Standings:
1.) Draper 6-2 (1-1 upset)
1.) Schweinfurth 6-2 (0-2 upset)
3.) Seeberg 5-3 (1-1 upset
3.) Hoying 5-3 (1-1 upset)
So what if there are no ranked matchups this week? There are still plenty of undefeated matchups in this young season, and three of them involve teams from our very own Big Ten Conference, including one right here in the heart of the Buckeye State.
Louisiana State Tigers @ Mississippi State Bulldogs
Draper: LSU was the media darling coming into the year and laid a monstrous egg in Week 1 to the juggernaut in Tally. Even with that, I still think the Tigahs have some talent....they just can't matchup with the Noles. Brian Kelly has always been good for punching below his weight, and this should be no different. I'm all about CLANGA, but they's Tigah Bait heeyah. LSU: 34--MSU: 24
Hoying: Welp, the Tigers got blasted in their season opening trendy team battle with the Noles. If they want to be in a position to make any noise at the end of the season, as they did last year, they can't afford any missteps against middling competition. And this opponent screams "middling". Sadly, the pirate era of Mississippi State ended with Mike Leach's abrupt death last December, leaving his defensive coordinator to take over. Time will tell whether the new look Bulldogs will make any noise in the always packed SEC West but needing overtime to dispatch perennial basement dweller and future Big 12 team Arizona isn't particularly encouraging. Brian's Bayou Bengals are too good to lose games like this. LSU: 31--MSU: 20
Schweinfurth: LSU isn't great. Good news for them, I guess is Mississippi State isn't very good. I'll take the Tigers, but only because it seems like the right thing to do. LSU: 35--MSU: 21
Seeberg: The Tigers offense looked surprisingly pedestrian in their big week one tilt. Sounds familiar. And the SEC has looked *gasp* flat out lousy thus far. But conference play begins where it supposedly just means more. The SEC west is still home to some excellent programs, of which MSU is not one. I expect the Tigers to get right offensively in this one. LSU: 41—MSU: 24
Hoying: Welp, the Tigers got blasted in their season opening trendy team battle with the Noles. If they want to be in a position to make any noise at the end of the season, as they did last year, they can't afford any missteps against middling competition. And this opponent screams "middling". Sadly, the pirate era of Mississippi State ended with Mike Leach's abrupt death last December, leaving his defensive coordinator to take over. Time will tell whether the new look Bulldogs will make any noise in the always packed SEC West but needing overtime to dispatch perennial basement dweller and future Big 12 team Arizona isn't particularly encouraging. Brian's Bayou Bengals are too good to lose games like this. LSU: 31--MSU: 20
Schweinfurth: LSU isn't great. Good news for them, I guess is Mississippi State isn't very good. I'll take the Tigers, but only because it seems like the right thing to do. LSU: 35--MSU: 21
Seeberg: The Tigers offense looked surprisingly pedestrian in their big week one tilt. Sounds familiar. And the SEC has looked *gasp* flat out lousy thus far. But conference play begins where it supposedly just means more. The SEC west is still home to some excellent programs, of which MSU is not one. I expect the Tigers to get right offensively in this one. LSU: 41—MSU: 24
Minnesota Golden Gophers @ North Carolina Tar Heels
Draper: Oh boy! Another matchup between two teams that think they're contenders but really aren't. People are falling over themselves for Drake Maye but I don't see the generational talent. Good? yes. Tank worthy? no. Minnesota? Well, you beat <checks notes> Nebraska by letting the Huskers pee down their leg? Greeeeeeat. UNC held on vs. a feisty App State (and were lucky, but I don't think PJ Fleck's squad has the mettle to take one in Chapel Hill. The hype around Drake Maye will build, but whoopdee doo Basil. Heels win. Minn: 20--UNC: 30
Hoying: Both these teams are still undefeated but I wouldn't say they've been playing comparable football so far. Minnesota played atrocious football for 58 minutes in their opener before standing back and letting Nebraska husk their corn all over the field as per recent tradition. A week later North Carolina shot themselves in the foot over and over before finally putting Appalachian State away in double overtime. Unless one of these teams picks up a sudden curse (impossible as those are all firmly parked above Lincoln) I would think the law of averages would set in and snap these teams back to reality. Don't look for any heroes in the Big Ten West this year, folks. At best maybe one of them will snakebite of the B1G 3east but none of them will be making any noise elsewhere. Minn: 17--UNC: 30
Schweinfurth: The Gophers may be undefeated, but one win is an improbable "we're playing Nebraska" come back. By no means do I think Minnesota is good. UNC is better and it's at home. Heels win. Meh. Minn: 13--UNC: 28
Seeberg: The Gophers make a rare non-OSU appearance here after taking down a hapless Cornhusker program to start the season. Offense isn’t exactly their forte, however, and it will take some points to top Drake Maye and Co. Despite foiling my upset pick last week, I expect the Tar Heels to use that as a wake-up call and come ready to play this weekend. Heels big. Minn: 17—UNC: 38
Hoying: Both these teams are still undefeated but I wouldn't say they've been playing comparable football so far. Minnesota played atrocious football for 58 minutes in their opener before standing back and letting Nebraska husk their corn all over the field as per recent tradition. A week later North Carolina shot themselves in the foot over and over before finally putting Appalachian State away in double overtime. Unless one of these teams picks up a sudden curse (impossible as those are all firmly parked above Lincoln) I would think the law of averages would set in and snap these teams back to reality. Don't look for any heroes in the Big Ten West this year, folks. At best maybe one of them will snakebite of the B1G 3east but none of them will be making any noise elsewhere. Minn: 17--UNC: 30
Schweinfurth: The Gophers may be undefeated, but one win is an improbable "we're playing Nebraska" come back. By no means do I think Minnesota is good. UNC is better and it's at home. Heels win. Meh. Minn: 13--UNC: 28
Seeberg: The Gophers make a rare non-OSU appearance here after taking down a hapless Cornhusker program to start the season. Offense isn’t exactly their forte, however, and it will take some points to top Drake Maye and Co. Despite foiling my upset pick last week, I expect the Tar Heels to use that as a wake-up call and come ready to play this weekend. Heels big. Minn: 17—UNC: 38
Washington Huskies @ Michigan State Spartans
Draper: The Huskies are riding the Penix Train as far as it will take them. Sparty is imploding. First, they sign Mel Tucker to a ridiculous deal, then....this. Gross (not to mention the litany of other issues). I fear we are seeing the demise of a 'maybe every 10 years we can make a little noise before dying' program. Huskies stroll into East Lansing to grab their first of many B1G win as a (soon to be) new member. UW: 42--MSU: 17
Hoying: Michael Penix threw for 397 yards and 4 TDs against Michigan State last year. And that was when the Spartans had a coach. This season he's averaged 430 yards and 4 TDs a game already and has started to sneak into the Heisman conversation. Michigan State couldn't even stop this guy when he was at Indiana. As for the Spartans, I'll just say I would not expect to see another writeup for them until their November 11 nocturnal visit to the Shoe. UW: 45--MSU: 10
Schweinfurth: Michigan State is a mess. Washington is a favorite to win the PAC-12. Really not much else to say here. Huskies roll Sparty. UW: 42--MSU: 7
Seeberg: Not wasting any time breaking this one down. Washington is good and not in complete disarray. Michigan State is the opposite of those descriptors. Huskies roll. UW: 41–MSU:17
Hoying: Michael Penix threw for 397 yards and 4 TDs against Michigan State last year. And that was when the Spartans had a coach. This season he's averaged 430 yards and 4 TDs a game already and has started to sneak into the Heisman conversation. Michigan State couldn't even stop this guy when he was at Indiana. As for the Spartans, I'll just say I would not expect to see another writeup for them until their November 11 nocturnal visit to the Shoe. UW: 45--MSU: 10
Schweinfurth: Michigan State is a mess. Washington is a favorite to win the PAC-12. Really not much else to say here. Huskies roll Sparty. UW: 42--MSU: 7
Seeberg: Not wasting any time breaking this one down. Washington is good and not in complete disarray. Michigan State is the opposite of those descriptors. Huskies roll. UW: 41–MSU:17
Western Kentucky Hilltoppers @ THE Ohio State University Buckeyes
Draper: I learned very little from last week. I appreciate that Ryan Day tapped McCord as the starter (that much was apparent after the 1st quarter), but the offensive line did not inspire hope. On the plus side, McCord makes really good reads/decisions. On the minus side, the throws are just not great. The talent at WR will hide some issues and McCord will grow, but if the line doesn't shore itself up and the accuracy doesn't improve soon, this isn't going to be a traditional OSU playoff or bust team. I have faith in Day to get the most out of his QB, but we need to see that growth yesterday. The skill positions are still stacked, but the achieving the preseason goals comes down to the big uglies and the signal caller. The defense had another good showing, but the d-line was shockingly ineffective, which could be an issue this weekend. WKU plays fast and if we're not solid on the backend, they'll steal some plays. Jack Sawyer hasn't lived up to the hype and JTT tends to disappear at times. We need those guys to get right immediately. Eichenberg has been a solid captain on defense and it's refreshing to see Burke flash back to his freshman form. I tend to expect the Bucks to play this one a little close to the vest with Notre Dame on the horizon, and I wouldn't be surprised with a little early game scare, but the talent disparity will eventually work itself out. Stay healthy, get the dub, and it's on to South Bend. WKU: 17--OSU: 38 (Note: again, Seeberg picked the score before me but I didn't look at the other scores beforehand)
Hoying: The good news: the Buckeyes have avoided suffering an unconscionable loss in this young season. The bad news: after having elite-level QB's seemingly fall into our laps the last 5 seasons (and a deceptively good season from JT back in 2017) the offense may be taking a step back. We haven't seen this limited level of play both on the ground and through the air since 2016. Hopefully we'll get their top notch defense along for the ride. Perhaps losing Kevin Wilson was a bigger blow that we thought. Perhaps we've just been unlucky (2 TDs wiped off the board in 2 weeks for recognized bad calls, not to mention 2 more egregious missed calls on would-be TD plays against YSU). Or perhaps it's just growing pains, like another Buckeye team in the last decade that didn't really get going until its third game. At any rate, playing Western Kentucky should hopefully at least get the ground game going; the Hilltoppers gave up 374 yards on the ground to USF in the season opener. Then again, maybe the Bulls are a juggernaut, in which case look out Crimson Tide this Saturday. I'm going to put my money on continued improvement, a more confident Kyle McCord, and a defense that forces WKU to grind out what few points they can snag under the running clock. WKU: 17--OSU: 45
Schweinfurth: This is going to be a great test for the Buckeye secondary. A test I think they need. Let's see if they can prevent the short throws from going for long gains. Offensively, give McCord the keys to the Ferrari and let him drive. You need him feeling bulletproof going into next week. WKU: 13--OSU: 45
Seeberg: Good news everyone, I’ve got bad news! The Hilltoppers and their Sesame Street mascot come to town for the first time ever and they bring their pass-happy offense in tow. The good news is that should result in more plays for the lethargic Buckeye offense to hopefully find some rhythm. The bad news is that WKU actually slings it pretty well and if the front 4 can’t get home it could be a frustrating late afternoon in the ‘Shoe. The lack of production from the DEs- especially with as well as the DTs are playing- is more concerning than the offense to me. Let’s get some pressure, get some stops and start to get the offense rolling just in time for South Bend. WKU: 17—OSU: 38
Schweinfurth: This is going to be a great test for the Buckeye secondary. A test I think they need. Let's see if they can prevent the short throws from going for long gains. Offensively, give McCord the keys to the Ferrari and let him drive. You need him feeling bulletproof going into next week. WKU: 13--OSU: 45
Seeberg: Good news everyone, I’ve got bad news! The Hilltoppers and their Sesame Street mascot come to town for the first time ever and they bring their pass-happy offense in tow. The good news is that should result in more plays for the lethargic Buckeye offense to hopefully find some rhythm. The bad news is that WKU actually slings it pretty well and if the front 4 can’t get home it could be a frustrating late afternoon in the ‘Shoe. The lack of production from the DEs- especially with as well as the DTs are playing- is more concerning than the offense to me. Let’s get some pressure, get some stops and start to get the offense rolling just in time for South Bend. WKU: 17—OSU: 38
Upset Special
Draper: Colorado State over Colorado
Hoying: Tulsa over Oklahoma
Schweinfurth: Illinois over Penn State
Seeberg: Northwestern over Duke
No comments:
Post a Comment