Week 10 is here and yet again I'm swamped with work and school. Therefore, you get what you got last week, a list and some pithy comments.
We all know the college football "Super Bowl" is this weekend, but I would keep an eye on the Texas A&M/Oklahoma game. A few weeks ago, it would have been a gimme to Oklahoma, but they have proven they can lose at home against a team with a good offense.
Kansas State could have a nasty surprise for Oklahoma State, thereby taking us one step closer to Boise State in the National Championship Game. Excuse me while I throw up at that thought.
I also think we finally see the wheels come flying off South Carolina. No Marcus Lattimore means they are relying completely on their defense. That won't work against Arkansas. Anyway, see you all next week, here's the Touchdown:
1) No. 1 LSU at No. 2 Alabama – 8:00 PM on CBS
2) No. 14 Kansas State at No. 3 Oklahoma State – 8:00 PM on ABC
3) No. 9 South Carolina at No. 7 Arkansas – 7:15 PM on ESPN
4) Texas A&M at No. 6 Oklahoma – 3:30 PM on ABC
5) Texas Tech at No. 21 Texas – 12:00 PM on FX
6) Purdue at No. 20 Wisconsin – 3:30 PM on ABC
Extra Point:
Blocked by a surprising aggressive special teams play.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Friday, October 28, 2011
Trent's Touchdown: Six Week 9 College Football Games to Watch
Unfortunately, I had an extremely busy week so I can only give the good games and not my normal rundown. I will say I was happy with the loss by Oklahoma last week as it helps out Clemson in their improbable run to the National Championship Game.
Keep an eye on the Clemson game, as they always have issues with Georgia Tech. I also think Michigan State keeps the pressure up. They aren't the same team that lost to Notre Dame earlier in the season.
Oh yeah, a big, fat middle finger to Bleacher Report. They keep screwing with my articles and never fix any of the errors they make. I would lace the rest of this with profanity, but I'm better than that. Oh wait, no I'm not. PISS OFF ASS CLOWNS! Anyway, on to the pseudo-Touchdown:
1) No. 9 Oklahoma at No. 8 Kansas State – 3:30 PM on ESPN
2) No. 11 Michigan State at No. 14 Nebraska – 12:00 on ESPN
3) No. 5 Clemson at Georgia Tech – 8:00 PM on ABC
4) No. 6 Stanford at USC – 8:00 PM on ABC
5) No. 15 Wisconsin at Ohio State – 8:00 PM on ESPN
6) No. 22 Georgia vs. Florida – 3:30 PM on CBS
Extra Point:
Lesson to all NFL and college quarterbacks. When you have only one play left, don't throw it out of bounds or to the underneath receiver and hope for another Music City Miracle. Throw it deep to the endzone and hope for the best. It worked for Michigan State.
Keep an eye on the Clemson game, as they always have issues with Georgia Tech. I also think Michigan State keeps the pressure up. They aren't the same team that lost to Notre Dame earlier in the season.
Oh yeah, a big, fat middle finger to Bleacher Report. They keep screwing with my articles and never fix any of the errors they make. I would lace the rest of this with profanity, but I'm better than that. Oh wait, no I'm not. PISS OFF ASS CLOWNS! Anyway, on to the pseudo-Touchdown:
1) No. 9 Oklahoma at No. 8 Kansas State – 3:30 PM on ESPN
2) No. 11 Michigan State at No. 14 Nebraska – 12:00 on ESPN
3) No. 5 Clemson at Georgia Tech – 8:00 PM on ABC
4) No. 6 Stanford at USC – 8:00 PM on ABC
5) No. 15 Wisconsin at Ohio State – 8:00 PM on ESPN
6) No. 22 Georgia vs. Florida – 3:30 PM on CBS
Extra Point:
Lesson to all NFL and college quarterbacks. When you have only one play left, don't throw it out of bounds or to the underneath receiver and hope for another Music City Miracle. Throw it deep to the endzone and hope for the best. It worked for Michigan State.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Trent's Touchdown: Six Week 8 College Football Games to Watch
Here we are at Week 8 of the college football season. Of course, that means that the first BCS standings came out last weekend, but we can get into that later. We have a large slate of conference matchups to look into to, so on to the Touchdown:
1) No. 6 Wisconsin at No. 16 Michigan State – 8:00 PM on ESPN
For all you Wisconsin fans out there, this game is the first time you can actually see if your team is any good. There is no better way to be tested than on the road, in conference, against a particularly nasty defense.
Wisconsin has been absolutely rolling this year, but you need to take their success with a grain of salt. They have played all but one game at home (neutral field against Northern Illinois) and the only quality opponent was an over-hyped Nebraska team that nearly lost at home to Ohio State.
The Badgers do have all the pieces needed that make a Championship team, but we just don’t know if they are actually that good. I’m a huge fan of Russell Wilson, but his numbers were never anywhere near this good when he was at North Carolina State.
Of course, part of his success has to be all the offensive weapons he has at his disposal. Nick Toon is one of the better receivers in the Big Ten and Montee Ball is the best running back in the conference. That will help out any quarterback, even Dayne Crist.
The Spartans, on the other hand, have had a few challenges this year, losing on the road to Notre Dame, but beating Ohio State in Columbus and defeating Michigan at home last week. What was most impressive was the fact that they made Denard Robinson look bad before knocking him out of the game.
The problem all year for Michigan State has been their offense. Kirk Cousins has been steady, but his success last year was due in part to the running game. The running game had been pretty bad for the Spartans before Edwin Baker blew up for 167 yards against Michigan. When the running game is clicking, Cousins can get comfortable and make the throws he needs.
Part of me wants to pick Wisconsin because of MSU’s offensive struggles and the Badgers stifling defense. However, that defense has not faced any real opponents. Michigan State narrowly edges out Wisconsin at home, probably in the last minute.
2) No. 25 Washington at No. 8 Stanford – 8:00 PM on ABC
Wait a minute; Stanford is actually playing a meaningful game before the November 12th showdown against Oregon? The post-Jake Locker Huskies are surprising a lot of people.
This game is actually hard to judge because Stanford hasn’t faced any competition and Washington has only faced Nebraska on the road (and got beaten). You can say that Stanford has an amazing run defense, but I don’t see guys like Juwan Thompson of Duke or Keola Antolin from Arizona lighting the world on fire.
The Stanford run defense will have its hands full with Chris Polk, one of the best running backs in the Pac-12. He is averaging just over 120 yards a game and helps keep the pressure off of Keith Price. Price has been flying under the radar, but he can easily get into a rhythm and will pick apart a defense if given time.
Everyone knows about Andrew Luck, so it seems like a waste to go over all he has going for him. The one thing that needs to be of concern to the Huskie defense is that he doesn’t turn the ball over (6 to 1 touchdown to interception ratio). If Washington wants to win, they need turnovers. Look for the Cardinals to let Stepfan Taylor run the ball so Washington can’t just play the pass.
I actually think it’ll be closer than the point spread thinks it’ll be. Washington can hang around and frustrate Stanford for most of the game, but I think Luck is just too much to handle. Stanford wins, but people will start to take Washington seriously.
3) No. 20 Auburn at No. 1 LSU – 3:30 on CBS
This game just got a heck of a lot more interesting after three players for LSU got suspended for allegedly testing positive for synthetic pot. Off the subject, but what exactly is synthetic pot and how does it differ from the real thing?
So, LSU is now without superstar Tyrann Mathieu, leading rusher Spencer Ware, and reverse defensive back Tharold Simon. This might be a huge issue if this game was against Alabama, but this is Auburn we are talking about.
I’m not trying to diss Auburn, but quarterback Clint Moseley is getting his first collegiate start against LSU. Ask Jacoby Brissett of Florida and Matt Simms of Tennessee how the experience worked out for them. Of course, those changes were due to injury, not ineptitude of the previous starting quarterback.
Moseley does have one saving grace in running back Michael Dyer. Dyer is one of the better running backs in the SEC and did reasonably well against LSU last year. However, last year the key playmaker was Cam Newton.
Offensively, LSU is going to do what it always does, which is slowly and steadily move the ball. The whole LSU philosophy is to slowly break down the other teams will to compete. Expect Jarrett Lee and Jordan Jefferson to grind it out, play a field position game, and not make any stupid mistakes.
I’m actually surprised that the point spread of 21 is not higher. Auburn is going to make dumb mistakes and they are going to turn the ball over. LSU will capitalize on these mistakes. I don’t think LSU will blow them out, but I don’t think it’ll be as close at the score will suggest.
4) No. 4 Oklahoma State at Missouri – 12:00 PM on FX
I promise that this is going to be the last time that I try and sing the praises of Missouri. But when you’re talking about a tough road game for a highly ranked team, I have to write about it.
Oklahoma State has shown no signs of slowing down all year. Even when Brandon Weeden looked human last week against Texas, the team still scored a bunch of points and gained a bunch of yards. With the passing game faltering, the running game and special teams were able to step up to score points.
We also can’t overlook the Cowboys defense. They aren’t great, but they were able to control the Texas offense enough to give Oklahoma State the victory. You don’t always have to be the best, just good enough.
Missouri has multiple ways to test a defense, but they thrive at running the ball, behind running back Henry Posey and quarterback James Franklin. Franklin is also pretty good throwing the ball too, even if he has been throwing to the other team recently (3 of his 4 interceptions have been in the last two games.
Oklahoma State is going to need Weeden to get back to form in order to win at Missouri. That said, I think he does get back on track. However, Missouri has been able to keep their three losses this season close, including a ten point loss to Oklahoma in Norman. Expect another close one, but the Cowboys pull it out in the end.
5) North Carolina at No. 7 Clemson – 12:00 PM on ESPN
After a close call on the road against Maryland, Clemson gets to go home and face a tough North Carolina team. The last thing UNC needed was for wide receiver Dwight Jones to open his yap and motivate the Tigers.
For those of you who don’t know, when Jones was asked about who the best receiver in the ACC was, he said himself. He then went on to explain that Clemson star receiver Sammy Watkins is just a speedster while Jones has more technique and experience. Way to get off on the right foot.
While I like Watkins, I think we should hold off on the C.J. Spiller comparisons until at least his sophomore year. If he’s still taking kick-off returns the distance and pretty much carrying his team to victory, then we start tossing Spiller’s name around.
Everyone has been talking about the explosive offense of Clemson lead by Tajh Boyd, but Byrn Renner is probably the best quarterback in the ACC. His completion percentage and passer rating are the highest in the conference and he hasn’t thrown an interception in October. It also helps he has one of the better wide receivers in the ACC (the previously mentioned Jones) to throw to.
Renner’s big problem is that he doesn’t get enough time to throw the ball. The offensive line is suspect on pass protection and could be the issue for the Tar Heels’. If Clemson is able to shut down running back Giovanni Bernard, it could be a long game from Renner.
As far as Clemson is concerned, they need to work on the defensive issues from last week’s debacle in Maryland. They should be okay since Renner isn’t a running quarterback like C.J. Brown last week. The Tigers should be fine offensively with Boyd, Watkins, Andre Ellington and Dwayne Allen at their skill positions.
Clemson will be challenged by North Carolina, but I fully expect the Tigers to beat them, so long as they don’t look ahead to the showdown with Georgia Tech next week.
6) USC at Notre Dame – 7:30 on NBC
Remember the 2005 USC/Notre Dame matchup that featured Matt Leinhart and Brady Quinn? It ended up being one of the best college football games I’ve ever seen.
This year, we get Matt Barkley and Tommy Rees battling it out to see who can throw this game away. While the smart money is on Rees, never underestimate Matt Barkley’s ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Extra Point:
The first BCS standings of the year have come out and you know what that means. We get tons of articles debating and dissecting the standings. I really don’t have too much of an issue with it for right now. Yes, I think Clemson is a little undervalued and Wisconsin and Boise State are a little overrated, but it’s still early.
Right now, I think we can all agree that whichever two teams of the top four go undefeated deserve to play in the National Championship. While I may be a huge Clemson fan, I accept that an undefeated LSU and an undefeated Oklahoma State deserve to play in the National Championship over an undefeated Clemson.
The same goes for Boise State, Wisconsin, and Stanford. While they may not play in the toughest conferences, their out of conferences schedules are laughable. I’m not going to give Wisconsin, with out of conference foes UNLV and South Dakota, a place over LSU, with out of conference games against Oregon and West Virginia.
However, the rankings actually mean very little right now. We know that at least two of the top 4 will have one loss. We also know that college football is a whacky sport and anything and everything is possible. I could see any team in the top ten emerge to play in the National Championship Game and I wouldn’t be surprised.
It’ll get really fun if there are a bunch of one loss teams at the end of the season and see how that plays out. Even though we all like to complain, most of the time the BCS gets the top two teams correct. As much as I would love a playoff, we would then get into arguments about the teams on outside looking in. Of course, it’s not college football without controversy.
1) No. 6 Wisconsin at No. 16 Michigan State – 8:00 PM on ESPN
For all you Wisconsin fans out there, this game is the first time you can actually see if your team is any good. There is no better way to be tested than on the road, in conference, against a particularly nasty defense.
Wisconsin has been absolutely rolling this year, but you need to take their success with a grain of salt. They have played all but one game at home (neutral field against Northern Illinois) and the only quality opponent was an over-hyped Nebraska team that nearly lost at home to Ohio State.
The Badgers do have all the pieces needed that make a Championship team, but we just don’t know if they are actually that good. I’m a huge fan of Russell Wilson, but his numbers were never anywhere near this good when he was at North Carolina State.
Of course, part of his success has to be all the offensive weapons he has at his disposal. Nick Toon is one of the better receivers in the Big Ten and Montee Ball is the best running back in the conference. That will help out any quarterback, even Dayne Crist.
The Spartans, on the other hand, have had a few challenges this year, losing on the road to Notre Dame, but beating Ohio State in Columbus and defeating Michigan at home last week. What was most impressive was the fact that they made Denard Robinson look bad before knocking him out of the game.
The problem all year for Michigan State has been their offense. Kirk Cousins has been steady, but his success last year was due in part to the running game. The running game had been pretty bad for the Spartans before Edwin Baker blew up for 167 yards against Michigan. When the running game is clicking, Cousins can get comfortable and make the throws he needs.
Part of me wants to pick Wisconsin because of MSU’s offensive struggles and the Badgers stifling defense. However, that defense has not faced any real opponents. Michigan State narrowly edges out Wisconsin at home, probably in the last minute.
2) No. 25 Washington at No. 8 Stanford – 8:00 PM on ABC
Wait a minute; Stanford is actually playing a meaningful game before the November 12th showdown against Oregon? The post-Jake Locker Huskies are surprising a lot of people.
This game is actually hard to judge because Stanford hasn’t faced any competition and Washington has only faced Nebraska on the road (and got beaten). You can say that Stanford has an amazing run defense, but I don’t see guys like Juwan Thompson of Duke or Keola Antolin from Arizona lighting the world on fire.
The Stanford run defense will have its hands full with Chris Polk, one of the best running backs in the Pac-12. He is averaging just over 120 yards a game and helps keep the pressure off of Keith Price. Price has been flying under the radar, but he can easily get into a rhythm and will pick apart a defense if given time.
Everyone knows about Andrew Luck, so it seems like a waste to go over all he has going for him. The one thing that needs to be of concern to the Huskie defense is that he doesn’t turn the ball over (6 to 1 touchdown to interception ratio). If Washington wants to win, they need turnovers. Look for the Cardinals to let Stepfan Taylor run the ball so Washington can’t just play the pass.
I actually think it’ll be closer than the point spread thinks it’ll be. Washington can hang around and frustrate Stanford for most of the game, but I think Luck is just too much to handle. Stanford wins, but people will start to take Washington seriously.
3) No. 20 Auburn at No. 1 LSU – 3:30 on CBS
This game just got a heck of a lot more interesting after three players for LSU got suspended for allegedly testing positive for synthetic pot. Off the subject, but what exactly is synthetic pot and how does it differ from the real thing?
So, LSU is now without superstar Tyrann Mathieu, leading rusher Spencer Ware, and reverse defensive back Tharold Simon. This might be a huge issue if this game was against Alabama, but this is Auburn we are talking about.
I’m not trying to diss Auburn, but quarterback Clint Moseley is getting his first collegiate start against LSU. Ask Jacoby Brissett of Florida and Matt Simms of Tennessee how the experience worked out for them. Of course, those changes were due to injury, not ineptitude of the previous starting quarterback.
Moseley does have one saving grace in running back Michael Dyer. Dyer is one of the better running backs in the SEC and did reasonably well against LSU last year. However, last year the key playmaker was Cam Newton.
Offensively, LSU is going to do what it always does, which is slowly and steadily move the ball. The whole LSU philosophy is to slowly break down the other teams will to compete. Expect Jarrett Lee and Jordan Jefferson to grind it out, play a field position game, and not make any stupid mistakes.
I’m actually surprised that the point spread of 21 is not higher. Auburn is going to make dumb mistakes and they are going to turn the ball over. LSU will capitalize on these mistakes. I don’t think LSU will blow them out, but I don’t think it’ll be as close at the score will suggest.
4) No. 4 Oklahoma State at Missouri – 12:00 PM on FX
I promise that this is going to be the last time that I try and sing the praises of Missouri. But when you’re talking about a tough road game for a highly ranked team, I have to write about it.
Oklahoma State has shown no signs of slowing down all year. Even when Brandon Weeden looked human last week against Texas, the team still scored a bunch of points and gained a bunch of yards. With the passing game faltering, the running game and special teams were able to step up to score points.
We also can’t overlook the Cowboys defense. They aren’t great, but they were able to control the Texas offense enough to give Oklahoma State the victory. You don’t always have to be the best, just good enough.
Missouri has multiple ways to test a defense, but they thrive at running the ball, behind running back Henry Posey and quarterback James Franklin. Franklin is also pretty good throwing the ball too, even if he has been throwing to the other team recently (3 of his 4 interceptions have been in the last two games.
Oklahoma State is going to need Weeden to get back to form in order to win at Missouri. That said, I think he does get back on track. However, Missouri has been able to keep their three losses this season close, including a ten point loss to Oklahoma in Norman. Expect another close one, but the Cowboys pull it out in the end.
5) North Carolina at No. 7 Clemson – 12:00 PM on ESPN
After a close call on the road against Maryland, Clemson gets to go home and face a tough North Carolina team. The last thing UNC needed was for wide receiver Dwight Jones to open his yap and motivate the Tigers.
For those of you who don’t know, when Jones was asked about who the best receiver in the ACC was, he said himself. He then went on to explain that Clemson star receiver Sammy Watkins is just a speedster while Jones has more technique and experience. Way to get off on the right foot.
While I like Watkins, I think we should hold off on the C.J. Spiller comparisons until at least his sophomore year. If he’s still taking kick-off returns the distance and pretty much carrying his team to victory, then we start tossing Spiller’s name around.
Everyone has been talking about the explosive offense of Clemson lead by Tajh Boyd, but Byrn Renner is probably the best quarterback in the ACC. His completion percentage and passer rating are the highest in the conference and he hasn’t thrown an interception in October. It also helps he has one of the better wide receivers in the ACC (the previously mentioned Jones) to throw to.
Renner’s big problem is that he doesn’t get enough time to throw the ball. The offensive line is suspect on pass protection and could be the issue for the Tar Heels’. If Clemson is able to shut down running back Giovanni Bernard, it could be a long game from Renner.
As far as Clemson is concerned, they need to work on the defensive issues from last week’s debacle in Maryland. They should be okay since Renner isn’t a running quarterback like C.J. Brown last week. The Tigers should be fine offensively with Boyd, Watkins, Andre Ellington and Dwayne Allen at their skill positions.
Clemson will be challenged by North Carolina, but I fully expect the Tigers to beat them, so long as they don’t look ahead to the showdown with Georgia Tech next week.
6) USC at Notre Dame – 7:30 on NBC
Remember the 2005 USC/Notre Dame matchup that featured Matt Leinhart and Brady Quinn? It ended up being one of the best college football games I’ve ever seen.
This year, we get Matt Barkley and Tommy Rees battling it out to see who can throw this game away. While the smart money is on Rees, never underestimate Matt Barkley’s ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Extra Point:
The first BCS standings of the year have come out and you know what that means. We get tons of articles debating and dissecting the standings. I really don’t have too much of an issue with it for right now. Yes, I think Clemson is a little undervalued and Wisconsin and Boise State are a little overrated, but it’s still early.
Right now, I think we can all agree that whichever two teams of the top four go undefeated deserve to play in the National Championship. While I may be a huge Clemson fan, I accept that an undefeated LSU and an undefeated Oklahoma State deserve to play in the National Championship over an undefeated Clemson.
The same goes for Boise State, Wisconsin, and Stanford. While they may not play in the toughest conferences, their out of conferences schedules are laughable. I’m not going to give Wisconsin, with out of conference foes UNLV and South Dakota, a place over LSU, with out of conference games against Oregon and West Virginia.
However, the rankings actually mean very little right now. We know that at least two of the top 4 will have one loss. We also know that college football is a whacky sport and anything and everything is possible. I could see any team in the top ten emerge to play in the National Championship Game and I wouldn’t be surprised.
It’ll get really fun if there are a bunch of one loss teams at the end of the season and see how that plays out. Even though we all like to complain, most of the time the BCS gets the top two teams correct. As much as I would love a playoff, we would then get into arguments about the teams on outside looking in. Of course, it’s not college football without controversy.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Trent's Touchdown: Six Week 7 College Football Games to Watch
Welcome to Week 7. Now that I’ve finally gotten used to all the realignment talk and NCAA violations scuttlebutt I hear every day, I know have to be on the look-out for injury updates on players like LaMichael James and Tajh Boyd.
Not only that, but I was shocked by the announcement that Stephen Garcia got booted from South Carolina. Okay, not so much shocked as bewildered. We can talk about Garcia and his issues later. Now, on to the Touchdown:
1) No. 11 Michigan at No. 23 Michigan State – 12:00 PM on ESPN
I remember last year’s match-up between Michigan State and Michigan fondly. Everyone was hyping Denard Robinson, then the Spartans smacked him down and everyone realized that he wasn’t that great. The same sort of thing is happening this year.
No doubt about the fact that Robinson is a dynamic player. I like to think of him as a horribly inaccurate version of Clemson’s Tajh Boyd. Thankfully, Michigan doesn’t count on Robinson to have to throw the ball very often. He has only thrown the ball more than 20 times twice this season and has three interceptions in both games. Not good numbers.
However, running the ball, Robinson is one of the best. He is in the top 10 in the FBS in rushing yards per game. He is allusive and speedy. The key to beating Michigan is containing Robinson and making him throw the ball. That is easier said than done.
Michigan State was able to contain Robinson last year and ended up winning. The Spartans defense is just as tough this year as they were last year. It also helps that they are very good at stopping the run. They should get Robinson to turn the ball over; it is just capitalizing on those mistakes that will be the issue.
The Spartans offense hasn’t been that great this year. After a monster year last year, Kirk Cousins hasn’t been that great. He’s been bitten by the interception bug in the last few games, including two in the nail-biter against Ohio State two weeks ago.
The running game for Michigan State has also been woeful. Le’Veon Bell and Edwin Baker are both better running backs than their numbers suggest. To put it in perspective, Denard Robinson has nearly two hundred more rushing yards on twelve less carries than Bell and Baker combined.
Michigan State is going to want to grind this one out while Michigan is going to want to run all over the field. I think the Michigan State defense is too good to let Robinson control this game. It’ll be close as always, but the Spartans pull it out at home.
2) No. 18 Arizona State at No. 9 Oregon – 10:15 PM on ESPN
Arizona State looks like they have found a way to stop LaMichael James. They let Cal injure his elbow. While there is still doubt on whether James will play, there is no doubt Oregon is still the favorite in this one.
After the loss to LSU to start the season, we haven’t been hearing too much about the Ducks. They have just been going along and steady dismantling teams. With their big playmaker sidelined, look for Kenjon Baker and De’Anthony Thomas to get the ball more. Also, Darron Thomas is going to have to keep doing what he always does, lead the offense and move the ball.
Arizona State has a good offense that relies on the arm of Brock Osweiler. While is touchdown to interception ratio is nearly 2 for 1, he may not have to worry about that. Oregon has been having troubles creating turnovers. He does throw his interceptions in bunches, with all six coming in only three of ASU’s games.
There are only two real ways to beat Oregon. The first is to play a physical, defensive game. This was the type seen by Auburn and LSU. The second is to let it dissolve into a shoot-out and hope for the defense to step up once. The shoot-out strategy hasn’t been successful in the past, but could work this year with the weakened Oregon defense.
Arizona State does not have the ability to play either one of those styles. I like ASU, I think they will be in the Pac 12 Championship Game, but they don’t have the ability this year to hang with either Oregon or Stanford.
The only saving grace for the Sun Devils is that fact that James is probably out. That said, Oregon still have a lot of playmakers on offense. Couple that with the fact that the game is in Oregon and this game is starting to look bad for ASU. I don’t think ASU will get blown away, since Oregon will still be getting used to no LaMichael James. I think the Ducks win by two touchdowns.
3) No. 20 Baylor at No. 21 Texas A&M – 12:00 PM on FX
How do you come back from back-to-back second half gag-jobs against ranked opponents? Barely hold off a third straight second half gag-job on the road, that’s how. Aggie fans had to be a little leery during last weeks Texas Tech/Texas A&M game.
If you like lots and lots of offense and don’t want to be bogged down with pesky things like defense, then this is the game for you.
Baylor has one of the best quarterbacks in the nation in Robert Griffin III. His completion percentage is over 80 percent, he has 19 passing touchdowns compared to 1 interception, and he is a very good running quarterback.
Texas A&M, on the other hand, is led by the underrated Ryan Tannehill, who has had some issues keeping the ball out of opponent’s hands. Tannehill also has the ability to take off and gain yards with his feet. While his team did choke away two leads, he did take both Oklahoma State and Arkansas to the brink.
The problem with this game is the defense. Texas A&M has a woeful defense, probably the worst in the country. They give up too many yards at the worst possible times. They nearly folded completely against Texas Tech last week. When you are facing a quarterback like Griffin and you want to win, you need to be perfect.
This game will dissolve into a shoot-out quickly. You can expect both teams to move up and down the field with relative ease. However, I have to think that Baylor can make more plays down the stretch to pull this out.
4) No. 6 Oklahoma State at No. 22 Texas – 3:30 PM on ABC
Wait, the Texas Longhorns have to face a high octane offensive team from the state of Oklahoma? Didn’t this happen last week?
Anyone who saw the drubbing of Texas last weeks knows the team needs a little help. A good old fashion shoot-out might be just want the doctor ordered. The Longhorns have a good offense, but they are young and are going to make dumb mistakes against quality defenses, as we saw in the Red River Shootout.
The Achilles Heel of Oklahoma State is the defense. It gets overlooked because the Cowboys pour on the points against opponents. The defense gives up, on average, close to 28 points a game. Against a team like Oklahoma, with offensive and defensive balance, this is going to be a huge issue.
Texas, along with a young offensive, has a young and inexperienced defense. A veteran quarterback like Brandon Weeden should be able to pick apart the defense; much like Landry Jones did last week. What Texas needs to do is try and stop the aerial assault, either through tight coverage or a pass rush.
You are going to see a lot of points scored in this game. Texas is going to need a lot of help from its defense if it expects to stay in this game. I think the Cowboys win by at least two touchdowns.
5) No. 19 Virginia Tech at Wake Forest – 6:30 PM on ESPN3
Normally, I don’t like to write about or even think about Virginia Tech football. The main reason is they just play an ugly style of football. It’s effective, just not fun to watch. However, I’m here to pump the tires of the flavor of the week: Wake Forest.
Before we start anointing the Demon Deacons the next ACC Champion, let’s first remember that they lost to Syracuse and their victories have not been against quality opponents. Before Seminoles fans start screaming at me, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, FSU is a paper tiger.
Now, it’s not all bad for Wake Forest. They have one of the most underrated quarterbacks in the country in Tanner Price. Price doesn’t turn the ball over and can sling it all over the field. He could use a bit more help from his running game, but Josh Harris has been improving every week.
As for Virginia Tech, before we start saying that Logan Thomas has arrived, remember his career day last week was against Miami. He is still the same quarterback who looked absolutely pathetic against a still improving Clemson defense and on the road against East Carolina.
Thomas is going to have to be the man in this game for the Hokies to win, considering the Demon Deacons are one of the better teams against the run. David Wilson will still get a lot of carries and a fair number of yards, but Virginia Tech cannot count on him to win the game for them.
For Thomas to truly silence the critics, he is going to have to have a good game against Wake Forest. He will pale in comparison to Price, but he cannot simply give up like he did against Clemson. Wake Forest is going to just attack that Hokie defense, continuing to pass all game long hoping something will stick.
Virginia Tech has yet to have a quality road test this year. This will be a close one, but I think Wake Forest can squeeze out a victory at home.
6) Ohio State at No. 16 Illinois – 3:30 PM on ABC
Talk about two teams on different paths. Illinois is undefeated and looking to make serious waves in the Big Ten. Ohio State can’t get out of its own way. The Illini are bowl eligible while the Buckeyes are going to struggle to break .500. Not a fun time to be an Ohio State fan, but finally a reason to cheer as an Illinois fan.
Extra Point:
Last week I wrote about the feel good story of Russell Wilson. Today, I’ll tell you the tale of Stephen Garcia and wasted talent.
It’s not very often that a top 25 team and odds on favorite to win their division boots their starting senior quarterback off the team, but that is exactly what South Carolina did this week. According to sources, Garcia tested positive for marijuana and alcohol. While Garcia is over the age limit for alcohol, he stated he would not to drink as part of an agreement he made with the school following his fifth suspension.
Yes, you read that correct, fifth suspension. He has violated numerous “team rules”, with an incident involving girls in his hotel room after curfew before a bowl game and an incident involving a life skills and leadership seminar. Those were just the recent problems, he had run-ins with the police during his freshman year for public drunkenness, keying a professor’s car, and pulling a fire alarm.
The main problem with Garcia was that it just seemed like he didn’t give a crap about anything. He was given numerous opportunities to succeed and didn’t follow through. Plus, his play was always very erratic. You never knew if you were going to get the guy who beat defending champion Alabama in 2010 or the guy who completed less than 40 percent of his passes and had two interceptions against Auburn in 2011.
It was a running gag for me to mention week after week how bad Garcia was, even calling for his benching before the Auburn game. However, I figured he would be with the team all season. I just figured he was pulling a Jevan Snead, where he just fell to pieces in his final season. Turns out he just couldn’t leave his troubled past behind.
So, Gamecock fans now get to root for Connor Shaw, who so far has been able to stay out of trouble. As for Garcia, he gets to wonder where it all went wrong while trying out for teams in the Arena Football League and the United Football League. After all, he’s going to need beer money.
Not only that, but I was shocked by the announcement that Stephen Garcia got booted from South Carolina. Okay, not so much shocked as bewildered. We can talk about Garcia and his issues later. Now, on to the Touchdown:
1) No. 11 Michigan at No. 23 Michigan State – 12:00 PM on ESPN
I remember last year’s match-up between Michigan State and Michigan fondly. Everyone was hyping Denard Robinson, then the Spartans smacked him down and everyone realized that he wasn’t that great. The same sort of thing is happening this year.
No doubt about the fact that Robinson is a dynamic player. I like to think of him as a horribly inaccurate version of Clemson’s Tajh Boyd. Thankfully, Michigan doesn’t count on Robinson to have to throw the ball very often. He has only thrown the ball more than 20 times twice this season and has three interceptions in both games. Not good numbers.
However, running the ball, Robinson is one of the best. He is in the top 10 in the FBS in rushing yards per game. He is allusive and speedy. The key to beating Michigan is containing Robinson and making him throw the ball. That is easier said than done.
Michigan State was able to contain Robinson last year and ended up winning. The Spartans defense is just as tough this year as they were last year. It also helps that they are very good at stopping the run. They should get Robinson to turn the ball over; it is just capitalizing on those mistakes that will be the issue.
The Spartans offense hasn’t been that great this year. After a monster year last year, Kirk Cousins hasn’t been that great. He’s been bitten by the interception bug in the last few games, including two in the nail-biter against Ohio State two weeks ago.
The running game for Michigan State has also been woeful. Le’Veon Bell and Edwin Baker are both better running backs than their numbers suggest. To put it in perspective, Denard Robinson has nearly two hundred more rushing yards on twelve less carries than Bell and Baker combined.
Michigan State is going to want to grind this one out while Michigan is going to want to run all over the field. I think the Michigan State defense is too good to let Robinson control this game. It’ll be close as always, but the Spartans pull it out at home.
2) No. 18 Arizona State at No. 9 Oregon – 10:15 PM on ESPN
Arizona State looks like they have found a way to stop LaMichael James. They let Cal injure his elbow. While there is still doubt on whether James will play, there is no doubt Oregon is still the favorite in this one.
After the loss to LSU to start the season, we haven’t been hearing too much about the Ducks. They have just been going along and steady dismantling teams. With their big playmaker sidelined, look for Kenjon Baker and De’Anthony Thomas to get the ball more. Also, Darron Thomas is going to have to keep doing what he always does, lead the offense and move the ball.
Arizona State has a good offense that relies on the arm of Brock Osweiler. While is touchdown to interception ratio is nearly 2 for 1, he may not have to worry about that. Oregon has been having troubles creating turnovers. He does throw his interceptions in bunches, with all six coming in only three of ASU’s games.
There are only two real ways to beat Oregon. The first is to play a physical, defensive game. This was the type seen by Auburn and LSU. The second is to let it dissolve into a shoot-out and hope for the defense to step up once. The shoot-out strategy hasn’t been successful in the past, but could work this year with the weakened Oregon defense.
Arizona State does not have the ability to play either one of those styles. I like ASU, I think they will be in the Pac 12 Championship Game, but they don’t have the ability this year to hang with either Oregon or Stanford.
The only saving grace for the Sun Devils is that fact that James is probably out. That said, Oregon still have a lot of playmakers on offense. Couple that with the fact that the game is in Oregon and this game is starting to look bad for ASU. I don’t think ASU will get blown away, since Oregon will still be getting used to no LaMichael James. I think the Ducks win by two touchdowns.
3) No. 20 Baylor at No. 21 Texas A&M – 12:00 PM on FX
How do you come back from back-to-back second half gag-jobs against ranked opponents? Barely hold off a third straight second half gag-job on the road, that’s how. Aggie fans had to be a little leery during last weeks Texas Tech/Texas A&M game.
If you like lots and lots of offense and don’t want to be bogged down with pesky things like defense, then this is the game for you.
Baylor has one of the best quarterbacks in the nation in Robert Griffin III. His completion percentage is over 80 percent, he has 19 passing touchdowns compared to 1 interception, and he is a very good running quarterback.
Texas A&M, on the other hand, is led by the underrated Ryan Tannehill, who has had some issues keeping the ball out of opponent’s hands. Tannehill also has the ability to take off and gain yards with his feet. While his team did choke away two leads, he did take both Oklahoma State and Arkansas to the brink.
The problem with this game is the defense. Texas A&M has a woeful defense, probably the worst in the country. They give up too many yards at the worst possible times. They nearly folded completely against Texas Tech last week. When you are facing a quarterback like Griffin and you want to win, you need to be perfect.
This game will dissolve into a shoot-out quickly. You can expect both teams to move up and down the field with relative ease. However, I have to think that Baylor can make more plays down the stretch to pull this out.
4) No. 6 Oklahoma State at No. 22 Texas – 3:30 PM on ABC
Wait, the Texas Longhorns have to face a high octane offensive team from the state of Oklahoma? Didn’t this happen last week?
Anyone who saw the drubbing of Texas last weeks knows the team needs a little help. A good old fashion shoot-out might be just want the doctor ordered. The Longhorns have a good offense, but they are young and are going to make dumb mistakes against quality defenses, as we saw in the Red River Shootout.
The Achilles Heel of Oklahoma State is the defense. It gets overlooked because the Cowboys pour on the points against opponents. The defense gives up, on average, close to 28 points a game. Against a team like Oklahoma, with offensive and defensive balance, this is going to be a huge issue.
Texas, along with a young offensive, has a young and inexperienced defense. A veteran quarterback like Brandon Weeden should be able to pick apart the defense; much like Landry Jones did last week. What Texas needs to do is try and stop the aerial assault, either through tight coverage or a pass rush.
You are going to see a lot of points scored in this game. Texas is going to need a lot of help from its defense if it expects to stay in this game. I think the Cowboys win by at least two touchdowns.
5) No. 19 Virginia Tech at Wake Forest – 6:30 PM on ESPN3
Normally, I don’t like to write about or even think about Virginia Tech football. The main reason is they just play an ugly style of football. It’s effective, just not fun to watch. However, I’m here to pump the tires of the flavor of the week: Wake Forest.
Before we start anointing the Demon Deacons the next ACC Champion, let’s first remember that they lost to Syracuse and their victories have not been against quality opponents. Before Seminoles fans start screaming at me, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, FSU is a paper tiger.
Now, it’s not all bad for Wake Forest. They have one of the most underrated quarterbacks in the country in Tanner Price. Price doesn’t turn the ball over and can sling it all over the field. He could use a bit more help from his running game, but Josh Harris has been improving every week.
As for Virginia Tech, before we start saying that Logan Thomas has arrived, remember his career day last week was against Miami. He is still the same quarterback who looked absolutely pathetic against a still improving Clemson defense and on the road against East Carolina.
Thomas is going to have to be the man in this game for the Hokies to win, considering the Demon Deacons are one of the better teams against the run. David Wilson will still get a lot of carries and a fair number of yards, but Virginia Tech cannot count on him to win the game for them.
For Thomas to truly silence the critics, he is going to have to have a good game against Wake Forest. He will pale in comparison to Price, but he cannot simply give up like he did against Clemson. Wake Forest is going to just attack that Hokie defense, continuing to pass all game long hoping something will stick.
Virginia Tech has yet to have a quality road test this year. This will be a close one, but I think Wake Forest can squeeze out a victory at home.
6) Ohio State at No. 16 Illinois – 3:30 PM on ABC
Talk about two teams on different paths. Illinois is undefeated and looking to make serious waves in the Big Ten. Ohio State can’t get out of its own way. The Illini are bowl eligible while the Buckeyes are going to struggle to break .500. Not a fun time to be an Ohio State fan, but finally a reason to cheer as an Illinois fan.
Extra Point:
Last week I wrote about the feel good story of Russell Wilson. Today, I’ll tell you the tale of Stephen Garcia and wasted talent.
It’s not very often that a top 25 team and odds on favorite to win their division boots their starting senior quarterback off the team, but that is exactly what South Carolina did this week. According to sources, Garcia tested positive for marijuana and alcohol. While Garcia is over the age limit for alcohol, he stated he would not to drink as part of an agreement he made with the school following his fifth suspension.
Yes, you read that correct, fifth suspension. He has violated numerous “team rules”, with an incident involving girls in his hotel room after curfew before a bowl game and an incident involving a life skills and leadership seminar. Those were just the recent problems, he had run-ins with the police during his freshman year for public drunkenness, keying a professor’s car, and pulling a fire alarm.
The main problem with Garcia was that it just seemed like he didn’t give a crap about anything. He was given numerous opportunities to succeed and didn’t follow through. Plus, his play was always very erratic. You never knew if you were going to get the guy who beat defending champion Alabama in 2010 or the guy who completed less than 40 percent of his passes and had two interceptions against Auburn in 2011.
It was a running gag for me to mention week after week how bad Garcia was, even calling for his benching before the Auburn game. However, I figured he would be with the team all season. I just figured he was pulling a Jevan Snead, where he just fell to pieces in his final season. Turns out he just couldn’t leave his troubled past behind.
So, Gamecock fans now get to root for Connor Shaw, who so far has been able to stay out of trouble. As for Garcia, he gets to wonder where it all went wrong while trying out for teams in the Arena Football League and the United Football League. After all, he’s going to need beer money.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Trent's Touchdown: Six Week 6 College Football Games to Watch
It’s Week 6 of the college football season. Another week, another round of conference realignment talk. Also, another round of suspensions at Ohio State, but we can talk more about that later. Now, on to the touchdown:
1) No. 3 Oklahoma vs. No. 12 Texas – 12:00 PM on ABC (at Dallas, TX)
Can we have a moment of silence for Garrett Gilbert’s career at the University of Texas? I guess it’s pretty sad when your high point is a four interception performance in the National Championship Game. May he have better luck at SMU or wherever he ends up.
Enough about that, it’s the Red River Shootout! Oklahoma is the overwhelming favorite, but the game will be tougher than it looks. While the rotating quarterback situation is normally a distraction, the two headed monster of Case McCoy and David Ash seem to work well for Texas.
The team has really started to click since the benching of Gilbert during the BYU game. You can expect Texas to attack the Oklahoma defense with a balanced run and pass attack. Defensively, the Longhorns are going to have to slow down the pass attack of Oklahoma and try and create turnovers.
The turnovers should be an issue. While everyone wants to slobber over Landry Jones’ ability to throw, people seem to turn a blind eye to his 2 to 1 touchdown to interception ratio. My suggestion would be to go off-script and use Dominique Whaley to soften up the Texas defense, than use Jones to pick apart a defense looking run first.
While I think that Texas is overrated at this point, I think they can pull this off. The simple fact of the matter is that Texas has really seemed to have rallied around McCoy and Ash. Texas is also on a whirlwind tour of beating up on teams they lost to last year. Plus, if college football has taught me anything, it is to never bet against a McCoy.
2) No. 15 Auburn at No. 10 Arkansas – 7:00 PM on ESPN
The fight for third place in the SEC West heats up! Normally, I wouldn’t put a third place game this high up, but when four teams in one division are in the top 15, you make special exceptions.
While I’m sure all the Auburn fans are celebrating after their team beat South Carolina last week, they shouldn’t break their arms patting the Auburn defense on the back. The Gamecock offense is centered solely on the running of Marcus Lattimore. The Arkansas offense is centered on the arm of Tyler Wilson.
Auburn has a horrible pass defense. Last game they were effective at stopping the pass, but that was against Stephen Garcia, who finally got benched for Connor Shaw. Look at the numbers that Tajh Boyd put up in the loss to Clemson. Tyler Wilson is expected to put up comparable numbers to Boyd.
You have to give Arkansas a lot of credit. They got beat up by Alabama two weeks ago and go down 35-17 at halftime to Texas A&M before storming back to beat the Aggies by 4. While the Arkansas defense has been serviceable, the offense is what really drives the team.
In order for Auburn to win, they are going to need to score early and often and never let up. They are going to need their defense to come up big and make key stops. That is do-able, if this was last year’s Auburn team. It’s not happening this year. Arkansas is going to try to light up Auburn and will, for the most part, succeed.
3) No. 17 Florida at No. 1 LSU – 3:30 PM on CBS
Les Miles recently said that he wants to get Jordan Jefferson more involved in the LSU offense. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing. While Jarrett Lee is not exactly Heisman material, he is an effective game manager for this LSU team. By game manager, I mean that he won’t win you any games and he’ll make mistakes, but not enough to have you lose to inferior teams.
This game was a heck of a lot more interesting before John Brantley went down with a leg injury during Florida’s big loss to Alabama last week. Now, the Florida offense is being lead by a freshman quarterback who trouble getting the snap last week. Basically, the Florida offense is going to be about running early and often.
I don’t completely discount the Gator’s ability to move the ball. Charlie Weis has shown the ability to dumb down his offense for a quarterback who is being called on to replace an injured starter (Tom Brady in 2001). However, Weis wasn’t game planning against the LSU defense.
LSU has one of the best defenses in the country. Their specialty is stopping the run. LSU is going to ride this defense for as long as they can. They will win or lose games based on just how well the defense does. The Tigers defense will try and shut down the Gators and give Jarrett Lee (or Jordan Jefferson) good field position when leading the offense.
Add in the fact that this game is being played at LSU and things do not shape up nicely for the Gators. While I don’t think LSU will do all that much offensively, their defense will handle Florida and win the game for the Tigers.
4) Missouri at No. 20 Kansas State – 3:30 PM on ABC
It kind of says something about your team if you’re ranked and playing an unranked opponent at home and the unranked opponent is actually favored to win. Seriously though, the only reason Kansas State is ranked is because they had to be ranked, after beating an overvalued Baylor team.
I wrote a few weeks ago about how Missouri was one of the best two loss teams in the country. Offensively, they have a very potent running attack no matter who is carrying the ball. Not to take anything away from Henry Josey, but if it wasn’t for injuries he wouldn’t be getting the carries he’s getting. James Franklin is one of the more underrated dual-threat quarterbacks in the country, who can light it up on the ground and through the air.
Kansas State is going to try and lean on its defense, like it did against Baylor and Miami. They gave up a lot of yards to those two teams before making big stops late. The Wildcats are going to need luck on their side to stop Missouri.
Kansas State cannot afford to try and match Missouri offensively. I like Collin Klein as much as the next guy, but his passing numbers are nowhere near as good as they have to be. His main skill is running with the ball but he’ll need to throw to win this game.
Missouri has a lot of things going for them at this point. A win against Kansas State will keep them going in the right direction. I think the Tigers get by Kansas State by at least a touchdown.
5) No. 12 Michigan at Northwestern – 7:00 PM on Big Ten Network
I’m still not sure how Michigan is ranked so high. The only challenge they had was Notre Dame and if it wasn’t for poor defense and Tommy Rees, Michigan would have lost that game. Outside of Kansas State, is Michigan the most underwhelming top 25 team?
I never understood the allure of Denard Robinson. I want a Wolverines fan to rationally explain it to me. He is just a horrible passer. He has one skill set, which is running the ball. Don’t get me wrong, he is an exceptional runner, but that’s his whole game. It’s almost like Michigan runs the Wildcat offense on every snap.
As for Northwestern, Dan Persa is finally back from injury and ready to light the Big Ten on fire. There is a question about his ability to run the ball after his Achilles’ injury from last year, but he can still throw the ball. The main problem for Northwestern is the fact that their back-up quarterback is their leading rusher. They need Persa to be able to run the ball so their offense can click.
A lot of people will talk about the highly ranked Michigan defense. Again, I’m not exactly sure why. Their opponents this year have been Western Michigan, Notre Dame, Eastern Michigan, San Diego State, and Minnesota. That’s not exactly a murderer’s row. Plus, all these games have been at home, a distinct advantage.
In this year’s Big Ten, Michigan is a good team. That just doesn’t translate to actually being a good team against the rest of the country. Northwestern finally got their leader and quarterback back last week and lost on defensive lapses during the final two minutes. I think Northwestern pulls off the upset at home.
6) Ohio State at No. 7 Nebraska – 8:00 PM on ABC
This was supposed to be the game in which Ohio State got back Dan Herron and DeVier Posey. Looks like the NCAA had different ideas. It’s going to be a long month of October for the Buckeyes. Is it wrong that I’m smiling about that?
Extra Point:
I may have had a little fun with Ohio State, but what the heck is going on in Columbus? DeVier Posey and Dan Herron, who just finished a five game suspension for “Tattoo-Gate”, are getting at least one more game tacked on for receiving too much money for too little work for summer jobs.
But fear not, Athletic Director Gene Smith said that there wasn’t a “systemic” problem with Ohio State. He then proceeded to throw everyone but himself and the University under the bus. Is there anyone besides Smith who believes there isn’t a “systemic” problem at Ohio State?
According to Smith, this was about individual failures. Which I might have believed if it had happened to one or two players. However, this has been multiple players with multiple violations that lead to one of the better coaches in college football to have to resign in disgrace. This is an Ohio State failure.
Listen, the issue here is the sense of entitlement these kids feel. Ohio is a severely depressing place, so of course if there are players who make the population as a whole feel just a little bit better about their situation, those players are going to be looked upon as better than everyone else and given special treatment.
Ohio State has done nothing to try and dissuade them of this belief. This was evident after the tattoo incident came to light before the Sugar Bowl last year. Instead of suspending the players involved, the University allowed Tressel to let them play and serve their suspension for the first five games of the following year.
This was a joke, considering Ohio State’s only competition would have been Michigan State during that five game stretch. Basically the school was sending the message that you’ll get suspended if you do something bad, but not for any relevant games.
The University needed to come down hard on these players since they broke the rules, instead of giving them a slap on the wrists. Ohio State felt it was better to win the Sugar Bowl than to enforce the rules. In a cruel bit of karmic payback, Ohio State ended up vacating that Sugar Bowl victory, along with all the other games in the 2010 season. There is no one to blame but themselves.
1) No. 3 Oklahoma vs. No. 12 Texas – 12:00 PM on ABC (at Dallas, TX)
Can we have a moment of silence for Garrett Gilbert’s career at the University of Texas? I guess it’s pretty sad when your high point is a four interception performance in the National Championship Game. May he have better luck at SMU or wherever he ends up.
Enough about that, it’s the Red River Shootout! Oklahoma is the overwhelming favorite, but the game will be tougher than it looks. While the rotating quarterback situation is normally a distraction, the two headed monster of Case McCoy and David Ash seem to work well for Texas.
The team has really started to click since the benching of Gilbert during the BYU game. You can expect Texas to attack the Oklahoma defense with a balanced run and pass attack. Defensively, the Longhorns are going to have to slow down the pass attack of Oklahoma and try and create turnovers.
The turnovers should be an issue. While everyone wants to slobber over Landry Jones’ ability to throw, people seem to turn a blind eye to his 2 to 1 touchdown to interception ratio. My suggestion would be to go off-script and use Dominique Whaley to soften up the Texas defense, than use Jones to pick apart a defense looking run first.
While I think that Texas is overrated at this point, I think they can pull this off. The simple fact of the matter is that Texas has really seemed to have rallied around McCoy and Ash. Texas is also on a whirlwind tour of beating up on teams they lost to last year. Plus, if college football has taught me anything, it is to never bet against a McCoy.
2) No. 15 Auburn at No. 10 Arkansas – 7:00 PM on ESPN
The fight for third place in the SEC West heats up! Normally, I wouldn’t put a third place game this high up, but when four teams in one division are in the top 15, you make special exceptions.
While I’m sure all the Auburn fans are celebrating after their team beat South Carolina last week, they shouldn’t break their arms patting the Auburn defense on the back. The Gamecock offense is centered solely on the running of Marcus Lattimore. The Arkansas offense is centered on the arm of Tyler Wilson.
Auburn has a horrible pass defense. Last game they were effective at stopping the pass, but that was against Stephen Garcia, who finally got benched for Connor Shaw. Look at the numbers that Tajh Boyd put up in the loss to Clemson. Tyler Wilson is expected to put up comparable numbers to Boyd.
You have to give Arkansas a lot of credit. They got beat up by Alabama two weeks ago and go down 35-17 at halftime to Texas A&M before storming back to beat the Aggies by 4. While the Arkansas defense has been serviceable, the offense is what really drives the team.
In order for Auburn to win, they are going to need to score early and often and never let up. They are going to need their defense to come up big and make key stops. That is do-able, if this was last year’s Auburn team. It’s not happening this year. Arkansas is going to try to light up Auburn and will, for the most part, succeed.
3) No. 17 Florida at No. 1 LSU – 3:30 PM on CBS
Les Miles recently said that he wants to get Jordan Jefferson more involved in the LSU offense. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing. While Jarrett Lee is not exactly Heisman material, he is an effective game manager for this LSU team. By game manager, I mean that he won’t win you any games and he’ll make mistakes, but not enough to have you lose to inferior teams.
This game was a heck of a lot more interesting before John Brantley went down with a leg injury during Florida’s big loss to Alabama last week. Now, the Florida offense is being lead by a freshman quarterback who trouble getting the snap last week. Basically, the Florida offense is going to be about running early and often.
I don’t completely discount the Gator’s ability to move the ball. Charlie Weis has shown the ability to dumb down his offense for a quarterback who is being called on to replace an injured starter (Tom Brady in 2001). However, Weis wasn’t game planning against the LSU defense.
LSU has one of the best defenses in the country. Their specialty is stopping the run. LSU is going to ride this defense for as long as they can. They will win or lose games based on just how well the defense does. The Tigers defense will try and shut down the Gators and give Jarrett Lee (or Jordan Jefferson) good field position when leading the offense.
Add in the fact that this game is being played at LSU and things do not shape up nicely for the Gators. While I don’t think LSU will do all that much offensively, their defense will handle Florida and win the game for the Tigers.
4) Missouri at No. 20 Kansas State – 3:30 PM on ABC
It kind of says something about your team if you’re ranked and playing an unranked opponent at home and the unranked opponent is actually favored to win. Seriously though, the only reason Kansas State is ranked is because they had to be ranked, after beating an overvalued Baylor team.
I wrote a few weeks ago about how Missouri was one of the best two loss teams in the country. Offensively, they have a very potent running attack no matter who is carrying the ball. Not to take anything away from Henry Josey, but if it wasn’t for injuries he wouldn’t be getting the carries he’s getting. James Franklin is one of the more underrated dual-threat quarterbacks in the country, who can light it up on the ground and through the air.
Kansas State is going to try and lean on its defense, like it did against Baylor and Miami. They gave up a lot of yards to those two teams before making big stops late. The Wildcats are going to need luck on their side to stop Missouri.
Kansas State cannot afford to try and match Missouri offensively. I like Collin Klein as much as the next guy, but his passing numbers are nowhere near as good as they have to be. His main skill is running with the ball but he’ll need to throw to win this game.
Missouri has a lot of things going for them at this point. A win against Kansas State will keep them going in the right direction. I think the Tigers get by Kansas State by at least a touchdown.
5) No. 12 Michigan at Northwestern – 7:00 PM on Big Ten Network
I’m still not sure how Michigan is ranked so high. The only challenge they had was Notre Dame and if it wasn’t for poor defense and Tommy Rees, Michigan would have lost that game. Outside of Kansas State, is Michigan the most underwhelming top 25 team?
I never understood the allure of Denard Robinson. I want a Wolverines fan to rationally explain it to me. He is just a horrible passer. He has one skill set, which is running the ball. Don’t get me wrong, he is an exceptional runner, but that’s his whole game. It’s almost like Michigan runs the Wildcat offense on every snap.
As for Northwestern, Dan Persa is finally back from injury and ready to light the Big Ten on fire. There is a question about his ability to run the ball after his Achilles’ injury from last year, but he can still throw the ball. The main problem for Northwestern is the fact that their back-up quarterback is their leading rusher. They need Persa to be able to run the ball so their offense can click.
A lot of people will talk about the highly ranked Michigan defense. Again, I’m not exactly sure why. Their opponents this year have been Western Michigan, Notre Dame, Eastern Michigan, San Diego State, and Minnesota. That’s not exactly a murderer’s row. Plus, all these games have been at home, a distinct advantage.
In this year’s Big Ten, Michigan is a good team. That just doesn’t translate to actually being a good team against the rest of the country. Northwestern finally got their leader and quarterback back last week and lost on defensive lapses during the final two minutes. I think Northwestern pulls off the upset at home.
6) Ohio State at No. 7 Nebraska – 8:00 PM on ABC
This was supposed to be the game in which Ohio State got back Dan Herron and DeVier Posey. Looks like the NCAA had different ideas. It’s going to be a long month of October for the Buckeyes. Is it wrong that I’m smiling about that?
Extra Point:
I may have had a little fun with Ohio State, but what the heck is going on in Columbus? DeVier Posey and Dan Herron, who just finished a five game suspension for “Tattoo-Gate”, are getting at least one more game tacked on for receiving too much money for too little work for summer jobs.
But fear not, Athletic Director Gene Smith said that there wasn’t a “systemic” problem with Ohio State. He then proceeded to throw everyone but himself and the University under the bus. Is there anyone besides Smith who believes there isn’t a “systemic” problem at Ohio State?
According to Smith, this was about individual failures. Which I might have believed if it had happened to one or two players. However, this has been multiple players with multiple violations that lead to one of the better coaches in college football to have to resign in disgrace. This is an Ohio State failure.
Listen, the issue here is the sense of entitlement these kids feel. Ohio is a severely depressing place, so of course if there are players who make the population as a whole feel just a little bit better about their situation, those players are going to be looked upon as better than everyone else and given special treatment.
Ohio State has done nothing to try and dissuade them of this belief. This was evident after the tattoo incident came to light before the Sugar Bowl last year. Instead of suspending the players involved, the University allowed Tressel to let them play and serve their suspension for the first five games of the following year.
This was a joke, considering Ohio State’s only competition would have been Michigan State during that five game stretch. Basically the school was sending the message that you’ll get suspended if you do something bad, but not for any relevant games.
The University needed to come down hard on these players since they broke the rules, instead of giving them a slap on the wrists. Ohio State felt it was better to win the Sugar Bowl than to enforce the rules. In a cruel bit of karmic payback, Ohio State ended up vacating that Sugar Bowl victory, along with all the other games in the 2010 season. There is no one to blame but themselves.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Trent's Touchdown: Six Week 5 College Football Games to Watch
Welcome to Week 5 of the college football season. So, after four weeks, we’ve seen suspensions, sanctions, conference switching, ref’s admitting blowing calls, and a whole host of wild finishes. While I’m trying to forget most of that list, I love the wild finishes. Looking at some of the games this week, we should be in store for some good ones. Anyway, on to the Touchdown:
1) No. 8 Nebraska at No. 7 Wisconsin – 8:00 PM on ABC
If you’re going to open up play in your new conference, this is the way to do it. This game could even be a preview of a Big Ten Championship Game. I’m getting chills just thinking about it. Either that or I need to turn on the heat.
So far this season, neither team has faced any competition. I’m not sure if this is the best way for either team to jump into Big Ten play. Both teams are going to get a challenge in this one.
When you talk about the best quarterbacks in college football right now, Russell Wilson from Wisconsin needs to be near the top of the list. He has a completion percentage over 75 percent and doesn’t make dumb mistakes. He makes the defense stop him and his offense.
Of course, passing is easy when every defense is going to be keyed to the backfield duo of Montee Ball and James White. They will be there to punish the Nebraska defense and open up the air to Wilson, as you’re going to need eight guys in the box to think about stopping the Badger’s potent run game.
While Nebraska has beaten up on their opponents, they haven’t looked that great. While they have an athletic defense that can make plays, they are vulnerable to the balanced offensive attack of a team like Wisconsin.
Taylor Martinez has also been less than stellar. While is completion percentage about 50 percent, his true talent is running the ball. He leads the team in rushing, but has a nice compliment in Rex Burkhead to take some of the carries.
If Wisconsin can contain Martinez and make him have to throw the ball, it’ll be a long day for the Cornhuskers. While I don’t think they can do it all game, I feel that Martinez is going to have to throw effectively to slow down the Badger defense. Wisconsin wins this one, but Nebraska keeps it close.
2) No. 3 Alabama at No. 12 Florida – 8:00 PM on CBS
I could steal my own line from above and say how this could be a preview of the SEC Championship Game, but with the strength of the SEC, you never know what could happen. My only problem in writing about this game is the two teams are pretty much mirror images of each other.
Worse yet, the winner will be giving a blue print to the rest of the SEC on how to beat them. Part of me just wants to use the ambiguous “they” when describing the two teams, just to save time. But that would be lazy of me.
While both teams have very impressive defenses, you need to give the nod to Alabama, as they have beaten two ranked teams, while the only moderately good team Florida has beaten was Tennessee. The Tide shut down the high powered offensive of Arkansas last week, making them look average.
Offensively, both teams boost great running backs. However, in order to win this game, the quarterback is going to have to make some plays. I know this is shocking, but I actually trust John Brantley more than I do A.J. McCarron. While their numbers are virtually identical, I think Charlie Weis will put Brantley in more of a position to win, offensively speaking.
All that said, I think the Tide win this one. This is a defensive match and it’ll come down to which defense makes the mistake that costs their team the game. I feel the Alabama defense is just too good to make that mistake. Expect this to be a hard fought game. Roll Tide!
3) No. 13 Clemson at No. 11 Virginia Tech – 6:00 PM on ESPN2
As a Clemson fan, last week I was looking forward to the Florida State game because I knew that FSU was a paper tiger. This week, I’m dreading the Virginia Tech game, because I know that the Hokies are for real.
The thing that mainly scares me is the fact that Clemson’s young offensive stars get their first game on the road against a physical, athletic defense. If you haven’t heard what Tajh Boyd and Sammie Watkins have been doing over the last two weeks, watch College Gameday on Saturday morning for a quick recap.
Virginia Tech, on the other hand, relies mainly on Logan Thomas handing the ball off to David Wilson. What VT is going to do once they get into the main portion of the season is try and emulate LSU from last year.
Virginia Tech is going to let their defense win the game for them by covering for the inadequacies of their quarterback. They will run the ball as much as possible and play a field possession game and hope for a turnover deep in their own territory.
Virginia Tech is just nowhere near as good as LSU was. The Clemson offense is going to make mistakes and that will keep this game closer than it really should be. The only thing the Clemson defense can do is stop the run and thankfully that is all Virginia Tech does. Clemson pulls it out on the road and people start gushing even more over Boyd.
4) No. 14 Texas A&M vs. No. 18 Arkansas – 12:00 PM on ESPN (in Arlington, TX)
Nothing says fun on a Saturday like watching an SEC West throw down. Oops, sorry, I’m already looking into the future. Right now, both teams are in different conferences. Not to worry, I’ll use this line next year.
Both of these teams are coming off of a loss, but the games were completely different. Texas A&M had a complete choke-job (also known as Red Sox-itis) against Oklahoma State, losing 30-29 after being up 20-3 at halftime. Arkansas, on the other hand, got manhandled by Alabama. The Tide defense limited the Arkansas offense to 226 yards, which is over 200 yards fewer than their average.
If you vanish the second half of last week’s game, this looks like a cake-walk for Texas A&M. However, you need to realize that the Aggie defense got absolutely lit up by Brandon Weeden. While Tyler Wilson is not Brandon Weeden, he is reasonable substitute. However, Wilson is going to need help from his running game, which he didn’t against Alabama, in order to slow down the Aggie pass rush.
Texas A&M will need better running from Cyrus Gray, who got a staggering 35 yards rushing against Oklahoma State. The Aggies have no issues at quarterback. As long as Ryan Tannehill can find Ryan Swope, everything will be fine.
This game will dissolve into a shoot-out before the end of the first half. I think the Aggies defense redeems itself and actually steps up and makes a stop when needed. It’ll be close and high scoring and the Aggies get back on track.
5) Auburn at No. 10 South Carolina – 3:30 on CBS
While watching South Carolina this year, you just keep wondering when the wheels are going to come flying off. Seriously, South Carolina is a team I think everyone is just waiting for them to lose.
Amazingly, all of South Carolina’s issues can be found on offense. I think Stephen Garcia has finally decided to stop alternating between being good and bad and just stuck with bad. He threw four interceptions against Vanderbilt last week. I knew he would get picked off, but four! Can we just get Connor Shaw in there and end everyone’s misery?
To make matters worse, Marcus Lattimore finally proved he was human by only rushing for 77 yards last week. The only good thing going for South Carolina is the fact that Auburn’s defense is pretty poor. The Tiger defense gives up way too many yards and way too many points. South Carolina should be able to get back on track offensively.
Offensively, Auburn hasn’t been that great either. Barrett Trotter has been holding his own and Michael Dyer is a good running back. The problem is the fact that the South Carolina defense has been what has been saving the Gamecocks week in and week out. Expect Auburn to have issues moving the ball.
I’m always scared when picking a South Carolina game because they can play amazing one week and putrid the next. I’ll pick South Carolina, but their own ineptitude will keep it close.
6) Michigan State at Ohio State – 3:30 on ABC
This is the last game for Ohio State before the “tattoo suspensions” are lifted. It doesn’t really matter though, considering the Buckeyes will get tattooed in this game and the three following it. Come on, that was funny!
Extra Point:
If you’ve followed Big Ten football this year, you know that Russell Wilson has been lighting the world on fire. Now, if you’re an ACC fan like me, you might be asking yourself why that name sounds familiar. Well, until last year, Russell Wilson was the starting quarterback for the North Carolina State Wolfpack.
But wait, don’t transfer students have to sit out year? That is very true, except there is a little loophole there. If the player graduated and still had eligibility left, he doesn’t need to sit out. Wilson graduated from North Carolina State, yet still had one year of eligibility.
Now you have to be wondering why NC State would let Wilson leave? He did throw for over 3000 yards in the past two seasons. Well, this is where the Colorado Rockies come into the picture. Wilson, also a baseball star at NC State, was drafted last year by the Rockies. He made the choice to skip spring and summer drills to play in the Rockies minor league system.
NC State decided that Mike Glennon was now their starting quarterback. They released Wilson from his scholarship and he transferred to Wisconsin, enrolling in their graduate program in order to play. So, is this good for college football?
Personally, I do not see the harm in it. The main thing everyone always brings up when talking about college football, whether it be an argument about a playoff system or paying athletes, is that the kids are at college for an education.
Wilson worked his butt off to graduate early and decided that he wanted to explore his opportunities in professional baseball so as not to have to commit to football. NC State wanted him to commit fully to football (although this wasn’t an issue when he was playing baseball for the Wolfpack).
While I don’t think there should be ease of transfer for undergrads, when it comes to graduate students, the player should be able to transfer if he wants. These are good kids looking for another year to prove their worth to scouts, not someone jumping for school to school looking for playing time and headlines.
1) No. 8 Nebraska at No. 7 Wisconsin – 8:00 PM on ABC
If you’re going to open up play in your new conference, this is the way to do it. This game could even be a preview of a Big Ten Championship Game. I’m getting chills just thinking about it. Either that or I need to turn on the heat.
So far this season, neither team has faced any competition. I’m not sure if this is the best way for either team to jump into Big Ten play. Both teams are going to get a challenge in this one.
When you talk about the best quarterbacks in college football right now, Russell Wilson from Wisconsin needs to be near the top of the list. He has a completion percentage over 75 percent and doesn’t make dumb mistakes. He makes the defense stop him and his offense.
Of course, passing is easy when every defense is going to be keyed to the backfield duo of Montee Ball and James White. They will be there to punish the Nebraska defense and open up the air to Wilson, as you’re going to need eight guys in the box to think about stopping the Badger’s potent run game.
While Nebraska has beaten up on their opponents, they haven’t looked that great. While they have an athletic defense that can make plays, they are vulnerable to the balanced offensive attack of a team like Wisconsin.
Taylor Martinez has also been less than stellar. While is completion percentage about 50 percent, his true talent is running the ball. He leads the team in rushing, but has a nice compliment in Rex Burkhead to take some of the carries.
If Wisconsin can contain Martinez and make him have to throw the ball, it’ll be a long day for the Cornhuskers. While I don’t think they can do it all game, I feel that Martinez is going to have to throw effectively to slow down the Badger defense. Wisconsin wins this one, but Nebraska keeps it close.
2) No. 3 Alabama at No. 12 Florida – 8:00 PM on CBS
I could steal my own line from above and say how this could be a preview of the SEC Championship Game, but with the strength of the SEC, you never know what could happen. My only problem in writing about this game is the two teams are pretty much mirror images of each other.
Worse yet, the winner will be giving a blue print to the rest of the SEC on how to beat them. Part of me just wants to use the ambiguous “they” when describing the two teams, just to save time. But that would be lazy of me.
While both teams have very impressive defenses, you need to give the nod to Alabama, as they have beaten two ranked teams, while the only moderately good team Florida has beaten was Tennessee. The Tide shut down the high powered offensive of Arkansas last week, making them look average.
Offensively, both teams boost great running backs. However, in order to win this game, the quarterback is going to have to make some plays. I know this is shocking, but I actually trust John Brantley more than I do A.J. McCarron. While their numbers are virtually identical, I think Charlie Weis will put Brantley in more of a position to win, offensively speaking.
All that said, I think the Tide win this one. This is a defensive match and it’ll come down to which defense makes the mistake that costs their team the game. I feel the Alabama defense is just too good to make that mistake. Expect this to be a hard fought game. Roll Tide!
3) No. 13 Clemson at No. 11 Virginia Tech – 6:00 PM on ESPN2
As a Clemson fan, last week I was looking forward to the Florida State game because I knew that FSU was a paper tiger. This week, I’m dreading the Virginia Tech game, because I know that the Hokies are for real.
The thing that mainly scares me is the fact that Clemson’s young offensive stars get their first game on the road against a physical, athletic defense. If you haven’t heard what Tajh Boyd and Sammie Watkins have been doing over the last two weeks, watch College Gameday on Saturday morning for a quick recap.
Virginia Tech, on the other hand, relies mainly on Logan Thomas handing the ball off to David Wilson. What VT is going to do once they get into the main portion of the season is try and emulate LSU from last year.
Virginia Tech is going to let their defense win the game for them by covering for the inadequacies of their quarterback. They will run the ball as much as possible and play a field possession game and hope for a turnover deep in their own territory.
Virginia Tech is just nowhere near as good as LSU was. The Clemson offense is going to make mistakes and that will keep this game closer than it really should be. The only thing the Clemson defense can do is stop the run and thankfully that is all Virginia Tech does. Clemson pulls it out on the road and people start gushing even more over Boyd.
4) No. 14 Texas A&M vs. No. 18 Arkansas – 12:00 PM on ESPN (in Arlington, TX)
Nothing says fun on a Saturday like watching an SEC West throw down. Oops, sorry, I’m already looking into the future. Right now, both teams are in different conferences. Not to worry, I’ll use this line next year.
Both of these teams are coming off of a loss, but the games were completely different. Texas A&M had a complete choke-job (also known as Red Sox-itis) against Oklahoma State, losing 30-29 after being up 20-3 at halftime. Arkansas, on the other hand, got manhandled by Alabama. The Tide defense limited the Arkansas offense to 226 yards, which is over 200 yards fewer than their average.
If you vanish the second half of last week’s game, this looks like a cake-walk for Texas A&M. However, you need to realize that the Aggie defense got absolutely lit up by Brandon Weeden. While Tyler Wilson is not Brandon Weeden, he is reasonable substitute. However, Wilson is going to need help from his running game, which he didn’t against Alabama, in order to slow down the Aggie pass rush.
Texas A&M will need better running from Cyrus Gray, who got a staggering 35 yards rushing against Oklahoma State. The Aggies have no issues at quarterback. As long as Ryan Tannehill can find Ryan Swope, everything will be fine.
This game will dissolve into a shoot-out before the end of the first half. I think the Aggies defense redeems itself and actually steps up and makes a stop when needed. It’ll be close and high scoring and the Aggies get back on track.
5) Auburn at No. 10 South Carolina – 3:30 on CBS
While watching South Carolina this year, you just keep wondering when the wheels are going to come flying off. Seriously, South Carolina is a team I think everyone is just waiting for them to lose.
Amazingly, all of South Carolina’s issues can be found on offense. I think Stephen Garcia has finally decided to stop alternating between being good and bad and just stuck with bad. He threw four interceptions against Vanderbilt last week. I knew he would get picked off, but four! Can we just get Connor Shaw in there and end everyone’s misery?
To make matters worse, Marcus Lattimore finally proved he was human by only rushing for 77 yards last week. The only good thing going for South Carolina is the fact that Auburn’s defense is pretty poor. The Tiger defense gives up way too many yards and way too many points. South Carolina should be able to get back on track offensively.
Offensively, Auburn hasn’t been that great either. Barrett Trotter has been holding his own and Michael Dyer is a good running back. The problem is the fact that the South Carolina defense has been what has been saving the Gamecocks week in and week out. Expect Auburn to have issues moving the ball.
I’m always scared when picking a South Carolina game because they can play amazing one week and putrid the next. I’ll pick South Carolina, but their own ineptitude will keep it close.
6) Michigan State at Ohio State – 3:30 on ABC
This is the last game for Ohio State before the “tattoo suspensions” are lifted. It doesn’t really matter though, considering the Buckeyes will get tattooed in this game and the three following it. Come on, that was funny!
Extra Point:
If you’ve followed Big Ten football this year, you know that Russell Wilson has been lighting the world on fire. Now, if you’re an ACC fan like me, you might be asking yourself why that name sounds familiar. Well, until last year, Russell Wilson was the starting quarterback for the North Carolina State Wolfpack.
But wait, don’t transfer students have to sit out year? That is very true, except there is a little loophole there. If the player graduated and still had eligibility left, he doesn’t need to sit out. Wilson graduated from North Carolina State, yet still had one year of eligibility.
Now you have to be wondering why NC State would let Wilson leave? He did throw for over 3000 yards in the past two seasons. Well, this is where the Colorado Rockies come into the picture. Wilson, also a baseball star at NC State, was drafted last year by the Rockies. He made the choice to skip spring and summer drills to play in the Rockies minor league system.
NC State decided that Mike Glennon was now their starting quarterback. They released Wilson from his scholarship and he transferred to Wisconsin, enrolling in their graduate program in order to play. So, is this good for college football?
Personally, I do not see the harm in it. The main thing everyone always brings up when talking about college football, whether it be an argument about a playoff system or paying athletes, is that the kids are at college for an education.
Wilson worked his butt off to graduate early and decided that he wanted to explore his opportunities in professional baseball so as not to have to commit to football. NC State wanted him to commit fully to football (although this wasn’t an issue when he was playing baseball for the Wolfpack).
While I don’t think there should be ease of transfer for undergrads, when it comes to graduate students, the player should be able to transfer if he wants. These are good kids looking for another year to prove their worth to scouts, not someone jumping for school to school looking for playing time and headlines.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
The Three Best Two Loss Teams in College Football
So, you’ve gotten through the first four weeks of the college football season and your favorite team has two losses already? Fear not, the season is not over. There are still teams with two losses that are playing competitive football and could make a run at something special. So, I’m going to give you three of the two loss teams you shouldn’t dismiss just yet.
1) Georgia (2-2)
Georgia didn’t have it easy to start the season. They had to face Boise State on a neutral field and got SEC East favorite South Carolina at home. So it was unsurprising that Georgia started out 0-2. It was also unsurprising that they won against Coastal Carolina and Ole Miss in the next two games.
Georgia definitely has some positives going for it. Quarterback Aaron Murray gets better with every game, finally emerging as the leader they need him to be. Also, Isaiah Crowell has burst on the scene as an impact running back for the Bulldogs. With offensive stability, they can finally stop leaning on Brandon Boykin as their playmaker.
Defensively, they are getting better. They gave up way too many points to Boise State and South Carolina to responsibly win those games. The defense recently found their groove against lesser opponents, so it is still questionable if they can keep up the intensity.
For an SEC team, the schedule looks pretty favorable for Georgia. They go on the road to Tennessee, Vanderbilt, and Georgia Tech, get Auburn and Kentucky at home, and face Florida on a neutral field. While they probably won’t be winning the SEC East, they will at least be able to make a nice bounce back from last year, shake things up, and use it as a stepping stone for next year.
2) Missouri (2-2)
Missouri has a rough stretch to start out the season, with road losses to an underrated Arizona State team (in overtime) and the top ranked Oklahoma Sooners. They were able to temper those losses with wins against Miami (OH) and Western Illinois.
While their wins have been against less than stellar opponents, the Missouri losses have been close (17 points total). Added to the fact that they were on the road and it doesn’t seem that bad. The kicking game has failed Missouri this season, as they missed a field goal in OT that would have won it against Arizona State and two field goals against Oklahoma which would have kept the game closer.
The Missouri offense may have lost Blaine Gabbert to the NFL, but they have only been moderately effected. While quarterback James Franklin may not have a great completion percentage, he can make teams pay by running the ball (over 100 yards rushing against Oklahoma). They also have Henry Posey in the backfield, who can easily get 100 yards rushing a game if he gets the touches.
While they aren’t amazing defensively, they are good enough to keep Missouri in most games. They hit a four game stretch starting in late October that is less than desired, where they are at home against Oklahoma State, on the road at Texas A&M and Baylor, and then back home against Texas. If they can win two of the four, that will put them in good position at the end of the season.
3) Notre Dame (2-2)
As much fun as it would be to tweak Notre Dame fans by keeping them off the list, I’d be remiss if I did so. However, I will say that if you told me Notre Dame was 2-2 at this point in the season, I would have predicted the loss to South Florida, but not Michigan.
After the 0-2 start, Notre Dame beat Michigan State (at home) and Pittsburgh (on the road). I was surprised by the victory over Michigan State, seeing as I thought Michigan State was a better team and the fact they were coming off the heart breaking loss to Michigan.
Notre Dame’s big problem is going to be turnovers. Tommy Rees is throwing too many interceptions to make the Fighting Irish a winning team. Rees also uses Michael Floyd as too much of a security blanket, with over a third of his completions going to Floyd. The running game has been important to Notre Dame’s offense, with Cierre Wood able to get important yards on the ground.
Defensively, the Fighting Irish have been better than normal, but not great. There is really no excuse for the defensive lapses that allowed Michigan to win their game. It always seems to be the Achilles Heel of Notre Dame over the past five years or so.
The schedule looks good for the Irish, with only the last game at Stanford looking like a loss. The rest of the schedule is against the dregs of the ACC (at Wake Forest, home against Maryland and Boston College) and the Service Academy’s (Air Force and Navy at home). The USC matchup on October 22 gives you pause, but seeing as it’s at home and USC isn’t really that good, Notre Dame should prevail.
Keep praying to the Touchdown Jesus and Notre Dame could back their way into a BCS Bowl. Or they could continue to turn the ball over, lose winnable games, and make Brian Kelly wonder why he left Cincinnati. Seriously, no one should ever wonder why they left Cincinnati.
1) Georgia (2-2)
Georgia didn’t have it easy to start the season. They had to face Boise State on a neutral field and got SEC East favorite South Carolina at home. So it was unsurprising that Georgia started out 0-2. It was also unsurprising that they won against Coastal Carolina and Ole Miss in the next two games.
Georgia definitely has some positives going for it. Quarterback Aaron Murray gets better with every game, finally emerging as the leader they need him to be. Also, Isaiah Crowell has burst on the scene as an impact running back for the Bulldogs. With offensive stability, they can finally stop leaning on Brandon Boykin as their playmaker.
Defensively, they are getting better. They gave up way too many points to Boise State and South Carolina to responsibly win those games. The defense recently found their groove against lesser opponents, so it is still questionable if they can keep up the intensity.
For an SEC team, the schedule looks pretty favorable for Georgia. They go on the road to Tennessee, Vanderbilt, and Georgia Tech, get Auburn and Kentucky at home, and face Florida on a neutral field. While they probably won’t be winning the SEC East, they will at least be able to make a nice bounce back from last year, shake things up, and use it as a stepping stone for next year.
2) Missouri (2-2)
Missouri has a rough stretch to start out the season, with road losses to an underrated Arizona State team (in overtime) and the top ranked Oklahoma Sooners. They were able to temper those losses with wins against Miami (OH) and Western Illinois.
While their wins have been against less than stellar opponents, the Missouri losses have been close (17 points total). Added to the fact that they were on the road and it doesn’t seem that bad. The kicking game has failed Missouri this season, as they missed a field goal in OT that would have won it against Arizona State and two field goals against Oklahoma which would have kept the game closer.
The Missouri offense may have lost Blaine Gabbert to the NFL, but they have only been moderately effected. While quarterback James Franklin may not have a great completion percentage, he can make teams pay by running the ball (over 100 yards rushing against Oklahoma). They also have Henry Posey in the backfield, who can easily get 100 yards rushing a game if he gets the touches.
While they aren’t amazing defensively, they are good enough to keep Missouri in most games. They hit a four game stretch starting in late October that is less than desired, where they are at home against Oklahoma State, on the road at Texas A&M and Baylor, and then back home against Texas. If they can win two of the four, that will put them in good position at the end of the season.
3) Notre Dame (2-2)
As much fun as it would be to tweak Notre Dame fans by keeping them off the list, I’d be remiss if I did so. However, I will say that if you told me Notre Dame was 2-2 at this point in the season, I would have predicted the loss to South Florida, but not Michigan.
After the 0-2 start, Notre Dame beat Michigan State (at home) and Pittsburgh (on the road). I was surprised by the victory over Michigan State, seeing as I thought Michigan State was a better team and the fact they were coming off the heart breaking loss to Michigan.
Notre Dame’s big problem is going to be turnovers. Tommy Rees is throwing too many interceptions to make the Fighting Irish a winning team. Rees also uses Michael Floyd as too much of a security blanket, with over a third of his completions going to Floyd. The running game has been important to Notre Dame’s offense, with Cierre Wood able to get important yards on the ground.
Defensively, the Fighting Irish have been better than normal, but not great. There is really no excuse for the defensive lapses that allowed Michigan to win their game. It always seems to be the Achilles Heel of Notre Dame over the past five years or so.
The schedule looks good for the Irish, with only the last game at Stanford looking like a loss. The rest of the schedule is against the dregs of the ACC (at Wake Forest, home against Maryland and Boston College) and the Service Academy’s (Air Force and Navy at home). The USC matchup on October 22 gives you pause, but seeing as it’s at home and USC isn’t really that good, Notre Dame should prevail.
Keep praying to the Touchdown Jesus and Notre Dame could back their way into a BCS Bowl. Or they could continue to turn the ball over, lose winnable games, and make Brian Kelly wonder why he left Cincinnati. Seriously, no one should ever wonder why they left Cincinnati.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
