2017 Week 2 Preview

Week one is in the can and the league did well, extremely well.  10-2 in non-conference games, ranked Florida – crushed, ranked Texas – stunned.  Louisville and Washington were given all they could handle by Purdue and Rutgers, and Ohio State survived a tricky road test at scrappy Indiana.  Week two offers up some more cracks at notable wins with seven Big Ten teams taking on power five conference foes.  That includes a little tango up in the Shoe between two top-five teams.  All times are central.

*Note, with Friday night games still rare in the Big Ten, I’ll highlight those like this: Friday, in order to have them stand out a bit until we all get used to this new scheduling.  For week two, we have one Friday game.

Game of the Week:

Ohio State vs Oklahoma

Real talk for a second: if you don’t see why this game matters, you clearly aren’t a football fan.  If you aren’t a football fan, that’s fine, but why are you wasting your time reading my silly blog?  Anywho, we  have two top five clubs squaring off with a big resume booster for the “playoffs” on the line.  Individually, J.T. Barrett and Baker Mayfield are legit Heisman candidates and they highlight a game that will be stuffed with all-conference players, all-Americans, and future NFL players.  This one is appointment television even before factoring in a revenge factor.  Ohio State made the Sooners look like a JV squad a year ago en route to a 45-24 triumph in Norman, Oklahoma.  Mmm-mmm, that’s what we call some intrigue.

• Saturday, 6:30 pm, ABC

Sleeper:

Duke was a preseason question mark in the ACC.  We know with David Cutcliffe they will always be well coached and have a good offense but it was unclear how good they can be.  Admittedly early and doubly admittedly it was against FCS North Carolina Central but the Blue Devils did romp to a 60-7 victory and QB Daniel Jones was dialed in.  If Northwestern repeats their sloppy performance they had against Nevada down in Durham, the trendy sleeper pick might be coming back to Evanston with a loss.

• Saturday, 11 am, ESPNU

Don’t Forget:

This rivalry was put on hold in 2000 and finally came back last season.  The Panthers had an incredible day rushing the ball and pulled off a 42-39 victory.  At the time we weren’t sure how Penn State would turn out but looking back, that was one of the finest moments in Pitt’s up-and-down 8-win 2016.  Now Penn State gets a crack at revenge in their home stadium.  I know week one was extremely impressive for PSU while Pitt needed overtime to beat FCS Youngstown State so the chance for an absolute dud is in play; however, I’m still excited for this rivalry match-up and even if it does turns into a rout, to see Penn State do that against a power five ball club after obliterating the Zips still makes it worth checking out.

• Saturday, 2:30 pm, ABC

Snoozer:

Yes, the league said no more games against FCS, yes that rule was then taken back, and yes a few games still slipped through the cracks…and this is one of them.  Since making the national title game in 2014, Towson has gone just 15-19 and have had two four-win seasons, including last year.  They opened up this year with a 10-0 win over Morgan State but based on how crisp Maryland looked on offense at Texas, this one should be a crab cakewalk.  Insert sad trombone sound here for that terrible line.

• Saturday, 11 am, BTN…or tailgate, or watch Iowa and Northwestern face power league teams on the road, or just sleep in and be ready for the massive games in the evening.

Upset Watch:

Right End – The Big Ten has three underdogs this week – Minnesota, a narrow dog at Oregon State, Nebraska, roughly a two touchdown dog at Oregon, and then there is Illinois: a touchdown dog at home against Western Kentucky.  Minnesota should beat the Beavers and Nebraska should lose to the Ducks.  But Illinois?  Illinois is something else.  They had an ugly opening week win over Ball State that could have easily been a loss.  They deserve to be an underdog to a really, really good Hilltopper team but over a touchdown?  At one point this was an 8.5 point spread!  That just feels insulting.  An upset would be a great feeling for the Illini: get to 2-0, make up for the BSU game, knock off a great C-USA team, and possibly create a foundation to build on before three tough games.

• Illinois vs Western Kentucky, Saturday, 7 pm, BTN

Wrong End – Boilermakers, Hawkeyes, Hoosiers, and Wildcats aren’t big enough favorites to have their losses be considered upsets.  Plus it is rebuilding Purdue, Iowa facing a rival in Ames, and both IU and NU are at ACC schools.  That leaves Michigan State hosting Western Michigan, who went toe-to-toe with top ten USC all day in Los Angeles.  Spartans showed some flashes of growth last week but were also sloppy with the ball.  Being careless against Bowling Green is one thing, repeating that against the Broncos could result in a deflating home loss.

• Michigan State vs Western Michigan, Saturday, 2:30 pm, BTN

Elsewhere (Alphabetical Order):

Indiana at Virginia – Hoosiers look to bounce back after playing extremely well for a half before Ohio State broke open that game.  The Cavs are 1-0 but their 28-10 win over FCS William & Mary wasn’t exactly a thing of beauty.  For instances the Hoos generated just 92 rushing yards on 32 carries.  If Indiana’s defense plays up to their potential, they should be able to return to Bloomington with an evened up record.

• Saturday, 2:30 pm, ACC Network

Iowa at Iowa State – Each team enters 1-0 but each team has some kinks to figure out.  Iowa State put up a healthy amount of yards but scored just 28 offensive points.  Worse, the ground game failed to dominate FCS Northern Iowa.  UNI was also extremely generous with three INTs, two of which were pick-sixes.  In my grades I presented Iowa’s offensive issues against Wyoming so I won’t belabor them here but this rivalry game will come down to which shaky offenses can get some drives going.

• Saturday, 11 am, ESPN2

Michigan vs Cincinnati – Bearcats didn’t exactly impress in coach Luke Fickell’s debut, beating FCS Austin Peay just 26-14.  Michigan should have absolutely no problems getting to 2-0.

• Saturday, 11 am, ABC

Minnesota at Oregon State – Beavers are an uninspiring 1-1 after getting smoked by Colorado State in week zero and then escaping FCS Portland State 35-32 on a day in which Portland State had several gaffes (penalties, 3 turnovers, 0/1 on FG) but managed to hang around thanks to over 500 yards of offense.  UM meanwhile had their own uninspiring debut, beating Buffalo 17-7.  Gophers are the better team and should be able to get the victory but Big Ten teams visiting Pac 12 clubs rarely goes well and if the the UM offense is sluggish again, perhaps Ryan Nall and OSU can pick up the victory.

• Saturday, 9 pm, FS1

Nebraska at Oregon – I didn’t think the Huskers stood much of a chance in this game back when doing the previews and I feel even more confident now after seeing the Huskers give up over 400 passing yards to Arkansas State and knowing Oregon put up over 700 yards of offense in their opener against FCS Southern Utah.  I would be more surprised by Nebraska winning than I would be by Nebraska loosing by 3 touchdowns.

• Saturday, 3:30 pm, Fox

Purdue vs Ohio – The Bobcats are the MAC east favorites thanks to an extremely experienced team and a bruising defense.  The D looked like they were in midseason form when they held FCS Hampton to just 108 total yards of offense in their 59-0 opening day win.  Purdue is coming off a valiant moral victory against Louisville so should have positive vibes to build on but Ohio U’s defense is nasty, a Boilermaker win would be even more impressive to me than keeping it close against the Ville.

• Friday, 7 pm, FS1

Rutgers vs Eastern Michigan – EMU was one of the feel good stories last year as they went bowling for the first time since 1987 and looks to build on their second ever bowl trip in 2016.  They looked sharp in their opener, knocking off Charlotte 24-7.  Eastern held their C-USA foes to just 114 passing yards and had 3 picks, one of which went for a score as the 49ers had an ugly day through the air.  If RU can duplicate their level of play they had against Washington, they have a great shot at knocking off the Eagles but rebuilding teams always have consistency issues and Chris Creighton has Eastern playing a hard-nosed brand of blue collar football.  They rarely beat themselves so this is no picnic for the Scarlet Knights.

• Saturday, 2:30 pm, BTN

Wisconsin vs Florida Atlantic – The Lane Kiffin sideshow is coming to Madison!  FAU gave up over 400 rushing yards to the naval academy last week and now has to take on another stout running attack.  Biggest thing in this one is to see if the Badgers can come out a bit sharper offensively than they did against Utah State.

• Saturday, 11 am, BTN

Random Musing:

For two of the most historic programs in all of football it is bizarre to think this is just the fourth time the Sooners and the Buckeyes will face each other.  A 1977 game in Columbus, a 1983 game in Norman, and last year’s tango in Norman.  That’s it.  No bowl games, no BCS games, no neutral site kick-off classics.  This seemed extremely low so I decided to check out Ohio State’s history of squaring off against the top 25 teams in terms of number of games won and winning percentage.

Games won:

1. Michigan: OSU trails 48-58-6 (played annually)
2. Notre Dame: OSU leads 4-2-0 (last played 2015-16 Fiesta)
3. Texas: OSU trails 1-2-0 (last played 2008-09 Fiesta)
4. Nebraska: OSU leads 4-1-0 (irregular league game)
5. Ohio State: N/A
6. Alabama: OSU trails 1-3-0 (last played 2014-15 “playoffs”)
7. Oklahoma: OSU leads 2-1-0 (playing Saturday)
8. Penn State: OSU leads 17-14-0 (played annually)
9. Tennessee: OSU trails 0-1-0 (last played 1995-96 Citrus)
10. USC: OSU trails 9-13-1 (last played 2009 regular season)
11. Georgia: OSU trails 0-1-0 (last played 1992-93 Citrus)
12. LSU: Even at 1-1-1 (last played 2007-08 BCS Championship)
13. Auburn: OSU trails 0-1-1 (last played 1989-90 Hall of Fame Bowl)
14. West Virginia: OSU leads 5-0-1 (last played 1998 regular season)
15. Virginia Tech: Even at 1-1-0 (last played 2015 regular season)
16. Texas A&M: OSU leads 4-0-0 (last played 1998-99 Sugar)
17. Georgia Tech: Never Played
18. Clemson: OSU trails 0-3-0 (last played 2016-17 “playoffs”)
19. Washington: OSU leads 8-3-0 (last played 2007 regular season)
20. Pitt: OSU leads 19-5-1 (last played 1996 regular season)
21. Florida: OSU trails 0-0-2 (last played 2011-12 Gator Bowl)
22. Arkansas: Never Played
23. Syracuse: OSU leads 4-2-0 (last played 1992 regular season)
24. Navy: OSU leads 5-0-0 (last played 2014 regular season)
25. Colorado: OSU leads 4-1-0 (last played 2011 regular season)

Winning percentage:

1. Michigan – above
2. Notre Dame – above
3. Ohio State – N/A
4. Alabama – above
5. Oklahoma – above
6. Texas – above
7. USC – above
8. Nebraska – above
9. Penn State – above
10. Tennessee – above
11. LSU – above
12. Georiga – above
13. Miami (FL) – Even at 2-2-0 (last played 2011 regular season)
14. Florida – above
15. Auburn – above
16. Washington – above
17. Virginia Tech – above
18. Arizona State – OSU leads 2-0-0 (last played 1996-97 Rose)
19. Clemson – above
20. Texas A&M – above
21. Michigan State – OSU leads 30-15-0 (played annually)
22. Miami (OH) – OSU leads 5-0-0 (last played 2012 regular season)
23. West Virginia – above
24. Central Michigan – Never Played
25. Georgia Tech – above

For non conference foes this is an average of 5.73 match-ups.  Even though it is barely below that, I was right…OSU and Oklahoma have squared off a below average number of times for Ohio State facing top programs.

Perhaps with the “playoffs” liking quality losses and strength of schedule, games like this will become a trend.  For instance, I’d love to see OSU and LSU lock horns again.  Ohio State and USC would also be incredible fun, as well as bring back memories of some epic Rose Bowls.  This is selfishly asking a lot of Ohio State but at the same time, week one of this season was in-freaking-credible!  Who wouldn’t want to try and replicate the magic we had with Alabama-Florida State, Tennessee-Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech-West Virginia, and of course UCLA-Texas A&M?