A rough week of football in the Midwest this week as several quality teams were idle and a few of the games were snoozers. I mean did anyone not nod off during the Michigan game? Thankfully the game of the week, Minnesota-Northwestern, delivered plenty of fireworks to keep this from being a complete bust.
Team of the week – Iowa – A- – Hawkeyes finally lived up to some of the preseason hype by dismantling Indiana. Sure the Hoosiers closed within one score but Iowa refocused and took it to them again after the game got tight. Hawks could have scored in the 60s easily but once it became clear that Nate Sudfeld was injured and would not return, they took their foot off the gas and ate up the clock in the second half. Rush defense was poor but Tevin Coleman does that to everyone. No shame in it, but a good humbling for the unit that had been riding high as they get ready for the equally dangerous Maryland offense.
Illinois – D+ – They were competitive in the first half and 14 unanswered late in the fourth made the score look much better than the game was. There is a massive talent and coaching gap that Illinois faces each and every game made that much worse by Wes Lunt going down with his injury. Defensively this team is not up to par to be competitive week in and week out.
Indiana – D+ – Not losing Sudfeld would have kept things closer but he is a starting quarterback – not a key defender. The fact is that even without the pick six, Indiana gave up 38 points against a pedestrian Iowa offense. What’s worse is, as stated above, Iowa put the game on ice in the second half with a ton of rushing plays. This offense is good enough to get to a bowl but are there three more wins in the schedule? Purdue will be interesting since they are improved and Michigan/Penn State could be doable since their offenses are even more of a train-wreck than Iowa’s but unless they score another upset or sweep those three manageable games it will be another bust season for the Hoosiers.
Maryland – Idle
Michigan – B – It’s a start, and that is the positive. Breaking through and stopping the bleeding is huge but they faced a team with zero offensive line and zero rushing threat. They won’t get that again this season. Their offense remains very rough around the edges as they scored just 18 points relying on a ton of field goals and Penn State opting to take a safety in a last-ditch long shot hope of getting the ball back from an onside kick (fyi, I did not see the offsides even watching the play countless times…the player’s body, I guess, but pretty borderline).
Michigan State – C – Grading this on a curve since MSU is supposed to be the cream of the crop in the league. They kept building leads only to see Purdue climb back in. No one expected this to be a one score game with the ball in Purdue’s hands and a chance to tie it. A pick-six sealed the deal and made the score look slightly better than the game was. Not enough consistent defensive-intensity the last two weeks. They need to get re focused ASAP with Ohio State looming on October 25.
Minnesota – A – It wasn’t the prettiest game but they found a way to win. First of all the defense gave up a lot of yards but buckled down when it mattered and held NU to just 17 points. The offense was stalled, especially that solid running game, for much of the day but scratched and clawed enough to find a way to put up 17 points. The mark of a good team though is special teams and the Gophers were all over it Saturday. Three out of 5 punts were downed inside the 20, 1/1 on field goals and of course the deciding score was Jalen Myrick’s 100 yard kick off return after Northwestern tied it.
Nebraska – Idle
Northwestern – B – Played really well on the road against a very tough team. Minnesota was just slightly better, especially on special teams. Let’s see if this mid-season surge continues against Nebraska – a team they had dead to rights last year before a Hail Mary.
Ohio State – Idle
Penn State – F – Six sacks, awful running game, worst OL in the league. The losses will be coming at a fast clip now. They have the bye next followed by OSU, Maryland, @Indiana, Temple, @ Illinois and end with MSU. The Michigan State and Ohio State games appear to be awful match ups. Maryland and Indiana’s defense aren’t that good but can Penn State score enough to keep up? Things could get a lot uglier before they get better.
Purdue – C+ – Nice moral victory against Michigan State and it is clear that Austin Appelby is the future but still too big a talent gap to really make much more noise this year, especially as the West has turned out to be a lot stiffer than we projected a few weeks ago.
Rutgers – Idle
Wisconsin – B- – To quote Denny Green, “They are who we thought they were.” They continue to get zilch from the passing game but a solid ground attack and an above average defense makes the Badgers bowl bound…assuming a few things. They schedule has the bye now followed by Maryland, at Rutgers, at Purdue, Nebraska, at Iowa and Minnesota. The best teams they face (Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota) are all flawed and it seems like both the Hawks and Gophers are low-scoring enough to help the one-dimensional Badgers keep in contact. Still, the contender status is obviously shelved for this team. You can’t be held to 97 passing yards on 18 attempts by sorry Illinois and be taken seriously.
Game of the Week – Northwestern at Minnesota was everything you could want and more. Two bruising Big Ten teams battled their way to a virtual stalemate with the only difference between the clubs being the Gopher special teams. That was such a joy to see in Minneapolis this week.
Why Did I Watch This Award – Who at Michigan or Penn State do I submit a receipt to in order to get reimbursed for time spent seeing that pathetic game. Thankfully I flipped between it and the Ole Miss firework show very liberally…who would guess I could stomach an SEC love fest more than a PSU-Michigan showdown?
Gambling report card
Illinois at Wisconsin – UW (-26), Under (57.5) – Not only did Illinois’ meaningless 14 point rally bust any hope of Wisconsin covering (it was a 24 point game when it started) but it also ruined the under (combined score was 52 at the time). Thanks Beckman…can he be fired yet?
Indiana at Iowa – Iowa (-3.5), Under (56) – Both of these were degenerate tips and while Iowa covered easily, the fact that a stunning 74 points was scored leaves us with a split. Rare to see Vegas that far off. Safe to say we will be betting the Over a lot the rest of the way when the Hoosiers are involved.
Michigan vs Penn State – Under (41) – This pillow fight produced just 31 points.
Michigan State at Purdue – MSU (-21), Over (51) – Settle for another split as MSU won by just 14 but they combined for 76 points. Vegas off by 25 in this one and 18 in the Iowa game…some funky business going on.
Minnesota vs Northwestern – Minne (-4), Under (43) – From my prediction article, “My spidey sense loves the scores 21-17 and 24-17. For our double-down we better hope it is 24-17, but let’s take the shot. After all, need to spend money to make money, right?” – This is a gamblers’ delight folks, the HOLY CRAP moment when you get a score dead on! Fantastic. That makes the losses easier to stomach.
Week Record: 5-4-0
Season Record: 43-40-2
Random Musing
I seldom give in to making or commenting on the polls since they are pretty stupid by everyone’s esimation but in this funky season I noticed something…well…funky about the latest poll:
1 – Miss State – totally agree
2- Florida State – live with it
3 – Ole Miss – Hang on, weren’t they tied with Mississippi State a week ago? Isn’t winning on the road against a good TAMU team as impressive as winning at home against a good Auburn team? Guess not.
4 – Baylor – Top 5 teams don’t give up 51 offensive points (58 total with a pick six). Sorry Bears fans, would not have you this high based on your resume or the TCU game.
5 – Notre Dame – ditto what I said about Baylor but multiply it by a factor of 10 since TCU is a whole lot better than North Carolina.
6 – Auburn – Well if they lost at the number one team in the nation in a very strange game (weather, turnovers, etc.) shouldn’t they be higher than Baylor and Notre Dame?
7 – Alabama – They put up 14 against Arkansas and won by one. Does that sound like a top 10 team to you?
8 – Michigan State – live with it
9 – Oregon -Wait, what? Did they not beat MSU head to head? Did they not just crush a ranked UCLA team?
10 – Georgia – fine
11 – Oklahoma – fine
12 – TCU – Well if they are 12th and the team they basically played dead even with is 4th, someone is either ranked too high or too low, no? Also they beat Oklahoma head-to-head.
13 – Ohio State – Their one loss looks a lot worse now and that UC win was discredited thanks to Miami but sure, let’s say they are one of the 15 BEST teams in America. Okay.
14 – Kansas State – Yes, because a tighter than nails loss to the previous number 2 and current number 6 team warrants being EIGHT spots lower than Auburn.
15 – Oklahoma State – Who have they beaten – no one. Who did they just barely beat – woeful Kansas. I guess they are being rewarded with a competitive loss to Florida State.
16 – Arizona – I didn’t realize losing to the team you thought was a top 10 team five weeks ago (currently 22nd) was a big enough deal to slip six spots. It’s called the eye-test people. Did they look great against Oregon? Yes. Did they look good against at talented USC team? Yes.
17 – Arizona State – Yes, because top 20 teams give up 62 points on such a regular basis. Oh, the team they gave that many points up to is now unranked people.
18 – East Carolina – They lost to a fully healthy South Carolina team (the same team mind you that beat Georgia) and thumped UNC. Oh they also dropped Va Tech on the road. Body of work people…
19 – Nebraska – Hmm, a tight road loss to a team in the top 10 yet here they sit at 19th. Makes sense.
20 – Utah – That UCLA win is looking really impressive now that the Bruins are out of the polls, no? Should ranked teams have a loss to Washington State? Guess they can since the Utes are ranked.
21 – Texas A&M – Ah yes, the old punishment for losing. They lost to the number 1 and 3 ranked teams in the land. I’m pretty sure they would destroy any number of the teams ranked ahead of them.
22 – USC – Top 10 to out of the polls to 22nd. Seems legit–it helps that BC keeps winning (kind of).
23 – Stanford – So their losses are by a combined six points to Notre Dame (top 10) and USC (ranked) and they just spanked a WSU team that beat Utah. Sure, rank them 3 spots below Utah.
24 – Clemson – Should never have been unranked to begin with.
25 – Marshall – I love the Thundering Herd story, especially Rakeem Cato’s and I defended Boise State back when the Mountain West was still a decent league but this is pretty bad. The Herd have beaten Miami OH (1-6), Rhode Island (FCS, 0-6), Ohio (3-4), Akron (4-2), Middle Tennessee State (4-3). That is a combined 12-21 (.363) record and winning percentage.
Here is the real top 25:
1. Mississippi State and Ole Miss (tied, again)
3. Florida State
4. Aurburn
5. Oregon
6. Georgia
7. Michigan State
8. Notre Dame (they have played defense outside the UNC game)
9. Kansas State
10. Texas A&M
11. East Carolina
12. Arizona
13. Baylor
14. TCU
15. Oklahoma
16. Alabama
17. Nebraska
18. Stanford
19. USC (hate violating my own rule but the Cardinal barely lost to Notre Dame and USC’s two losses are worse)
20. Ohio State
21. Clemson
22. Minnesota
23. Oklahoma State
24. Iowa
25. Duke
Big Ten and Counting 