Minnesota @ UNLV- L
Boise St. @ Michigan State- W
Western Mich @ Illinois- W
Indiana St. @ Indiana- W
N. Illinois @ Iowa- W
Michigan vs Alabama- W.... I hope a L, but I have a sneaky suspicion
Miami Oh. @ Da Buckeyes- W
Southern Miss @ Nebraska- W
Northwestern @ Syracuse- L
Ohio @ State Penn- W
Northern Iowa @ Wisky- W
Eastern Kentucky @ Purdunk- W
10-2 sound about right?
9-3. UM wont win.
On another note, a kid in my dorm is a walk on lineman. He said the team is preparing to put up 100 points this week. Also guaranteed me that the first play would go for 30+ yards. Damn he got me pumped for Saturday
Sorry Urban, Woody is still my favorite
Minnesota will beat UNLV... "come on, man!"
Seriously, don't bet on Northwestern. Syracuse is gonna be really good this year and I think they can win the Big East.
/Duff'd It
I don't think there's any reason to hang a hundy on Miami of Ohio....now SCUM on the other hand.....
"I'm One Bad Buckeye, and I approve this message."
I think that both Minnesota and the Harvard of the greater Chicago area will win and I am still 50 /50 on AACC and the possibility of one upset. So I would put the over / under at 11.0
Bama will dominate Scum. I kinda wish Scum would win, better for the BIG10. BIG10 needs that win.
Yeah no way UM wins, especially not without Toussaint.
Is Toussaint officially suspended for the game? I could see hoke letting him play
With the stuff UM has been able to pull out of their asses I would not be surprised if they won. And I think they have a better chance than most people are giving them. This is a young defense guys and Denard will put points on the board no doubt about it.
This is a dangerous game for Alabama though. More so for them than for UM. Bama loses this one they might as well kiss their nat. championship hopes goodbye because there is no way they are going to go undefeated in the SEC with their schedule and that young D. Which either way is fine with me because I would rather see an SEC team not make it to the nat. Championship this year. I personally think we could see a USC v. OK matchup this year possibly.
why cbusbuckeye? he has been pretty firm on players being accountable and tough on punishment
BHardy-
While I think a UM win would ultimately be good for both the conference and for OSU when we win in November, I just don't see it. That Bama O-line is going to dominate, and Denard looked like crap in the bowl game.
@NMAXWELL True, and if I had to bet I would say he doesnt play. However the fact that he is practicing and hasnt been officially ruled out leads me to believe Hoke might play him.
Denard looks like crap alot but the dude can move and somehow last year they found a way to squeeze out wins. No reason I couldnt see him being able to sneak out another. Now when I say this I am in no way hoping for a UM victory btw just a feeling
CBSBUCKEYE- He is letting him practice to make people like you think he might play. If people like you think he might play then he's hoping even one coach down in Bama thinks the same thing and practices for it. If they have to scheme for him, then they are spending less time on who they are actually going to be playing.
BHARDY- I agree with you in part. I think this game is much more forgiving to Michigan than Alabama because of their ranking. People perceive Alabama to be this wrecking force and if they lose to Michigan whom everyone has written off then their title hopes go with it. I don't think it has anything to do with the SEC because I am one who believes that they are not as good as everyone things and believes that the media hypes the SEC and helps them in the polls. Michigan on the other hand can lose and the voters will say well the Tide is good this year so they won't drop as far.
Overall, I think that the over/under should be about 9.5. Using these predictions I could see both Minn. and NW. pulling off surprises, while I could also see Michigan losing and upsets of Nebraska, MSU and Illinois. Southern Miss was pretty potent last season and Nebraska relies on T. Mart too much and who knows where he is in his development. Boise State lost some starters but still seems to remain relevant especially with MSU having lost all their offense except Le'Veon Bell. Western Michigan was a bowl team last year and with the coaching change in Illinois coupled with the fact that they weren't particularly good last year could create an upset. I think the record will end up being 9-3.
I say NW beats Syracuse and Ohio pulls the upset on PSU.... just me though, ;)
10-2 sounds about right - just not the same 10Ws. tSUN loses by double digits.
Miami won't deserve what the Buckeyes hang on them, but I think it's a statement game for the team, the conference and recruiting. Everyone is a bit curious how much the new staff/style will manifest on the field and I believe the Buckeyes are going to steamroll Miami, up 40 before clearing the bench.
Both tSUN with the losses, Sparty and Skunkbears.
Run_Fido's favorite word is strawman.
Bama has two substantial match up advantages over michigan: Saban over Hoke, and Bama OL vs michy DL. Those two will be enough to carry the game.
Can I pick 10.5 wins?
Going down the list, I'd pick the BT team in 11 out 12 contests - if forced to choose - with Michigan being the lone exception.
But I'm just so-so on NW over Syracuse. And it wouldn't shock me if either Minnesota or PSU are upset.
One of the things about Bama that I've noticed is that most of their opponents are afraid to challenge them in the trenches. It's like they concede the power advantage to Alabama and try to outflank them instead of going straight through them. Penn State played them to a draw in the trenches (don't be fooled by the score... PSU held them to season lows in almost every category and forced them to punt six times... LSU only forced five punts in two games combined... if not for awful QB play, PSU may have been able to pull off the upset). What I'm getting at is, I think Hoke is just cocky/arrogant enough/f*cked up in the head enough to challenge Alabama in the trenches.
I go both ways on this game, but my head still says Alabama wins (but they don't cover). But if Alabama's young RBs fumble or AJ McCarron throws a few picks, Michigan could easily pull off the upset.
Oh, and Minnesota beats UNLV. And I think they beat them bad. If the end of last year was any indicator of things to come for the Gophers, they're going to be a very tough and physical team this year. I don't think they compete for a B1G title, but they're at least better to the point that this year they should roll teams like UNLV.
Northwestern-Syracuse? I'm gonna say tossup, although I do think NW's offense is going to be pretty solid this year now that Colter is getting all the reps (Persa never returned to form after the achilles thing, and Colter was arguably better than Persa when he was in).
B1G goes anywhere between 10-2 to 12-0. I don't see anything worse than 9-3.
Humble: good points, but Bama's junior starting RB, Lacy is pretty experienced, rushing for about 675 yds last year. Bama's OL is rugged, talented, experienced. McCarron looks very good. They've been raving about the WRs. Offensively, this Bama team should overpower Michigan.
Bama might be vulnerable on defense, though. Yes, they supposedly have lots of talent, speed, athleticism, but they're inexperienced at LB and in the secondary (where they lost two key back ups). In addition, Saban likes to expose his young players to multiple roles, rotating LBs inside and outside during camp, etc.
Everyone has been stressing that, give Saban a full offseason to prepare, and he can destroy any game plan. Sure, but he's probably been plenty busy teaching his young defenders the basics, as it is. In addition, there's only so much game planning they can do for Denard, who does half his shit on broken plays, anyway. What they need against Denard is discipline - staying in their lanes, not overpursuing, etc.
That's why I'm calling for the over. I see Bama winning something like 34-24.
I hate to say it...but Michigan can handle Bama's offense... and I think Denard will somehow outplay the Bama D by himself... I'll take Michigan 31 Bama 28... if it s a tight one, the longer the game goes on, the more i like Michigan's chances... I think the other one to look out for... Ohio U over PSU... I like Ohio U's team this year and PSU's team, at least on paper, isn't impressive at all... Bobcats 28 Penn State 17... and Northwestern over Syracuse... the Orange are flat out terrible...
Kind of where I'm at Fido. 34-24 is about what I see (like I said, winning, but not covering the spread, which I believe is at 12 points right now). That's also within the realm of winnability for Michigan if they can get good play from denard and some turnovers. But Alabama's too disciplined to count on turnovers. As for Lacy, well, we'll see. He's been pretty banged up. He's not Ingram or Richardson to begin with, and I don't think he's going to be 100% for week 1. It could get interesting. I wonder what Mattison has up his sleeve as well. I could see a lot of "bend, don't break" defensive play from Michigan (just like the Sugar Bowl) where Michigan concedes the ground attack early in drives but then starts run-blitzing inside the 30 to make the QB beat the Michigan D with his arm. The advantage of this is that the defense has a smaller zone to cover for the passing game inside teh 30 and can take someone out of coverage to stop the run. Gives up a lot of field goals, but it can also work.
From the 18: I think PSU's defense is going to give Ohio a rude awakening. I don't know how the PSU offense is going to look (I think it may struggle, but not against OU... not with BOB at the helm), but the defense should be stout. Ohio U did not play a single team last year whose defense was/is even close to being in the same league as PSU. I'll take PSU 24-14.
I am rooting for scUM. I hate to admit it, but I think scUM gets steam rolled. Not in the score, I am expecting a similar score to last year when PSU played them tough. I think it will be a defensive struggle with a touchdown and 2 FG in the first half, then maybe 10-14 points interspersed in the second half, 17-10 Bama
Northwestern is going to start 6-0.
*** And no, I am not smoking anything.
Tomorrow
pretty good opinions.