Let's start with some quick takeaways from last week...
1. Oregon looked like Oregon finally -- Running game was humming and Dillon was very efficient -- nice win
2. Michigan 1st team defense was much better overall, and the running game busted out, albeit vs a poor defensive team vs the rush
3. Wisconsin absolutely throttled at home plus an injury to QB1. Maybe HC is just suited to the middle levels of CFB? Still time to build this.
4. Purdue had no shot after all, but especially versus a wounded warrior. Nothing here to take away positive for the Boilers.
5. Nebraska took care of business but that T.O.P is certainly wild. I couldn't figure out the 22-rush attempt's until scouting that box.
6. Illinois is going to be that non-flashy team that wins a lot of games this year. Solid defense and a QB who will not lose you games.
7. The takeaway from the Sparty game is that the penalties continue to pile up. Not good.
8. Minny took care of a bad Nevada team. RB1 looking good in both games since his return. I figure he'll start to receive more carries (14 and 11 so far).
9. Tough loss for Washington in the Apple Cup. They had 450+ yards and no turnovers. Wild to score 19 points! Too many FG's.
10. Iowa gave up 21 points to Troy -- interesting -- Look deeper and we see a punt return and two 60+ yard passes
11. I am not surprised at all that Indiana beat a bad UCLA team. Did I see pure domination? No. Very, very impressive.
12. Northwestern plated EIU. We have an AJ Henning sighting!
13. Maryland with a dd win over the Cavs. Weird game all-around. Virginia did absolutely nothing in the 2nd half, longest drive was their last one playing hurry-up. Nice bounce back Terps.
Michigan and Arkansas State Recap Plus General UM Thoughts via Reno:
The score was 28-3 in the 4th when Michigan went deeper into the reserves and Arky State basically compiled half their yards on the next two drives (139 of 280)...
The first few Michigan drives were interesting on offense and then they found their groove on the ground -- as they should have versus this opponent...
Again, Mullings should be RB1. Yes, Don had some excellent runs, but for your every down back Mullings is a beast. He is Haskins 2.0. Use him correctly...
We're at the point of giving up seeing Edwards used properly. He should be a threat at multiple spots on the field other than up the middle on 1st down. We have seen his explosive nature in the passing game and yet they refuse. So dumbfounded by this.
Loveland was hurt a few times in the middle of the game. Nothing serious, I would hope he is back.
Marlin Klein has had a lot of hype and showed what he can do with Colston out of the game. This guy is fast, really fast for a TE. He'll play on Sundays. I'd love to see him play with Loveland.
Warren never had a pass hit the ground -- 11 for 11 to his team and 3-3 to Arky State. He can throw but goodness does he make mistakes. Orji time, as announced 24 hours ago. This is a whole different dimension. I'd rather we did this vs Arky St so he'd have reps prior to playing a ranked conference foe.
Defensively, much better vs ASU but the fact is these guys need to clean up the little things. I am not a fan of this defensive coaching staff. Wink is exactly what I feared initially -- too aggressive.
Kicking game, FG wise, excellent. Punting, I believe they have made a change.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Onward...
Friday night, under the lights, in Lincoln should be a fun affair. Two well-coached teams here, spread and total seem on-point. Pure future capping game for myself.
Marshall Marshall Marshall heads into Columbus... this feels like an over game to be honest. I would have this more like 54.5.
The Hoosiers host Charlotte. Heck of a comeback last week by Charlotte. I thought this team would progress a bit better under Biff but they have been underwhelming to me so far this season. Letdown for the Hoosiers after the big win out west? Pretty big number here. I'd look for a slow Hoosier start and then to perhaps jump in on the game.
Maryland hosts Villanova after the big win last week. I'll have to check in with the FCS guys on this one.
Penn State host a reeling Kent State. You already know I like overs in this game -- team total, game whatever. This is a PERFECT spot to win some PSU money from Mr. Peanut after the last outing in Happy Valley cost the alums a few bucks two weeks ago.
UCLA heads into Baton Rouge to continue what should be a torturous season. Yes, this number is much bigger than one would expect -- but sometimes spreads tell the story. Looks like South Bama and then a bye for LSU after this one. No lookahead issues. I'm not sure how to bet this yet, but where there is a will, there is a way!
Rutgers and VPI is an interesting game. While we've won some Rutgers money this year they have shown some leaks at times. I still trust coach more than most. Need to cap the Hokies a bit more but very intrigued by this match.
Very happy to see Northwestern play a real team this week. Sorry Academic Bowl for the oversight. The Huskies limp in after a tough loss to Wazzu. I don't have much of a feel for the Wildcats yet to be honest, so tough to cap this from a lean perspective. That is good though.
Iowa and Minnesota playing in September seems sacrilegious. The Iowa defense is tough as always. Trenches game here, 3 yards and a cloud of turf kind of game. Minnesota has to be able to run the ball somewhat here. We have seen Iowa give up some big plays in the air this year.
Michigan State at Boston College is probably the game of the week in the conference for me. We'll know a lot more about MSU after this game. Chiles is fun, but prone to some risky play. The trenches are still a question mark for me with MSU, although both have performed solid so far. BC with a tough game in the SEC last week -- obviously have one of our favorite players to watch in Castellanos. Fun game here. My initial lean here is an over. I see 20's both ways for sure.
Purdue tries to come back from that ambush and traveling to Corvalis isn't exactly the recipe for success. Meanwhile, the Beavers got whacked pretty good as well. Does this line seem a bit low? Maybe I am off in my capping of each team.
Michigan and USC thoughts to come in a post of it's own mid-week...
1. Oregon looked like Oregon finally -- Running game was humming and Dillon was very efficient -- nice win
2. Michigan 1st team defense was much better overall, and the running game busted out, albeit vs a poor defensive team vs the rush
3. Wisconsin absolutely throttled at home plus an injury to QB1. Maybe HC is just suited to the middle levels of CFB? Still time to build this.
4. Purdue had no shot after all, but especially versus a wounded warrior. Nothing here to take away positive for the Boilers.
5. Nebraska took care of business but that T.O.P is certainly wild. I couldn't figure out the 22-rush attempt's until scouting that box.
6. Illinois is going to be that non-flashy team that wins a lot of games this year. Solid defense and a QB who will not lose you games.
7. The takeaway from the Sparty game is that the penalties continue to pile up. Not good.
8. Minny took care of a bad Nevada team. RB1 looking good in both games since his return. I figure he'll start to receive more carries (14 and 11 so far).
9. Tough loss for Washington in the Apple Cup. They had 450+ yards and no turnovers. Wild to score 19 points! Too many FG's.
10. Iowa gave up 21 points to Troy -- interesting -- Look deeper and we see a punt return and two 60+ yard passes
11. I am not surprised at all that Indiana beat a bad UCLA team. Did I see pure domination? No. Very, very impressive.
12. Northwestern plated EIU. We have an AJ Henning sighting!
13. Maryland with a dd win over the Cavs. Weird game all-around. Virginia did absolutely nothing in the 2nd half, longest drive was their last one playing hurry-up. Nice bounce back Terps.
Michigan and Arkansas State Recap Plus General UM Thoughts via Reno:
The score was 28-3 in the 4th when Michigan went deeper into the reserves and Arky State basically compiled half their yards on the next two drives (139 of 280)...
The first few Michigan drives were interesting on offense and then they found their groove on the ground -- as they should have versus this opponent...
Again, Mullings should be RB1. Yes, Don had some excellent runs, but for your every down back Mullings is a beast. He is Haskins 2.0. Use him correctly...
We're at the point of giving up seeing Edwards used properly. He should be a threat at multiple spots on the field other than up the middle on 1st down. We have seen his explosive nature in the passing game and yet they refuse. So dumbfounded by this.
Loveland was hurt a few times in the middle of the game. Nothing serious, I would hope he is back.
Marlin Klein has had a lot of hype and showed what he can do with Colston out of the game. This guy is fast, really fast for a TE. He'll play on Sundays. I'd love to see him play with Loveland.
Warren never had a pass hit the ground -- 11 for 11 to his team and 3-3 to Arky State. He can throw but goodness does he make mistakes. Orji time, as announced 24 hours ago. This is a whole different dimension. I'd rather we did this vs Arky St so he'd have reps prior to playing a ranked conference foe.
Defensively, much better vs ASU but the fact is these guys need to clean up the little things. I am not a fan of this defensive coaching staff. Wink is exactly what I feared initially -- too aggressive.
Kicking game, FG wise, excellent. Punting, I believe they have made a change.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Onward...
Friday night, under the lights, in Lincoln should be a fun affair. Two well-coached teams here, spread and total seem on-point. Pure future capping game for myself.
Marshall Marshall Marshall heads into Columbus... this feels like an over game to be honest. I would have this more like 54.5.
The Hoosiers host Charlotte. Heck of a comeback last week by Charlotte. I thought this team would progress a bit better under Biff but they have been underwhelming to me so far this season. Letdown for the Hoosiers after the big win out west? Pretty big number here. I'd look for a slow Hoosier start and then to perhaps jump in on the game.
Maryland hosts Villanova after the big win last week. I'll have to check in with the FCS guys on this one.
Penn State host a reeling Kent State. You already know I like overs in this game -- team total, game whatever. This is a PERFECT spot to win some PSU money from Mr. Peanut after the last outing in Happy Valley cost the alums a few bucks two weeks ago.
UCLA heads into Baton Rouge to continue what should be a torturous season. Yes, this number is much bigger than one would expect -- but sometimes spreads tell the story. Looks like South Bama and then a bye for LSU after this one. No lookahead issues. I'm not sure how to bet this yet, but where there is a will, there is a way!
Rutgers and VPI is an interesting game. While we've won some Rutgers money this year they have shown some leaks at times. I still trust coach more than most. Need to cap the Hokies a bit more but very intrigued by this match.
Very happy to see Northwestern play a real team this week. Sorry Academic Bowl for the oversight. The Huskies limp in after a tough loss to Wazzu. I don't have much of a feel for the Wildcats yet to be honest, so tough to cap this from a lean perspective. That is good though.
Iowa and Minnesota playing in September seems sacrilegious. The Iowa defense is tough as always. Trenches game here, 3 yards and a cloud of turf kind of game. Minnesota has to be able to run the ball somewhat here. We have seen Iowa give up some big plays in the air this year.
Michigan State at Boston College is probably the game of the week in the conference for me. We'll know a lot more about MSU after this game. Chiles is fun, but prone to some risky play. The trenches are still a question mark for me with MSU, although both have performed solid so far. BC with a tough game in the SEC last week -- obviously have one of our favorite players to watch in Castellanos. Fun game here. My initial lean here is an over. I see 20's both ways for sure.
Purdue tries to come back from that ambush and traveling to Corvalis isn't exactly the recipe for success. Meanwhile, the Beavers got whacked pretty good as well. Does this line seem a bit low? Maybe I am off in my capping of each team.
Michigan and USC thoughts to come in a post of it's own mid-week...
