Wild Week Two

Wild Week Two:

Greetings College Football Fans,

How about that first week of college football? Lets dive right into what we think will happen this week.

This week’s BIG games:

USC @ Ohio State

Ohio State has finally has a chance to get the non-conference ranked opponent monkey off its back. However, USC owns the Big 10, and everyone outside the PAC-10. USC has only lost one game outside of PAC-10 play since 2002 (Loss to Kansas State). That was the National Championship game when USC lost to Texas in 2006. Auburn fans remember back in 2003 when USC came to town and beat the Tigers 23-0. Arkansas fans remember when USC rolled into Fayetteville and dominated the Razorbacks 50-14. That same year Arkansas (2006) made it to the SEC Championship game. In 2007 USC traveled to Nebraska to play the Cornhuskers and the Trojans handled the home team 49-31. Just last year USC beat Virginia 52-7 in Charlottesville. The question is can Ohio State get the ranked non-conference opponent off their back this weekend? Will Ohio State go down as a team that plays good football in a mediocre Big 10? Without a win against USC this weekend, that perception will continue to be firmly imprinted in the minds of college football fans. Particularly, after the blowout loss to USC last year and the two National Championship games the two years before.

Believe it or not but the weakest link of the Ohio State defense last five years have been the defensive line (statistically great run defenses because of the great OSU linebackers). USC has arguably the best offensive line in the country this year. If Ohio State doesn’t get creative with stunts and blitz packages, the USC offensive line will control the line of scrimmage early and often. USC ran for over 340 yards against San Jose State last week and we know the trouble Ohio State had with Navy. I think USC wins this game fairly close. USC wins 35-21.


Notre Dame @ Michigan

Notre Dame and Michigan easily beat two respectable opponents last week, which changed the national level of interest of this game dramatically. These are the two best college football programs in the history of college football. Michigan has more total wins than any team and the highest winning percentage in football history (Notre Dame is now third in wins after Texas past them last year). No one would know this about these teams if you were introduced to college football a few years ago. Notre Dame and Michigan made big statements with their wins last week. These two historic football programs are both tired of getting their behinds kicked and are set to prove it this year. Unfortunately, one of these teams will lose tomorrow. Rich Rodriguez and Charlie Weis have taken their respected teams from scratch and totally rebuilt them (Weis has had more time to do this) to fit each coaches system. Jimmy Clausen is has a war torn veteran and the hard knocks Notre Dame has taken the last few years are starting to pay off. Michigan’s schedule is favorable the next few games as they face off against Eastern Michigan and Indiana in the Big House. So, if Rich Rod and crew can beat Notre Dame, Michigan will probably be 4-0 going into the tougher part of their schedule.

Notre Dame will play a very aggressive scheme against Michigan. Notre Dame had two sacks and four tackles for losses against Nevada (resulting in a 35-0 victory). Notre Dame defensive coordinator John Tenuta will blitz and try to stop Michigan’s offense before it has a chance to get any momentum. Nevada returned its offensive backfield from last year which averaged 278 yards per game running the football (third in the nation last year). Nevada and Michigan run similar spread offensives (Nevada out of the Pistol formation versus shotgun) and Notre Dame was able to shut down the veteran Nevada spread attack. As much as this hurts to predict this outcome, I think Notre Dame will wear out a very young Michigan team in the second half. Notre Dame wins 27-17.


Quick Picks:

East Carolina @ West Virginia

This will be a close battle with two evenly matched teams. West Virginia’s defense should hold off East Carolina long enough for Noel Devin to do his thing. West Virginia wins 24-17

South Carolina @ Georgia

This game clearly won’t be a barn burner. Georgia will get on track after a tough game last week against Oklahoma State. Georgia should be able to control the trenches and squeak out a low scoring hard hitting battle. Georgia wins 21-17

Houston @ Oklahoma State

Last year these two teams played in a slug fest high scoring match up. Houston will have a tough time stopping Oklahoma State’s offense. Eventually, Houston wears down and Oklahoma State pulls ahead in the fourth quarter. Lots of offense in this game. Oklahoma State wins 41-38

UCLA @ Tennessee

Tennessee’s defense will control the Bruins. Don’t expect Tennessee to explode on offense like they did against Western Kentucky, but it won’t be that far off. Check out running back Bryce Brown for Tennessee. He was rated the number one running back in high school last year. Tennessee rolls 41-17.

Enjoy the weekend. Talk with you next week.