I guess the one thing that should be noted as a potential suprise is that the Big 10 seems to be a weaker conference as a whole this season.
Wisconsin losing to Oregon State
UCLA beating Nebraska
Iowa losing to Iowa State
Purdue losing to Notre Dame
Penn State going 0-2 so far
Illinois losing to AZ State
…and Michigan playing like dogshit for two games in a row.
My expectations for the Big 10 being in the national championship picture have definitely diminished after just the first two weeks of this season.
Looks like the Pac-12 is going to be in the mix for real.
I remember the days, when you had the same schools always in the top 5 or top 10. Usually it was Michigan, the Florida schools (FSU, Miami, and U of F), Ohio State, Nebraska, Penn State.
I don’t know what happened, but many of them fell off compared to how they used to run the table.
USC and MSU just did! Stanford beats USC 21-14. I’m kind of in shock. But really, USC has now lost to the Cardinal 4 seasons in a row now. That’ll be Barkleys legacy, couldn’t beat Stanford
[quote]BradTGIF wrote:
USC and MSU just did! Stanford beats USC 21-14. I’m kind of in shock. But really, USC has now lost to the Cardinal 4 seasons in a row now. That’ll be Barkleys legacy, couldn’t beat Stanford[/quote]
Got to see Stanford upset USC in person last night. Great game, great atmosphere, and ultimately the better/more complete team pulled it out at the very end.
Want a single stat to summarize the entire game? Stanford’s defense forced USC and Barkley to go 0-12 on third down.
Ok, I got a personal beef with the SC-Stanford game.
Props to Stanford for playing an intelligent game, they took advantage of some USC weaknesses. Nunes is not the best QB, but he found a way to beat us, and that is commendable.
The back-up center for USC is FUCKING HORRIBLE. You could have had a cheerleader perform better than that guy. Coach should have pulled him, he was getting bowled over way too many times.
Never in my life, have I seen an offensive lineman thrown into his quarterback so many times. I mean, this guy got steamrolled by the defensive tackles and linebackers.
ND only allowing 3 points to Sparty is a big deal. To me it says two things.
ND could possibly be for real, making real noise.
Michigan State is BAD, and if they are the best the B1G has to offer, then the B1G is in B1G trouble.
People scoff at ND and their strength of schedule but not this year. They just beat MSU, have a strong chance of beating UM at home, then they have Miami, Stanford, Oklahoma, and USC. Pretty beefy schedule, and if they come out of all that with only a couple losses, who knows what could happen.
Michigan State is BAD, and if they are the best the B1G has to offer, then the B1G is in B1G trouble.[/quote]
That sure seems to be the case, but it may be an overreaction to a few bad games. Should teams be happy they laid eggs in big games? No. But it happens, and we all know in college football it’s better to let it happen early than late.
At least we can point to the SEC this year and say that they have teams playing like shit too(Bama and LSU obviously excluded).
Michigan State is BAD, and if they are the best the B1G has to offer, then the B1G is in B1G trouble.[/quote]
That sure seems to be the case, but it may be an overreaction to a few bad games. Should teams be happy they laid eggs in big games? No. But it happens, and we all know in college football it’s better to let it happen early than late.
At least we can point to the SEC this year and say that they have teams playing like shit too(Bama and LSU obviously excluded).[/quote]
I see what you’re saying, definitely. But on a national scale with championship implications, the B1G have been laying turds in interconference play with ranked teams.
Now that we’re headed into the bulk of the season, your (assuming you’re an OSU guy) Braxton Miller is the real deal in the conference. I like how he makes decisions and his throwing mechanics are very good.
Michigan State is BAD, and if they are the best the B1G has to offer, then the B1G is in B1G trouble.[/quote]
That sure seems to be the case, but it may be an overreaction to a few bad games. Should teams be happy they laid eggs in big games? No. But it happens, and we all know in college football it’s better to let it happen early than late.
At least we can point to the SEC this year and say that they have teams playing like shit too(Bama and LSU obviously excluded).[/quote]
I see what you’re saying, definitely. But on a national scale with championship implications, the B1G have been laying turds in interconference play with ranked teams.
Now that we’re headed into the bulk of the season, your (assuming you’re an OSU guy) Braxton Miller is the real deal in the conference. I like how he makes decisions and his throwing mechanics are very good.
[/quote]
Ya on a national scale it looks like we’re already boned. Even if Michigan or MSU trounced through conference play(picking them because their losses aren’t awful, getting housed by Bama is excusable and ND may end up being quite good), the conference perception is already in the toilet because of teams like Wisc, Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois.
I do find it interesting that the SEC has caught basically 0 flak as a conference for the woeful performances of Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Auburn, and Kentucky. Having LSU/Bama/Georgia look as good as they do buys you a TON of credit even if the bottom of your conference is perennially some of the worst in football, despite what they try and say(‘top to bottom the SEC is a gauntlet every year’ type quotes).
Michigan State is BAD, and if they are the best the B1G has to offer, then the B1G is in B1G trouble.[/quote]
That sure seems to be the case, but it may be an overreaction to a few bad games. Should teams be happy they laid eggs in big games? No. But it happens, and we all know in college football it’s better to let it happen early than late.
At least we can point to the SEC this year and say that they have teams playing like shit too(Bama and LSU obviously excluded).[/quote]
I see what you’re saying, definitely. But on a national scale with championship implications, the B1G have been laying turds in interconference play with ranked teams.
Now that we’re headed into the bulk of the season, your (assuming you’re an OSU guy) Braxton Miller is the real deal in the conference. I like how he makes decisions and his throwing mechanics are very good.
[/quote]
Ya on a national scale it looks like we’re already boned. Even if Michigan or MSU trounced through conference play(picking them because their losses aren’t awful, getting housed by Bama is excusable and ND may end up being quite good), the conference perception is already in the toilet because of teams like Wisc, Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois.
I do find it interesting that the SEC has caught basically 0 flak as a conference for the woeful performances of Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Auburn, and Kentucky. Having LSU/Bama/Georgia look as good as they do buys you a TON of credit even if the bottom of your conference is perennially some of the worst in football, despite what they try and say(‘top to bottom the SEC is a gauntlet every year’ type quotes).[/quote]
Thats generally because the middle of the SEC is pretty good, not this year though. Vandy and Kentucky are always bad so nobody ever pretends they are. That said having four teams in the top 10 doesn’t hurt either. Also don’t sleep on Florida, they aren’t great but they are getting better each week and might just curb stomp somebody come bowl season.
Michigan? Lost to ND. Yeah no shit you can’t perform offensively with a “QB” that has zero mechanics and can’t check down for shit. I can’t believe this kid was in the mix for the Heisman. It makes me all baffled.
ND? Jesus are they really going to make a run at the National Championship? Will LSU slide to #3 or #4 if ND stays undefeated thru week six?
Washington loses to CO.
K-State beats OK.
Oregon State whips UCLA.
We’re in bizarro world, I don’t know if I can call it interesting or frustrating. One thing is certain though, I’m glad I quit betting college football because of seasons like this.
Barkley, though? I wasn’t impressed. Either he was mailing it in or just didn’t have it or never had it to begin with? No way he was looking like a Heisman candidate that day. Granted, playing a bad team might make you play worse than you expect, but it wasn’t great.
[quote]BradTGIF wrote:
Max I was at the game on Saturday vs. Cal.
Silas Redd is LEGIT. LEGIT!
Barkley, though? I wasn’t impressed. Either he was mailing it in or just didn’t have it or never had it to begin with? No way he was looking like a Heisman candidate that day. Granted, playing a bad team might make you play worse than you expect, but it wasn’t great.
[/quote]
Could he just have had a bad day? Injury nobody knows about?