As much as I'd like to see the Badgers go 5-0 during this stretch, I know that's not realistic (if it does happen, start booking your playoff trips). They still can win the West division, however, and make a trip to Indy in December. Here's how. They need to win one of the three between Michigan State, Michigan, and Ohio State. Of those three, I think this week's game is probably the best chance, although Oct. 15 is gonna be an electric atmosphere at Camp Randall and crazy things can happen in night games against Ohio State in Mid-October (2010). Then they need to beat Iowa and Nebraska. Doing that and taking care of business in November against weaker teams (although at Northwestern is never easy) would put the Badgers at 10-2. Pretty damn good record with this schedule. They'll also need a little help with another conference loss from Iowa and Nebraska. Iowa does have to play Michigan and Nebraska has to travel to Ohio State, so there's a very good possibility the West can be won with 2 conference losses. So get ready, as tough as it's gonna be, it's finally good to have a season where there's games to actually be excited about week in and week out.
All that being said-can't afford to play anywhere near the level the Badgers played last week. Turnovers and settling for field goals in the red zone isn't gonna get it done. It looks like Alex Hornibrook is going to be taking over at QB for Bart Heisman, and I'm fine with that. From what I've seen he looks like the better QB and hopefully he can finally bring some consistency to that position. It's gonna be tough making his first career start in East Lansing (my least favorite place in the Big Ten), but I think it's the right call. I expect this to be a fairly low scoring game. It's an early kickoff on BTN for some reason (no respect for the Big Ten), and both teams have good defenses. The Badgers are going to need to get their running game going. Corey Clement is currently questionable-it would definitely help to have him on Saturday but at the same time you don't want to jeopardize the rest of his season if he's not ready to go yet. The last several Wisconsin-Michigan State games have been classics, hopefully this trip to East Lansing ends better than the last time. (I hate Kirk Cousins).
On to this weeks picks.
Last week's record: 3-1-1 (1-1 in the bonus picks). Got an incredible back door cover by Ole Miss, got a push with Oregon (Nebraska might be for real this year), and was dead wrong on Notre Dame. Their defense is terrible.
There's some decent games but nothing that really stands out. College Gameday is going to Tennessee for Florida-Tennessee which is the 2:30 CBS game, the ABC night game is Stanford at UCLA. Penn State at Michigan got the 2:30 ABC slot (should've been Wisconsin-MSU, will be a much closer game).
Utah (-3) vs USC (Friday Night)- I haven't been wrong going against USC yet this year so I'll keep riding that train again this week.
Oklahoma State at Baylor Over 74- this is gonna be your classic Big 12 shootout with very little defense played, over 74 should be no problem.
Central Michigan (-3.5) at Virginia-Virginia is awful this year. Central Michigan was able to stay with Oklahoma State on the road (technically shouldn't have won but they did) so they should be able to beat the Cavaliers, who already have losses to Richmond and UConn on their resume.
Pitt (+7) at North Carolina-Pitt's offense has been pretty good this year. They've been in shootouts the last 2 weeks, I think they'll get a road win at Carolina. The over in this one (67) is also worth a look.
Bones Guarantee of the Week- Florida State (-5) at South Florida- I know I mentioned in my preview that the Bulls could give FSU a tough time in this one-but after Lamar Jackson ran all over the Noles last week there's no way they let that happen two weeks in a row. They'll be prepared. USF will likely keep it competitive at halftime but the Noles should pull away.
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