The football world has turned on its ear. Michigan is 0-2 for the first time since 1988 and only the tenth time in its history - all others coming between 1883 and 1959! Toss in an abysmal Notre Dame squad that is also 0-2 and we have the two winningest programs in college football history sitting at 0-2 at the same time for the first time - EVER!
Memo to the pollsters - this is why we should scarp the preseason polls. They are way off base. No way Michigan was the fifth best team heading into the season. Now that it has been proven out, this is the perfect proof that the polls should kick in AFTER week three, when we have a much better gauge on who is worthy of such hype and praise.
Michigan has had all of the attention - rightfully so - for their epic upset loss and week two thumping, but meanwhile, the rest of the Big Ten is off to a pretty good start. The other ten squads brought home victories on Saturday, even if they weren't all pretty.
- Illinois shut out Western Illinois 21-0 but struggled more than it should have.
- Indiana had to hold on to win at Western Michigan, but improved to 2-0 with a nice defensive performance.
- Iowa hammered Syracuse and proved that the old adage that teams often show the most improvement between week one and two still rings true.
- Michigan - Dead horse. Been there done that. Next.
- Michigan State handled a game Bowling Green team with a stout second half defensive effort and a mega fourth quarter grinder of a drive.
- Minnesota almost played victim to a MAC school at home on successive weeks, going to three overtimes to hold off a frenzied comeback from Miami-OH.
- Northwestern staged its own great comeback in beating Nevada to get to 2-0.
- Ohio State forced 14 punts out of Akron and cruised to a 20-2 win.
- Penn State is probably the most impressive team so far, but hey, they've beaten up on two of the worst teams in football this year - with no apologies to any rogue domers or fans of field goal Jesus reading this blog.
- Purdue is right behind the Nits in terms of impressiveness, but who have they played? Still, 2-0 is 2-0.
- Wisconsin survived UNLV. Must have been too many distractions in Sin City for the Badgers to handle the Rebels like they should have!
Players of the Week:
Offense - Curtis Painter, Purdue QB - 6 touchdown passes, 348 yards passing and a 77.6% completion percentage.
Defense - Indiana Team Defense - 5 turnovers, 5 sacks in taking over a potential trap road game at Western Michigan.
Special Teams - Ken Iwebema, Iowa - Not one, but two blocked field goals in Iowa's romp.
Get Gamm Winner:
Only one person saw Michigan staying down after the Appy State loss. BruceS went 11-0 to win the second week of Get Gamm and nudge to the top of the standings. Bruce, send me your picks by Thursday sometime.
This week's schedule:
Buffalo at Penn State
Pittsburgh at Michigan State
The Citadel at Wisconsin
Illinois at Syracuse
Akron at Indiana
Duke at Northwestern
Central Michigan at Purdue
Iowa at Iowa State
Notre Dame at Michigan
Ohio State at Washington (Tiebreaker)
Minnesota at Florida Atlantic
8 comments:
Week 3 Picks:
Buffalo 6 at PENN STATE 45--Lions feast on mild wings.
Pittsburgh 17 at MICH. STATE 20--Good chance to validate first two wins.
Citadel 3 at WISCONSIN 48--Oh, PLEASE! (though no worse than Purdue/EIU)
ILLINOIS 24 at Syracuse 17--Test of progress for Zook
Akron 10 at INDIANA 14--Danger game for Lynch and Hoosiers, Zips played good D against OSU.
Duke 14 at NORTHWESTERN 21--Wildcats win Egghead bowl (now if Carmody could just beat "K"...)
Central Michigan 28 at PURDUE 42--Not a cupcake like last week, but Painter and Boiler O are on a roll
IOWA 17 at Iowa State 7--Hawkeyes may be flying "Under the Radar"
Notre Dame 10 at MICHIGAN 20--Somebody has to win; might as well be the Wolverines.
*Ohio State 14 at WASHINGTON 17--Out on a limb here, but Huskies impressed at home vs. Boise State.
MINNESOTA 23 at Fla. Atlantic 10--A change (from MAC) BETTER do the Gophers good.
Buffalo 0 Penn State 63 Come on, how about playing somebody. The Nittany Lion's non-conference schedule is as soft as cotton. This score could be closer to 163 - 0. PSU is very good and Buffalo is no match at all. This should never have been scheduled.
Pittburgh 17 Michigan State 34. Spartans rebound from a tougher than expected BGSU game while Pitt has already been bitten by the injury bug at QB & WR.
The Citadel 0 Wisconsin 56 I could almost use the same explanation I used for the Penn St./Buffalo game. This will be a cake walk. for the Badgers.
Illinois 31 Syracuse 13. Illinois needs to improve upon its effort in last week's win. There may not be a better "name" team to do that against right now than Syracuse. My, how the once mighty have fallen.
Akron 20 Indiana 17 My upset of the week. I going to believe the Zip's defense is for real and will shut down IU while the offense will score just enough to pull off the win.
Duke 10 Northwestern 31 Duke is another "name" school that is not very good. The Wildcats will get it going and pull away for the win.
Central Michigan 16 Purdue 38. Purdue's offense will score more than enough points to prevent another MAC team from getting a win against a B10 opponent.
Iowa 28 Iowa State 13. Hawkeyes getting better and will win this bitter in-state battle.
Notre Dame 20 Michigan 13 The battle of the freshman QB's. I give the edge to the Irish only because Clausen has 1 game under his belt while the Michigan defense appears to be unable to stop anybody.
Ohio State 27 Washington 21 I look for Buckeyes to play better than last week. Washington had a good looking win against Boise St. but I'm not ready to believe they can beat this OSU team. Buckeyes too much for the Huskies.
Minnesota 38 Florida Atlantic 13. Minnesota is no Penn State. However, FIU is again way overmatched here and Minnesota should win easily. If not, it will be a long season for the Gophers.
Wow, does the Big Ten look damn good so far or what folks?
I can't blame mighty Michigan for their hangover in Week 2. After getting jobbed by the zebras against the Appalachia College, I can't blame them for having a bee in the bonnet for the visit by Oregon!
And what a start the Spartans, Wildcats, and Hoosiers are off to! Three of the most underrated teams in the nation are poised to give the conference a record 9 bowl bids in 2007!
Buffalo 3 at Penn State 89
Pittsburgh 7 at Michigan State 45
The Citadel 0 at Wisconsin 62
Illinois 48 at Syracuse 3
Akron 2 at Indiana 20
Duke 3 at Northwestern 51
Central Michigan 3 at Purdue 41
Iowa 40 at Iowa State 0
Notre Dame 2 at Michigan 45
Ohio State 61 at Washington 13
Minnesota 27 at Florida Atlantic 0
PENN STATE 41 buffalo 3
MICHIGAN STATE 21 pittsburgh 17
WISCONSIN 42 citadel 13
SYRACUSE 24 illinois 21
AKRON 17 indiana 14
NORTHWESTERN 28 duke 17
PURDUE 44 central michigan 10
IOWA 35 iowa state 14
MICHIGAN 33 notre dame 17
OHIO STATE 28 washington 21
MINNESOTA 28 florida atlantic 7
Buffalo 0, Penn State 39
Pittsburgh 16, Michigan State 20
The Citadel 8, Wisconsin 37
Illinois 20, Syracuse 23
Akron 20, Indiana 27
Duke 10, Northwestern 20
Central Michigan 24, Purdue 40
Iowa 31, Iowa State 17
Notre Dame 16, Michigan 27
Ohio State 20, Washington 14
Minnesota 17, Florida Atlantic 12
Buffalo 10 at Penn State 38
Pittsburgh 21 at Michigan State 27
The Citadel 7 at Wisconsin 47
Illinois 28 at Syracuse 9
Akron 23 at Indiana 26
Duke 17 at Northwestern 28
Central Michigan 17 at Purdue 34
Iowa 38 at Iowa State 10
Notre Dame 17 at Michigan 32
Ohio State 27 at Washington 14(Tiebreaker)
Minnesota 21 at Florida Atlantic 17
Buffalo 0 at Penn State 62
Pittsburgh 22 at Michigan State 26
The Citadel 3 at Wisconsin 29
Illinois 34 at Syracuse 14
Akron 21 at Indiana 27
Duke 13 at Northwestern 25
Central Michigan 21 at Purdue 31
Iowa 24 at Iowa State 28
Notre Dame 16 at Michigan 21
Ohio State 37 at Washington 28 (Tiebreaker)
Minnesota 27 at Florida Atlantic 13
at Penn State 48, Buffalo 13;
at Michigan State 37, Pittsburgh 20; - I think Dantonio and MSU are for real. This team seems to play with more confidence then they did under JLS.
at Wisconsin 40, The Citadel 12;
Illinois 28, at Syracuse 10;
at Indiana 27, Akron 24;
at Northwestern 28, Duke 14
at Purdue 52, Central Michigan 13
Iowa 35, at Iowa State 7;
at Michigan 24, Notre Dame 20; - The 2007 Horror Bowl, keys to the game: just give the ball to Mike Hart and block somebody! I’m only picking UM because they are at home.
Minnesota 30, at Florida Atlantic 26;
Ohio State 27, at Washington 13 – Freshman QB against veteran, Jim Tressel defense? I’ll go with the defense.
Go BUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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