Hawaii Upsets Colorado, Boise State Beats Wash, Mich State Holds Off W. Mich

The Associated Press
The Associated Press

The Charlotte 49ers emerged (1-0 all-time in FBS play) victorious over Georgia State (0-23 all-time) in a battle of perhaps the two worst teams in FBS.

Top-to-bottom, CUSA is on a roll, with three great showings Thursday and then a win by its worst team on Friday. Hawaii dealt the Pac-12 a blow with a win over Colorado prior to the marque game in which Washington fell just short, 16-13, on the blue field at No. 23 Boise State.

Give the Pac-12 credit for taking road games early, but Colorado’s loss 28-20 upset loss at Hawaii does hurt the conference. Boise State fans called Washington’s visit their biggest opener ever. Boise State dominated early, but the Huskies ran back a punt for a TD to get back in the game and then squandered a potential game-tying situation in sending a field goal sailing just left.

Michigan State did not look like the national contender they hoped to be, but they did pull out a 37-24 road win at Western Michigan. The ACC has exceeded expectations in every game played this season, with Syracuse drubbing Rhode Island 47-0.

Charlotte’s Matt Johnson went 19 of 32 for 244 yards to lead the 49ers to a 23-20 win. The 49ers did not even field a football team in 2012, but returned a fumble for a touchdown early and led 23-6. However, Georgia State’s Nick Arbuckled hit Penny Hart on a 53-yard touchdown pass in the closing minute and Georgia State missed a great chance at an onside kick that would have given them a chance to get their first ever FBS win (SBNation footage here).

The chart of Friday night’s games below includes how many points the conference is better or worse than the average, the team’s chance of winning at www.masseyratings.com, and the square root of the final margin of victory or defeat and whether that margin exceeded the square root of the expected result to determine if the game was a good one for the conference or not.

Conf Team (Away unless noted) Chance Final Final All Sqrt Exceed Opponent
ACC +7 Syracuse (home) 100% 47 0 6.9 1.0 Rhode Island
Amer -7 SMU (home) 1% 21 56 -5.9 -0.1 Baylor
Big 12 +9 Baylor 99% 56 21 5.9 0.1 SMU (home)
Big Ten +7 Illinois (home) 87% 0.0 -4.1 Kent
Big Ten +7 Michigan St 95% 37 24 3.6 -1.5 W Michigan (home)
CUSA – 9 Charlotte 33% 23 20 1.7 4.4 Georgia St (home)
ind +0 Army (home) 66% 35 37 -1.4 -3.9 Fordham
Mid-Am -13 Kent 13% 0.0 4.1 Illinois (home)
Mid-Am -13 W Michigan (home) 5% 24 37 -3.6 1.5 Michigan St
Mt West -6 Hawaii (home) 34% 28 20 2.8 5.3 Colorado
Mt. West -6 Boise St (home) 54% 16 13 1.7 0.0 Washington
Pac 12 +11 Colorado 66% 20 28 -2.8 -5.3 Hawaii (home)
Pac 12 +11 Oregon St (home) 98% 26 7 4.4 -1.2 Weber St
Pac 12 +11 Washington 46% 13 16 -1.7 0.0 Boise St (home)
SunB -14 Georgia St (home) 67% 20 23 -1.7 -4.4 Charlotte

A bigger slate of games will be held Saturday.

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