This season is absolutely flying!
We are down to 6 teams with one loss in the conference. All of those teams are ranked, except the Badgers. I don't think Wisconsin belongs with the other 5 teams, but I was way off on them two weeks ago. Two straight blowouts and maybe they just happen to be turning the corner.
The race to Indy should be fun coming down the stretch!
Quick hitters from last week:
Rutger and UCLA combining for 67 was the surprise of the week.
Indiana just scores well right now. The injury is unfortunate (more on that later).
It was a nice win for MSU in another night game. As I said before, OSU and Iowa played. That secondary for the Hawkeye team is quite suss this season.
Illinois had that game circled for awhile. I did end up with 2 units but that was a top-unit play in all honesty -- especially when the line rose again.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say the USC playoff chances are gone.
Wisconsin took care of business. That's not the easiest spot historically -- well done
Oregon also did the same. Nice push early and just coasted from there.
Future Schedules:
Oregon
@ Michigan
Vs Maryland
@Wisconsin
BYE
Washington
Ohio State
@ Penn State
Vs Purdue
@ Northwestern
Vs Indiana
Vs Michigan
Penn State
Vs Ohio State
Vs Washington
@ Purdue
@ Minnesota
Vs Maryland
Illinois
Vs Minnesota
BYE
Vs Michigan State
@ Rutgers
@ Northwestern
Indiana
@ Michigan State
Vs Michigan
BYE
@ Ohio State
Vs Purdue
Wisconsin
@ Iowa
BYE
Vs Oregon
@ Nebraska
Vs Minnesota
I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on how this could shake out. Next week is huge, obviously, in Happy Valley. The Hoosiers and Buckeyes in a month will be big-time as well. Imagine if Illinois pulls a shocker this week!?
This week:
There is a traditional Friday night 11 p.m. kickoff for the Rutgers program in So Cal. The Rutgers season seems to have fallen apart since that ass-kicking at home via the Badgers. Now, it's a long trip on a short week vs. a team that is really in need of a win! Now, this is a pretty hefty line. I have no lean here whatsoever.
Nebraska right back at it after last week's thrashing in Bloomington. Growing pains, no doubt, and this is the last place they needed to be heading into this week. Ohio State has had 2 weeks to stew after losing in Eugene. Reportedly they are working on the QB slide and timeout formation. Now, last week I had the Huskers over that cashed easily. I noted on Friday late-night that I had soured on that a bit. Pace numbers were concerning. Now, with that being said, I am leaning over here. I can see the Huskers with 14-17 here. Maybe @cubsker can talk me away from that? Ohio State will be good for 37-40 in my estimation. I'm still capping this one.
The fun team, those Indians Hoosiers host Washington who is off a bye. Talk to me @FadeTheHype about your Hoosiers, specifically the QB spot! I still think Washington is more mid-pack than near that top 6. Solid team, but that is about it. Tell me why I am wrong @jimmymo .
Illinois off a very nice win heads to Eugene to face a surging Ducks team. Oregon might be due for a bit of a flat spot here. Or is that next week? Tough part of the schedule, not so much teams but the travel. The Ducks will have come to the Midwest 3 times in 5 weeks once November 16th has played out. I can see this one a bit tighter until HT and Oregon breaking away after. This game is merely a live or HT bet.
Northwestern and Iowa is about as exciting as a haircut on a Sunday night. Now, this total is in the mid to high 30's. The Hawkeyes have certainly gone over quite a bit this year. I don't know if the Cats can help enough here though.
Maryland and Minnesota is big in the sense that the winner can likely start booking their bowl trip. Great win for the Terps, and I'll be honest this feels like a letdown. I'd favor a Minnesota ML here, but not before diving much deeper into this game.
Penn State heads into Madison for a night-time affair on 'The Cock. This should tell us if the Badgers have progressed or if the competiton wasn't up to snuff. Mr Peanuts gang is so up and down this year. They look great at times and quite pedestrian at others. They are a playoff lock if they win this one. Can they start to play consistent enough to make some noise in those playoffs?? This is a watch and stalk game for myself.
Once again, TV has decided that Paul Bunyan trophy shall be played Under The Lights. This should be a noon game on an obscure network. Half kidding. I saw this line at 5.5 and should have pounced as the money has flowed in on Michigan State. Big game for both, like huge, for a multitude of reasons. Michigan season really comes down to winning the in-state rivalry and then playing spoiler vs Oregon, Indiana and Ohio State. The Spartans huge win last week honestly changes the outlook a bit. Most had them losing 4-5 in a row during this stretch. At the same point, their November schedule looked pedestrian. Now, they only have the two easier games to end the year. A win here basically guarantee's a bowl game -- big for the first year. My ceiling for them was 6 wins, but 7 is right there and maybe a bit better bowl game.
As far as capping MSU-UM, if the Michigan defense could fulfill their talent in the secondary and front four, then they could take advantage of Chiles' mistakes. That is a big if right now. I cannot trust the staff to coach them up properly.
That brings me to my next point .. a lot of forum-goers are not a fan of UM Coach Sherrone Moore. I won't at all debate you there. He has not been good this year. As I have said multiple times -- there is so much more to what is going on here -- the staff is brutal.
Remember, he was named coach later than just about every coach in the country (as far as new positions). Most of the old coaches had aspirations for the NFL and went that way. That was a veteran group of coaches(mostly) that wanted to go different directions. Minter was never coming back -- he was borrowed from the league to build his resume. The biggest loss honestly was Clinkscale. He went much later, and the effect has been real. I always say he was one of the most important hires Jim ever had. When he was at Kentucky he routinely grabbed kids from Detroit. His coaching techniques were incredible, and you saw that in last year's secondary big-time. Anyways, that is my best example.
Currently, there are a few coaches in way over their heads. Bellamy has been here for a bit not. His biggest contribution is recruiting around the Detroit metro area for the past handful of years. The problem is he doesn't develop WR's at all. On offense, Kirk Campell seemed like a guy that could naturally elevate to the next spot. Nope, he has been brutal. You know my thoughts on Wink. Hey, good coach but built so much more for the NFL. Linebackers have been lost all year. They have talented guys, but nothing good has happened there.
That is why this off-season will be so critical. Sherrone isn't going anywhere unless something wild happens. He can't sit back and think things will change. The time is now, especially with some recruiting momentum starting to heat up(I know, that sounds funny but things are starting to pop). The NIL part of things may finally be changing. Fingers crossed.
I mentioned elsewhere that there was a players-only meeting last night. That was confirmed. The takes from that all make sense, nothing earth-shattering. Hopefully we will see better effort this week coming out of that. The one nugget that I like it that a few guys who have been coasting a bit were challenged. As they should be -- NFL isn't set in stone yet.
So, on my end -- no plays yet but close to the OVER in C-Bus.
We are down to 6 teams with one loss in the conference. All of those teams are ranked, except the Badgers. I don't think Wisconsin belongs with the other 5 teams, but I was way off on them two weeks ago. Two straight blowouts and maybe they just happen to be turning the corner.
The race to Indy should be fun coming down the stretch!
Quick hitters from last week:
Rutger and UCLA combining for 67 was the surprise of the week.
Indiana just scores well right now. The injury is unfortunate (more on that later).
It was a nice win for MSU in another night game. As I said before, OSU and Iowa played. That secondary for the Hawkeye team is quite suss this season.
Illinois had that game circled for awhile. I did end up with 2 units but that was a top-unit play in all honesty -- especially when the line rose again.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say the USC playoff chances are gone.
Wisconsin took care of business. That's not the easiest spot historically -- well done
Oregon also did the same. Nice push early and just coasted from there.
Future Schedules:
Oregon
@ Michigan
Vs Maryland
@Wisconsin
BYE
Washington
Ohio State
@ Penn State
Vs Purdue
@ Northwestern
Vs Indiana
Vs Michigan
Penn State
Vs Ohio State
Vs Washington
@ Purdue
@ Minnesota
Vs Maryland
Illinois
Vs Minnesota
BYE
Vs Michigan State
@ Rutgers
@ Northwestern
Indiana
@ Michigan State
Vs Michigan
BYE
@ Ohio State
Vs Purdue
Wisconsin
@ Iowa
BYE
Vs Oregon
@ Nebraska
Vs Minnesota
I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on how this could shake out. Next week is huge, obviously, in Happy Valley. The Hoosiers and Buckeyes in a month will be big-time as well. Imagine if Illinois pulls a shocker this week!?
This week:
There is a traditional Friday night 11 p.m. kickoff for the Rutgers program in So Cal. The Rutgers season seems to have fallen apart since that ass-kicking at home via the Badgers. Now, it's a long trip on a short week vs. a team that is really in need of a win! Now, this is a pretty hefty line. I have no lean here whatsoever.
Nebraska right back at it after last week's thrashing in Bloomington. Growing pains, no doubt, and this is the last place they needed to be heading into this week. Ohio State has had 2 weeks to stew after losing in Eugene. Reportedly they are working on the QB slide and timeout formation. Now, last week I had the Huskers over that cashed easily. I noted on Friday late-night that I had soured on that a bit. Pace numbers were concerning. Now, with that being said, I am leaning over here. I can see the Huskers with 14-17 here. Maybe @cubsker can talk me away from that? Ohio State will be good for 37-40 in my estimation. I'm still capping this one.
The fun team, those Indians Hoosiers host Washington who is off a bye. Talk to me @FadeTheHype about your Hoosiers, specifically the QB spot! I still think Washington is more mid-pack than near that top 6. Solid team, but that is about it. Tell me why I am wrong @jimmymo .
Illinois off a very nice win heads to Eugene to face a surging Ducks team. Oregon might be due for a bit of a flat spot here. Or is that next week? Tough part of the schedule, not so much teams but the travel. The Ducks will have come to the Midwest 3 times in 5 weeks once November 16th has played out. I can see this one a bit tighter until HT and Oregon breaking away after. This game is merely a live or HT bet.
Northwestern and Iowa is about as exciting as a haircut on a Sunday night. Now, this total is in the mid to high 30's. The Hawkeyes have certainly gone over quite a bit this year. I don't know if the Cats can help enough here though.
Maryland and Minnesota is big in the sense that the winner can likely start booking their bowl trip. Great win for the Terps, and I'll be honest this feels like a letdown. I'd favor a Minnesota ML here, but not before diving much deeper into this game.
Penn State heads into Madison for a night-time affair on 'The Cock. This should tell us if the Badgers have progressed or if the competiton wasn't up to snuff. Mr Peanuts gang is so up and down this year. They look great at times and quite pedestrian at others. They are a playoff lock if they win this one. Can they start to play consistent enough to make some noise in those playoffs?? This is a watch and stalk game for myself.
Once again, TV has decided that Paul Bunyan trophy shall be played Under The Lights. This should be a noon game on an obscure network. Half kidding. I saw this line at 5.5 and should have pounced as the money has flowed in on Michigan State. Big game for both, like huge, for a multitude of reasons. Michigan season really comes down to winning the in-state rivalry and then playing spoiler vs Oregon, Indiana and Ohio State. The Spartans huge win last week honestly changes the outlook a bit. Most had them losing 4-5 in a row during this stretch. At the same point, their November schedule looked pedestrian. Now, they only have the two easier games to end the year. A win here basically guarantee's a bowl game -- big for the first year. My ceiling for them was 6 wins, but 7 is right there and maybe a bit better bowl game.
As far as capping MSU-UM, if the Michigan defense could fulfill their talent in the secondary and front four, then they could take advantage of Chiles' mistakes. That is a big if right now. I cannot trust the staff to coach them up properly.
That brings me to my next point .. a lot of forum-goers are not a fan of UM Coach Sherrone Moore. I won't at all debate you there. He has not been good this year. As I have said multiple times -- there is so much more to what is going on here -- the staff is brutal.
Remember, he was named coach later than just about every coach in the country (as far as new positions). Most of the old coaches had aspirations for the NFL and went that way. That was a veteran group of coaches(mostly) that wanted to go different directions. Minter was never coming back -- he was borrowed from the league to build his resume. The biggest loss honestly was Clinkscale. He went much later, and the effect has been real. I always say he was one of the most important hires Jim ever had. When he was at Kentucky he routinely grabbed kids from Detroit. His coaching techniques were incredible, and you saw that in last year's secondary big-time. Anyways, that is my best example.
Currently, there are a few coaches in way over their heads. Bellamy has been here for a bit not. His biggest contribution is recruiting around the Detroit metro area for the past handful of years. The problem is he doesn't develop WR's at all. On offense, Kirk Campell seemed like a guy that could naturally elevate to the next spot. Nope, he has been brutal. You know my thoughts on Wink. Hey, good coach but built so much more for the NFL. Linebackers have been lost all year. They have talented guys, but nothing good has happened there.
That is why this off-season will be so critical. Sherrone isn't going anywhere unless something wild happens. He can't sit back and think things will change. The time is now, especially with some recruiting momentum starting to heat up(I know, that sounds funny but things are starting to pop). The NIL part of things may finally be changing. Fingers crossed.
I mentioned elsewhere that there was a players-only meeting last night. That was confirmed. The takes from that all make sense, nothing earth-shattering. Hopefully we will see better effort this week coming out of that. The one nugget that I like it that a few guys who have been coasting a bit were challenged. As they should be -- NFL isn't set in stone yet.
So, on my end -- no plays yet but close to the OVER in C-Bus.
