Thursday, September 22, 2016

WEEK 3 REVIEW AND WEEK 4 PICKS!!!!

Well if that wasn’t Statement Saturday, I don’t know what else to call it. Multiple ranked vs ranked matchups and games going down to the wire except in Louisville! Statements were made by both teams and players and we are finally starting to learn who might be there in the end and who definitely won’t be!

Statement #1

Louisville

This was easy! Gotta welcome Bobby Petrino back to the top of college football, showing his offensive genius is still very much alive and well. He has team loaded with weapons, and a defensive that plays fast and physical. They completely DISMANTLED the number 2 team in the country Florida State 63-20 and honestly that scores deceptive. It wasn’t that close. I had questions about Florida State’s offensive line before this game and Louisville capitalized in every way. Freshman Deondre Francois looked shaky in his first road test and Dalvin Cook was again held in check in the run game.

Statement 1A

Lamar Jackson

As of right now, the Heisman race is pretty much Lamar Jackson and no one else. Noone else is impacting his team the way he is. I mean 18 touchdowns in 3 games…wow! He’s running like Michael Vick out here! His passing game reminds me of Cam Newton’s actually, very similar footwork and the way they get rid of the ball. He is literally toying with top tier athletes and it’s been AMAZING to watch! A major test still awaits in 2 weeks when Louisville travels to Clemson, but for now, its Jacksons world and we’re just visiting.

Statement #3

Ohio State

I’ll say this. This was more so of a statement to the sports world, than myself. I knew Ohio State would be a REALLY REALLY good team. I know Oklahoma wouldn’t be as a good. As you saw in last week’s blog, I picked this game to be a blowout, and that’s exactly what it was. Oklahoma lost their best weapon on offense when Sterling Sheperd went to the NFL last year, and several members on defense. Also, I was never blown away with Baker Mayfield. Of course, the dis to the Buckeye defense by BACKUP quarterback Austin Kendall didn’t help! Ohio State is just full of playmakers, a fast defense, a playmaking quarterback who keeps getting better and a top 3 coach in the country! I fully expect to see them in the playoff.

Statement #4

Michigan State

Now, I picked Michigan State to win this game but not to the level where they would completely dominate Notre Dame. The final score definitely doesn’t indicate how it all went down. Unfortunately they stopped being aggressive when they were up but they controlled the game. This was supposed to be a “down” year for them but they’re a team who I can see challenging Ohio State for the Big 10 title.

Who’s out?

Of course, there comes a time where teams we thought would be contenders will eliminate themselves from playoff contention and a few already have even though it’s only week 3!

Florida State: You can’t lose by 50 and consider yourself a playoff team

Oklahoma: 2 L’s before October and you don’t have a chance

Notre Dame: See above

USC: That program is falling, in every way…2 L’s before October doesn’t help

Ole Miss: Ole Miss might be the 2nd best team in the SEC!! But 2 collapses and 2 L’s gets you on the “Out” list.

Week 4 Picks:

So we went 4 for 6 last week, making up 10 for 16 on the year! Hope we can continue the upward swing!

Wisconsin (11) VS Michigan State (8)

Major game for Wisconsin! You gotta wonder if they were looking ahead to this game when they struggled to beat Georgia State last week. Wisconsin already has a win against a solid LSU team but Michigan State is a different animal. They showed last week against Notre Dame that they could beat a team by scoring with a balanced attack and a smothering defense. Wisconsin better be ready!

Michigan State 27
Wisconsin 17

Georgia (12) VS Ole Miss (23)

Ole Miss hasn’t benefitted much from a tough schedule early. They had an all-time collapse against Florida State when they were up 28-6, and also were up 24-3 against Alabama and lost both games! Chad Kelly has been up and down and Ole Miss needs a more consistent Chad Kelly to challenge for the SEC West. They’re defensive front 7 has been good, but they’re secondary has struggled mightily while dealing with injuries. I still don’t know what Georgia is. They still don’t seem to have settled on a quarterback and the defense has been bending but luckily not always breaking. I think this is just the game OIe Miss needed to attempt to turn their season around.

Ole Miss 37
Georgia 27

Florida (19) VS Tennessee (14)

This one’s easy! We don’t pick Tennessee to win anything anymore. Florida may be without starting quarterback Luke Del Rio, but they won’t be without that GREAT defense of theirs.

Florida 20
Tennessee 10

Arkansas (17) VS Texas A&M (10)

I am REALLY anticipating this matchup! Arkansas’s offense has been very solid to start the year while A&M’s defense has been great so far! Trevor Knight is still trying to get the offense going and that should continue to improve as he has weapons. Kevin Sumlin’s team might have the best wide receiving corps in the country, much less the SEC. The speed and size of these guys will likely give Arkansas lots of trouble and A&M has the best secondary in the SEC in my opinion.

Texas A&M 37
Arkansas 23

Stanford (7) VS UCLA

UPSET SPECIAL!!!!! This is my pick for the upset of the week! UCLA is solid and has a quarterback who one day will be a good NFL starter. Yea, Stanford destroyed USC, but USC is terrible. Somebody has to get upset and this is my pick. Even though I respect David Shaw, I think they slip up on the road this week.

UCLA 29
Stanford 23

Clemson (5) VS Georgia Tech

Thursday nights have been an upset alert game for years and tonight is no different. Clemson coming off a beating of South Carolina State goes against the triple option attack of Georgia Tech. I think Clemson’s offense got some confidence back after a blowout win last week. They should be ready to beat a solid, yet not very talented Georgia Tech team. It’ll be closer than some may think however, and I hope Clemson isn’t looking ahead to the showdown in 2 weeks with Louisville.

Clemson 31
Georgia Tech 17


So there we have it! College football just keeps better and here’s another week for the contenders to separate themselves from the pretenders! Who will make statements in week 4? Will anybody come close to challenging Lamar Jackson for the Heisman? So many questions that need answers!

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