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Despite being in the MAC, Jerry Kill had some success against the Big Ten in his three-year tenure with Northern Illinois. Kill’s Huskies beat Purdue in 2009, and beat Minnesota in 2010, which was one of the major factors in the firing of Tim Brewster.
Now, Kill has begun to turn around the Minnesota program he beat 10 months ago. But Kill doesn’t think success at NIU will necessarily translate directly to success at Minnesota. [Read more…]
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The NCAA is set to determine the fate of the Ohio State football program on August 12 and while no one knows exactly how hard the Committee on Infractions will come down on the Buckeyes, it is safe to say a number of sanctions are well within the realm of possibility. Couple the upcoming hearing with the fact that Ohio State will be headed into the 2011-2012 season without their head coach of the past decade, their former starting quarterback headed to the NFL (CFL UFL?), and their No. 1 wide receiver, running back and starting offensive tackle gone for the first five games of the season and you have what we in the biz like to call uncertainty.
By: Jeff Beck
Follow paulmbanksBy Paul Schmidt
Welcome back to week five of my fearless prognostications! Lots of good last week, and let’s face it, I was due. Even though my Illini let me down (and by let me down, I mean gave me a swirly for roughly 3 and a half hours), I was able to come up with an over .500 week, and a win against my competitor, Peter Christian.
Granted, I received a luck-of-the-Irish push from the Houston Cougars, but a little luck never hurt anyone.
So coming off a solid 2-1-1 week, I’ve decided to bring in someone special for this week’s competition, someone who…well, if I don’t win this week, I think that I’ll just let her make the picks the rest of the season. That’s right, her…this week’s guest is my Mom.
As for her gambling resume, she doesn’t really have one outside of NCAA bracket pools and participating in a weekly NFL confidence pool. In fact, I explained point spreads to her prior to her making her picks — though to her credit she pretty much knew what was going on there.
On to this week’s games!
Penn St.(-7) at Illinois
(MOM) The pundits, with good reason, have all picked Penn St. I will go out on a short skinny limb and say Illinois will win or at least fall within their 7 point spread on Sat. I’m of the opinion Penn St. is overrated and Illinois and their coaching staff will come out of hibernation this weekend. Plus, I NEVER bet against “My Team”! ILL! Pick: Illinois +7
(Paul Schmidt) Sigh…I-N-I. Is Penn St. overrated? I don’t know…Iowa’s defense was just unbelievable last Saturday, so I don’t know that that is an accurate measure. However, after last week’s debacle, there’s no way I’ll be able to pick them ever again. Personally, I think an angry, angry Penn State team rolls this week. Pick: PSU -7
Northwestern at Purdue(-7)
(MOM) I like Northwestern. I’m not sure why except I think they have the better personnel. They can win this game easily if they just stop with all the mistakes. That’s the real question, whether they can get it all together. Pick: Northwestern +7
(PS) Northwestern is quickly moving into Illinois territory with the inconsistency they are playing. How one of the nations’ best defenses returns almost everyone and then plays as badly as they have this season is mystifying to me. Make no mistake, this is a must-win for the Wildcats, but Purdue isn’t as bad as people think. They looked really good against Notre Dame last week, and while that might not be a glowing review, I think it will be enough to cover at home. Pick: Purdue -7
Central Michigan (-8) at Buffalo
(MOM) DAH! Central Michigan all the way. A great “D” that wins games add a prolific quarterback and you’ve got the Central Michigan Chippewas. Pick: Central Michigan -8
(PS) I love my Chippewas. I love Dan LeFevour. And one thing my mom didn’t add, Buffalo is awful. Temple routed them last week. ‘Nuff said. Pick: Central Michigan -8
Toledo(-4.5) at Ball St.
(MOM) Ball State will be desperate to win their first game this weekend. But their inexperienced cornerbacks will not be able to contain Toledo’s quarterback. It looks like Toledo will come out on top of this contest as Ball State is no match….what a difference a year makes. Pick: Toledo -4.5
(PS) That right there might have been the most in depth, and best, analysis of a MAC team ever posted on this website. Ball St. is really, really bad this season. And let’s not make Toledo sound like world-beaters, either. But they’ve got a really good offense that can put up points, and in a worst-case scenario will simply outscore the Cardinals to cover the way-too-small spread here. My thought is they win by 20 at least. Also, with Ball State’s most famous alumnus in hot water this week, you know that’s not a good sign…Pick: Toledo -4.5
Last Week: 2-1-1
For the Season: 7-8-1
By Paul M. Banks
If you follow college football, you know by now that Illinois was pretty much the biggest disappointment coming out of the gate in week one. Of course, that’s another story for another post, but they did get some redemption tonight when they throttled Illinois State 45-17. And they did that pretty much entirely without their star combo of Juice Williams and Arrelious Benn.
More concerning for the Big Ten conference could be the unexpectedly impressive showing by “Directional Michigan,” who gave the conference numerous problems on Saturday. 15 point underdog Central Michigan upset Michigan State 29-27. (Usually, MSU screws up mid-to late season, and dominates in September. Guess they got started early this season)
Eastern Michigan, a 20 point dog to our hometown Northwestern Wildcats, took NU down to the final seconds before junior place-kicker Stefan Demos nailed a 49 yard field goal with 6 ticks left. And Western Michigan lost to Indiana by just four. Maybe it’s a good thing Northern Michigan is a D-II school in the GLIAC conference. And yes, I did have to look that up. And I’m not sure Southern Michigan University exists, but if they did, they’d likely be a thorn in the side of the Big Ten as well. Although other local favorites, Ohio State and Michigan, have looked impressive at times in this young season.
There’s an old football saying claiming, “you improve the most as a team from week one to week two.” If true, it could be a long year for the Big Ten, and maybe a very productive year for the MAC (Mid-American Conference).
“To win a game they way that we did is worrisome across the board. We need to execute better in all aspects. It’s easy when you see the ball run the way it was today, to point the finger at the defensive line. But I’m not prepared to do that yet. I need to watch some video. It is disappointing. We should be better than that,” Northwestern Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald said after the game. To their credit however, they were missing their top DB (CB Sherrick McMannis) and best DT (Adam Hahn). And their best overall player (DE Corey Wootton) may not even be 100% yet.
Another positive to take away is the fact that Northwestern posted its seventh straight victory versus a Mid-American Conference foe, and they avoided their traditional early season slip-up at the hands of a vastly less talented team. Beating EMU by 3 in ’09 is a lot better than losing at home to D-1 laughingstock Duke in ’07 or to D-1AA opponent New Hampshire in ’06. So, the program has shown some growth, at least in the month of September.
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