Buckeye Blogger NetworkOh, college football… How I love you!!
2012 Version
Well, that happened.
While a lot of people were saying that Alabama was ripe for a loss against a Texas A&M team that’s been playing really well over the past few weeks, most of this felt like lip service. You know, the kind of things that ESPN makes one person say on the Gameday set in order to appear unbiased.
And then- “Johnny Football”.
There are a lot of reasons why Alabama lost- coming off of an emotional win on the road in Death Valley, LSU’s offense showed a lot of people the issues that the Tide have in their secondary, Saban’s fear of the high speed offense is based on his knowledge of his team’s weaknesses; but the fact of the matter is that the Aggies outplayed Alabama, in Tuscaloosa, in several key areas of the game.
The Crimson Tide defensive front was stifled, for the most part, by the aTm offensive tackles. Combined with concerns about a quarterback’s mobility, the Tide were not able to mount the type of disruptive pressure that they are so used to.
Alabama’s offense made key mistakes and turnovers, and seemed out of rhythm all night long. The three turnovers didn’t help, particularly when the Tide defense couldn’t get any of their own… and the mental errors were even more egregious. On the final interception, it seems to me that the receiver on the end of the line of scrimmage did a poor job getting depth in the end zone, making it easy for defenders to cover both him and the primary target. In addition, with Bama’s defense stiffening and forcing a punt, to have a member of their punt return/block team create a neutral zone infraction for an automatic first down is an aggressive penalty, but one that is terrible to have happen in that circumstance. Again, the intensity was there for the student in question, but the lack of focus eventually cost them a final chance at victory.
Yeah, He's Good
But we can’t miss the point here- this game was won by Johnny Manziel’s continual ability to make plays and put the Tide defense on their heels.
After the third week in a row with this type of performance (Louisiana Tech, Mississippi State), the redshirt freshman has lifted himself into Heisman candidacy- and for good reason. Given the lack of a clear “star” this year, given Matt Barkley’s struggles, the game this weekend was his “Flutie to Phelan” moment; outstanding performance in high profile opportunity. I’ll leave the debate to others, but will certainly enjoy watching the electricity that all of these candidates provide.
Even if he doesn’t win this year, you’ve got to think that next year’s Heisman race is going to be something spectacular- Braxton Miller, Johnny Manziel, Marcus Mariota, Teddy Bridgewater, Everett Gholston, Tahj Boyd, DeAnthony Thomas… and those are just the ones I’ve got off the top of my head.
(And since I’m on the topic, I think that Marquis Lee needs to be included in this year’s debate. But that’s just me).
Does this loss end the run of SEC titles in the final year of the BCS? Well, not exactly… more on this in a bit.
Took a week off to get caught up on a lot of things and because there was so much going on around tBBC with basketball jumping into the mix.
No need to revisit the results of two weeks ago as we are in the home stretch! I will begin to cover the national race for the BCS as well as our B1G match-ups. The Buckeyes are resting this week so lets get started-
Legends Race. Nebraska 7-2 (4-1); TTUN 6-3 (4-1);Northwestern 7-2 (3-2). Cornhuskers control their own destiny because of the win over TTUN. Northwestern can help themselves alot this week with their game against TTUN.
Leaders Race. Ohio State 10-0 (6-0);Penn State 6-3(4-1); Wisky 6-3 (3-2). A Penn State loss to Nebraska this weekend clinches a share of the Leaders title for the Buckeyes but there is still work to be done in the coming weeks. Penn State loses and it opens the door for Wisky to step in and go to back-to-back B1G title games.
#24 Northwestern @ TTUN. The Wolverines need to keep pace with the cornhuskers and hope for some help from Penn State this week. TTUN got healthy and may have already decided to look forward a couple weeks and could get tripped up here. Nerds 21 to 17
Purdue @ Iowa. Purdue needs to win out just to be bowl eligible and Iowa has been streaky all season. Could be one of the better games of the weekend. Having said that, Iam sure it will be a low scoring affair. Iowa 16 to 10
Minnesota @ Illinois. Two of the reasons the nation believes the B1G is very weak are primarily due to these two teams. The Illini are beat up bad after their tussle with the Buckeyes in Columbus and the Gophers probably do not know which end is up. This is a toss up even though Minny has played better over all. Talent wins in this one. Illinois 31 to 14
Wiscy @ Indiana. We all know better than anyone that Indiana is a much improved team under my candidate for B1G COTY Kevin Wilson. They worked a great game plan to almost perfection when the Buckeyes were in town and Wiscy will be looking ahead to their match-up that could decide their season hosting the Buckeyes next week. Going with the upset here. Hoosiers 21 to 20 Read More
Who's Headed To Indy?
As rough of a year as it has been for the Big Ten, the conference currently has the only team in the country with ten wins.
After Ohio State’s 52-22 blowout victory against Illinois, the Buckeyes moved to a perfect 10-0 on the season, becoming the first team in the country to reach double digit victories.
With just three weeks left in the regular season, the race for a bid in the B1G Championship Game is starting to take its form. Let’s take a look around at week ten’s Big Ten action.
Nebraska went into East Lansing and knocked off Michigan State 28-24 when quarterback Taylor Martinez threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Jamal Turner with just six seconds remaining. The win moves the Huskers to 7-2 overall and 4-1 in the Big Ten–tied for the Legends Division lead.
The Huskers are currently tied with Michigan–which defeated Minnesota, 35-13. Nebraska, however, beat Michigan last week. So, the Huskers own the tiebreaker and control their own destiny to represent the Legends Division in the title game.
Who controls its fate in the Leaders Division? That would be…Indiana. The Hoosiers defeated Iowa 24-21 to stay in control of their own destiny.
Indiana’s next opponent, Wisconsin, did not play this past weekend. But, the winner of the Wisconsin-Indiana game next weekend in Bloomington will represent the Leaders Division in the B1G Championship Game.
Penn State rebounded after its loss to Ohio State by defeating Purdue 34-9. Purdue and Illinois remain the only winless teams in Big Ten conference play. The good news for those two teams is that they play each other in week 12, so one of them will earn a victory.
As we mentioned earlier, Wisconsin-Indiana is the most important game in terms of the conference picture next week. But some other games to keep an eye on with the Buckeyes on a bye are Northwestern at Michigan and Penn State at Nebraska.
Both Northwestern and Michigan suffered losses to Nebraska. So if either of those teams want to make it to the conference title game, they will need the Huskers to slip up. I, for one, don’t see that happening, though.
It certainly hasn’t been the strongest year for the Big Ten as a whole, but the race to make it to the second ever conference championship game is reason to get excited.
And now, it starts to get interesting
After five weeks of Big Ten play, only one team remains unbeaten within the conference. Ohio State has won its first five B1G contests in addition to four out of conference games to put the Buckeyes at 9-0 on the season.
After a slow start, OSU cruised to a 35-23 victory against Penn State in Happy Valley. We all got a chance to watch the Buckeyes defeat the Nittany Lions, but let’s take a look at what else happened last weekend around the Big Ten.
In the other big game, Nebraska defeated Michigan 23-9. Wolverines’ quarterback Denard Robinson was knocked out of the game in the second quarter and was unable to return to help his team. He watched his replacement, Russell Bellomy, throw three interceptions and the Huskers outscored the Wolverines 16-3 in the second half. With the win, Nebraska is now in the driver’s seat to represent the Legends Division in the B1G Championship.
Just when it seemed like Wisconsin had its season figured out, the Badgers suffered a 16-13 overtime loss to Michigan State at home. After Wisconsin kicked a field goal on its possession in overtime, MSU quarterback Andrew Maxwell threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Bennie Fowler to earn the victory.
Northwestern earned its seventh win of the season as the Wildcats defeated Iowa 28-17. Northwestern has two tough road games in the next two weeks–against Michigan and Michigan State. If the Wildcats can win both of those games, they should win ten games on the year as they finish with Illinois. That’s not something anybody predicted at the start of the season.
After almost upsetting Ohio State last weekend, a few were wondering what Purdue would do for an encore? Well, it appears the crushing defeat to the Buckeyes will stick with the Boilermakers for the remainder of the season as they fell to Minnesota 44-28.
Illinois, like Purdue, remains winless in Big Ten play as the Illini fell to Indiana 31-17. Illinois won’t get its first conference win next week either as it takes on Ohio State.
Just like we all predicted, with four weeks left in the conference season, Indiana controls its own destiny to make the B1G Championship Game. Football is a crazy game, indeed.
Wardrobe Malfunction
Finished last week teetering on a bad record but the Buckeyes pulled it out in OT against Purdue and I finished 4 and 3 thanks to it! Lets look at the results.
Sparty @ TTUN. Sparty 27 to 24. WRONG TTUN 12 to 10
Nebraska @ Northwestern. Nebraska 35 to 13. RIGHT Nebraska 29 to 28
Minnesota @ Wisconsin. Wiscy 45 to 6. RIGHT Wiscy 38 to 13
Penn St. @ Iowa. Iowa 16 to 10. WRONG PSU 38 to 14
Indiana @ Navy. . US Navy 31 to 27, RIGHT US Navy 31 to 30
Purdue @ #7 Ohio State. Buckeyes blow up that annoying bass drum on wheels. RIGHT but not RIGHT ON, Buckeyes win in OT 29 to 22
S. Carolina @ Florida. South Carolina 21 to 17. WRONG Florida 44 to 11.
Its a good week of match-ups in the B1G, as the only game to help determine the bottom of the conference takes place between Indiana and Illinois. The rest of the games stand a chance at impacting the front runners chances in both divisions.
The I’s have it. Indiana @ Illinois. Both are 0-3 in the conference and 2-5 overall so this is the game to decide the bottom dwellers of the B1G. Neither team has had a good few weeks to start the conference off so something has to give. This is an easy choice because the Hoosiers have been so close the last two weeks losing by a combined 4 points. Hoosiers 37 to 21
Oh My Sparty. Michigan State @ Wisconsin. Need I really say more? MSU is 1-3 in the conference and in dire need of turning things around for the season to mean anything. Don’t think they’ll do it against a rolling Badger team. Wiscy 23 to 13
Oh Brother, Where are thou? Iowa @ Northwestern. The hawkeyes and wildcats both have 2 wins in conference so far and as games go, this might be one of the better games this weekend. Both needing to rebound from losses last week will be a good motivator. Northwestern 24 to 20
Big Bass Drum Stunned. Purdue at Minnesota. The Boilers thought they had the Buckeyes last weekend and a great thing happened, Kenny G. Purdue will have trouble rebounding from this after being stunned late in the game again. Minnesota 21 to 20
QB Showdown. #20 TTUN @ Nebraska. The Cornhuskers are probably gonna need to get their QB some help to win this gane now that Burkhead is out for the game. A great showdown between the two QB’s will come down to who gets more help. Still dificult to pick them but. TTUN 24 to 17
For the Leaders Title. #9 Ohio State @ Penn State. For all intents and purposes this game is being played to see who will really win the Leaders Dicision title and not go to the B1G championship game. The Buckeyes are on a mission even more so having avoided being upset by the boilers. No score as usual but the Buckeyes will roll in Unhappy Valley.
They Beat WVU Bowl. #15 Texas Tech @ #4 Kansas State. In consecutive weeks both of these teams D’s showed up and demolished the Heisman frontrunner and friends. This will be a game for the ages and most likely the game most expected when each played WVU. Offense all around and the team with the ball last wins. Kansas State 54 to 52
Eyes On The Prize
There was no shortage of drama around the Big Ten in week eight.
Ohio State-Purdue, Michigan-Michigan State and Nebraska-Northwestern all provided quality entertainment for Big Ten fans.
Without its star quarterback Braxton Miller, Ohio State was able to improve to 8-0 with an improbable come-from-behind overtime victory over Purdue. We all saw the drama that was the OSU-Purdue game, but let’s take a closer look at what happened in a wild week eight around the Big Ten.
Trailing 10-9 with just five seconds left, Michigan’s Brendan Gibbons nailed a 38-yard field goal to help lift Michigan over Michigan State for the first time since 2007. The victory was the 900th in the history of the Michigan program–making it the first to reach that milestone.
Not only was the win big for the history of Michigan, but it helped the Wolverines improve to 3-0 in the Big Ten as they now sit alone atop the Legends Division. The loss drops Sparty to a dismal 1-3 record in the conference and 4-4 overall.
Another thrilling game took place in Evanston as Nebraska downed Northwestern 29-28. The Huskers took the lead with just over two minutes to play in the game and were able to barely hang on as Northwestern kicker Jeff Budzien’s 53-yard field goal attempt missed wide right with roughly a minute to play.
The win for Nebraska sets up a huge game with Michigan next week in which the winner will be in the driver’s seat to represent the Legends Division in the B1G Championship Game.
Wisconsin won its third consecutive game as the Badgers defeated Minnesota 38-13. Penn State routed Iowa 38-14 and in non conference action, Indiana fell 31-30 to Navy. The win for Navy is its first against a Big Ten opponent since 1979. So thank you for that, Hoosiers.
Next week would be even bigger if Ohio State and Penn State were eligible to compete in postseason play. The Buckeyes and Nittany Lions are the only two undefeated teams in the Leaders Division and will meet next week in Happy Valley as the Game of the Week in the Big Ten.
The Michigan at Nebraska game will likely decide the Legends Division. While people were ready to write off Michigan after two early losses to Alabama and Notre Dame (both teams are currently ranked in the top five, by the way), the Wolverines have rebounded to get themselves to 5-2 overall and No. 22 in the country.
But playing a night game in Lincoln against a good Nebraska team is a very difficult thing to do. I’m excited to watch that one, and to see how the rest of the Big Ten season will unfold.
Ah, fall… the wind turns brisk and in Los Angeles the birds turn colors and fall from the trees (ht: David Letterman). We talked last week about “pumpkinitis” that’s sweeping the country… some people are taking it seriously. Instead of subjecting yourself to such a task, take time to kick back with some new tunes and enjoy a great weekend in college sports.
In case you haven’t noticed (and if you haven’t, please PLEASE let me know how you’re managing to pull that off), it’s election season. And you thought the BCS was complicated and overwrought… three more weeks, people. You can do it.
“But Mali- there’s never been politics on tBBC… what gives?”
Theological Disagreement
That’s a fine point, but it’s the only way I could think of to lead into this week’s “marquee” matchup. Given how much they like football, I’m sure that there was some tension on the Romney/Ryan campaign bus when Notre Dame and BYU squared off in South Bend. (See, ’cause one candidate is a Mormon and the other is a Catholic… oh, nevermind.) Yup, The Golden Domers met the People of the Golden Plates, with the former looking to continue their undefeated season. The Cougars managed to do something that was pretty rare this season, and scored an offensive touchdown against a resurgent Irish defense, led by Heisman (?) candidate linebacker Manti Te’o. It wasn’t enough, though, as they fell to .500 in a 17-14 loss to Brian Kelly’s team, who was led by backup quarterback Tommy Rees’ and his one completed pass after halftime. So, yeah- that Notre Dame fan in your office has yet another week to be a bit boisterous regarding his fifth ranked favorite squadron.
In order to make sure I cover both sides of the 2012 election, here. Ok, I’m done talking religion and politics… you can come back now.
On the topic of mistakes that I’ve made recently, I’m more than willing to acknowledge that my purchasing the hype regarding West Virginia was misguided. They still seem to be a Big lEast team of sorts, where defense is even more optional than it has been in the B12 lately. This isn’t to take anything away from the October Heisman frontrunner; Colin Klein has rightfully taken the crown from Mr. September, particularly in their “head to head” contest on Saturday. The Wildcats now sit at 7-0 , and even managed to jump Oregon in the BCS rankings this week, all the way up to #3. While I won’t argue with the BCS… At least Oregon beat a team this week that had a defensive pulse. We’ve not seen that from West Virginia, so it’s hard to assess Kansas State’s victory fully. Hooray subjectivity!
Ah, Eugene...
Although this is traditionally a “Saturday” wrap up, the truth of the matter is that Thursday’s game between the Ducks and Arizona State was pretty freaking impressive. After an initial ASU score, Oregon cranked up it’s offensive game and scored 43 points before there was even ten minutes left in the second quarter. Mercifully, they pulled back the horses at that point- although, they certainly could have kept rolling if they chose to… when a team scores on a two point conversion this easily, you’ve got to know that they are only stopping themselves for the rest of the game. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think that Chip Kelly was pissed that his team was only ranked third in last week’s BCS- since they actually fell one slot this week, I’m afraid to see what happens to this week’s victim opponent. Read More
Seen this before
In the weak week that was I finished my best week ever at 5 and 1, no thanks to Wisconsin getting their act together on O against our upcoming opponent Purdue. I am now above .500 for the season at 20 and 19. Let’s take a look at the results!
Iowa @ Sparty. Prediction: Iowa 21 to 14; RIGHT Iowa 19 to 16
Northwestern @ Minnesota. Prediction: NU 31 to 17; RIGHT NU 21 to 13
Illinois @ TTUN. Prediction: TTUN 38 to 13; RIGHT TTUN 45 to 0
Wisconsin @ Purdue. Prediction: Purdue 24 to 21; WRONG Wiscy 38 to 14
#8 Ohio State @ Indiana. Prediction: Buckeyes get their average atleast; RIGHT but they also gave up double their D avg. 52 to 49
This week is an interesting week of match-ups, to say the least, across the conference. TTUN hasn’t beaten Sparty in what seems like forever and the Buckeyes take on Boiler Down, who is actually now on a two game winning streak against the Buckeyes thanks to the vacated win of 2010. Penn State and Iowa should be in for a slobber knocker and of course, Wisconsin and Minnesota battle for the Paul Bunyan Axe Trophy. Let’s get pickin’ ‘em!
Can Be Only One. Sparty @ TTUN. It’s been a while since TTUN won this game and there can be only one good team at a time in TSUN. Or in this case one winner. I like Sparty’s chances here, a great rivalry game and chance for Dantonio to right the ship that it sinking fast. Sparty 27 to 24
Blue Collar v. Nerds. Nebraska @ Northwestern. I still believe that Nebraska is the best team in the conference and should be healed up after a slug fest with the Buckeyes. The Nerds got the W last week against an outsmarted Gopher squad but will struggle to handle the Cornhuskers toughness. Nebraska 35 to 13
Paul Bunyan Axe Trophy. Minnesota @ Wisconsin. Will not take very long for the new conference career leader in TD’s to add several more. Not a whole lot to discuss here. Trophy going back to Madison again. Wiscy 45 to 6
Ferentz the COTY? Penn St. @ Iowa. Not a huge turn around by any stretch of the imagination, but the Hawkeyes are playing inspired and it has to be due to their coach doing more with less. They host a Nitany Lion team this weekend that’s out to prove itself even more. Maybe O’Brien is COTY? Iowa 16 to 10
Hoosiers Out to Sea. Indiana @ Navy. Kevin Wilson is the answer in Bloomington. He definitely proved that much this past Saturday night against our Buckeyes. The trouble is thhey will have their hands full with a Navy team that has found a way to throw the football in the triple option. Big Happy Birthday to the U.S. Navy as it celebrated number 237 this past week. Didn’t bet against my Navy against ND and am not doing it now. US Navy 31 to 27
Wash Our Mouths Out. Purdue @ #7 Ohio State. It is high time to get some more of that bad taste out of our mouths that was last season. The Buckeyes had the Boilers beat until a out of the ordinary blocked PAT that sent the game into OT. If you’re keeping score, so far we have avenged two of the loses in the conference from last season. Look out Boilers, Buckeyes are pi$$ed as heck and want to get their last defensive nightmare out of their minds as well. Buckeyes blow up that annoying bass drum on wheels.
Cupboard Isn’t SO Bare After All. S. Carolina @ Florida. The Gamecocks have had a heck of a couple weeks and are looking for a way to get back in the game just as LSU did this past week at their expense. They have to go on the road and try to do this in Gator country where their head coach is reaping the rewards of the Buckeyes current head coach’s recruiting efforts. Typical SEC affair. South Carolina 21 to 17
