Hello all,
Three weeks left in regular season and still a lot to be decided on both sides of the standings as well as bowl eligibility...
My takes on the day games last week were so bad, thankfully my 3-4 bets were all small. I was just way off, although it seems Nebraska was playing versus the stripes as well.
The big thing to watch -- provided Penn State wins this week -- is the potential tiebreaker. The opponents winning percentage from the West division may well be the tiebreaker. The Wisconsin and Nebraska losses as favorites coupled with Iowa pulling one out late was worth quite a bit of movement towards the Nittany Lions favor. We shall see.
Ohio State -- Wisconsin, Purdue and Minnesota (7-11)
Michigan -- Purdue, Minnesota and Nebraska (7-11)
Penn State -- Iowa, Northwestern and Illinois (8-10)
Couple of quick takes from last week...
Michigan was a bit rusty in this game. JJ was a bit inaccurate yet was 24-37 for 335. He's good, although he cannot play like that the rest of the month.
Rutgers, a big dog, settled for 3 FG's in the first half. Much like Indiana last week playing for a tie with 4 minutes left, these coaches are doing a disservice to their kids. Now, Rutgers wasn't going to win but they definitely could have made this interesting for a while. Shiano is a very good coach, but you have to play to win man.
I cannot say enough about Indiana. Off that game at PSU last week, I surely thought this was a letdown situation. Nope, they controlled the score from start to finish.
Illinois and Minnesota ended up being a terrific game, Who knew?
Iowa and Northwestern at Wrigley. Iowa 169 yards. Northwestern 170 yards. The teams combined for 82 rushes that totaled 193 yards! EPIC
Alright, onto this week. I will try and talk as much as possible about the big match + the others the next few nights and Thursday morning. The wife and BAW are heading out for a much needed few days in the desert, so I'll be around in spurts via mobile...
Onward...
Let us look at the MSU-OSU night game on NBC. This is part of the new NBC deal -- having a nighttime November game this late in the season. This is part of the deal and you'll see more and more of this moving forward. As far as the game goes, Ohio State should have a pretty easy time. I'll be looking into MSU TT unders, perhaps, in this spot. They won't be able to run and become one-dimensional. This smells like 37-10 at this point...
Northwestern sporting a 4-5 record takes on the Badgers. The Cats still have a chance at a bowl game and would love to beat their rival from the north to help that cause. Wisconsin has lost a few in a row, and frankly these next few week will be telling for Fickell. I have no idea what to expect here, but I certainly am not counting on much offense from the Badgers. I'll stay away here, but man this feels like a N'Western cover...
Minnesota and Purdue play, and I will always automatically think of that monsoon game a few years back. I have no opinion here, other than the Purdue DL vs Minnesota run offense will tell the tail...
Turnover-prone Gavin Whimsatt heads into Iowa City to face one of the stingiest defenses of them all. That right there, is a big part of the cap. Hunt will tell you, this dude feels like a walking turnover. We have a 28.5 total here and I cannot stop laughing. I won't bet on it, but this will be the Iowa over where I count on turnovers for scoring + short fields...
Alright, we have two teams one win away from the magic number facing off in Lincoln. This game is a fun cap, on the intangible sides. We all know how Maryland starts and finishes season under Locksley. That is what it is. They were absolutely polished last week. They also face UM next week. You have to think that is their chance to make this season a success (beating one of the Big 3). Nebraska has been playing solid till an uneven performance yesterday plus some brutal officiating. I think Nebraska is a live dog here... I might have to hold my nose here and bet it....
Illinois and Indiana evokes some great memories of the late 1980's and their cbb games. RIP Coach Knight. Anyways, this game shall not be spoken about....
Last, and certainly not least, is the matchup in Happy Valley that is almost like a playoff game to be honest. The GOY line was -7 on Saturday morning, still. With the action having completed this weekend, we sit at the 2x defending champs -4.5. So, lets start some early discussion here...
-Michigan's best opponents have been UNLV, Nebraska and I dunno. This conference is so bad this year after the top 3, there just isn't competition.
-Penn State's best opponent was OSU, and they were handled pretty well. Again, a few solid wins vs WVU and Iowa but otherwise, a blah schedule.
-Michigan was rusty off a bye last week. Does that carryover or did they get 'that' game out of the way.
-Penn State has dominated Maryland. Maryland is so bad in November. Was those both byproducts or were they that impressive? They started hot and made the Terps a solely passing team.
-Michigan's running game has been very average. What happened with the great OL and depth? Why has the former ASU captain struggled? Can they use the run enough this week to keep pressure off JJ?
-Game is at noon. That certainly helps Michigan a bit. The Wolverines have won each NOON game at Happy Valley for JH. They have lost both NIGHT games. Jim teams generally react much better at high noon as opposed to nighttime.
-Josh Wallace injury?
-How much of an impact can the Michigan secondary have? They were all hurt to start the year but seems to be rounding into form. Will Johnson continues his dominance. Rod Moore finally seems healthy. He had a few really nice breakups versus Purdue.
-How does JJ react if there is early adversity?
-James Franklin trick play. I can feel it already!
These are all excellent questions. I have no leans whatsoever at this point. We'll talk more the next two nights...
Three weeks left in regular season and still a lot to be decided on both sides of the standings as well as bowl eligibility...
My takes on the day games last week were so bad, thankfully my 3-4 bets were all small. I was just way off, although it seems Nebraska was playing versus the stripes as well.
The big thing to watch -- provided Penn State wins this week -- is the potential tiebreaker. The opponents winning percentage from the West division may well be the tiebreaker. The Wisconsin and Nebraska losses as favorites coupled with Iowa pulling one out late was worth quite a bit of movement towards the Nittany Lions favor. We shall see.
Ohio State -- Wisconsin, Purdue and Minnesota (7-11)
Michigan -- Purdue, Minnesota and Nebraska (7-11)
Penn State -- Iowa, Northwestern and Illinois (8-10)
Couple of quick takes from last week...
Michigan was a bit rusty in this game. JJ was a bit inaccurate yet was 24-37 for 335. He's good, although he cannot play like that the rest of the month.
Rutgers, a big dog, settled for 3 FG's in the first half. Much like Indiana last week playing for a tie with 4 minutes left, these coaches are doing a disservice to their kids. Now, Rutgers wasn't going to win but they definitely could have made this interesting for a while. Shiano is a very good coach, but you have to play to win man.
I cannot say enough about Indiana. Off that game at PSU last week, I surely thought this was a letdown situation. Nope, they controlled the score from start to finish.
Illinois and Minnesota ended up being a terrific game, Who knew?
Iowa and Northwestern at Wrigley. Iowa 169 yards. Northwestern 170 yards. The teams combined for 82 rushes that totaled 193 yards! EPIC
Alright, onto this week. I will try and talk as much as possible about the big match + the others the next few nights and Thursday morning. The wife and BAW are heading out for a much needed few days in the desert, so I'll be around in spurts via mobile...
Onward...
Let us look at the MSU-OSU night game on NBC. This is part of the new NBC deal -- having a nighttime November game this late in the season. This is part of the deal and you'll see more and more of this moving forward. As far as the game goes, Ohio State should have a pretty easy time. I'll be looking into MSU TT unders, perhaps, in this spot. They won't be able to run and become one-dimensional. This smells like 37-10 at this point...
Northwestern sporting a 4-5 record takes on the Badgers. The Cats still have a chance at a bowl game and would love to beat their rival from the north to help that cause. Wisconsin has lost a few in a row, and frankly these next few week will be telling for Fickell. I have no idea what to expect here, but I certainly am not counting on much offense from the Badgers. I'll stay away here, but man this feels like a N'Western cover...
Minnesota and Purdue play, and I will always automatically think of that monsoon game a few years back. I have no opinion here, other than the Purdue DL vs Minnesota run offense will tell the tail...
Turnover-prone Gavin Whimsatt heads into Iowa City to face one of the stingiest defenses of them all. That right there, is a big part of the cap. Hunt will tell you, this dude feels like a walking turnover. We have a 28.5 total here and I cannot stop laughing. I won't bet on it, but this will be the Iowa over where I count on turnovers for scoring + short fields...
Alright, we have two teams one win away from the magic number facing off in Lincoln. This game is a fun cap, on the intangible sides. We all know how Maryland starts and finishes season under Locksley. That is what it is. They were absolutely polished last week. They also face UM next week. You have to think that is their chance to make this season a success (beating one of the Big 3). Nebraska has been playing solid till an uneven performance yesterday plus some brutal officiating. I think Nebraska is a live dog here... I might have to hold my nose here and bet it....
Illinois and Indiana evokes some great memories of the late 1980's and their cbb games. RIP Coach Knight. Anyways, this game shall not be spoken about....
Last, and certainly not least, is the matchup in Happy Valley that is almost like a playoff game to be honest. The GOY line was -7 on Saturday morning, still. With the action having completed this weekend, we sit at the 2x defending champs -4.5. So, lets start some early discussion here...
-Michigan's best opponents have been UNLV, Nebraska and I dunno. This conference is so bad this year after the top 3, there just isn't competition.
-Penn State's best opponent was OSU, and they were handled pretty well. Again, a few solid wins vs WVU and Iowa but otherwise, a blah schedule.
-Michigan was rusty off a bye last week. Does that carryover or did they get 'that' game out of the way.
-Penn State has dominated Maryland. Maryland is so bad in November. Was those both byproducts or were they that impressive? They started hot and made the Terps a solely passing team.
-Michigan's running game has been very average. What happened with the great OL and depth? Why has the former ASU captain struggled? Can they use the run enough this week to keep pressure off JJ?
-Game is at noon. That certainly helps Michigan a bit. The Wolverines have won each NOON game at Happy Valley for JH. They have lost both NIGHT games. Jim teams generally react much better at high noon as opposed to nighttime.
-Josh Wallace injury?
-How much of an impact can the Michigan secondary have? They were all hurt to start the year but seems to be rounding into form. Will Johnson continues his dominance. Rod Moore finally seems healthy. He had a few really nice breakups versus Purdue.
-How does JJ react if there is early adversity?
-James Franklin trick play. I can feel it already!
These are all excellent questions. I have no leans whatsoever at this point. We'll talk more the next two nights...
