Game 10: Cincinnati

Rutgers is 8-1 (4-0) and alone atop the Big East standings, and they start a daunting 3 game stretch to end the season today, in their house of horrors, Nippert Stadium, against the Cincinnati Bearcats. Cincinnati is once again one of the best teams in the Big East, and they present a major road block to the Scarlet Knights, who have not played an opponent of this caliber yet this season. Rutgers hasn't played their best football of late, but they have been much better on the road than at home this year. They need to get off to a fast start today, as they may not be able to dominate in the second half against a very good team like they do against inferior teams.

Rutgers On Offense
Rutgers has been uber-conservative with their play calling this year, sitting back and hoping the other team just beats themselves, but they may not be able to get away with that this time. It looks like Jawan Jamison will play after injuring his ankle last week,  but I would expect him to carry a lighter load with Savon Huggins picking up the slack. Cincinnati has a small but quick front 4, so I would look for the Knights to run right at them, down hill, and maybe not run as much wide zone, which has been the staple of their offense. The offensive line needs to push people around, and they should probably cut block on the backside to prevent penetration. With Cincy's corners giving receivers tons of cushion, I would expect a lot of quick screens to the outside. Hopefully they will attack the middle with some slants and crossing patterns too, as the Bearcat linebackers are not great in coverage and leave the middle vacated quite often when they blitz. These runs and shot passes will hopefully draw the defense up, allowing Nova to attack them deep. Cincy blitzes a lot too, so Nova and the line need to figure that out and pick them up.

Rutgers On Defense
Rutgers made a lot of position changes before last season to get more speed on the field in order to stop offenses just like Cincinnati's. It will be strength vs strength when the Bearcats run the ball to the outside, which they do so often. Khaseem Greene should have plenty of opportunities to make plays in space, and the corners need to provide run support, like they usually do. If they run right at Logan Ryan, I like Rutgers' chances. The defensive line mush get pressure on Brandon Key, and make him uncomfortable when he drops back and throws deep. Cincy throws a lot of deep balls, and the defensive backs must use their ball skills to knock passes down and hopefully get some interceptions. Cincinnati is at their best when the run the ball to the left, so Rutgers should some how try to get them to run right. The right side of Cincy's line can get pushed around. Tight end Travis Kelce is a very good receiver, and the linebackers need to keep him in check.

Injuries
It looks like Kyle Federico will miss another game. It's possible Jamison doesn't play, but Kyle Flood says there's a 75% chance he will be a go. Right guard Andre Civil is out, and Taj Alexander, who started against USF and has been getting a solid amount of playing time, will get the starting nod in his place.

Prediction- Rutgers 27 Cincinnati 24
I think Rutgers defense will be able to hold the Bearcats' ground attack in check and force Kay beat them with his arm, and I don't think he can do that. I'm hoping the offense gets out of their slide and unleash Nova, but I think they will be able to run the ball like they did early in the year. The Knights will of course probably make a big play on special teams too,

Know You Opponent: Cincinnati

Nippert Stadium has been a house of horrors for Rutgers over the years. The Scarlet Knights are 1-6-1 all time at the 35000 seat stadium, including the defensive embarrassment in 2010, and the 2006 team's first loss in November of that year. The 2012 Scarlet Knights have been very good on the road, and they will look to buck this trend Saturday, in a major test against a Cincinnati team that is very dangerous, even though they probably aren't as strong as some of the teams they have had in the past. The history of this series matters very little right now, you can't change the past, you can only control the future. Rutgers seems to be treating this like a really big game, as they should be, and they need to come out to fast start in this one.

The Bearcats So Far
Cincinnati is 7-2 so far this year, including a 3-1 record in Big East play. They got off to a 5-0 start by embarrassing Pitt on national TV, beating two FCS teams, Miami Ohio and a Virginia Tech team that is experiencing a major down year. They were tripped up on the road against a very good Toledo team, and followed that up by losing an over time thriller to Louisville on a Friday night. They have rebounded in recent weeks by beating Syracuse and Temple, despite going through a quarterback change.

Coaching
The Bearcats are led by fourth year head coach Butch (Bitch) Jones, who is 48-26 as a head coach, winning at least a share of 3 conference titles along the way, during his time at Cincinnati and Central Michigan. Jones, who was a grad assitant at Rutgers once upon a time, is well versed in the spread offense, previously serving as Brian Kelly's offensive coordinator for the Chippewas and Rich Rodriguez's wide receiver coach at West Virginia. As a head coach, he has had some very good offenses running a run heavy spread that is very difficult to stop, and it may have caused Rutgers to change their defensive personnel up a little bit last year in order to stop it. Jones reportedly turned down the head job at Illinois a year ago, and he was also linked to the job opeing at North Carolina that eventually went to Larry Fedora. He made some recent comments urging fans to show up for the games, and there have been rumors that he has grown frustrated at Cincinnati. His name will pop up again for job openings this December, and he may or may not jump ship.

Mike Bajakian is the Bearcats' offensive coordinator, and the Oradell, NJ native was also once a grad assistant at Rutgers. He has been Jones' offensive coordinator every year he has been a head coach, and Bajakian also has a bit of NFL coaching experience. Obviously he guides the spread offense Jones has in place. Tim Banks and Jon Jancek are the co-defensive coordinators, and they run a 4-2-5 defense that utilizes both man and zone coverages.

Offense 36th in PPG, 7th in yards per carry, 58th in pass efficiency, 16th in yards per play
Munchie Leagux said he was better than Teddy Bridgewater in the week leading up to Cincinnati's game against Louisville, and things really got bad for him after that. He went on an interception binge, and he was replaced by senior Brandon Kay late in the Syracuse game. Kay isn't the kind of athlete Leagux is, but he can run the ball and does a decent job as a game manager. He is not accurate, but he can get the ball to receivers down the field. The Bearcats love to run the ball in their spread offense, and they have a two headed running back monster featuring George Winn, who gets the bulk of the carries, and the very speedy Ralph David Abernathy IV. Both backs are averaging over 5.5 yards a carry. Cincinnati's offensive line is very weird. The right side of the line gets pushed around, while the left side dominates. Left tackle Eric Lefeld in particular is a very good player who could get some all conference recognition. Tight end Trais Kelce (I'm assuming he's related to Philadelphia Eagles lineman Chris Kelce, who was also a Bearcat) is their leading receiver with 422 yards and 4 TDs. Nobody on the team has more than 25 receptions, but they have some deep threats at the position. Cincinnati runs a very basic spread offense. The run a lot of zone plays, including zone reads. They run horizontally a ton, but it works for them. They will run some screens and throw deep balls, but they don't have a complicated passing attack.


Defense 21st in PPG, 42nd in yards per carry, 23rd in pass efficiency, 41st in yards per play
The Bearcats run a 4-2-5 defense that emphasizes speed more than size. Their defensive line is very undersized, but they make up for it with quickness and they make a ton of plays in the backfield. They may struggle when you run right at them, but they can penetrate and chase you down on outside runs. Their best defensive player early on, end Walter Stewart, suffered a very unfortunate career ending back injury against Fordham, and they do not have a stand out player up front with out him. Cincinnati's linebackers are very big. Greg Blair is their leading tackler, and he is pretty strong against the run. The Bearcats have their linebackers blitz up the middle on passing downs often, but when they drop into coverage they aren't particularly quick. The Bearcat defensive backs are asked to play multiple zone coverages in addition to man coverage. The corners give plenty of leverage to receivers, so they can be beat on quick passes. Their main goal seems to be to protect the side line, so they are often beat on deep post routes, especially when playing man to man coverage. The defense has a rover who usually plays in the box and sometimes over the tight end or slot receiver. They will play two deep safeties on passing downs, and the strong safety will lurk down on running downs. The free safety some times plays on the hash, so you may be able to hit some long passes to the weakside if your receiver can win a one on one match up. They are ball hawks back there though; their DB's have a combined 9 interceptions this year.This isn't a very physical unit, but they are really fast. They bring pressure up the middle and from the field, but you can out muscle this defense on the ground and through the air and put some points on the board.

Conclusion
Cincinnati has been one of the top teams in the Big East for a few years now, and should provide a major test for Rutgers. They have great teams speed on offense and defense, but they don't have a ton of size, and their passing attack on offense is a bit lacking. If Rutgers can stop the run, I think they will have a successful day and finally end the string of bad games at Nippert Stadium. Nippert the streak in the bud, if you will.

Week 12 Picks

1. Oregon
2. Kansas State
3. Ohio State
4. Notre Dame
5. Alabama
6. Georgia
7. Florida
8. LSU
9. Texas A&M
10. Oklahoma
11. South Carolina
12. Florida State
13. Stanford
14. Rutgers
15. Louisville
16. Clemson
17. Oregon State
18. Texas
19. UCLA
20. USC
21. Louisiana Tech
22. Kent State
23. Texas Tech
24. Boise State
25. Northern Illinois

Temple 20 Army 28
The Owls were already a bit of a mess offensively, and they may be with out Montel Harris in this one. As we saw last week, Army's offense can be tough to stop, and Temple doesn't have the kind of athletes Rutgers does to slow it down.

USC 42 UCLA 34
The Trojans have been a disappointment this year, and the Bruins have been a surprise, but think USC is still the better team. Marqise Lee may be the best player in the country right now, and I think he and Matt Barkley will do enough to win and put SC in the drivers seat to win the Pac 12 south.

South Florida 14 Miami 28
The Canes have been very good offensively this year, with freshamn Duke Johnson providing plenty of fireworks. USF will have a true freshman QB starting his first game on the road (albeit in a non hostile environment) and the Bulls will not be able to keep up.

Clemson 44 North Carolina State 27
NC State has been very inconsistent offensively this year, while the Tigers have been playing very good football since their loss in Tallahassee in September.

Texas Tech 37 Oklahoma State 30
Oklahoma State is on, I believe, their third starting QB of the season, and the Red Raiders have played surprisingly good defense this year.Seth Doege has been one of the top QBs in the Big 12.

Ohio State 45 Wisconsin 40
I haven't watched much Big 10 football this year, but this could be a good game. Both teams can score.

Utah State 43 Louisiana Tech 41
This game is for all the marbles in the WAC. The Bulldogs have a high power offense, but The Aggies are a very good team all around, and Gary Anderson is one of the best coaches you don't know about.

Oklahoma 56 West Virginia 41
Poor Geno Smith. The Mountaineers just can not play defense at all.

Syracuse 27 Missouri 28
The battle for bowl eligibility. The Tigers have been dominated in SEC play, but I think they can pull this one out at home.

Kansas State 63 Baylor 38
Much like West Virginia, Baylor can not stop anyone, let alone Optimus Klein, the Wildcats' o-line and Wizard Bill Snyder.

Stanford 24 Oregon 50
Stanford does not have enough speed on defense to stop Oregon. They couldn't beat them with Andrew Luck and Jim Harbaugh, I just don't see them beating them with out those two.

BYU 17 San Jose State 24
This is a pretty interesting mid-major match up. Both teams have very good defenses.

Big East Announces Divsions For 2013-14

Earlier this week, the Big East announced the division alignment it will utilize in the 2013 and 2014 seasons, as it welcomes six new members to the conference and awaits the arival of Navy and the Big East's 14th member in 2015. The divisions will change again in two years, maybe to a zipper format, but in the mean time the divisions will look like this:

East- Rutgers, Central Florida, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, South Florida
West- Boise State, Houston, Memphis, San Diego State, SMU, Temple

The East features 5 of the reaming 6 Big East teams, and seems to be much tougher than the west. I thought that either Cincinnati or Louisville should have been placed in the west because it made more sense for balance (Cincy, Louisville, Rutgers and Boise are pretty clearly the top 4 programs in the New Big East right now) and geographical purposes, but Temple will be in the West instead. I guess they must have agreed to this when they joined the conference this year. Regardless, it looks like Boise will have a relatively easy path to the conference championship game, while the teams in the East will have quite a battle.

For Rutgers, this isn't a drastic change. They will still be playing half of their conference games against teams they have grown accustom to playing every year, with the only difference being they will play UCF and three of the teams on the western front instead of Pitt, Syracuse and West Virginia. They will still likely be competing against the teams they are competing against this year for a spot in the conference title game. With any luck, Boise State will play Rutgers twice in this period to boost strength of schedule, draw fan interest and get on TV, etc.

This is just a small step to making the new Big East a success, but it seems like a step in the right direction.

Rutgers Struggles in 28-7 Victory Over Army

 Every fault this Rutgers teams has shown this year was on full display in this game. They were way to conservative on offense, committed too many penalties, got off to a sluggish start in the first half, and they handled Gary Nova with kids gloves. In spite of all that, they were able to defeat and overwhelmed Army team by three touchdowns, thanks to some timely plays on special teams and defense, and another big second half effort.

Rutgers knew they were going to have limited opportunities on offense against an Army team that eats a lot off the clock when they have the ball, but that didn't stop Dave Brock and Kyle Flood from being extremely conservative. On the opening drive, Nova completed an 8 yard pass to Mark Harrison to convert a third down try, and the offense proceeded to go backwards from there. A hold by DC Jefferson nullified a nice run by Jawan Jamison, and a run by Jamison for a loss of 5 and a false start penalty set up 2nd and 27. They might as well just have punted on this down, because they followed it up with a screen and a run play on 3rd and 20, before they did punt on 4th down, wasting their only possession of the quarter.

At the start of the second quarter, the Scarlet Knights had by far their best drive of the game. Jamision started it off with runs of 14 and 7 yards, and a play action boot leg pass from Nova to Jeremy Deering advanced the ball into Black Knight territory. Jamison kept the sticks moving on the drive, including on a 4th and 1, setting his team up with a 1st and 10 from the Army 16. On this play, Jamison took the pitch to the outside, and threw the ball to a well covered Brandon Coleman in the endzone. Coleman went up and got it for the score, to tie the game up at 7. Rutgers went 3 and out on their next possession and then took a knee right before the half, and they went into the locker room with the score still 7-7.

Rutgers' first possession of the second half was derailed by another holding penalty and it resulted in a punt after a three yard route was called on 3rd and 11. They were able to sustain a drive the next time they had the ball with some dinking and dunking through the air, but the drive stalled and resulted in another punt. Jamison injured his ankle on the next possesion, and Savon Huggins was called upon to carry the load. After the offense was set back by an illegal hands to the face penalty, they had to punt yet again, after another short pass was called on 3rd and long. Huggins did an admirable job filling in for Jamison, and he put a few nice runs together to get advance the ball into Army territory late in the 3rd, but a Gary Nova pass was a bit to high for Miles Shuler, who deflected it into the hands of an Army defender for an interception.

Fortunately, they were able to get the ball back in great field position after a 9 yard punt, and Nova was able to bounce back, hitting Brandon Coleman on a deep pass for a 31 yard touchdown, one of only three passes thrown 10+ yards down the field by the offense all day. The Scarlet Knights had a 14-7 lead and they would hold onto it for good. Huggins capped the offense's day with a one yard touchdown plunge following a bad snap by Army on a punt. Overall, the offense did not play well. They were hamstrung a bit by play calling, and despite a solid day on the ground, the offensive line did not have a great day. They committed penalties and gave up a sack, and did not dominate like they should have against Army's front 7. They've been great all year, but they had a down game on Saturday. Both backs ran well, and Nova had an alright game, but you would have liked to see the receivers get more chances down the field, as they had a big size and speed advantage. Hopefully this teaches the coaching staff you can't be THAT conservative.

The defense only gave up 7 points, but they didn't exactly turn in their best effort in this game. Army's flexbone attack tore them up a little bit on the ground. Most of the damage was done by the pitch man, or the third option in a triple option offense, but they were gashed up the middle a few times as well by the fullback belly. On the opening series of the game, Army scored their lone touchdown of the day on a 16 play drive. Army QB Trent Steeleman was making all the right decisions, and slot back Trent Maples was able to pick up chunks of yardage on the outside. Army converted 3 out of 4 third downs tries on this drive, and they converted a 4th down attempt the only time they failed on third down. A 26 yard run by Larry Dixon on a belly up the middle was the big play of the drive, setting the Black Knights up at the Rutgers' 6, thanks in large part to a missed tackle. Steelman finished off the drive himself with a one yard run.

Army was able to to reach Rutgers' territory again on their next drive, but the Scarlet Knight defense was able to put the clamps down and hold them to a field goal, thanks in large part to Darius Hamilton stuffing a third down run. Army then attempted a 43 yard field goal, and Marcus Cooper was able to get a burst off the edge and block it. It was a huge play that totally swung the momentum of the game, and Rutgers followed that up with a score on offense to make it 7-7 instead of 10-0. Steeleman led another nice drive on Army's next series, reaching Rutgers' 13, but Lorenzo Waters was able to force a fumble that fell into the waiting arms of Logan Ryan, and the Scarlet Knights escaped again with out giving up a point. Army was able to get a 34 yard punt return right before the half, after another missed tackle, and a 4th down pass to Malcolm Brown set up another field goal try for the Cadets. Rutgers was able to block their second kick of the day on this attempt, with Jamal Merrell doing the honors this time around.

The Scarlet Knight defense stepped up in a big way after in the second half, after the Black Knights ran all over them in the first half. They were able to force two straight three and outs as Khassem Greene stuffed Steeleman for no gain on a 3rd and 2, and Scott Vallone made a play in the backfield to force a punt on ensuing possession. The Black Knights began a possession in Rutgers territory towards the end of the quarter, but Greene was able to force yet another fumble, and Marvin Booker was able to recover the loose ball.

Army inexplicably passed the ball and failed to convert their first third down try of the final quarter, as Logan Ryan forced an incompletion. Army's punt only traveled 9 yards, and it set up a score by the Scarlet Knight offense. Duron Harmon came up with a big 2nd down stop the next time the defense came out on to the field, and Ryan broke up a third down pass. This punt attempt by Army was even worse than the prior one, flying over the punter's head for a 35 yard loss, to set RU up at the Army 1. With the two tocuhdown lead, Army had to come out of their comfort zone and start throwing the ball. They moved the ball into RU territory, but Logan Ryan made a stop in the backfield on a 4th and 2, to force the turnover on downs. Army's last ditch attempt to come back got off to an inauspicious start after Vallone recorded a sack, but they converted a 3rd and long to keep the drive moving. Two Dixon runs set the Black Knights up at the 24, and on a triple option play, Duron Harmon intercepted the pitch and ran it back 73 yards for a score, to ice the game away for good, 28-7, with less than a minute left.

The defense was getting gashed in the first half, but they made key plays, and dominated in the second half. Greene had a huge day, recording a career high 22 tackles in addition to the forced fumble and a pass defended. He picked up Big East defensive player of the week honors for the second time this year. In addition to Greene, Lorenzo Waters, Steve Beauharnais, and Scott Vallone tied or set their career high in total tackles in this game. They allowed 5.5 yards per carry, but that is a full yard below Army's average coming into this game, and it was likely much lower than that in the second half. Hopefully they were able to avoid cut blocks so they will be fully healthy for Cincinnati this week.

All in all, Rutgers did not play very well in this game. The offense stumbled, the defense looked worse than usual, and they sleep walked through another first half. Thankfully they were still able to win by three touchdowns, in spite of all that. The penalty problem crept back up after not being a problem for a few games, but they were able to overcome them once again. Hopefully this team has gotten the bad out of their system after these last two games  and will play better down the stretch, as they have three huge Big East games coming up as they look to win the program's first conference title.

Game 9: Army

Army's football program has not been very good for about 15 years now, but make no mistake: they are a handful to deal with. Their triple option offense is difficult to defend, they are as physically and mentally tough of a team you will face, and they are always a well disciplined team that will not make mistakes and beat themselves. Rutgers should be more prepared than most teams facing a military academy, as they are coming off a bye week and have played Army and Navy a lot recently, so they should not have too much of a problem against them. But as we have seen over the years (including 2 weeks ago), Rutgers is more than capable of blowing games they should win.

Get to Know Army
The Cadets are 2-7 so far this season, coming off their upset victory over Air Force. They have only been blown out twice this year, against San Diego State and Stony Brook, and have other wise been competitive in their other losses (including against Kent State and a very good Northern Illinois team). They also have a win against Boston College.

Head coach Rich Ellerson is in his 4th year at West Point, and he has a 17-29 record thus far. He led the Black Knights to their only winning season since 1997 in 2010, going 7-6 and winning the Military Bowl over SMU. Ellerson's background is in defense, and he has installed a triple option offense, in the Black Knights' attempt to emulate the two military academies who have had more success on the football field.

The triple option offense is led by senior four year starter, Trent Steelman, who leads the team in rushing yards with 911. He is a classic option quarterback, a quick, slippery runner who makes lightning fast decisions, but is not much of a passer. Army uses a plethora of slot backs, most notably Raymond Maples, who leads the team in carries and Malcolm Brown, who is their most explosive back. Larry Dixon is the fullback running up the middle. Army came into the season with an inexperienced line, but they have nine games under their belts at this point, so that should no longer be a big issue. This unit is undersized, and will cut block a lot. Those types of lines can be a pain in the ass, but you can over power them.

Defensively, Army runs a some what odd style of defense, what's known as the "Desert Swarm" which was run most notably by Ellerson at Arizona in the early 90's. In this type of defense, they move guys around A LOT. It looks like they run a three man front, but it's actually a 4 man front with the three technique tackle a few yards off the ball. The weak side defensive end is also lined up unusually, a few yards outside of the end man on the line of scrimmage. The strong side linebacker lines up on the line, and the other two linebackers are free to roam, and move around often. They will also bring the safety down into the box most of the time, and play cover 3 in the secondary. They bring a lot of pressure as well. Army's defense is undersized and has given up a ton of yards on the ground this year, but this is an unusual defensive scheme that can be tough to prepare for.

Rutgers on Offense
Gary Nova needs to have a bounce back game after the Kent State disaster. He needs to have a strong game to keep his confidence, and show that last week was a fluke. He should expect Army to zone blitz him a lot, as it confused him and his offensive line a great deal in their last game. The Desert Swarm defense can be beat when you spread them out and pass. The offensive line should have a good game against Army's front 7, and Jawan Jamison should be able to use his speed and elusiveness to run for a lot of yards. Rutgers has a massive size advantage on the line and at receiver, and they should exploit that.

Rutgers on Defense
The triple option is extremely tough to defend, but Rutgers has an experienced defense who has seen this offense multiple times. The biggest thing you have to do to stop a flexbone offense is shut down the fullback on the belly play. Scott Vallone has done this through out his career, and today should be no different. He should be able to beat Army's offensive line all day, and force the quarterback to keep the ball. When the play goes to the the outside, Rutgers has the personnel to make plays in space and shut that down as well. Khassem Greene will need to shadow the quarterback and force him to pitch the ball. Fumbles can happen on those pitches, and if the slot back runs it, corners Logan Ryan, Marcus Cooper and Brandon Jones should be able to handle them, a they are all strong tacklers. In the past, Rutgers has gone to a nickel defense to stop this type of offense with a rover (it was Pat Kivlehan last year) roaming into the box. My guess is Lorenzo waters will be the rover, and Mason Robinson and Wayne Warren will play back at strong safety. Even though Army is #1 in rushing and last in passing, you need to be wary of the deep ball. Once they suck you up, they will take shots over the top. Warren and Duron Harmon are senior who should be ready for this and not fooled. You can read a little bit more about the flexbone offense an defending it in this post I wrote last year before the Navy game. Bottom line is the defense needs to play with discipline.

Injuries
Federico probably won't kick once again, and all the guys who have been out all year will still be out. Nothing really new on this front.

Prediction Army 7 Rutgers 31
Rutgers should be able to run the ball all day on offense, and I think the veteran defense can handle the option offense well. The big thing in this one is to see how Nova bounces back. I think he needs to have a solid game to keep his confidence, and hopefully he is more prepared to face zone blitzes.

I have all the respect in the world for the Cadets. I hope I didn't come across as too hard on them in this post. They are just not a very good team.

Week 10 Picks

Can you believe we're 10 weeks into the season already?

1. Alabama
2. Oregon
3. Kansas State
4. Notre Dame
5. Ohio State
6. LSU
7. Georgia
8. Florida
9. Louisville
10. Oklahoma
11. Florida State
12. USC
13. Texas Tech
14. Oregon State
15. SOuth Carolina
16. Rutgers
17. Mississippi State
18. Texas A&M
19. West Virginia
20. CLemson
21. Boise State
22. Stanford
23. Arizona
24. Oklahoma State
25. Louisiana Tech

California 17 Washington 27
Cal will be with out top receiver Keenan Allen, so they could have trouble on offense. Keith Price has underperformed this year, but I think he gets the job done tonight,

Temple 20 Louisville 28
Louisville's defense is vulnerable, and Temple can run, but once again Teddy Bridgewater will lead them to victory.

Oklahoma 34 Iowa State 31
The Cyclones are sneaky good and the Sooners struggle on the road, but I think they'll bounce back from last week's loss to Notre Dame.

Texas A&M 45 Mississippi State 40
Johnny Football is pretty awesome.

Syracuse 24 Cincinnati 20
Cincinnati could struggle with all the pressure Syracuse will bring at them. Ryan Nassib could take advantage of their defense if he has tome to throw.

Tulsa 31 Arkansas 38
Arkansas Needs to win this one and 2 out of 3 against MS State, S. Carolina, and LSU to be bowl eligible.

TCU 40West Virginia 42
Big East game of the week.

Pitt 10 Notre Dame 24
Pitt is really, really bad offensively on the road, and Notre Dame has one of the best defense in the country (as painful as it is to admit).

Texas 24 Texas Tech 30
I'm not going to sound like an idiot talking about how good Manny Diaz's defense is again.

Oregon 42 USC 40
This is the best team the Ducks have had under Kelly. If Mariota plays composed, they'll win. The Ducks' defense is very good, but they won't be able to stop Marqise Lee.

Clemson 34 Duke 26
Duke could win their division. How awesome would that be?

Alabama 4 LSU 2
This will be another defensive slug fest LSU is tough to beat in Death Valley at night, but will the Tigers get the ball past the 50 this time? Bama's defense will get two safeties for the win. 

Oklahoma State 30 Kansas State 45
Collin Klien. Arthur Brown. Bill Snyder. Enough said.

Arizona State17 Oregon State 24
Arizona State has a shot to win the P12 south. Oregon State needs to rebound from a bad offensive performance last week, wth a new QB under center.

San Diego State 17 Boise State 24
Two future members of the Big East square off. Boise has a tough defense and almost never loses at home.

Connecticut 10 USF 13

UCLA 28 Arizona 34