Here we are, already onto Week #3 in what is an odd start to the season for this conference.
I will admit that I saw only about 3 of the conference games this week... in the opening recap I will be pointing out a few nuggets from the boxscores...
Wisconsin loses at Camp Randall to Wazzou...
How? Well, both teams had 3 turnovers and Wisconsin had 11 penalties. That is a start. This snippet from ESPN sure sums it up...
The Badgers outgained them 401-253 and had the ball for 38 of the 60 minutes. Wisconsin was also efficient on 3rd down (8-15) while Wazzou was now (2-11). Penalties and turns... name of the game...
Ohio State took care of Arkansas State, but maybe not as convincingly as some would hope. ASU had 4 different semi-long drives that resulted in field goals. They were not exactly tearing it up but played some keep-away. Ohio State had some patented quick scores in this one. No JSN in this game, as they did not need him. I didn't take much else from this contest to be honest...
Penn State took care of Ohio pretty methodically... Clean game here with good passing stats and what you would expect from their run game versus a MAC team...Allar in backup duty with a pair of TD's. This kid is going to be good...
Michigan State took care of the Zips. Akron had no chance to even score after the injury. Irons had been moving the ball a bit, so I am sure he was dissapointed. Sparty has to be happy with their newest transfer RB's. Thorne is what he is... can make some great plays and will throw some picks... you get some great and some frustrating all in one game. I am trying to find an update on what exactly is bothering Reed. So far, nothing concrete...
Minnesota rolled and right now is the favorite in the West. All I can take from here is that Tanner is sharp, and Ibrahim is back to his usual self so far this year. Row the boat can coach, no doubt...
Northwestern passed the ball 60 times and had over 500 yards of offense, and still lost the Academic Bowl. The early deficit and turnovers were too much to overcome. Obviously, their win versus Nebraska keeps losing value. I am not sure what to think of Pat's team this year... Duke's first 3 TD's were all very quick drives (2min or less)... almost 1000 combined yards here...Cats fumbled in RZ to effectively end the game...
Maryland absolutely jail-sexed Charlotte in likely the best game of Taulia's career... Over 1000 yards in this game with 617 coming from the Terps... this is the kind of offensive game I have been waiting to see from the Terps...consistent... the next few games will tell us if they have a say in what happens in the East...
Iowa is taking offensive football back decades at this point. The coach may want to evaluate his OC, right? (lol) I mean, 150 total yards is ridiculous, even in a game we all expected to be a low scoring affair. The Clones had the ball over 38 minutes. Petras is brutal... not much more to say here. The defense will keep them around a lot of games, and they will steal 1-2 they should not....
Illinois was the favorite and took care of business. This was a much different result for Armstrong this year... saw none of this but this reads like a Wisconsin-lite box from the glory days...
Purdue and Rutgers took care of patsies...
Indiana scored all 35 of their points in the 2h versus Idaho... The first half saw a missed FG, turnover on downs, fumble and an interception... a dominant 3rd quarter made up for all of that and they were able to coast in the 4th quarter...
Nebraska, just wow. The era has ended, and a few weeks earlier than expected. As Cub said, this had to happen sooner rather than later. Oklahoma comes to Lincoln for the first time in a minute and that may have influenced things a bit as well...(imo)... Huskers gave up 642 yards to Georgia Southern. That is simply unacceptable... This game had 68 first downs! That is nuts. Nebraska seemingly played very well on offense. The game-tying FG at the end though was not to be... and here we are... Frost-less...
Michigan started JJ McCarthy at QB this week and he was very good vs a bad Hawaii team. Michigan ran the ball well enough, although they lost stud Edwards to an injury in the 2nd quarter. I think they played over 80 guys this week overall and that showed with some of the 2h defensive breakdowns. Davis Warren is a walk-on that THEY love. I wouldn't be surprised if he transfers at some point. Remember that name if he ends up on the right team. I'll have more UM thoughts in post #2 or so in a bit... a few good things and a few bad things...
ONTO THIS WEEKS SLATE!
Here we are with the second part of this Nebraska and Oklahoma series. I remember this game all too well from last year. I was pre-season confident of Oklahoma crushing these guys and bet it early. Obviously added some TT's and settled into the sportsbook with @cubsker and @carolinablue wearing a 13.00 OU shirt I had gotten off Amazon days earlier ready to celebrate. Nebraska played their buts off that day and with a few breaks may have won the game. That was a costly exercise and I believe that when I ditched the shirt that afternoon that @Joe Public used it as a napkin for cleaning up after eating some wings. Ah, memories...
Now, this year we get an embattled team with their coach gone at home catching DD's... on one hand, many have wondered why the spread is low, and on the other many will play the intangibles angle (coach gone, emotional team etc). This is such a fun, yet frustrating cap to be honest. I cannot imagine a pre-game play here. Oklahoma struggled in the 1h last week before waking up. Lookahead? Dunno....
-------------------------
Northwestern gets the Salukis at home. I have zero interest here unless Southern Illinois is playing basketball...
-------------------------
Purdue and Syracuse is a VERY interesting game. Most of us watched the Boilers blow that season opener to a good Penn State team. They took care of business last week, as they should. The Orange have had two convincing wins so far, albeit versus some hot garbage in Louisville and Uconn. I wasn't too high on them pre-season, so I will defer to others here. High noon game at the Dome, should be fun. These are the types of games that the Boilers need to win in order to take that next step as a program.
-------------------------
Indiana hosts the Hilltoppers in Bloomington. I know many were not high on WKU entering the year. Our data on them isn't the best, due to the opponents so far (Hawaii and Austin Peay). Despite a sporadic offense, this feels like a game the Hoosiers get theirs on offense.
-------------------------
Rutgers heads to Philly as heavy chalk to face Temple. You know the respect I have for their staff and team. They simply play hard. A convincing win here heading into B16 play would be huge. Tell me about Temple! They got shutout by Duke and recorded a win versus Layfayette.
------------------------
Penn State heads down to the plains to fulfill the 2nd half of their series with Auburn. The Lions enter as a short favorite. Last year's game was excellent. We know Auburn is down this year, but at home in front of their crowd I would not count them out. The Tigers handled Mercer but struggled with SJSU last week, trailing at halftime. This will be a fun one. The Lions already have a big win on the road this season, can they do it again?
------------------------
Minnesota finally plays a team with somewhat of a pulse. They are 4 touchdown favorites for a reason though, as Colorado isn't very good. I'd expect the stars to shine again in a 38-10 type of game here.
-------------------------
Wisconsin should be able to rebound versus perennial patsy NMSU. This has all the makings of a shutout. I mean, the NMSU TT is looking like it will be 3.5. That is just absolutely nuts. The Badgers will look to get their lead and play a short 2h where the clock just runs and runs and runs. Unders here, live, will be my personal angle.
--------------------------
Ohio State hosts Toledo in a battle to retain Sandusky(no clue, first dumb thing that entered my head). The Rockets have played LIU and Umass. I had a 2h bet on their LIU game (push) and was not that impressed at all. Obviously Umass is hot garbage. On the other side, my interest in this game is to gauge the OSU offense for upcoming games. That is about it. A TT around 45-46 will be present. I'll give this a live look perhaps.
--------------------------
A very interesting game out in Seattle this week with MSU visiting the Huskies. I would love to get some @jimmymo thoughts on his Huskies. The offensive numbers look great the first two games, but that is versus horrible competition (Kent up-tempo helped in 1h of Week 1, no doubt). Michigan State has also played garbage so far. I guess my cap here would be MSU run offense vs Washington run defense. This game will tell us a lot about both teams. Feel free to chime in @Jeffeo on your Spartans as well.
-------------------------
Iowa hosts Nevada in Iowa City. The -23/40 line is making me chuckle a bit. The Pack have already played 3 games, so we have some extra data here. Now, looking at these boxes you get the 'wtf' thought in your head...
We all remember that 'tussle' with NMSU in week 0. The next week, Nevada beat Texas State 38-14. The yardage was identical, but a 4-0 turnover margin explains the blowout. These clowns then follow that win up by losing to Incarnate Word. IWU had OVER 600 yards in offense!!
This is a game for Iowa to find SOMETHING on offense. Do we dare look at a TT??? This feels like 38-0, doesn't it?
---------------------------
Last game is Maryland hosting SMU in a night game. Word to the wise, the Terps open BT play at Michigan on a Big Noon telecast next week. You would think that is in the back of their heads slightly. The Mustangs have blown out N Texas and Lamar so far. This total is pretty high, but this figures to be a bit of a shootout. This will be a good live-betting game imo.
Alright, excited for the start of B16 play next week. One, the opening post will be easier as we have more familiarity. Also, we will have had much better data after this week's game for the most part...
Looking at next week...conference matches...
Maryland @ Michigan
Minnesota @ Michigan State
Iowa @ Rutgers
Wisconsin @ Ohio State
All are pretty significant games for September...
I will admit that I saw only about 3 of the conference games this week... in the opening recap I will be pointing out a few nuggets from the boxscores...
Wisconsin loses at Camp Randall to Wazzou...
How? Well, both teams had 3 turnovers and Wisconsin had 11 penalties. That is a start. This snippet from ESPN sure sums it up...
This game featured two separate plays in which one team intercepted a pass and then fumbled the ball away, creating a first down for the team that threw the pick.
Wisconsin (1-1) trailed 17-14 and faced third-and-6 from the Washington State 9 midway through the fourth quarter when defensive tackle Christian Mejia picked off a Graham Mertz pass before losing the ball. Mertz recovered the fumble at the Washington State 20, but a personal foul on tight end Clay Cundiff pushed Wisconsin back to the 35.
Cundiff then caught a 24-yard pass, but Quinn Roff forced a fumble that Sam Lockett III recovered at the 12 with 5:14 left.
Washington State never gave up possession the rest of the way.
The Badgers outgained them 401-253 and had the ball for 38 of the 60 minutes. Wisconsin was also efficient on 3rd down (8-15) while Wazzou was now (2-11). Penalties and turns... name of the game...
Ohio State took care of Arkansas State, but maybe not as convincingly as some would hope. ASU had 4 different semi-long drives that resulted in field goals. They were not exactly tearing it up but played some keep-away. Ohio State had some patented quick scores in this one. No JSN in this game, as they did not need him. I didn't take much else from this contest to be honest...
Penn State took care of Ohio pretty methodically... Clean game here with good passing stats and what you would expect from their run game versus a MAC team...Allar in backup duty with a pair of TD's. This kid is going to be good...
Michigan State took care of the Zips. Akron had no chance to even score after the injury. Irons had been moving the ball a bit, so I am sure he was dissapointed. Sparty has to be happy with their newest transfer RB's. Thorne is what he is... can make some great plays and will throw some picks... you get some great and some frustrating all in one game. I am trying to find an update on what exactly is bothering Reed. So far, nothing concrete...
Minnesota rolled and right now is the favorite in the West. All I can take from here is that Tanner is sharp, and Ibrahim is back to his usual self so far this year. Row the boat can coach, no doubt...
Northwestern passed the ball 60 times and had over 500 yards of offense, and still lost the Academic Bowl. The early deficit and turnovers were too much to overcome. Obviously, their win versus Nebraska keeps losing value. I am not sure what to think of Pat's team this year... Duke's first 3 TD's were all very quick drives (2min or less)... almost 1000 combined yards here...Cats fumbled in RZ to effectively end the game...
Maryland absolutely jail-sexed Charlotte in likely the best game of Taulia's career... Over 1000 yards in this game with 617 coming from the Terps... this is the kind of offensive game I have been waiting to see from the Terps...consistent... the next few games will tell us if they have a say in what happens in the East...
Iowa is taking offensive football back decades at this point. The coach may want to evaluate his OC, right? (lol) I mean, 150 total yards is ridiculous, even in a game we all expected to be a low scoring affair. The Clones had the ball over 38 minutes. Petras is brutal... not much more to say here. The defense will keep them around a lot of games, and they will steal 1-2 they should not....
Illinois was the favorite and took care of business. This was a much different result for Armstrong this year... saw none of this but this reads like a Wisconsin-lite box from the glory days...
Purdue and Rutgers took care of patsies...
Indiana scored all 35 of their points in the 2h versus Idaho... The first half saw a missed FG, turnover on downs, fumble and an interception... a dominant 3rd quarter made up for all of that and they were able to coast in the 4th quarter...
Nebraska, just wow. The era has ended, and a few weeks earlier than expected. As Cub said, this had to happen sooner rather than later. Oklahoma comes to Lincoln for the first time in a minute and that may have influenced things a bit as well...(imo)... Huskers gave up 642 yards to Georgia Southern. That is simply unacceptable... This game had 68 first downs! That is nuts. Nebraska seemingly played very well on offense. The game-tying FG at the end though was not to be... and here we are... Frost-less...
Michigan started JJ McCarthy at QB this week and he was very good vs a bad Hawaii team. Michigan ran the ball well enough, although they lost stud Edwards to an injury in the 2nd quarter. I think they played over 80 guys this week overall and that showed with some of the 2h defensive breakdowns. Davis Warren is a walk-on that THEY love. I wouldn't be surprised if he transfers at some point. Remember that name if he ends up on the right team. I'll have more UM thoughts in post #2 or so in a bit... a few good things and a few bad things...
ONTO THIS WEEKS SLATE!
Here we are with the second part of this Nebraska and Oklahoma series. I remember this game all too well from last year. I was pre-season confident of Oklahoma crushing these guys and bet it early. Obviously added some TT's and settled into the sportsbook with @cubsker and @carolinablue wearing a 13.00 OU shirt I had gotten off Amazon days earlier ready to celebrate. Nebraska played their buts off that day and with a few breaks may have won the game. That was a costly exercise and I believe that when I ditched the shirt that afternoon that @Joe Public used it as a napkin for cleaning up after eating some wings. Ah, memories...
Now, this year we get an embattled team with their coach gone at home catching DD's... on one hand, many have wondered why the spread is low, and on the other many will play the intangibles angle (coach gone, emotional team etc). This is such a fun, yet frustrating cap to be honest. I cannot imagine a pre-game play here. Oklahoma struggled in the 1h last week before waking up. Lookahead? Dunno....
-------------------------
Northwestern gets the Salukis at home. I have zero interest here unless Southern Illinois is playing basketball...
-------------------------
Purdue and Syracuse is a VERY interesting game. Most of us watched the Boilers blow that season opener to a good Penn State team. They took care of business last week, as they should. The Orange have had two convincing wins so far, albeit versus some hot garbage in Louisville and Uconn. I wasn't too high on them pre-season, so I will defer to others here. High noon game at the Dome, should be fun. These are the types of games that the Boilers need to win in order to take that next step as a program.
-------------------------
Indiana hosts the Hilltoppers in Bloomington. I know many were not high on WKU entering the year. Our data on them isn't the best, due to the opponents so far (Hawaii and Austin Peay). Despite a sporadic offense, this feels like a game the Hoosiers get theirs on offense.
-------------------------
Rutgers heads to Philly as heavy chalk to face Temple. You know the respect I have for their staff and team. They simply play hard. A convincing win here heading into B16 play would be huge. Tell me about Temple! They got shutout by Duke and recorded a win versus Layfayette.
------------------------
Penn State heads down to the plains to fulfill the 2nd half of their series with Auburn. The Lions enter as a short favorite. Last year's game was excellent. We know Auburn is down this year, but at home in front of their crowd I would not count them out. The Tigers handled Mercer but struggled with SJSU last week, trailing at halftime. This will be a fun one. The Lions already have a big win on the road this season, can they do it again?
------------------------
Minnesota finally plays a team with somewhat of a pulse. They are 4 touchdown favorites for a reason though, as Colorado isn't very good. I'd expect the stars to shine again in a 38-10 type of game here.
-------------------------
Wisconsin should be able to rebound versus perennial patsy NMSU. This has all the makings of a shutout. I mean, the NMSU TT is looking like it will be 3.5. That is just absolutely nuts. The Badgers will look to get their lead and play a short 2h where the clock just runs and runs and runs. Unders here, live, will be my personal angle.
--------------------------
Ohio State hosts Toledo in a battle to retain Sandusky(no clue, first dumb thing that entered my head). The Rockets have played LIU and Umass. I had a 2h bet on their LIU game (push) and was not that impressed at all. Obviously Umass is hot garbage. On the other side, my interest in this game is to gauge the OSU offense for upcoming games. That is about it. A TT around 45-46 will be present. I'll give this a live look perhaps.
--------------------------
A very interesting game out in Seattle this week with MSU visiting the Huskies. I would love to get some @jimmymo thoughts on his Huskies. The offensive numbers look great the first two games, but that is versus horrible competition (Kent up-tempo helped in 1h of Week 1, no doubt). Michigan State has also played garbage so far. I guess my cap here would be MSU run offense vs Washington run defense. This game will tell us a lot about both teams. Feel free to chime in @Jeffeo on your Spartans as well.
-------------------------
Iowa hosts Nevada in Iowa City. The -23/40 line is making me chuckle a bit. The Pack have already played 3 games, so we have some extra data here. Now, looking at these boxes you get the 'wtf' thought in your head...
We all remember that 'tussle' with NMSU in week 0. The next week, Nevada beat Texas State 38-14. The yardage was identical, but a 4-0 turnover margin explains the blowout. These clowns then follow that win up by losing to Incarnate Word. IWU had OVER 600 yards in offense!!
This is a game for Iowa to find SOMETHING on offense. Do we dare look at a TT??? This feels like 38-0, doesn't it?
---------------------------
Last game is Maryland hosting SMU in a night game. Word to the wise, the Terps open BT play at Michigan on a Big Noon telecast next week. You would think that is in the back of their heads slightly. The Mustangs have blown out N Texas and Lamar so far. This total is pretty high, but this figures to be a bit of a shootout. This will be a good live-betting game imo.
Alright, excited for the start of B16 play next week. One, the opening post will be easier as we have more familiarity. Also, we will have had much better data after this week's game for the most part...
Looking at next week...conference matches...
Maryland @ Michigan
Minnesota @ Michigan State
Iowa @ Rutgers
Wisconsin @ Ohio State
All are pretty significant games for September...