Like all Iowa fans, I bury my head in shame. Look, Minnesota has a good team this year and there is no shame in losing to them, especially on the road but 51 unanswered points is a joke. You know it, I know it, the team knows it and even Minnesota fans know it. Let’s just put week 11 behind us.
Team of the Week – Ohio State – A – Hmm, 568 yards (300 through the air) against Michigan State. Alrighty then. Lost in the shuffle of MSU’s yards (536) and points (37) was that the OSU defense actually played very well during key stretches. Overall they weren’t great but when OSU fell behind they stepped up in the second quarter to allow OSU to go on that 21-7 run in the quarter to take a halftime lead.
Indiana – F – Facing the league’s best rushing defense was a major cause for concern thanks to Indiana’s inability to pass and the resulting low yardage and zero offensive points was not a shocker. The defense played well enough to keep them in but any lead feels insurmountable for the Hoosiers.
Illinois – Idle
Iowa – F – 51 unanswered, not much to add.
Maryland – Idle
Michigan – F+ – Ah the dud that was the UM-Northwestern game. 3 turnovers for each, less than 300 yards for each, and just 19 total points. Michigan got the win but played horrible football. 1 for 12 on third and a garbage day with the passing game. A bowl may still be on the table, but this isn’t a good team.
Michigan State – D+ – I think this game came down to a rare bad performance at the worst possible time. Look, if the defense played that poorly against Illinois, they would still win that game. The fact is OSU is so talented and Meyer is such a good coach that the margin of error is smaller. Va Tech beat them by limiting their mistakes and taking the few opportunities OSU gave them. MSU failed to do this. For instance, the Spartans won the turnover battle +2 but weren’t clean enough (11 penalties, 105 yards). It wasn’t Michigan State’s night and unfortunately for them they were going against Ohio State.
Minnesota – A+ – They dominated all three phases of the game and are now in control of their own destiny…even if they lose the Ohio State game. Whaaa? That’s right, their final three games are OSU, at Nebraska, at Wisconsin. With Iowa having 2 league losses (UM’s tiebreaker), Iowa can win out and not catch Minnesota – if the Gophers take care of business in their Western division games. NU-UW play this weekend so the loser will most likely be out of it but the Gopher’s would still want to beat both to have tiebreakers over everyone, especially if/when they drop the OSU game. To put it simply, since Jerry Kill is a straight talker, win and you’re in Gophers. Well done on Saturday.
Nebraska – Idle
Northwestern – F- – Ah the dud that was the Michigan-NU game. 3 turnovers for each, less than 300 yards for each, and just 19 total points. Northwestern may have fought hard and had a chance to win but they played horrible football. -9 rushing yards on 35 carries is laughable. Good luck against an angry Notre Dame team this week boys.
Penn State – B – The defense was fantastic – posted a shutout (Indiana’s lone score was from a pick six), held the Hoosiers to just 221 yards and held Tevin Coleman under 100. The offense was not so fantastic. 330 yards against a weak unit is not something to brag about. The interception was bad but on a little bit of a plus side, the running game showed a slim improvement. The bowl trip is back on the table thanks to the win.
Purdue – C- – They played well in stretches, chiefly the third quarter when they scored 10 straight points to make it a one-score game but with lack of talent and inexperienced players in key parts of the roster, it was just difficult to sustain that level of play. This is an improving team, but 2015 will be more telling of how good this club can be.
Rutgers – Idle
Wisconsin – A – Sure Purdue had a nice little run in the third quarter to make it an 8 point game but the Badgers quickly got back on the gas to win 34-16. It was a pretty good whoopin’ on the stat sheet too. 489 yards to just 230 and the duel qb cycle continues to hum along nicely. Having Melvin Gordon also helps…..a lot.
Game of the Week – Ohio State at Michigan State lived up to the hype for most of the game, but as OSU pulled away in the second half and my attention drifted to the Alabama-LSU game. And I call myself a Big Ten blogger.
Why Did I Watch This Award – Michigan at Northwestern was a comedy of errors. Actually, I think I liked it more than the OSU-MSU game. Recount this election! I loved this stretch at the end of the first half:
- 7 minutes to go in a scoreless game Michigan takes over after a punt at the Northwestern 44.
- Michigan goes 3 and out with the good field position, punt is downed at the NU 1.
- NU goes 3 and out and punts, giving Michigan fantastic field position at the NU 35.
- Michigan gains 11 yards on first down!
- Michigan goes 3 and out after moving the chain and has a manageable 41 yard field goal to take a rousing 3-0 lead at the half.
- NU blocks the field goal.
Now that is what I call some exciting action!
Gambling Report Card
Indiana/Penn State – PSU (-6.5), Under (44) – Thanks to the pick six, Indiana scored 7 points and PSU’s lousy offense could only muster 13. Miss the spread but hit on the under, so a split to start the week.
Iowa/Minnesota – Over (44), Iowa (-1.5, degenerate tip) – Well the casual gambler gets a win but the rest of us settle for a split. Iowa could not cover that spread after giving up 51 unanswered points…oops.
Michigan/Northwestern – UM (-1.5), Under (41) – I mean honestly, UM wins by 1 because Northwestern goes for a two point conversion to win the game? Jesus (bleeping) Christ this is a gambler’s worst nightmare. The split is earned thanks to a grand total of 19 points scored by these sorry teams.
Michigan State/Ohio State – MSU (-3.5), Over (56) – Yet another split as they combined for a staggering 86 points but OSU got the big win.
Purdue/Wisconsin – UW (-17), Under (54.5) – A double up by the skin of our chinny chin chins. Wisconsin won by 18 and they combined for 50 points. I wasn’t worried once at all…okay I was petrified as a Badger fan and gambler.
Week Record: 6-4-0
Season Record: 64-59-2
Josh’s Top 25
Real AP:
1. Miss State
2. Florida State – If there is a football god, Miami will win and end the national nightmare…not that I’m biased or anything.
3. Oregon – Smooth sailing the rest of the way until the Pac 12 title game. Interestingly enough the team that beat them this year, Arizona, will have a difficult time getting the rematch thanks to losses to UCLA and USC creating a tiebreaker nightmare, even if the Wildcats take down arch rival Arizona State.
4. Alabama – Very strange team. They struggle with LSU (who Auburn killed) and Arkansas but throttle A&M who just beat Auburn. Wacky.
5. TCU
6. Baylor – Unfortunately for Baylor fans, people seem to be throwing out the head-to-head win for consideration right now. More troubling is Baylor’s bad loss, West Virginia, keeps losing and TCU’s lone non-conference win worth anything (Minnesota) keeps winning.
7. Arizona State – They might feel underrated now but Alabama/Miss State have tough games left and ASU can take care of the Oregon problem. Plenty of time to make the leap.
8. Ohio St – They need Nebraska to win out so the Big Ten title game is a top-10 showdown.
9. Auburn – With two losses and Alabama / Georgia left a third (and possibly fourth) are on their way most likely. They may be top 10 but they feel well off the mark for the tournament.
10. Ole Miss
11. Nebraska – So this is interesting…assuming Auburn has some more losses, ASU drops the Pac 12 title game (or the Arizona game…or both), SEC madness (‘Bama/Miss State game and the SEC title game), Florida St loses to Miami WITH Nebraska winning out and dropping Ohio State soundly in the title game…they have a shot and one not as bad as I would have guessed a few weeks ago.
12. Michigan State
13. Kansas State
14. UCLA – They may be 5-2 in league, just behind ASU’s 5-1 mark but they hold the tiebreaker over the Sun Devils and Arizona meaning Jim Mora might be flying the entire team to Tucson on the 28th to cheer for Rich Rod’s unit over ASU. Wait, they play Stanford that day? Well they might need to stay home then and take care of their own pesky opponent.
15. Notre Dame
16. Georgia – They have Auburn and a ranked Georgia Tech team as well as the SEC championship game (if they can get there) to make a move. Probably would be too little too late, but it would be interesting test in the first year of the tournament if the SEC champ has two losses.
17. Arizona
18. Clemson
19. Duke
20. LSU – I was never as high on LSU as the national media was and I feel vindicated by Alabama to some measure. I just don’t think a team that loses 41-7, barely beats Florida and can barely beat a banged up Ole Miss team running on empty can be consdiered that good. Now that they have three losses we can finally put a bow on the Tiger season.
21. Marshall – Fun fact, Marshall’s opponents are now a combined 29-52 with FCS Rhode Island bringing up the rear at 0-10, but sure, this team deserves to be ranked over Wisconsin.
22. Wisconsin – Amazing defense, amazing running game, still shaky qb play…that is why they can’t get higher in the national opinion.
23. Colorado State – About damn time.
24. Georgia Tech
25. Utah – Um, no.
My Top 25:
1. Miss State
2. Florida State
3. Oregon
4. Alabama – Waaah? Newsflash, I think the Pac 12 is BETTER than the SEC this year.
5. TCU
6. Baylor – I wasn’t buying Baylor until now. I had TCU 5th and Baylor 10th last week but that gap has clearly closed. My fear was Baylor didn’t play enough defense and that their numbers were inflated thanks to an easy schedule but they took it to Oklahoma. So why are they still behind the Frogs? I think extremely highly of K-State (who beat Oklahoma) who TCU beat down pretty good. Baylor gets a chance to prove themselves against that KSU team Dec. 6. A tight game along the way by either could flip the ranking.
7. Arizona State
8. Ohio State – I really wanted to flip them with ASU but I can’t hold those 62 points from UCLA against ASU when OSU has an even more humiliating loss.
9. Nebraska – Hey, they’ve got a better record than Ole Miss, Auburn and MSU. They’ll prove they deserve this lofty a rank against Wisconsin in a few days, don’t worry they will sink or swim on their own.
10. Auburn
11. Ole Miss
12. Kansas State
13. Michigan State
14. UCLA – Those wins over the Arizona schools are big but they weren’t competitive with Oregon, lost to a marginal Utah team and needed overtime for the woeful Colorado Buffaloes.
15. Arizona
16. Georgia
17. Wisconsin
18. Clemson
19. Notre Dame
20. Duke
21. Georgia Tech
22. Colorado State
23. Marshall
24. LSU
25. Missouri / Oklahoma / Minnesota / Texas A&M / Georgia Southern / USC / Boston College – Six teams with some interesting cases to be made and some head-to-head games:
- The first contender is Missouri and they are a strong one. 7-2 with a 4-1 mark in the SEC looks pretty good. Their losses are killing them though. Indiana (at home) and being shutout by a shaky defensive team (Georgia) warrants a deeper look at those wins. This is where it really falls apart. FCS South Dakota, struggling So Car and Florida, awful Vandy, .500 Kentucky and middling Toledo/UCF. If they knock off A&M this week, they deserve to be ranked. For now, I’m going to look elsewhere.
- Oklahoma has in their pro column is six wins that include so-so Tennessee and Texas as well as a (not as impressive now) win over West Virginia. Of course three losses isn’t good but considering the level of those opponents (KSU, TCU, Baylor) you can live with them. Sadly, two of the three were shellings so a competitive argument doesn’t work.
- Minnesota has 7 wins (nice) but only one win against a bowl bound team (not nice).
- A&M has the Auburn win but not a whole lot to go with it. 59-0 is automatic disqualification in my mind.
- USC has some nice to “niceish” wins with – Arizona and Stanford but they lost to Utah, who I’m not even considering ranking so goodbye.
- BC beat USC and probably would be ranked if not for getting smoked by Louisville this week. Sorry.
That leaves me with…Georgia Southern! They are now 8-2 with a 7 game winning streak. Their two losses were by a combined five points and they were both against ACC clubs. Do I think they would beat Oklahoma? No, but rankings outside the top 10 really don’t matter. In this case I am rewarding a little guy playing with a lot of heart. Compared to Marshall, their opponents record isn’t even that bad despite being in a lesser league. The two opponent’s winning percentage is nearly identical. This vote is about rewarding the hard fighting Eagles and I’m very comfortable with doing that for this week.
East Carolina watch – Hey moron, didn’t your rank ECU 11th at one point this year? I did…and if they weren’t idle last Saturday I would probably have them back in the top 25.
Big Ten and Counting 