Life got really busy over the last couple of months and I wasn't able to keep up with my top 25s and predictions, but I always have to get my bowl predictions in. I really wasn't a big fan of the college football playoff rankings this year, the end result was fine, but I don't like how inconsistent they were with their rankings throughout the year. I think they should just put out the final rankings at the end of the season. I also don't know how Jameis Winston finished sixth in the Heisman voting, sure he led his team to an undefeated season, but he did throw 17 interceptions. Ok, here are my predictions.
New Orleans Bowl - New Orleans, Louisiana
Nevada vs Louisiana-Lafayette
Nevada has a pretty solid team, with a good QB Cody Fajardo, four of their five losses were within a touchdown, and they were to good teams: Arizona, Boise, Colorado State and Air Force. UL-Lafayette shared a common opponent with Nevada, they got beat by Boise pretty bad. Terrance Broadway is a pretty solid QB, but I think Nevada has the better team.
Nevada 34 UL-Lafayette 23
New Mexico Bowl - Albuquerque, New Mexico
UTEP vs Utah State
I got to see UTEP at University Stadium against New Mexico in the season opener and they looked pretty good, but New Mexico made a few teams look good this year. Utah State started the season with QB Chuckie Keaton, but he could never stay healthy, which is a shame, because I thought he would have been one of the better QBs in the country. I still think Utah State will win this one though.
Utah State 38 UTEP 28
Las Vegas Bowl - Las Vegas, Nevada
Utah vs Colorado State
I caught a few Utah games this year and they looked good, their schedule was just too tough. Colorado State surprised me a bit this year and they just kind of came out of nowhere and had a 10 win season.
Utah 31 Colorado State 27
Idaho Potato Bowl - Boise, Idaho
Western Michigan vs Air Force
Western Michigan was an even bigger surprise to me this year than Colorado State, especially after the season they had last year. I saw them against Iowa and they got pounded by eight touchdowns! They've done a nice job of recruiting and bringing in some talent. Air Force could provide some trouble for Western Michigan with their run offense.
Air Force 34 Western Michigan 28
Camelia Bowl - Montgomery, Alabama
South Alabama vs Bowling Green
When the season started I would have picked Bowling Green to win this one easily, but they've lost three in a row and haven't looked that great. I haven't seen South Alabama play, but they will have some home field advantage in this one.
South Alabama 28 Bowling Green 24
Miami Beach Bowl - Miami, Florida
BYU vs Memphis
Losing QB Taysom Hill was big for BYU, they were really on a roll and then stumbled after his injury. Memphis was solid all year, but I think BYU pulls it off.
BYU 34 Memphis 28
Boca Raton Bowl - Boca Raton, Florida
Marshall vs Northern Illinois
This should be a great game, Marshall has one of the best offenses in the country led by QB Rakeem Cato. Northern Illinois has a seven game winning streak coming in. I think this one will be back and forth, but I think Northern Illinois has the edge.
Northern Illinois 35 Marshall 31
Poinsettia Bowl - San Diego, California
Navy vs San Diego State
This game features two of the better runners in the country, Navy QB Keegan Reynolds and San Diego State RB Donnel Pumphrey. I think these teams are pretty evenly matched, but I'll go with the Aztecs at home.
San Diego State 38 Navy 31
Bahamas Bowl - Nassau, Bahamas
Central Michigan vs Western Kentucky
I didn't get to see Central Michigan play this year, but Western Kentucky has a solid offense and can score a lot of points, which I think they'll do in this game.
Western Kentucky 52 Central Michigan 35
Hawai'i Bowl - Honolulu, Hawai'i
Fresno State vs Rice
Two really bad defenses going head-to-head. Fresno had an awful start to the season going 0-3 and now stand at 6-7.
Fresno State 42 Rice 38
Heart of Dallas Bowl - Dallas, Texas
Illinois vs Louisiana Tech
Illinois looked pretty bad most of the season, but QB Wes Lunt is a good one. I didn't see La Tech play, but I did follow their season, their QB Cody Sokol was an Iowa transfer and has had a solid year.
Louisiana Tech 34 Illinois 24
Quick Lane Bowl - Detroit, Michigan
Rutgers vs North Carolina
I thought Rutgers season was over when Paul James got injured, but they had a pretty decent year. North Carolina is hard to predict, they've been up and down.
North Carolina 34 Rutgers 24
St. Petersburg Bowl - St. Petersburg, Florida
North Carolina State vs UCF
The only time I saw NC State was their game against Florida State and they looked good for awhile, but they couldn't hold the lead. UCF lost Blake Bortles from last years team, but had a lot of talent return.
UCF 31 NC State 21
Military Bowl - Annapolis, Maryland
Cincinnati vs Virginia Tech
Cincinnati is rolling right now led by QB Gunner Kiel. Virginia Tech needed a big finish against Virginia to even make a bowl game. They did hand Ohio State their only loss this year though.
Cincinnati 42 Virginia Tech 28
Sun Bowl - El Paso, Texas
Arizona State vs Duke
I got a chance to see Arizona State quite a few times this year and they have some great skill position guys, I don't know if Duke will be able to keep up.
Arizona State 42 Duke 31
Independence Bowl - Shreveport, Louisiana
Miami vs South Carolina
Both of these teams have bit up and down, I think we'll see both teams at their best which will make it a great game.
South Carolina 31 Miami 24
Pinstripe Bowl - Bronx, New York
Boston College vs Penn State
I saw Boston College play against USC and FSU and they looked good, not sure what happened in their other games. Penn State stumbled after a quick start.
Boston College 24 Penn State 21
Holiday Bowl - San Diego, California
Nebraska vs USC
This game should feature a lot of offense and I think USC has too much talent in this one.
USC 42 Nebraska 34
Liberty Bowl - Memphis, Tennessee
Texas A&M vs West Virginia
Here's another matchup of two teams that could play at a high level at times. A&M started the season with a bang and West Virginia took down Baylor. This one should be another high scoring game.
Texas A&M 42 West Virginia 35
Russell Athletic Bowl - Orlando, Florida
Oklahoma vs Clemson
Oklahoma was pretty disappointing this year, I think I had them ranked number one to start the season, but they struggled a bit. I didn't get to see Clemson too much this year.
Oklahoma 27 Clemson 21
Texas Bowl - Houston, Texas
Arkansas vs Texas
Arkansas finished 6-6, but all of their losses were to ranked opponents and most of them were really close games. The defense was great towards the end of the year and they feature two 1,000 yard running backs. Texas was up and down and share a 6-6 record.
Arkansas 24 Texas 10
Music City Bowl - Nashville, Tennessee
Notre Dame vs LSU
Aside from the Florida State game, I was not impressed with Notre Dame at all this year. LSU had to replace a ton of talent from last year's team, but they looked like they came together pretty well.
LSU 24 Notre Dame 13
Belk Bowl - Charlotte, North Carolina
Georgia vs Louisville
Georgia has a pretty dynamic offense and Nick Chubb has done a great job filling in for Todd Gurley at running back. Louisville finished 9-3 and all of their losses were close games.
Georgia 45 Louisville 31
Foster Farms Bowl - Santa Clara, California
Maryland vs Stanford
Stanford finished with a disappointing 7-5 record, but all of their losses were to ranked opponents. Their defense should be able to shut down Maryland and they should be able to generate enough offense to win.
Stanford 27 Maryland 17
Peach Bowl - Atlanta, Georgia
Ole Miss vs TCU
I definitely wouldn't want to play TCU at this point, they are on a roll and their only loss was to Baylor, a game where they had a sizable lead late in the game. Ole Miss had a great season, but the conference schedule got the best of them towards the end.
TCU 45 Ole Miss 34
Fiesta Bowl - Glendale, Arizona
Boise State vs Arizona
Boise State has been good this year, but not as good as the teams they've had that pulled some upsets in bowl games. Arizona is coming off a tough loss against Oregon, but they had a great season.
Arizona 38 Boise State 27
Orange Bowl - Miami, Florida
Mississippi State vs Georgia Tech
This game features two very athletic QBs and should be a fun one to watch.
Georgia Tech 31 Mississippi State 27
Citrus Bowl - Orlando, Florida
Missouri vs Minnesota
I kept waiting for Minnesota to slip up during the year, but they kept surprising me. As much as I hate the Gophers, I really respect coach Kill and the job he's done there. They're definitely not a team to take lightly despite not having much of a passing game. Missouri has had it's ups and downs but once again made it to the SEC title game.
Missouri 31 Minnesota 28
Outback Bowl - Tampa, Florida
Auburn vs Wisconsin
Wisconsin is another team that struggled with their pass game, but RB Melvin Gordon was amazing. If Auburn can figure out a way to shut him down they should win.
Auburn 34 Wisconsin 24
Cotton Bowl - Arlington, Texas
Michigan State vs Baylor
A great offense against a great defense in this game. In Michigan State's two losses they gave up more than 40 against Ohio State and Oregon.
Baylor 42 Michigan State 34
Armed Forces Bowl - Fort Worth, Texas
Houston vs Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh has some talented skill guys in RB James Conner and WR Tyler Boyd. Houston's defense was pretty impressive this year and could shut the Panthers down.
Houston 24 Pittsburgh 17
Taxslayer Bowl - Jacksonville, Florida
Iowa vs Tennessee
These two teams should be pretty evenly matched, Iowa has struggled on offense and at times looked awful on defense. Tennessee is young, and they have struggled at times on offense, too. Their DL should be able to get a lot of pressure and could force Iowa to do stupid things, which scares me a bit. I'd like to C.J. Beathard play against his home state school, but we probably won't see that happen.
Tennessee 31 Iowa 24
Alamo Bowl - San Antonio, Texas
Kansas State vs UCLA
I saw both of these teams play early in the season, UCLA didn't look good at all, but still won. Kansas State struggled with Iowa State, but they had a good season. This could be a toss up.
UCLA 34 Kansas State 28
Cactus Bowl - Tempe, Arizona
Washington vs Oklahoma State
Both of these teams struggled with rank opponents, all of Washington's losses were to ranked teams and all but one of Ok State's losses were, too. Washington was able to keep some of them close. Oklahoma State needed a huge upset win against Oklahoma to make a bowl game.
Washington 35 Oklahoma State 27
Birmingham Bowl - Birmingham, Alabama
East Carolina vs Florida
East Carolina cracked the top 25 earlier in the year and QB Shane Carden was mentioned in the Heisman race for a little while. Florida had another rough year, but they did beat Georgia.
East Carolina 27 Florida 21
Godaddy Bowl - Mobile, Alabama
Toledo vs Arkansas State
I don't know much about either of these teams, Toledo finished 7-1 in the MAC and had a tough non-conference schedule.
Toledo 38 Arkansas State 28
Playoff Rose Bowl - Pasadena, California
2-Oregon vs 3-Florida State
Florida State will try to prove that they deserved the number one seed as the only undefeated team in the country. This game features two Heisman winners: Jameis Winston vs Marcus Mariota. I think the Seminoles luck will run out on them.
Oregon 45 Florida State 34
Playoff Sugar Bowl - New Orleans, Louisiana
1-Alabama vs 4-Ohio State
After watching both of these teams win their conference title games I'm pretty excited to see this one. Ohio State will be starting their third string QB, but he did a great job against Wisconsin. I think Alabama holds a slight edge here.
Alabama 31 Ohio State 24
National Championship - Arlington, Texas
2-Oregon vs 1-Alabama
Oregon has been cruising ever since their October 2nd loss to Arizona. In their eight game winning streak they've won by an average margin of 26 points. Alabama lost the same weekend and shares an eight game winning streak with a 20 point margin of victory, but had some close calls along the way.
Oregon 34 Alabama 28
Friday, December 19, 2014
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
New Top 25 and Predictions
Due to a death in the family I didn't get a chance to watch any football on Saturday. I'm glad I missed the Iowa game, they lost to Minnesota 51-14, one of the biggest whoopins they've had in quite some time. I was able to catch some highlights and some replays of some games, but I won't be watching the Iowa game. Here's my new top 25.
Top 25
1-Florida State
2-Mississippi State
3-Oregon
4-Alabama
5-Baylor
6-TCU
7-Arizona State
8-Ohio State
9-Nebraska
10-Michigan State
11-Auburn
12-Kansas State
13-Georgia
14-Arizona
15-Ole Miss
16-Duke
17-Notre Dame
18-Wisconsin
19-Clemson
20-UCLA
21-Marshall
22-Oklahoma
23-Georgia Tech
24-Colorado State
25-LSU
Predictions
Last week I was 6-3 which puts me at 65-39 on the season.
Ohio State at Minnesota: Minnesota rolled past Iowa, but Ohio State is one of the hottest teams in the country coming in after a huge road win at Michigan State.
Ohio State 45 Minnesota 31
Clemson at Georgia Tech: Clemson has been playing some pretty good football and Georgia Tech keeps on winning, could be a great game.
Clemson 38 Georgia Tech 31
Iowa at Illinois: Can Iowa bounce back after one of their worst performances in recent memory? Wes Lunt returns for Illinois at QB.
Iowa 27 Illinois 24
LSU at Arkansas: I still can't figure LSU out this year, and Arkansas has come so close to pulling an upset, will this be the week?
Arkansas 17 LSU 14
Mississippi State at Alabama: Undefeated Mississippi State will need a huge Heisman-esque performance by Dak Presoctt to beat Alabama on the road.
Alabama 24 Mississippi State 20
Nebraska at Wisconsin: Two of the best running backs going head-to-head, if Abdullah is healthy. Winner will most likely get a crack at Ohio State in the conference title game.
Wisconsin 34 Nebraska 24
New Mexico at Utah State: The Lobos came up just short in their upset bid against Boise State, but lost two key players.
Utah State 45 New Mexico 38
Utah at Stanford: Utah has had a brutal schedule recently, can they bounce back with a road win?
Stanford 24 Utah 17
Auburn at Georgia: Todd Gurley returns for Georgia and Auburn is coming off a tough loss to A&M.
Georgia 38 Auburn 31
Florida State at Miami: Earlier in the year I predicted that Miami would pull the upset in this game, and I'll do it again, why not?
Miami 31 Florida State 28
Heisman Race
Marcus Mariota QB Oregon last week 239-3-0 114-1
2,780-29-2 524-8
Melvin Gordon RB Wisconsin last week 205-1
1,501-19 21 total td
Dak Prescott QB Mississippi State last week 206-2-0 54-1
2,231-18-7 779-11
Ameer Adbullah RB Nebraska off last week
1,250-17 19 total td
Trevone Boykin QB TCU last week 219-1-0 123-3
2,691-23-4 546-7
Cody Kessler QB USC off last week
2,548-25-2
Amari Cooper WR Alabama last week 8-83-1
79-1,215-10
Anu Solomon QB Arizona last week 211-4-0 105-0
2,816-25-5 304-0
Everett Golson QB Notre Dame last week 446-2-4 -11
2,757-24-11
Top 25
1-Florida State
2-Mississippi State
3-Oregon
4-Alabama
5-Baylor
6-TCU
7-Arizona State
8-Ohio State
9-Nebraska
10-Michigan State
11-Auburn
12-Kansas State
13-Georgia
14-Arizona
15-Ole Miss
16-Duke
17-Notre Dame
18-Wisconsin
19-Clemson
20-UCLA
21-Marshall
22-Oklahoma
23-Georgia Tech
24-Colorado State
25-LSU
Predictions
Last week I was 6-3 which puts me at 65-39 on the season.
Ohio State at Minnesota: Minnesota rolled past Iowa, but Ohio State is one of the hottest teams in the country coming in after a huge road win at Michigan State.
Ohio State 45 Minnesota 31
Clemson at Georgia Tech: Clemson has been playing some pretty good football and Georgia Tech keeps on winning, could be a great game.
Clemson 38 Georgia Tech 31
Iowa at Illinois: Can Iowa bounce back after one of their worst performances in recent memory? Wes Lunt returns for Illinois at QB.
Iowa 27 Illinois 24
LSU at Arkansas: I still can't figure LSU out this year, and Arkansas has come so close to pulling an upset, will this be the week?
Arkansas 17 LSU 14
Mississippi State at Alabama: Undefeated Mississippi State will need a huge Heisman-esque performance by Dak Presoctt to beat Alabama on the road.
Alabama 24 Mississippi State 20
Nebraska at Wisconsin: Two of the best running backs going head-to-head, if Abdullah is healthy. Winner will most likely get a crack at Ohio State in the conference title game.
Wisconsin 34 Nebraska 24
New Mexico at Utah State: The Lobos came up just short in their upset bid against Boise State, but lost two key players.
Utah State 45 New Mexico 38
Utah at Stanford: Utah has had a brutal schedule recently, can they bounce back with a road win?
Stanford 24 Utah 17
Auburn at Georgia: Todd Gurley returns for Georgia and Auburn is coming off a tough loss to A&M.
Georgia 38 Auburn 31
Florida State at Miami: Earlier in the year I predicted that Miami would pull the upset in this game, and I'll do it again, why not?
Miami 31 Florida State 28
Heisman Race
Marcus Mariota QB Oregon last week 239-3-0 114-1
2,780-29-2 524-8
Melvin Gordon RB Wisconsin last week 205-1
1,501-19 21 total td
Dak Prescott QB Mississippi State last week 206-2-0 54-1
2,231-18-7 779-11
Ameer Adbullah RB Nebraska off last week
1,250-17 19 total td
Trevone Boykin QB TCU last week 219-1-0 123-3
2,691-23-4 546-7
Cody Kessler QB USC off last week
2,548-25-2
Amari Cooper WR Alabama last week 8-83-1
79-1,215-10
Anu Solomon QB Arizona last week 211-4-0 105-0
2,816-25-5 304-0
Everett Golson QB Notre Dame last week 446-2-4 -11
2,757-24-11
Thursday, November 6, 2014
College Football Week 11
Well, another week of college football has passed and we are getting down to some great races in the conferences/divisions/playoffs, should be a fun finish. Iowa pounded Northwestern 48-7, it was the best game I have seen Iowa play since last year's 59-3 win over Western Michigan. It was beautiful, I hate Pat Fitzgerald and he always deserves an ass-kickin! I predicted Arkansas to beat Mississippi State last week, they came up just short, they've played so tough in big games this year. Here's a look at my new top 25, mixing things up a bit.
TOP 25
1-Florida State
2-Mississippi State
3-Auburn
4-Oregon
5-Michigan State
6-Kansas State
7-Alabama
8-Baylor
9-TCU
10-Arizona State
11-Notre Dame
12-Ohio State
13-Nebraska
14-Oklahoma
15-Georgia
16-Arizona
17-LSU
18-Ole Miss
19-Duke
20-Wisconsin
21-Clemson
22-UCLA
23-Marshall
24-Utah
25-West Virginia
HEISMAN RACE
Right now, I have eight players in my Heisman race, but there are several players that could certainly step up within the next few weeks. As of right now, I think Marcus Mariota is the favorite, but I really want to see a running back win this year. Here's my top eight.
1-Marcus Mariota QB Oregon 2,541-26-2 410-7
Has amazing numbers, and Oregon could well be on their way to a berth in the playoffs.
2-Melvin Gordon RB Wisconsin 1,296-18 19 total td
Wisconsin has stumbled a couple of times, but could win out and reach the Big Ten title game, Gordon has been amazing.
3-Dak Prescott QB Mississippi State 2,025-16-7 725-10
Has some great numbers and Mississippi State keeps winning.
4-Everett Golson QB Notre Dame 2,311-22-7
Lack of a marquee win could be hurting Golson right now, but this week at Arizona State could give him a chance to move up.
5-Ameer Adbullah RB Nebraska 1,250-17 18 total td
Abdullah has been amazing this year, he got a little dinged up last week. If he stays healthy, expect him to stay in the race.
6-Trevone Boykin QB TCU 2,472-22-4 423-4
Really blew up with that seven touchdown performance against Texas Tech.
7-Cody Kessler QB USC 2,548-25-2
This guy is getting no love at all, probably because of the Trojans' record. If he can somehow lead them to a Pac 12 title game maybe he'll move up.
8-Amari Cooper WR Alabama 71-1,132-9
Best receiver in the country has been putting up huge numbers.
PREDICTIONS
Last week was rough, I was 5-4, 59-36 now on the season. This week has some really great games!
Baylor at Oklahoma: I was really thinking both teams would be undefeated heading into this matchup, but Baylor with one loss and Oklahoma with two, loser is out of the playoff race.
Oklahoma 45 Baylor 42
Iowa at Minnesota: Iowa played so well last week against Northwestern, if they play that way again I don't Minnesota will have a chance. Minnesota seems pretty one-dimensional which could bode well for the Hawkeyes.
Iowa 34 Minnesota 24
Notre Dame at Arizona State: Notre Dame looking for that first big win to get them in the playoff talk, but Arizona State is right in the thick of things, too.
Arizona State 38 Notre Dame 31
UCLA at Washington: UCLA has really been playing pretty well after a slow start this season. I think they'll continue to roll.
UCLA 31 Washington 27
Boise at New Mexico: New Mexico has played a lot better on the road this year, and Boise State is clearly the better team. I think the Lobos will put up a fight.
Boise State 45 New Mexico 34
Kansas State at TCU: Who would have thought that this game would have playoff implications? Both teams are really on fire right now and it's pretty even, so I have to go with the home team.
TCU 38 Kansas State 34
Alabama at LSU: LSU has been playing really well as of late, but so has Alabama.
Alabama 31 LSU 21
Ohio State at Michigan State: This might be the Big Ten Championship game, winner of this should win the conference and contend for a playoff spot.
Michigan State 34 Ohio State 28
Oregon at Utah: Utah lost a tough one against Arizona State, but they still look like a good football team, unfortunately, they play a really good football team this weekend.
Oregon 38 Utah 27
TOP 25
1-Florida State
2-Mississippi State
3-Auburn
4-Oregon
5-Michigan State
6-Kansas State
7-Alabama
8-Baylor
9-TCU
10-Arizona State
11-Notre Dame
12-Ohio State
13-Nebraska
14-Oklahoma
15-Georgia
16-Arizona
17-LSU
18-Ole Miss
19-Duke
20-Wisconsin
21-Clemson
22-UCLA
23-Marshall
24-Utah
25-West Virginia
HEISMAN RACE
Right now, I have eight players in my Heisman race, but there are several players that could certainly step up within the next few weeks. As of right now, I think Marcus Mariota is the favorite, but I really want to see a running back win this year. Here's my top eight.
1-Marcus Mariota QB Oregon 2,541-26-2 410-7
Has amazing numbers, and Oregon could well be on their way to a berth in the playoffs.
2-Melvin Gordon RB Wisconsin 1,296-18 19 total td
Wisconsin has stumbled a couple of times, but could win out and reach the Big Ten title game, Gordon has been amazing.
3-Dak Prescott QB Mississippi State 2,025-16-7 725-10
Has some great numbers and Mississippi State keeps winning.
4-Everett Golson QB Notre Dame 2,311-22-7
Lack of a marquee win could be hurting Golson right now, but this week at Arizona State could give him a chance to move up.
5-Ameer Adbullah RB Nebraska 1,250-17 18 total td
Abdullah has been amazing this year, he got a little dinged up last week. If he stays healthy, expect him to stay in the race.
6-Trevone Boykin QB TCU 2,472-22-4 423-4
Really blew up with that seven touchdown performance against Texas Tech.
7-Cody Kessler QB USC 2,548-25-2
This guy is getting no love at all, probably because of the Trojans' record. If he can somehow lead them to a Pac 12 title game maybe he'll move up.
8-Amari Cooper WR Alabama 71-1,132-9
Best receiver in the country has been putting up huge numbers.
PREDICTIONS
Last week was rough, I was 5-4, 59-36 now on the season. This week has some really great games!
Baylor at Oklahoma: I was really thinking both teams would be undefeated heading into this matchup, but Baylor with one loss and Oklahoma with two, loser is out of the playoff race.
Oklahoma 45 Baylor 42
Iowa at Minnesota: Iowa played so well last week against Northwestern, if they play that way again I don't Minnesota will have a chance. Minnesota seems pretty one-dimensional which could bode well for the Hawkeyes.
Iowa 34 Minnesota 24
Notre Dame at Arizona State: Notre Dame looking for that first big win to get them in the playoff talk, but Arizona State is right in the thick of things, too.
Arizona State 38 Notre Dame 31
UCLA at Washington: UCLA has really been playing pretty well after a slow start this season. I think they'll continue to roll.
UCLA 31 Washington 27
Boise at New Mexico: New Mexico has played a lot better on the road this year, and Boise State is clearly the better team. I think the Lobos will put up a fight.
Boise State 45 New Mexico 34
Kansas State at TCU: Who would have thought that this game would have playoff implications? Both teams are really on fire right now and it's pretty even, so I have to go with the home team.
TCU 38 Kansas State 34
Alabama at LSU: LSU has been playing really well as of late, but so has Alabama.
Alabama 31 LSU 21
Ohio State at Michigan State: This might be the Big Ten Championship game, winner of this should win the conference and contend for a playoff spot.
Michigan State 34 Ohio State 28
Oregon at Utah: Utah lost a tough one against Arizona State, but they still look like a good football team, unfortunately, they play a really good football team this weekend.
Oregon 38 Utah 27
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Rankings and Week 10 Preview
Didn't get to watch too many games this past weekend, I caught the endings of ASU-Wash and USC-Utah, two great finishes. I was pretty shocked to see that LSU pulled off the upset, I didn't feel like they were that strong this year. Here's a look at my new Top 25.
Top 25
1-Mississippi State
2-Florida State
3-Michigan State
4-Auburn
5-Georgia
6-Oregon
7-Alabama
8-Notre Dame
9-Ole Miss
10-Ohio State
11-Baylor
12-TCU
13-Arizona State
14-Kansas State
15-Arizona
16-East Carolina
17-Utah
18-Oklahoma
19-Nebraska
20-Duke
21-Marshall
22-West Virginia
23-Clemson
24-LSU
25-Wisconsin
Predictions
Last week I was 7-3, and now sit at 55-32 for the season. Here are some big games this week.
Florida State at Louisville: I still feel like FSU will stumble at some point, I just don't know if it will be in the regular season.
Florida State 35 Louisville 24
Northwestern at Iowa: I'm really hoping Iowa will come out and smack Northwestern in the mouth after a crazy off week.
Iowa 34 Northwestern 24
Florida vs Georgia: This game might get ugly for the Gators, Georgia is rolling right now.
Georgia 37 Florida 21
TCU at West Virginia: West Virginia's ridiculous schedule continues with one of the hottest teams in the country coming to town. Don't expect much defense, this game might be the hardest to predict this week.
West Virginia 45 TCU 42
New Mexico at UNLV: The Lobos seem to play better on the road, and UNLV isn't that good this year.
New Mexico 31 UNLV 24
Auburn at Ole Miss: Both teams need a win if they want to keep their playoff hopes alive, I think Ole Miss rebounds.
Ole Miss 31 Auburn 28
Arkansas at Mississippi State: Arkansas has come so close to pulling a big upset, can they actually do it this week? I think they will.
Arkansas 28 Mississippi State 24
Stanford at Oregon: Stanford has seemed to fall off the map a bit but they always play well with Oregon.
Oregon 34 Stanford 28
Arizona at UCLA: This game is big for the division, UCLA has been a strange team all season long and Arizona keeps surprising me.
Arizona 45 UCLA 44
Utah at Arizona State: I had a feeling Utah would be decent this year, but I didn't thin they'd crack the top 25.
Arizona State 27 Utah 21
Heisman Watch
Marcus Mariota QB Oregon 218-150-2,283-24-1 62-325-5
Cody Kessler QB USC 265-186-2,148-20-2
Dak Prescott QB Mississippi State 189-114-1,694-15-5 124-664-10
Anu Solomon QB Arizona 316-200-2,430-20-4
Everett Golson QB Notre Dame 268-166-1,996-19-6
Ameer Adbullah RB Nebraska 180-1,249-17 19 total td
Melvin Gordon RB Wisconsin 154-1,168-16 17 total td
Amari Cooper WR Alabama 71-1,132-9
Keep an eye on Trevone Boykin QB of TCU and Brett Hundley of UCLA.
Top 25
1-Mississippi State
2-Florida State
3-Michigan State
4-Auburn
5-Georgia
6-Oregon
7-Alabama
8-Notre Dame
9-Ole Miss
10-Ohio State
11-Baylor
12-TCU
13-Arizona State
14-Kansas State
15-Arizona
16-East Carolina
17-Utah
18-Oklahoma
19-Nebraska
20-Duke
21-Marshall
22-West Virginia
23-Clemson
24-LSU
25-Wisconsin
Predictions
Last week I was 7-3, and now sit at 55-32 for the season. Here are some big games this week.
Florida State at Louisville: I still feel like FSU will stumble at some point, I just don't know if it will be in the regular season.
Florida State 35 Louisville 24
Northwestern at Iowa: I'm really hoping Iowa will come out and smack Northwestern in the mouth after a crazy off week.
Iowa 34 Northwestern 24
Florida vs Georgia: This game might get ugly for the Gators, Georgia is rolling right now.
Georgia 37 Florida 21
TCU at West Virginia: West Virginia's ridiculous schedule continues with one of the hottest teams in the country coming to town. Don't expect much defense, this game might be the hardest to predict this week.
West Virginia 45 TCU 42
New Mexico at UNLV: The Lobos seem to play better on the road, and UNLV isn't that good this year.
New Mexico 31 UNLV 24
Auburn at Ole Miss: Both teams need a win if they want to keep their playoff hopes alive, I think Ole Miss rebounds.
Ole Miss 31 Auburn 28
Arkansas at Mississippi State: Arkansas has come so close to pulling a big upset, can they actually do it this week? I think they will.
Arkansas 28 Mississippi State 24
Stanford at Oregon: Stanford has seemed to fall off the map a bit but they always play well with Oregon.
Oregon 34 Stanford 28
Arizona at UCLA: This game is big for the division, UCLA has been a strange team all season long and Arizona keeps surprising me.
Arizona 45 UCLA 44
Utah at Arizona State: I had a feeling Utah would be decent this year, but I didn't thin they'd crack the top 25.
Arizona State 27 Utah 21
Heisman Watch
Marcus Mariota QB Oregon 218-150-2,283-24-1 62-325-5
Cody Kessler QB USC 265-186-2,148-20-2
Dak Prescott QB Mississippi State 189-114-1,694-15-5 124-664-10
Anu Solomon QB Arizona 316-200-2,430-20-4
Everett Golson QB Notre Dame 268-166-1,996-19-6
Ameer Adbullah RB Nebraska 180-1,249-17 19 total td
Melvin Gordon RB Wisconsin 154-1,168-16 17 total td
Amari Cooper WR Alabama 71-1,132-9
Keep an eye on Trevone Boykin QB of TCU and Brett Hundley of UCLA.
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Week 9 Preview and Rankings
Another interesting weekend of college football is in the books and the playoff race is starting to take shape a bit. The Florida State-Notre Dame game lived up to the hype, and I actually predicted the exact score! That rarely happens. What a finish! I noticed Texas A&M still received a vote in one of the polls, not sure if that person has caught any of their last three games or not. All of their losses have been to top 10 teams, but still, none were close. You won't see them anywhere near my top 25. At this point of the season we only have four unbeaten teams: Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Florida State and Marshall. I don't think we'll see Marshall in the playoff and one of the Mississippi teams will lose when they play each other, so Florida State has the easiest path to the playoff. They still play Louisville, the ACC title game, and against a struggling Florida team. I think Ohio State is on a roll right now and could knock off Michigan State and play their way in to the playoffs. Georgia is another team that is playing well right now, and they have a schedule that could put them right near the top at the end of the season. Should be interesting how it all plays out.
TOP 25
1-Ole Miss
2-Mississippi State
3-Florida State
4-Michigan State
5-Auburn
6-Georgia
7-Oregon
8-Notre Dame
9-Alabama
10-Ohio State
11-Baylor
12-TCU
13-Arizona State
14-Kansas State
15-Arizona
16-East Carolina
17-Utah
18-Oklahoma
19-Nebraska
20-Duke
21-USC
22-Marshall
23-West Virginia
24-Clemson
25-Minnesota
PREDICTIONS
Well, last week I was only 5-4, but like I said, I nailed the FSU-ND game! I'm now 48-29 on the season. Not really a big marquee matchup this weekend, but there should be some great games. The two teams I follow, Iowa and New Mexico, are off this week.
Maryland at Wisconsin: I came away pretty impressed with Maryland after they beat my Hawkeyes last week, they've got some playmakers. Wisconsin is still struggling with QB play, but Melvin Gordon should be able to rack up a ton of yards on the ground.
Wisconsin 34 Maryland 28
Michigan at Michigan State: Michigan has a chance to save their season with a win, but they're just not really that good. I'm not sure what the problem is, but I like it.
Michigan State 31 Michigan 17
West Virginia at Oklahoma State: West Virginia has one of the toughest schedules in the country, they had already lost to Alabama and Oklahoma before knocking off Baylor. Can they keep the momentum rolling against the Cowboys who were just slaughtered by TCU?
West Virginia 42 Oklahoma State 28
Oregon State at Stanford: Stanford is really down right now, Oregon State just had a tough loss to Utah, both teams really need a win right now.
Stanford 27 Oregon State 21
Georgia Tech at Pittsburgh: Both of these teams still have a shot to win their division. I haven't seen GT play this year, and I've seen Pitt a couple times. If Pitt has better QB play they'd be a solid team.
Pittsburgh 27 Georgia Tech 24
Ole Miss at LSU: I think LSU is a little down this year, and Ole Miss is really playing well. Could be a tough game on the road, but I think they'll pull it off.
Ole Miss 31 LSU 23
South Carolina at Auburn: At the beginning of the season this looked like one of the biggest games of the year. Auburn needs a win, they've got a brutal schedule in November.
Auburn 38 South Carolina 27
Ohio State at Penn State: Penn State has been really struggling lately and Ohio State has been playing as well as anyone in the country. Can the Nittany Lions stop the Buckeyes?
Ohio State 38 Penn State 21
USC at Utah: Utah is right in the thick of things in the race for the division and could really be a threat if they knock off USC. Not sure which USC team will show up for this one.
USC 27 Utah 24
Arizona State at Washington: This should be a good game, I think Arizona State has a pretty dynamic offense. Should be a classic high-scoring Pac 12 game.
Arizona State 42 Washington 34
HEISMAN WATCH
Marcus Mariota QB Oregon
Dak Prescott QB Mississippi State
Melvin Gordon RB Wisconsin
Ameer Adbullah RB Nebraska
Everett Golson QB Notre Dame
Cody Kessler QB USC
Tevin Coleman RB Indiana
Amari Cooper WR Alabama
Shane Carden QB East Carolina
Anu Solomon QB Arizona
Tony Lippett WR Michigan State
The Heisman race is still way up in the air, Kessler is quietly having a great season, but can USC win enough to keep him in contention? I would love to see a running back win it this year.
TOP 25
1-Ole Miss
2-Mississippi State
3-Florida State
4-Michigan State
5-Auburn
6-Georgia
7-Oregon
8-Notre Dame
9-Alabama
10-Ohio State
11-Baylor
12-TCU
13-Arizona State
14-Kansas State
15-Arizona
16-East Carolina
17-Utah
18-Oklahoma
19-Nebraska
20-Duke
21-USC
22-Marshall
23-West Virginia
24-Clemson
25-Minnesota
PREDICTIONS
Well, last week I was only 5-4, but like I said, I nailed the FSU-ND game! I'm now 48-29 on the season. Not really a big marquee matchup this weekend, but there should be some great games. The two teams I follow, Iowa and New Mexico, are off this week.
Maryland at Wisconsin: I came away pretty impressed with Maryland after they beat my Hawkeyes last week, they've got some playmakers. Wisconsin is still struggling with QB play, but Melvin Gordon should be able to rack up a ton of yards on the ground.
Wisconsin 34 Maryland 28
Michigan at Michigan State: Michigan has a chance to save their season with a win, but they're just not really that good. I'm not sure what the problem is, but I like it.
Michigan State 31 Michigan 17
West Virginia at Oklahoma State: West Virginia has one of the toughest schedules in the country, they had already lost to Alabama and Oklahoma before knocking off Baylor. Can they keep the momentum rolling against the Cowboys who were just slaughtered by TCU?
West Virginia 42 Oklahoma State 28
Oregon State at Stanford: Stanford is really down right now, Oregon State just had a tough loss to Utah, both teams really need a win right now.
Stanford 27 Oregon State 21
Georgia Tech at Pittsburgh: Both of these teams still have a shot to win their division. I haven't seen GT play this year, and I've seen Pitt a couple times. If Pitt has better QB play they'd be a solid team.
Pittsburgh 27 Georgia Tech 24
Ole Miss at LSU: I think LSU is a little down this year, and Ole Miss is really playing well. Could be a tough game on the road, but I think they'll pull it off.
Ole Miss 31 LSU 23
South Carolina at Auburn: At the beginning of the season this looked like one of the biggest games of the year. Auburn needs a win, they've got a brutal schedule in November.
Auburn 38 South Carolina 27
Ohio State at Penn State: Penn State has been really struggling lately and Ohio State has been playing as well as anyone in the country. Can the Nittany Lions stop the Buckeyes?
Ohio State 38 Penn State 21
USC at Utah: Utah is right in the thick of things in the race for the division and could really be a threat if they knock off USC. Not sure which USC team will show up for this one.
USC 27 Utah 24
Arizona State at Washington: This should be a good game, I think Arizona State has a pretty dynamic offense. Should be a classic high-scoring Pac 12 game.
Arizona State 42 Washington 34
HEISMAN WATCH
Marcus Mariota QB Oregon
Dak Prescott QB Mississippi State
Melvin Gordon RB Wisconsin
Ameer Adbullah RB Nebraska
Everett Golson QB Notre Dame
Cody Kessler QB USC
Tevin Coleman RB Indiana
Amari Cooper WR Alabama
Shane Carden QB East Carolina
Anu Solomon QB Arizona
Tony Lippett WR Michigan State
The Heisman race is still way up in the air, Kessler is quietly having a great season, but can USC win enough to keep him in contention? I would love to see a running back win it this year.
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Iowa 45 Indiana 29 and Iowa-Maryland preview
What a crazy game this weekend, I knew Indiana had a pretty bad defense coming in, but Iowa scored 28 in the first quarter, one of the touchdowns came on a Desmond King pick six. 28 is not a point total Iowa is used to this season in an entire game. They also had over 200 yards in the quarter. The offense slowed down a bit the rest of the game, but they held on for a nice 45-29 homecoming victory. Hoosier running back Tevin Coleman had a huge day with three long touchdown runs, he leads the NCAA in rushing. Other than those three runs and a big pass pass play the defense played well and they knocked QB Nate Sudfeld out of the game. Who knows if the defense could have shut down Indiana with Sudfeld in, but his backup Covington looked awful. Iowa improved to 2-0 in the conference and 5-1 overall.
1st Quarter
The game started like most Iowa games do, with the Hawkeyes on offense and a quick three and out. Indiana followed quickly with a three and out of their own, that's when the game got interesting. On the next drive Jake Rudock was really clicking and they had some nice runs by Jordan Canzeri sprinkled in as well. The drive was capped off by a touchdown pass to Jake Duzey for a 7-0 lead. Iowa again went for it on fourth down deep in the red zone and picked up the first down. On Indiana's next possession, King got his first interception and ran in back 35 yards to put Iowa up 14-0. The defense again came up big again with Indiana going three and out. On the first play of Iowa's next drive, Rudock hit the speedy Damond Powell for a 72 yard touchdown, 21-0! It was looking like a blowout at this point, but two plays later Coleman rushed for an 83 yard score cutting the lead to 21-7 and giving Indiana some life. The Hoosiers kicked a quick onside kick and recovered it, but there was an offside call so they had to re-kick, which gave Iowa great field position. The field position didn't matter, on the first play they called a jet sweep to speedy freshmen, Jonathan Parker, who took it 60 yards for a score, 28-7! Before the quarter ended, Sudfeld hit Shane Wynn for a big 62 yard gain to put the Hoosiers in great scoring position.
2nd Quarter
Indiana scored another touchdown cutting the lead down to 28-14, they once again tried an onside kick and recovered again, no penalty. With decent field position it looked like they were gaining some momentum until Sudfeld was sacked by Drew Ott and Carl Davis. Sudfeld was injured on the play and I've learned that he will be out for the year, which is a huge blow for Indiana. They brought in a freshmen QB who wasn't recruited as a QB. That play pretty much sealed the win for Iowa. Indiana punted away to Iowa and their next drive was a three and out. Indiana had great field position and on the first play Coleman took one 45 yards for another score, now 28-21. Iowa was going to experiment a bit more with the two QB system and C.J. Beathard got his first series of the game, but couldn't muster much of anything as Iowa went three and out once again. The Hawkeye defense held Indiana to a three and out and they came back with Rudock on the next possession. A big 31 yard pass to Tevaun Smith and a heavy dose of Mark Weisman runs led to a Marshall Koehn field goal, 31-21 now, giving Iowa a little more breathing room. On Indiana's next possession Convington's third down pass was deflected and intercepted by freshmen, Bo Bower, his second of the season. Iowa had 3:36 on the clock and were 37 yards away from another touchdown. With one second left on the clock at the one yard line, Ferentz decided to go for it and Weisman plowed through for another touchdown putting the score at halftime 38-21, a pretty nice cushion for the Hawkeyes.
3rd Quarter
The third quarter was nothing like the first half, the first seven possessions led to seven punts and only a total of three first downs. Iowa started a drive with 1:15 left in the quarter with Beathard at the helm. On the final play of the quarter Beathard, on third and nine, ran for 20 yards picking up a big first down.
4th Quarter
A few plays into the quarter, Weisman was again running into the end zone from a yard out, putting the score at 45-21. It felt like a comfortable lead until a few plays later when Coleman scampered 69 yards for another score. The point conversion made it 45-29. They traded a couple of possessions and Iowa had the ball with 7:23 left starting at their six yard line. They were able to pick up a couple of first downs and run some clock with some Weisman runs, a Dillon Kidd punt left Indiana at the 24 with 3:14 left needing two scores and two two point conversions. Covington was putting together a nice drive and had the Hoosiers down to the Iowa 11, but Jordan Lomax intercepted the next pass in the end zone, sealing the win for the Hawkeyes. Three more Weisman runs ended the game 45-29. It was nice to see Iowa's offense explode like that and get some big plays, which they've been really lacking all year. Parker is a speedster and I hope to see him more involved in the offense. Rudock clearly won the QB battle as Beathard only finished 2 for 5 with 9 yards. Iowa's defense held Indiana passers to 7 for 21 and had 3 interceptions on the day. If it weren't for Coleman, this game would have been a blowout.
QB: Rudock clearly played much better than Beathard completing 19 of 27 for 210 yards, great game for Jake.
RB: Weisman carried the ball 25 times, mostly in the fourth quarter running the clock. Canzeri had some nice runs early, Damon Bullock had a nice run that was called back on a penalty. And, of course, Parker had a huge touchdown run. Solid game for the backs.
WR: The WRs had a nice day, I think Smith is the best one on the team and Powell had a nice game, too. The group looked much better than the Purdue game.
TE: Duzey had a touchdown and caught four passes, Ray Hamilton had a catch as well.
OL: Jordan Walsh got injured on the first drive and Tommy Gaul came in at center, Austin Blythe moved to RG. I thought the line played great, possibly the best game they've had all year.
DL: Ott, LTP and Nate Meier combined for 21 tackles and I thought the DL looked pretty good. They were able to get some pressure on the QB and stuffed the run pretty well besides the three big ones.
LB: They're going to keep getting better, there's not much experience at all at LB. They're a big reason for giving up some of these big plays. In a couple of years this should be a strong unit, I really like Bower.
DB: King had his first career interception, he did have one miscue, but had a solid game as always and he's a great tackler. John Lowdermilk probably had his worst game, he was out of place on several plays and that cost the defense some points.
ST: Koehn has been real solid since the first two games, Kidd had an ok day punting.
IOWA AT MARYLAND
I watched Maryland play against West Virginia earlier this year and they can score points quickly, they can also give up points quickly, so this game could be similar to the Indiana game. Iowa would love to carry the offensive momentum into this road game, their first meeting ever with Maryland. The Terps offensive coordinator, Mike Locksley, was head coach down here at New Mexico briefly and did an awful job, he's better suited as an O.C. The Terps feature the best WR duo in the Big Ten, Stefon Diggs and Deon Long, I saw Long play at New Mexico as a freshmen and you knew he was going to be a good one. Iowa's LBs and secondary are going to have to come up huge in this game to shut these guys down, the DL will have to step up, too and get more pressure. I think Iowa will be able to shut down their run game, which could make Maryland one dimensional. Iowa should be able to have some balance on offense as Maryland's defense has struggled, I like Iowa to have the edge in this one, but it should be close. IOWA 28 MARYLAND 24
1st Quarter
The game started like most Iowa games do, with the Hawkeyes on offense and a quick three and out. Indiana followed quickly with a three and out of their own, that's when the game got interesting. On the next drive Jake Rudock was really clicking and they had some nice runs by Jordan Canzeri sprinkled in as well. The drive was capped off by a touchdown pass to Jake Duzey for a 7-0 lead. Iowa again went for it on fourth down deep in the red zone and picked up the first down. On Indiana's next possession, King got his first interception and ran in back 35 yards to put Iowa up 14-0. The defense again came up big again with Indiana going three and out. On the first play of Iowa's next drive, Rudock hit the speedy Damond Powell for a 72 yard touchdown, 21-0! It was looking like a blowout at this point, but two plays later Coleman rushed for an 83 yard score cutting the lead to 21-7 and giving Indiana some life. The Hoosiers kicked a quick onside kick and recovered it, but there was an offside call so they had to re-kick, which gave Iowa great field position. The field position didn't matter, on the first play they called a jet sweep to speedy freshmen, Jonathan Parker, who took it 60 yards for a score, 28-7! Before the quarter ended, Sudfeld hit Shane Wynn for a big 62 yard gain to put the Hoosiers in great scoring position.
2nd Quarter
Indiana scored another touchdown cutting the lead down to 28-14, they once again tried an onside kick and recovered again, no penalty. With decent field position it looked like they were gaining some momentum until Sudfeld was sacked by Drew Ott and Carl Davis. Sudfeld was injured on the play and I've learned that he will be out for the year, which is a huge blow for Indiana. They brought in a freshmen QB who wasn't recruited as a QB. That play pretty much sealed the win for Iowa. Indiana punted away to Iowa and their next drive was a three and out. Indiana had great field position and on the first play Coleman took one 45 yards for another score, now 28-21. Iowa was going to experiment a bit more with the two QB system and C.J. Beathard got his first series of the game, but couldn't muster much of anything as Iowa went three and out once again. The Hawkeye defense held Indiana to a three and out and they came back with Rudock on the next possession. A big 31 yard pass to Tevaun Smith and a heavy dose of Mark Weisman runs led to a Marshall Koehn field goal, 31-21 now, giving Iowa a little more breathing room. On Indiana's next possession Convington's third down pass was deflected and intercepted by freshmen, Bo Bower, his second of the season. Iowa had 3:36 on the clock and were 37 yards away from another touchdown. With one second left on the clock at the one yard line, Ferentz decided to go for it and Weisman plowed through for another touchdown putting the score at halftime 38-21, a pretty nice cushion for the Hawkeyes.
3rd Quarter
The third quarter was nothing like the first half, the first seven possessions led to seven punts and only a total of three first downs. Iowa started a drive with 1:15 left in the quarter with Beathard at the helm. On the final play of the quarter Beathard, on third and nine, ran for 20 yards picking up a big first down.
4th Quarter
A few plays into the quarter, Weisman was again running into the end zone from a yard out, putting the score at 45-21. It felt like a comfortable lead until a few plays later when Coleman scampered 69 yards for another score. The point conversion made it 45-29. They traded a couple of possessions and Iowa had the ball with 7:23 left starting at their six yard line. They were able to pick up a couple of first downs and run some clock with some Weisman runs, a Dillon Kidd punt left Indiana at the 24 with 3:14 left needing two scores and two two point conversions. Covington was putting together a nice drive and had the Hoosiers down to the Iowa 11, but Jordan Lomax intercepted the next pass in the end zone, sealing the win for the Hawkeyes. Three more Weisman runs ended the game 45-29. It was nice to see Iowa's offense explode like that and get some big plays, which they've been really lacking all year. Parker is a speedster and I hope to see him more involved in the offense. Rudock clearly won the QB battle as Beathard only finished 2 for 5 with 9 yards. Iowa's defense held Indiana passers to 7 for 21 and had 3 interceptions on the day. If it weren't for Coleman, this game would have been a blowout.
QB: Rudock clearly played much better than Beathard completing 19 of 27 for 210 yards, great game for Jake.
RB: Weisman carried the ball 25 times, mostly in the fourth quarter running the clock. Canzeri had some nice runs early, Damon Bullock had a nice run that was called back on a penalty. And, of course, Parker had a huge touchdown run. Solid game for the backs.
WR: The WRs had a nice day, I think Smith is the best one on the team and Powell had a nice game, too. The group looked much better than the Purdue game.
TE: Duzey had a touchdown and caught four passes, Ray Hamilton had a catch as well.
OL: Jordan Walsh got injured on the first drive and Tommy Gaul came in at center, Austin Blythe moved to RG. I thought the line played great, possibly the best game they've had all year.
DL: Ott, LTP and Nate Meier combined for 21 tackles and I thought the DL looked pretty good. They were able to get some pressure on the QB and stuffed the run pretty well besides the three big ones.
LB: They're going to keep getting better, there's not much experience at all at LB. They're a big reason for giving up some of these big plays. In a couple of years this should be a strong unit, I really like Bower.
DB: King had his first career interception, he did have one miscue, but had a solid game as always and he's a great tackler. John Lowdermilk probably had his worst game, he was out of place on several plays and that cost the defense some points.
ST: Koehn has been real solid since the first two games, Kidd had an ok day punting.
IOWA AT MARYLAND
I watched Maryland play against West Virginia earlier this year and they can score points quickly, they can also give up points quickly, so this game could be similar to the Indiana game. Iowa would love to carry the offensive momentum into this road game, their first meeting ever with Maryland. The Terps offensive coordinator, Mike Locksley, was head coach down here at New Mexico briefly and did an awful job, he's better suited as an O.C. The Terps feature the best WR duo in the Big Ten, Stefon Diggs and Deon Long, I saw Long play at New Mexico as a freshmen and you knew he was going to be a good one. Iowa's LBs and secondary are going to have to come up huge in this game to shut these guys down, the DL will have to step up, too and get more pressure. I think Iowa will be able to shut down their run game, which could make Maryland one dimensional. Iowa should be able to have some balance on offense as Maryland's defense has struggled, I like Iowa to have the edge in this one, but it should be close. IOWA 28 MARYLAND 24
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
New Top 25 and Predictions 10/13
Another week of college football in the books and it featured some excited games. I caught the end of the Baylor-TCU game, Baylor was down 21 and stormed back for an amazing win!
Top 25
1-Baylor sitting on top of the Big 12 with the win over TCU
2-Ole Miss knocked off A&M with ease
3-Mississippi State handled Auburn
4-Notre Dame survived a scare with North Carolina
5-Florida State had no problem with Syracuse
6-Michigan State needed a late pick six to knock off Purdue
7-Auburn suffered their first loss of the year
8-Georgia looked sharp against Mizzou without Gurley
9-Oklahoma struggled with Texas but won
10-Oregon crushed UCLA
11-Ohio State drilled Maryland
12-Alabama barely beat Arkansas
13-TCU defense fell apart late against Baylor
14-Arizona State had the week off
15-Oklahoma State struggled with Kansas
16-Arizona missed a potential game-winning field goal losing to USC
17-Stanford had no trouble with Wash St
18-East Carolina pretty easy win
19-Utah enjoyed a week off
20-Kansas State had a week off to gear up for this week
21-Nebraska was off
22-Duke knocked off Ga Tech to gain the top spot in their division
23-USC pulled off a win against Arizona
24-Marshall still undefeated
25-Texas A&M suffered their second straight loss
PREDICTIONS
Last week I went 7-3, which puts me at 43-25 for the year. Here are some big games for this week.
UTAH AT OREGON STATE: With a win, Oregon State could be considered for a top 25 spot and still has a shot to claim the division title. Utah has been a nice surprise this year.
Oregon State 42 Utah 38
KANSAS STATE AT OKLAHOMA: Well, Oklahoma lost to TCU and then struggled against Texas, can they bounce back this week?
Oklahoma 38 Kansas State 31
IOWA AT MARYLAND: Iowa's offense finally looked sharp against a pretty awful Indiana defense. Maryland has the best WR duo in the conference.
Iowa 28 Maryland 24
TEXAS A&M AT ALABAMA: A&M with two straight losses and Alabama with two straight tough games, this should be one of the better games of the week.
Alabama 24 Texas A&M 21
NEW MEXICO AT AIR FORCE: New Mexico has struggled in conference play and really need to come out with a win. Air Force has looked better than I expected.
Air Force 38 New Mexico 30
OKLAHOMA STATE AT TCU: TCU had a 21 point cushion against Baylor but blew it. Ok State didn't look too good against Kansas.
TCU 42 Ok State 31
NOTRE DAME AT FLORIDA STATE: Two of the few undefeated teams left, I'm not sold on either one as national championship contenders just yet.
Florida State 31 Notre Dame 27
IOWA STATE AT TEXAS: ISU had a nice passing game against Toledo while Texas hung with Oklahoma last week.
Texas 28 Iowa State 27
STANFORD AT ARIZONA STATE: This should be a great contest, the Pac 12 has some really good teams this year.
Stanford 31 Arizona State 27
HEISMAN WATCH
Here's my top 10 in no particular order
QB Kenny Hill - Texas A&M
QB Anu Solomon - Arizona
QB Shane Carden - East Carolina
QB Everett Golson - Notre Dame
QB Marcus Mariota - Oregon
QB Dak Prescott - Mississippi State
RB Tevin Coleman - Indiana
RB Melvin Gordon - Wisconsin
RB Ameer Adbullah - Nebraska
RB Todd Gurley - Georgia
No clear cut favorite at this point, but Prescott and Mariota definitely have to be the front runners, with Gordon up there as well.
Top 25
1-Baylor sitting on top of the Big 12 with the win over TCU
2-Ole Miss knocked off A&M with ease
3-Mississippi State handled Auburn
4-Notre Dame survived a scare with North Carolina
5-Florida State had no problem with Syracuse
6-Michigan State needed a late pick six to knock off Purdue
7-Auburn suffered their first loss of the year
8-Georgia looked sharp against Mizzou without Gurley
9-Oklahoma struggled with Texas but won
10-Oregon crushed UCLA
11-Ohio State drilled Maryland
12-Alabama barely beat Arkansas
13-TCU defense fell apart late against Baylor
14-Arizona State had the week off
15-Oklahoma State struggled with Kansas
16-Arizona missed a potential game-winning field goal losing to USC
17-Stanford had no trouble with Wash St
18-East Carolina pretty easy win
19-Utah enjoyed a week off
20-Kansas State had a week off to gear up for this week
21-Nebraska was off
22-Duke knocked off Ga Tech to gain the top spot in their division
23-USC pulled off a win against Arizona
24-Marshall still undefeated
25-Texas A&M suffered their second straight loss
PREDICTIONS
Last week I went 7-3, which puts me at 43-25 for the year. Here are some big games for this week.
UTAH AT OREGON STATE: With a win, Oregon State could be considered for a top 25 spot and still has a shot to claim the division title. Utah has been a nice surprise this year.
Oregon State 42 Utah 38
KANSAS STATE AT OKLAHOMA: Well, Oklahoma lost to TCU and then struggled against Texas, can they bounce back this week?
Oklahoma 38 Kansas State 31
IOWA AT MARYLAND: Iowa's offense finally looked sharp against a pretty awful Indiana defense. Maryland has the best WR duo in the conference.
Iowa 28 Maryland 24
TEXAS A&M AT ALABAMA: A&M with two straight losses and Alabama with two straight tough games, this should be one of the better games of the week.
Alabama 24 Texas A&M 21
NEW MEXICO AT AIR FORCE: New Mexico has struggled in conference play and really need to come out with a win. Air Force has looked better than I expected.
Air Force 38 New Mexico 30
OKLAHOMA STATE AT TCU: TCU had a 21 point cushion against Baylor but blew it. Ok State didn't look too good against Kansas.
TCU 42 Ok State 31
NOTRE DAME AT FLORIDA STATE: Two of the few undefeated teams left, I'm not sold on either one as national championship contenders just yet.
Florida State 31 Notre Dame 27
IOWA STATE AT TEXAS: ISU had a nice passing game against Toledo while Texas hung with Oklahoma last week.
Texas 28 Iowa State 27
STANFORD AT ARIZONA STATE: This should be a great contest, the Pac 12 has some really good teams this year.
Stanford 31 Arizona State 27
HEISMAN WATCH
Here's my top 10 in no particular order
QB Kenny Hill - Texas A&M
QB Anu Solomon - Arizona
QB Shane Carden - East Carolina
QB Everett Golson - Notre Dame
QB Marcus Mariota - Oregon
QB Dak Prescott - Mississippi State
RB Tevin Coleman - Indiana
RB Melvin Gordon - Wisconsin
RB Ameer Adbullah - Nebraska
RB Todd Gurley - Georgia
No clear cut favorite at this point, but Prescott and Mariota definitely have to be the front runners, with Gordon up there as well.
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Indiana at Iowa preview
This week the Iowa Hawkeyes (1-0 4-1) host the Indiana Hoosiers (0-1 3-2) for homecoming at Kinnick Stadium. The Hawkeyes are coming off of a bye week, and the Hoosiers are coming off of a victory over North Texas 49-24.
Indiana had a huge road win at Missouri earlier this year, but they've lost at Bowling Green and at home against Maryland. They will present Iowa's defense with a huge challenge with a nice balance of running and passing, the offense will be led by running back Tevin Coleman who is one of the nation's top running backs. The passing game isn't quite as good as they were last year and they're trying to find a rhythm, hopefully not this week. If Iowa can find a way to shut down Coleman they should have no problem winning. I think Coleman will end up getting over 100 yards, but I think the Iowa defense will hold Indiana under 30 points.
Indiana's defense is much improved from last year, but they're still giving up 28 points per game and over 400 yards. Teams have been able to pass pretty well against Iowa, which should bode well for Jake Rudock, as long as the receivers actually catch the ball Saturday. Look for the Hawkeyes to throw the ball a bit more and open up the offense. They'll need to keep the defense off the field to keep them fresh against Indiana's up-tempo offense. Iowa should use a heavy rotation on defense.
Iowa has stated that Rudock will start at QB, but C.J. Beathard could also see some time. Beathard brings a nice spark and some much needed confidence. It will be interesting to see if Ferentz actually uses both of them. I think Iowa will control this game early and fend off an Indiana rally for a 31-21 victory sending them to a 5-1 record heading into another bye week before heading to Maryland.
Indiana had a huge road win at Missouri earlier this year, but they've lost at Bowling Green and at home against Maryland. They will present Iowa's defense with a huge challenge with a nice balance of running and passing, the offense will be led by running back Tevin Coleman who is one of the nation's top running backs. The passing game isn't quite as good as they were last year and they're trying to find a rhythm, hopefully not this week. If Iowa can find a way to shut down Coleman they should have no problem winning. I think Coleman will end up getting over 100 yards, but I think the Iowa defense will hold Indiana under 30 points.
Indiana's defense is much improved from last year, but they're still giving up 28 points per game and over 400 yards. Teams have been able to pass pretty well against Iowa, which should bode well for Jake Rudock, as long as the receivers actually catch the ball Saturday. Look for the Hawkeyes to throw the ball a bit more and open up the offense. They'll need to keep the defense off the field to keep them fresh against Indiana's up-tempo offense. Iowa should use a heavy rotation on defense.
Iowa has stated that Rudock will start at QB, but C.J. Beathard could also see some time. Beathard brings a nice spark and some much needed confidence. It will be interesting to see if Ferentz actually uses both of them. I think Iowa will control this game early and fend off an Indiana rally for a 31-21 victory sending them to a 5-1 record heading into another bye week before heading to Maryland.
Monday, October 6, 2014
Top 25 and Predictions Week 7
That was one of the craziest weekends of college football that I have ever seen. Iowa was off, so I was able to catch a lot of action. I saw New Mexico win, which was great! So many games came down to the wire, with a lot of top teams losing, which is going to shake up the top 25 and the playoff picture! It'll be fun to see how it all shakes out.
Top 25
1-Auburn had no problem with LSU
2-Baylor didn't put up as many points as they usually do, but their defense is solid
3-Notre Dame great finish against Stanford
4-Ole Miss a great win against Alabama
5-Florida State smoked Wake Forest
6-Michigan State held of Nebraska
7-Georgia easy win over Vandy
8-TCU upset Oklahoma
9-Mississippi State beat up on Texas A&M
10-Arizona huge win over Oregon on the road
11-Oklahoma tough loss against TCU
12-Oregon lost at home to Zona
13-Ohio State crushed Maryland
14-Alabama lost to Ole Miss
15-Texas A&M got whooped by Mississippi State
16-Arizona State beat USC with a hail mary
17-Georgia Tech undefeated after win against Miami
18-Oklahoma State beat Iowa State no problem after a huge second half
19-UCLA lost to Utah
20-Stanford lost a tough one to ND
21-East Carolina rolled SMU
22-Utah upset UCLA
23-Louisville forgot who they played off the top of my head
24-Marshall still undefeated
25-Nebraska stormed back against the Spartans but lost
HEISMAN WATCH
QBs
Shane Carden - E. Carolina
Anu Solomon - Arizona
Marcus Mariota - Oregon
Connor Halliday - Washington State
Kenny Hill - Texas A&M
Dak Prescott - Mississippi State
Nick Marshall - Auburn
Everett Golson - Notre Dame
RBs
Ameer Abdullah - Nebraska
Tevin Coleman - Indiana
Melvin Gordon - Wisconsin
Alex Collins - Arkansas
Todd Gurley - Georgia
WRs
Kevin White - West Virginia
Sterling Shepard - Oklahoma
Nelson Spruce - Colorado
Amari Cooper - Alabama
PREDICTIONS
Last week was a tough one, I was 5-5 36-22 now on the season. I did predict the Ole Miss victory over Alabama though.
San Diego State at New Mexico: New Mexico is coming off a great road win against UTSA, probably the best defensive performance I've seen out of New Mexico all year. The offense has had some tough injuries, but they're tough to stop. San Diego State is coming off a tough loss against Fresno. Rocky Long brings the Aztecs to Albuquerque where Long played and coached.
New Mexico 28 San Diego State 27
Georgia at Missouri: This should be a good game, could be one of those back and forth games where whoever has the ball last wins.
Georgia 34 Missouri 28
Indiana at Iowa: Indiana's passing offense hasn't been as effective this year, but the ground game with Tevin Coleman has been stout. Iowa's got a great run defense and if they stifle Coleman they could win big.
Iowa 31 Indiana 21
Duke at Georgia Tech: GT has cracked my top 25 and take on a tough Duke team, should be a key game for the division.
Duke 34 Georgia Tech 24
Auburn at Mississippi State: Both had huge wins last week against tough opponents, this could be one of the best games of the season, Marshall vs Prescott. Whoever makes less mistakes should win.
Auburn 31 Missisippi State 28
TCU at Baylor: This suddenly becomes a huge game in the playoff picture, can TCU carry over their momentum at Baylor?
Baylor 45 TCU 35
Oregon at UCLA: Both teams suffered tough losses at home and need to win this game.
Oregon 42 UCLA 31
Ole Miss at Texas A&M: This should be another epic SEC matchup.
Texas A&M 34 Ole Miss 27
USC at Arizona: Arizona moved up the rankings quickly while USC keeps slipping.
USC 38 Arizona 34
Toledo at Iowa State: Iowa State has looked decent at times this year, but have a brutal schedule. Can they put away a MAC team?
Iowa State 31 Toledo 24
Top 25
1-Auburn had no problem with LSU
2-Baylor didn't put up as many points as they usually do, but their defense is solid
3-Notre Dame great finish against Stanford
4-Ole Miss a great win against Alabama
5-Florida State smoked Wake Forest
6-Michigan State held of Nebraska
7-Georgia easy win over Vandy
8-TCU upset Oklahoma
9-Mississippi State beat up on Texas A&M
10-Arizona huge win over Oregon on the road
11-Oklahoma tough loss against TCU
12-Oregon lost at home to Zona
13-Ohio State crushed Maryland
14-Alabama lost to Ole Miss
15-Texas A&M got whooped by Mississippi State
16-Arizona State beat USC with a hail mary
17-Georgia Tech undefeated after win against Miami
18-Oklahoma State beat Iowa State no problem after a huge second half
19-UCLA lost to Utah
20-Stanford lost a tough one to ND
21-East Carolina rolled SMU
22-Utah upset UCLA
23-Louisville forgot who they played off the top of my head
24-Marshall still undefeated
25-Nebraska stormed back against the Spartans but lost
HEISMAN WATCH
QBs
Shane Carden - E. Carolina
Anu Solomon - Arizona
Marcus Mariota - Oregon
Connor Halliday - Washington State
Kenny Hill - Texas A&M
Dak Prescott - Mississippi State
Nick Marshall - Auburn
Everett Golson - Notre Dame
RBs
Ameer Abdullah - Nebraska
Tevin Coleman - Indiana
Melvin Gordon - Wisconsin
Alex Collins - Arkansas
Todd Gurley - Georgia
WRs
Kevin White - West Virginia
Sterling Shepard - Oklahoma
Nelson Spruce - Colorado
Amari Cooper - Alabama
PREDICTIONS
Last week was a tough one, I was 5-5 36-22 now on the season. I did predict the Ole Miss victory over Alabama though.
San Diego State at New Mexico: New Mexico is coming off a great road win against UTSA, probably the best defensive performance I've seen out of New Mexico all year. The offense has had some tough injuries, but they're tough to stop. San Diego State is coming off a tough loss against Fresno. Rocky Long brings the Aztecs to Albuquerque where Long played and coached.
New Mexico 28 San Diego State 27
Georgia at Missouri: This should be a good game, could be one of those back and forth games where whoever has the ball last wins.
Georgia 34 Missouri 28
Indiana at Iowa: Indiana's passing offense hasn't been as effective this year, but the ground game with Tevin Coleman has been stout. Iowa's got a great run defense and if they stifle Coleman they could win big.
Iowa 31 Indiana 21
Duke at Georgia Tech: GT has cracked my top 25 and take on a tough Duke team, should be a key game for the division.
Duke 34 Georgia Tech 24
Auburn at Mississippi State: Both had huge wins last week against tough opponents, this could be one of the best games of the season, Marshall vs Prescott. Whoever makes less mistakes should win.
Auburn 31 Missisippi State 28
TCU at Baylor: This suddenly becomes a huge game in the playoff picture, can TCU carry over their momentum at Baylor?
Baylor 45 TCU 35
Oregon at UCLA: Both teams suffered tough losses at home and need to win this game.
Oregon 42 UCLA 31
Ole Miss at Texas A&M: This should be another epic SEC matchup.
Texas A&M 34 Ole Miss 27
USC at Arizona: Arizona moved up the rankings quickly while USC keeps slipping.
USC 38 Arizona 34
Toledo at Iowa State: Iowa State has looked decent at times this year, but have a brutal schedule. Can they put away a MAC team?
Iowa State 31 Toledo 24
Monday, September 29, 2014
Iowa 24 Purdue 10
The Hawkeyes had some major issues in the first quarter as they failed to move the ball on offense and gave up some big chunks of yards on the ground. C.J. Beathard, making his first career start at QB struggled in the first quarter throwing a pick six that put the Hawkeyes down 7-0. Neither of the offenses could get anything going and that was the score at the end of the first.
On Purdue's first possession of the second quarter they started around midfield thanks to a nice punt return. On 3rd and 7 from the Iowa 16, Louis Trinca-Pasat was able to sack the QB and held Purdue to a field goal, their final score of the game. A 10 point deficit was nothing new to Beathard, as he faced the same situation the week before at Pittsburgh. A Jonathan Parker 47 yard kick return gave Iowa great field position and they cruised down the field with Mark Weisman capping the drive with a 2 yard score. Beathard had a nice 15 yard run.
Both teams traded three and outs and Iowa's defense held Purdue to another three and out giving Iowa the ball back with 3:48 to go starting at the 12. A nice 34 yard reception from Parker set up the Hawkeyes in Purdue territory. A few plays later, facing a third and 18, Beathard hit Jacob Hillyer for a 17 yard gain. Weisman then ran for five on fourth down setting Iowa up at the 16. A couple of drops killed the momentum and Iowa settled for a Marshall Koehn field goal to knot it up at 10.
Iowa defense started the second half the way they played last week in the second half. Nate Meier and Carl Davis teamed up for a sack and third down forcing another three and out. Unfortunately, Iowa couldn't do anything with the ball as they were plagued with yet another drop on third down. Iowa defense forced another three and out before taking over at the nine. Beathard, facing a third and nine situation at the 10, ran for 17 yards picking up a huge first down, and giving the Hawkeyes some room. A couple of plays later he hit Kevonte Martin-Manley for a nice 17 yard gain converting another third down. Iowa managed to march down to the Purdue eight yard line where they faced a fourth and three, they elected to go for it, but Beathard's throw to KMM was off the mark. Purdue's drive started at the eight and they were able to get their first first down of the half, but couldn't anything more than that. Iowa's defense held again. Iowa started at the 29 after Riley McCarron's 27th fair catch of the game. Tevaun Smith, who had been nursing an injury, gave the Hawkeyes a spark with a 27 yard pick up down to the Purdue 32. Jordan Canzeri followed that up with a 14 yard run. Two plays later Beathard hit KMM for a touchdown and Iowa's first lead 17-10. Purdue ran two plays before the quarter ran out.
Purdue started the fourth with a first down, but once again stalled out so they could watch McCarron fair catch a punt. Iowa couldn't do anything with their next drive with another three and out. Purdue started at their 42, excellent field position and a chance to get back in the game. QB Danny Etling fumbled on the first play before recovering it, but put them in a 2nd and long situation. Two incomplete passes later we watch McCarron fair catch a punt. The next drive saw a nice dose of Canzeri and Weisman and even had a seven yard run by LeShun Daniels, who we hadn't seen in a couple of weeks. Beathard only needed two passes on the drive, but they were 16 and 18 yards respectively. Weisman capped it off with a five yard run into the end zone. Iowa now had a pretty comfortable 24-10 lead. Purdue's next drive started with another Etling incompletion before throwing an interception to John Lowdermilk. The Lowdermilk return set Iowa up around midfield with 4:44 to go. Beathard hit Damond Powell on a nice 46 yard strike down to the five yard line, but the Hawkeyes couldn't punch it in and once again went for it on fourth down and they were stopped. Still 24-10, could have 30-10 or 27-10, but not much time for Purdue, I'm sure Ferentz felt pretty good about the defense shutting them down. Purdue brought in backup QB Austin Appleby who was able to get a couple of first downs and got Purdue to the 28. Lowdermilk once again stepped in front of a pass for his second interception. He could have had a chance to run it in for a score, but kneeled, which I thought was pretty classy. The final score was 24-10, but Iowa dominated Purdue in the second half. The defense was very sharp, they picked up four sacks on the day.
Early on it looked like Purdue was going to be able to run all over the Hawkeyes as Akeem Hunt had some nice gains, but they really stepped up later in the game. Purdue's QB had an awful day, the secondary wasn't leaving anyone open and the DL did a nice job. The "Raider Package" really has been a nice touch to the defense the last couple of weeks confusing the offense and forcing the QB to get rid of the ball quickly. I think Phil Parker has done a fantastic job making adjustments the past two weeks.
QB: C.J. Beathard came out sluggish in his first career start. The offense didn't quite have the swagger they did in the second half against Pittsburgh. Beathard ended up having a nice game, but his 17 for 37 wasn't his fault at all. The receivers dropped at least seven or eight passes, which could have put him at 24 for 37, which looks way better. He did throw a pick six early on, but after the first quarter, Iowa had over 400 yards of offense. Overall, not the best game by Beathard, but he's got a nice arm and some decent wheels, had some nice designed run plays. I think he's going to be a pretty solid QB.
RB: No Damon Bullock, he was out with an injury, but Weisman and Canzeri had no problem carrying the load. I really like the Canzeri-Weisman combo, two different styles. We also got to see Daniels and Parker a bit, which could be the Canzeri-Weisman combo in a couple of years. Parker had a nice catch and run, he could be a good playmaker. Also had a great kick return.
FB: John Kenny has done a solid job playing fullback for the first time. I usually don't watch the fullback, but it didn't appear that he made any mistakes that I saw.
WR: This was one of the worst games for this group, drop after drop just killing drives left and right. Each of the WRs seemed to have a decent gain in the game at least despite the drops. KMM, Powell, Smith and Hillyer all had a nice gain or two, but they really need to catch the ball.
TE: A couple of drops by these guys, too, and when they did catch the ball they didn't gain many yards. Not a great day for the TEs.
OL: It seemed like the OL struggled, Jordan Walsh in particular in the first half. I noticed on the play-by-play chart that Mitch Keppy was called for a false start in the second half, I didn't even notice he was in the game.
DL: These guys came up big again in the second half. I love watching Louis Trinca-Pasat, that guy gets after it. Nate Meier had a nice game, too, the undersized DE was in on a couple of sacks. They really played well after the first quarter.
LB: This group stepped up after the first quarter as well, doing a nice job against the pass and the run. Josey Jewell picked up a sack on a blitz early in the game. I love how Bo Bower plays, he's got a lot of energy. I saw Ben Niemann in there as well for a bit. They keep getting better each week.
DB: I think this was probably the best game the secondary has played thus far. I can't remember the last time I saw a team complete a pass to receiver that was covered by Desmond King. Greg Mabin has really stepped up and John Lowdermilk was all over the place. This young group is getting better every week, too.
ST: Dillon Kidd has had some bad punts, it might be time to bring Kornbrath back in and see what he can do. Koehn is killing it on kick offs, which is great. McCarron needs to try to return a punt of two, I like Parker at kick return.
The Hawkeyes sit at 1-0 in the conference and 4-1 overall. They'll have a bye week this week before their home game with Indiana. Indiana will be a nice test for the Hawkeyes with their high-powered offense.
On Purdue's first possession of the second quarter they started around midfield thanks to a nice punt return. On 3rd and 7 from the Iowa 16, Louis Trinca-Pasat was able to sack the QB and held Purdue to a field goal, their final score of the game. A 10 point deficit was nothing new to Beathard, as he faced the same situation the week before at Pittsburgh. A Jonathan Parker 47 yard kick return gave Iowa great field position and they cruised down the field with Mark Weisman capping the drive with a 2 yard score. Beathard had a nice 15 yard run.
Both teams traded three and outs and Iowa's defense held Purdue to another three and out giving Iowa the ball back with 3:48 to go starting at the 12. A nice 34 yard reception from Parker set up the Hawkeyes in Purdue territory. A few plays later, facing a third and 18, Beathard hit Jacob Hillyer for a 17 yard gain. Weisman then ran for five on fourth down setting Iowa up at the 16. A couple of drops killed the momentum and Iowa settled for a Marshall Koehn field goal to knot it up at 10.
Iowa defense started the second half the way they played last week in the second half. Nate Meier and Carl Davis teamed up for a sack and third down forcing another three and out. Unfortunately, Iowa couldn't do anything with the ball as they were plagued with yet another drop on third down. Iowa defense forced another three and out before taking over at the nine. Beathard, facing a third and nine situation at the 10, ran for 17 yards picking up a huge first down, and giving the Hawkeyes some room. A couple of plays later he hit Kevonte Martin-Manley for a nice 17 yard gain converting another third down. Iowa managed to march down to the Purdue eight yard line where they faced a fourth and three, they elected to go for it, but Beathard's throw to KMM was off the mark. Purdue's drive started at the eight and they were able to get their first first down of the half, but couldn't anything more than that. Iowa's defense held again. Iowa started at the 29 after Riley McCarron's 27th fair catch of the game. Tevaun Smith, who had been nursing an injury, gave the Hawkeyes a spark with a 27 yard pick up down to the Purdue 32. Jordan Canzeri followed that up with a 14 yard run. Two plays later Beathard hit KMM for a touchdown and Iowa's first lead 17-10. Purdue ran two plays before the quarter ran out.
Purdue started the fourth with a first down, but once again stalled out so they could watch McCarron fair catch a punt. Iowa couldn't do anything with their next drive with another three and out. Purdue started at their 42, excellent field position and a chance to get back in the game. QB Danny Etling fumbled on the first play before recovering it, but put them in a 2nd and long situation. Two incomplete passes later we watch McCarron fair catch a punt. The next drive saw a nice dose of Canzeri and Weisman and even had a seven yard run by LeShun Daniels, who we hadn't seen in a couple of weeks. Beathard only needed two passes on the drive, but they were 16 and 18 yards respectively. Weisman capped it off with a five yard run into the end zone. Iowa now had a pretty comfortable 24-10 lead. Purdue's next drive started with another Etling incompletion before throwing an interception to John Lowdermilk. The Lowdermilk return set Iowa up around midfield with 4:44 to go. Beathard hit Damond Powell on a nice 46 yard strike down to the five yard line, but the Hawkeyes couldn't punch it in and once again went for it on fourth down and they were stopped. Still 24-10, could have 30-10 or 27-10, but not much time for Purdue, I'm sure Ferentz felt pretty good about the defense shutting them down. Purdue brought in backup QB Austin Appleby who was able to get a couple of first downs and got Purdue to the 28. Lowdermilk once again stepped in front of a pass for his second interception. He could have had a chance to run it in for a score, but kneeled, which I thought was pretty classy. The final score was 24-10, but Iowa dominated Purdue in the second half. The defense was very sharp, they picked up four sacks on the day.
Early on it looked like Purdue was going to be able to run all over the Hawkeyes as Akeem Hunt had some nice gains, but they really stepped up later in the game. Purdue's QB had an awful day, the secondary wasn't leaving anyone open and the DL did a nice job. The "Raider Package" really has been a nice touch to the defense the last couple of weeks confusing the offense and forcing the QB to get rid of the ball quickly. I think Phil Parker has done a fantastic job making adjustments the past two weeks.
QB: C.J. Beathard came out sluggish in his first career start. The offense didn't quite have the swagger they did in the second half against Pittsburgh. Beathard ended up having a nice game, but his 17 for 37 wasn't his fault at all. The receivers dropped at least seven or eight passes, which could have put him at 24 for 37, which looks way better. He did throw a pick six early on, but after the first quarter, Iowa had over 400 yards of offense. Overall, not the best game by Beathard, but he's got a nice arm and some decent wheels, had some nice designed run plays. I think he's going to be a pretty solid QB.
RB: No Damon Bullock, he was out with an injury, but Weisman and Canzeri had no problem carrying the load. I really like the Canzeri-Weisman combo, two different styles. We also got to see Daniels and Parker a bit, which could be the Canzeri-Weisman combo in a couple of years. Parker had a nice catch and run, he could be a good playmaker. Also had a great kick return.
FB: John Kenny has done a solid job playing fullback for the first time. I usually don't watch the fullback, but it didn't appear that he made any mistakes that I saw.
WR: This was one of the worst games for this group, drop after drop just killing drives left and right. Each of the WRs seemed to have a decent gain in the game at least despite the drops. KMM, Powell, Smith and Hillyer all had a nice gain or two, but they really need to catch the ball.
TE: A couple of drops by these guys, too, and when they did catch the ball they didn't gain many yards. Not a great day for the TEs.
OL: It seemed like the OL struggled, Jordan Walsh in particular in the first half. I noticed on the play-by-play chart that Mitch Keppy was called for a false start in the second half, I didn't even notice he was in the game.
DL: These guys came up big again in the second half. I love watching Louis Trinca-Pasat, that guy gets after it. Nate Meier had a nice game, too, the undersized DE was in on a couple of sacks. They really played well after the first quarter.
LB: This group stepped up after the first quarter as well, doing a nice job against the pass and the run. Josey Jewell picked up a sack on a blitz early in the game. I love how Bo Bower plays, he's got a lot of energy. I saw Ben Niemann in there as well for a bit. They keep getting better each week.
DB: I think this was probably the best game the secondary has played thus far. I can't remember the last time I saw a team complete a pass to receiver that was covered by Desmond King. Greg Mabin has really stepped up and John Lowdermilk was all over the place. This young group is getting better every week, too.
ST: Dillon Kidd has had some bad punts, it might be time to bring Kornbrath back in and see what he can do. Koehn is killing it on kick offs, which is great. McCarron needs to try to return a punt of two, I like Parker at kick return.
The Hawkeyes sit at 1-0 in the conference and 4-1 overall. They'll have a bye week this week before their home game with Indiana. Indiana will be a nice test for the Hawkeyes with their high-powered offense.
WEEK 6 PREDICTIONS AND TOP 25
Another week of college football down and there are, by my count, 17 undefeated teams left. Florida State survived another scare this weekend, Arkansas nearly knocked off A&M and UCLA crushed Arizona State.
Here's my new top 25 for the week
1-Oklahoma
2-Oregon
3-Alabama
4-Baylor
5-Texas A&M nearly lost to Arkansas, but found a way to win
6-Auburn
7-Florida State NC State had them early, but the Seminoles pulled it off
8-Notre Dame
9-Ole Miss
10-Michigan State
11-Georgia had a hard time putting away Tennessee
12-UCLA killed ASU
13-TCU
14-Stanford nice win over Washington
15-Ohio State crushed Cincy
16-LSU
17-BYU
18-Wisconsin had some issues in the first half before pulling away against USF
19-USC
20-Mississippi State
21-Nebraska starting to look good
22-East Carolina
23-Arizona State
24-Georgia Tech
25-South Carolina already two losses at home this year
Heisman Watch
I forgot to include Everett Golson on last week's Heisman Watch, he's definitely on this one.
QBs
Bryce Petty - Baylor
Shane Carden - East Carolina
Anu Solomon - Arizona
Brett Hundley - UCLA
Marcus Mariota - Oregon
Cody Kessler - USC
Jared Goff - California
Kenny Hill - Texas A&M
Blake Sims - Alabama
Everett Golson - Notre Dame
Others to Watch: Jameis Winston - Florida State, Clint Trickett - West Virginia, Kevin Hogan - Stanford, Dak Prescott - Mississippi State, Rakeem Cato - Marshall, Taysom Hill - BYU, Nick Marshall - Auburn
RBs
James Conner - Pittsburgh
David Cobb - Minnesota
Ameer Abdullah - Nebraska
Melvin Gordon - Wisconsin
Tevin Coleman - Indiana
D.J. Foster - Arizona State
Alex Collins - Arkansas
Todd Gurley - Georgia
Others to Watch: Cameron Artis-Payne - Auburn, Josh Robinson - Mississippi State, Jonathan Williams - Arkansas, Devon Johnson - Marshall
WRs
Rashad Greene - Florida State
Kevin White - West Virginia
Leonte Carroo - Rutgers
Nelson Spruce - Colorado
Amari Cooper - Alabama
Others to Watch: KD Cannon - Baylor, Sterling Shepard - Oklahoma, Bradley Marquez - Texas Tech, Tony Lippett - Michigan State, Travin Dural - LSU
PREDICTIONS
Last week I was 8-3 which puts me at 31-17 now for the season! This week has some great games and should shake up the top 25 a bit.
This week:
Iowa State at Oklahoma State: The first college football game I ever went to was Oklahoma State at Iowa State in 1991, it ended in a 6-6 tie. Worst game I've ever seen! This one should be a fun one, Ok State is solid, Iowa State has a brutal schedule but they're not as bad as I expected. I'll be in Oklahoma City performing this week, I thought about maybe going to Stillwater to see this one.
Oklahoma State 42 Iowa State 28
Nebraska at Michigan State: Nebraska is on a roll the last two weeks with Heisman candidate Ameer Adbullah! Michigan State has been rolling since their loss to Oregon. Should be a great one.
Michigan State 27 Nebraska 21
Arizona at Oregon: Arizona had a week off after their hail mary against Cal, Oregon had a week off after barely beating Washington State.
Oregon 45 Arizona 34
Texas A&M at Mississippi State: This is going to be a good one, both teams undefeated, two of the best QBs in the nation.
Texas A&M 38 Mississippi State 28
Alabama at Ole Miss: Can Ole Miss pull off the upset? Wallace is going to have a great game and not have a slow start like he did against Boise.
Ole Miss 28 Alabama 24
Oklahoma at TCU: I like TCU, but I don't know if I like them against Oklahoma.
Oklahoma 42 TCU 27
Stanford at Notre Dame: Notre Dame just keeps rolling, which has been a surprise. Stanford already has a loss and a close call, could give them some edge.
Stanford 24 Notre Dame 21
New Mexico at UTSA: The Lobos lost a tough homecoming game against Fresno, but their freshmen QB, Lamar Jordan has some skills. UTSA hung with Arizona earlier this year and they won at New Mexico last year.
New Mexico 34 UTSA 31
LSU at Auburn: LSU turned the ball over four times against New Mexico State, but won 63-7, they won't be able to do that against Auburn.
Auburn 35 LSU 21
Arizona State at USC: ASU was beaten badly by UCLA and USC looked sharp against Oregon State.
USC 45 Arizona State 31
Here's my new top 25 for the week
1-Oklahoma
2-Oregon
3-Alabama
4-Baylor
5-Texas A&M nearly lost to Arkansas, but found a way to win
6-Auburn
7-Florida State NC State had them early, but the Seminoles pulled it off
8-Notre Dame
9-Ole Miss
10-Michigan State
11-Georgia had a hard time putting away Tennessee
12-UCLA killed ASU
13-TCU
14-Stanford nice win over Washington
15-Ohio State crushed Cincy
16-LSU
17-BYU
18-Wisconsin had some issues in the first half before pulling away against USF
19-USC
20-Mississippi State
21-Nebraska starting to look good
22-East Carolina
23-Arizona State
24-Georgia Tech
25-South Carolina already two losses at home this year
Heisman Watch
I forgot to include Everett Golson on last week's Heisman Watch, he's definitely on this one.
QBs
Bryce Petty - Baylor
Shane Carden - East Carolina
Anu Solomon - Arizona
Brett Hundley - UCLA
Marcus Mariota - Oregon
Cody Kessler - USC
Jared Goff - California
Kenny Hill - Texas A&M
Blake Sims - Alabama
Everett Golson - Notre Dame
Others to Watch: Jameis Winston - Florida State, Clint Trickett - West Virginia, Kevin Hogan - Stanford, Dak Prescott - Mississippi State, Rakeem Cato - Marshall, Taysom Hill - BYU, Nick Marshall - Auburn
RBs
James Conner - Pittsburgh
David Cobb - Minnesota
Ameer Abdullah - Nebraska
Melvin Gordon - Wisconsin
Tevin Coleman - Indiana
D.J. Foster - Arizona State
Alex Collins - Arkansas
Todd Gurley - Georgia
Others to Watch: Cameron Artis-Payne - Auburn, Josh Robinson - Mississippi State, Jonathan Williams - Arkansas, Devon Johnson - Marshall
WRs
Rashad Greene - Florida State
Kevin White - West Virginia
Leonte Carroo - Rutgers
Nelson Spruce - Colorado
Amari Cooper - Alabama
Others to Watch: KD Cannon - Baylor, Sterling Shepard - Oklahoma, Bradley Marquez - Texas Tech, Tony Lippett - Michigan State, Travin Dural - LSU
PREDICTIONS
Last week I was 8-3 which puts me at 31-17 now for the season! This week has some great games and should shake up the top 25 a bit.
This week:
Iowa State at Oklahoma State: The first college football game I ever went to was Oklahoma State at Iowa State in 1991, it ended in a 6-6 tie. Worst game I've ever seen! This one should be a fun one, Ok State is solid, Iowa State has a brutal schedule but they're not as bad as I expected. I'll be in Oklahoma City performing this week, I thought about maybe going to Stillwater to see this one.
Oklahoma State 42 Iowa State 28
Nebraska at Michigan State: Nebraska is on a roll the last two weeks with Heisman candidate Ameer Adbullah! Michigan State has been rolling since their loss to Oregon. Should be a great one.
Michigan State 27 Nebraska 21
Arizona at Oregon: Arizona had a week off after their hail mary against Cal, Oregon had a week off after barely beating Washington State.
Oregon 45 Arizona 34
Texas A&M at Mississippi State: This is going to be a good one, both teams undefeated, two of the best QBs in the nation.
Texas A&M 38 Mississippi State 28
Alabama at Ole Miss: Can Ole Miss pull off the upset? Wallace is going to have a great game and not have a slow start like he did against Boise.
Ole Miss 28 Alabama 24
Oklahoma at TCU: I like TCU, but I don't know if I like them against Oklahoma.
Oklahoma 42 TCU 27
Stanford at Notre Dame: Notre Dame just keeps rolling, which has been a surprise. Stanford already has a loss and a close call, could give them some edge.
Stanford 24 Notre Dame 21
New Mexico at UTSA: The Lobos lost a tough homecoming game against Fresno, but their freshmen QB, Lamar Jordan has some skills. UTSA hung with Arizona earlier this year and they won at New Mexico last year.
New Mexico 34 UTSA 31
LSU at Auburn: LSU turned the ball over four times against New Mexico State, but won 63-7, they won't be able to do that against Auburn.
Auburn 35 LSU 21
Arizona State at USC: ASU was beaten badly by UCLA and USC looked sharp against Oregon State.
USC 45 Arizona State 31
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
WEEK 5 PREDICTIONS AND TOP 25
Another crazy week of college football is in the books and week five looks to have some great games as well. Last week we saw a few teams score 70 plus, LSU lost to Mississippi State at home, Oregon had a scare at Washington State, and Auburn won at Kansas State. Clemson choked against Florida State, too, that one went to O.T. And Arizona beat Cal with a hail mary scoring 36 in the fourth quarter!
TOP 25
1-Oklahoma
2-Oregon
3-Alabama
4-Baylor
5-Texas A&M
6-Auburn
7-Florida State
8-Notre Dame
9-Ole Miss
10-Michigan State
11-Arizona State
12-South Carolina
13-Georgia
14-TCU
15-UCLA
16-Stanford
17-Ohio State
18-LSU
19-BYU
20-Wisconsin
21-USC
22-Mississippi State
23-Nebraska
24-East Carolina
25-Penn State
PREDICTIONS
Last week was tough for predictions, I went 6-4, putting me at 23-14 for the season. Here are my predictions for this week.
Iowa at Purdue: Iowa's offense finally looked alive in the second half against Pitt and they should be able to keep that momentum against Purdue.
Iowa 31 Purdue 17
Baylor at Iowa State: Both teams had a week off, Baylor's high-powered offense travels to Ames.
Baylor 56 Iowa State 21
Fresno State at New Mexico: Both teams finally got their first wins of the season last week, both teams need a lot of work on defense. This should be a shootout.
Fresno State 49 New Mexico 42
Texas Tech at Oklahoma State: This should be a good matchup, Tech is coming off of a loss to Arkansas and they're looking to bounce back. Ok State has been tough thus far.
Oklahoma State 38 Texas Tech 34
UCLA at Arizona State: This game is a huge for the division, winner will have an easier shot at the championship game.
Arizona State 34 UCLA 27
Maryland at Indiana: This is going to be another high scoring game, can Maryland win their first Big Ten game?
Indiana 45 Maryland 34
Stanford at Washington: Stanford needs a win if they want to contend for a conference title. Washington is unbeaten, but they haven't really won convincingly in games that they should have.
Stanford 28 Washington 17
Cincinnati at Ohio State: Cincinnati has only played two games, but they won both behind the arm of Gunner Kiel. Will he be able to give the Buckeyes some troubles? This one could be close.
Ohio State 28 Cincinnati 27
Missouri at South Carolina: Loser of this game will have two losses and will most likely be out of any playoff contention.
South Carolina 34 Missouri 21
Duke at Miami: Duke is 4-0, Miami is 2-2 with a loss in conference already. The Canes need to bounce back quickly.
Miami 31 Duke 28
Oregon State at USC: This is a tough one to predict, USC had a huge win against Stanford and then they lost to Boston College.
USC 31 Oregon State 24
HEISMAN WATCH
I think it's pointless to do a Heisman watch too early in the season, and even at this point it might be too early. But, here's a look at some players who might be in contention.
QBs
Shane Carden E. Car 1,469-11-3
Anu Solomon Arizona 1,454-13-3 1,621 total offense
Marcus Mariota Oregon 1,135-13-0 1,349 total offense
Cody Kessler USC 846-8-0
Kenny Hill Texas A&M 1,359-13-1 1,465 total offense
Taysom Hill BYU 876-6-3 1,300 total offense
RBs
James Conner Pitt 699-9
Ameer Adbullah Nebraska 625-5 848 ap yds
Tevin Coleman Indiana 569-6 664 ap yds
Melvin Gordon Wisconsin 431-6
D.J. Foster ASU 510-5 649 ap yds
Todd Gurley Georgia 402-4 501 ap yds
WRs
Rashad Greene FSU 24-418-2
KD Cannon Baylor 14-471-5
Kevin White W.V. 42-633-3
Bradley Marquez Tex Tech 18-251-5
Nelson Spruce Colorado 37-518-7
Amari Cooper Alabama 43-655-5
Travin Dural LSU 18-494-4
TOP 25
1-Oklahoma
2-Oregon
3-Alabama
4-Baylor
5-Texas A&M
6-Auburn
7-Florida State
8-Notre Dame
9-Ole Miss
10-Michigan State
11-Arizona State
12-South Carolina
13-Georgia
14-TCU
15-UCLA
16-Stanford
17-Ohio State
18-LSU
19-BYU
20-Wisconsin
21-USC
22-Mississippi State
23-Nebraska
24-East Carolina
25-Penn State
PREDICTIONS
Last week was tough for predictions, I went 6-4, putting me at 23-14 for the season. Here are my predictions for this week.
Iowa at Purdue: Iowa's offense finally looked alive in the second half against Pitt and they should be able to keep that momentum against Purdue.
Iowa 31 Purdue 17
Baylor at Iowa State: Both teams had a week off, Baylor's high-powered offense travels to Ames.
Baylor 56 Iowa State 21
Fresno State at New Mexico: Both teams finally got their first wins of the season last week, both teams need a lot of work on defense. This should be a shootout.
Fresno State 49 New Mexico 42
Texas Tech at Oklahoma State: This should be a good matchup, Tech is coming off of a loss to Arkansas and they're looking to bounce back. Ok State has been tough thus far.
Oklahoma State 38 Texas Tech 34
UCLA at Arizona State: This game is a huge for the division, winner will have an easier shot at the championship game.
Arizona State 34 UCLA 27
Maryland at Indiana: This is going to be another high scoring game, can Maryland win their first Big Ten game?
Indiana 45 Maryland 34
Stanford at Washington: Stanford needs a win if they want to contend for a conference title. Washington is unbeaten, but they haven't really won convincingly in games that they should have.
Stanford 28 Washington 17
Cincinnati at Ohio State: Cincinnati has only played two games, but they won both behind the arm of Gunner Kiel. Will he be able to give the Buckeyes some troubles? This one could be close.
Ohio State 28 Cincinnati 27
Missouri at South Carolina: Loser of this game will have two losses and will most likely be out of any playoff contention.
South Carolina 34 Missouri 21
Duke at Miami: Duke is 4-0, Miami is 2-2 with a loss in conference already. The Canes need to bounce back quickly.
Miami 31 Duke 28
Oregon State at USC: This is a tough one to predict, USC had a huge win against Stanford and then they lost to Boston College.
USC 31 Oregon State 24
HEISMAN WATCH
I think it's pointless to do a Heisman watch too early in the season, and even at this point it might be too early. But, here's a look at some players who might be in contention.
QBs
Shane Carden E. Car 1,469-11-3
Anu Solomon Arizona 1,454-13-3 1,621 total offense
Marcus Mariota Oregon 1,135-13-0 1,349 total offense
Cody Kessler USC 846-8-0
Kenny Hill Texas A&M 1,359-13-1 1,465 total offense
Taysom Hill BYU 876-6-3 1,300 total offense
RBs
James Conner Pitt 699-9
Ameer Adbullah Nebraska 625-5 848 ap yds
Tevin Coleman Indiana 569-6 664 ap yds
Melvin Gordon Wisconsin 431-6
D.J. Foster ASU 510-5 649 ap yds
Todd Gurley Georgia 402-4 501 ap yds
WRs
Rashad Greene FSU 24-418-2
KD Cannon Baylor 14-471-5
Kevin White W.V. 42-633-3
Bradley Marquez Tex Tech 18-251-5
Nelson Spruce Colorado 37-518-7
Amari Cooper Alabama 43-655-5
Travin Dural LSU 18-494-4
Monday, September 22, 2014
Iowa 24 Pittsburgh 20
Another Iowa game that came down to the final minute, and they pulled it off on the road winning 24-20 against a previously undefeated Pittsburgh team. Iowa now improves to 3-1 with Big Ten play starting next week at Purdue. It was a tale of two halves, much like the Iowa State game, but the first half belonged to Pitt, second half to Iowa.
1st Quarter
The game started off with Iowa picking up a first down on a third down conversion, then QB Jake Rudock went deep to Damond Powell, who couldn't hang on to the ball and it was picked off by Lafayette Pitts. Pitt went to their bruising running back, James Conner, his first run went for 21 yards. The Hawks D ended up stopping them on third to get the ball back. On the next drive Rudock hit Tevaun Smith for a nice first down, but misfired on a couple of throws and had to punt it away. Pitt used the run on the next drive and Iowa struggled as Pitt scored the first td of the game going up 7-0. Iowa was able to strike back on their next possession as Rudock hit Matt VandeBerg for a nice 44 yard gain which set up a td pass to TE Henry Krieger-Coble. 7-7 game.
2nd Quarter
On Pitt's next possession they used another healthy dose of Conner, he ran 11 times, including a 1 yard touchdown which put Pitt up 14-7. The drive chewed up nearly 10 minutes of clock. Iowa was able to pick up a first down on their next drive after a couple of Mark Weisman runs, but the drive stalled out before Dillon Kidd's booming punt inside the 20. Pitt's QB Voytik connected on 7 of 8 passes on the next drive and led them to a field goal right before the half. Pitt had the lead 17-7, and it was looking like it was going to be a long day for the Hawkeyes. In their last four quarters of football they have scored 10 points.
3rd Quarter
Pitt started the second half with the ball and Conner, who had 100 yards in the first half, ran for 24 on the first play and 8 on the second. The defense stepped up and stopped them and forced a punt which was downed at the 6. C.J. Beathard came in at QB for a dinged up Rudock, and provided a much needed spark for the Hawkeyes. It seemed that the team was more fired up at this point. Weisman picked up 7 yards on a couple carries and Beathard hit Kevonte Martin-Manley on third down to move the chains and get some breathing room. On the next play Beathard tossed one downfield to Powell, who made an amazing one-handed grab for a 62 yard gain, which immediately sparked a QB controversy. The Hawkeyes used three straight runs and Weisman was easily able to march into the end zone for a score. Pitt 17 Iowa 14. Pitt started their next drive with a huge pass to Tyler Boyd, one of the top WRs in the country. Pitt had a third and 8 at the Iowa 34 when Desmond King was called for a personal foul on a really horrible call, I really have no idea how they called it, but it set up Pitt at the 19 with a first down. Iowa held them to a field goal. Pitt 20 Iowa 14. Beathard came back out and guided the team down to Pitt territory, but on third and 9 they called a run play to Damon Bullock. Why? I don't know, it set up a 52 yard field goal attempt for Marshall Koehn, and he drilled it! Pitt 20 Iowa 17. The quarter ended with Pitt struggling to move the ball.
4th Quarter
Pitt couldn't convert on a third and 17 and punted away to Iowa and gave them great field position around midfield. The first play was a pass interference on Pitt to set up Iowa at the Pitt 37. Beathard led the Hawks to the 15, but faced a fourth down and 1 situation. They decided to go for it and Beathard picked up the first down on a QB sneak. A few plays later they faced the same situation at the four yard line and Weisman ran for three. Two plays later Weisman ran in for his second score of the day. Iowa 24 Pitt 20. Pitt picked up a few first downs on their next drive, but Iowa was really shutting down Conner, he ran five times for 14 yards on the series. Pitt had a fourth and 10 at the Iowa 29 and decided to go for it, the pass was incomplete! At that point it seemed like a sure victory for Iowa, they had the ball at the 29 with 1:37 left. The first play Weisman rumbled for 19 yards, definitely felt pretty good right then. Pitt shut Iowa down on the next runs to set up a fourth down and some time for Pitt. With 25 seconds left Pitt started at the 20. Voytik hit Boyd for a 16 yard gain and a 15 yard gain setting them up at midfield. I'll admit I was a little nervous at this point, especially with Boyd out there and a pretty young Iowa secondary. Anthony Gair, making his first career start, made an interception on Voytik's next pass and secured Iowa's come from behind victory!
Iowa scored 17 points in the second half, and the defense did a really nice job shutting down Conner. We saw a lot of the Raider Package also, and I think they did a nice job throwing off Pitt's rhythm. I hope Iowa can keep the momentum going heading into their road tilt with Purdue to start the conference season next week.
QBs: Rudock I thought was doing a nice job, he missed on a couple of throw and ended up 5 for 10 with 80 yards and a td. Beathard came in and completed 7 of 8 for 98 yards and ran a couple times for five yards as well. I thought C.J. provided a much needed spark for the offense.
RBs: Weisman really had a solid game picking up 88 yards on 22 carries, not eye-popping numbers, but a good showing for an Iowa team that has struggled running the ball. Jordan Canzeri had 8 carries for 23, Bullock had 2 for 3 and Powell ran one for 14, which was a pass from Beathard, but considered a run since the ball was thrown behind him. Would be nice to see LeShun Daniels again.
FBs: John Kenny did another nice job in his second game as a fullback, they mentioned he hadn't played offense since middle school.
WRs: VandeBerg and Powell were the standouts, each had one catch, but combined for 106 yards. KMM had 2 for 11, Smith 1 for 14 and Hillyer 1 for 3. Since Pitt chewed up so much clock, Iowa only ran 53 plays, only 18 were passes.
TEs: Henry Krieger-Coble had a nice touchdown reception and Jake Duzey and Ray Hamilton each got in the action, Duzey 2 for 11 and Hamilton's catch went for 10 yards.
OL: The OL played very well in the second half and didn't give up a sack all game. Brandon Scherff had a beautiful pancake block picking up a blitz. I think the OL is starting to come together.
DL: The DL looked awful in that first half allowing Conner to go for 100 yards, they look worn down. The second half was much different, there was a lot of subbing, I saw Faith Ekakitie and Jaleel Johnson in there a lot. It's nice to have some good depth at DT.
LBs: The linebackers missed some tackles, but overall I think they did ok. Reggie Spearman got hurt and Josey Jewell playing in his second career game did pretty well in relief. I think this group is starting to come together.
DBs: Gair started in place of Jordan Lomax, who had to sit out after the targeting call against Iowa State. Gair seemed to do a pretty solid job in the first half, and of course, had the big pick at the end of the game to seal the win. Maurice Fleming also started for the first time at CB, but got dinged up a bit. Greg Mabin was able to come back in, he struggled a bit, but also made some nice plays. He was matched up with Boyd, who ended up with 10 catches. Desmond King made some great tackles, too. I think the secondary is coming together and getting some youngsters some much needed experience.
STs: Koehn hit a big 52 yard field goal, he's really got a strong leg and does great on kickoffs. Kidd had a nice 51 yard punt and did a solid job. Riley McCarron had a nice 8 yard punt return, Jonathan Parker had a 22 yard kick return and Powell was in on kick return, he had a 9 yard return after bobbling the ball.
I think Iowa should stick with Beathard at QB for next week's Purdue game. He provides a nice spark for the team and it seemed like there was a lot more energy on the field and sideline, something we really hadn't seen all year. I like Rudock, too, but I just think Beathard is a little better. He's got a better arm, and looks much better than he did last year. Last year it seemed like he was just trying to showcase how strong his arm was and missed out on a few completions because the receivers couldn't hold on. This year he looks much more comfortable and could be a very good QB. Rudock did look good throwing the long ball against Pitt, too. It's not a bad thing having two QBs that can play. Beathard has five series' under his belt and Iowa scored 17 points when he's in. Next week the Hawkeyes play at Purdue, which should be an easy win, I think Purdue is the weakest team on the schedule. This should be a good game for Iowa to pick up the ground game again and let C.J. settle in as the starter. Hopefully the defense will play like they did in the second half as well, I think this one could be a blowout like last year. Iowa hasn't had a 100 yard rusher since the Purdue game last year, and I think they'll have one in this game, probably Weisman.
Hats off to Pittsburgh, I think they have a solid team, especially with Conner and Boyd. The QB will get better with experience, but I think they can contend in their division this year, they have a favorable schedule. I really like the Iowa-Pitt series, they've always been great games. Pitt returns to Kinnick next year.
1st Quarter
The game started off with Iowa picking up a first down on a third down conversion, then QB Jake Rudock went deep to Damond Powell, who couldn't hang on to the ball and it was picked off by Lafayette Pitts. Pitt went to their bruising running back, James Conner, his first run went for 21 yards. The Hawks D ended up stopping them on third to get the ball back. On the next drive Rudock hit Tevaun Smith for a nice first down, but misfired on a couple of throws and had to punt it away. Pitt used the run on the next drive and Iowa struggled as Pitt scored the first td of the game going up 7-0. Iowa was able to strike back on their next possession as Rudock hit Matt VandeBerg for a nice 44 yard gain which set up a td pass to TE Henry Krieger-Coble. 7-7 game.
2nd Quarter
On Pitt's next possession they used another healthy dose of Conner, he ran 11 times, including a 1 yard touchdown which put Pitt up 14-7. The drive chewed up nearly 10 minutes of clock. Iowa was able to pick up a first down on their next drive after a couple of Mark Weisman runs, but the drive stalled out before Dillon Kidd's booming punt inside the 20. Pitt's QB Voytik connected on 7 of 8 passes on the next drive and led them to a field goal right before the half. Pitt had the lead 17-7, and it was looking like it was going to be a long day for the Hawkeyes. In their last four quarters of football they have scored 10 points.
3rd Quarter
Pitt started the second half with the ball and Conner, who had 100 yards in the first half, ran for 24 on the first play and 8 on the second. The defense stepped up and stopped them and forced a punt which was downed at the 6. C.J. Beathard came in at QB for a dinged up Rudock, and provided a much needed spark for the Hawkeyes. It seemed that the team was more fired up at this point. Weisman picked up 7 yards on a couple carries and Beathard hit Kevonte Martin-Manley on third down to move the chains and get some breathing room. On the next play Beathard tossed one downfield to Powell, who made an amazing one-handed grab for a 62 yard gain, which immediately sparked a QB controversy. The Hawkeyes used three straight runs and Weisman was easily able to march into the end zone for a score. Pitt 17 Iowa 14. Pitt started their next drive with a huge pass to Tyler Boyd, one of the top WRs in the country. Pitt had a third and 8 at the Iowa 34 when Desmond King was called for a personal foul on a really horrible call, I really have no idea how they called it, but it set up Pitt at the 19 with a first down. Iowa held them to a field goal. Pitt 20 Iowa 14. Beathard came back out and guided the team down to Pitt territory, but on third and 9 they called a run play to Damon Bullock. Why? I don't know, it set up a 52 yard field goal attempt for Marshall Koehn, and he drilled it! Pitt 20 Iowa 17. The quarter ended with Pitt struggling to move the ball.
4th Quarter
Pitt couldn't convert on a third and 17 and punted away to Iowa and gave them great field position around midfield. The first play was a pass interference on Pitt to set up Iowa at the Pitt 37. Beathard led the Hawks to the 15, but faced a fourth down and 1 situation. They decided to go for it and Beathard picked up the first down on a QB sneak. A few plays later they faced the same situation at the four yard line and Weisman ran for three. Two plays later Weisman ran in for his second score of the day. Iowa 24 Pitt 20. Pitt picked up a few first downs on their next drive, but Iowa was really shutting down Conner, he ran five times for 14 yards on the series. Pitt had a fourth and 10 at the Iowa 29 and decided to go for it, the pass was incomplete! At that point it seemed like a sure victory for Iowa, they had the ball at the 29 with 1:37 left. The first play Weisman rumbled for 19 yards, definitely felt pretty good right then. Pitt shut Iowa down on the next runs to set up a fourth down and some time for Pitt. With 25 seconds left Pitt started at the 20. Voytik hit Boyd for a 16 yard gain and a 15 yard gain setting them up at midfield. I'll admit I was a little nervous at this point, especially with Boyd out there and a pretty young Iowa secondary. Anthony Gair, making his first career start, made an interception on Voytik's next pass and secured Iowa's come from behind victory!
Iowa scored 17 points in the second half, and the defense did a really nice job shutting down Conner. We saw a lot of the Raider Package also, and I think they did a nice job throwing off Pitt's rhythm. I hope Iowa can keep the momentum going heading into their road tilt with Purdue to start the conference season next week.
QBs: Rudock I thought was doing a nice job, he missed on a couple of throw and ended up 5 for 10 with 80 yards and a td. Beathard came in and completed 7 of 8 for 98 yards and ran a couple times for five yards as well. I thought C.J. provided a much needed spark for the offense.
RBs: Weisman really had a solid game picking up 88 yards on 22 carries, not eye-popping numbers, but a good showing for an Iowa team that has struggled running the ball. Jordan Canzeri had 8 carries for 23, Bullock had 2 for 3 and Powell ran one for 14, which was a pass from Beathard, but considered a run since the ball was thrown behind him. Would be nice to see LeShun Daniels again.
FBs: John Kenny did another nice job in his second game as a fullback, they mentioned he hadn't played offense since middle school.
WRs: VandeBerg and Powell were the standouts, each had one catch, but combined for 106 yards. KMM had 2 for 11, Smith 1 for 14 and Hillyer 1 for 3. Since Pitt chewed up so much clock, Iowa only ran 53 plays, only 18 were passes.
TEs: Henry Krieger-Coble had a nice touchdown reception and Jake Duzey and Ray Hamilton each got in the action, Duzey 2 for 11 and Hamilton's catch went for 10 yards.
OL: The OL played very well in the second half and didn't give up a sack all game. Brandon Scherff had a beautiful pancake block picking up a blitz. I think the OL is starting to come together.
DL: The DL looked awful in that first half allowing Conner to go for 100 yards, they look worn down. The second half was much different, there was a lot of subbing, I saw Faith Ekakitie and Jaleel Johnson in there a lot. It's nice to have some good depth at DT.
LBs: The linebackers missed some tackles, but overall I think they did ok. Reggie Spearman got hurt and Josey Jewell playing in his second career game did pretty well in relief. I think this group is starting to come together.
DBs: Gair started in place of Jordan Lomax, who had to sit out after the targeting call against Iowa State. Gair seemed to do a pretty solid job in the first half, and of course, had the big pick at the end of the game to seal the win. Maurice Fleming also started for the first time at CB, but got dinged up a bit. Greg Mabin was able to come back in, he struggled a bit, but also made some nice plays. He was matched up with Boyd, who ended up with 10 catches. Desmond King made some great tackles, too. I think the secondary is coming together and getting some youngsters some much needed experience.
STs: Koehn hit a big 52 yard field goal, he's really got a strong leg and does great on kickoffs. Kidd had a nice 51 yard punt and did a solid job. Riley McCarron had a nice 8 yard punt return, Jonathan Parker had a 22 yard kick return and Powell was in on kick return, he had a 9 yard return after bobbling the ball.
I think Iowa should stick with Beathard at QB for next week's Purdue game. He provides a nice spark for the team and it seemed like there was a lot more energy on the field and sideline, something we really hadn't seen all year. I like Rudock, too, but I just think Beathard is a little better. He's got a better arm, and looks much better than he did last year. Last year it seemed like he was just trying to showcase how strong his arm was and missed out on a few completions because the receivers couldn't hold on. This year he looks much more comfortable and could be a very good QB. Rudock did look good throwing the long ball against Pitt, too. It's not a bad thing having two QBs that can play. Beathard has five series' under his belt and Iowa scored 17 points when he's in. Next week the Hawkeyes play at Purdue, which should be an easy win, I think Purdue is the weakest team on the schedule. This should be a good game for Iowa to pick up the ground game again and let C.J. settle in as the starter. Hopefully the defense will play like they did in the second half as well, I think this one could be a blowout like last year. Iowa hasn't had a 100 yard rusher since the Purdue game last year, and I think they'll have one in this game, probably Weisman.
Hats off to Pittsburgh, I think they have a solid team, especially with Conner and Boyd. The QB will get better with experience, but I think they can contend in their division this year, they have a favorable schedule. I really like the Iowa-Pitt series, they've always been great games. Pitt returns to Kinnick next year.
Sunday, September 14, 2014
New Top 25 and predictions 9/14
Yesterday was another interesting game in college football, the Big Ten looked awful again, USC got upset by Boston College, Louisville lost to Virginia and Virginia Tech lost to East Carolina, a game that would not end and pissed off the entire state of Iowa. (I missed almost the entire first quarter of the Iowa-Iowa State game.) Here is my updated top 25.
1-Oklahoma had no problem with Tennessee
2-Oregon they actually were down 7 after the first quarter against Wyoming before crushing them
3-Baylor another easy game
4-Alabama easy win over S. Miss
5-Texas A&M beat Rice no problem
6-Florida State didn't play
7-Auburn didn't play
8-LSU easy win, another shutout
9-Notre Dame beat Purdue after a sluggish start
10-Ole Miss easy win
11-Michigan State didn't play
12-Arizona State beat Colorado
13-South Carolina huge win over Georgia
14-Georgia lost a tough one at South Carolina
15-TCU beat up Minnesota
16-UCLA had a tough time with Texas after Hundley got injured
17-Stanford easy win against Army
18-Ohio State 66-0 over Kent State, wow
19-BYU held off a Houston comeback
20-Clemson didn't play
21-Kansas State didn't play
22-Wisconsin didn't play
23-Missouri had no problem with UCF
24-Pittsburgh beat FIU after a slow start, they also beat BC last week
25-USC lost to BC
Teams that are close: Duke, Penn State, Nebraska, Florida, Washington, Marshall
I was 6-3 on predictions yesterday, which puts me at 17-10 overall now for the season.
Week 4 Games
Auburn at Kansas State: This is a big Thursday night game, both teams had the week off to prepare, Kansas State struggled with Iowa State, but they should be ready for this game.
Kansas State 34 Auburn 31
Iowa at Pittsburgh: I really don't see Iowa's offensive struggles being fixed this week, and Pittsburgh has Tyler Boyd at WR and James Conner at RB, could get ugly if Iowa can't get anything going.
Pittsburgh 28 Iowa 17
Florida at Alabama: Florida needed three overtimes to knock off Kentucky, Alabama looked solid against Southern Miss.
Alabama 31 Florida 17
Virginia at BYU: Virginia coming off a big win, BYU still undefeated.
BYU 38 Virginia 27
North Carolina at East Carolina: North Carolina hasn't looked that great in their victories and East Carolina has looked solid all year.
E. Carolina 28 N. Carolina 21
Mississippi State at LSU: Both teams are undefeated, but LSU is more talented and at home.
LSU 35 Miss St 21
Oklahoma at West Virginia: The WV-Maryland game was a good one yesterday and the Mountaineers have a solid QB in Clint Trickett. Oklahoma is really good, though.
Oklahoma 45 West Virginia 27
Clemson at Florida State: Clemson already has one loss under their belt, and this should be another one, but they'll give FSU a great game.
Florida State 38 Clemson 34
New Mexico at NMSU: The Lobos were off this week and should be ready for this in-state rivalry.
New Mexico 42 NMSU 27
Miami FL at Nebraska: Nebraska looked good against Fresno, but Fresno has looked awful.
Miami 31 Nebraska 24
The Playoff race
ACC: The only team that I think has a shot from the ACC for the playoffs would be Florida State. Duke, North Carolina and Pittsburgh are undefeated, but I think they'll all beat up on each other.
Big 10: In the West division Wisconsin could run the table and make the Big Ten title game, a win could put them in the playoffs. Nebraska is undefeated, but I don't think they'll run the table. Out of the East, Michigan State at Penn State could be the best hope, PSU is still unbeaten and Michigan State might run the table and win the title game, which I think would put them in.
Big 12: Right now Oklahoma, Baylor, TCU and Kansas State are undefeated, I think it'll come down to Oklahoma and Baylor.
Pac12: Oregon, Washington, UCLA and Arizona State are the top contenders right now, USC would have to win out as would Stanford.
SEC: Georgia and South Carolina both have one loss and another would knock them out. Florida, Missouri, Alabama, Auburn, Texas A&M and Ole Miss are all undefeated for now.
IND: Notre Dame has a brutal schedule, but running the table would put them in, even one loss could get them in depending on the loss. BYU is tough, too, could they run the table?
Marshall and Cincinnati are the only non power five schools that have an outside shot, Marshall could run the table, Cincinnati has some tough league games.
1-Oklahoma had no problem with Tennessee
2-Oregon they actually were down 7 after the first quarter against Wyoming before crushing them
3-Baylor another easy game
4-Alabama easy win over S. Miss
5-Texas A&M beat Rice no problem
6-Florida State didn't play
7-Auburn didn't play
8-LSU easy win, another shutout
9-Notre Dame beat Purdue after a sluggish start
10-Ole Miss easy win
11-Michigan State didn't play
12-Arizona State beat Colorado
13-South Carolina huge win over Georgia
14-Georgia lost a tough one at South Carolina
15-TCU beat up Minnesota
16-UCLA had a tough time with Texas after Hundley got injured
17-Stanford easy win against Army
18-Ohio State 66-0 over Kent State, wow
19-BYU held off a Houston comeback
20-Clemson didn't play
21-Kansas State didn't play
22-Wisconsin didn't play
23-Missouri had no problem with UCF
24-Pittsburgh beat FIU after a slow start, they also beat BC last week
25-USC lost to BC
Teams that are close: Duke, Penn State, Nebraska, Florida, Washington, Marshall
I was 6-3 on predictions yesterday, which puts me at 17-10 overall now for the season.
Week 4 Games
Auburn at Kansas State: This is a big Thursday night game, both teams had the week off to prepare, Kansas State struggled with Iowa State, but they should be ready for this game.
Kansas State 34 Auburn 31
Iowa at Pittsburgh: I really don't see Iowa's offensive struggles being fixed this week, and Pittsburgh has Tyler Boyd at WR and James Conner at RB, could get ugly if Iowa can't get anything going.
Pittsburgh 28 Iowa 17
Florida at Alabama: Florida needed three overtimes to knock off Kentucky, Alabama looked solid against Southern Miss.
Alabama 31 Florida 17
Virginia at BYU: Virginia coming off a big win, BYU still undefeated.
BYU 38 Virginia 27
North Carolina at East Carolina: North Carolina hasn't looked that great in their victories and East Carolina has looked solid all year.
E. Carolina 28 N. Carolina 21
Mississippi State at LSU: Both teams are undefeated, but LSU is more talented and at home.
LSU 35 Miss St 21
Oklahoma at West Virginia: The WV-Maryland game was a good one yesterday and the Mountaineers have a solid QB in Clint Trickett. Oklahoma is really good, though.
Oklahoma 45 West Virginia 27
Clemson at Florida State: Clemson already has one loss under their belt, and this should be another one, but they'll give FSU a great game.
Florida State 38 Clemson 34
New Mexico at NMSU: The Lobos were off this week and should be ready for this in-state rivalry.
New Mexico 42 NMSU 27
Miami FL at Nebraska: Nebraska looked good against Fresno, but Fresno has looked awful.
Miami 31 Nebraska 24
The Playoff race
ACC: The only team that I think has a shot from the ACC for the playoffs would be Florida State. Duke, North Carolina and Pittsburgh are undefeated, but I think they'll all beat up on each other.
Big 10: In the West division Wisconsin could run the table and make the Big Ten title game, a win could put them in the playoffs. Nebraska is undefeated, but I don't think they'll run the table. Out of the East, Michigan State at Penn State could be the best hope, PSU is still unbeaten and Michigan State might run the table and win the title game, which I think would put them in.
Big 12: Right now Oklahoma, Baylor, TCU and Kansas State are undefeated, I think it'll come down to Oklahoma and Baylor.
Pac12: Oregon, Washington, UCLA and Arizona State are the top contenders right now, USC would have to win out as would Stanford.
SEC: Georgia and South Carolina both have one loss and another would knock them out. Florida, Missouri, Alabama, Auburn, Texas A&M and Ole Miss are all undefeated for now.
IND: Notre Dame has a brutal schedule, but running the table would put them in, even one loss could get them in depending on the loss. BYU is tough, too, could they run the table?
Marshall and Cincinnati are the only non power five schools that have an outside shot, Marshall could run the table, Cincinnati has some tough league games.
Iowa 17 Iowa State 20
I don't even know where to begin with this, Iowa was awful yesterday. I've been on the Kirk Ferentz bandwagon all along, but after yesterday, I'm not so sure. This was painful to watch, even if the Hawkeyes would have won the game, it was not a good showing. I felt pretty good with a 14-3 lead at halftime, but Iowa State played to win in the second half, Iowa did not. They attempted to establish the running game with Mark Weisman and Damon Bullock, Weisman had a couple tough runs, but Bullock was awful, missed a couple of holes where he could have picked up some decent yardage. He's a good pass catcher, but he's not a good running back. He got away with holding on a play where Jake Rudock had to throw the ball away. Jordan Canzeri had three carries for 18 yards, good for six yards per carry, but that's all we saw of him. I'm thinking he was probably injured since they brought Jonathan Parker back in for kick returns. The passing game was just as bad, there was nice 33 yard pass to tight end Ray Hamilton, but other than that I can't think of any decent gains through the air.
The defense wasn't awful, but the DL failed to get a decent pass rush, the linebackers struggled with coverage and the secondary got rocked by an ejection that really hurt.
QB - Jake Rudock didn't have that great of a game, he's still hitting 68% of his throws, but he's not going downfield at all. He had a couple nice runs, but also some head scratchers. I'd like to see C.J. Beathard get a couple of series per game and see what he could do.
RB - Weisman did ok and had some nice runs to pick up first downs, but he's slow. Bullock, like I said, was awful. Canzeri needs more touches and LeShun Daniels didn't play at all that I saw.
FB - John Kenny got his first action of his career, he arrived as a LB, but played FB due to injury. He seemed like he did pretty good for his first time playing FB.
WR - Derrick Willies averages 21.7 yards per catch and Damond Powell averages 14, why were they not getting any balls thrown to them? I didn't even see Powell in the game. Kevonte Martin-Manley is a good WR, but he's not a huge playmaker. I still don't understand why there are no throws downfield against ISU? They have short CBs, throw some up to bigger WRs, take some chances?
TE - Ray Hamilton had a great 33 yard catch, but other than that the TEs didn't get much action in the passing game. Why not use George Kittle some more? And throw to Jake Duzey some more.
OL - They gave up four sacks against an ISU front seven that is not that great. Brandon Scherff probably wasn't 100%, but that's no excuse. The line created some nice openings for running backs, but they weren't hitting the holes.
DL - The DL struggled getting a nice rush on the QB and didn't put much pressure, they looked pretty winded. There wasn't much subbing going on, I think the loss of Darian Cooper has hurt the DL. The DEs aren't getting to the QB either, Nate Meier is just too small to play every down.
LB - This unit is very slow and have a really hard time in coverage. I think they're pretty solid against the run, but one-on-one with a running back they're going to lose every time. Bo Bower missed out on an interception that would have been huge. I like the way he plays though. Saw the first glimpse of Josey Jewell and he made some costly mistakes.
DB - Desmond King and Greg Mabin looked pretty good at the corner spots, John Lowdermilk and Jordan Lomax played well at safety, but Lomax got ejected for targeting on a very questionable call. Anthony Gair came in for Lomax and got a huge offsides penalty late in the game.
ST - Marshall Koehn drilled a pretty big field in the fourth quarter after some confusion on the field. It was nice to see him hit that, definitely a confidence booster. Dillon Kidd did a nice job pinning the Cyclones deep.
Ferentz really needs to work on clock management, a timeout could have been taken with about a minute left and Iowa could have some time to actually get down the field for a chance to win or tie.
Well, next week will be an even bigger challenge at Pittsburgh. I watched part of the Pittsburgh-FIU game and FIU was roughing them up 16-0, that's when I stopped watching. Pitt came back and won 42-25. Iowa's going to have to play flawless to win on the road, but I don't see that happening with this vanilla offense. If they can't even get to 300 yards against Iowa State, how will they be able to move the ball against Pittsburgh?
How many games has Iowa lost by a touchdown or less under Ferentz? Lets take a look.
1999 ISU-7, Northwestern-2, Indiana-7, Minnesota-4
2000 W. Michigan-6, Wisconsin-6, Minnesota-3
2001 Michigan State-3, Michigan-6, Iowa State-3, Wisconsin-6
2002 Iowa State-5
2005 Michigan-3, Northwestern-1, Florida-7
2006 Indiana-3, Wisconsin-3, Texas-2
2007 Iowa State-2, Wisconsin-4
2008 Pittsburgh-1, Northwestern-5, Michigan State-3, Illinois-3
2009 Northwestern-7, Ohio State-3
2010 Arizona-7, Wisconsin-1, Northwestern-4, Ohio State-3, Minnesota-3
2011 Iowa State-3, Minnesota-1
2012 Iowa State-3, Central Michigan-1, Indiana-3, Purdue-3, Nebraska-6
2013 Northern Illinois-3, LSU-7
2014 Iowa State-3
The defense wasn't awful, but the DL failed to get a decent pass rush, the linebackers struggled with coverage and the secondary got rocked by an ejection that really hurt.
QB - Jake Rudock didn't have that great of a game, he's still hitting 68% of his throws, but he's not going downfield at all. He had a couple nice runs, but also some head scratchers. I'd like to see C.J. Beathard get a couple of series per game and see what he could do.
RB - Weisman did ok and had some nice runs to pick up first downs, but he's slow. Bullock, like I said, was awful. Canzeri needs more touches and LeShun Daniels didn't play at all that I saw.
FB - John Kenny got his first action of his career, he arrived as a LB, but played FB due to injury. He seemed like he did pretty good for his first time playing FB.
WR - Derrick Willies averages 21.7 yards per catch and Damond Powell averages 14, why were they not getting any balls thrown to them? I didn't even see Powell in the game. Kevonte Martin-Manley is a good WR, but he's not a huge playmaker. I still don't understand why there are no throws downfield against ISU? They have short CBs, throw some up to bigger WRs, take some chances?
TE - Ray Hamilton had a great 33 yard catch, but other than that the TEs didn't get much action in the passing game. Why not use George Kittle some more? And throw to Jake Duzey some more.
OL - They gave up four sacks against an ISU front seven that is not that great. Brandon Scherff probably wasn't 100%, but that's no excuse. The line created some nice openings for running backs, but they weren't hitting the holes.
DL - The DL struggled getting a nice rush on the QB and didn't put much pressure, they looked pretty winded. There wasn't much subbing going on, I think the loss of Darian Cooper has hurt the DL. The DEs aren't getting to the QB either, Nate Meier is just too small to play every down.
LB - This unit is very slow and have a really hard time in coverage. I think they're pretty solid against the run, but one-on-one with a running back they're going to lose every time. Bo Bower missed out on an interception that would have been huge. I like the way he plays though. Saw the first glimpse of Josey Jewell and he made some costly mistakes.
DB - Desmond King and Greg Mabin looked pretty good at the corner spots, John Lowdermilk and Jordan Lomax played well at safety, but Lomax got ejected for targeting on a very questionable call. Anthony Gair came in for Lomax and got a huge offsides penalty late in the game.
ST - Marshall Koehn drilled a pretty big field in the fourth quarter after some confusion on the field. It was nice to see him hit that, definitely a confidence booster. Dillon Kidd did a nice job pinning the Cyclones deep.
Ferentz really needs to work on clock management, a timeout could have been taken with about a minute left and Iowa could have some time to actually get down the field for a chance to win or tie.
Well, next week will be an even bigger challenge at Pittsburgh. I watched part of the Pittsburgh-FIU game and FIU was roughing them up 16-0, that's when I stopped watching. Pitt came back and won 42-25. Iowa's going to have to play flawless to win on the road, but I don't see that happening with this vanilla offense. If they can't even get to 300 yards against Iowa State, how will they be able to move the ball against Pittsburgh?
How many games has Iowa lost by a touchdown or less under Ferentz? Lets take a look.
1999 ISU-7, Northwestern-2, Indiana-7, Minnesota-4
2000 W. Michigan-6, Wisconsin-6, Minnesota-3
2001 Michigan State-3, Michigan-6, Iowa State-3, Wisconsin-6
2002 Iowa State-5
2005 Michigan-3, Northwestern-1, Florida-7
2006 Indiana-3, Wisconsin-3, Texas-2
2007 Iowa State-2, Wisconsin-4
2008 Pittsburgh-1, Northwestern-5, Michigan State-3, Illinois-3
2009 Northwestern-7, Ohio State-3
2010 Arizona-7, Wisconsin-1, Northwestern-4, Ohio State-3, Minnesota-3
2011 Iowa State-3, Minnesota-1
2012 Iowa State-3, Central Michigan-1, Indiana-3, Purdue-3, Nebraska-6
2013 Northern Illinois-3, LSU-7
2014 Iowa State-3
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Big Ten Football
Like I said in my previous posting, it was a brutal week for the Big Ten conference on the field. Off the field there was good news for Penn State as they are now eligible for a bowl game and a potential Big Ten championship. That should make things more interesting as the kids now have something else to play for other than pride. The first conference game of the season is this weekend as Penn State travels to Rutgers to welcome them into the conference.
STANDINGS
EAST
Rutgers 2-0
Penn State 2-0
Maryland 2-0
Indiana 1-0
Michigan State 1-1
Ohio State 1-1
Michigan 1-1
WEST
Nebraska 2-0
Iowa 2-0
Minnesota 2-0
Illinois 2-0
Wisconsin 1-1
Purdue 1-1
Northwestern 0-2
The standings definitely don't reflect who's the better teams in each division, here are my rankings for each division.
EAST
1-Michigan State, still my favorite to win the division and quite possibly run the table and end up in the college football playoff.
2-Ohio State, a lot of talent, great DL, offense will get better. Not a playoff team.
3-Penn State, won a close one with UCF and Akron hung with them for awhile, but this a good football team.
4-Rutgers, they have been a nice surprise so far, I didn't know who Paul James was before this year, if he stays healthy they could be a bowl team.
5-Michigan, the Wolverine team that beat App State is good, they looked awful against Notre Dame.
6-Maryland, struggled to beat USF, but they got the win, a pretty decent team, great WRs in Diggs and Long.
7-Indiana, isn't even that bad of a team, will they make a bowl this year? All of the teams in this division are capable of a bowl game this year.
WEST
1-Wisconsin, lost a heartbreaker to LSU and struggled in the first half with Western Illinois, but they're the best in the division right now. If the QB play keeps improving they'll be the favorite.
2-Nebraska, Ameer Adbullah is a beast and the offense will be good as long as he's in the game. Close win against McNeese State is kind of scary for the Huskers.
3-Iowa, a couple ugly wins against teams they should have beat easily. No ground game to speak of, if they can establish the run and get the balance on offense that they're used to they could contend for the division crown.
4-Minnesota, they really need better play from Leidner if they want to make a bowl game, they're 2-0 now, but the schedule is going to get tricky, especially in November.
5-Illinois, 2-0 right now against some weaker opponents, Wes Lunt is a good QB though and will help them stay in some games, the defense won't. Illinois could make a bowl game.
6-Northwestern, 0-2 with a couple of tough losses to Cal, who I think is much improved, and Northern Illinois. This is going to be a tough season.
7-Purdue, they have a win under their belt, but they got pounded by Central Michigan and couldn't do anything right. Not a bowl team.
STANDINGS
EAST
Rutgers 2-0
Penn State 2-0
Maryland 2-0
Indiana 1-0
Michigan State 1-1
Ohio State 1-1
Michigan 1-1
WEST
Nebraska 2-0
Iowa 2-0
Minnesota 2-0
Illinois 2-0
Wisconsin 1-1
Purdue 1-1
Northwestern 0-2
The standings definitely don't reflect who's the better teams in each division, here are my rankings for each division.
EAST
1-Michigan State, still my favorite to win the division and quite possibly run the table and end up in the college football playoff.
2-Ohio State, a lot of talent, great DL, offense will get better. Not a playoff team.
3-Penn State, won a close one with UCF and Akron hung with them for awhile, but this a good football team.
4-Rutgers, they have been a nice surprise so far, I didn't know who Paul James was before this year, if he stays healthy they could be a bowl team.
5-Michigan, the Wolverine team that beat App State is good, they looked awful against Notre Dame.
6-Maryland, struggled to beat USF, but they got the win, a pretty decent team, great WRs in Diggs and Long.
7-Indiana, isn't even that bad of a team, will they make a bowl this year? All of the teams in this division are capable of a bowl game this year.
WEST
1-Wisconsin, lost a heartbreaker to LSU and struggled in the first half with Western Illinois, but they're the best in the division right now. If the QB play keeps improving they'll be the favorite.
2-Nebraska, Ameer Adbullah is a beast and the offense will be good as long as he's in the game. Close win against McNeese State is kind of scary for the Huskers.
3-Iowa, a couple ugly wins against teams they should have beat easily. No ground game to speak of, if they can establish the run and get the balance on offense that they're used to they could contend for the division crown.
4-Minnesota, they really need better play from Leidner if they want to make a bowl game, they're 2-0 now, but the schedule is going to get tricky, especially in November.
5-Illinois, 2-0 right now against some weaker opponents, Wes Lunt is a good QB though and will help them stay in some games, the defense won't. Illinois could make a bowl game.
6-Northwestern, 0-2 with a couple of tough losses to Cal, who I think is much improved, and Northern Illinois. This is going to be a tough season.
7-Purdue, they have a win under their belt, but they got pounded by Central Michigan and couldn't do anything right. Not a bowl team.
Top 25 and Predicitions for Week 3
The Big Ten did not look good on Saturday, watching Iowa and Ball State was painful until the final three minutes when Iowa squeaked out the win. Wisconsin looked bad in the first half, but looked great in the second against Western Illinois. Nebraska needed a huge play by Ameer Adbullah with 30 seconds left to beat McNeese State. Illinois struggled to beat Western Kentucky. Purdue lost to Central Michigan by quite a bit. Michigan State went to Oregon and looked good until late in the third quarter before losing. Ohio State lost their home opener to Virginia Tech. And, of course, Michigan, got shut out by Notre Dame 31-0. It was the first time Michigan had been shut out since 1984 against Iowa!
I watched the New Mexico-Arizona State game from home, I was going to go to the game, but figured it would be a blowout and would rather just watch from home. The Lobos brought in freshmen QB Lamar Jordan for his first action and he actually brought the Lobos back within one score in the first half, but in the second half ASU offense was really clicking and the Lobos lost by five touchdowns. They really need some work on their run defense, the top two rushers in the country have played against New Mexico. They're off this week before heading to New Mexico State for their in-state rivalry game with the undefeated Aggies. What!? Yeah, the Aggies are undefeated.
Here's a look at my top 25
1-Oklahoma 2-0 cruised past Tulsa
2-Oregon 2-0 looked sharp against one of the nation's top defenses
3-Georgia 1-0 had a bye week to gear up for the big one at South Carolina
4-Baylor 2-0 put up huge numbers without Bryce Petty
5-Alabama 2-0 had no problem with FAU, Amari Cooper had a huge game
6-Texas A&M 2-0 73 points in their win over Lamar, way better than I thought they'd be
7-Florida State 2-0 easy win against Citadel, but I still think they need some work
8-USC 2-0 huge win against Stanford, USC could be a real contender
9-Auburn 2-0 crushed San Jose State
10-LSU 2-0 easy win
11-Notre Dame 2-0 looked really good against Michigan, tough schedule this year, but they should be legit
12-Ole Miss 2-0 dominating win at Vanderbilt, looked a lot better than the Boise State game
13-Louisville 2-0 crushed Murray State
14-Michigan State 1-1 lost at Oregon, but they'll bounce back
15-Virginia Tech 2-0 huge win at Ohio State
16-Arizona State 2-0 had their way with New Mexico
17-TCU 1-0 I don't think they played last week
18-UCLA 2-0 looked sluggish again against Memphis at home
19-Stanford 1-1 tough loss against USC, and they have a tough schedule this year
20-Ohio State 1-1 needs to get it going on offense
21-South Carolina 1-1 they kind of struggled with East Carolina, they'll need to play flawless against Georgia to avoid their second loss of the young season
22-BYU 2-0 crushed Texas for the second straight season, Taysom Hill is a great QB
23-Clemson 1-1 easy win
24-Kansas State 2-0 had a nail-biter with Iowa State, but won 32-28. They started strong and took their foot off the gas pedal
25-Wisconsin 1-1 The QB play was much improved, but they struggled in the first half against FCS W. Illinois
Predictions
Last week was a rough one I was 3-4 and I'm 11-7 on the season, here are some top games this week.
E. Carolina at Virginia Tech: East Carolina is a pretty solid team and Va Tech is coming off a huge win.
Va Tech 34 E. Carolina 21
UCF at Missouri: UCF kicked off the season with a loss to Penn State and Missouri is off to a 2-0 start, should be a good game.
Missouri 31 UCF 24
Georgia at South Carolina: This is a must-win for South Carolina if they have any shot at an SEC title.
Georgia 42 South Carolina 27
Iowa State at Iowa: Iowa State has yet to allow a passing td and Iowa is yet to allow a rushing td. Iowa hasn't really established much of a ground game, but I think they'll try early in this one. If Brandon Scherff doesn't play, it's going to be a little more difficult, but Iowa State doesn't have a very experienced DL. I think Iowa creates the balance that they are used to and win this one.
Iowa 28 Iowa State 14
UTSA at Oklahoma State: UTSA looked pretty good against Arizona, but came up short, I think they'll have a decent year. Ok State played Florida State tough and won last week fairly easily.
Oklahoma State 35 UTSA 24
Tennessee at Oklahoma: Both are 2-0 and Tennessee looks much improved over last year, they have some talent, but Oklahoma has more.
Oklahoma 38 Tennessee 21
UCLA vs Texas: I really thought Texas would be a decent team this year and finish in the top half of the Big 12, which they might, but they aren't looking like it right now. UCLA looked like a top ten team before the season started, but after two unconvincing victories they aren't looking like a contender, but I think they'll beat Texas.
UCLA 34 Texas 17
Penn State at Rutgers: This is shaping up to be a big game, with a lot of news this week. Penn State is now eligible for a bowl game and Big Ten championship. Former Rutgers player, Ray Rice, was cut by the Ravens and suspended by the NFL after a tape came out of him punching his sweet lady in an elevator. This is also Rutgers' first conference game in the Big Ten. I have been going back and forth on this one all week. Two of the better offensive players in the conference go head-to-head, Christian Hackenberg and Paul James.
Penn State 31 Rutgers 28
Nevada at Arizona: I like Nevada this year, Cody Fajardo, is a solid QB. This should be a good one.
Arizona 28 Nevada 24
I watched the New Mexico-Arizona State game from home, I was going to go to the game, but figured it would be a blowout and would rather just watch from home. The Lobos brought in freshmen QB Lamar Jordan for his first action and he actually brought the Lobos back within one score in the first half, but in the second half ASU offense was really clicking and the Lobos lost by five touchdowns. They really need some work on their run defense, the top two rushers in the country have played against New Mexico. They're off this week before heading to New Mexico State for their in-state rivalry game with the undefeated Aggies. What!? Yeah, the Aggies are undefeated.
Here's a look at my top 25
1-Oklahoma 2-0 cruised past Tulsa
2-Oregon 2-0 looked sharp against one of the nation's top defenses
3-Georgia 1-0 had a bye week to gear up for the big one at South Carolina
4-Baylor 2-0 put up huge numbers without Bryce Petty
5-Alabama 2-0 had no problem with FAU, Amari Cooper had a huge game
6-Texas A&M 2-0 73 points in their win over Lamar, way better than I thought they'd be
7-Florida State 2-0 easy win against Citadel, but I still think they need some work
8-USC 2-0 huge win against Stanford, USC could be a real contender
9-Auburn 2-0 crushed San Jose State
10-LSU 2-0 easy win
11-Notre Dame 2-0 looked really good against Michigan, tough schedule this year, but they should be legit
12-Ole Miss 2-0 dominating win at Vanderbilt, looked a lot better than the Boise State game
13-Louisville 2-0 crushed Murray State
14-Michigan State 1-1 lost at Oregon, but they'll bounce back
15-Virginia Tech 2-0 huge win at Ohio State
16-Arizona State 2-0 had their way with New Mexico
17-TCU 1-0 I don't think they played last week
18-UCLA 2-0 looked sluggish again against Memphis at home
19-Stanford 1-1 tough loss against USC, and they have a tough schedule this year
20-Ohio State 1-1 needs to get it going on offense
21-South Carolina 1-1 they kind of struggled with East Carolina, they'll need to play flawless against Georgia to avoid their second loss of the young season
22-BYU 2-0 crushed Texas for the second straight season, Taysom Hill is a great QB
23-Clemson 1-1 easy win
24-Kansas State 2-0 had a nail-biter with Iowa State, but won 32-28. They started strong and took their foot off the gas pedal
25-Wisconsin 1-1 The QB play was much improved, but they struggled in the first half against FCS W. Illinois
Predictions
Last week was a rough one I was 3-4 and I'm 11-7 on the season, here are some top games this week.
E. Carolina at Virginia Tech: East Carolina is a pretty solid team and Va Tech is coming off a huge win.
Va Tech 34 E. Carolina 21
UCF at Missouri: UCF kicked off the season with a loss to Penn State and Missouri is off to a 2-0 start, should be a good game.
Missouri 31 UCF 24
Georgia at South Carolina: This is a must-win for South Carolina if they have any shot at an SEC title.
Georgia 42 South Carolina 27
Iowa State at Iowa: Iowa State has yet to allow a passing td and Iowa is yet to allow a rushing td. Iowa hasn't really established much of a ground game, but I think they'll try early in this one. If Brandon Scherff doesn't play, it's going to be a little more difficult, but Iowa State doesn't have a very experienced DL. I think Iowa creates the balance that they are used to and win this one.
Iowa 28 Iowa State 14
UTSA at Oklahoma State: UTSA looked pretty good against Arizona, but came up short, I think they'll have a decent year. Ok State played Florida State tough and won last week fairly easily.
Oklahoma State 35 UTSA 24
Tennessee at Oklahoma: Both are 2-0 and Tennessee looks much improved over last year, they have some talent, but Oklahoma has more.
Oklahoma 38 Tennessee 21
UCLA vs Texas: I really thought Texas would be a decent team this year and finish in the top half of the Big 12, which they might, but they aren't looking like it right now. UCLA looked like a top ten team before the season started, but after two unconvincing victories they aren't looking like a contender, but I think they'll beat Texas.
UCLA 34 Texas 17
Penn State at Rutgers: This is shaping up to be a big game, with a lot of news this week. Penn State is now eligible for a bowl game and Big Ten championship. Former Rutgers player, Ray Rice, was cut by the Ravens and suspended by the NFL after a tape came out of him punching his sweet lady in an elevator. This is also Rutgers' first conference game in the Big Ten. I have been going back and forth on this one all week. Two of the better offensive players in the conference go head-to-head, Christian Hackenberg and Paul James.
Penn State 31 Rutgers 28
Nevada at Arizona: I like Nevada this year, Cody Fajardo, is a solid QB. This should be a good one.
Arizona 28 Nevada 24
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Iowa 17 Ball State 13
This game was a mess offensively for the Hawkeyes, they only had three points up until the 2:58 mark in the game. Luckily, Jake Rudock led them to two touchdown drives in the final 2:58 to pull off the stunning comeback. The running game was pretty much non-existent as they were led in rushing by Rudock, last year they were led by WR Tevaun Smith. The defense was stout all day and much improved over last week, they didn't allow a touchdown all day. Ball State's only touchdown came on a fumble return touchdown. Jonathan Parker fumbled twice for the Hawkeyes, and there's a good chance we won't see him for awhile. The freshmen looks very quick, but needs to hold on to the ball. The running game really needs to emerge against Iowa State, I really don't like how they are rotating in backs. Like Joey Galloway said it's hard to get into any kind of rhythm getting a carry here and there. I know they're trying to keep them fresh and healthy for the season, but something needs to change. We did get to see a glimpse of C.J. Beathard on the second series, he hit some nice passes and threw a nice one in the end zone to Damond Powell, which was ruled an incompletion.
QB: QB play was pretty solid in this game, no mistakes, Rudock got sacked once, but it was the only time they were even close to getting to the QBs. Rudock threw some passes downfield but either overthrew or under threw. He was great in the final three minutes of the game, though, and looked very comfortable in the pocket. I would like to see Beathard a little more, he's got a cannon and needs some more experience.
RB: As much depth as we have here, they are really struggling to get anything going. I really like LeShun Daniels and Jordan Canzeri, and next year they should be a good 1-2 punch. Damon Bullock has been solid as a receiver out of the backfield, but doesn't add much to the running game. Mark Weisman has been pretty much a non factor. I think they'll change it up against Iowa State and start with Weisman and get him 7-10 carries in the first quarter.
FB: Not much to report, they do a good job, Macon Plewa had a catch again this week.
WR: This group is starting to come together, Kevonte Martin-Manley is solid and led the team with eight receptions for the second week in a row. Smith is a nice number two guy, and Powell is getting more action. Matt VandeBerg got more action at WR, but was overthrown a couple of times. Derrick Willies had a couple of catches, including a late touchdown.
TE: The TEs kind of had a rough day, Henry Krieger-Coble and Jake Duzey both had drops, George Kittle almost had a nice deep catch but Ball State was called for interference.
OL: Brandon Scherff went down with an injury in the second quarter trying to make a tackle, luckily it didn't seem too serious and he came back before halftime. Ike Boettger looked pretty good in his place, looks like he might have held a couple of times, but didn't get called, but overall I thought he did pretty well. The OL was great in pass protection again this week, but struggled against the run once again. Ball State was stacking the box much like Northern Iowa did last week.
DL: I love this defensive line! Carl Davis and Lou Trinca-Pasat are beasts in the middle, and Drew Ott has really emerged as a strong defensive end, he had 13 tackles, including a sack of Ozzie Mann with about 30 seconds left and also caused a fumble sealing the win. The depth at DE isn't the greatest, but at DT it looks good. Faith Ekakitie got in some plays while Davis was injured, nothing serious. Next week they'll be tested against Iowa State's Sam Richardson, who can run a little bit.
LB: The LBs were much better than last week. Ball State has a couple of good running backs, but the linebackers kept them in check in the pass game for the most part. Quinton Alston and Reggie Spearman looked solid.
DB: Desmond King is a stud at CB, but other than that the secondary needs some more work. John Lowdermilk looks out of place at times and has whiffed on some tackles. Jordan Lomax has looked ok, and will be good. Greg Mabin didn't have an awful day and is still young, could be a solid player by the end of the year.
K: I said a lot of swear words at the kickers yesterday, they missed three pretty easy field goals, resulting in a loss of nine points. Iowa dominated this game in yardage, but not in points. Marshall Koehn missed two field goals, so they tried true freshmen, Mick Ellis, and he had a similar result. Koehn did make one field goal early.
P: I thought Dillon Kidd did a better job this week, his numbers aren't amazing, but he pinned a couple inside the 20.
ST: Parker had a big fumble on a kick return and there wasn't much opportunity to return any punts. The coverage was solid in the kick and punt games.
Iowa State surprised me yesterday, after getting down 13-0 against Kansas State they stormed back and had the lead for a majority of the second half. K State got a late score and ISU couldn't pull it off, but they looked way better than they did against North Dakota State and Iowa should have their hands full next week when the Cyclones come to town.
I also watched the New Mexico-Arizona State game. ASU was up 22-0 before the Lobos started a comeback of their own behind freshmen QB Lamar Jordan. They were down 29-21 at one point, but ASU dominated the second half. The Lobos run defense is awful this year. Last week UTEP's running back had a career high over 200 yards rushing and yesterday D.J. Foster had his career high as well going over 200.
QB: QB play was pretty solid in this game, no mistakes, Rudock got sacked once, but it was the only time they were even close to getting to the QBs. Rudock threw some passes downfield but either overthrew or under threw. He was great in the final three minutes of the game, though, and looked very comfortable in the pocket. I would like to see Beathard a little more, he's got a cannon and needs some more experience.
RB: As much depth as we have here, they are really struggling to get anything going. I really like LeShun Daniels and Jordan Canzeri, and next year they should be a good 1-2 punch. Damon Bullock has been solid as a receiver out of the backfield, but doesn't add much to the running game. Mark Weisman has been pretty much a non factor. I think they'll change it up against Iowa State and start with Weisman and get him 7-10 carries in the first quarter.
FB: Not much to report, they do a good job, Macon Plewa had a catch again this week.
WR: This group is starting to come together, Kevonte Martin-Manley is solid and led the team with eight receptions for the second week in a row. Smith is a nice number two guy, and Powell is getting more action. Matt VandeBerg got more action at WR, but was overthrown a couple of times. Derrick Willies had a couple of catches, including a late touchdown.
TE: The TEs kind of had a rough day, Henry Krieger-Coble and Jake Duzey both had drops, George Kittle almost had a nice deep catch but Ball State was called for interference.
OL: Brandon Scherff went down with an injury in the second quarter trying to make a tackle, luckily it didn't seem too serious and he came back before halftime. Ike Boettger looked pretty good in his place, looks like he might have held a couple of times, but didn't get called, but overall I thought he did pretty well. The OL was great in pass protection again this week, but struggled against the run once again. Ball State was stacking the box much like Northern Iowa did last week.
DL: I love this defensive line! Carl Davis and Lou Trinca-Pasat are beasts in the middle, and Drew Ott has really emerged as a strong defensive end, he had 13 tackles, including a sack of Ozzie Mann with about 30 seconds left and also caused a fumble sealing the win. The depth at DE isn't the greatest, but at DT it looks good. Faith Ekakitie got in some plays while Davis was injured, nothing serious. Next week they'll be tested against Iowa State's Sam Richardson, who can run a little bit.
LB: The LBs were much better than last week. Ball State has a couple of good running backs, but the linebackers kept them in check in the pass game for the most part. Quinton Alston and Reggie Spearman looked solid.
DB: Desmond King is a stud at CB, but other than that the secondary needs some more work. John Lowdermilk looks out of place at times and has whiffed on some tackles. Jordan Lomax has looked ok, and will be good. Greg Mabin didn't have an awful day and is still young, could be a solid player by the end of the year.
K: I said a lot of swear words at the kickers yesterday, they missed three pretty easy field goals, resulting in a loss of nine points. Iowa dominated this game in yardage, but not in points. Marshall Koehn missed two field goals, so they tried true freshmen, Mick Ellis, and he had a similar result. Koehn did make one field goal early.
P: I thought Dillon Kidd did a better job this week, his numbers aren't amazing, but he pinned a couple inside the 20.
ST: Parker had a big fumble on a kick return and there wasn't much opportunity to return any punts. The coverage was solid in the kick and punt games.
Iowa State surprised me yesterday, after getting down 13-0 against Kansas State they stormed back and had the lead for a majority of the second half. K State got a late score and ISU couldn't pull it off, but they looked way better than they did against North Dakota State and Iowa should have their hands full next week when the Cyclones come to town.
I also watched the New Mexico-Arizona State game. ASU was up 22-0 before the Lobos started a comeback of their own behind freshmen QB Lamar Jordan. They were down 29-21 at one point, but ASU dominated the second half. The Lobos run defense is awful this year. Last week UTEP's running back had a career high over 200 yards rushing and yesterday D.J. Foster had his career high as well going over 200.
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