NCAA Football

Last week was pretty good for MSU, but not for the rest of my teams (Auburn, Florida State, Toledo almost got Fresno State in double OT). Other than Ringer putting his face in the Heisman race with 200+ yards for the second consecutive week and scoring two more TD's (which is below his college football leading 16.5 point-per-game average) MSU didn't even look great. Hoyer needs to prove that all those rushes don't make him rusty during the game by completing more than half his passes for once. It's not like it's tough to hit Mark Dell or BJ Cunningham. Fortunately next year's QB battle between former Oklahoma Sooner Keith Nichol and Sophomore Kirk Cousins should yield a better starter, plus both receivers will be around for at least two more years and four star Freshman Fred Smith may start getting playing time next year. We should be set on skill players for quite some time. Losing Otis and Ringer will obviously hurt, but with a better QB and more talent in the pipes next year will certainly not be a rebuilding year.

This week against Indiana look for more of the same. If the Hoosiers can give up 224 yards rushing and 463 overall to a MAC team, they are in for a surprise when Ringer shows up. Barring some kind of injury or an absolute blowout, I expect Ringer to put up more than his 175 yard-per-game average and the MSU offense to click for 500+ total yards. Last year in EL they managed 52 points in a blowout, and there is no reason to expect that Indiana could stop that from happening again, especially without their entire starting backfield. MSU was also very close to putting up consecutive shutouts, and with an offense that's essentially based solely on Kellen Lewis, this is not a favorable scenario for Indiana. Final Predictions: Ringer gets his third consecutive game of 200 yards and three more TD's. Hoyer throws for 300 more and three TD's on a beat up Indiana secondary. Look for MSU's offensive game to be similar to the EMU game with a little more balance and a breakout game for the receivers.

Even with a good MSU defense, look for another shootout- Final Score: MSU 48 Indiana 20

UM @ Wisconsin
Bad news for Michigan. Giving up 35 points against a poor ND team does not bode well for the Wolverines. Wisconsin leads UMich in every single offensive statistical category and scoring defense. Had they played anyone worthwhile, they would have given up more yardage as well. Last week Wisconsin came out flat against a decent Fresno State team, but came up big when necessary. They will need to be better in the Big Ten. PJ Hill won't have as good a game against a tougher Michigan Defense, but Wisconsin is balanced enough to outscore an awful UM offense. U of M won't beat themselves again, but Wisconsin is a much better team than Notre Dame. Now that the QB and RB situations are settled the Wolverines can finally start working on their system...next week. Wisconsin's secondary is much better than ND's, but I expect Michigan to be the best they've been this year.

Final Score: UM 17 Wisconsin 31