Brett Ludwiczak
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You’re Nuts: What has been most surprising in college football this season?
Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by John Cordes/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Your (almost) daily dose of good-natured, Ohio State banter.
Ohio State not playing over the weekend gave us a chance to take in a bunch of college football around the rest of Columbus. Even though teams have only played two or three games so far this season, there are plenty of surprises around the country. Florida State still hasn’t won a game, USC has a defense, Arch Manning looked like the real deal filling in for Quinn Ewers after Ewers was hurt on Saturday night, and much more has transpired over the first few weeks of the college football season.
Today we want to know what has been most surprising to you so far this season. It could be a team that is either exceeding or failing to meet expectations set for them heading into the season, Or it could be a player that has impressed you or disappointed with their performance in the early part of the season. Your answer could even be focused on Ohio State. Even though the Buckeyes blowing out two MAC opponents was expected, maybe you weren’t ready for just how great Jeremiah Smith has been in the first two games of his college football career.
Heading into last week’s game against UCLA, I was on the fence with my expectations for Indiana for the rest of the season. While the Hoosiers were 2-0 prior to the game against the Bruins, their wins came against Florida International and Western Illinois, so I wasn’t all that impressed with their strength of schedule. Then again, I should have considered that if Tom Allen was still the head coach, Indiana wouldn’t have won those contests as handily. It’s obvious there is a different attitude in the football program now that former James Madison head coach Curt Cignetti is in charge in Bloomington.
While heading to Pasadena to play UCLA doesn’t have nearly as high of a difficulty level as coming to Columbus or State College, it would have been understandable if Indiana struggled in Saturday night’s game since they were hitting the road for the first time under a new coach. Instead, the Hoosiers jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the game, leaving little doubt in the result the rest of the way.
What makes Indiana so interesting for the rest of the season is they look like they finally have some stability at quarterback. The position has been a bit of a revolving door since Michael Penix Jr. transferred to Washington. The Hoosiers were able to bring in Ohio quarterback Kurtis Rourke in the transfer portal, and so far this year Rourke has been one of the best quarterbacks in the country this year, throwing for 755 yards and seven touchdowns through the first three games. Most importantly, Rourke hasn’t thrown an interception so far this season.
It’s not crazy to think the Hoosiers could end this season with at least 10 wins. Indiana plays four of their next five games at home, including matchups against Nebraska and Washington in Bloomington towards the end of October. I’m chalking up the game against Ohio State as a loss for Cignetti and the Hoosiers, but the game at home against Michigan a couple of weeks before is suddenly looking very winnable. If Indiana is able to finish the season at 10-2 or 9-3, Cignetti should be in the conversation for National Coach of the Year since he was able to put together such a strong debut season as head coach of the Hoosiers.
I think that it would be very easy to go with something negative here, like discussing howhilarious surprising it is that the Florida State Seminoles are 0-3 after going undefeated through the ACC Championship Game last year. But, since Brett went with a positive story for his pick, I too will admit my surprise about a team overperforming my expectations. That team? The USC Trojans.
No one is ever going to be surprised that a Lincoln Riley-coached team is able to score points, but heretofore in his head coaching career, Riley’s teams have never been known for their defensive ability. However, in their two games so far this season, the Men of Troy have been impressive.
In their season opener, they beat a good LSU Tigers team 27-20, and then in Week 2 beat Utah State 48-0. A small sample size, sure, but USC was No. 121 in scoring defense last season, and through two games has jumped up to No. 18, with a top-15 victory under their belts. They will have a shot to hold another top-20 team to an impressive (or embarrassing, depending on how you look at it) total when they travel to Ann Arbor this weekend. Vegas favors the visiting Trojans by 5.5 points and sets the total points mark at 46.5. That means that the bookmakers are projecting a score in the neighborhood of 26-20.
Michigan scored 30 against Fresno State and 28 against Arkansas State; ain’t no way that they are putting up 20 — at least not on offense — against USC.
After this weekend in the Big House, the Trojans host Wisconsin and go to Minnesota before hosting No. 10 Penn State on Oct. 12 — the same day that the Buckeyes will be in Eugene, Oregon. Those two games happening on the West Coast of the country will go a very long way to not only determining the Big Ten finalists, but they will also tell us which of those four teams are legitimate national title contenders.
Thanks to the 12-team College Football Playoff, even in defeat, we could walk out of that Saturday thinking that all four are capable of making a run for the national title, and given how USC has looked in the early goings of the season, it would not surprise me to see them in Indianapolis playing for the Big Ten title and then more in the playoff.
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Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by John Cordes/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Your (almost) daily dose of good-natured, Ohio State banter.
Ohio State not playing over the weekend gave us a chance to take in a bunch of college football around the rest of Columbus. Even though teams have only played two or three games so far this season, there are plenty of surprises around the country. Florida State still hasn’t won a game, USC has a defense, Arch Manning looked like the real deal filling in for Quinn Ewers after Ewers was hurt on Saturday night, and much more has transpired over the first few weeks of the college football season.
Today we want to know what has been most surprising to you so far this season. It could be a team that is either exceeding or failing to meet expectations set for them heading into the season, Or it could be a player that has impressed you or disappointed with their performance in the early part of the season. Your answer could even be focused on Ohio State. Even though the Buckeyes blowing out two MAC opponents was expected, maybe you weren’t ready for just how great Jeremiah Smith has been in the first two games of his college football career.
Today’s question: What has been most surprising in college football this season?
We’d love to hear your choices. Either respond to us on Twitter at @Landgrant33 or leave your choice in the comments.
Brett’s answer: Indiana’s start to the season
Heading into last week’s game against UCLA, I was on the fence with my expectations for Indiana for the rest of the season. While the Hoosiers were 2-0 prior to the game against the Bruins, their wins came against Florida International and Western Illinois, so I wasn’t all that impressed with their strength of schedule. Then again, I should have considered that if Tom Allen was still the head coach, Indiana wouldn’t have won those contests as handily. It’s obvious there is a different attitude in the football program now that former James Madison head coach Curt Cignetti is in charge in Bloomington.
While heading to Pasadena to play UCLA doesn’t have nearly as high of a difficulty level as coming to Columbus or State College, it would have been understandable if Indiana struggled in Saturday night’s game since they were hitting the road for the first time under a new coach. Instead, the Hoosiers jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the game, leaving little doubt in the result the rest of the way.
What makes Indiana so interesting for the rest of the season is they look like they finally have some stability at quarterback. The position has been a bit of a revolving door since Michael Penix Jr. transferred to Washington. The Hoosiers were able to bring in Ohio quarterback Kurtis Rourke in the transfer portal, and so far this year Rourke has been one of the best quarterbacks in the country this year, throwing for 755 yards and seven touchdowns through the first three games. Most importantly, Rourke hasn’t thrown an interception so far this season.
It’s not crazy to think the Hoosiers could end this season with at least 10 wins. Indiana plays four of their next five games at home, including matchups against Nebraska and Washington in Bloomington towards the end of October. I’m chalking up the game against Ohio State as a loss for Cignetti and the Hoosiers, but the game at home against Michigan a couple of weeks before is suddenly looking very winnable. If Indiana is able to finish the season at 10-2 or 9-3, Cignetti should be in the conversation for National Coach of the Year since he was able to put together such a strong debut season as head coach of the Hoosiers.
Matt’s answer:
I think that it would be very easy to go with something negative here, like discussing how
No one is ever going to be surprised that a Lincoln Riley-coached team is able to score points, but heretofore in his head coaching career, Riley’s teams have never been known for their defensive ability. However, in their two games so far this season, the Men of Troy have been impressive.
In their season opener, they beat a good LSU Tigers team 27-20, and then in Week 2 beat Utah State 48-0. A small sample size, sure, but USC was No. 121 in scoring defense last season, and through two games has jumped up to No. 18, with a top-15 victory under their belts. They will have a shot to hold another top-20 team to an impressive (or embarrassing, depending on how you look at it) total when they travel to Ann Arbor this weekend. Vegas favors the visiting Trojans by 5.5 points and sets the total points mark at 46.5. That means that the bookmakers are projecting a score in the neighborhood of 26-20.
Michigan scored 30 against Fresno State and 28 against Arkansas State; ain’t no way that they are putting up 20 — at least not on offense — against USC.
After this weekend in the Big House, the Trojans host Wisconsin and go to Minnesota before hosting No. 10 Penn State on Oct. 12 — the same day that the Buckeyes will be in Eugene, Oregon. Those two games happening on the West Coast of the country will go a very long way to not only determining the Big Ten finalists, but they will also tell us which of those four teams are legitimate national title contenders.
Thanks to the 12-team College Football Playoff, even in defeat, we could walk out of that Saturday thinking that all four are capable of making a run for the national title, and given how USC has looked in the early goings of the season, it would not surprise me to see them in Indianapolis playing for the Big Ten title and then more in the playoff.
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