When Nebraska first joined the Big Ten, my brother said right away that we should go to the first Wisconsin-Nebraska game in Lincoln. I said it would be a fun trip. Well, the game is upon us, and he is ditching me to go to Germany. So I was all set to go watch the game in a Husker alumni bar in New York. But at 10:15 Monday night, I get a text from my father: "Can you get tickets the Nebraska game?" Long story short, my parents and I are going to Husker Homecoming. Yes - we waited until my brother leaves the country to go watch a Wisconsin game.
The Gators and Scarlet Knights are off this week, so they'll remain undefeated. I wanted more from Florida's offense against Kentucky, but I guess Kentucky's lack of a QB didn't lead to much motivation for the Gators to hike up the score. Rutgers is finally ranked now after beating a down Arknasas team. LSU looked awfully beatable against Auburn. What's up with the SEC West? Hopefully LSU will look that way next weekend! But I'll hold off on next week's picks for now. Sidenote: Thank you Washington for proving Stanford was overrated.
A few quick picks for this weekend:
Not many exciting games. West Virginia will beat Baylor by a significant margin. I think Michigan State beats Ohio State. I'm cheering for USF over FSU, but I know better... If I had to pick an upset this week it would be Texas falling at Oklahoma State. Alabama and Oregon will blow out Ole Miss and Washington State respectively.
And most importantly this weekend: NEBRASKA WILL BEAT WISCONSIN.
No Wilson, no offense. So much for Arkansas! And Auburn? How come they never play Florida when they have down years? No disrespect to Louisiana Monroe, but I'd be more impressed if they beat any 2 other teams in the SEC West.
Biggest disappointment of the weekend: Cal. The Golden Bears COMPLETELY outplayed Ohio State, but missing 3 field goals led to a 7-point loss. Thanks Cal...now I'll have to continue hearing about how fantastic the Buckeyes are even though you just proved they're completely overrated as usual.
THANK YOU CARDINAL. Stanford beating Lane Kiffin was fantastic. Anyone who watched ESPN College GameDay saw all Florida and Tennessee fans join together to boo Kiffin when they spoke about him. It was a beautiful thing. I'm sure they'll continue to be overrated and this will just move Stanford way up for the time being (sorry, Stanford...after the SJSU close call I just don't think you're the same team as you were with Luck.)
The Big Ten continues to look terrible. Yeah, Michigan State really looked like a top ten team out there. Crushed by Notre Dame at home? I know Lou Holtz was happy. Great offense, Sparty! Even John Brantley could have scored more than 3 points against the Irish with home advantage. Wisconsin beat Utah State by 2. Minnesota beat W Michigan by 5. Indiana lost to Ball State (they were decent a few years ago, but this is a different team). Predictions: Wisconsin stays ranked and doesn't drop - might even move up, Michigan State stays ranked ahead of Florida, Ohio State jumps into the top ten.
Ole Miss was disappointing. I'm still not sold on Texas and I don't think they'll win the Big 12. Nebraska's defense needs work, but the Huskers still have a definite shot at the Big Ten title given how awful that conference is. Rutgers made me very happy against USF. The Rutgers-Louisville game at the end of the season is looking interesting...Can the Scarlet Knights creep into the top 25 this week??
The Gators apparently don't start well - but I'm okay as long as they finish well. Apparently Florida is a second half team! The team as a whole still needs to work on penalties - though I'm not sure the refs were even watching that game. They called a bunch of nonsense all game and at the end when they called that Driskel run a touchdown after he stepped out of bounds four times the refs pretty much established that they didn't care. But in the end, it didn't matter because the better team won. Eight in a row over Tennessee. Go Gators!! Burton, Gillislee, Hammond, Driskel, Reed and Sturgis seem to be getting better and I like it. Keep it up Gators. None of the current Gators were alive the last time Kentucky beat Florida in football. Let's keep it that way! Beat the Wildcats!!
Picks for week 4...
USC will rebound and beat Cal since Cal doesn't know how to finish games. LSU wins big at Auburn. Arizona loses at Oregon by more than whatever the spread turns out to be. Kansas State vs Oklahoma will give us a better sense of how good these teams are. I'll take Oklahoma at home in a close one. Upset pick of the week: Obviously I'm picking Clemson to beat FSU because it's the one I'd most like to see happen. I think Notre Dame will beat another overrated Big Ten team. Nebraska beats Idaho State. Rutgers at Arkansas should be very interesting now....I'm picking the Scarlet Knights! Even with Arkansas being down, people still won't expect Rutgers to win. So I'll pick my hometown team.
And of course...I'm picking Florida to beat Kentucky again. GO GATORS!!
Someone at ESPN apparently doesn't like the Gators. Two weeks in a row they have College GameDay at Florida's away game? That means two weeks in a row of a local guest-picker picking against the Gators. Well, I hope Corso picks Tennessee since he's usually wrong. I'm picking the Gators because I support them no matter what.
The Gators didn't look great against Texas A&M, but a win is a win. I need more offense, and hopefully the depth at defense will be strong enough to sustain the Gators. It's time for a very important question: Why does Tennessee have checkerboards in the end zones? ... Because they can't spell Tennessee!!
From the last time I attended a Tennessee game....3 years ago.
Anyway, Nebraska was a huge disappointment. I guess they remembered they're in the Big Ten and figured they should start playing like it. That conference is so, so bad. Not even worth explaining again. I even think Notre Dame will beat Michigan State, and I never respect Notre Dame. For once, Lou Holtz and I agree: Notre Dame wins this one.
I think Arkansas will rebound this week after an atrocious performance last week, but only in the sense that I think they'll keep things close than people expect. Alabama is still going to win. I hope Stanford beats USC, but honestly, Stanford hasn't impressed me. I think USC takes this one, but I'm pulling for the Cardinal. FSU will beat another terrible team. Congrats Noles...celebrate while you're winning. Clemson is waiting. I hope Cal can continue the trend of Pac 12 teams beating Big Ten teams. Beat the Buckeyes!!
I'm going to assume Nebraska can handle Arkansas State. Arizona State-Missouri could be interesting...I'll side with the SEC on that one. Also siding with the SEC over the Big 12...come on Ole Miss - beat the Longhorns!!
Rutgers beats USF tomorrow night, and I think Schiano should be there to wish the Scarlet Knights good luck. Rah Rah!!!
Okay, so the Gators looked absolutely awful on offense. Defense showed promise. I want to convince myself that Muschamp planned to look terrible to throw off Texas A&M....but I know better. Hopefully this week they'll find some offensive rhythm.
As predicted, the Big Ten looked terrible. Can people stop saying "the Big Ten is back" now?? Clearly it's not. I saw 4 convincing wins out of 12 teams, and none were over anyone impressive. However, Southern Miss had an impressive season last year, and the Huskers dominated them on Saturday. I told you Martinez would remember how awesome he can be! Sure, Ohio State, Purdue and Illinois had easy wins. But what about the rest? Indiana, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Iowa and Michigan State all won by between 1 point and 7 points against all currently unranked teams.
Penn State lost an emotional home opener to Ohio and Michigan got completely embarrassed by the SEC, which came as no surprise to anyone who has watched Big Ten football in the last decade. Denard Robinson says he could beat Usain Bolt in a race. He's dreaming. It's more likely Usain Bolt would be a successful QB at Michigan.
FSU will stay overrated for a while. Their first real competitor is Clemson on September 22nd. Though I would love to see Savannah State pull the ridiculous upset. I don't want to see FSU cover that large spread. I'd also love to see a huge upset from Syracuse since I hate Lane Kiffin, but somehow I don't see either one happening.
Oklahoma State proved it had offense, but I'm not sure 84 points were really necessary in that game. I wasn't impressed with Oklahoma. Based solely on first week, my early guess would be the Big 12 champion is between Oklahoma State and West Virginia. TCU hasn't played yet. I have my doubts about Kansas State. And Texas struggled with Wyoming.
With West Virginia out of the Big East, hopefully RU's chance is improved. Pitt looked ridiculous. No one in the Big East looked impressive. The 12-point victory for Rutgers over Tulane was far from promising.
The Pac 12 didn't look so hot. At this point it looks like a battle between USC and Oregon. If that's the case, GO DUCKS. Side note: Let's go UCF! Beat the Buckeyes!
It pains me to say it, but Alabama and LSU still look like top ten teams. South Carolina looked like it does not belong in the top ten. Georgia struggled early but got its act together in the second half. Sadly, Georgia looked like the strongest SEC East team after just one game. But since it's only one game, I won't read so much into it....I'll see how they look the end of October since that's what matters to me.
Not many high-profile games in week 2. But I'll make a few picks. Wisconsin wins at Oregon State. Nebraska beats UCLA at the Rose Bowl. Oklahoma State wins at Arizona. Mississippi State beats Auburn. North Carolina wins at Wake Forest. Georgia beats Missouri. Illinois loses at Arizona State. RU beats Howard.
Most importantly, Florida BETTER beat Texas A&M. ESPN College GameDay will be there....the Gators better show up too! This is the one game Muschamp should actually be prepared for (at least as far as atmosphere) given his background at Texas. I have a great deal of respect for Sumlin, but Muschamp, if you coach this game the same way you coached last weekend, you may as well start looking for a new job. Come on, make Gator Nation proud this weekend!!
