This is the last time I give four hours on a beautiful Saturday to James Franklin. He is over-hyped and over-rated. Two unnecessary losses in a row. And this loss to MSU came after a bye! He barely squeaked by Ap State in OT, blows out a bunch of nobodies, and then gets into the meat of the schedule and embarrasses himself and the University. I was never sold on Franklin being a top-tier coach. full-stop

Immediately after PSU's loss to Ohio State, Franklin said, "That was a bad call. It's on me." He was referring to Penn State's last play of the game, a handoff to Sanders who was instantly stopped for a loss-- and it was not just "a bad call," it was a horrible call, but let's not quibble. It seemed like Franklin was stepping up and taking the blame he well deserved.

Then in the press conference he changed his tune. He said, "We are a great team, but not an elite team." This made it seem like the loss was sort of destined, because Ohio State is an "elite team." It is a subtle, backhanded way of putting down his own team-- instead of his own stupid play calling. His non-elite team lost to an elite team. Not his fault.

But that "elite team" won by ONE POINT! Trailed most of the game. So, maybe the real story was that one elite team lost to another elite team -- because of the non-elite coach. You don't need to be a football genius to realize that the play should have been a pass-run option by McSorley who was unstoppable all night-- on a record-breaking level. McSorley had 286 yards rushing. Sanders had 43. Plus, McSorley had 175 yards passing. So, McSorley had an amazing 461 yards on the night. Sanders *cough cough* 43. With the game on the line, Franklin, with multiple time outs to think it over, decides to go with Sanders.

After Michigan State, Franklin might need to start a new line of bullshit. "Well, we are a good team, but not a great team." If they lose next week, it will become, "We are a team, but not a good team."

On another note, Michigan looked like the football team that it was supposed to be for the past decade. The OL gave Patterson all day to throw. The running game was strong. Defense was awesome. On a day when OSU was very unimpressive, to say the least, it makes me think that Michigan might actually win that matchup.

Week 7 Wrap-up:
The top 8 in FBS football were dropping left and right yesterday and the Big Ten was no exception. There was some excellent football yesterday and several surprises. Overall, I really sucked at predicting the spread this weekend:

MN @ #3 tOSU at 11:00 on FS1 - I was correct on the Buckeyes winning but wrong on them covering. MN lead part of the 1st quarter and part of the 2nd quarter and tOSU went into half-time winning 17-14. tOSU continues to pass well, but aren't rushing well. On defense, they were surprisingly vulnerable to rushing, and only generated 2 sacks without any QB hurries. On a positive note, they did snag two INTs. They won but certainly didn't look like the #3 team playing a young 3-2 team.

Rutgers @ MD at 11:00 on BTN - I was correct on the Terps winning but wrong on them failing to cover. The Terps dominated the game, and Rutgers' only score was with 43 seconds remaining (aka garbage time).

IA @ IU at 11:00 on ESPN2 - Only game of the weekend in which I correctly predicted the winner and correct on the spread. As anticipated, IA's defense was able to keep IU in double digits rushing, and IU is incapable of winning when they can't rush. Hawkeyes were able to do pretty much whatever they wanted on offense, and the only reason they didn't have 500+ yards of offense is the field wasn't longer.

NE @ NWU at 11:00 on ABC - I was correct on the Wildcats winning but wrong on spread as they tied the spread. This was a very good game with NE drawing first blood, NE going into half-time with a lead, and NE leading at the end of the 3rd quarter. At one point in the 4th quarter NE lead 28-14. Then, NE's passing defense woes kicked in and NWU outscored NE 17-3 to end regulation as a tie. In OT, the Wildcats kicked a field goal to pull off the come from behind win. For the first time in history the Cornhuskers start a season 0-6.

MSU @ #8 PSU at 2:30 on BTN - This game was the biggest surprise in the Big Ten this weekend, and I was incorrect on both winner and spread. Shockingly, McSorley finished the game with a lower QB rating than Lewerke, MSU's vaunted rush defense gave up 205 yards rushing and a rushing TD, and MSU's anemic rush offense busted loose for rushes of 27 and 26 yards. MSU only registered one sack and one QB hurry, but surprisingly McSorley couldn't take advantage of the lack of pressure. PSU's D had much better pressure with 3 sacks and 5 QB hurries and Lewerke overcame it just enough to lead his team to victory. As I said earlier in the thread, I thought MSU was done for after the failed fake FG, but I have to hand it to them for marching down the field and scoring a TD with 19 seconds left.

Purdue @ IL at 2:30 on FS1 - I was correct on my Boilers winning but wrong on them failing to cover. The Illini drew first blood, but then Purdue scored 46 unanswered points. Should've been more as the refs robbed them of a TD by not asking for a review and the replay showed his foot was inbounds. On offense, Purdue was able to pass or rush without much resistance. On defense, Purdue held their good rushing duo and mobile QB to 69 yards rushing, and the pressure from their 4 sacks and 1 QB hurry lead to an INT. Other than the blocked extra point, Purdue's special teams were excellent as well.

#15 WI @ #12 UofM at 6:30 on ABC - I was incorrect on both winner and spread on this one. This marquee matchup was a good game in the first half, but entirely one sided in the second half. Michigan's defense gave up a season high 183 yards rushing, but it was more of a bend without breaking statistic. Michigan's D had 3rd years starter Hornibrook looking like a 3rd string QB getting his first start.

Kudos:

tOSU's QB Haskins for throwing for 412 yards, 3 passing TDs, and zero INTs.

tOSU's WR Hill for 187 yards receiving and 2 TDs on 9 receptions.

Sparties for toppling the #8 team. Perhaps they've embraced their role as the Big Ten East's season spoiler, and we'll find out as they have both UofM and tOSU left.

UofM's offensive line. They thoroughly dominated the Badgers' front 7, and paved the way for 320 yards rushing and 3 rushing TDs.

UofM's QB Patterson for leading the offense to a decisive victory. His 124 yards passing, 90 yards rushing, 1 rushing TD, and 0 INTs don't look great on paper, but he did everything nearly flawlessly.

UofM's defense. They made a very good offense look like Rutgers.

IA's QB Stanley for 320 yards passing and 6 passing TDs (1 INT)

IA's defense for stopping IU's rushing attack and holding them to 10 less points than tOSU.

NWU's QB Thorson. He managed to overcome two 3rd quarter INTs to lead his team to a come from behind victory. In the end, he had 455 yards passing and 3 passing TDs.

Purdue's QB Blough. He was 25/36 for 377 yards passing, 3 passing TDs (1 INT), and caught a TD pass. Blough is on fire the last 4 games with 1573 yards passing, 10 passing TDs, 2 INTs, 2 rushing TDs, and 1 receiving TD.

Purdue's offensive line lead the way to 227 yards rushing, 2 rushing TDs, and gave Blough time to work his magic.

Purdue's defense was dominant only giving up 69 yards rushing to a good rushing team, and only giving up 181 yards passing while snagging an INT and getting 4 sacks.

---

Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.

Week 8:
Another week with 7 games (i.e. no bye weeks) and a couple of good match-ups (all times Central):

#6 UofM at #24 MSU at 11:00 on Fox - the Wolverines are unanimously 7 point favorites in this perennial grudge match. The Sparties surprised the football world last week beating a top 8 team, and the question this week is whether not they can play the spoiler again this week? MSU have the #1 rush D in college football, but UofM is statistically better in every other aspect of the game. Harbaugh completes step 1 of 2 (i.e. beating MSU) of proving he is worthy of the big contract, and UofM covers.

MD at #19 IA at 11:00 on ESPN2 - the Hawkeyes are 9 to 10 point favorites depending on which odds service you believe. IA has a very good rush D, and MD isn't capable of winning if their run game is shutdown. Hawkeyes win and cover.

IL at #23 WI at 11:00 on FS1 - the Badgers are 24.5 to 26 point favorites depending on which odds service you believe. The Badgers are going to be playing with a chip on their shoulder and will use tomorrow as a tune-up for NWU. They've already proven they can run against a good defense so this week I see them passing more to restore Hornibrook's confidence. That means both RB Taylor and WR Taylor should have big games and I expect both to bust loose for big plays. Badgers win but fall slightly short of covering the huge spread.

NWU at Rutgers at 11:00 on BTN - the Wildcats are 20 to 20.5 point favorites depending on which odds service you believe. NWU has been passing well this season, but their rushing has been a little off. I think they'll use tomorrow's "game" to reestablish confidence in the rush so NWU will win without covering.

#18 PSU at IU at 2:30 on ABC - the Nittany Lions are 14.5 to 15 point favorites depending on which odds service you believe. IU's schedule is very unkind as they have 3 games in a row against Big Ten top tier programs (tOSU, IA, and PSU). Nittany Lions win but fail to cover.

MN at NE at 2:30 on BTN - the Cornhuskers are unanimously 4 point favorites. Neither team has a Big Ten win and I'm going with Frost to rack up his first win in front of the home crowd. NE wins and covers.

#2 tOSU at Purdue at 6:30 on ABC - the Buckeyes are 12 to 13 point favorites depending on which odds service you believe. The two hottest Big Ten quarterbacks face off Saturday night under the lights at Ross Ade Stadium in West Lafayette. The coverage should be pretty annoying as Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler are covering for ABC . tOSU is vulnerable on defense without Bosa and have struggled the first half the past 3 weeks. I'm hoping Blough and the Boilermakers can capitalize on this and overcome half-time adjustments. Purdue's defense had played well the past 3.25 games, but they haven't seen anything like tOSU's passing offense. My heart wants to predict my Boilermakers to pull off the upset, but I'm going with my brain which says Buckeyes win without covering in a high scoring game.

---

Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.

I like your predictions and agree except for the Purdue/OSU game.

Purdue delivers the upset today.

quote:

Originally posted by TKO:
I like your predictions and agree except for the Purdue/OSU game.

Purdue delivers the upset today.

I know at least one guy who would love for you to be right

Late October Big Ten football weather is playing it's usual games.

I don't think my Wisconsin passing prediction is going to pan out as it's snowing and sticking to the field. Wisconsin managed two scores before it hit which is good, and I predict a lot of people will be reevaluating their clothing at half-time (e.g. punter in short sleeves).

UofM @ MSU is on delay due to lightning.

Whoa-a-a! Purdue up by...what?!? 22

11:30 to go

Go iron pounders!!!

I love seeing an upset, always entertaining to see the might college football teams falter...

O-HI-O is gonna go down methinks.

There’s the wooden stake. 6:46 left, back to 22

Someone's making the Buckeyes look silly...

I still think Purdue has this one in hand, but that was a nice play to score

Yeah, the Boilmakers pounded a stake through Urban Meyer's heart. Then then pounded another in with the Pick-6...

Week 8:
This is likely the most obnoxious post I've made since the annual Big Ten thread started many years ago:

#6 UofM at #24 MSU at 11:00 on Fox -

Link to original video: https://youtu.be/EF--ldYIBnM
As expected UofM won and covered. Got started with some bush league antics prior to the kick-off, played a few minutes, and then an 80 minute lighting delay. Pretty good game going into half-time with UofM leading 7-0. MSU drew first blood in the second half by forcing a fumble (2nd since half-time) at UofM's 7 yard line and Lewerke completed a TD pass to tie it at 7. Then, UofM's defense took over and the offense quit coughing up the ball. UofM's offense wasn't flashy but they moved the ball both running and passing and more importantly produced points with both. UofM controls their own destiny for making the Big Ten championship with 2 tough games remaining (PSU at home, and tOSU in Columbus).

MD at #19 IA at 11:00 on ESPN2 - As expected, the Hawkeyes won, covered, and shutdown the Terp's rushing attack. Other than their place kicker, nobody had a standout game on offense, but their o-line did open the way for 8 people to rack up 224 yards rushing and 1 rushing TD.

IL at #23 WI at 11:00 on FS1 - I was correct on winner, but was wrong on WI covering the huge spread. Crazy upper midwest weather with clear at kick-off, nasty snowstorm in for most of first half, good weather at half-time and the remainder of the game. The Badgers lead wire to wire with a dominant running attack, but inconsistent QB play which they likely would not get away with against a better opponent. Hornibrook had 188 yards passing with 3 passing TDs, but he also had 2 INTs that lead to 10 of the Illini's 20 points.

NWU at Rutgers at 11:00 on BTN - I was correct on the Wildcats winning and failing to cover. Also, as predicted they used this opportunity to re-establish the run with 47 rushing plays and 34 passing plays. The spooky thing for NWU fans is that at they were behind at half-time and at one point down 15-7 to the worst team in the Big Ten.

#18 PSU at IU at 2:30 on ABC - As expected, the Nittany Lions won but failed to cover. IU is much better than their 4-4 record, and had the lead in both the 1st quarter and 3rd quarter.

MN at NE at 2:30 on BTN - As predicted, the Cornhuskers won and covered. The Cornhuskers D once again gave up a lot of yards passing, but this week it didn't matter as they lead wire to wire. Much more below in the kudos.

#2 tOSU at Purdue at 6:30 on ABC -

Link to original video: https://youtu.be/vvfpYX-Azlg
I am pumped to be wrong on winner, but correct on spread. I was actually recording the game, and really didn't want to know the score. However, my phone was blowing up last night so the cat was out of the bag when I watched this morning knowing the outcome. Suffice it to say that I'm a very proud Purdue alumni. It was a really hard fought 3 quarters with Purdue leading 7-3 at end of 1st, leading 14-3 at half, 21-6 at end of 3rd. The 4th quarter was exciting with 42 points scored (Purdue had 28) with game ending in a lopsided 49-20. The last time Purdue beat a top 5 team was 1999 when Tiller was coaching and Brees was QB, and #5 MSU was being coached by Nick Saban. The last time Purdue beat a #2 team was tOSU on 10/6/84 which is before any current Purdue player was born. It was absolutely glorious to hear Herbstreit's (former tOSU QB) anguish as tOSU was soundly beat in every aspect of the game (offense, defense, special teams, coaching, and energy) but astoundingly continued their dink and dunk offense. At one point, the Purdue bench was chanting "bring on 'Bama" and Herbstreit poo-pooed it. Of course, I know the Tide would win 999 games out of a 1000, but it would be glorious for a team to start 0-3 and all of the stars to align to get a shot to face them. Purdue is in a 3 way tie for 2nd place in the Big Ten West, and has 3 big games coming up at MSU in E Lansing, at home vs IA (also tied for 2nd), and at home vs WI (also tied for 2nd). Can't overlook the road games against MN and the Hosers either.

Kudos:

UofM's offensive line for 183 yards rushing and 1 rushing TD against the #1 run defense in college football. Honorable mention to RB Higdon for being the workhorse with 144 of those rushing yards.

UofM's QB Patterson for leading the team to a road victory. His stats weren't flashy (212 yards passing, 2 passing TDs, 0 INTs, 1 fumble for loss), but every aspect of the offense is exponentially better with him running the O.

UofM's defense for holding MSU to 79 yards passing and 15 yards rushing. For comparison, last week MSU had 295 yards passing and 123 yards rushing against PSU's D.

IA's defense. They pitched a shutout, held a good running attack to 68 yards rushing, held them to 47 yards passing, snagged an INT, and registered 2 sacks.

WI's offensive line dominated the line of scrimmage. They only gave up 1 sack and lead the way for 357 yards rushing, 4 rushing TDs, and 2 RBs having 100+ yard games.

WI's RB Deal (you read that right). The back-up RB had 111 yards rushing, 2 rushing TDs, longest play from scrimmage for WI (39 yards), and averaged over 9 yards per carry. Honorable mention to their star RB Taylor who had 159 yards rushing without any TDs.

NWU true freshman RB Bowser. Coming into the game, the youngster had 2 carries for a total of 2 yards, but due to injuries got his chance yesterday and made the most of it with 24 carries for 108 yards and 2 TDs.

PSU's QB McSorley. He had a so so game passing (19 completions, 220 yards passing, 0 TD, and 1 INT), but he was the leading rusher with 107 yards and 2 rushing TDs. He is truly a dual threat QB and gives opposing defensive coordinators many sleepless nights.

NE's coach Frost for his first win and taking the ice water bath like a man.

NE's o-line. The lead the way for 276 yards passing and 383 yards rushing.

NE's QB Martinez. The true freshman had 276 yards passing, 3 passing TDs, 0 INTs, 125 yards rushing, and 1 rushing TD. Only thing to improve on was 1 fumble.

NE's RB Ozigbo. He had 12 carries for 152 yards, and 2 TDs.

NE's WR Morgan Jr. He caught 10 passes for 163 yards and 2 TDs.

Purdue's 2nd year coach Brohm and his entire staff. They had an excellent game plan, had the team playing hard yet smart (e.g. tOSU had way more 15 yard penalties), and out coached the #2 team.

Purdue's defense. Their rush defense held the bucknuts to 76 yards, and their pass defense bent but didn't break. For example, when tOSU was in the red zone they held them to 6 points in their first 3 visits to the red zone. Even snagged a pick 6 to completely demoralize the Buckeyes offense.

Purdue's QB Blough. Ordinarily, it's not a compliment to say a QB had an average game, but when you're David Blough an average game is 378 yards passing, 3 passing TDs, and 0 INTs.

Purdue's true freshman WR Moore. The youngster had 170 yards receiving, 2 receiving TDs, 24 yards rushing, 49 yards returning kicks, and 9 yards returning punts. The Heisman chants are premature, but if he stays healthy I expect him to be a contender in future seasons.

Purdue's RB Knox. He had 16 carries for 128 yards (including a 42 yard run), 3 rushing TDs, and caught a pass for 26 yards. A whole lot of tOSU defenders will be thinking of DJ's hard running style as they ice down the next few days.

---

Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.

quote:

Originally posted by TKO:
I like your predictions and agree except for the Purdue/OSU game.

Purdue delivers the upset today.

Good call!

Great call, TKO! I'll bet nobody who read this thread thought you were right. I know I didn't. Purdue?? Nah.

You nailed it!

Gotta give kudos where they are deserved. Michigan finally is playing like their fans have been claiming for several years. Their defense was outstanding! Gotta say as a MSU grad I am absolutely sick & tired of the pre- and post game shit that comes out of both schools and fan bases. Like a bunch of damn kids playing a kids game. Shame on everyone involved. After all, it is just a damn football game.

Also all credit to the Boilermakers for an absolutely stunning performance!! They are really rounding into shape as the season progresses. I was really impressed with the play of their offensive line for what little time I got to watch.

Rondale Moore had 12 receptions for 172 yards and 2TDs. It's going to be hard to keep him at Purdue for 4 years.

His game highlights:

https://youtu.be/yPYsBLh_WIs