The Good, The Bad, The Frosty

Recap:

Once again, I don't think we need to get into too much detail here. We knew what we were in for and it mostly played out as planned. The effort towards the end was appreciative to deny the 27 point spread, but we all know that was just a myth and Nebraska got demolished by one of the best teams in the conference.

Oh well. That's not what I'm really going to talk about today. Today, we are still dealing with the rumors that Scott Frost will be the next coach, as every sign is pointing to today's game as Mike Riley's last game for sure. Whether or not Frost will actually be the guy is to be determined. So we're going to do a quick dissection of whether or not Frost truly is Nebraska's golden boy and eventual savior.

The Good:

Two years removed from the end of the Blake Bortles era, going 12-1 and winning the Fiesta Bowl in 2013, Central Florida winds up an astonishing 0-12 in 2015. They then bring in the Great Scott, and last year (2016) wind up 6-7, losing in their bowl game, but at least they made it, right? This year, in only his second season, Scotty has the Knights lined up for an undefeated season. That kind of turn around is astonishing to go from 0-12 to 12-0 in two years, regardless what team it is. Frost's previous experience on Oregon's offensive staff is paying dividends this year as the Knights lead the nation in PPG, a full 3 points in front of the second team (Oklahoma State). But what some might not know is that Frost also spent time as defensive coordinator for Northern Iowa, where he took that team to a top 10 defensive season in the FCS. Not as shining as the offense this year, but the Knights come into their season finale with the 28th best defense, which is still very good.

The Bad:

We still need to remind ourselves however that Central Florida is a G5 school playing in the American conference. While a turn around like above is impressive, it is vastly easier to do it at a G5 school than a P5 school. If Frost becomes the coach at Nebraska, fans need to be fully prepared that the results will not be the same. But damnit he'll be treated like an even bigger legend if he does. But again, the numbers that have been brought up, especially this season, are a bit exaggerated. The toughest game Central Florida has played talent wise was against Memphis (who they will rematch as long as they beat South Florida on Friday) and they whipped them 40-13. Score wise, their closest game was only a touchdown victory on the road at SMU (31-24). And all of this COMPLETELY gets thrown under the bus if Central Florida loses to South Florida, who will DEFINITELY be their hardest game of the season (but a good one nonetheless!). Now I'm not saying if they lose then Nebraska suddenly doesn't deserve Frost (even though I'm betting a lot of fans will have that view), the good still speaks up for that.

The Frosty:

G5 coaches who have SUDDEN miracle seasons and jump ship for that shiny P5 job don't exactly pan out as well as they'd like. Jim McElwain got some momentum going at Colorado State for 3 seasons then BOOM, hired by Florida, has one great year, but then falls off the face of the earth and gets fired halfway through this season. Kevin Sumlin is another prime example. He actually had some mixed results as Houston's head honcho, but clearly Texas A&M saw something in him. But once Johnny Football left the building, A&M hasn't exactly been relevant since. And even some first timers, PJ Fleck after nearly running the table with Western Michigan last year, off to a mixed start at Minnesota this year. Similarly, Jeff Brohm jumped to Purdue after only a few seasons of victories at Western Kentucky. And one more, Matt Rhule decided that instead of building a potential dynasty at Temple, he wanted to inherit the mess at Baylor.

One more fun example in a different light is Charlie Strong. Did pretty good at Louisville, went on to STINK at Texas, but now he's lighting it up with South Florida this year. All I'm saying is, maybe there are just some coaches who can coach in the G5 and aren't meant for a P5 school.

I just want Nebraska to make the right call here when there are other equally qualified (or better) coaches with all of this supposed "fuck you" money we have laying around.

The Big Red Breakdown:

Anyway. Football this week. Iowa. Ugh. Did you know Nebraska actually still has a chance to become bowl eligible thanks to this APR fuckery they invented a few years back (Academic Progress Rating)? Oh yeah, it's going to take an early Christmas miracle, but here is what needs to happen:

First and foremost Nebraska needs to beat Iowa. The rest doesn't matter if that doesn't happen. THEN:

A bunch of teams that are 5-6 need to lose, I didn't bother looking ALL of them up (as I recently discovered my initial list I made below wasn't entirely accurate) and then on top of that, to win tiebreakers:
Air Force loses to Utah State
Vanderbilt loses to Tennessee (shit)
Maryland loses to Penn State
Middle Tennessee beats Old Dominion
Utah beats Colorado
Indiana beats Purdue
Florida loses to Florida State

This happens because the NCAA likes their money too much and created too many bowl games thus allowing 5-7 teams to sneak into bowl games thanks to good grades. Exactly what happened in 2015, except this year it seems Nebraska's grades has slipped in the past two years. Stay in school kids.

And honestly, outside of them needing to actually beat Iowa and hoping Tennessee pulls their shit together enough to get a win, that list doesn't seem too daunting. It's just that if even one of those goes the other way, then Nebraska doesn't get in as Nebraska is about 12th in the APR rankings. Basically if the end result is opposite of what I posted above, then that team gets the spot instead (in order of appearance). I.e, if Air Force wins, Air Force becomes the first 5-7 team in line for a bowl bid as they are #1 in APR. And for the wins, if Utah loses to Colorado, Colorado becomes bowl eligible naturally at 6-6, but Utah would drop to 5-7 and would then "advance" on APR. Utah would need to win so they can get the natural 6-6 bid and Nebraska would then be able to beat Colorado on APR.

Again though, this doesn't happen if Nebraska doesn't win, which we all know has been an interesting task all year. It doesn't get any less interesting today. This is a balanced Iowa team, that much like Northwestern, isn't exactly scary, but plays very balanced. And I guess they DID hang 55 on Ohio State.

The Matchup:

Nebraska O vs. Iowa D: Edge Iowa. Iowa always plays pretty decent defense. Nothing too scary, but again, when the offense looks like Nebraska's, a mediocre defense looks like the Great Wall

Nebraska D vs. Iowa O: Edge Iowa. CAN WE HIRE SOMEONE THAT CAN TEACH TACKLING PLEASE

Special Teams: Not very special.

Prediction: Again. I really do want Nebraska to do well, but I just know that isn't happening. I'll still root and cheer, but for the sake of my sanity (and the rest of the state), I think everyone just wants off this ride. This is on target to be worse than the C-word years as even he didn't manage to fuck up enough to only garner 4 wins on a season. When you have a 9-win roster and schedule, the expectation is to at least get close to that, not halve it. Nebraska, it is time for a change. And please don't hire another losing coach.

Iowa 27, Nebraska 21

The Rest of the Week in College Football:

Regression Rankings:

1) Alabama (Up 1)
2) Central Florida (Down 1)
3) Ohio State (Up 3)
4) Wisconsin (Down 1)
5) Washington (Down 1)
6) Auburn (Up 1)
7) Penn State (Down 2)
8) Georgia (-)
9) Clemson (Up 5)
10) Oklahoma (Down 1)
11) TCU (-)
12) Florida Atlantic (Up 3)
13) South Florida (Down 3)
14) Miami (Up 5)
15) Ohio (Down 3)
16) Notre Dame (Up 1)
17) Oklahoma State (Down 1)
18) Virginia Tech (Up 1)
19) Arkansas State (Up 1)
20) Boise State (Up 2)
21) Arizona (Down 8)
22) Toledo (New)
23) Memphis (New)
24) San Diego State (New)
25) Stanford (Down 4)
...
54) Iowa
...
107) Nebraska (Up 1)
...
126) Kent State (New)
127) Ball State (Up 1)
128) Kansas (Down 1)
129) UTEP (-)
130) San Jose State (-)

Should these rankings be reflective, here would be the potential championship games...one week before they actually happen:

SEC: Alabama vs. Georgia (clinched) (West vs. East)
B1G: Ohio State vs. Wisconsin (confirmed matchup)
Pac-12: Washington vs. Arizona USC (clinched) (North vs. South)
ACC: Clemson vs. Miami (confirmed matchup)
Big XII: Oklahoma (clinched) vs. TCU (Top 2)
Best G5 Team: Central Florida

Clinching scenarios this week:

SEC: Winner of Alabama vs. Auburn will play Georgia in the SEC championship game.

Pac-12: If Washington State beats Washington, they will play USC in the Pac-12 championship game. However if they lose, it will actually be Stanford who gets in, as they hold the head-to-head on Washington, but not Washington State.

Big XII: If TCU beats Baylor, they are in to play Oklahoma in the championship game. If they lose, shit gets interesting, but their odds are good either way. Less bueno if Iowa State beats Kansas State.

Over(rated)Watch:

#5. Wisconsin - Still Being Watched. I accept the fact that they are not going to lose to Minnesota, but they are still not that spectacular.

#6. Auburn - Still Being Watched. Definitely too high for a 2 loss team and I'll lose my shit if they run the table. But at the same time semi deserving as they have to get through Alabama this week.

#11. USC - Still Being Watched. The benefactor of the mediocrity that is the Pac-12. They actually do not play until the Pac-12 championship game, lucky for them.

#13. Washington State - Being Watched. Again, the Pac-12 is mediocre and it is unfortunate that the best team (Washington) cannot be represented in the championship game. But the Cougars can at least be of semi service and win so Stanford can't get in.

#14. Mississippi State - Ha Ha. Conveniently they lost earlier in the night that I was typing this up. So justice has been served! (Even though their QB got injured and that probably has more to do with the loss more than anything buuuuttttt I drunkenly digress)

Prediction Center:

Last week we slated a nice 2-0 to bring us up to 24-12-2. This week is rivalry week, so not only will we be predicting ranked v ranked games, but also any other rivalry games of interest!

The War on I-4: South Florida @ Central Florida - UCF 38, USF 24

This was on track to be the biggest G5 game of the year, but then South Florida just had to lose to Houston to deny the undefeated War on I-4. This still chalks up as Central Florida's toughest game for their own personal quest of an undefeated season, but I still believe that Scotty has them on the right track for a quality New Years Six bowl game.

The Commonwealth Clash: Virginia Tech @ Virginia - Tech 34, Not Tech 27

Somehow Virginia has scrapped together a decent season and VT has been skidding lately. Nonetheless, Tech is still overall the better team and should have no issues dealing with their in-state rival. BUT, if Virginia wins, they will end up with the same conference record as Tech, how bout dat?

The Game: Ohio State @ Michigan - Ohio State 38, Michigan 10

Michigan's offense is officially obsolete, they can only hope to contain the Buckeyes with their defense.

The Sunshine Showdown: Florida State @ Florida - FSU 31, Florida 17

Much like in the fashion of Michigan, Florida's offense has left the building. Unlike Michigan, so has their defense. Florida's saving grace this week is that they don't play Ohio State, but instead FSU who has seemingly lost their ways this season. But they're competent at least.

The Iron Bowl: Alabama @ Auburn - Alabama 24, Auburn 17

Game of the week and probably the season as this one will determine who plays in the SEC championship game. The last time the stakes were this high playing in Auburn...the Kick Six happened. The toughest foe Alabama has faced, but still should be overwhelming enough to beat Auburn's near non-existent offense

The Shitty Battle for Tennessee: Vanderbilt @ Tennessee - Vandy 24, Tenn 20

Please note I made that name up as there isn't an official name. But when you got two 4-7, 0-7 teams going against each other, it is hard not to name it that. We all know how much I make fun of Tennessee, and Vanderbilt has been really trying to put the pieces together for a decent season but can't quite make it work. What is nice, is that one of these teams will walk away with one SEC win! Woohoo! Unfortunately for Nebraska, this is one of the key games that actually needs to go in Tennessee's favor if Nebraska wants to go bowling. But as I said earlier, that dream is a long shot.

The Civil War: Oregon State @ Oregon - Oregon 56, Oregon State 17

Yikes. Looks like the Beavers haven't fared as well either without Mike Riley.

The Palmetto Series: Clemson @ South Carolina - Clemson 31, SCAR 24

This will serve as a nice tune up for Clemson before their ACC championship game. South Carolina has put together a very good season and is very capable to give Clemson a run for their money at home, so the question does stand; how good is Clemson? Or better yet, how good was South Carolina really?

Notre Dame @ Stanford (No funny name, but a ranked v ranked) - Notre Dame 35, Stanford 20

Stanford isn't very good yet here they are with the possibility of going to the Pac-12 championship game regardless of the beatdown they are about to receive from Notre Dame. Sigh Pac-12, sigh.

The Apple Cup: Washington State @ Washington - Washington 35, Wazzu 24

Another rivalry that had hopes of being an undefeated matchup midway through the season. It still carries some high stakes for the Pac-12 North, just not as much and probably not as the teams would like it. If Wazzu wins, they go. If Washington wins, then Stanford goes. How silly is that? Unfortunately to my dismay, Washington has been the better, more consistent team that can find ways to shut down Wazzu. And they're at "home".

Nebraska's Pennding Fate (vs. Penn State)

Recap:

Well it's been a hot minute, but we have internet now (woohoo!) But because of lack of said internet, I was unable to watch a majority of last week's game until the fourth quarter, when the damage was already done.

How in the flying fuck do we let Minnesota, one of the more incompetent offensive teams this year, hang 54 on us? From what I was able to see, it looks like their coveted rush defense does not exist anymore. Who knew the 3-4 defense was secret code for Nebraska's Big Ten record, sheesh. This is a 9-win caliber team and schedule, yet here they are pretty much locked in at four wins. Yep, you heard that right. No bowling for Nebraska barring some blaze ass "Mike Riley wins one big game a year he shouldn't" special. And it really is time to hit the reset button. The players just look unmotivated, Riley is not doing any better of a job motivating them on the field, and rumors are SWIRLING that Scott Frost is on his way to leave his potential dynasty at Central Florida behind.

As I was getting internet installed at my apartment, I was casually checking the score (along with being berated by my uncle who thinks a 7-game wins projection at the beginning of the year should never change) and I sort of thought to myself. Am I really missing this game? Roughly a year ago almost to this day was my last home game in the student section against Maryland. During and after the game, I wasn't feeling too sentimental about it being my last game (had not hit me yet, among entertaining a friend at the time). Some freshmen around me were getting more sentimental than I was. They still have at least three more years of watching games in the student section I thought to myself, clearly I should have felt something right? The next 365ish days would definitely change my life in more ways than one (shit even the following month was a doozy, again for other reasons). There would be times throughout those days where I'd look back at some of the Nebraska hype videos and get a little emotional that I would never experience anything like the student section again. But even when I went to the Arkansas State game in the "old people" section this year, it didn't feel the same. Not just from a "Yeah these guys aren't as nuts as the students" but more of a "what am I watching?". And through this year, the passion for at least supporting Nebraska has waned a bit, and I feel like I'm not the only one here. So when I see score updates like the Minnesota game, watching the game quickly became more of a "well, it is on..." than a "oh shit it is on I gotta watch it". Obviously I still do this blog because I love college football (and sports) as a whole, but I think its time that Nebraska needs this reset. The Riley experiment failed hard and I hope AD Moos has noticed. Is Scott Frost the answer? Idk maybe. His quick turn around at Central Florida is very impressive to say the least. But we need to remind ourselves, it is still Central Florida. It is much harder to turn around a program like Nebraska that fast, but would definitely prove that Frost is more than capable should that be the case.

The Big Red Breakdown:

All of that being said, 365ish days later, I'm grateful for all of the support I have received, and to the new friends in Omaha where I'll be hosting a watch party at my new place. Why am I torturing myself and my friends to a watch party against Penn State you ask? Well because my place wasn't ready for the Minnesota game, BUT.

You can't say Nebraska is just going to lay down for this one, right? If there is any shred of dignity left in Nebraska football, they'd be wanting to charge into Happy Valley and bring a damn fight, and hopefully not lose by 27 (the current spread). Again, coming into the season, this was the hardest game on the schedule as I fully believed that Penn State is national championship material. Two losses later and they're fighting just to win the Big Ten East. So yeah, a lot is riding on the line for Penn State here as well as they just need to toss Nebraska aside. But damn what if Nebraska won? Wouldn't that just be the greatest thing ever to help completely derail Penn State's season? They tried to do that to Michigan State in 2015, but then they decided to win at Ohio State that year. This year, Penn State is already rocking on the rails, Nebraska has the chance to really put the nail in the coffin.

Will it happen? No. Tanner Lee is concussed and questionable to play, and even if he does he won't be 100%. They still have the shittiest play calling in the land deciding to use Wilbon on 4th downs instead of blowing it up with Ozigbo or McNitt. 3rd and 1? Yeah we'll chuck it deep instead of going for the first down. We have some pretty fast receivers in Pierson-El and Spielman but nah we'll maybe run two sweeps a quarter. And speaking of Spielman, have you seen him return kickoffs? Lets try something and maybe put him to return punts? He's sort of the future right now and Pierson-El has never been the same in returning punts since his injuries.

I haven't even gotten started on Penn State. 4th best defense in the nation that will absolutely feast on a quarterback such as an injured-Tanner or a rookie-Patrick. Accompanied by a top 20 offense featuring one of the best RBs in the nation and a QB I'd take any day of the week to run my offense means that if Minnesota can put up 54, I won't hold my breath for 70. The losses to Ohio State and Michigan State do expose some vulnerability, but those were close losses on the road after all. And again, Penn State does need to play for the Big Ten East, after all.

The Matchup:

Nebraska O vs. Penn State D: Advantage Penn. GG Tanner/Patrick.

Nebraska D vs. Penn State O: Advantage Penn. RIP. 3-4 is going to be a 3-5 when Penn State is done.

Special Teams: Not so special.

Prediction: There exists an alternate universe where Nebraska shuts down Saquon and McSorley, either Tanner Lee is better when he's concussed, or Patrick O'Brien is actually really fucking good and should have been played earlier. And somehow in this alternate universe, I have a girlfriend.

Penn State 62, Nebraska 17 (Honestly just covering my expectations, I would hope it is much closer than this otherwise we're going to have to turn this into a drinking game)

The Rest of the Week in College Football:

Regression Rankings:

Uhh, due to last week's break, these will reflect changes from last week that I was able to quickly run, so you can do the math where other teams were and what wins/losses affected their rankings:

1) Central Florida (-)
2) Alabama (-)
3) Wisconsin (Up 1)
4) Washington (Up 1)
5) Penn State (Up 1)
6) Ohio State (Up 4)
7) Auburn (Up 2)
8) Georgia (Down 5)
9) Oklahoma (Up 2)
10) South Florida (Up 2)
11) TCU (Down 4)
12) Ohio (Up 2)
13) Arizona (Up 4)
14) Clemson (Up 1)
15) Florida Atlantic (Up 4)
16) Oklahoma State (-)
17) Notre Dame (Down 9)
18) Miami (Up 4)
19) Virginia Tech (Down 6)
20) Arkansas State (Down 2)
21) Stanford (Up 2)
22) Boise State (Down 1)
23) Western Michigan (New)
24) Fresno State (Up 1)
25) Mississippi State (Down 5)
...
108) Nebraska (I didn't keep track what we were before Minnesota, but we were projected for 5 wins. Now we are locked at 4. Aka my model does not think we will win another game)
...
126) East Carolina
127) Kansas
128) Ball State
129) UTEP
130) San Jose State
(Again didn't keep track of the bottom 5. I just know that Ball State is new and Rice escaped)

Now the fun part. Now that we have some locked in championship games, our projections get interesting:

SEC: Alabama vs. Georgia (clinched) (West vs. East)
B1G: Wisconsin (clinched) vs. Penn State (West vs. East)
Pac-12: Washington vs. Arizona USC (clinched) (North vs. South)
Big XII: Oklahoma vs. TCU (Top 2)
ACC: Clemson (clinched) vs. Miami (clinched) (Atlantic vs. Coastal)
Best G5 Team: Central Florida

The Pac-12 South is currently the only current miss since my model cannot adjust for clinches.  While it has Arizona as the 13th best team and USC at 32nd, it cannot account for the fact that USC has actually clinched the Pac-12 South. Now this can adjust in one of two ways in the next two weeks: 1) It can adjust in favor of USC actually being a good team and eventually putting them ahead of Arizona. Or 2) Arizona is truly the better team and USC does not deserve its Pac-12 bid. Time will tell I guess.

This week's clinching scenarios:

Big XII: Oklahoma can clinch a spot in the Big XII championship with a win over Kansas (lol). They would be able to clinch the regular season Big XII title with a win AND a West Virginia loss to Texas (Since Oklahoma and West Virginia have not played yet, West Virginia still has a chance to win on the head-to-head)

B1G: Ohio State can clinch the East with a win over Illinois (lol) AND a Michigan loss to Wisconsin (Michigan can still claim the head-to-head over Ohio State)

Pac-12: No one can clinch the North this week since Washington State is on bye. But Washington vs. Washington State will be the decider, in some way.

SEC: No one can clinch the West this week because the SEC likes to schedule cupcakes in the most important time of the football year. But it'll be the winner of Alabama vs. Auburn.

OVER(RATED)WATCH:

Again using the AP poll because f them. And also going back to my list two weeks ago since we didn't have one last week!

#5. Wisconsin - Being Watched. I'm very slowly being content with Wisconsin as a team. But I still think they're prime for an ass kicking somewhere down the line. They play Michigan this week in what will most likely be their toughest test until the championship game.

#6. Auburn - Being Watched. Highest rated 2 loss team. Uhh sure you can have points for beating Georgia, but really what does that say about Georgia and Notre Dame, who also got mauled by Miami? Reason #500 why I hate the SEC is because Auburn is playing Louisiana Monroe as their 11th game of the season this week.

#11. USC - Being Watched Even More. I don't care if yall have clinched the South, yall still aint good. Yall. They play UCLA this week for their finale before the Pac-12 championship game.

#14. Washington State - Being Watched. While they're in control of the Pac-12 North, I'm still not convinced of their legitness. They are on bye this week as they prepare for Washington.

#16. Mississippi State - Being Watched Even More. Uhh really, a 3 loss team? Ok SEC biased AP polls. They play Arkansas this week, so mind as well be a mindless "Traditional 11th game of the SEC schedule"

Proven their worth: #3 Miami
Properly taken care of and being low-key watched: NR Iowa State

Prediction Center:

Sadly we took our first losing week in what was the biggest week of the season two weeks ago. We turned in a 3-5 record *cries*, bringing our season record to 22-12-2 (right around .638). Only one game to attempt to bring it back:

Michigan @ Wisconsin - Wisconsin 24, Michigan 20

As much as I've been bashing Wisconsin all year, I can't deny that their defense is scary good. What happens when you have a scary good defense going against an inept offense such as Michigan? Not good results. As long as Wisconsin sticks to running the ball (as I hope they are slowly realizing how much garbage Hornibrook is), they should be good to go for the win, as Michigan too has a pretty good defense.

Vs. Northwestern

Recap:

Who would have thought that Tanner Lee would have actually saved the game. It wasn't exactly an impressive game overall between the two teams (I mean, between the two dumpster fire teams of the Big Ten, what did you expect?) But by all means, we cannot ignore the level of play Tanner has brought to the table. HE HASN'T HAD A PICK IN CONSECUTIVE GAMES LET'S THROW A PARTY!

But seriously. Tanner has greatly improved, it's just very unfortunate that we still get some questionable play calling. If we're barking for coaches' heads to roll, offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf needs to go before Riley does. One thing I was not liking about watching the Purdue game was the way the RBs were being treated. It has been fairly well documented that Nebraska has had better success running the ball when they split the time between Ozigbo and Wilbon featuring Bradley since Bryant has gone down. So clearly when straight up Ozigbo wasn't working, you'd think you'd want to bring in someone else (which EVENTUALLY they did with Bradley in the second half). But ultimately because they tried it too late, they had to pull the running game from the book because Purdue was already stopping it pretty well (again, due to lack of the mix-ups)

Receivers are learning how to not drop a ball so that is also a nice touch. Meanwhile the coveted 3-4 defense isn't exactly holding their end as of late. I know they're a bit depleted on that side of the ball, but let's plug some of those holes a bit better, and please for the love of god learn how to tackle. Getting a last-minute, 1 point win over Purdue isn't exactly something to brag about no matter how decent Purdue has gotten.

The Big Red Breakdown:

Today we see Northwestern come to town. Every year they come ready to play regardless of the season that they've had. And quite frankly, outside of getting murdered by Duke and Penn State, Northwestern has played very well this year keeping it competitive in the Big Ten. Across the board, Northwestern has a very balanced team. Nothing too scary, but also nothing to shy away from other than their competitive play, which should make for an interesting game, as I'm not too sure if Nebraska will have much success poking holes through them. No weaknesses. No big time strengths. Which probably contributes to their 5-3 record. There's nothing wrong with Northwestern, but it's hard to say they're a great team.

If we see the Tanner Lee we've been seeing lately, then I'll have no issues. Unfortunately, we all know that can be a bit of a challenge to hope for something like that.

The Matchup:

Nebraska O vs. Northwestern D: Edge Northwestern. One thing about Pat Fitzgerald's teams is that they are always poised on defense and usually turnover generators. Usually doesn't bode well against a turnover prone Tanner Lee. However, if we can get good Tanner to show up, then this shouldn't be as much of an issue

Nebraska D vs. Northwestern O: Edge Nebraska. Again, nothing too special from Northwestern here. They too like to run on the edges and run some sweeps which will most likely cause issues for Nebraska, but nothing they can't overcome. Hopefully.

Special Teams: Please put Spielman to return. Otherwise beware Northwestern's.

Prediction: Another tightly contested game, which should be the theme for these remaining four games except for Penn State (lol). I think Nebraska can afford one or two miscues as Northwestern isn't one of those teams that can easily pile it on, but definitely still a choppy sea to cross if that becomes the case.

Nebraska 27, Northwestern 20

The Rest of the Week in College Football:

Regression Rankings:

We are now seeing some more consistency as well as some separation. There is a 1.5 projected win gap between Alabama and Washington. On top of that, the next big drop off is .5 wins from Georgia down to Wisconsin.

1) Central Florida (Up 1)
2) Alabama (Down 1)
3) Washington (Up 2)
4) Ohio State (Down 1)
5) Penn State (Down 1)
6) Georgia (Up 2)
7) Wisconsin (-)
8) Notre Dame (Up 1)
9) TCU (Down 3)
10) Auburn (Up 2)
11) Virginia Tech (Down 1)
12) Arizona (Up 4)
13) Oklahoma State (-)
14) Oklahoma (Up 1)
15) South Florida (Down 4)
16) Clemson (Down 2)
17) Arkansas State (Up 1)
18) Ohio (Up 1)
19) Florida Atlantic (Up 3)
20) Toledo (New)
21) Stanford (Down 4)
22) UTSA (Up 3)
23) Mississippi State (New)
24) Iowa State (Down 3)
25) Western Michigan (New)
...
64) Northwestern
...
99) Nebraska (Up 1)
...
126) Rice (Up 2)
127) Kansas (-)
128) East Carolina (Down 2)
129) San Jose State (-)
130) UTEP (-)

If these rankings were reflective, here would be the championship games!

SEC: Alabama vs. Georgia (West vs. East)
Pac-12: Washington vs. Arizona (North vs. South)
B1G: Ohio State vs. Wisconsin (East vs. West)
Big XII: TCU vs. Oklahoma State (Top 2)
ACC: Virginia Tech vs. Clemson (Atlantic vs. Coastal)
Best G5 Team: Central Florida

SMH of the Week:

Stanford! Congrats on proving to the world yet again that yall cannot operate without a competent running back carrying your team. No Bryce Love meant that yall had to MAKE A COMEBACK to beat Oregon State. By 1. While only putting up 15 points. SMH Stanford

Hero of the Week:

Split honors for Illinois and North Carolina! The shittier teams of their respective conferences properly exposed the most overrated teams in their conferences in Wisconsin and Miami respectively by almost beating them! Illinois kept it low, while Miami, like Stanford, needed to make a comeback against North Carolina. Don't worry, we'll see these other two teams again very shortly. But for now, we recognize the efforts of Illinois and North Carolina

Over(rated)Watch:

 I'm going to continue picking on the AP poll for these rankings as they still don't have a damn clue how to rank teams.

#4 Wisconsin - OVERFUCKINGRATED. SOMEONE PLEASE BEAT THEM. THEY'RE SO CLOSE TO LOSING. BUT THEY'RE AT INDIANA THIS WEEK SO THEY PROBABLY WON'T. On a related note, props to the playoff committee for dropping them to #9. Still too damn high though.

#9 Miami - Overrated AF. Yep. Time to turn in your chains Miami, your pass to the Top 10 club is officially over as yall almost lost to North Carolina, who is easily the worst team in the ACC. Not just that you almost lost, but you needed to comeback to win. You're only allowed so many close wins. You're like the opposite of Wisconsin. Yeah you got a tough schedule, but you're barely surviving it, including against some of the teams you should have zero trouble with. This week they play Virginia Tech in one of the ranked matchups, that should finally shine some light on this situation one way or another.

#14 Iowa State - Being Watched. Once again poll inertia strikes again! Yeah, the nice upset over TCU puts you in a great spot for any impending Big 12 title aspirations as yall now have 2 of the 3 key wins (TCU and Oklahoma. Still need to play Oklahoma State), but can the momentum keep going? What are the Cyclones limits? They get West Virginia on the road this week in what will definitely make for a true legit or nah test.

No teams were removed from the list last week.

Prediction Center:

Bleh. 2-2-1 week. But not a losing week right? Personally I blame Penn State. Anyway, we are now at 19-7-2, so still single digit losses woo! Here's this weeks slate and listen up, there's a lot of them:

Penn State @ Michigan State - Penn State 38, Michigan State 14

Hardly call this a ranked v ranked matchup. Michigan State is having a good year, but you can't imagine how pissed Penn State is for losing last week.

Clemson @ NC State - Clemson 27, NC State 21

One more litmus test for NC State as Clemson comes into town. Unfortunately I think the dream season for the Wolfpack comes to an end here.

Stanford @ Washington State - Wazzu 34, Stanford 24

This should be an interesting game...? Both teams are somewhat reeling from being overrated, but Washington State still has more quality than Stanford will ever have as a team.

Oklahoma @ Oklahoma State - OK State 41, Sooners 38

Game of the day, and the one that should have the most impact on the Big 12 championship race where the winner should be in, barring Iowa State fuckery. I just think that the Cowboys are the more complete team and the Sooners get exposed too much that OK State should be able to take advantage of. Rivalry games be lit tho yo.

LSU @ Alabama - Alabama 41, LSU 17

LSU is still suffering from being overrated and no one has gotten close to beating Alabama this year.

Virginia Tech @ Miami - VT 27, Miami 20

Here's where Miami should finally get their loss. It'll be a good game, but VT has shown up this year where as Miami hasn't exactly been up to speed since the beginning of the season.

Arizona @ USC - Arizona 41, USC 31

The Arizona hype train is in full speed. Given the inconsistencies of USC, 1) this should be a shootout, and 2) this is where Arizona rightfully claims the Pac-12 South for the name of all that is good and not USC.