Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Time to tango - week two is upon usFirst, a hearty congrats and shout out to Phats who went a perfect 12-0 last week!  Too bad we seem to have lost Buckeye Nation (is he still in RIP Tressel U mourning?) and Dan, as well as Andrew and some others.  But no less, 12-0 was impressive Phats!  Send me your picks and I will add them to mine.

Note - welcome back Dan!  Not sure why the blog went away... it said there was suspicious activity but we're back now!

Mayo and I went 9-3, not bad, but not good enough!

Week one saw some impressive beginnings, some shaky starts, some lucky finishes and some, well, nasty performances (IU - what the?!).  Kudos to Northwestern for the best win of the week and a tip of the hat to Minnesota for a nice start to the Kill era.  And, foor those keeping track: Big Ten 2, MAC 1.

No time to belabor the week that was any further, so here is the week that is with a couple of impressive games on the slate.

Florida Atlantic at Michigan State - FAU brings an athletic defense but anemic offense to East Lansing.  The Spartans need to shore some gaps, and someone please remind the holder - LACES OUT!  I see a smoother game with some big numbers from Baker and Cousins and another great game from Bullough.  MSU 41 - FAU 7

Phats: Michigan State 35 FAU 7- Michigan State is my 2nd favorite big ten team behind the Boilers.

Iowa at Iowa State - The Cyclones beat Kurt Warner's alma mater by one in the opener while Iowa rolled.  Unfortunately for Iowa, the annual RB injury bug bit again, leaving the Hawkeyes without an impressive freshman.  Iowa is better and overcomes a fired up crowd.  Iowa 27 - ISU 14

Phats: Iowa 21 Iowa State 14

Oregon State at Wisconsin - The Beavers, of the northern tier in the soon to be Pac 324, lost to Sacramento State in the opener.  Meanwhile, the Badgers kicked the runnin' out of the Rebels last week.  The Badgers have a top-notch offense, even if there is work to do on D.  UW 41 - OSU 17

Phats: Wisconsin 41 Oregon State 10- You would think this would be a better match up, but after OSU losing last week not so sure, and Wisconsin looked pretty tough

South Dakota State at Illinois - Really? Follow up Arkansas State with South Dakota State?  No offense to the Jackrabbits, who beat powerhouse Southern Utah in the opener but come on Zooker!  The Illini should get plenty of reps for anyone who wants to play.  Ill-i-n-i 40 - SDS 13

Phats: Illinois 38 South Dakota State 10
Toledo at Ohio State - OSU goes for 2-0 versus the MAC after an easy slaughter of the Zips.  The next fast mascot team to hit C-bus, the Rockets, may be a tad better but don't expect Toledo to add the Bucks to its list of beaten Big Ten teams.  Ohio State 45 - Toledo 7

Phats: Ohio State 49 toledo 14- Who made Toledo's schedule? I believe they host Boise State after this game that's a brutal 2 game stretch

Alabama at Penn State - One of two in the Game of the Week sweepstakes.  This game has tradition written all over it.  Last year, Penn State found out how good the Bama defense was.  Might that happen again?  I expect a lower scoring affair as Alabama is rounding out the offense.  Alabama 20 - Penn State 13.

Phats: Alabama 28 penn state 17- I think this game will be closer than most people think, unfortunately for the Big Ten I don't see us pulling the upset

Eastern Illinois at Northwestern - Yeah. See Illinois commentary.  Another week to rest Persa and get a well deserved break after a tough road opener.  NU 31 - EIEIO - 10

Phats: ?

New Mexico State at Minnesota - An easier task than a trip to SC for sure.  Minnesota notches a win and builds on some of the surprising momentum from the opening loss.  Minnesota 34 - NMSU 13

Phats: Minnesota 35 New Mexico State 17- Nice effort by the Gophers at SC, this one should be a little easier and a W!

Purdue at Rice - The Boilers are off to Texas to be entertained by the Rice band.  Yep, that's right, this is all about the band.  Rice pulls no punches, as it spelled out $EC to Texas Longhorns fans last week.  On the field, this could go either way, though Purdue has some momentum from the nice comeback last week.  Purdue 27 - Rice 17

Phats: Purdue 24 rice 10- I will take an ugly win any day, especially for a team coming off 6 straight losses, but we really need to clean up some things in week two or we won't be as lucky. Better all around game propels the Boilers to 2-0 and a nice road win. Boiler Up!

Fresno State at Nebraska - Remember when Fresno was the Boise State of college football?  The Bulldogs are still decent and aren't afraid to go on the road, but the horses aren't there.  Nebraska will only get better from last week and get to 2-0 easily.  Cornhuskers 33 - Dogs 10

Phats: Nebraska 49 fresno state 17- Might be closer but who knows still getting to know the Huskers
Virgnia at Indiana - Given that the Hoosiers went to Lucas Oil Field and laid a ginormous egg, I am not going to give this anymore space.  UVA breaks a road losing streak.  Cavs 37 - Hoosiers 20

Phats: Virginia 42 indiana 21- Different coach, same result.

Notre Dame at Michigan - Game of the Week part duex.  ND looked mighty bad in a game that stretched over six hours last week, or at least it felt like that.  Michigan got a win in less than three quarters.  Some want to canonize the M defense after a two TD performance.  While better, take note - ND racked up half a thousand yards but killed itself with mindless turnovers.  ND will shore things up.  This will be a classic for the first night game in Big House history.  I'm going with the non chic pick: ND 27 - M 24

Phats: Michigan 28 notre dame 24- Not really sure how good either of these teams are so this game might tell us something. I don't like ND so GO BLUE

5 comments:

Phats said...

Thanks picks emailed in. I got REALLY lucky

mayo170 said...

Before I make my picks, I have to tip my hat to Joel Foreman. What a classy move letting Arthur Ray, Jr. make a start for the Spartans. Something we don't see often enough these days.

Florida Atlantic 16 at Michigan State 44
Iowa 38 at Iowa State 13
Oregon State 23 at Wisconsin 37

Apparently there weren't any Division III schools willing to travel to Champaign-Urbana for the weekend...South Dakota State 12 at Illinois 63

Toledo 7 at Ohio State 38
Alabama 26 at Penn State 23

Eastern Illinois 19 at Northwestern 31
New Mexico State 23 at Minnesota 31
Purdue 32 at Rice 24
Fresno State 24 at Nebraska 45
Virgnia 28 at Indiana 16
Notre Dame 27 at Michigan 29

Dan Meyer said...

Sorry 'bout last week. I thought two weeks ago that Blogger said that this blog had been discontinued.

FL Atlantic 10 vs. MICHIGAN STATE 24--Not as big a blowout as Andy expects, but a comfy Spartan win.

IOWA 23 at Iowa State 14--Cyclones tend not to be very prevalent in the fall--however, wonder if the future bring ISU, Mizzou, Kansas and K-State to the Big 10/11/12/16 since 4 squared size conferences seem to be the rage these days.

Oregon State 7 at WISCONSIN 28--We'll keep this G-rated and skip any puns about Bucky's opponent. That said, Badgers run over the West Coast foes.

South Dakota State 10 at ILLINOIS 31--I think I remember some past Big 10 problems with schools in the Dakotas, albeit perhaps in hoops. Zook and Co. come out just fine here, however.

Toledo 10 at OHIO STATE 24--No Fickellness in this result.

ALABAMA 20 at Penn State 7--Nittany Lions do reasonably well on D, but handling the Tide D is a different story.

Eastern Illinois 7 at NORTHWESTERN 42--John Shurna could QB the Wildcats to a victory in this farce.

New Mexico State 9 at MINNESOTA 20--Jerry gets his first Kill here after last week's impressively near-miss.

PURDUE 27 at Rice 17--Matching Andy here. Not the blow-out Phats and I would crave, but another week for the Boilers to get Ter Bush experience and iron out kinks in the defense.

Fresno State 13 at NEBRASKA 28--Bulldogs are decent (maybe better than the GA variety?) but nowhere good enough to beat the Huskers at Lincoln.

VIRGINIA 19 at Indiana 10--Hoosiers avoid disgrace but not defeat. Afraid for now that they are the best hope for Purdue avoiding the cellar.

Notre Dame 10 at MICHIGAN 17--Wolverines wear out having to actually play 60 minutes, but Irish are too weak to take advantage.

Phats said...

Oops forgot one
Northwestern 31 Eastern Ill 7

mayo170 said...

Wow, what a spectacular weekend. I went to the Michigan-ND game with a friend and that was unreal.

Sending thoughts out to Jerry Kill and his family. I grew up in Saginaw and he was the man at SVSU, helping put them on the map in D-2. Sounds like he'll be fine.

Knowing that Michigan's defense is less than stellar right now, I can't wait to see ND be 0-3 next week. State looked absolutely flawless this week.