Gopher Football
Big Ten update
Well I’ll be honest, I didn’t see some of these games coming. Let’s jump back to last week. Ohio State looked sluggish and Purdue looked okay when the Buckeyes beat the Boilers 20-6. Then, Michigan State looked great and Northwestern looked like they were coming back down to earth after the Spartans beat the Wildcats 37-20. So this week you might have thought that Purdue would be favored against Northwestern and Michigan State would be ready to upset the Buckeye’s. Uh, not so much.
Ohio State looked like they’re for real once again when they destroyed Michigan State, 45-7. The Buckeyes are still protecting Terrelle Pryor by not letting him pass to much, but when he did pass yesterday Pryor did a great job. He was 7-9 of passing in the first half for 116 yards and one TD. But after Ohio State built up a 28-0 halftime lead, Pryor attempted only two passes in the second half, both incomplete. The Buckeye rout has re-energized the hype with their game against Penn State next weekend.
The Gopher next opponent, Purdue, is not looking good. The Boilers had 5 turnovers and 9 penalties in their 48-27 loss to Northwestern. Purdue QB Curtis Painter got yanked in the second quarter, but his replacement, Joey Elliot separated his shoulder just before halftime. One would assume that means Painter will be the quarterback this weekend against the Gophers. The Boilermaker defense, which had played well the prior two games, gave up 451 yards and 48 points to Northwestern (although many of those TD’s were the result of short fields from turnovers.) Purdue is now 0-3 in the Big Ten.
Wisconsin’s shocking decline continued when they were routed by Iowa, 38-16. Iowa running back Shonn Greene was spectacular, rushing for 217 yards and 4 TD’s in just over three quarters of work. Wisconsin’s problems at quarterback continue. And these are serious problems. This week Dustin Sherer got the start, but he was largely ineffective, throwing only 17-34 for 161 yards, 0 TD’s and 2 int’s.
National update
Nationally, it was a pretty anti-climactic week. The highest ranked team to lose was #11 Missouri, and most of the games involving top-15 teams were blowouts. Texas won by 25, Penn State by 29, Oklahoma by 14, USC by 69, Texas Tech by 18, Oklahoma State by 28, and Ohio State by 38. The only two competitive games in the top-10 were both in the SEC. Alabama turned down Mississippi’s comeback 24-20, while Georgia held off Vanderbilt, 24-14.
How can you not be impressed with Texas? After flying under the national radar for several weeks, the Longhorns have changed all that in the past two games. After defeating previous #1 Oklahoma last week, Texas avoided the letdown with a big 56-31 win against Missouri. The Longhorns raced out to a 35-0 lead and never looked back. Texas QB Colt McCoy was particularly impressive, meticulously dissecting the Tiger defense the entire game. McCoy threw 32 times, completing an amazing 29 of them for 337 yards, 2 TD’s and 0 int’s. On the year, McCoy has completed a nearly unheard of 81% of his passes. He has a 31 TD’s and just 5 interceptions, which should put him in the favorite of the Heisman Trophy race.
Tulsa jumped into the top-25 this week after running their record to 7-0 with a 77-35 victory over UTEP. As you’d expect, Tulsa posted some crazy offensive numbers. They had 321 yards rushing, 470 yards passing, for 791 total yards. On the season Tulsa had posted scoring totals of 37, 45, 56, 56, 62, 63 and now 77 points. So far though, Tulsa has not played any BCS Conference teams. That will change in two weeks travel to Arkansas, so we’ll find out then just how good they are.
Florida State is back in the rankings. They’re #24 after beating North Carolina State on Thursday night.
One team to surprise me a bit this week was Pittsburgh. The Panthers have now won 5 games in a row after their opening-week upset loss to Bowling Green. This week the Panthers defeated a decent Navy team, 42-21.
Big games next weekend
#7 Oklahoma State at #1 Texas ““ (2:30 pm, ABC regional). This is Texas’ 3rd of 4 straight games against top-15 teams. I look for a similar result as Texas ““ Missouri this weekend. Oklahoma State should be able to score, but they do not have a top notch defense, so Colt McCoy and Texas should continue to have their way on offense. Prediction: Texas 48 ““ Oklahoma State 28.
#3 Penn State at #10 Ohio State ““ (7:00 pm, ABC). This is the game of the year in the Big Ten. Ohio State may have found the form that had them ranked in the top-5 in the preseason, while Penn State has taken on the role of the dominant team in the conference. I think this game will come down to Terrelle Pryor. If he can handle the pressure of a big time game and deliver like he did this week, OSU will win. But if Penn State and get to him and force him into mistakes, it could be a long day for the Buckeyes offensively. Prediction: Penn State 20 ““ Ohio State 14.
#8 Texas Tech at #19 Kansas ““ (11:00 am). This could be one of the more entertaining games of the weekend. Both teams have high flying offenses, and not too much in the way of a defense. Kansas does have two losses, but they’ve both been against ranked teams. Texas Tech on the other hand is 7-0, but has not played a ranked team yet this year. The Red Raiders needed overtime to beat Nebraska at home, and had a closer than expected game against Texas A&M yesterday. Since Texas Tech has not played a team as good as Kansas this season, I’m giving the edge to the Jayhawks. If it’s possible, Texas Tech could also be looking past Kansas with a big game in two weeks against #1 Texas. Prediction: Kansas 41 ““ Texas Tech 34
#9 Georgia at #11 LSU ““ (2:30 pm). This should be a good one, especially if you like low scoring games (which there haven’t been very much of this year). After being humiliated against Florida LSU got back on track with a 24-17 win at South Carolina. Georgia’s only blemish this year was to Alabama, but they have not been dominating many games either. Prediction: LSU: 24 ““ Georgia 21
GopherHole.com Top 25
| Texas | ||||
| Penn State | ||||
| Alabama | ||||
| Oklahoma | ||||
| USC | ||||
| Georgia | ||||
| Oklahoma State | ||||
| Florida | ||||
| Ohio State | ||||
| Texas Tech | ||||
| LSU | ||||
| Missouri | ||||
| TCU | ||||
| Boise State | ||||
| Utah | ||||
| South Florida | ||||
| Kansas | ||||
| BYU | ||||
| Georgia Tech | ||||
| Vanderbilt | ||||
| Pittsburgh | ||||
| Ball State | ||||
| Florida State | ||||
| Minnesota | ||||
| Tulsa |
Dropped Out:
20. Virginia Tech (L @ Boston College, 28-23)
21. North carolina (L @ Virginia, 16-13)
22. Michigan State (L vs. Ohio State, 45-7)
24. South Carolina (L vs. LSU 24-17
These rankings are GopherHole.com’s vote in the CollegeRivals.org Top 25 poll. Its voters are staff members from various independent college football websites just like GopherHole.com. Check back each week throughout the season to see the newest poll. Click Here to view the latest CollegeRivals.org Top 25. (This poll will be updated every Tuesday afternoon through out the sesaon.)
Click Here to view last weeks top 25.