Big Ten Weekend Preview: Week 3

Not the best weekend for the Big Ten after tough weekend last week when the top 2 teams took loses on the road. 

Friday:

Portland State @ Oregon (-57.5):  Well, I guess this is the reward for playing Boise and OK State in the first two weeks. 

Saturday: 

Kent State @ OSU (-52.5): Well, I guess this is the reward for traveling to Texas and playing bad in the 4th. 

Buffalo @ PSU (-41.5): Is this MAC vs. Big Ten Week?  PSU 41 Buffalo 13

Akron @ Minn (-23.5):  Golden Gophers looked pretty bad last week against the SEC.  This week the Zips.  Minn 28 Akron 10 

EMU @ Wisconsin (-23.5):  Don't sleep on the Eagles!  Wisconsin 21 EMU 17 

S.Illinois @ Illinois (-38.5): Illinois lost to Duke last weekend.  Enough said.   Illinois 24 SIU 7 

USC (-21.5) @ Rutgers:  What is this?  A conference game?  USC does not travel well to the East, but Rutgers doesn't play well anywhere.  USC 38 Rutgers 21 

N. Iowa @ Iowa (-40.5):  Is Iowa good? Not sure this game will be a proof point.  Iowa 44 NIU 9

North Dakota @ Nebraska (-24.5):  Is this Dakota team good?  Is this Nebraska team good? Does anyone want to watch this game? Nebraska 31 NDU 17

E Wash @ UW (-42.5) These are really some good games. UW 51 EWU 6

MSU @ ND (-29.5):  Wow that is a high line.  Is ND 30 points better then Sparty?  I doubt it.  ND 33 MSU 14

Colorado @ NW (-3.5):  This is a sneaky good game.  I like Coach Prime in this one.  Colorado 24 NW 20

VT (-3) @ Maryland:  Another good sneaky game.  James Franklin back in the Big Ten! I have no idea on either team, I like Maryland at home.  Maryland 17 VT 14

Purdue @ UCLA (-14): Talk about a body clock game for the Boilermakers, this game kicks at 11:00 EST that is 10:00 Boilermaker time.  That means trouble.  UCLA 31 Purdue 28 

Good Big Ten games after dark! 

Wolverine Wednesday: What Are We Doing?

CBS and ESPN are struggling with being media companies and being profitable.  So here is a question for you:  Why are they paying these guys in the booth so much?  Tony Romo which CBS clearly wants to cleary cut ties with gets paid $1M per game.  Monday Night Football host Joe Buck just signed a $108M extension.  For working one night a week for 17 - 18 weeks? 

These companies really think people are tuning in for the folks in the booth and not the game?  This entire industry needs a reboot.  

• University of Miami is moving from adidas to Nike next year. 

• Oklahoma needs to be very careful with New Mexico this weekend. 

• WMU has Boise State in two weeks.  It would be great for Michigan if they are ranked 

• The Dabo vs. Capel Bill might have one of those old pro wrestling, "Loser leaves town games this weekend'

• It makes me proud and pissed that Coach Minter and Coach Mac are seeing so much success in the NFL.  Michigan's program would be in a different place if Jesse Minter was our head coach right now. 

Michigan Tuesday: The Vanilla Gorilla

Coach Whitt has some Harbaugh coaching similarities.  Both are a bit of old school and both are little different.  Evidently Coach Whitt has nicknamed John Henry Daley: The Vanilla Gorilla.  I don't like it, I love it! 

Readers be prepared, I will be running with this often! 😃

Speaking of the Vanilla Gorilla, he was named the Big 10 Defensive Player of the Week. 

• Iowa game with be a 3:30 Kick on CBS, this weeks game is also a 3:30 kick 

• Sounds like Babalola continues to have injury issues and won't be back for some time 

• Two Freshmen I expect to see more is TE Mason Bonner and DE Tariq Toney who was held twice on pass rush against Oklahoma.  Mason made a nice catch but had a foot out of bounds. 

• Oregon 5-star WR commit Dakota Guerrant was in A2 for the Oklahoma game

• Kerry Coombs has done a really nice job with the Special Teams units 

• Excited to see the Defensive line with Carter Meadows who will be back from injury this Saturday. 

Michigan Monday: Too Early Look at UTEP

The Michigan Wolverines are 2-0, when I turned off the TV and was in the shower two weeks ago, I wondered to myself if this season was a total wash already after 1 huge upset by Western Michigan.  Now, Michigan is sitting at 2-0 and I'm not sure I even believe it.  

Michigan lost a little shine off its win after Ohio State lost its big lead in Austin and The Ducks got embarrassed by OK State.  But I will take a quiet upset win, where Michigan's defense was dominate outside a couple bad plays. 

Now it's "a get better week" against UTEP who lost to Oklahoma by 51 points just over a week ago. 

UTEP:

Best Win: Texas Southern 51-10 

Worst Loss: Oklahoma 51-0

Pass: 162.6 yards Per (201st)

Run: 182 per (58th)

Score: 25.5 (91st) 

Give up: 30.5 (118th) 

This team has a weird 51 thing going on.  They lost by 51 in week 1 and scored 51 in week 2.  Maybe we can keep that trend going by the Wolverines scoring 51 on Saturday afternoon. Here is a deep thought, is North Dakota State the best team in the new Mountain West in their first year of FBS Football?

Michigan is in no place to overlook any opponent and there is plenty to work on this week in practice.  The Wolverines need to find a functional offense and clean up some play on the defensive side of the ball. 

Not to mention, a ranked Iowa team coming in 2 weeks, a ranked PSU rolling in 3 weeks, and the National Champs in just over a month.  A trip for the "Little Brown Jug" is in there as well. 

• Michigan now #19 in both polls 

• Nice to see the National Champs back together on Saturday picking up their rings and enjoying an upset football win! 

• Quick question for the BHB Inmates: How does Cole Sullivan transfer to OK and not even start? He did make one nice play that I saw on TV.  He would be the star of the Michigan Defense right now.