Speaker 1: You are now listening to the Big Ten Paradigm podcast
here on the College GRIDIRN Coast to Coast Podcast Network.
Please welcome in Noah Drury's we cover the Big Ten
throughout this whole entire twenty twenty five college football season,
and welcome to the Big Ten Paradigm here on the
College grid Iron Coast to Coast Network. My name is
Noah Drury, Happy to be along for the ride with you.
We've been a little congested and sick, but we are
feeling better and ready to talk about what happened.
Speaker 2: In week eleven. We'll keep it more brief as Week
twelve is up on the horizon and we have a
game Friday and a bunch of games on Saturday. Only
a few more weeks until we're at the Big Ten
Championship in the College Football Playoff. We'll talk about the
College Football Playoff rankings along with other things. We'll do
a little debrief on the Michigan State vacating wins and
all that good sorts of jazz. But we'll start off
with last week. Last Friday, USC played Northwestern, a thirty
eight to seventeen victory. USC just came in took care
of business King Miller continues to be impressive. Mkaya Lemon
and Jacobe Lane are going to be NFL draft picks.
I think I could say that confidently enough. And Northwestern,
I mean, look, getting to a bowl game on your
season is kind of the goal right now. You got
a few games left. You host Michigan at Wrigley Field
this weekend, and then you play Minnesota and Illinois. You
just have to win one of those games, and you
were going bowling. And for the Northwestern program that's not
in the Big Ten West anymore and really doesn't have
a chance for a Big Ten title other than maybe
an odd ball outlier year, I think that's the goal.
And look, David Brown did a really good job taking
over for Pat Fitzgerald after that whole scandal. And yeah,
I like USC's still trying to fight for a playoff spot.
Off game versus Iowa this Saturday, then you have to
play Oregon and then you close out the season with UCLA.
It's a tough final stretch, right And for a Lincoln
Riley team, this team has to play physical, they have
to play strong, they have to finish strong. And this
game versus Iowa, Iowa can hang we saw it this
past Saturday. Talk about that game in a moment. Ohio
State took care of Purdue thirty four to seven. Perdue
never really had a chance. The Ohio State defense is
just so good. I mean less than two hundred total
team yards allowed for Produce saying looks impressive once again.
The run game just kind of getting distributed. Jeremiah Smith
has a monster stat game. Yeah, this is an Ohio
State team that's kind of capable of kind of doing
everything they need, even really like forced pressure that much.
They just took care took Purdue out of this game. Yeah,
there was like nothing to say important, just Ohio State
taking care of business, kind of load managing their way
the rest of their way through their schedule. Indiana had
a uh, had a close one. Mendoza doesn't play out
great all game, but Hey has the final drive and
Gus Johnson says he's the heisman. So does that mean
he's the heisman? I don't know that will uh, that
will be to be determined at the Heisman ceremony in
New York in December. But Mendoza great player, able to
go down, throws a beautiful touchdown. Omar Cooper probably makes
one of the most impressive catches that will be remembered
for a long time, and Penn State hung around. They
they are still a talented football team. Singleton broke off
that long touchdown, which he's that's kind of what he's
been and he hasn't been able to break those this season. Yeah,
I mean it's a uh, it's a it's a tough
go for this Penn State team. And what I would
like to say is that this defense is still good night.
Dennis Sutton did his job, you know. Aj Harris is
still a contributor for this team. Zion Tracy like, there
are still guys on this defense that are going to
get drafted. I think that's pretty easy to say. It's
gonna be tough. Obviously a rough finish to the season.
Three and six currently, they'll probably pick up a win
this weekend. But yeah, it's just a uh, just a
bat just unfortunate for Penn State. We'll see what they
do with their coaching. Higher haven't heard too much buzz
on that Charlie Becker had a big game for Indiana
in this game. And I mean, they're just so talented
on the defensive line and linebacker position. Really all across defense,
Aidan Fisher got another pick nine TfL's two sacks as
a team just a just a good football team. And look,
you need to find ways to win tough situations. And honestly,
in their next two games they play I believe, yeah,
Wisconsin Purdue, so they're probably not gonna get much of
a challenge. Although Wisconsin did pick up their first win
and Big Ten play more on that and second. But
we have Oregon in Iowa and this was a heck
of a football game. Oregon wins on a field goal,
Dante Moore struggles in the rain, a lot of injuries
to the receiver position, to Corey and Moore out, Kenyan
Sadiq out obviously, Evan Stewart's been out, which there's some
buzz that he might return before the end of the season.
And it was just a tough game. But hey, you
got to transfer and bear Alexander who's played well, and
we're doing a really good job of filling the middle.
They forced Iowa, they kind of played Iowa style, but
I mean they beat them, They beat them at their
own game. Iowa couldn't get any tackles for loss in
this game. This is just an ugly football game. But yeah,
Oregon's still alive in the college football playoff race. They
do kind of have a tough finish Minnesota this Friday.
Then it's an extended day of practice and rest before
they and then they go to Husky Stadium to end
the season. Speaking of the Huskies, they get upset by
wesconsin thirteen to ten. DeMont Williams couldn't do anything, Jodah
Coleman gets hurt. Denzel Boston's the only source of consistent
offense and a tough weather game. Their defense did their part.
The longest passer for Wisconsin was Sean West, their punter.
Just a not a great game, but they were able
to get it done. Yeah, just just weird stuff all
over the place. Wisconsin was able to pull out and
ugly win and they get their first Big Ten win
of the season. Will they keep Luke Fickle around That
remains to be seen. It really just depends on what
his buyout is, which I don't know the number off
the top of my head, but we'll look at buyout
season see if any other Big Ten coaches are under
pressure of getting fired or any of that sort of nature. Washington.
I mean, it's unfortunate. You could have potentially been in
the playoff hunt. And if you continue to win on
and they don't, they got to play Purdue, UCLA and Oregon,
so chance there's a chance that they ruin Oregon season.
At the end, they have another couple of games that
it could potentially get right, they host Perdue. They don't
have to go back to the east side of the
Big Ten. I mean, technically it's the Midwest with Wisconsin,
but they don't have to go back to the other
side of the country. They get to stay on the
Pacific Coast. And it's gonna be tough for Washington. They
just gotta bounce back. Jedfish, I mean, he's in some
coaching rumors. I think Washington's one of the better jobs
you could be at. I think they do a really
good job every season of just staying consistent. Excuse me.
They do a good job of staying consistent and being
a good football team. And look, they got a quarterback
of the future. They still got a guy that could
build around for one more year. You might lose Jonah Coleman,
and you might lose was Denzel Boston and they can
you know, they could build off that they could bind talent,
they could get transfers. There's a lot of things that
they could do. I mean that twenty twenty three team
was so good and they still want I believe six
and six or seven and five. Last season, you know,
it was a and Tobonton Williams played really well in
that Bowl game. And for Jetfish to take over a
situation where last year they lost every starter but I
think one, and then this season having a young quarter
build off on. They just need to find more supplements
obviously in the running game and receiving game. But I
really like this Washington program. Washington, you know, they're one
of these teams that I enjoy paying attention to. Even
when they were in the Pac twelve, I was a
big Washington fan, you know, when they had Michael Pennix
for both years and obviously they had that insanely talented
team that went to a national title game, something that
we never really probably would have expected from Washington, you know,
three years ago. So just an incredible job done there.
Obviously Kalin de Borer there before. Just a good program
and I think you could build a lot of things there. AnyWho,
enough talk about that Rutgers ends up taking the victory
over Maryland, and I feel bad for Malik Washington. I've
said this for so many years in a row, or
not years, sorry weeks. I mean I've said it for
years too. They still haven't won since September. Guys, it
is November now and they're probably not getting to a
bowl game if they didn't win this one. You play
Illinois Michigan in Michigan State, Well, my personal opinion, I
think you could beat Michigan State at Ford Field. Illinois
and Michigan are going to be tough wins. Michigan looking
to get into a playoff spot. Illinois is a good
football team, not a great, a good, above average football
team that caught a tough couple of tough losses early
on in the season and it kind of went downhill
from there for Rutgers. I mean, I've been I'm a
big fan of Athnyan caliac Mannis. He had a solid
game through a couple of picks, but you know that's
to be expected of the Greek rifle. And then Antoine
Raymond forty one carries two hundred and forty yards, just
the ultimate workhorse. I can't tell you the last time
you don't really see running backs in college or at
any level get above thirty, let alone forty one carries.
I mean, that is just absurd and really unheard of.
But he really did his part on the offensive side.
I mean this was just too middle of the pack
to lower end Big ten teams playing each other and
duke in and out, and yeah, I mean, look Rutgers.
Rutgers not the typical defensive oriented team that there used
to be. But they have a chance to go bowling.
They have this week off. They'll play Ohio State, which
probably won't handle that one too well, and then they
play Penn State and that'll be a great regular season
finish to potentially go to a bowl from the team
from Piscataway and they could just build on the next season.
And then the last game, this was a good one
between Nebraska and UCLA. TJ Latif came out, balled out,
obviously got thrown into that USC game, which Nebraska's probably
not gonna be in playoff contention anymore. Thirteen to fifteen
to two ohs, five thirteen point seven yards per attempt
in three touchdowns. And then we talked about him on
this show multiple times, and I think the national media
has to take more attention to him. Is Emmett Johnson.
Emmitt Johnson is one of the best running backs head
over one hundred yards receiving, one hundred yards rushing, just
doing a heck of a job for his team. The
corn Huskers are in great place. They're gonna keep Matt
roll around. They extended them and they can't play kind
of physical in this game too. And Ucla they had
that couple of weeks stretch where it's like, oh, yeah,
you know Ucla the hot hand. They beat Penn State
and then they also beat I can't remember it off
the top of my mind. They also croshed Michigan State,
and they beat Maryland and then Indiana kinda sent them
back down to earth. The tough season to finish out
with Ohio State, Washington, and USC. So they might move
back down to three and nine. See if what type
of hire they're gonna make, right, because obviously they let
go of Deshaun Foster. I don't know if they want
to keep Skip Skipper and new Heizel around. You know
what will the buzz be in that, right? But proud
of this Nebraska team to finish out. They're seven and
three on the season, Penn State and Iowa. That Iowa
game is always electric no matter what type of season
both of these teams are having. Remember two years ago
being at the gym actually doing cardio and watching. I
think of Deacon Hill as the quarterback at Iowa at
the time, and then I can't remember who. I don't
think it was Martinez because Martinez went to Yea. It
could have been Martinez. There might have been Jeff Simms.
It might have been the Jeff Simms year, you know which.
Jeff Simms was a good quarterback at Georgia Tech and
then he went to Nebraska and everything went downhill. And
he's been playing a little bit at Arizona State, not
completely well, but nonetheless, Emma Johnson TJ Latif. This defense
has been kind of hit or miss all season. But
this is a good corner Huskers team. And I hate
to like talk about some of these teams like, oh,
they're not in the playoffs, so their season doesn't matter.
Their season still matters to them, right, matters to the players,
matters to the coaching staff, it matters to the community.
They want to finish out strong and even if they
go to a bowl game where they gotta go play
in Florida like the Music City Bowl or the Sun
Bowl or you know, they go play somewhere something of
that nature. Right, it still matters. It's not like we're
just like, oh, yeah, well they just don't matter because
they're not in the No, they still matter. You still
want to have good seasons, you want something to build on,
and it's just great stuff. Let's take a look at
the college football playoff rankings, and there's some there's not
too much regarding the Big Ten that I want to
completely like talk about, like Ohio State and Indiana being
one and two, I think is good. I'm glad the
committee doesn't punish Indiana. Texa A and M beat up
beat a beat up Missouri State team with their freshman quarterback,
and they don't flip flop them. I don't think it
was an impressive enough win from Texas and them. It's
not like they beat Bama in Georgia or Texas, which
they'll have a chance to beat Texas later on in
the season. But yeah, I mean, if they beat Texas
and Indiana doesn't slip up like or it slips up
or it doesn't play extremely well. Honestly, I could see
it right. You got Bamama and Georgia, Texas, Tech, Ole Miss, Oregon.
I'm fine with where Oregon is. They give them credit
for beating Iowa. Maybe they should have been above Ole Miss.
Not entirely sure. I don't think Oregon has played necessarily
that impressive since September. And look, they've had a lot
of injuries at the skilled position. They didn't look great
versus Wisconsin. You know, they have the loss to Indiana
at their own place, so obviously they got to play
Washington and USC and you know, still have Minnesota on
the schedule. But if they I mean, if they finish
out undefeated, they're in right, and you know they'll be
an at large team that gets in Notre Dame at nine.
We haven't talked too much Notre They took care of
business versus Navy. They got a tough play, they got
a tough test going to play Pitt. I mean, if
they can win that game out, there'll be ten and two.
I don't understand the them in Miami being so largely apart.
I know Miami lost to Louisville and then SMU. Look
those are two both good football teams. I know Louisville
had that stupid game versus Cal because you know, it's
just how the ACC is and they have two Pacific teams.
It's oh, they're actually at home though, So yeah, I
mean Louisville, like they had Miller Moss. Obviously we weren't.
Lincoln Riley wasn't impressed with Miller Moss. And I know
Jeff Brohm does a decent job with quarterbacks and game
planning and stuff, but Cal just took him to overtime
and they won. And that one receiver had a crazy
game for Louisville, right, And that's more all sports discussion
than me. But I'm like, there's a little bit of
a backstory. I'm a big Louisville fan. I was a
big fan of that twenty twenty three team, and I
a different podcast I was doing amateurly back in my
own time. You know, buddy of mine that were going
to broadcasting school, I said in the preseason, mainly because one,
I'm a big Jeff brom guy, Like, obviously you got
Purdue and this is kind of the tie in here.
He got Purdue to a point where they were winning games,
they were upsetting teams. They upset that Ohio State team
they upset at Michigan State in that twenty twenty one season,
they go to a Big Ten title, like they did
a lot of things in that Aidan O'Connell on that team,
and they've had a couple of receivers I believe in
David Bell and Rondelle Moore that have been able to
develop and end up being NFL players. And now, like
obviously we see the situation that produes in and I
mean Louisville. They've made it to the ACC Championship game.
They've been relatively competitive, and I think Jeff Bromwile, I
don't know if he's a big head coach guy where
you know, he's got to go to one of these,
you know, big time jobs. I think LSU could be
a good place for him. I just don't know how
well he would recruit. Also, Louisville in that game was
missing Isaac Brown, one of the best running backs in
the country. That also doesn't get talked about enough in
the national media because they're an ACC school and they're
not a big time program. But that's besides the point.
I'm not gonna go on a rant about how really
good players at these like non like you know, big
network schools. I mean, I guess the ACC is covered
by ESPN, but they care more about the SEC and
they get all the primetime slots and the big game
slots and this, that and the other thing. Right, nonetheless,
all right, that's enough in other news. So Notre Dame's
at nine, USC's at seventeen, Michigan's at eighteen. I love
how they respect the USC had to head win. They
took care of business versus Michigan. In USC, I mean,
they could control their own destiny. If they beat Oregon,
beat Iowa, they're in. There's no other way. As long
as you don't slip up versusu CLA, you're in Michigan.
If you beat Northwestern, beat Maryland, and beat Ohio State,
you're in. Obviously easier said than done, right, and we
might only see three Big Ten teams get in this season.
I don't think that's well off the mark. I think
USC does have a chance versus Oregon. I haven't been
too impressed with Oregon's secondary this season. I think on
the line of scrimmage, defensively they're okay. They're not particularly amazing,
but there I would say they're above average. I don't
think Oregon's this juggernaut of the team that we really
thought they were last season. I think they're gettable, and
I think they're gettable for USC. Their offensive line has
been pretty alright. They've been able to run the ball
more as of late. They found Wddington as being their
main workhorse back and other guys just kind of supplementing
in there, right and then so but also with USC,
I mean they're on their what fourth fifth string running
back in King Miller and he's killing it. Jane Mayeva,
he had that one stinker versus Nebraska, they still were
able to pull out a win even if it was
a Dylan Royola injury, So I mean USC could get
it done. Obviously, the loss to Notre Dame didn't help them,
and then they also lost. They didn't lose to Illinois.
Who did they lose too? They lost to oh no,
they Yeah, they did lose to Illinois on the game
winning field goal. So it'll be interesting to see what
USC does down the stretch of the season. But their
team I might buy some stock in, right, I think
they're a good football team. And then Iowa at twenty one,
I mean, they played Oregon very close. They covered the spread.
They did what they were supposed to do. They play USC,
and then Michigan State in Nebraska be interested to see
what they do versus USC this weekend. That should be
a really good game that will highlight coming up. And
then yeah, Washington dropped out of the rankings deservedly so
in the Ape Pole, Illinois got some receiving votes. And
then also they didn't rank Iowa and the Apeopole. I
don't get it, but the ap Pole voters probably like
Iowa football is not something they're gonna pay attention to
right to the middle of nowhere. Not a fun not
necessarily a fun team to watch in terms of like
excite and highlights and stuff. Not something you're gonna see
on the big headlines. Just a good football team that,
you know, I mean, we'll cover them. A lot of
people in the Big Ten like talking about Iowa and
the team they have. I mean, I'm a big Mark
Gronowski fan. I kind of like some of the skilled
players they have, even though they're not necessarily talented. They
have a good secondary. Honestly this season like they've been
playing pretty well, so you know, I mean, I'm a
big Iowa fan, right they're a good They're a good
football team. I'm gonna talk and this pains me to
say this. It's probably one of the big stories here
we go. Let's look at the Detroit Free Press with
Chris Solari. You know someone that I pay attention to
on Twitter. He actually came on to the radio station
for our podcast on there, not that I'm necessarily associated
with it, but on w HMI, and you know, he
talked Michigan State in the preseason. And here is the article.
We'll read this word for word. This is from the
Detroit Free Press. Michigan State football has been placed on
a three year probation by the nc DOUBLEA for violations
during mel Tucker's tenure as a coach. Not only did
he do you know, a very scandalous thing. Obviously with
the whole Brenda Tracy thing. We're not going to get
it too much into detail because I personally find it disgusting, right,
but during mel Tucker's tenure, there is a violation and
they will be forced to bakate fourteen win including five
games under Jonathan Smith. Tucker violated head coach responsibility rules
and failed to monitor his program and was ruled to
have committed Level one standard violations, but was not involved
in the recruiting violations. According to the nc doublea's release,
The NCAA says Meltucker follow an NFL model for his program,
running all off field operations through his general manager, but
failed to adequately monitor his program. For that, Tucker has
been given a three show, three year show cause arder
in which he will be suspended from thirty percent of
the football season during the first season of his new employment.
The university released a statement that the Spartans will be
penalized thirty thousand dollars SUPUS one and a half percent
of football program's budget because former staff members are reigned
for and provided impromssible recruiting and inducements and benefits and
unofficial vision expensive MSU THENCA and it's Committee on Infractions
also found Tucker's staffed engage and in permissible contacts with
prospective student athletes. So starts short story store and a
lot of the discussion on Michigan State Twitter was like, Oh,
but you know, Michigan doesn't have to vacate their wins
with the whole county. They got plenty of other stuff,
a lot of money, a lot of fines a lot
of this, that and the other thing. This is nothing,
but now Jonathan Smith doesn't have a big ten win,
and obviously it's not his fault with mel Tucker in
what he did, but having a eligible player on field,
and is that and the other thing like very very
very like if it wasn't already downhill for Michigan State football,
this is another thing that you can add to the
laundry bag of lists of things that you're just like,
what is this program doing? I like the guy, I
forget the guy I locked on Spartans, and maybe we
can have him on if Michigan State does a coaching
search this offseason, or we could have Tom Cavanaugh too,
because I think he would give great insight, which I
love Tom. He's not actively covering Spartans Illustrated anymore, but
he's someone that's very close to there and does a
lot of other stuff in the media presence with writing
and play by play commentary and a bunch of other things.
So he's a great mind to have on as well.
But what I wanted to say is like, as a
Michigan State fan, it pains me to just see another
thing happen to this program. You know, a program in
university that's had all its scandals, you know, throughout the years.
Not going to name individuals, but you can get the
point where I'm at, right, and this is just another
thing that they add to the collection, and you know,
is the right leadership in place? Obviously there went whole
completely different with the new athletic department. Obviously Alan Haller
steps down and maybe he knew this was coming and
decided to get away from everything we bring in Jay Bat.
I think Jay Batt did a lot of good things
for the Georgia Tech football program. But regardless, I mean,
it's just yeah, Like I have some friends that go
to the University of Michigan State, you know, for their education,
and they were like, oh, do you want to go
to the Penn State you know, Penn State Michigan State game.
I'm like, no, I don't I like which also a
complete sidebar, why is that game the big time game
of the week for for CBS. That just doesn't make
any sense to me. But hey, I mean they'll beyond
national TV on a big major network. Are they deserving
a sow bad? I don't know, but you know they are.
They are. So there's that This episode of the Big
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Ticket Smarter. And with that being said, we head to
the week twelve slate where there is football to be played.
We will start with the Friday night game between Minnesota
and Oregon. Minnesota six and three on the season overall.
We'll head to Eugene take on the Ducks. Spread is
a twenty five and a half. My goodness, I miss something.
Is someone hurt that I'm I'm just not you know,
nothing's coming off my about it. Why are they favored
by that much? I get that maybe Ohio State killed
them and you know they weren't impressive versus Iowa or
de Brack. Actually this makes a little bit more sense
now that we're looking at it right over under forty
four and a half. Oregon looking to maybe have a
takeaway game here. Dante Morey's been impressive all season. Obviously,
maybe not as much statistical production, but he's still doing
a really good job of being the helm and leader
of that offense. Noah Whittington has been kind of the
workhorse back who's gonna step up in the receiving game.
They still have McLellan someone that I do like. Gary
Brian Junior gets hurt in that game obviously, with out
Sadik de Koran More and Evan Stewart. So I mean,
Oregon's had to fill in a lot of depth, and hey,
they're still putting themselves in a prime position to win,
you know, or at least compete in the College Football Playoff.
For Minnesota, obviously, they've been out with Darius Taylor in
and out of the season. They have ojaboys starting right now.
Lmeke Brockington has been their best receiver on the season,
but they haven't necessarily been great on the offensive side
of the ball. And yeah, I mean Minnesota, when they win,
they win closely, they don't have to score that much,
and when they lose, they typically have gotten beaten pretty
bad by Ohio State, Nebraska in Iowa. So can they
have a chance in this game. I mean, they're already
BAWL eligible, so it's not like, you know, they have
to play to fight for Bowl eligibility, and you know,
they have a week off so they have a chance
to well prepare for this. After Oregon had to go
all four quarters against Iowa. They still have nor Northwestern
in Wisconsin, so I think they can at least get
one more win out of those two games. And yeah,
I mean Drake Lindsay, you know, in his first season
is starting, hasn't been particularly bad by any means. I
don't think he's been the best quarterback you know, in
the Big Ten, but I don't know. Maybe we'll do
a Big Ten quarterbacks ranking at the end of the season.
Whoever Wisconsin's quarterback is at the end of the year
will be eighteen, but you know, one through seventeen. It'd
be interesting to see, you know, where he places and
where I think heading forward in the next year, where
he'd be in the preseason, because he's someone that from
a fundamental standpoint, I really like his footwork. I think
he does a good job of layering balls as well.
It's just kind of him putting it all together. He's
also got some mobility and some toughness to him as well,
something that I really like, you know, seeing from a
modern day quarterback where he's not completely reliant on one
thing or the other. He could do both and maybe
get some more offensive weapons around him. I think PJ.
Fleck does a good job with that Minnesota program. Does
he get hired away, I don't know. I've heard him
for the Penn State job, but maybe he could go
down south to one of the SEC jobs. I have
a million openings. It'll be interesting to see. But honestly,
he stays at Minnesota at something I would be completely
fine with because I think he's a good ball coach
and he did great things at Western Michigan as well
in his time there, and he's done pretty good stuff
for Minnesota as well, So no reason to discredit him
or his team. But I think I would take the
spreads for Minnesota. I would take Oregon to win the game.
At noon on Big Ten Network, Indiana and Wisconsin square off.
Indiana twenty nine and a half point favorite. Wisconsin. You know,
they got a big win against Washington, their first Big
Ten win of the season. If they win this game,
they remain alive for bow eligibility. Unfortunately, they have to
play the second best team in the country, who just
had to play a close game with Penn State, and
I know Kirk Signetti, he's not gonna want to play
another close game with the team that. You know. I
think they're more in a better position on the season
than Wisconsin. I mean, I think they might keep lup
kafickle on. That seems to be the word around town.
We'll see if they decide to jump ship and shift
things in other places in Madison. But in my opinion,
I think that I think that Wisconsin. You know, it's
kind of a lost season for the and I mean,
I know they get the win versus Washington, that's great.
I don't know if they're getting another one on the season.
I really don't think they will. With playing Illinois Minnesota
as well. Just there's no chance fors Indiana. And you
know what, if they do win, clip it, clip this,
put it everywhere, put it everywhere. I will be the
bad guy for saying I think Indiana will probably cover
the spread. I think they will do their job. They're
not gonna want to play another close game. This is
a Kurt Signette a team that you know, I mean,
the other than Old Dominion in Week one and then
this Penn State game. You know, teams that they've been
even with are better than they've dominated. I mean that
thirty to twenty game versus Oregon, they dominated that game.
I will yeah, they played that one close. I was
a damn good football team. They killed Illinois. I mean, like,
I don't know what you want from this team. They
they've been one of the most impressive teams on the season.
They're not the most impressive, because the most impressive they're
probably gonna play in the Big Ten championship. That that's
really I don't mean to go on a rant, and
maybe no one's questioning me my decisions, but I want
to like make sure this Indiana team is really damn good,
really good. I think they are a national title contender.
To say that about Indiana football, you know, imagine you
said that, and obviously hindsight's twenty twenty, and probably no
one would say this other than maybe the crazed Indiana
fan like you. Probably think they would have won a
national title or had contention to compete for a national
title in basketball before they did in football, Right, that
makes sense. I mean, they're historically a bad or historically
not a great football program and a great basketball school,
but a man, they're doing great things down there. I
haven't actually seen them on the basketball court, and I've
been loving college basketball ever since it started. This year,
I'm actually going to the Michigan State game. They play
Santa was A State, and I'm excited to go to
that game because you know, I went to the Wisconsin
game last year. For Michigan State. I think it was
the second to last game. I think it was their
last home game and second to the last game of
the regular season. No, maybe it was their second to
last game, last home game, because they played Michigan at
home and absolutely kill Regardless, big Michigan State fans still,
especially in the basketball and you know, we beat Arkansas away,
only making one three. All right, off topic, Michigan plays
Northwestern on Big Noon on Fox. They are a eleven
and a half point favorites. The spread started at ten
and a half over under forty one and a half.
I like, obviously Justice Haynes is hurt, and they still
have Jordan Marshall, you know, getting a lot of the workload.
Underwood hasn't looked necessarily impressive so far in these last
few games. I think this would be a great get
right game for like an Underwood big game. Northwestern's not
no shade, no shade to their defense. I mean, they've
been pretty decent all season, all things considered. I'd like
to see Underwood get going. Preston Stone is someone who's
had pressure on him. He has been a good, good
quarterback this season. I think they could do a more
than a great job with Borrom and more and the
other guys. They have no on the defensive line, they
do a pretty good job covering downfield. I don't think
Kamala fe is gonna be able to have too much
success in the ground game. I think Michigan can take
care of business against this Northwestern team. I think they will,
even though it's at Wrigley Field. I think a lot
of Michigan fans will travel because it's Chicago and it's
like a four hour train ride, which or like a
forty five minute flight if you want to take a
flight or if you wanted to drive, which driving through
Chicago is probably the worst thing you could ever do.
Maybe not one of the worst things, because there's actually
but like you know, in terms of like driving to
Chicago's now, especially if you're gonna go to the game,
you know what you can go there, you know, have
a few brews, hop back on the train and go
back home. You know, call it good. Take an uber there,
like make sure you know, don't drink and drive. I
think that's something that's common sense, but you know, some
people still don't listen. But regardless, I think they'll take
care of business. Versus Northwestern, I think they'll. I think
they will, oh and cvs at three thirty. Michigan State
and Penn State play football is spread seven and a half.
With Penn State, I don't think Penn State's you know,
with the Gronk and Meyer, I don't think they've looked
too you know, particularly special on offense. Uh, obviously they're
gonna try to feed k Tron Allen and Nick Singleton
and try to get the backs going in this game.
I think Penya, you know, he was nice in their
last game versus Indiana. But you know, I don't think
there's any true receiver or true special threats in the
receiver position for Penn State. For Michigan State. You know,
you have to be really oppressed with Miller Boy's experience
or with the inexperience he had. You have to be
impressed with how he played stepping in for Aiden Chiles
I don't think Chiles is going to get the start
again in this game. And if they can get Frasier
and Tullus and Tyle Tolliver, you know, going get Nick
Marsh you know, spam the Nick of Marsh button. Yeah.
I think I thought, really, you know, this team would
be so much well put together. And I'm not saying
this team is gonna be like, oh they were a
doorcourse to make the no, but I thought they would
be like a seven to eight win team that had
some excitement. And here we are midway almost midway through November.
Midway through November on Saturday. They haven't been on much.
So you know they're gonna finish the season out they
play They play Iowa next week, probably chalk that one
up as lost, and then they play Maryland, and you know,
it's it's unfortunate for them because I mean the first
episode we did on this show with me being the host,
we talked to Tom Cavanaugh. I know I mentioned his
name twice. Also, me and Tom Cavanaugh are like pretty
decent outside of like the whole media business. Like we
talk on the phone a decent amount. But AnyWho, Like,
I mean, we've talked about the Steamer are just like, man, dude,
it's so unfortunate because I really thought there was something
special here. So well, they got a big ten win
on the season. I have no clue and yeah, I mean,
it's just it is what it is. Unfortunately, I hate
to be a biased fan every single time we talk
about this. But it's not even a sense of like, oh, yeah,
we're the best team and we're gonna come kick kiddy, yes,
and like you know, the Rock says this and the
like we're not saying that, we're like talking about it
and such a disappointment because it's just been such a
disappointing season. Iowa and USC, now this is an interesting one,
kind of a styles clash right Iowa. You know, the gritty,
grindy team trying to win with field position. You know,
they're not that aggressive. They're pretty sound on both sides,
staying true to their identities. And then there's USC. Usc
you know, loves to throw the ball, they love to
get creative with their formations, they like to run trick plays. Defensively,
they'll send pressure, you know. They they like to do
a lot of different things and they have a lot
of skilled players. You know, kind of do those things right.
USC is a six and a half point favorite. This
game will be at the Coliseum. It's gonna be a
good ball game between two good Big Ten teams. If USC,
if you want to make the college football Playoff, I
think on an x's and an o's point, you just
have to find ways to get Mikaya Lemon and Jacobe
Lane in spaces. I don't think you're gonna be able
to take the top off over the Siowa team. I
think they're gonna recognize that. So you have to find
Mikaya Lemon to bust a big play after the catcher,
find Jacobe Lane on back shoulders or post routes or
you know, try to get them moved in all levels
of the field, and just find a way for King
Miller to just you know, stay consistent. Don't try to
get behind the chains against the Siowa team. For Iowa,
I mean, it's the same game playing over the week.
Don't turn the ball over. State's positive in the turnover differential,
and you know, just control the clock, control the tempo,
you know, take ahold of the game. That's all you
have to do to win. It's like, quite literally the
most simplest thing ever for Iowa unless they play a
team better than them. They're just you can make a
game play all. I just don't think simply they're gonna
ever win. So yeah, uh, Maryland and Illinois also play.
That game will be on FS one. Illinois a fourteen
and a half point favorite. Maryland has played so bad
down the stretch it's just inevitable that I think they're
just gonna lose again. I love the Malik Washington kid.
He's such a talented player. I mean, even though he
couldn't get it done with his arm, you know. I
mean the Maryland receivers lead the whole entire college power
for wise lead the nation and drops. That's something you
just don't want, and I like, I think I try
to keep Locksley even though I mean, Locksley hasn't done
a terrible job, but they haven't been great. I don't
know if you could really do much better at Maryland.
It's kind of one of those quote unquote take the
checks and take the losses type school. And that's kind
of what you thought when they would join the Big Ten.
They haven't really had too much success since then. I
mean they've had both seasons, yeah, but they haven't had
any threat of like being in the top twenty five
or make it the College Playoff anything of that sense, right,
And they have this special quarterback in the Lake Washington
that I think is going to transfer. I think he should.
I think it would be the best move for his career.
You keep Loxley, he stays, and what they have another
like disappointing season after a great start, Well you just
wasted another year. And I mean, luckily he's gonna have
the tape to go show to coaches like, hey, you know,
I'd love to come play for your program and this
and that and the other thing. Like I think he's
a really special kid that's just used it. He wanted
to go to Maryland, and I mean he's a DMV kid.
You know, maybe he goes to like maybe well not
North Carolina, probably not Clemson, doesn't well, I mean Clemson
kind of embrace the transferport a little bit more like
maybe he goes to Penn State. Whoever Penn State picks up.
Maybe they're like, hey, Lake Washington not that far up
the road, do you want to come play for Penn
State and being our quarterback leader? Because I don't think
I mean, you could go with greg and Mayer the
next year. And I don't know what Drew Aller's eligibility
looks like or if he's just gonna go to the
draft anyways, Who knows what happens with that situation, right,
But like somewhere in a school that's just kind of
like a quarterback way like Auburn, if they're able to
maintain their roster after the Hughes freeze firing, like hey,
can they go poach him? We'll see, obviously, and you know,
maybe he just wants to stay and play at Maryland.
In terms of the game, I think that Illinois, like
you know, they played good against teams that they're better than,
and they're better than Maryland. Their last game they just
had a bye week, their last game against Rutgers. I mean,
they are able to handle business. And I know we're
not gonna look at, well, Rutgers just played Maryland. So
that's not how football works, That's not how any team
sports were. So you play the game for the reason.
You don't look at every single like, oh, they played
this team, this team, this team, try to compare. We're
not the college football playoff commtee. We're just here to
predict the game. And I mean if they just halt
the running attack of Maryland and they are just able
to kind of just chuck it around and keeping on
the ground and kind of attacked Maryland in both ways offensively,
I think they're gonna do just fine. Honestly, I like that.
I don't think the Illinois defense is particularly amazing, but
they have a great player and Gabe Jackets a good
solid front. Their secondary has been like on and off
this season. I don't think Maryland's gonna make too much
differences on the outside to really, you know, come away
with the win. So I like Illinois in the spot.
Oh I it's crazy to say that as them being
a fourteen and a half point favorites, But you know,
Purdue Washington. Could Washington get upset for the second week,
I don't think so. I think like that was seriously
a condition's pace game. You know, this game's at Husky Stadium, Purdue,
you know, what, what are they playing for at this
point in the season. It'll be interesting to see if
Jonan Coleman's back or not, because if he's not, I
think this could get a little bit more troublesome. You know,
he's a bowling ball type of running back, just gonna
go down through the wanes, through the gaps, you know,
try to knock over some people and this, that and
the other. Right, I think he's a good player. And yeah,
Denzel Boston has been amazing on the season. You know,
Demon Williams. Can he have a get right game, you know,
chuck it in around. Maybe he could have a three
hundred one hundred yard game or something like that. You know,
I like Washington in this spot and then I don't
have too much x's and I was in Ohio State UCLA.
This one will be on NBC at seven thirty. Can
you CLA have any offensive success on Ohio State? I
think it's the big question to ask because look, Nico,
he started out the year super rough, right, and then
all of a sudden, new Heizel, you know, fits more
to his style in terms of trying to scheme up things.
And you know, they're winning a couple of ball games
and he's looking a lot better. He's also a leading
rusher on the on the year too. If you U
CLA can find a way to score some points, I think, Wow,
I don't really think they have a chance to win
just because Ohio State's just this walking you know, they
just just walking wrecking ball that just destroys any and everything,
and they just they're They're like a tornado. They come through,
they come into your building, or you go to them,
which I don't know why you would ever go to
a tornado, but you know, in just this hypothetical sense,
you go to them and they kind of just destroy you.
You know, take your lunch money, you know, take everything
you have and then bang they spit you back out
and you continue on with your season.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: So, I know that's a weird way to describe things. Uh,
Like they have just been so good and I think
sayanch won the Heisman. I mean he is so efficient
on the season, two of three of two point fifty one,
like been a good ballplayer. Jeremiah Smith, Carnel Tay. I
mean there's just you can name all the players on
the team, right, I mean, their defensive line and linebackers
have been great. Arbou Reese has been a really nice
surprise this season. He's been a dominant guy. He's someone
that's gonna shoot up the mock draft boards more and
more as a can continues to go on. This is
just such a fun team. Just such a fun team.
I I like watching Ohio State football. Is that crazy
to say? I probably shouldn't as a Michigan guy, But
I'm not Michigan fan. I'm a Michigan State fan, and
you know there's no rivalry there. I mean, we lose
every time we have to beat them since like twenty fifteen,
So hell, I'll root for him. Also, one of my
best friends is an Ohio State fan. So and he
watches like every game from like the first quarter to
the fourth quarter, like it doesn't matter. They could be
playing freaking you know, your local JV high school football team.
He will sit there and watch it. Man, I don't
blame them. I mean it's fun rooting for a team
and killing everybody you know when they're good. So but Eddie, who, Yeah,
I think Ohio State, like the spread at this game
is thirty two and a half. I don't know if
they cover that. I can't believe it's actually that high,
over under a fifty eight and a half, Like so
what thirteen toldals gotta be gosh, so their team total's
gotta be like forty something. Yeah, I I mean they're
gonna win or it should be like third oh I
don't know. I can't do that mathom I had guys,
you know that you know that I don't know. I
actually could look right now. I'm curious, which uh yeah,
I mean this is I can't believe the college football
season is coming to an end here so shortly soon.
It's so sad to see. I mean, we're in maction mode.
Maction is probably one of the greatest things ever invented.
Watch it a little bit of that Ohio State Western Michigan.
I was on a call for a basketball game this
evening after well after recording this, what is the Ohio
State team total? You didn't bet money line on this game?
I think if you bet UCLA you'd probably win a
million dollars forty and a half. So I was writing
in the forties. Do they get to that? Did they
see us? I don't know they I don't know because
they kind of slowball everything in the second half, so
who knows. Maybe they want to put some points up
at home. Well see, I mean, look, they play UCLA
and then Maryland and then they do have the game
at the end of the season, which I can't wait
to preview that one. We'll definitely have Tyler Danberg on
the show. Oh man, I just get so excited thinking
about that game, even though Michigan's won it, and technically
I hate Michigan. It's such a good football game every year,
Like it's been probably the most entertaining college football product
consistently every single season. Honestly, like that game has been great.
Maybe not last year, but in terms of the dramatics
and Michigan just you know, basically winning without like, you know,
an FBS caliber quarterback, no offense to Jack Tuttle or
Davis Warren or Jaydon Davis or Jaydon Denegal. It's Hydon Denegaal.
I mean, I know San Diego State took a bad
loss this weekend, but it's hard to go play at
Hawaii and come out with a win. San Diego State
has been good, Like I think they can still win
the Mountain. Obviously, listen to Madazamaic about that, right, get
off my pylon, and you know the rest of the
college great Iron Coast to Coast Network. Make sure you're
tuning into all the podcasts on the feed. But with
that being said, this is going to be the conclusion
of the Big Ten paradigm. Hope you enjoy the episode.
You know, I ran a little longer than I thought. Honestly,
I'm coming off of sickness, and uh, you know, later
weeks we get to talk more previews and talk more
stuff that you know we're gonna look ahead to after
the season. Still some big games this week. It should
be a lot of fun. Can't wait to break it
down with you early next week, hopefully, you know, I'm
not still ill. Gotta got a couple of plans this weekend,
but you know, Sunday, hopefully I get to record, get
this out on Monday. It'll be all great and good.
But until then, next.
Speaker 3: Time you see me, I hope you enjoy, you know,
the rest of your week, going into your weekend and
enjoying college football this Friday and Saturday and all the
days that you can watch it because it's such a
great sport.
Speaker 2: I could not appreciate covering it more. But until then, everybody,
see y'all,