Big news for a Wednesday as Tom Osborne announced his retirement as athletic director effective January 1st. Kinda curious timing, but I suppose when you're Tom Osborne you can do pretty much whatever you want in Nebraska.
As bittersweet and as exciting as the news is, there's still 2/3 of a football season between now and January 1st, and we hope that the news is not too distracting with such a big game this weekend. Kinda makes the alternate uniforms seem unimportant, right? Let's see what's on tap:
(all rankings AP)
Nebraska
Being a former history major, I'm a big believer in the old axiom about learning from the past or risk repeating it. If last week seemed a lot like SDSU from 2010, then the game against Wisconsin definitely has parallels with the Texas game a few weeks later. A revenge game against a big name opponent? Check. The said opponent experiencing uncharacteristic struggles that have them limping into Lincoln? Check. A huge recruiting weekend planned for the big game? Check. The limping opponent upsetting a surprisingly listless Husker team? We'll see. This is the type of game that Pelini's teams have struggled with in the past. There's absolutely no reason that Wisconsin should come anywhere close to knocking the Big Red off at home, but on the roller coaster that has been the Husker program recently, there's several edgy riders ahead of this contest.
Offensively, the Huskers are the class of the Big Ten, and near the top of a lot of important statistical categories nationally. Other than a second half meltdown at UCLA, and a few annoying turnovers against Arkansas State, the offense has been fairly unstoppable on the ground, and good bordering on great through the air. If Rex Burkhead is at full speed and if Tim Beck is smart enough to rely on him, the offense should continue their success against a decent, but not great Wisconsin defense. If turnovers and/or penalties come back to haunt us, then the game might fall into the hands of the defense
If only for this game, that might not be too big of a problem. Wisconsin has been perfectly awful on offense so far this year, only managing 26 points against FCS Northern Iowa, and 10 points against Oregon State. The Badgers managed to get their offense running a little better against UTEP, but Nebraska's defense is a considerable step up from the Miners. New starting QB Joel Stave throws pretty well, but he's far from a dual threat. If Nebraska can shut down the Badgers run game (far from a given), then you have to like their chances against a pocket QB. It will be interesting to see how the Huskers adjust to a more physical, two tight end, power offense after 4 weeks of spread, but I just can't bring myself to worry much after seeing the Badgers do so poorly to start the season. I like the Blackshirts' performances at home so far, and I think we have the goods to shut down a bad Badger offense.
Las Vegas has Nebraska as an 11 point favorite, but I think the margin will be a little bigger than that. Nebraska needs to make a statement and I think they will: 31-10 Big Red plus or minus 7.
Big Ten
Week 5 and it feels like the season is already over. There's tons of negativity swirling around the Big Ten right now, but I think it will diminish as conference play gets under way. If the Big Ten champion can come through conference play 12-1 (looking at you Nebraska), then it's possible that the conference is not totally eliminated from the National Championship race if Florida State chokes away a game, and the PAC 12 does its usual cannibalistic thing. Sure it's a long shot, but hope is the lifeblood of college football.
Saturday:
#14 Ohio State at #20 Michigan State: In big games I usually pick the team with the better defense, but after watching Michigan State against Boise and Notre Dame, I just don't think they have the offensive potency to outscore Braxton Miller and Ohio State, and the Spartan's defense will wear down eventually. This game comes down to Braxton Miller vs Le'Veon Bell. Which Heisman candidate can pull his team to victory?
Minnesota at Iowa: In a study of contrasting momentum we have the rolling Gophers against the staggering Hawkeyes. The 2-2 Hawkeyes badly need this win to turn their season around and save their head coach, the 4-0 Gophers need 7 wins to make it to a bowl game, and this is one of their easier opportunities. Minnesota has won two straight against Iowa and I think they'll make it three.
Penn State at Illinois: Two 2-2 teams face off with very different levels of momentum. The Nittany Lions have won two straight and look better every week, while the Illini are exactly opposite. Adding a little spice to this Leaders division matchup is the fact that Illinois aggressively recruited Penn State players immediately after the sanctions were handed down this summer. I like coach Bill O'Brien, and I think this will be one of his easier wins this year.
Northwestern vs Indiana: Another study in contrasting momentum has the surprising Wildcats facing off against an Indiana team that looked to be improving until they lost their starting QB for the season to a broken leg. Northwestern has far more talent than the Hoosiers, and has faced much better competition, so I don't anticipate any struggle for the Wildcats to reach 5-0.
Purdue vs Marshall: The contrarian Boilermakers are the only Big Ten team playing outside of the conference this weekend, and though it should be a decent test against the Thundering Herd, Purdue needs to dominate this game to build steam for a run at the Leaders division title. There's no reason the Boilermakers can't win this game, but they have to go out and do it.
Top 25 rundown:
Bold print denotes winner
#1 Alabama vs Ole Miss
#2 Oregon at Washington State
#3 LSU vs Towson
#4 Florida State at South Florida
#5 Georgia vs Tennessee
#6 South Carolina at Kentucky
#8 Stanford at Washington
#9 West Virginia vs #25 Baylor
#12 Texas at Oklahoma State
#14 Ohio State at #20 Michigan State
#15 TCU at SMU
#17 Clemson at Boston College
#18 Oregon State at Arizona
#19 Louisville at Southern Miss
#22 Nebraska vs Wisconsin
#24 Boise State at New Mexico
Game of the Week: Lots of teams taking a week of between the non-conference and conference schedules. Still some good games this week in the SEC and Big 12. As weak as the conference has looked so far though, it's the Big Ten carrying the week 5 schedule with #14 Ohio State at #20 Michigan State and #22 Nebraska vs Wisconsin.
Most overrated team: Definitely Oregon State. Beating Wisconsin and UCLA is impressive, but both games were in Corvallis which has always been charmed against rated teams not named Oregon.
Most underrated team: Gonna go with TCU. Their defense is almost as dominant as Alabama's and I think their offense will eventually get out of its own way. Best team in Texas? We'll see in a few weeks.
3 Things you'll hear too much about:
* Tom Osborne's retirement
* Matt Barkley's struggles
* Alabama's invincibility
3 Things you won't hear enough about:
* TCU
* Northwestern
* Bill O'Brien's coaching acumen
My Heisman top 5:
1.Geno Smith, West Virginia QB:
Smith looked a little more human last week, but he's still head and shoulders ahead of everyone else at this point, his games get tougher starting this week
2. Collin Klein, Kansas State QB: His stats weren't gaudy, but Klein did a fantastic job leading the Wildcats to an upset in Norman. If K-State keeps winning he might have a chance
3. EJ Manuel, Florida State QB: Manuel had amazing stats in a win against Clemson, but he's behind Klein because his team was favored and at home
4. Aaron Murray, Georgia QB: Easily the most talented QB in the SEC, he and his Bulldogs need to keep winning and Murray will have a chance at this
5. De'Anthony Thomas, Oregon RB: Thomas didn't do much against Arizona, but he didn't have to. He needs to play more third and fourth quarters to keep his stats up and stay alive in this race
More to Prove: Johnathan Franklin, Le'Veon Bell, Sammy Watkins, Braxton Miller
Darkhorses: Manti Teo, Jarvis Jones, Rex Burkhead, Taylor Martinez
Husker NFL MVP week 1:
Not
a great week for former Huskers again as the teams with the most Huskers (Lions, Redskins) lost. Punter Sam Koch of the Baltimore Ravens gets this award for flipping the field with his 45 yard average and twice pinning Tom Brady and Co inside the 20.
That
wraps up this week's preview. Saturday is an important day for the Big Red and the rest of the nation as the appetizers are mostly finished and we get into the meat of the schedule. Time to see what each team is made of, and I'm really excited.
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