Alright, to the games...
I think we all know how the marque match-up went this week. Michigan punished Penn State start to finish. The Lions did have some life in the 2nd quarter as Clifford executed a beautiful keeper right down the goal line. JJ stumbled out of a drop back and threw a bad pass which deflected a few times before being returned for 6 points. I'll admit, we've all seen these types of games before that turn into nail-biters. Michigan stuck with what worked and just took it to them in the 2nd half.
My Penn State thoughts...
-Why did Singleton have only 4 carries?
-Holy moly their DL is not good at all.
-The corners are future Sunday guys, but I didn't see the difference making (albeit Michigan didn't throw much in 2h).
-I don't want to degrade this team, they just ran into a team that was too physical for them.
Interesting point... Somewhere I read after the game that Franklin is building this team to beat Ohio State. That was his excuse for the small defensive line? I dunno. Interesting. That could be a whole different thread to be honest.
Michigan Thoughts...
-Return of Mike Hart was HUGE. This guy is the single biggest addition to the team in the past two years. You can credit a lot of Haskins and Corums growth the last two years to Mr. Hart. Early in the Penn State game, Donovan Edwards had some poor runs. He runs very upright and doesn't hit the right hole all the time/decisively enough. They had a chat after those first few runs and suddenly, he went beast mode the rest of the game.
-RedZone offense MUST improve. You cannot be kicking FG' down in Columbus in 6 weeks. You'll get blown out.
-Last two games, the OL has been outstanding.
-DL gets better and better each game.
-Jim moving Sainstril from WR to nickel is the sneakiest best move maybe in all of the country this season. He'll play on Sundays. That was not the case at WR.
-JJ had two bad decisions. He is learning and growing. All that being said, he's turning into a solid game manager (Cade-esque). I'm excited to see his progress the last 5 games of the regular season.
Overall, great win. Great crowd. The competition stepped up and we all needed to see them versus a ranked team.
Bye Week, then on to the Super Bowl which will be UTL in Ann Arbor Halloween weekend.
Back to sandwich gate -- funniest thing since the show throw in LSU and FLA
@twinkie13
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Minnesota and Illinois were on at the same time as our game. I watched the 1Q as I had an under 7.5 play. Of course, Illinois goes right down the field and scores. Then, the end of the quarter the clock just wouldn't tick. Lucky for me, a 4th down-play was used instead of a FG... anyways, enough about me...
Bert got those guys playing Bert ball. Nothing more, nothing less. Brown is having a great year. Devito is solid enough and works perfectly for a Bert team. I'd like to thank
@Br@ssknux for his thoughts about his guys (Illini) pregame. Go back and read them if you haven't already. Great use for capping later (fwiw, if you aren't reading his threads then you are already behind the ball).
Minnesota passed for 38 yards... yup...
Illinois had great balance (220 and 258)...
Time of possession was 40-20 basically. That isn't the 42-18 like the UM/PSU game but both were just dominant.
Great win for Illinois...
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I had many people in my area ask about the MSU and Wisky game and my thoughts. I was honest with them; I saw 2 plays live. I'm sorry, with an instant classic in Knoxville and a helluva 4th down in Ft Worth this game simply didn't merit time on the big screens... all that being said...
Huge, HUGE win for Michigan State. This was their first FBS win of the year and the only 'break' in what is a brutal stretch of games going into November. As far as bowl eligibility goes, this was a must.
Sparty run defense isn't too bad. They can be had when a team is up and starts grinding in a 2nd half, but they won't get gashed early generally. They seemingly were solid vs Wisconsin in this area. The Badgers are the exact type of team to ignore going after a week secondary. Hey, they are what they are.
Excellent stat-line for Thorne -- 75% completion rate, 265 and 2 tuddy's including the game-winner in OT. Michigan State struggled on the ground, although I am sure Berger was happy to get to paydirt versus his old school.
Only bet I had here was under 24 in the 2h. Late third I was feeling good, and even after the first score felt solid. I wanted 34.5 to middle (45 was my total number). I didn't. I had another opportunity at 37.5 but didn't. Sure enough...
Comedy of errors late in this game, botched game-winner...MSU going for broke in OT with Wisky drawing dead, but it worked. Jayden Reed is always a dangerous threat, and he had a big game.
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I said in the thread and few other spots that I was looking at Nebraska. As this game played out, I kicked myself several times... this was a game to profit on... I love situational handicapping, and this was a great spot. Wild box score, as
@PaintCrew posted. As Cub said, NU could have won this thing on the field....
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Last, but not least, Indiana and Maryland...
Great balance from the Terps (270 and 172)
Indiana ran for 36 yards on 32 carries.
Indiana 3 turnovers
I didn't see much here. As I wrote earlier in the week, this was a huge game if Maryland wanted to change the perception. They simply need to win these games to make the next step. Indiana came back from 14-3 to take the lead TWICE. Maryland battled back from that (and a Taulia injury). That is progress. Hemby was great running the ball. Boxscore says the made the Hoosiers one-dimensional.
Terps sit at 5-2 (2-2)... They get Northwestern and a reeling Badgers team the next two weeks(bye inbetween). Once again, these are must wins. Ohio State and Penn State lurk in middle of November... time to put up or shut-up for Locksley and crew. This was a BIG first step.
