Prognosticating 10-17

Brian Kelly is a damn good football coach.  What many of you may not know is that in his previous career, he was a world class play-by-play man in the wrestling industry known as Jim Ross (he also makes a helluva BBQ sauce).  In his short tenure at Cincinnati, he has turned the Bearcat program from an also-ran in the Big East, to a contender on the verge of being relevant in the national title picture.  Now, a lot of the success that Cincy is having is due to playing in the Big East.  When a road game at South Florida is your biggest hurdle for success, you know your conference is thin.  However, Cincinnati has done all it can up to this point - played the teams put in front of them and beaten them soundly - so if they finish undefeated, without two SEC or Big XII teams also finishing unbeaten, they SHOULD be given the chance to play in the Mythical National Title Game.

So what separates Brian Kelly's squad from Rich Rodriguez's squad?  After all, Brian Kelly was the choice for many fans to follow Lloyd Carr.  He had mucho' success at Grand Valley State, winning a couple national titles, and had equal success at Central Michigan.  Now, he has brought legitimacy to a school that hasn't turned out a decent athlete since Kenyon Martin.  The biggest and most obvious difference between these two schools is experience, especially at the quarterback position.  Redshirt Senior QB Tony Pike has led the Bearcat offense to explosive numbers in the first half of the season, finding Senior WR Marty Gilyard for much of his success.  When Pike went down with an injury last night against South Florida, Redshirt Sophomore Zach Collares stepped in and led the offense the rest of the way.  The spread offense schemes that Rod and Kelly run are similar, with Rod's leaning a little more to the running spread, so the main difference is that the Bearcats have someone who can legally drink a beer running their offense.  I know it is hard for fans to wait for the future, but GOD DAMN WAIT FOR THE FUTURE!  You see what this Michigan offense can be (times 1,000 with the athletes Rodriguez will bring in), so just sit back, strap in, and know that good times are coming.  In the meantime, root for the Bearcats, because another legitimate Ohio team is something Ohio State hasn't had to deal with since.....well, ever!

Now onto this weekend's games...

USC at Notre Dame


This is a really interesting game.  On one hand, Jimmy Claussen is getting hype as a Heisman Trophy candidate after beating no one in particular.  On the other hand, USC continues to break in a freshman quarterback.  If WR Michael Floyd were healthy, I would like the Irish to win this one in a shootout.  Without Floyd, Pete Carroll and his defensive staff can really key in on TE Kyle Rudolph and WR Golden Tate (Taint - trademark Mrs. Stefan The D).  Anytime the Trojans get extra time to prepare, they come out with an incredible game plan.  Michigan fans know this all too well after the many prison rapes we have received from Carroll and the Boys in the Rose Bowl.  My gut feeling is that this one is going to be a two touchdown game.  I think USC gets pressure on Jimmy Claussen, forcing him into a few mistakes and capitalizing on turnovers.  QB Matt Barkley will have WR Ronald Johnson back (another name that makes Michigan fans want to slit their wrists over not getting), so their offense should be able to score on the porous Irish D.  I see this one as about a ...

USC 38 ND 24


Ohio State at Purdue


Can someone please check the Ohio State offense for a pulse?  This is getting pretty ridiculous; they haven't had a good offensive output against a non-MAC team since Michigan last year.  Okay, that still means they haven't had a good offensive output in a while since Michigan was a lower division MAC team last year.  Can Jim Tressel make up his mind and decide what offense he is going to run?  He keeps showing some spread offense principles, trying desperately to get Terrelle Pryor to realize his potential.  The problem is that he has limited playmakers around him.  WR's Carter and Posey will be good someday, it's just not today.  They are young, and the Buckeye tailbacks are about as explosive as a Natalie Portman fart.  That leaves all the pressure on TP, and if teams can contain him in the pocket then the Buckeye offense really struggles.  They need to get that fixed, because the defense plays lights out, but not every team will give them two pick sixes and a punt return for a touchdown.

Ohio State 24 Purdue 7


Delaware State at Michigan


This is exactly what the Wolverines needed at this point in the season.  With the schedule moving to twelve games, Michigan does not have a bye week *theoretically* this year.  An ideal situation would involve Michigan jumping out to a huge early lead, mixing in Denard and Tate, and then letting Denard have the rest of the reps for experience.  If the Wolverines are going to be successful the rest of the way, Denard must become more comfortable in the offense.  Mark my words, Tate Forcier is not 100% healthy, and he will continue to get banged up as the season goes along as teams try to force him into bad decisions.  If (maybe when) he goes down, Denard has to step in and be the weapon that the coaching staff knows he can be.  Another thing I will be looking for in this game is the performance of the running backs not named Minor.  While Delaware State is definitely not an elite opponent (in Division 1-AA even), I would like to see Michael Shaw, Vincent Smith, and Mike Cox get some opportunities to show that they can play against some competition.  Shaw has proven that he has the ability to become the next go-to-back in this spread offense, so I am anxious to see how he responds to more opportunities to carry the ball.  Naturally, this one will be a blowout, so much more analysis at this point would just be redundant.  I will stray from the norm and actually make a score prediction this week.

Michigan 51 Delaware State 10


That does it for this edition of Prognosticating, feel free to weigh in with your opinions and as always...
NRTTS
Coach Deuce