Standings
1 | 65 | |
2 | 60 | |
3 | 59 | |
4 | 59 | |
5 | 58 | |
5 | 58 | |
5 | 57 | |
5 | 57 | |
9 | 57 | |
9 | 56 | |
9 | 56 | |
12 | 56 | |
12 | 55 | |
12 | 55 | |
15 | 54 | |
15 | 54 | |
15 | 52 | |
18 | 52 | |
18 | 49 | |
18 | 48 | |
21 | 48 | |
22 | 46 | |
23 | 39 | |
24 | Nittany White Out | 26 |
Now playing in select theaters near you
No. 23 Michigan State at Northwestern
The Wildcats are 5-0 and haven't started a season 6-0 since 1962. Michigan State has played better competition (ed. note - it pains me that I have to include Notre Shame in the "better competition" list but they are better than Syracuse, Southern Illinois, and Ohio) but they lost a tough road game at Cal. Statistically these two teams are almost identical, both have strong running backs in Tyrell Sutton and Javon Ringer and Northwestern quarterback C.J. Bacher threw for 520 yards against Sparty last season in a 48-41 victory. So I guess we'll go down the ever dangerous common opponent path and look at each team's game against Iowa.
Michigan State vs. Iowa (W 16-13)
Northwestern vs. Iowa (W 22-17)
It took a key fourth down stop for Michigan State to hold on to the victory but they got manhandled by Iowa running back Shonn Greene who ran for 157 yards. Northwestern had to rally from 14 points down and, like MSU, they had to keep Iowa out of endzone on four attempts from inside the 10 with fewer than 2 minutes to play. Northwestern was handed 5 turnovers by Iowa. So, there really isn't anything that stands out so I'll go with the home team.
TNL's Trooper: Northwestern
Iowa at Indiana
As stated previously Iowa has made a habit of losing really close games, losing in the last seconds to MSU, Northwestern, and Pitt. Iowa's Shonn Greene outplayed Javon Ringer and quarterback Ricky Stanzi is pretty efficient completing 65% of his passes on the year. Indiana will make no apologies about it, they will give you a healthy dose of Kellen Lewis who leads the team in passing and rushing. Buuutttt, Iowa's defense was the only team to slow down Javon Ringer yet this season and I can't overlook Indiana's loss to Minnesota last week.
TNL's Trooper: Iowa
Toledo at Michigan
Toledo is 1-4 in the MAC and Michigan is coming off a 45-20 thrashing by the hands of the Fighting Illini Juice Williams. I don't think I need to say more.
TNL's Trooper: Michigan
Purdue at (12) Ohio State
Ohio State is coming off of its biggest win of the season when Terrelle Pryor took the Buckeyes on a 12-play, 80-yard game-winning drive to beat the Badgers late in the game last week. Having said that, Pryor did throw an interception and get sacked four times in the victory and no matter how good he's played he still is a freshman. Purdue's defense will have its hands full and there's way too many questions at quarterback and in the kicking game for me to take Purdue on the road.
TNL's Trooper: Ohio State
Minnesota at Illinois
Minnesota has the better record in this game (5-1) compared to (3-2) but Illinois just got done manhandling Michigan and the two loses are to PSU and Missouri. The Illini are statistically better in Total, passing and rushing yards, and points scored. Juice Williams is on a roll and Minnesota hasn't faced anything like him yet. Again, Minnesota is on the rise but they won't be able to contain Juice.
TNL's Trooper: The Fighting Zookers
(6) Penn State at Wisconsin
Penn State has started conference play 3-0 only once since 2000 and Wisconsin is trying to avoid going 0-3. The Last time Penn State visited Camp Randall Stadium Paterno tore up his knee and Penn State got beat up in an ugly loss. So I should be taking the Badgers right? Na.
TNL's Trooper: Penn State
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2 comments:
Dude, you're embarassing us. Time to ride the pine and leave this to the professionals.
Dude, where's our professional Blue & White Roundtable at?
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