Baby steps. The offense took a step back last Saturday, despite ripping up Southern Miss for 610 yards...but failed to pick up 20 more when they got to the red zone...5 times. The good news? The pass defense looked...passable. It wasn't as bad as it has been which is great for showing improvement - "But Southern Miss had 447 passing yards!" Well, they were quick (and smart) to abandon the run game, so all they did was basically throw it, not to take advantage of the weak pass defense (which I thought was surprising they didn't come out guns a blazing). The only miscues that the pass defense made was horrible tackling to allow big plays (which helped rack up some pass yards statistically speaking), but that is a staple of a Nebraska defense. So all in all, the score was honestly closer than what the game actually was, Nebraska was fairly outplaying Southern Miss. Except for when they pulled off the onside kick at the beginning of the fourth quarter. I totally called it but Nebraska didn't listen to me. Put me in coach (as the coach).
The Big Red Throwdown:
So with all of that still in mind, Nebraska stumbles into Big Ten play at 2-2, should be 3-1, could be 4-0. I'm not complaining, but the way Nebraska has been playing could make for a long Big Ten schedule. They open up Saturday against Illinois who has actually looked fairly threatening on offense...which could be a problem. Expect a shootout boys and girls.
Fun fact; if I didn't go to Nebraska I'd be at Illinois and this blog would be a totally different bias.
Nebraska O vs Illinois D: Advantage Nebraska. As long as they don't stall in the red zone and pick up 5 Field Goals (*starts Drew Brown in fantasy*)
Nebraska D vs Illinois O: Edge Illinois. Illinois has been firing on all cylinders on offense, which could spell trouble for the Nebraska passing defense (shocker)
Special Teams: Demornay was reportedly practicing this week in limited capabilities, and he may, MAY PLAY in some limited role on Saturday.
Nebraska 41, Illinois 36
The Rest of the Week in College Football:
Now that were about to start conference play, next week this will get mixed up pretty heavily! Wooooooooooo
AP Poll:
1) Ohio State (They're slowly drifting into the deep end and the deeper you go, the more sharks there are)
2) Michigan State (Dooo dooo....)
3) Ole Miss (Dooo dooo....)
4) TCU (Down a Half)
5) Baylor
6) Notre Dame
7) UCLA (Up 2, might scratch them off the overrated list)
8) Georgia (Down 1)
9) LSU (Down 1)
10) Utah (Up 8, sure that whopping over Oregon was shocking but I still have my reservations)
11) Florida State (Down 1)
12) Clemson (Down 1)
13) Alabama (Down 1, the walls might be tumbling down)
14) Texas A&M (Also working their way off the overrated list)
15) Oklahoma
16) Northwestern (Up 1)
17) USC (Up 2)
18) Stanford (Up 3...uhhh)
19) Wisconsin (Up 3)
20) Oklahoma State (Up 4)
21) Mississippi State (NR)
22) Michigan (NR, yikes BYU)
23) West Virginia (NR)
24) California (NR)
25) Florida (NR)
Dropped: Oregon (Ouch), Arizona, Georgia Tech, BYU (Yikes), Missouri
Trending: Toledo, Boise State, Iowa, Texas Tech (despite the loss they still look good, watch out Baylor), Houston, Temple, Miami, Kansas State, Memphis, NC State, Navy
My Top 25:
1) Notre Dame
2) Ohio State
3) Ole Miss
4) Michigan State
5) Texas A&M
6) UCLA
7) Georgia
8) Baylor
9) LSU
10) Alabama
11) TCU
12) Florida State
13) Oklahoma
14) Clemson
15) Northwestern
16) Utah
17) Florida
18) Temple
19) California
20) USC
21) Kentucky
22) Memphis
23) Boise State
24) West Virginia
25) Wisconsin
To the curious: Nebraska is up to 77 woohoo
What to Watch For:
Last Week: 4-1 (Did you really think Utah was going to thump Oregon like that?), Overall: 17-10
West Virginia @ Oklahoma - Oklahoma 41, West Virginia 35
Another good old Big 12 shootout. Oklahoma is on upset alert however, and needs this win to stabilize their year
Alabama @ Georgia - Georgia 38, Alabama 28
Never thought I'd put Alabama as losing, but Georgia looks pretty damn good to do so and hand the Tide their second straight loss (Has that happened under Saban? Someone give me a fact check on that please)
Ole Miss @ Florida - Ole Miss 45, Florida 24
While Florida does look good, it needed to go down to the wire to take down Tennessee. Meanwhile, Ole Miss is ripping it up in the SEC in its newly found quest for a National Championship
Mississippi State @ Texas A&M - A&M 42, State 31
While I still like the Bulldogs despite their quest for a national title is over, A&M has proven themselves lately to match the hype they entered the season with.
Notre Dame @ Clemson - Clemson 27, Notre Dame 24
Highlight of the night; Notre Dame is rolling, but they're still playing backups. Meanwhile Clemson was a big favorite of mine entering the year but they have not shown up as well this season. A dominate performance here could prove Clemson. Vice versa, this would be a huge boost for Notre Dame
Meanwhile...in the NFL:
I thought about making a fantasy section, but my family reads this and the league I'm in is with my family and I don't want them to get insight. But if we're keeping score, after an outrageous Monday night, this year I'm 3-0 and through 2 years and 3 games of doing fantasy, I've only lost one game when it came down to Monday night games (whether I'm trailing and I have someone that just goes off *cough Cobb and Maclin god bless cough* or I'm leading and my opponent has someone left to go) Sadly the one game I did lose was my first year...in the final...Matt Ryan threw an interception in the last minute of the Falcons @ 49ers game. I would've been ok with the 2 points of the interception because then the 49ers wouldve been on offense and ended the game, but no. Navarro decided to take it back to the house and give the 49ers defense 8 points instead of 2 and I'm still bitter to this day about it because I lost by 5.
Thurs Night: Ravens @ Steelers - Ravens 24, Steelers 20
Ravens will pick up their first win of the season against a Rothlisberger-less Steelers (RIP my fantasy team). Mostly because I'm benching Forsett in fantasy in favor of other RBs and he'll go off.
Sun Night: Cowboys @ Saints - Cowboys 27, Saints 21
Battle of the backups! But the Cowboys are better thus far. Only slightly though.
Mon Night: Lions @ Seahawks - Seahawks 31, Lions 14
Lol.
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