The state of Mississippi has had a great two weeks after both the Bulldogs and Rebels pulled off huge wins. The SEC West is a monster division and the last half of the season will be fun to watch to see who comes out on top. Three top 10 teams (Auburn, TCU, Arizona) lost this week and this season is reminding me more and more like 2007. And we all remember how that turned out.

Big Games Last Week

Oklahoma 31 Texas 26

The Sooners were able to bounce back last week as they took down the Longhorns by 5 in Dallas. This has been a bad first year for Charlie Strong as Texas sits at 2-4. The biggest take away from this game was how Oklahoma’s defense struggled against a bad Texas offense. A date with Baylor on November 8 (a big day for us Buckeye fans) looms.

Mississippi State 38 Auburn 23

I’ll be honest; I completely underestimated Miss State and didn’t give them much of a chance in this one. But they proved me wrong. Dak Prescott is becoming a legitimate Heisman contender and the Bulldogs should be able to coast until mid-November where they’ll play Alabama and Ole Miss in two of their last three games. Auburn’s schedule is even more difficult with games against Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Georgia, and Alabama left. They will lose at least one of those.

Baylor 61 Texas Christian 58

Have either of these two teams ever heard of defense? I think not. Bryce Petty and Baylor have possibly the most explosive offense in the country but with a defense giving up 58 points, it’s hard to believe they won’t slip up eventually especially since they have the meat of their schedule still to come. It was certainly a tough loss to take for TCU as they had a 3 touchdown lead with 9 minutes to go. They may lose another before the season is over.

Oregon 42 UCLA 30

Don’t count out the Ducks. Despite a loss to Arizona, Oregon is still in the thick of things in the playoff race. Marcus Mariota is still the key to their success and I think he takes over as a leader into the last half of the season. They really don’t play too tough of a schedule the rest of the year so I see them ending up at 11-1 before heading into the Pac 12 Championship.

Big Games This Week

Rutgers at Ohio State

The Buckeyes start the last stretch of the season with the other Big Ten newcomer, Scarlet Knights. J.T. Barrett and the rest of the offense has been on a roll and I’m hoping this bye week hasn’t affected their rhythm. They just need to stay healthy, play one game at a time, and things will fall in place for them. I truly believe if we are sitting here in early December at 12-1 and Big Ten Champs, we’ll be in the playoffs.

Saturday, October 18 at 3:30pm on ABC or ESPN 2

Texas A&M at Alabama

This game has been a classic the past two years, but we can all thank Johnny Football for that. Now that he is gone, the Aggies will have to pull something else out of their pocket to get a huge W in Tuscaloosa. Both of these teams have been exposed in recent weeks and that will pose a problem going forward. I have the Tide by 10 in this one.

Saturday, October 18 at 3:30 pm on CBS

Kansas State at Oklahoma

In a game that could end up being a trap for Oklahoma, the Sooners will look to get a win over a ranked team which would help in their playoff chances. K-State came close to beating Auburn back in September and if that same team shows up, this game will be go down to the wire. But since it’s in Norman, I’m going with OU.

Saturday, October 18 at 12:00pm on ESPN

Notre Dame at Florida State

I’ve been waiting all year to see this one. Brian Kelly and the Irish will roll into Tally on Saturday night against a Seminole team once again reeling from negative Jameis Winston news. It’s an embarrassment to the sport that he’s still suiting up but I won’t even get started on that one. Everett Golson will come alive before our eyes and the Irish D will shut down the FSU offense. I’m going with the upset, Notre Dame by 6.

Saturday, October 18 at 8:00pm on ABC

Michigan Update

Hey they one won! Michigan was able to hold off Penn State by 3 on Saturday Night and improve to 3 wins on the season (yippee). They play the Spartans after their bye week and will most likely be absolutely obliterated. November 29 should be fun.

My Playoff if the Season Ended Today

1. Florida State (beat Syracuse 38-20, plays Notre Dame this week) The Seminoles even looked lackluster against the Orangemen. They’re number one right now, but that will be different next week.

2. Mississippi State (beat Auburn 38-23, plays Kentucky next week) I strongly considered putting the Bulldogs at number one this week but decided to stick with FSU. They destroyed Auburn and have themselves set up for an SEC title run.

3. Notre Dame (beat North Carolina 50-43, plays Florida State this week) The Irish keep on moving up in my rankings (even though most people think I’m crazy) and I don’t think they stop at 3. Their game with Florida State will prove that.

4. Baylor (beat TCU 61-58, plays West Virginia this week) Baylor’s defense is horrible and they will pay for that the hard way eventually. Even WVU poses a real threat to them this week. But for now, they remain in my top 4.

Just Missed the Cut

5. Michigan State
6. Ole Miss
7. Oregon
8. Oklahoma
9. Auburn
10. Alabama
11. Ohio State

No nonconference games this week meant only conference matchups for the Big Ten for the first time this season. The only ranked Big Ten team to play was Michigan State and they won in West Lafayette over Purdue. Iowa and Minnesota also won to move to 2-0 in conference play. That Team Up North and Wisconsin both pulled out their first conference wins of the season this weekend.

Wisconsin 38, Illinois 28

Once again for the Badgers, it was the Melvin Gordon Show that carried Wisconsin to their first Big Ten victory of the season. Gordon led the game with 175 yards on the ground and added four touchdowns to his impressive resume. In just the sixth game of the season, Gordon went over the 1,000 yard mark.

Corey Clement had 164 yards rushing for Wisconsin as the team ran for over 400 yards on the day. Both teams are idle this week as Illinois has the week off to prepare for a trip to Minnesota and Wisconsin will welcome Maryland into Camp Randall in two weeks.

Iowa 45, Indiana 29

Indiana’s once-promising season is slipping through their fingers, as they lost to fall to 0-2 in conference play. To add injury to insult, starting quarterback Nate Sudfeld was lost for the season in the game. Tevin Coleman was impressive yet again for the Hoosiers, rushing for 219 yards and three TDs on just 15 carries.

Jake Rudock led the Hawkeyes in this one, throwing for 210 yards and two touchdowns. Marc Weisman added two touchdowns rushing to go along with 89 yards. Ohio State may score 80 points against Indiana if Urban Meyer really wants to. Iowa takes a visit to Maryland on Saturday while Indiana will play host to Michigan State.

Minnesota 24, Northwestern 17

Mitch Leidner had a pair of rushing touchdowns and Jalen Myrick returned a kickoff 100 yards for a score to lead the Golden Gophers to victory. Myrick’s return came with seven minutes left in the game and right after Trevor Siemian had just scored a game-tying touchdown.

In addition to the rushing touchdown, Siemian also threw for 269 yards and a touchdown on 32-50 passing. Justin Jackson had 106 yards on the ground for the Wildcats while David Cobb led the Gophers with 97 rushing. Minnesota looks to affirm its place at the top of the B1G West next week when Purdue comes to town and Northwestern will play Nebraska at home.

Michigan State 45, Purdue 31

Michigan State got a much bigger scare than anyone really thought possible when they took on Purdue in West Lafayette. The fact that the Spartans gave up 31 points, and relied on a Darien Harris interception return for a touchdown with a minute to go to seal the victory was shocking. Akeem Hunt led the way for the Boilermakers with 96 yards rushing and three scores.

Connor Cook threw for three TDs and 238 yards on just 19-37 passing for the Spartans. Jeremy Langford ran for 104 yards with Nick Hill adding 72 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Michigan State goes to Indiana on Saturday and Purdue takes a trip to Minnesota.

Michigan 18, Penn State 13

The offensive struggles continued for both teams as the Wolverines and Nittany Lions combined for just 470 yards of offense. Christian Hackenberg threw for 160 yards and a touchdown in the loss. Bill Belton added 69 yards rushing for Penn State, who led 13-10 at halftime before being shut out in the second half.

Devin Gardner passed for 196 yards and threw a 43-yard touchdown to Devin Funchess for the Wolverines’ lone touchdown. The running game struggles mightily for the Wolverines, with De’Veon Smith leading the team with 24 yards on 12 carries. Justice Hayes wasn’t far behind with 20 yards on seven carries. The Wolverines have a bye week to prepare for a trip to Michigan State and Penn State is also off as they will prepare for Ohio State’s visit.

What did you think of the first week of only Big Ten games in the conference? Is Michigan State starting to show some signs of vulnerability with just a month to go before their matchup with the Buckeyes? Let us know what you’ll be looking for in the upcoming slate of games.

Week 7 has come and gone and of course that doesn’t mean that there wasn’t any movement in this weeks Power Poll. Enough with the byes already…

1. Michigan State (5-1,2-0) Sparty needed an interception late to put Purdue’s threat away. The Spartans are showing a flip flop from last season, strong offense weaker defense. Hopefully #1 and #2 in our Power Poll stay unbeaten until the Nov.8th night time game in East Lansing.
Last Week #1
Next Game: @Indiana

2. Ohio State (4-1,1-0) Being on a bye week didn’t hurt the Buckeyes thankfully. Big game coming up this weekend at The Shoe welcoming the Scarlet Knights to Cbus.
Last Week #2
Next Game: Rutgers

3. Nebraska (5-1,1-1) The Cornhuskers been licking their wounds since they lost to Sparty and get an extra week to try to fix whats wrong before facing the Wildcats this weekend.
Last Week #3
Next Game: @Northwestern

4. Iowa (5-1,2-0) The Hawkeyes demolished Indiana and looked like a real football team for like the first or second game of their season so far, maybe Iowa might be turning it around and not playing down to their competition anymore.
Last Week #5
Next Game: @Maryland

5. Minnesota (5-1,2-0) The Gophers looking like they are a couple of players away from becoming a possible elite B1G team. Don’t sleep on these guys even if their two conference wins have come against Michigan and Northwestern
Last Week #7
Next Game: Purdue

6. Rutgers (5-1,1-1) The Scarlet Knights are going to be playing in one of their biggest conference games to date. Yes Penn State is suppose to be a rival but honestly it takes some time to build up a rivalry and beating Michigan at home was a nice touch but the maize and blue aren’t the same team that they are suppose to be. Rutgers has a decent team they are physical and demand respect in their first year in the B1G.
Last Week #6
Next Game: @Ohio State

7. Northwestern (3-3,2-1) The youth movement got the Wildcats off to a fast start in conference play but they weren’t able to hold on for a win against the Gophers Saturday.
Last Week #4
Next Game: Nebraska

8. Wisconsin (4-2,1-1) The Badgers have a great running game behind Gordon and company but the question is who is the QB? There is serious problems under center that need to get fixed and this is the perfect time for the Badgers to get that done with their bye week.
Last Week #8
Next Game: Bye

9. Maryland (4-2,1-1) The Terps are licking their wounds from their loss to the Buckeyes and now they are prepping for a Hawkeye team that might be finding their groove.
Last Week #9
Next Game: Iowa

10. Purdue (3-4,1-2) The Boilermakers are really improving and I know I’m not the only the one who has been saying that. Hazell is starting to get this program turned around in a short period of time and with some good recruits next couple of years you are going to hear some noise coming out of West Lafayette.
Last Week #11
Next Game: @Minnesota

11. Penn State (4-2,1-2) The Nittany Lions must have come close to setting a record for three and outs against Michigan Saturday. Their offensive line is horrific and Hackenberg is running for his life making mistakes.
Last Week #10
Next Game: Bye

12: Michigan (3-4,1-2) While part of me believes that Michigan should still probably be ranked 14th and others believe that they should be ranked above Penn State we should all agree that the season just needs to be over soon for the Wolverines. Hopefully cHoke and company will be relived of their duties and someone that is capable to make UM proud again will
Last Week #14
Next Game: Bye

13. Indiana (3-3.0-3) Its been all down hill since they beat Missouri.
Last Week #12
Next Game: Michigan State

14. Illinois (3-4,0-3) This won’t come as a surprise but the Illini will be looking for a new coach to lead them next season
Last Week #13
Next Game: Bye

Like always cant wait to hear your feedback.

Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier! It was arguably the craziest weekend in college football history as a number of top ranked teams went down. To quote Ian Malcolm from Jurassic Park, “You see a Tyrannosaur doesn’t follow a set pattern or park schedules, the essence of chaos.” Malcolm’s Chaos Theory would be the best way to describe the weekend that was. So how does all of this shape the playoff picture into the second weekend of October? The teams that lost (especially Alabama, Oregon, and Oklahoma) still have a chance to sneak back into the discussion. I have a feeling one of them will. So let’s get our hands dirty to recap last week and preview this week, but remember to wash your hands before you eat anything!

Notable Games Last Week

Ohio State 52 Maryland 24

The Buckeyes played well in every facet of the game as they dispatched Maryland in their Big Ten home opener. Welcome to the conference, Turtles. J.T. Barrett had another 5 touchdown game and it is exciting to see this offense start to come together. The secondary also saw some improvements while limiting the number of big plays Maryland could gain, especially with Stefon Diggs. Ohio State will be idle this week for the last time until after the Big Ten Championship Game. This stretch will determine our fate.

Ole Miss 23 Alabama 17

Suck it Saban. The Rebels, or as I wish to call them, the Admiral Ackbar’s were able to get the upset over the Crimson Tide. Alabama has been flirting with an upset all season and not it has finally happened. Now Ole Miss controls its own destiny in the SEC West race but I don’t think they win out. Alabama will end up sneaking back into the discussion (both the AP and Coaches Polls dropped them to 7) and the Iron Bowl will once again decide the SEC.

Notre Dame 17 Stanford 14

Here come the Irish! Notre Dame was able to hang on to the W over Stanford and have set themselves up to be in the heat of the Playoff Discussion. This win puts them into the top 5 and sets up a mega showdown with Florida State in two weeks. Gholston and the offense is starting to come together at the right time. They play North Carolina this week so we’ll see if there is a letdown before heading to Tallahassee.

Michigan State 27 Nebraska 22

The Huskers were almost able to cap off a crazy Saturday by coming back with the upset win but Sparty was able to hold on. Michigan State has struggled with closing out a game (see Oregon game) and this one wasn’t any different. Nebraska still looks like the team to beat in the West after Wisconsin lost to Northwestern so I think we’ll see them in the Big Ten Title Game. Michigan State’s next big test is against the Buckeyes on November 8. I couldn’t be more amped for that one. Payback’s a bitch.

Big Games This Week

Texas vs Oklahoma

Who doesn’t love the Red River Rivalry at the State Fair in Texas? This has always been one of my favorite rivalry games outside of the Big Ten. The Sooners will try to bounce back after their loss to TCU against a struggling Longhorn team. We’ll see how Charlie Strong handles the big stage against their biggest rivals. Oklahoma should win big and it is certainly possible for them to get back into the playoff picture. Still a lot of football to be played.

Saturday, October 11 at 12:00pm on ABC

Auburn at Mississippi State

2 weeks ago this was just another game but now that Miss. State has vaulted from unranked to 3 (I still laugh at that fact) it is much more important. Nick Marshall and the Tigers got an easy victory over a struggling LSU squad and it’s safe to say that the Bulldogs (is that what they’re called?) pose a much tougher threat. But I have Auburn by a couple touchdowns.

Saturday, October 11 at 3:30pm on CBS

Texas Christian at Baylor

In now a wide open Big 12, this game between the Horned Frogs and Bears is now holding a lot more weight. Expect a great environment in Waco as there fans are starting to see that a Playoff berth is very possible after Upset Saturday. TCU is on cloud nine after knocking off Oklahoma but this could turn out to be an even tougher test. Bryce Petty and Baylor will be too much for TCU and they’ll win by 10.

Saturday, October 11 at 3:30pm on ABC or ESPN 2

Oregon at UCLA

Both teams are coming off devastating losses that severely hurt their playoff chances. But if either one is able to win out, I believe that could be enough to find themselves in the final four. If Marcus Mariota is the leader I think he is, he’ll rally this Duck team to make a final push. Bret Hundley on the other hand does not have that competitive quality in my opinion. That’s the difference in this one. Oregon gets back on track with the W.

Saturday, October 11 at 3:30pm on FOX

Ohio State (Idle)

I hate bye weeks so much. But this will provide an opportunity to regroup one last time before getting into the meat of our schedule. Our next 4 games feature Rutgers (on the rise), Penn State (in Happy Valley at night- white out), Illinois (ok, they suck), and Michigan State (let’s be 10,000 Persians for a day). I cannot begin to express how bad I want to beat Sparty. And I’m thrilled we have the opportunity to embarrass them in their stadium, in front of their fans, in primetime. Be afraid East Lansing, be very afraid.

Michigan Update

This seems to just get worse and worse every week. Michigan lost to Rutgers in East Rutherford and there seems to be no end in sight. There is some talk that many of the students will be boycotting the game against Penn State which will be broadcast at 7pm on ESPN 2. So we’ll see how that goes. But there really isn’t much else to say for this team. They better start praying they can get either a Harbaugh or Les Miles.

My Playoff if the Season Ended Today

1. Florida State (beat Wake Forest 43-3, plays at Syracuse this week) Well, the Seminoles are back into my number 1 spot after every other team in front of them went down. I still have a feeling they lose before the ACC championship but just not sure when.

2. Auburn (beat LSU 41-7, plays Mississippi State this week) The Tigers are a great football team. And if it wasn’t for a lackluster performance against Kansas State (they should have lost) they would be my number one. Once again, I see the Iron Bowl deciding the fate of the SEC.

3. Baylor (beat Texas 28-7, plays TCU this week) The Bears roll into this one with a lot of confidence. But they haven’t been in this sort of position in a long time. I’m not sure they can handle it. A date with Oklahoma on November 7 will decide a lot. TCU could sneak up on them though.

4. Notre Dame (beat Stanford 17-14, plays North Carolina this week) Yes, I have the Irish in my Playoff. Brian Kelly has this team rolling while finding ways to win in crunch time. That’s a recipe for a dangerous team. There game at Florida State in 2 weeks will be ginormous, as long as they don’t overlook the Tar Heels in South Bend.

Just Missed the Cut

5. Michigan State
6. Ole Miss
7. Mississippi State
8. Oregon
9. Oklahoma
10. Alabama
13. Ohio State