CI Week 6 Highlights

Please find highlights from Week 6 below:

Through their first four games, the Chargers played three home games in a setting that was far from friendly. Throughout it all, the players and coaching staff have delivered a consistent message - win games and the people of Los Angeles will start to embrace the team. The Chargers took a big first step in that direction in East Rutherford. RB Melvin Gordon and LB Melvin Ingram, or "M and M" as they have dubbed themselves, came through in big ways to lead Los Angeles to a 27-22 victory. Gordon rushed for 105 yards and caught a team-high six passes for 58 yards and two touchdowns to lead the offense while Ingram registered six tackles and two sacks. Ingram also forced a fumble that he recovered himself to setup Gordon's second touchdown reception which proved to be the winning score. It's little surprise that Gordon, who entered the year with two career touchdown receptions, is making strides in the passing game considering the background of his new position coach. Alfredo Roberts joined the Chargers this year as the team's running backs coach following 13 years as a tight ends coach with Indianapolis, Tampa Bay, Cleveland and Jacksonville. With the Browns, he coached Kellen Winslow to the 2007 Pro Bowl. As a player, Roberts won two national championships at the University of Miami and two Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys.

MSU QB Brian Lewerke's father had a valuable piece of advice before the Spartans' clash with the Wolverines. Having surveyed the forecast, the elder Lewerke encouraged his son to score as many points as he could in the first half before the rain arrived in Ann Arbor. No doubt Co-Offensive Coordinator/TE Jim Bollman (@CoachJimBollman) was also aware of the weather report and helped construct a perfect offensive game plan that produced touchdown drives on two of the Spartans' first four possessions to go up 14-3. The score remained the same as the teams went into halftime and by the time they returned to the field, monsoon-like conditions had set in. MSU didn't score in the second half but its offense took control of the game with methodical, ball controlling drives. While Michigan continued in vain to throw the ball and ended up committing five turnovers, Lewerke and RB Madre London led an MSU offense that rushed for 158 yards and didn't turn the ball over once. With the win, the Spartans improved to 4-1 and have now defeated their archrival eight times in their last 10 meetings. Congratulations to Bollman who has lived life atop the Big Ten for the better part of the last two decades! Prior to helping the Spartans claim two Big Ten titles since he rejoined the program in 2013, he coordinated an Ohio State offense that won seven conference championships and five BCS bowl games, including the 2002 national championship, between 2001-11.

In 11 seasons as a head coach before this year, Danny Rocco has never had a losing record. Now in his first season at the helm for Delaware, he looks poised to improve the streak to 12. The Blue Hens improved to 3-2 but not before rallying on the road against a top 25 team. After Stony Brook jumped out to a 20-7 halftime lead, Rocco made clear to his players that their first half effort wouldn't get the job done. The message was received by the players and Offensive Coordinator/QB Matt Simon (@RBsSaySimonSays) was able to jumpstart his offense by bringing QB J.P. Caruso off the bench. Caruso showed his dual threat abilities as he ran for 65 yards and added 80 yards and a touchdown on seven pass completions. Defensively, CB Malcolm Brown produced one of the biggest plays of the game when he returned a fumble 45 yards for a score to cut the deficit to 20-17. RB Kani Kane capped off the rally when he scored from six yards out early in the fourth quarter to give Delaware its first lead of the game. Congratulations to Rocco and Simon on the comeback! Rocco arrived in Newark following five seasons as the head coach at Richmond where he led the Spiders to playoff appearances in each of the last three years. Prior to arriving at Richmond, he served as the head coach at Liberty for six years where he won four Big South Championships. Simon joined Rocco following six seasons as the running backs coach and special teams coordinator at the University of Buffalo where he helped the Bulls set several new rushing records. He is one of a select group of coaches who have won a college national championship (Washington - 1991) and a Super Bowl (Baltimore - 2000). Simon also served as the head coach at North Texas from 1994-97.

When Mason Miller (@NV_CoachMiller) accepted the offensive line job at Nevada, he knew the Wolf Pack could be facing a rocky start. A former head coach himself, Miller recognized that a first-time head coach and several young assistants who had not previously worked together would need time to get in sync with one another and the players. As Miller saw it, the key for Nevada would be not deviating from their initial plan knowing that positive results would come in time. If Saturday night's game versus Hawai'i was any indication, Nevada is beginning to turn the corner. The Wolf Pack rode career nights from QB Ty Gangi and RB Kelton Moore in rolling to a 35-21 win over the Rainbow Warriors. Moore had 19 carries for 216 yards to go along with five receptions for 46 yards and one touchdown. Gangi completed 25-of-32 passes for 278 yards and accounted for five touchdowns, four passing and one rushing. The Union, as Nevada's offensive line is known, had a great night opening holes for Moore in the running game and not giving up a sack in pass protection. One of the pioneers of the Air Raid Offense, Miller led one of the top performing offenses in the country from 2014-16 as the offensive coordinator at Tarleton State following a stint as the head coach at McMurry in 2013. As the offensive line coach at Southeastern Louisiana, Miller and the legendary Hal Mumme resurrected a program that had not fielded a football team in nearly two decades. In just their second season, the duo led the Lions to the #1 offense in Division 1-AA in 2004.

In 2016, Lehigh's high-powered offense finished sixth in the FCS by averaging over 483 yards of offense per game. The Mountain Hawks were led by WR Troy Pelletier who finished atop the Patriot League in receptions and receiving yards and was named a finalist for the Walter Payton Award. Pelletier's position coach, Scott Brisson (@Scott_Brisson), is now the offensive coordinator and is having similar success on a larger scale. Lehigh increased its lead as the top offensive team in the Patriot League with a 41-38 win over Colgate in a back-and-forth affair that wasn't decided until the final minute. Not surprisingly, Pelletier turned out to be the hero for the Mountain Hawks as it was his 35-yard touchdown reception with 3:36 left in the fourth quarter that put Lehigh up for good after trailing 38-35. For the game, Pelletier finished with eight receptions for 132 yards while RB Dom Bragalone rushed for 186 yards in a balanced attack that racked up a total of 509 yards. Through six games, Lehigh is averaging 33 points per game and over 467 yards under Brisson's direction. Brisson is in the fourth year overall of his second stint with the Mountain Hawks. In between his tenures at Lehigh, he coordinated offenses at St. Lawrence and Lycoming.

Elsewhere in the Patriot League, Lafayette picked up its second upset in as many weeks with a 14-10 win over Fordham. The Leopards, who were picked to finish last in the league's preseason poll, are now 2-0 in conference games after knocking off the team picked by some to win the league. Saturday's performance wasn't always flashy, but Lafayette's offense came to life in the fourth quarter in support of its defense that had stifled one of the nation's top running backs. With the Leopards trailing 10-0 in the fourth quarter, QB Sean O'Malley and WR Rocco Palumbo connected for two scoring strikes to provide all the points the home team needed. O'Malley finished with 29 completions for 256 yards with Palumbo being his preferred target on the day as the senior receiver hauled in nine receptions for 129 yards. Congratulations to Lafayette OL Coach Gordie Sammis (@CoachSammis) who is in his first year in Easton after a two-year stint in the same role at VMI. Following his playing career at Virginia, Sammis joined the Cavalier staff as an offensive graduate assistant and went on to Columbia where he worked with the Lions' offensive line and tight ends for three years.