There are some interesting storylines happening all over the NCAA world. I will hit the major highlights of them all. Not the normal things, but the things that 4th and Inches Magazine will look at.
1. We will start in Tallahassee. Oklahoma comes to town to face a very talented Florida State team looking to take care of business. I am pretty sure that the loss last year really left a sour taste in their mouth. There are a lot of great college football players in this game. One match up I really anxious to see is the match-up between Oklahoma WR Ryan Broyles and Florida State CB Greg Reid. Both of these players have the ability to break a game wide open. They are both short and quick. Look for Oklahoma to move Broyles around a bit to keep him off of this match-up. You cannot forget also that Kenny Stills is returning to the team. He is definitely another threat that Stoops has to prepare for. A similar chess match that will be played will be at DE with Brandon Jenkins. Jenkins is coming off of an amazing season (13.5 sacks) and is looking to wreak more havoc this year. Jenkins will be matched up on Sr. Donald Stephenson. But look for Florida State to move him around and possibly take advantage of the freshman starting at RT Daryl Williams. This will give him the opportunity to attack against a less experienced player. EJ Manuel is under the microscope this game against a very good Oklahoma defense. But it is an Oklahoma defense missing the pulse, which is Travis Lewis. The Sooners are very young at LB but talented. We will see if Fisher can get them into biting on play action often and early. Also look for the humidity to play a part in this game. We know that Oklahoma is an upbeat and fast paced offense. There will be cramps, so we shall see how the Sooners adjust to the weather. The Sooners are a formidable opponent for Florida State, but I have them winning the game 31-28.
2. Tennessee and Florida will be a better match up than most think. Florida is coming in to show off their new pro-style offense against Tennessee. But don’t look for Tennessee to just lie down. Charlie Weiss will have a tough time at first figuring out just how fast the defenses are in the SEC. This is definitely not Notre Dame, and you will definitely have to get into the I run it on 3rd down, and if you don’t get it, play the field position game until a great play call moves the ball for you. He has a host of weapons at his disposal. He just has to get accustomed to using them. Muschamp will be making his return to the SEC, but this time not as a coordinator, but a head coach. Muschamp is a very excitable and interactive coach with his players. He manages that defense, and it is loaded with good players. But they are VERY young in that secondary. This is where Tyler Bray comes into effect. Tyler Bray is a very good QB, and very capable of completely nullifying Florida’s speed by making quick reads. He does sport shiny cannon and will definitely be the future of Tennessee football. I have Florida over Tennessee 31-21.
3. Notre Dame will host Michigan State. Now let me just put some things out there. Notre Dame is doing a wonderful job moving the football. Taking care of the football is a completely different topic, though. I think that Kelly made the right move by putting in Tommy Rees and benching Dayne Crist. They have a grown man at WR with Michael Floyd. TJ Jones recovered well after Kelly blew a gasket when that ball hit him in the helmet week 1. Yes he solved the QB problem, but did he solve the secondary problem. All of his secondary are seniors. He has Manti Te’o who was a preseason All-American. This defense is filled with leadership. Yet, they couldn’t stop a paper cut. They are playing awful. If only solving this problem was as easy as solving the QB problem. Michigan State has an amazing Trio in Baker, Cunningham, and Cousins. The only other trio that maybe more potent is Garcia, Lattimore, and Jefferies in South Carolina. This team is potent offensively and I look for them to open it up early. I have Michigan State 38-14
4. The defenseless Tiger Bowl will be going on in Clemson this weekend as Auburn takes on Clemson. Honestly I can’t say why Clemson played so bad against Wofford, but they pulled it out. Auburn looked like that against Utah State; they pulled it out as well. But when these two teams meet, expect a lot of points. Michael Dyer is a beast. And Trotter is not as bad of a QB as most make him out to be. Emory Blake is emerging as a star in Auburn with his game changing speed. But Auburn’s defense couldn’t stop an elderly woman walking across the street. Why is Thorpe still starting? What is it that Chizik not seeing. He was a national championship defensive coordinator; what is going on? The one thing that I can say is that I will not bet against Auburn in a close game. They are 9-0 under Chizik in games decided over 7 points. I have Auburn 42-38
5. The Longhorns are throwing sophomore Case McCoy into the fire as Texas travels to take on UCLA. Garrett Gilbert has lost the confidence of the coaching staff. Mack Brown has come to understand that he is just not the answer. Gilbert is an average QB. He has the tools. He just doesn’t believe in himself. Case McCoy is going to be their best choice. A lot of schools are running a two QB system. But not a lot of them are being successful right now. Texas has a good back in Malcolm Brown that takes over games in the second half. Texas has very young players starting at CB. I don’t think that Texas will be blowing the doors off throwing the ball today. Harsin has to keep it simple for McCoy and Ash. They have too many athletes there to not move the ball. Mike Davis, Jordan Shipley, and Marquise Goodwin are as athletic as any other group of WRs as there are in the country. DJ Monroe has been a spark plug for the offense. Harsin has to find a way to get these guys more involved in the game plan. UCLA has a big physical offensive line and they will try to out muscle the longhorn front four. I am going to take Texas in this game 20-17.
No comments:
Post a Comment