Not as many big games as last week. Iowa State at Texas...Horns are 12 point favorites, Tyrone Swoopes is improving as a QB, funny thing is that so many saw him as the 2nd coming of Vince Young but he's really not that great a runner. But his passing has been improving. Horns desperately need this win. I think we get it. Iowa State isn't very good and our defense is very good. Baylor at WVa...Bears should cruise but this is a road game and Morgantown is not a friendly place to play. WVa gave Alabama a good fight, and they beat Maryland, KU, and Texas Tech so they aren't a push over. Still I think Baylor wins. Kansas State at Oklahoma...an elimination game for the B12 title for OU, KState is unbeaten (1-0) in B12 play, but OU with 1 loss already can't afford another one. Don't know who to pick here, KState played very well vs Auburn and if not for self inflicted wounds they would be undefeated. OU hasn't really looked all that great to me the last 2 weeks. Texas A&M at Alabama... Texas A&M has no defense, and Alabama is struggling on offense. ...could this be a low scoring game? Michigan State at Indiana...IU lost their QB I think, hope Dantonio has mercy. Rutgers at Ohio State...Welcome to the real big time RU, Ohio State cruises UCLA at CAL ...both coming off losses, CAL had been scoring quite a bit till they faced UW, UCLA stung by Oregon last week and the Utes the week before. UCLA absolutely has to win this game. Georgia at Arkansas...Dawgs still in the hunt, Pigs still seeking a SEC Win. OkState at TCU...State undefeated in B12, TCU 1 loss team. Gary Patterson's TCU squads have been known for defense, but Ok STate while maybe not as potent as Baylor is a team that can score. Maybe another shoot out. Tenn at Ole Miss...Ole Miss rolls. Missouri at Fla...don't know what happens here. Neb at Northwestern...must win for Huskers. Wash at Oregon...both have 1 loss, neither can afford another. Ducks seem to have found their webfeet though. Stanford at Arz State...2 1 loss teams (in Pac12 play)...neither can afford another loss. Notre Dame at Fla. State. The Winston Bowl. Irish will have to be perfect to win this game. It's possible, but clearly FSU has the edge, they are at home, they have a 22 game wining streak, for all his idiotic behavior Jameis Winston is a great college QB. Hard to see the Irish coming out on top and are nearly 2 TD underdogs. I would consider a close loss almost like a win and a win would be overwhelming joy!
Ohio State takes Rutgers lightly at their own peril. RU may be starstruck but they have talent. This version of FSU is not the 1993 version. They do not have the overwhelming pass rush and their coverage is average. If we can get pressure on Winston and contain the edges we win this game outright.
I am not sure our bye week is to our advantage here. Here's hoping we do not get off to a slow start. Rutgers is probably better than most of us anticipated.
With all due respect to RU, I thought maybe Maryland would give Ohio State a good game since they were at home and had played pretty well to that point. But the Buckeyes squashed them. I think Ohio State has finally found their legs and will lay 50+ on RU. Now I cerainly understand Don's caution, all you have to do is look no further than last weeks UNC/ND game to see a game that the highly favored team had to fight for their life. It happens all the time. But baring Ohio State coming out flat, I think they will hammer RU big time. They know that they have to run the table to get to the playoffs and that because of the way everybody is talking about their schedule being a negative in getting into the Final Four that Urban is going to do everything he can to not only win all the games but put some big point totals up on the board. It's the only thing he can do.
A little edge around Saban at his press conference, he was really pissed that people were critical of the team for only beating Ark by 1 point. That and he had to find out one of his players was a Marijuana Dealer. I don't think that bodes well for A&M coming into Alabama...the Tide will be ready and mad.
Saban needs to realize that if he accepts the accolades of the fans when Alabama wins convincingly, he should accept the questions when Alabama wins by backing into it. I think he seized an opportunity to make a big splash and try to motivate the team by pointing out a "perceived" attack by the fans. He'll get over it. :?
Well scratch the starting QB for TCU, he's having wrist surgery. Ok State clear favorite now, unless A&M transfer Matt Joekel is really ready to play.
Iowa State at Texas...Texas wins handily. Baylor at WVa...Baylor even easier Kansas State at Oklahoma...Oklahoma but not easy Texas A&M at Alabama... Texas A&M has no defense, and Alabama is struggling on offense. ...could this be a low scoring game? I sure couldn't see Alabama with no offense when they piled on the Gators. I think they can still be dangerous. Alabama Michigan State at Indiana...MSU easily. Rutgers at Ohio State...Welcome to the real big time RU, Ohio State cruises. I agree. UCLA at CAL ...UCLA Georgia at Arkansas...I think the Dawgs win but I am pulling for Arky. OkState at TCU...OK State Tenn at Ole Miss...Ole Miss but not so sure they roll. However the West is far better than the East this year. Missouri at Fla...Gators, the QB duty is going to be split. I think Gator fans get behind this team Sat. We will be there. Neb at Northwestern...Huskers easily. Wash at Oregon... Oregon Stanford at Arz State...Stanford Notre Dame at Fla. State. I think that FSU wins unless Jameis is sit down. However I will be pulling for the Irish big time.
Bill, To say Alabama is struggling on offense is really being nice. Alabama sucked against Ole Miss and Arkansas. I really meant that they S U C K E D! :x
KP... You may be in competition with Scott for the cellar dweller position in the contest, but for the sucking offense award, Tennessee takes the prize! :?
You two are amatuers at bad offense! Have you not seen my Whiz-Kid offensive coordinator the last two weeks? Teams with good talent on defense have decoded the short passing game, and my OC is clueless what to do - so he keeps doing the same stuff that isn't working. We may not score on the Tide if he doesn't realize the ball can travel more than 5 yards down field on first or second down. Right now... we are an east-west chuck and duck. 3 plays and a punt offense. :x
Your former OCoord, Coach GQ out at Tech is having a few problems as well this year. Not sure he's going to the East West/Chuck and Duck Offense...but it's not going as well this season as he hoped. Hot coaches.... Is there anybody hotter right now than Dan Mullen and to a lesser extent Hugh Freeze? Only reason I say to a lesser extent, is that I think there is some feeling out there that Freeze might not be on the up and up with recruiting. He's complained that people think he's cheating and of course denied it. But he certainly is doing a good Ron Zook imitation at Ole Miss. If you remember Zook was a great recruiter at UF, but then since Spurrier put the program on the map all UF coaches have recruited extremely well. Now when Zook moved to Illinois and started to recruit extremely well, there were some who thought he was doing some funky stuff otherwise how would Illinois suddenly be a great place for highly rated recruits? Anyway, those 2 guys are hot coaches at programs that have floundered for the most part of the last 30 years or longer. I know Ole Miss has had some good teams and Miss State had some good squads with Jackie Sherril, but in general they have been towards the bottom of the SEC West. So can those schools keep Mullen and Freeze? Certainly their names will come up in the future esp if UF and Michigan decide to change coaches this year. Mullen has the added feature that he's associated with Urban Meyer, that will make him more attractive and that he's been at UF when they were really rolling.
Terry, I'd say GQ's problems are talent related. Spavital's problems are in between his ears probably due to lack of experience. I sure hope Kevin starts giving him hints. It will be interesting to see what happens with Mullen. He's got one of those once in a decade teams that not only has talent, but is also full of upperclassmen. Put those together, and you can do some serious damage. I'm sure he'll say he wants to continue with what he's built, but it will get very interesting if the folks from Gainesville show up with a 5-6 million dollar a year offer. Freeze - I think he is dirty. Nothing concrete, just seems odd that he'd move from Ark St to Ole Miss and suddenly start pulling top 5 classes out of thin air.
Scott, I don't know about all of that but the stock on both Freeze and Mullen are certainly rising like crazy. I think it will only be a 2 year run but it will probably be enough to get them both either a big raise or a higher paying HC job.
Mullen has a lot of 2 and 3 star guys that they 'grow' into spots. It's a very ingenious approach to recruiting. It's not that he's admitting defeat, he's redefining success. I've seen with the kids in this area, and especially some of the younger guys, Miss State wants those big bodies with good feet that other people seem to be looking past. He's not even getting into the cut throat chase like Ole Miss is trying to compete with the Alabama's and Florida's of the world. Freeze is a Mississippi guy and there's just something that's off there. Still, he's the kind of guy that may just stay at Ole Miss as long as they'll have him. I think Miss State will do all they can to keep Mullen, but that may lead them to a major commitment to immediate facility upgrades and big time money.
Phil Steele's picks. FSU over ND...but they don't cover the spread Alabama over A&M and they beat the spread OU over KState and they beat the spread TCU over Ok State and they beat the spread Stanford over Arz State and they beat the spread Ohio State over Rutgers and they beat the spread Nebraska over Northwestern but the Huskers don't cover the spread
Bill, I know it. I was pleased after the Florida game. I thought our defense was not as good as past years but our offense was better. That has changed over the last to weeks.