Tech over the span of five consecutive drives in their 31-17 win over Clemson. In their first two and final five drives of the game, the Yellow Jackets gained 117 yards in 37 snaps (3.2 per play) and scored zero points. In the five drives in the middle, they gained 325 yards (8.6 per play). This was enough to get past a scuffling Clemson team undergoing its own momentum shifts. CU gained 132 yards (3.8 per play) in the first half, surged to 217 yards and 17 points in three second-half drives, then gained 40 yards and turned the ball over twice in their final three drives.

82: Yards generated by Oregon freshmen De'Anthony Thomas and Tra Carson in just eight touches (six rushes for 38 yards, two catches for 54 yards and a touchdown) during the Ducks' 43-28 win over Washington State. Kenjon Barner rushed for 107 yards, but with quarterback Darron Thomas (two interceptions) and LaMichael James (4.1 yards per carry) both struggling to shake off rust, the Ducks needed someone else to step up. They scored touchdowns via blocked punt return and kickoff return, and along with the contributions from the youngsters, that was enough to stave off what would have been a catastrophic result.

84: Length of the two passes that have redefined Wisconsin's season. The Badgers were looking at overtime in East Lansing before Michigan State's Kirk Cousins found Keith Nichol on a 44-yard Hail Mary; then, the Badgers were looking at outright victory in Columbus until Ohio State's Braxton Miller found Devin Smith for a 40-yard bomb in the final minute of the Buckeyes' 33-29 win. Now, instead of competing for a spot in the national title game, the Badgers now only own the "Best two-loss team" title.

94: Length of Jerry Franklin's fumble return in Arkansas' 31-28 win over Vanderbilt. The Arkansas linebacker had a hell of a game overall (8.5 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and the aforementioned touchdown), but the game was defined more by Vandy miscues than Arkansas accomplishments. The Commodores were driving to go up by two touchdowns in the second half when underrated running back Zac Stacy (who had 22 touches for 179 yards and could squeeze out quite a few all-conference votes) fumbled near the goal line. Franklin's fumble return gave Arkansas new life, and they held on to win when Vandy's Carey Spear missed a chipshot, 27-yard field goal with eight seconds left.

151: Yards gained by Washington in the fourth quarter of their 42-31 win over Arizona. The game was tied at 28-28 heading into the final 15 minutes, but while Washington executed well (20 plays, 151 yards, 14 points), Arizona fell apart (15 plays, 70 yards, three turnovers). Arizona has been quite the "almost" team this year. Their last three losses have all come by 11 points or fewer, and they were within a touchdown of the lead in the fourth quarter of all three games.

182: Combined yards generated by Virginia's Perry Jones in the Cavaliers' 28-21 upset of Miami. Jones was the triple threat of the week, rushing for 67 yards in 12 carries, catching a 78-yard touchdown pass, and throwing a 37-yard touchdown pass. How he wasn't also returning punts and kickoffs, I have no idea. The country isn't ready for a quintuple threat, evidently. Of course, Auburn's Michael Dyer and Michigan's Fitzgerald Toussaint did almost the same damage in just one dimension. Dyer rushed for 177 yards in 27 carries as Auburn pulled away from Ole Miss after halftime in a 41-23 win. Meanwhile, Toussaint rushed for 170 yards on just 20 carries as the Wolverines overcame a couple of early turnovers to easily push by Purdue, 36-14.

305: Yards gained by San Diego State's great Ronnie Hillman (224 rushing yards in 25 carries, 81 yards in two receptions, three combined touchdowns) against Wyoming. And the Aztecs lost (30-27) anyway! UW's freshman quarterback, Brett Smith, torched SDSU for 341 passing yards, 42 rushing yards and four combined touchdowns as the Cowboys surged ahead early (all of their points came in their first six drives), then held on for dear life.

538: Combined passing yards (including sacks) generated in 208 attempts by the following quarterbacks: Nebraska's Taylor Martinez, Michigan State's Kirk Cousins, Kansas' Jordan Webb, Kansas State's Collin Klein, Navy's Trey Miller, Tennessee's Mark Simms and Justin Worley, Penn State's Matt McGloin and Rob Bolden, South Carolina's Connor Shaw and Memphis' Taylor Reed and Andy Summerlin. Their combined stat line: 78-for-182, 699 yards, five touchdowns, five interceptions and 26 sacks for 161 yards. Combined per-attempt average: 2.6 yards. Why is this notable? Because Houston's Case Keenum generated 532 yards and nine touchdowns in just 38 attempts (14.0 yards per attempt) on Thursday night.

1,197: Combined yards gained by Nevada and New Mexico State in Nevada's 48-34 win. Nevada gained 683 of them, 414 in the second half alone. This slightly beats what Northwestern and Indiana managed; the Wildcats and Hoosiers gained 1,104 yards in Northwestern's 59-38 win; Northwestern gained 412 of those in the first half. (Central Florida and Memphis, meanwhile, combined for just 345 yards in their entire game.)