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| I'd probably never not be posting this if I could. |
Tanner Mangum can't do it again, right? That's just one of the storylines going into this weeks game in Rose Bowl Stadium as many will be watching to see if Mangum can work his late game magic once again. Mangum, who of course, beat Nebraska with a Hail Mary bomb in week 1 and then did it again against Boise State last week has to be running out of luck, right?
I still contend that if you want craziness at the end of the season you should have been rooting for Boise State last week as I still think they're just plain better suited for the long haul. Losing a Heisman quarterback like Hill at some point has to catch up with him. And although Mangum is a 40-year-old freshman, there is a reason he wasn't the starter. Oh well, can't do anything about that now. I guess I'm officially a Cougars fan. Where are my magic undies?
The weakest link in this game is going to be BYU's secondary, which has been giving up yards left and right for the first two games. In the first two games, BYU has given up 308 yards in the air, while UCLA has passed for nearly exactly that much, 302. Conversely, Mangum will face his stiffest competition as the UCLA secondary has only allowed 147. Granted, those stats aren't exactly comparable as BYU has faced much better teams than UCLA has to date.
As much as I want BYU to win because if they lose, there's not going to be any hope of an outside team getting in, I'm going to have to take UCLA in this one. But I think BYU is probably good enough to cover the 14. The combination of BYU's torrid secondary combined with this being Mangum's first big game combined with it being at UCLA I think is all too much for the upstart Cougs.
BYU 28 - UCLA 38
Stanford @ #6 USC
What is a Kevin Hogan? From what I hear, he's supposed to be at least decent, and yet, here we are and it sort of seems like he stinks. I mean, I'm not trying to be mean, but against Northwestern and UCF, he has a below 60% completion rate and only 3 touchdowns to 1 interception. I don't think those stats would really fill me with a lot of confidence if I was a Cardinal fan. And yet, Stanford and USC always manage to make this game interesting.
I really don't like depending on stats too much this early in the season, because right now, they're extremely unreliable as means to predict head-to-head matchups. Consider who USC has managed to put about 60 points on each week, Idaho and Arkansas State. All those numbers can do right now is maybe explain what sort of attack a team might employ.
The "thing to watch" in this game is going to be whether USC's much touted running back, Ronald Jones the second, can top 100 yards rushing, something only two RBs have done in the past five years. There is a lot of hoopla surrounding him and, indeed, for both teams probably getting the running game going will be huge. Can Kevin Hogan be trusted to carry Stanford to victory? Well, I mean, he hasn't yet so depending on him to do it now probably won't work out that well.
Stanford has worked hard to shore up their rushing defense after being embarrassed by Northwestern in week 1. The following week against UCF they allowed only 181 yards rushing. Keeping that improvement going forward will be vital, but I seriously doubt UCF features the level of talent USC will unleash.
I'm predicting big things for USC in this game as in front of their home crowd they will dazzle and delight. Jones will have a huge game, and I'm thinking USC will roll establishing themselves as a legitimate playoff team. Stanford just doesn't have the talent to be a force in the Pac 12 this year.
Stanford 17 - USC 31
#18 Auburn @ #13 LSU
The most mind boggling thing in this game to me is the over under... 48.5? That seems crazy to me! Before I checked, I was going to start out talking about this game by saying something like, "Someone is going to win this game simply by virtue that someone has to score at some point, even if it's just a field goal." Honestly, I was imagining this game playing out something like that one SEC title game.
A lot of people are selling their Auburn stocks after last week for very obvious reasons. Is Auburn the proud winner of the, "Biggest drop in ranking after a win!" ever trophy? I'm too lazy to check but I wouldn't be surprised if they were. I feel like how Auburn responds in this game against LSU will basically determine if their season is a wash or not. I know it's crazy considering we are still talking about a 2-0 team but, well, nearly losing to an FCS team as an SEC West team can have that effect on you.
Unfortunately, even if Auburn was playing at their best this would be a hard game, as they always are in Death Valley. Jeremy Johnson has been struggling mightily so far this season and I'm sure the LSU pass rushers are licking their lips at the prospect of supping on him after winning an important battle against probably the best quarterback in the SEC, Dak Prescott. Auburn's offenses have always performed best with quarterbacks who are dual threat and so far Johnson has not even really been a single threat.
Oh, and LSU also has a Heisman candidate in Leonard Fournette who is probably going to both A.) make Auburn's defensive line miserable considering they've already given up 399 yards and four touchdowns this season and B.) solidify himself even more as an early Heisman candidate. That's the thing, LSU's offense outside of Fournette isn't exactly like Ohio State's, but when you have a singular talent like Fournette on your team, it doesn't really need to be.
I expect this game to start out slow, with Auburn hanging in there at the half before LSU/Fournette run away with the game by the end. Heh.
Auburn 17 - LSU 27
#15 Ole Miss @ #2 Alabama
Between the four games these two have played, the only one worth mentioning is Wisconsin. Mississippi is off to a very offensive start ... against Tennessee-Martin and Fresno State. After going 149-24 against them, I guess you could say their confidence going into their first real game is probably pretty high, especially considering they beat Alabama last year. I mean just look at this really, really deep insight we got from Mississippi head football coach Hugh Freeze: "I think we have a confident football team right now that believes it can win. ... I believe we can win. But I also know you can lose these games because you're playing a really good team." Huh.
I think Ole Miss does in fact have the ability to pull off the upset again. But I mean, I hope I can convey why with a little more substance than Freeze. Alabama's secondary is their Achilles heel and Mississippi's juco transfer Chad Kelly is putting up numbers that would make his uncle proud. Going into this game with as much confidence as he has is a big factor and if he gets into a rhythm, watch out. Wisconsin could have made that game much closer but their reluctance to do anything creative with their offence was their doom. I'm pretty sure Ole Miss won't be afraid to open up the playbook with their spectacular quarterback.
Let's not forget who we're talking about here, though. Saban is 9-1 in revenge games and Alabama hasn't lost back to back games in consecutive seasons while ranked in the top 3 since 1973-4. Ole Miss is also 1-35-1 against Alabama at home. So history is definitely on Alabama's side.
On paper,Ole Miss should win. A lot of people are talking how on fire their offense is, people like me. But do people really feel like betting against Saban is good? And, again, consider who Ole Miss has been putting these numbers up against. Even though Alabama's secondary isn't that great, it's still much better than Tennessee-Martin's, I think.
I don't know what I think. By just writing this out, I've convinced myself of just about every possible scenario. Ultimately, I think I'm going to go with Saban because I just don't see history getting that out of whack.
Ole Miss 24 - Alabama 28
#14 Georgia Tech @ #8 Notre Dame
(This is Fany Pack's Fany Pick of the Week.)
There's a lot of back and forth about who will win this game. It's expected to be close, with a spread of 2.5 in favor of Georgia Tech. Notre Dame struggled last week at Virginia, but that was also a game in which they lost their starting QB, Malik Zaire. Replacement QB DeShone Kizer will be playing his first full college game this Saturday, so much of the talk going into this matchup is how he will perform against a good Yellow Jackets team.
I see Notre Dame pulling off the win, barely. They'll be playing at home. They have a good defense. And Kizer has played under pressure (albeit, quite briefly) and gotten his team a touchdown to win.
I've seen some people give the edge to Georgia Tech because of their powerful triple-option offense, but Notre Dame has seen success against similar offenses before. In fact, under coach Brian Kelly, Notre Dame is 7-1 against triple-option offenses, with their last loss under such conditions being in 2010.
One thing we do know at this point: It's gonna be a high-scoring game. Georgia Tech has put up a combined 134 points against its opponents in its first two games this season. Of course, its first two opponents were Alcorn State (the fuck?) and Tulane, so it's not exactly just because Georgia Tech kicks ass. Notre Dame has scored at least 34 points in each of its games this season, and I think they'll continue the streak this week.
Notre Dame 35 - Georgia Tech 31
I still contend that if you want craziness at the end of the season you should have been rooting for Boise State last week as I still think they're just plain better suited for the long haul. Losing a Heisman quarterback like Hill at some point has to catch up with him. And although Mangum is a 40-year-old freshman, there is a reason he wasn't the starter. Oh well, can't do anything about that now. I guess I'm officially a Cougars fan. Where are my magic undies?
The weakest link in this game is going to be BYU's secondary, which has been giving up yards left and right for the first two games. In the first two games, BYU has given up 308 yards in the air, while UCLA has passed for nearly exactly that much, 302. Conversely, Mangum will face his stiffest competition as the UCLA secondary has only allowed 147. Granted, those stats aren't exactly comparable as BYU has faced much better teams than UCLA has to date.
As much as I want BYU to win because if they lose, there's not going to be any hope of an outside team getting in, I'm going to have to take UCLA in this one. But I think BYU is probably good enough to cover the 14. The combination of BYU's torrid secondary combined with this being Mangum's first big game combined with it being at UCLA I think is all too much for the upstart Cougs.
BYU 28 - UCLA 38
Stanford @ #6 USC
What is a Kevin Hogan? From what I hear, he's supposed to be at least decent, and yet, here we are and it sort of seems like he stinks. I mean, I'm not trying to be mean, but against Northwestern and UCF, he has a below 60% completion rate and only 3 touchdowns to 1 interception. I don't think those stats would really fill me with a lot of confidence if I was a Cardinal fan. And yet, Stanford and USC always manage to make this game interesting.
I really don't like depending on stats too much this early in the season, because right now, they're extremely unreliable as means to predict head-to-head matchups. Consider who USC has managed to put about 60 points on each week, Idaho and Arkansas State. All those numbers can do right now is maybe explain what sort of attack a team might employ.
The "thing to watch" in this game is going to be whether USC's much touted running back, Ronald Jones the second, can top 100 yards rushing, something only two RBs have done in the past five years. There is a lot of hoopla surrounding him and, indeed, for both teams probably getting the running game going will be huge. Can Kevin Hogan be trusted to carry Stanford to victory? Well, I mean, he hasn't yet so depending on him to do it now probably won't work out that well.
Stanford has worked hard to shore up their rushing defense after being embarrassed by Northwestern in week 1. The following week against UCF they allowed only 181 yards rushing. Keeping that improvement going forward will be vital, but I seriously doubt UCF features the level of talent USC will unleash.
I'm predicting big things for USC in this game as in front of their home crowd they will dazzle and delight. Jones will have a huge game, and I'm thinking USC will roll establishing themselves as a legitimate playoff team. Stanford just doesn't have the talent to be a force in the Pac 12 this year.
Stanford 17 - USC 31
#18 Auburn @ #13 LSU
The most mind boggling thing in this game to me is the over under... 48.5? That seems crazy to me! Before I checked, I was going to start out talking about this game by saying something like, "Someone is going to win this game simply by virtue that someone has to score at some point, even if it's just a field goal." Honestly, I was imagining this game playing out something like that one SEC title game.
A lot of people are selling their Auburn stocks after last week for very obvious reasons. Is Auburn the proud winner of the, "Biggest drop in ranking after a win!" ever trophy? I'm too lazy to check but I wouldn't be surprised if they were. I feel like how Auburn responds in this game against LSU will basically determine if their season is a wash or not. I know it's crazy considering we are still talking about a 2-0 team but, well, nearly losing to an FCS team as an SEC West team can have that effect on you.
Unfortunately, even if Auburn was playing at their best this would be a hard game, as they always are in Death Valley. Jeremy Johnson has been struggling mightily so far this season and I'm sure the LSU pass rushers are licking their lips at the prospect of supping on him after winning an important battle against probably the best quarterback in the SEC, Dak Prescott. Auburn's offenses have always performed best with quarterbacks who are dual threat and so far Johnson has not even really been a single threat.
Oh, and LSU also has a Heisman candidate in Leonard Fournette who is probably going to both A.) make Auburn's defensive line miserable considering they've already given up 399 yards and four touchdowns this season and B.) solidify himself even more as an early Heisman candidate. That's the thing, LSU's offense outside of Fournette isn't exactly like Ohio State's, but when you have a singular talent like Fournette on your team, it doesn't really need to be.
I expect this game to start out slow, with Auburn hanging in there at the half before LSU/Fournette run away with the game by the end. Heh.
Auburn 17 - LSU 27
#15 Ole Miss @ #2 Alabama
Between the four games these two have played, the only one worth mentioning is Wisconsin. Mississippi is off to a very offensive start ... against Tennessee-Martin and Fresno State. After going 149-24 against them, I guess you could say their confidence going into their first real game is probably pretty high, especially considering they beat Alabama last year. I mean just look at this really, really deep insight we got from Mississippi head football coach Hugh Freeze: "I think we have a confident football team right now that believes it can win. ... I believe we can win. But I also know you can lose these games because you're playing a really good team." Huh.
I think Ole Miss does in fact have the ability to pull off the upset again. But I mean, I hope I can convey why with a little more substance than Freeze. Alabama's secondary is their Achilles heel and Mississippi's juco transfer Chad Kelly is putting up numbers that would make his uncle proud. Going into this game with as much confidence as he has is a big factor and if he gets into a rhythm, watch out. Wisconsin could have made that game much closer but their reluctance to do anything creative with their offence was their doom. I'm pretty sure Ole Miss won't be afraid to open up the playbook with their spectacular quarterback.
Let's not forget who we're talking about here, though. Saban is 9-1 in revenge games and Alabama hasn't lost back to back games in consecutive seasons while ranked in the top 3 since 1973-4. Ole Miss is also 1-35-1 against Alabama at home. So history is definitely on Alabama's side.
On paper,Ole Miss should win. A lot of people are talking how on fire their offense is, people like me. But do people really feel like betting against Saban is good? And, again, consider who Ole Miss has been putting these numbers up against. Even though Alabama's secondary isn't that great, it's still much better than Tennessee-Martin's, I think.
I don't know what I think. By just writing this out, I've convinced myself of just about every possible scenario. Ultimately, I think I'm going to go with Saban because I just don't see history getting that out of whack.
Ole Miss 24 - Alabama 28
#14 Georgia Tech @ #8 Notre Dame
(This is Fany Pack's Fany Pick of the Week.)
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| Brian Kelly eats triple-option offenses for breakfast. ... and a few other bowls of something, apparently. |
I see Notre Dame pulling off the win, barely. They'll be playing at home. They have a good defense. And Kizer has played under pressure (albeit, quite briefly) and gotten his team a touchdown to win.
I've seen some people give the edge to Georgia Tech because of their powerful triple-option offense, but Notre Dame has seen success against similar offenses before. In fact, under coach Brian Kelly, Notre Dame is 7-1 against triple-option offenses, with their last loss under such conditions being in 2010.
One thing we do know at this point: It's gonna be a high-scoring game. Georgia Tech has put up a combined 134 points against its opponents in its first two games this season. Of course, its first two opponents were Alcorn State (the fuck?) and Tulane, so it's not exactly just because Georgia Tech kicks ass. Notre Dame has scored at least 34 points in each of its games this season, and I think they'll continue the streak this week.
Notre Dame 35 - Georgia Tech 31
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