Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Monday morning QB ... on Tuesday
Some news headlines: Updated ESPN.com Bowl Projections; M falls out of Top 25; Players of the Week

What an unbelievable opening weekend for college football.

To borrow from my take over at the BitterRivals blog (yes, it's back): "Oh my!" "Holy cow!" "Who Nellie!" "Oh Doctor!" "No way that just happened." "Do you believe in miracles? YES!"

Those are just a handful of the classic sports calls (and one great movie clip) that come to mind when thinking about the Appalachian State upset of Michigan in Ann Arbor on Saturday. We're talking the supposed best of the best in the Big Ten. The winningest college football program - EVER - and they lost to a 1-AA foe - albeit a darn good one. OUCH.

Luckily for Minnesota, that debacle in the Big House let their OT loss and epic three quarter goose egg against BGSU slip by the wayside. Memo to Coach Brewster - you need to win with Pinnix, not through the air.

Illinois was the only other Big Ten team to take a lump, but that one was more or less expected and without Juice Williams, Illinois was literally a fumble and subsequent 100-yard return away from beating one of the Big 12 North favorites.

Elsewhere around the conference it was business as expected. Penn State throttled FIU. Ohio State looked solid with a bevy of new starters. Northwestern pitched a shutout. Purdue struggled early and cruised late. Indiana won one for Hepp - and how (stat line of the weekend, 3 catches for 153 yards and two scores - James Hardy). Iowa struggled but gutted out a win with great defense. Wisconsin picked up where it left off. Michigan State, for a change, did what it was supposed to do without leaving questions behind - it blew out an inferior opponent.

Players of the Week:
Jehuu Caulcrik, RB - MSU. Four touchdowns.
J. Leman, LB - ILL. 20 tackles.
Dorien Bryant - WR/KR - PUR. Kickoff return for a TD.

This week's schedule:
Miami-OH at Minnesota
BSGU at Michigan State
Eastern Illinois at Purdue
Akron at Ohio State
Nevada at Northwestern
Oregon at Michigan (Tiebreaker)
Notre Dame at Penn State
Western Illinois at Illinois
Syracuse at Iowa
Indiana at Western Michigan
Wisconsin at UNLV

Get Gamm results:
New this year, the leaderboard is posted in the right nav of the page. A lot of 9-2 records this week, but I nailed the differential in the Wisconsin game and thus win for the week. Of note, NO ONE picked Michigan to lose and one picked Bowling Green to beat Minnesota.

12 comments:

AndrewJ1313 said...

Minnesota 24, Miami (OH) 23;
Michigan State 38, BGSU 21;
Purdue 27, Eastern Illinois 16;
Northwestern 24, Nevada 17;
Michigan 37, Oregon 30; We know Michigan can score points, but can they stop anyone. We find out how good or how bad the rest of the season will be for Michigan this week.
Penn State 42, ND 10; Different QB, similar results.
Illinois 34, Western Illinois 17;
Iowa 21, Syracuse 13;
Indiana 38, Western Michigan 20;
Wisconsin 42, UNLV 16;
Ohio State 34, Akron 9.

The Big Ten should go undefeated this week.

Go BUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Countdown to Kickoff

BigTenSportsFan said...

Wow, did Michigan get hosed folks!

ASU couldn't have been more offsides on that last-second FG attempt. The zebras steal yet another one from the Maize and Blue!

And what a valiant effort by the Fighting Illini. Ron Zook is really working wonders in Champaign. It's clear he's really bringing in a first-class athlete to supplement his X and O genius.

And how impressed are you with Michigan State, folks? We all know the Spartans are usually strong finishers, but now they're starting out en fuego as well? Beware, Big Ten. Beware.

Andy Gamm said...

Dude, you are smoking crack. M got hosed? Shouldn't have been a ball game. Illinois fared well. MSU a strong finisher? Not since Perles ruled the roost.

BruceS said...

Minny 31 Miami, OH 20
BGSU 17 MSU 45
EIU 16 Purdue 41
Akron 13 tOSU 49
Nevada 14 NW 32
Oregon 35 UM 28
PSU 37 ND 17
WIU 6 Illinois 41
Iowa 35 Syracuse 13
Indiana 27 WMU 20
WISC 45 UNLV 17

mayo170 said...

Miami-OH at Minnesota
BSGU 10 at Michigan State 37
Eastern Illinois 3 at Purdue 22
Akron 6 at Ohio State 55
Nevada 24 at Northwestern 34
Oregon 26 at Michigan 27(Tiebreaker)
Notre Dame 12 at Penn State 42
Western Illinois 14 at Illinois 23
Syracuse 0 at Iowa 31
Indiana 21 at Western Michigan 9
Wisconsin 61 at UNLV 6


I guess mayo170 will go through the season by his real name this year...

Andy Gamm said...

Good little zinger from some creative Bucks here: http://www.thearch-info.com/Sports/Buckeyes/BUCKS_scUM_PeeWee.html

Anonymous said...

MINNESOTA 21 miami oh 17

MICHIGAN STATE 44 bowling green 28

PURDUE 55 eastern illinois 17

OHIO STATE 35 akron 3

NORTHWESTERN 17 nevada 7

MICHIGAN 31 oregon 28

PENN STATE 42 notre dame 14

ILLINOIS 35 western illinois 6

IOWA 28 syracuse 7

INDIANA 33 western michigan 28

WISCONSIN 38 unlv 14

Andy Gamm said...

Buckeye Nation picks:
Miami-OH 27 at Minnesota 28
BSGU 13 at Michigan State 34
Eastern Illinois 10 at Purdue 27
Akron 7 at Ohio State 34
Nevada 14 at Northwestern 31
Oregon 28 at Michigan 32(Tiebreaker)
Notre Dame 13 at Penn State 28
Western Illinois 6 at Illinois 32
Syracuse 10 at Iowa 27
Indiana 29 at Western Michigan 13
Wisconsin 27 at UNLV 10

Dan Meyer said...

Looking through kool-aid coated glasses and picking 11-0 for Big Ten.

Miami, OH 21 at MINNESOTA 24
Bowling Green 24 at MICHIGAN STATE 31
Eastern Illinois 13 at PURDUE 45--Please, no significant injuries!
Akron 10 at OHIO STATE 42
Nevada 17 at NORTHWESTERN 21
Oregon 21 at MICHIGAN 24--MUST win for Maize and Blue
Notre Dame 7 at PENN STATE 24--End of Charlie's honeymoon.
Western Illinois 6 at ILLINOIS 31
Syracuse 10 at IOWA 28
INDIANA 24 at Western Michigan 21
WISCONSIN 28 at Nevada-Sin City 14

Andy Gamm said...

St. Louis Spartan says:
Miami-OH at Minnesota Minnesota 28-20 BSGU at Michigan State MSU 35-17 Eastern Illinois at Purdue Purdue 45-3 Akron at Ohio State Ohio St 38-7 Nevada at Northwestern NW 27-17 Oregon at Michigan (Tiebreaker) Michigan 26-24 Notre Dame at Penn State Penn State 30-17 Western Illinois at Illinois Illinois 38-3 Syracuse at Iowa Iowa 41-13 Indiana at Western Michigan Indiana 24-16 Wisconsin at UNLV Wisconsin 38-10

BigTenSportsFan said...

Minnesota Golden Gophers 45, Miami 0

Michigan State University Spartans 45, BG 3

Purdue Boilermakers 45, EIU 2

Northwestern WIldcats 45, Nevada 4

Michigan Wolverines 45, Oregon 0

Penn State Nittany Lions 45, ND 0

Illinois Fighting Illini 45, WIU 7

Iowa Hawkeyes 45, cuse 6

Indiana Hoosiers 45, WMU 3

Wisconsin Badgers 45, UNLV 3

THE Ohio State University 45, zips 7

PUFan said...

what? I didn't pick App St. last week? man, what was I thinking (grin)

here we go with Week 2:
Miami-OH 23, Minnesota 24
BSGU 27, Michigan State 31
Eastern Illinois 16, Purdue 35
Akron 9, Ohio State 27
Nevada 26, Northwestern 24
Oregon 20, Michigan 31
Notre Dame 13, Penn State 33
Western Illinois 17, Illinois 30
Syracuse 9, Iowa 26
Indiana 26, Western Michigan 34
Wisconsin 23, UNLV 14