Here we are, getting into the meat of the conference schedule now...
October is here and we have a lot of great matchups these next four weeks...
Last week
I'd say the game in East Lansing went as expected. There were a lot of points and Western passed all day as they do and many expected. On the other side, Michigan State scored most times they wanted to and were equally dangerous on the ground as through the air. Would I be concerned as a Spartan fan about the pass defense? Sure, a bit. King also got after them quite a bit through the air. With that being said, this conference doesn't have a lot of strong passing teams so they should only be challenged that way in 2-3 games down the stretch.
Impressive effort by Ohio State vs Rutgers. Maybe sitting for a week and watching helped Stroud? Dunno. Rutgers is not a bad team but they simply got demoralized here. As far as Ohio goes, I'd expect them to keep improving and be in full gear as we get past Halloween.
Penn St took care of Indiana easily. This Hoosiers team is starting to regress and really are a hard team to watch at this point. My look in this game was to check in on the Penn St running game. It was seemingly okay, but take away the 44 yard run plus Clifford's yards and it is still a bit substandard. The Hoosier defense is no pushover though.
All I know of the Purdue and Minnesota battle is some pics my buddy showed me that went to the game. Otherwise, the box score winning team lost the game. I am guessing these two play 10 times and Purdue wins 7 of them. I'll let the resident experts chime in though.
Iowa absolutely smashed Maryland. Is this the start of the annual swoon? We shall see...
Nebraska had no problems with one of the worst P5 teams in the country. Despite the opponent, that is an impressive performance after that heartbreaker the week before + the Oklahoma game the week before.
To the local game we go.... Wisconsin is not a good team this year, on one side of the ball. The offense is awful. Mertz is somewhat shell shocked at this point and they do not have that work horse running back that so often leads this team. On the other side, that is a very good defense. I'd keep capping that defense to lose interest in 2H's of losses a bit though. We've seen this before. Michigan had a very good gameplan. They knew that running the ball would be had but they were honest enough with it. Cade managed the game well, per usual, and gained confidence as the game went in the passing game. The flea flicker was a great call. I loved the idea of going on 4th early on(although the 2nd one was a horrible play call). They wanted to play from the lead and did just that. Some might be curious about JJ getting snaps early in the second half. That is simply about bringing the RPO element to the offense. Kid is gonna be a star. Good win, in a place we haven't won since I was 21. Wild.
This week
The Situation Trophy is up for grabs in Jersey in what is a weird little rivalry. There is something between these two teams and this honestly has the feeling of a dogfight to me. We saw the first Michigan State game vs a solid defense and that was a fight as well. Now, you might not think much of the Rutgers defense after last week but I think they are solid. We shall see. I'd lean taking the points as of now...
Another kinda rivalry game with Maryland heading into the Shoe. As I said earlier, is this the swoon? We shall see. Little Tua on the road is always cause for concern. Methinks a certain capper and others will be heavy on team totals in this game. Just saying...
We got ourselves an old fashioned Bert Bowl down in Champagne! This is the time for Wisky to get right. Illinois struggled with Charlotte last week and isn't really improving in my book. Obviously we need to look at the injuries on the Badgers side with Mertz and Ferguson. That backup has quite the ratio of career passes to interceptions.
The best game of the conference card is in Iowa City. This is a good old fashioned rock em sock em game at Kinnick. This is the kind of football former college handicapper Vegas Kyle loves. Old fashioned football. I only wish this game was played at night. This Iowa defense is pretty dirty and they will be able to make Penn St a one-dimensional team and really focus on Clifford. I won't lie, I cannot in fact (Tyree reference)...I like Iowa here quite a bit.
Okay, last but not least, Michigan heads to Nebraska.
Few things here...
1. Interesting line and movement
2. Night game in Lincoln no picnic
3. Michigan has never won here
4. The last visit was 8-9 years ago. Denard was hurt early and we brought in just a terrible quarterback. This was never a game.
5. AM in the three Husker losses has been sacked 17 TIMES!
6. Michigan has a bye week next
7. Frost and JH have no love lost
Michigan has 5 games circled on their schedule. They are 2-0 so far. This isn't one of them but shapes up to be one of the toughest games they will face due to situation and timing. This a big game for Frost as well, perhaps a win here propels the rest of the season and gets him some more time. A loss? Things could spiral.
This is a great matchup this week and I think it will be a tight game. I expect to see Michigan's first deficit as well. How will they respond? We shall see...
October is here and we have a lot of great matchups these next four weeks...
Last week
I'd say the game in East Lansing went as expected. There were a lot of points and Western passed all day as they do and many expected. On the other side, Michigan State scored most times they wanted to and were equally dangerous on the ground as through the air. Would I be concerned as a Spartan fan about the pass defense? Sure, a bit. King also got after them quite a bit through the air. With that being said, this conference doesn't have a lot of strong passing teams so they should only be challenged that way in 2-3 games down the stretch.
Impressive effort by Ohio State vs Rutgers. Maybe sitting for a week and watching helped Stroud? Dunno. Rutgers is not a bad team but they simply got demoralized here. As far as Ohio goes, I'd expect them to keep improving and be in full gear as we get past Halloween.
Penn St took care of Indiana easily. This Hoosiers team is starting to regress and really are a hard team to watch at this point. My look in this game was to check in on the Penn St running game. It was seemingly okay, but take away the 44 yard run plus Clifford's yards and it is still a bit substandard. The Hoosier defense is no pushover though.
All I know of the Purdue and Minnesota battle is some pics my buddy showed me that went to the game. Otherwise, the box score winning team lost the game. I am guessing these two play 10 times and Purdue wins 7 of them. I'll let the resident experts chime in though.
Iowa absolutely smashed Maryland. Is this the start of the annual swoon? We shall see...
Nebraska had no problems with one of the worst P5 teams in the country. Despite the opponent, that is an impressive performance after that heartbreaker the week before + the Oklahoma game the week before.
To the local game we go.... Wisconsin is not a good team this year, on one side of the ball. The offense is awful. Mertz is somewhat shell shocked at this point and they do not have that work horse running back that so often leads this team. On the other side, that is a very good defense. I'd keep capping that defense to lose interest in 2H's of losses a bit though. We've seen this before. Michigan had a very good gameplan. They knew that running the ball would be had but they were honest enough with it. Cade managed the game well, per usual, and gained confidence as the game went in the passing game. The flea flicker was a great call. I loved the idea of going on 4th early on(although the 2nd one was a horrible play call). They wanted to play from the lead and did just that. Some might be curious about JJ getting snaps early in the second half. That is simply about bringing the RPO element to the offense. Kid is gonna be a star. Good win, in a place we haven't won since I was 21. Wild.
This week
The Situation Trophy is up for grabs in Jersey in what is a weird little rivalry. There is something between these two teams and this honestly has the feeling of a dogfight to me. We saw the first Michigan State game vs a solid defense and that was a fight as well. Now, you might not think much of the Rutgers defense after last week but I think they are solid. We shall see. I'd lean taking the points as of now...
Another kinda rivalry game with Maryland heading into the Shoe. As I said earlier, is this the swoon? We shall see. Little Tua on the road is always cause for concern. Methinks a certain capper and others will be heavy on team totals in this game. Just saying...
We got ourselves an old fashioned Bert Bowl down in Champagne! This is the time for Wisky to get right. Illinois struggled with Charlotte last week and isn't really improving in my book. Obviously we need to look at the injuries on the Badgers side with Mertz and Ferguson. That backup has quite the ratio of career passes to interceptions.
The best game of the conference card is in Iowa City. This is a good old fashioned rock em sock em game at Kinnick. This is the kind of football former college handicapper Vegas Kyle loves. Old fashioned football. I only wish this game was played at night. This Iowa defense is pretty dirty and they will be able to make Penn St a one-dimensional team and really focus on Clifford. I won't lie, I cannot in fact (Tyree reference)...I like Iowa here quite a bit.
Okay, last but not least, Michigan heads to Nebraska.
Few things here...
1. Interesting line and movement
2. Night game in Lincoln no picnic
3. Michigan has never won here
4. The last visit was 8-9 years ago. Denard was hurt early and we brought in just a terrible quarterback. This was never a game.
5. AM in the three Husker losses has been sacked 17 TIMES!
6. Michigan has a bye week next
7. Frost and JH have no love lost
Michigan has 5 games circled on their schedule. They are 2-0 so far. This isn't one of them but shapes up to be one of the toughest games they will face due to situation and timing. This a big game for Frost as well, perhaps a win here propels the rest of the season and gets him some more time. A loss? Things could spiral.
This is a great matchup this week and I think it will be a tight game. I expect to see Michigan's first deficit as well. How will they respond? We shall see...
