Hello football fans!!!
Just a tad late today…kinda like how the Hawks seemed as if they were a tad late getting to Kinnick Stadium last Saturday. Hurumph.
I Don’t Ask For Much
Yesterday, whilst in my car, middle of Minnesota, by myself…I suddenly got a little annoyed. Why? Here’s what went into my head:
- The horrible Penn State crap.
- The annoying, ongoing conference realignment talk.
- Iowa losing two painful games, + 2 more.
Simply put, this has been the most annoying college football season in the history of the universe. Am I ready for it to end? I wouldn’t go that far…but there are a few things that I’m desperately asking the Football Gods for, to allow me to keep my sanity for the off-season:
- Iowa finishes 7-5.
It just sounds so much better than 6-6.
- Iowa plays in a decent bowl against an intriguing opponent.
This could also read “PLEASE don’t put us in Detroit!”
- Nebraska doesn’t win the B1G.
I’m a HUGE Sparty fan now.
- 13-0 LSU vs. 12-0 Oklahoma State in the BCS.
I know that many of you root for chaos when it comes to the BCS. I too, have had this feeling in the past as well. However, I don’t think there’s any question that there’s been PLENTY of bad news coming out of the college football world this year…so I could use a break in the month of Dec and early Jan. What I’m saying is that a nice, clean #1 vs #2 in the BCS game would be great.
PLEASE!!!!
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Iowa Hawkeyes @ Purdue Boilermakers
11:00 AM / BTN / Line: Iowa by 2 ½
(First off, PO’D that this game is on 11:00am at the same time as Minnesota, which means the freakin’ Gophers will bump the Hawks for the one HD channel on the BTN. Hurumph.)
What Up?
Win – Loss – Win – Loss – Win – Loss – Win – Loss – Loss – Win. That’s been Purdue this year, which I think is pretty much the definition of an ‘up-and-down’ year for the Boilermakers. Somehow they lose to Rice on the road…but beat Ohio State last weekend at home. Weird. Much like the Hawks, Purdue has looked infinitely better at home, going 5-1 up to this point (lone loss is when they got crushed by Notre Dame).
Purdue now sits at 5-5, needing one more win to become bowl eligible; I have to think, however, that they know that 7-5 is much, MUCH safer for them to make a bowl. After the Hawks this weekend, Purdue finishes on the road against their rival, 1-9 Indiana.
As far as the Hawks, they’ve been virtually eliminated in the B1G race and are already bowl eligible. This means that the Hawks are playing for pride and for a better bowl game…so I hope that was enough for the Hawks to stay focused this week in practice? We’ll see.
I have a feeling that the Hawks will be focused, as this doesn’t seem like a team that had its initial goals set in the sky (so therefore they’re not 100% dejected like they were last year). They’ve also shown the ability to pick themselves up off the ground and fight; they came back from losing to ISU and down early against Pitt to win that game, as well as lay an egg in Minneapolis and then turn around and beat Meeechigan.
But what they have NOT shown the ability to do is win on the road. Hurumph.
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The Players
For the 4th week in a row, the Hawkeye OL faces a great DT in #93 Kawann Short. He is much like the DL we faced last week – Jerell Worthy – minus the fake injuries for him to get a rest… Purdue also has a very good CB in #21 Ricardo Allen, who is only a Frosh.
Is this going to be the week that Hawk fans finally see back-up RB Mika’il McCall again?…some signs point to yes, but we’ll see.
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The Match-Up(s)
I have to admit that I haven’t watched a lot of Purdue football this year, but I do know that they love to run the ball and try to control the clock. I don’t think this bodes well for the Hawks, as we haven’t been able to stop a down-hill running game with our under-talented DL for pretty much the entire year.
As mentioned above, Purdue has a pretty good defense with two all-B1G players at both DT and CB. This is also not a great match-up for us, as we have issues at both Guard spots (and advantage for Short), and are heavily favored at one WR spot (putting Allen on Marvin McNutt). Running the ball away from Short with the quicker Mika’il Mccall could be HUGE for us this week. Don’t get me wrong, I love how Marcus Coker has battled this year and made it a good season…but maybe McCall could provide a spark this weekend.
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What Will Happen
What I hope: That Iowa was flat last week (so therefore comes in alive this week), and that Purdue is down after an emotional win last week against The Ohio State.
What I think: That Iowa almost always plays flat in Purdue’s glorified HS stadium, and has looked bad on the road all year.
I also think that this is an incredibly good match-up for the Boilermakers, as they’ll be able to snuff out our inside running game and limit McNutt over the top. Also, I just don’t like our DLs ability to stop any running game with a pulse, and Purdue’s definitely has a pulse.
I believe this will be a low-scoring game that will fly by because both teams will run the ball. If the Hawks are going to come out of West Lafayette with a win, they’ll need to come up with some turnovers – or in the least – come up with some big plays on Special Teams. Unfortunately, Purdue has a decided advantage in that category (Special Teams) and that will be the difference in the game.
Purdue Boilermakers 20 - Iowa Hawkeyes 17
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Week 12 “Precarious Predictions”
NCAA ATS 53-66-1
Last week ATS 3-6-1
Iowa ATS 5-4
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O…M…G…I am awful this year. I am so bad that I’m a statistical anonymity. I don’t get it.
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BIG TEN
(2-8) Minnesota @ (5-5) Northwestern
11:00 AM / BTN / Line: Northwestern by 16
Tough to imagine Minnesota giving a shit about this game, and I would think Northwestern knows that it desperately needs this game to get to 6 wins with Sparty coming in next weekend. However, that just seems like a little bit too many points.
Minnesota + the points.
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(8-2) #17 Wisconsin @ (6-4) Illinois
11:00 AM / ESPN2 / Line: ‘sconnie by 15
Pretty much the same synopsis for this game as what I wrote above, except that the Badgers are playing for a B1G Championship birth, while Illinois is playing for…for…??? Welp they may be playing for their coach’s job, but that is a touchy subject that you shouldn’t ask The Zooker about (video is about ½ way down):
http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/index/_/count/31
The sneaky thing about Illinois is that they’re defense has played well all year, so I don’t think that its out of the question that they can keep Wisconsin under 30 points. But can they score more than two TD’s to get the cover??? It’s a tough call. When in doubt, take the points.
Illini + the points.
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(1-9) Indiana @ (8-2) #15 Michigan State
11:00 AM / BTN / Line: Sparty by 28
Too many points. Sparty will be down after last weekend in Iowa City.
Hoosiers + the points.
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(8-2) #21 Penn State @ (6-4) Ohio State
2:30 PM / ABC / Line: Ohio State by 6 ½
Whaaaaa? OhioStateby almost a TD?!?!
I honestly have no clue. Once again, when in doubt I’m taking the points.
Penn State + the points.
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Big Ten/National Game of the Week
(8-2) #16 Nebraska @ (8-2) #18 Meeechigan
11:00 AM / ESPN / Line: Meeechigan by 3 ½
Aaaaand our 114th and last NOON B1G game!!!
I will be cheering for Meeechigan 99% as hard as I’ll be cheering for the Hawks. In fact, I will have the dual TV thing going on tomorrow morning in my house so that I can have this game on the small TV.
However, I don’t expect to see very from Meeechigan, as the Wolverines and Denard Robinson come into this game as beat up as can be. I think there’s a chance that Meeechigan under-rated DL could cause some issues for the Huskers, Rex Burkhead, and Taylor Martinez. I hope so.
However, I’m not sure where the points are going to come from when the Wolverines have the ball. This looks like a 21-17 game.
Huskers + the points.
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Around the country
Friday Night
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(10-0) #2 Oklahoma State @ (5-5) Iowa State
7:00 PM / ESPN2 / Line: OK State by 27
I’m taking the bait…there’s just too much info here NOT to:
- ISU is coming off of a bye week.
- OK State is coming off of a short week.
- OK State now has distractions with the horrible news of the plane crash.
- OK State is looking forward to next week.
Will I be surprised to see a final score of 65-13? Nope. But neither would I to see OK State 28 – Iowa State 23.
ISU + the points.
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ENJOY YOUR WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GO HAWKS!
- Jeffrey the Greek!
