Speaker 1: You are now listening to the Big Ten Paradigm podcast
here on the College Gridiron Coast to Coast Podcast Network.
Please welcome in Noah Drury's we covered the Big Ten
throughout this whole entire twenty twenty five college football season.
Speaker 2: Welcome here to the Big Ten Paradigm on the College
grid Iron Coast to Coast Network. Here, I'm your host,
Noah Drury, glad to bring you along for a Week
thirteen reaction where you know, things kind of went to plan,
you know, maybe not in some games as I predicted.
As you listen back to last week's episode and you realize, oh, hey,
you were wrong about some things. Well, that's all right.
I can't wait to break this down. And we only
have one later season week of college football before it
gets to conference championships and then the College Football Playoff,
and before you know what, the twenty twenty five season
is over, even though it technically plays in the twenty
twenty six, but we don't. We don't count that, I
guess as the twenty twenty six national championship. We do
as the twenty twenty five. But any who, Before we
get started on anything else today, I want to say first,
of all, thank you for joining along here on the
College grid Iron Coast to Coast network and make sure
you're following the College grid Iron Coast to Coast Twitter
at grid Iron Coast and also me at Drew Renoa
as well as I tend to try and react to
things throughout the college football world on somewhat of a
Saturday and weekly some sort of that, along with my
other broadcasting work that I do. But the first thing
also I want to mention is this episode of the
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Think Smarter, Ticket Smarter, and let's start off with a
big game that was on CBS at three point thirty
between Oregon and USC. Oregon took control of this game,
and they really took control after the Malik Benson punt
return touchdown. Now, Malik Benson has had a very active
career in terms of being in the transfer portal. Was
at Alabama, was at Florida State last year now at Oregon,
and he was a big crucial part in this team's success.
Was able to catch the ball for four receptions in
sixty five yard or sixty seven yards and then also
he had a punt return of eighty five yards that
went for a touchdown. And once that happened, USC got
down multiple scores and I'm like, yeah, this thing is
definitely an organ's favor at home and Autson on a
big game Lincoln Riley, USC's off. They didn't have a
bad day by any means. It was not the success
you were looking to have. And they held McKay lemon
to seven receptions for thirty four yards. That's what you
want to do now to do Kines who had a
big game as along with Jacoby Lane, both with having
over one hundred yards. And Jacoby Lane, I've mentioned on
this podcast throughout the season, is a special player with
special talent. He's got great contested catchability. He's someone that
you can chuck it down to downfield. But it was
almost like USC's game plan was if they're in man coverage,
throw it down there, throw it down there to Tanuk
Mackay Jacoby one of those three options, and while that's
only sustainable for so long, and especially after the second
half started, I really thought, Okay, yeah, this is just
Oregon's game from here on out. Noah Whittington had a
nice day on the ground, over one hundred yards and
a touchdown on nineteen carries. Dante More looked pretty impressive.
He did have that one interception, but for the most part,
he did his job. And Oregon was just the more
physical football team in my opinion. They did more things
on the lines of scrimmage, had six tackles for loss.
They only got to the quarterback once, but they forced
Jane Mayeva to throw it downfield more times than not
while being under pressured. And I mean Matteo Ui ugly
just continued to be a force. He's one of the
best defensive line. I don't know how draft prospect he's
gonna figure out, but I'm pretty sure he'll be a
first round guy if I had to guess. And I
mean their whole defense, like their coverage, especially in Manda
Man is not really something that I think a college
football playoff team's going to be scared of. But that
front seven or front six, whether they're in a nickel
or dime package is not going to be something easy
to deal with. And look, this team can force turnovers,
this team can get pressure. It's just how do you
gamescript this? And keep in mind they're without Evan Stewart,
Gary Bryant, junior Decoryan Moore, like they have pieces missing
and they are still being successful without them. They're at
ten to one on the season. They have a game
at Husky Stadium Washington that could get tricky. I know
Washington lost to Wisconsin a couple of weeks ago, but
you know, Wisconsin's apparently just a juggernaut at home when
it comes to teams in just the twenties. I'll get
to that game versus Illinois later in the show, but like,
I think Washington can poise problems, especially if Coleman and
Denzel Boston are playing in that game. And I think
Demon Williams is a special quarterback talent in the Big Ten.
But I mean in terms of Oregon, like, you win
that next game, you're not gonna be playing for a
conference championship, but you could be sitting pretty in a
playoff spot where you could potentially be having a home game.
I know they were ranked fifth in the eight. People
wonder where they sit in the College Football playoff rankings,
wonder if they will be ahead of ole Miss. I
don't know if they should. Ole Miss has that win
versus Oklahoma, Oregon's best win obviously USC, and then the
Penn State win was good. At the time, I starting
to look less and less impressive. But I think if
you could be Washington too, that's another solid data point
on the resume, where especially if they beat them by
multiple scores like they did USC. I think you're looking
at this Oregon team and are like, hey, they're legitimately
going to compete. I don't know if they're a national
title contender like we thought maybe they would be coming
into the season, but they have enough collective data to
where you know, this team has proven throughout all points
of this season except an Indiana game, which Indiana is
the second best team in the country and hasn't really
been proven so otherwise, and they get in very easy
test versus uh prdue It's like an open note test
where you have all the notes and the teacher gives
you half the questions to the test. Like I don't
know if anyone had those teachers back in you know,
grade school or even middle school, high school where the
teacher is just like, I just want all of you
guys to pass and not have to deal with any trouble.
So here it is. I had a social studies teacher
in eighth grade that would like give us answers and
like really really make sure we didn't like I think
everyone like had like in B plus or higher. If
you had below a B plus, it was like, oh,
what are you doing? So really nice lady though, But AnyWho,
like Oregon is doing just such a good job, especially
down the stretch. I know they had the struggle versus
Westcountsin a couple of weeks ago. They took care of
business versus Minnesota. They played a kind of just dogfight
of a game against Iowa, and there just proves that
this Oregon team's capable of playing multiple styles and winning
in multiple ways. They could dominate, they play close, they
could play physical, like, there's a bunch of different things
they can do. The only question is is that a
team with you know, through the air ability, a team
like Alabama if they're clicking on all cylinders, a team
like Ohio State, a team like Indiana, which we saw
like a team that can shred this secondary can't have issues.
But you also have to be able to be able
to do more than one thing, I should say. And
I don't think it's completely Oregon's fault or not Oregon's
USC's fault that they lost this game. They're on their
fifth string running back like they have and I know
it's not an excuse anymore because King Miller's been playing
for multiple weeks and was a huge reason why they
got that big win over Michigan back when they were
at the Colisseum. But I mean, if you're USC, you
lose a lot of pieces. Kamari Ramsey was banged up
in this game. They've had a bunch of defensive players
and players across all positions. I guess you could say
this about all teams, but especially in a big game,
you're missing a lot one of these key pieces that
would help you get to that victory and they're just
not But I think that's not olid building season for
Lincoln Riley to really do something special at this program.
They've completely changed the identity of the team. They have
the skilled players, They're going to only attract more recruits.
Pretty sure they have the number one recruiting class upcoming
in this twenty twenty six cycle, like they're going to
be doing a lot of special things and I think
they'll be a player in the transfer portal for guys
on the defensive line and probably a couple of offensive
editions as well. So I'm very excited to see what
the team out in southern California does. And for Oregon,
they got a big game versus Washington next Saturday. It
should be interesting. I know USC plays UCLA. Will break
that game down later as well. Moving on next, probably
the best game in terms of closeness and excitement, this
is a really fun one. Northwestern versus of Minnesota. Now,
I told you guys, oh take the early in the week.
I was very wrong on that play. Look, this game
did not go the way I thought it was gonna go,
but it was still super exciting. Jayvon Tracy has a
career day with three touchdowns, one of them being a
thirty yard touchdown snag. There was missed field goals which
ideally lost Minnesota the game. They had two missed field
goals in the game. They make both of those. Hey,
you're winning this game and Northwestern still fighting for a
chance to beat both eligible but I gotta give a
lot of credit to Preston Stone twenty five to thirty
on the day, he went fifteen for fifteen in his
last fifteen pass attempts three hundred and five yards and
two touchdowns. I remember Preston Stone back when he was
at SMU and he keep in mind, before SMU transferred
to the ACC, he was the starting quarterback there. Obviously,
last season he got spot taken by Kevin Jennings, and
he led this SMU team to an American Conference championship
where they beat two Lane. This team was really good,
not so much anymore. S m u's top twenty five
team now just pushed into twenty fifth because Louisville just
decided to uh have the late season collapse, which is fine,
they're not at the ACC had like so many chaos
scenarios of who's gonna be in the a SEC title
game and get potentially a college football playoff bid. Not
the case, not the case at all. Kamala Fe had
a great day. Hayden Elegan the second had a huge
receiving day along with Griffin Wilde. Like this Northwestern team
played pretty well on the game. They also Minnesota No.
Northwestern had a muff punt too. There was just a
lot of chaos, and I guess that's what happens when
you play in Wrigley Field, a baseball stadium. I was
very impressed with the player Drake Lindsay too. They weren't
able to get it going on the ground, like Darius
Taylor had one play where he went for twenty seven,
but other than that, their ground game was kind of
just stagnant the whole entire time. And like Drake Lindsay,
his deep ball was either forcing the DBS to get
pass interferences or he was able to drop it in
the bucket. He had really nice pass to Malachai Coleman
for fifty two yards. Malachai Coleman was getting held that
play too, and it was still able to catch it.
Like very impressive stuff right there. And I don't know
if Minnesota is going to be necessarily a team that's
even looking to contend next year, but I think they
have a solid quarterback in place. I'm assuming you'll get
Darius Taylor back as well, and there's a lot of
core foundational pieces for this Golden Grophers team. Or it
kind of reminds me of that twenty nineteen team, and
you could really make a breakthrough next season where I
don't know if you're gonna make the College Football Playoff.
I don't know if that's truly in Minnesota's aspirations, but
I think having a solid eight or nine win season
is the ceiling of this Minnesota program in the modern era.
On the Northwestern side of things, I mean, they played
a really good game. David Brown gets this team to
another bowl eligible season. They do play Illinois in their
last game. Not sure if they're gonna come out with
the win in that one, although who knows. Illinois kind
of laid an egg versus Wisconsin. This is just another
impressive coaching job. The whole patsvid Gerald scandal with everything
how that came to an ending and then David Brown
gets appointed as the head coach and easier to stay,
did a really good job this season. And look, Northwestern
being Bowl eligible is great, great for them. I think
if it was back to the old Big Ten and
they were in the Big Ten West, this team's probably
playing for a Big Ten championship. So they do a
really good job of just playing sound and clean football.
I think they're supposed to have their stadium back next year,
not play on the practice field. They're Wrigley Field or
wherever they do and Cago. I think they'll be back
to Ryan Field, which will be good for them. I'm
excited to see the stadium renovation too, although I will
miss the glorious practice field game field that they do
have and what they did with it right across the Lake, Michigan.
But another solid season and yeah, go go Wildcats. Up next,
where do we want to go? Let's go Wisconsin. Illinois.
Very weird game, not what I was expecting. I watched
this one on a playback and my question is Illinois
are not. My question my analysis is Illinois could not
run the ball. And this is something that we really
expected from this Illinois team this season, to be physical,
to be able to run the ball, to be able
to dominate in the trenches versus Wisconsin team that you know,
we thought was dead, not dead, but like the morale
and the wanting to play to win and all, you know,
the different factors. They did not show up. They did
not show up for most of the season. But you know,
senior day in Camp Randall, it went a different. Darien
Dupre had an excellent game, broke off a huge touchdown run.
Had one hundred and thirty one total yards on the game.
I mean defensively, they just did a really good job
of just getting to the quarterback. Five sacks, six TFLs.
They did their part. And you know, they were able
to just play field position, force Illinois to into making
some mistakes, not allowing them to capitalize on opportunities. And
you know, it was an easy day for Wisconsin. When
Illinois makes simple mistakes of muffing punts and not making
field goals and you know, getting sacked, I mean, it's
gonna be tough for them to win. When they're not
the more physical team, it's hard to win. I mean
that's the case for any game, right And they got
out physical by Wisconsin and Wesconsin took advantage and came
away with the win. And for Luke Fickle being the
head coach next season, while you're like, is this going
to be an air raid system next year? Are they
gonna move back to the old school Wesconsin football that
had them successful in the Big Ten West for so
many seasons, so many great running backs, so many you know,
like the list goes on and on. You know, they
made Rose Bowls back when it was just a two
and fourteen era. I don't know if Wisconsin's ever gonna
get back to that level of being one of the
more premiere programs in the Big Ten. But I mean,
who knows. Uh. I think you have a big quarterback
question to answer next season, because see a bunch of
guys for this season. It was Billy Edwards to start it.
He gets hurt and then you move I'm Danny O'Neil
to Carter Smith, Hunter Simmons. There's so many guys that
you're trotting out there. They started Carter Smith in this game.
I don't know if he's the quarterback for next year.
I try to take another transfer quarterback. It's Tanner Mordechai
than Tyler Van Dyke, now Billy Edwards. It's Belly Edwards
coming back next season. I'm not too sure really what
the blueprint is on that. And you know what their
roster really looks like and turns on the offensive side.
What I do know is they came away with a
nice victory. They play Minnesota next week and it'll be
on Saturday. Good old rivalry game of Big Ten West
schools should be exciting to see congrats to wesconsin when
getting the win. Ah. Now we go to this part,
Michigan State versus Iowa. Michigan State loses their eighth game,
still remains winless in Big Ten play, and it was
right there on the table for them. Iowa kicks a
game winning field goal with two seconds left. Drew Stevens
drills the forty four yarder and like start out with
the posites this game, Iowa Cadenwegen is like Cooper Dejene
two point zero, except on the offensive side. I think
I made a reference to that, not in terms of, like,
you know, how he plays offensively or the impact he
has on the offense, but in the return room. He
returns a touchdown for this game. On average on his
three punt returns on the game, he had a forty
nine yard average in terms of returns. It is just absurd.
He really flipped the field and Iowa, you know, they
didn't do much on offense until late in the game.
Mark Ronowski did a really good job playing good in
the fourth quarter because the first three quarters he was
I mean, the team had such good field position and
and they also just were not playing good on offense.
So they they didn't really they weren't really called upon,
but he did step up as well. Iowa did a
really good job, you know, in the fourth quarter moments,
really securing on the defensive side. Kashan McCrae, you know,
for Michigan State had two always touchdown grabs and they
were throwing the ball around a little bit. Milvoyevic he
twenty five forty two two fifty six two touchdown too.
They did ask him to throw the ball a lot,
I mean forty two times a game trying to win,
especially against Iowa when you're not like, you know, this
elite class of receiver and quarterback talent and not really
known for your air raidar and it's not like they
were struggling to run the ball. It wasn't great toal
Tolliver did not do a good job. Tolas was able
to break off a few, but yeah, I mean, man,
you can't close games out, You're gonna lose. And I
think that's a real testament to coaching and just your
overall control on the program and how much you wrap
this stuff and who you trough in moments, and I
mean obviously making quarterback change midseason, which Aidan Childs is
actually hurt. So you know, he's been he and I
thought he was playing hurt for a lot of the season,
especially once we got into conference play. I'm like, this
is not the aid same Aiden Childs that you know
we saw in the beginning of the season. Like he's
not moving the same, he's not getting it off in
time the same, he's not making the plays that he did,
so you know, and then it comes to find out
he's actually hurt. And you know, Lessio Milavoyek is the
quarterback for the Spartans for the rest of the twenty
twenty five season. And look, they got one more game
to play versus Maryland at Ford Field. How are they
gonna show up for that game? I don't know. I
couldn't tell you. And am I even going to watch it?
There's better games to watch on Saturday than Michigan State
at this point. I watched it out of pure fandom.
And you know, they were down early, they came back,
took a lead, and you know what, they ended up
losing in the end. So it is what it is.
It's the Michigan State football experience. And this is the
second blown game where they had a chance they did
the same thing versus Minnesota. That game goes to over
time and they weren't able to pull it out because
their defense allows a two minute drill to happen, and
you know, the other team's able to take advantage. And
I thought Michigan State did a good job of playing
the field position. You know, they weren't trying to go
for it on fourth down or anything. They did a
really good job of trying to force Iowa to drive
the field. But when you're putting it also to Cayden Wigion,
you're not gonna have a lot of success. Yeah, that
was that was made very apparent throughout this game. I
remember my Twitter timeline just being like, why are you
punting Caiden Wig and the ball? Why are you punting
Caiden Weige and the ball? It's just it makes sense.
And I mean one hundred and fifty all purpose yards
came from Caiden wigon just on punt returns. Right. So
Iowa does a really good job at doing Iowa things.
Like we said about Iowa over time and time and time,
as Kirk Farns has paid the head coach, apparently they're
actually starting to really take the receiver and quarterback position
serious in the recruiting, which is good to see because
a lot of big running joke throughout the national recruiting
basis in the college football industry is Iowa just doesn't recruit,
you know, quarterbacks or wide receivers or any sort of
pass catching talent other than tight ends. But it looks
like they're looking to step their game up. It'll be
interesting to see how they look going forward. You know,
Tim Luster has a lot of influence on the offense
being the play caller, and he's more known as a
guy that wants to chuck it around a little bit.
So it'll be interesting to see how Iowa continues to develop.
As for the Michigan State side, does Jonathan Smith be
the or is he the head coach in twenty twenty
six just off my knowledge, probably, I look, I don't
know if firing him this cycle is even the right move,
just with all the other craziness and the coaching carousel,
and you know, there's a chance that you know, with
a lot of these jobs being first year jobs next season,
you know, is there gonna be a lot of domino
effects throughout the coaching carousel industry? Probably not, unless Jonathan
Smith just goes back to Oregon State and says, hey,
I want to go back here to the West coast
where I coach football, or he goes to UCLA. I
think he wants to stay at Michigan State. And there's
some part of me, while this probably wasn't a good
belief of mine two or three weeks ago, I still
think he could do something with the program. I still
think he could have some sort of success. And that
was one of the initial hires. And I think a
lot of fans you know nowadays, are just really impatient.
And obviously it hasn't gone well. There's two blown games
that you think you should have won. Whether I don't
think there are more talented than Iowa. I think they're
on the same talent playing field as Minnesota, maybe even
a little bit better if you were to look at
a composite raking of the talent, right, But that's that
wasn't the case against Minnesota, and a lot of these
games that they've play where you're like, hey, maybe they
could win, No, they can't, they won't, they don't. They
have a chance to pick up a big ten win
this Saturday. I think they could versus Maryland. Maryland's not
someone that's really concerning in terms of, oh, are they
gonna overwhelm us with anything? If Mo Lake Washington can
get going, he can get going. But you know, his
receiver talent is particular presing in their ground game hasn't
really came too much alive, and they don't really defend
well either. You know, it's I might watch if like
I see the scores like twenty one to twenty one
in the second quarter, and teams are putting up points.
But the thing about this Michigan State offense is they
ever really put up a ton of points this season.
Like I want to say, their highest score in a
Big Ten game. Let's take a look, because they have
not scored much in Big Ten play this season. I
think they're Yeah, twenty thirty one against usc that was
just a back and forth game, twenty seven versus Nebraska,
and it's just kind of slightly gone downhill, like they've
they've hit twenty against Michigan in Minnesota. Yeah, Okay, that
twenty against Michigan was bogus because it was in garbage time,
But I get it. You gotta play the full sixty minutes.
Like they just haven't been like a team that has
been super threatening on offense this season, especially in conference play,
and I think Maryland has more of a capability of that,
just because in terms of who their quarterback is and
what I truly believe what his ceiling could look like,
and you know, the type of plays he has made
at points in this season. But yeah, it's it's it's
a good it's a good win for Iowa. And yeah,
they play who do they play this weekend? Oh? They
played Nebraska on Friday. That's right, that's that's always one
of my favorite games of the year. Iowa versus Nebraska
doesn't have the same itch to it as it did
you know the did you know it's it's under forty.
I think I want to say when Deacon Hill was
the quarterback at uh I want to say, was the
Jeff Simms year. I don't know if he was the
starter at this point. I want to say that total
was no joke. At like thirty three and a half
or like thirty two and a half, it was like
just sick, a sick total over under I'm like, ugh,
that is just it's entertaining in the fact that offenses
are so bad and the defenses were super good too,
But Yeah, that was That was a time to be
tuned into college football. Maryland took a loss to Michigan
forty five to twenty. They gave Underwood a little bit
more leeway in this game. Kuzzadohl was the main back
for them. He had twenty touches, one hundred yards, three touchdowns.
Like he did his job. Andrew Marsh continues to be
as much as I don't want to say this about
a Michigan player just out of my true rivalry bitterness,
Andrew Marsh is a really good player. I think he's
going to be the staple of this Michigan receiving corps,
one of the core pieces, because I think this is
a sign where a receiver can flourish at Michigan. And
he looked. He had a really good game versus Northwestern yesterday.
Obviously didn't have the same amount of touches and numbers
to produce that he did in that last game, but
he still looked very impressive. They got McCauley a little
bit more involved in this game, and they just looked
really good. Underwood had a really bad throw to begin
the game that should have been picked off, and Milike
Washington kind of threw a similar pass. It was picked off,
but I also think Shalie Knotts just dropped it as well. Yeah,
I mean in terms of this Maryland offense, I mean
their receiving corp has been knocked all season for dropping
balls all season Lake Washington. He's a freshman and you're
asking him to throw the ball forty times a game
because your rush offense has just not existed for the
majority of the season. Right. Your defense isn't able to
produce because they're on the field a lot of the
times because you're asking your offense to throw it on
the field and do all sorts of different trickeration through
the pass game, and they just don't do that. And
that's not in a knock on Maryland are saying, Oh
they're not gonna be capable of that. You're asking a
freshman quarterback with probably a bottom half receiving corps in
the Big ten to chuck it around all around the field.
Like if he even had like a Hank Beady or
someone that was just such a reliable target that they
can continue to get the wall to, it might be
a little bit different. But they just don't. They don't
have that core piece they don't have that. Andrew marsh like,
is that Michigan who's been able to be a consistent weapon? Like,
I don't know what you're trying to ask of him.
In Michigan secondary has been relatively good on the season
with Jyre Hill and Zeke Berry. It's been really good
at getting pass rushed too, for the majority of the season. Michigan. Obviously,
with the game coming up, the game on Big Noon,
the game that's gonna be played on Saturday, I want
to just make that reference. It's a million times and
even in the preview and then in the reaction next week.
Yeah it should be Yeah, I don't know. There's also
a game that's being played at Ford Field between Maryland
and Michigan State. I wonder what the attendance numbers are
going to be that because my girlfriend asked me, She's like, hey,
do you want to go to you you know, it
could be fun. I'm like, no, it won't be fun.
I don't like watching Michigan State football and I've already
seen them in person once this season. It's not fun.
It's not fun watching, you know, a team that you're
actively rooting for not have success and you know it
is what it is. I try to stay positive, but
there's only so much positiveness that you can give to
a three and eight team that hasn't won a conference game. Now.
Michigan State basketball, on the other hand, they played Detroit
Mercy on Friday. It was a good win. They had
the uh what is it? It's not it's bad boy
Mower's clas. I know. They play East Carolina tomorrow and
then they also play on Thanksgiving versus North Carolina, which
is perfect because I can watch Lions game and then
Michigan State eat some good food. Thanksgiving is gonna be
a great day. Two more games and I'll go through
these quickly. Jo State handles Rutgers kind of what you expected.
A little slow start in the first half, but when
you're missing your two top passing targets, it's gonna be tough.
Bo Jackson had a good game on the ground. Max Claire, Uh,
people are gonna be like, I was listening to something earlier,
and I'm like, man, that's a really good point. People
are gonna be really surprised that Max Clayer is gonna
be a top one hundred prospect probably taken in this draft.
They're gonna be like, wait, he didn't produce. No, Max
Clay is a good tight end and you proved in
this game over one hundred receiving yards. Who was one
of the pieces that I talked about could be really
impactful on this Ohio State team. Just adds another element
to this Ohio State offense. Obviously, you know when you
have Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate, those are two first
round receivers. Obviously Jeremiah Smith would be a first round
pick probably last year, but you know, with how the
draft rules are, he's got to wait to declare to
the draft till next season. But still a phenomenal player.
And then obviously Carnell Say is going to be one
of the top receivers taken in this draft. But Max
Glaire adds another element to this offense. The defense continues
to just be amazing, whether it's Kennetta Jackson, Katon Curry,
Sonny styles, you know, downs McLean in the back end,
obviously on the outside with Matthews like and Igbinosen, there's
just so many just weapons on this Ohio State defense
and they're just fun in terms of how dominant they are.
And for Rutgers, anthan Callaykmanis was held to under one
hundred passing yards. They just couldn't do a thing on offense.
Most teams haven't been able to do a thing on
offense versus Ohio State, and it's kind of concerning, you
know that, Like you know that have been like pretty
decent on offense all season, Like Rutgers hasn't been a
good defensive team by any means, but they've unable to
move the ball a little bit this season. Nope, not
versus Ohio State, they can't. Because that's even Texas. They
couldn't move the ball against them. I honestly don't remember.
Dang is the most points that have been scored on
Ohio State in a game this season? Fourteen? Oh my goodness.
And those versus Penn Wow, oh no, sixteen versus Illinois. Okay,
So regardless, like when you just look at their resume
and schedule, they have just been probably the most dominant
team since Georgia. Yeah, I would say so. I mean
Oregon was dominant last year, but they even had a
close game and lost to this Ohio State team. Now,
what do we see in the game coming up? Well,
we'll break it down here in just a minute or so,
we'll talk quickly. Washington beat UCLA forty eight to fourteen.
Oh man, u CLA another three and eight team in
the Big ten. But you know they do have three
conference wins, so or is it two? I know they
have the one versus Penn State in Maryland sort another
one in there that they have Marilyn Pencil. Oh yeah,
they beat Michigan State too. Then that's right own at
our own place too. That's crazy. Yeah, Deamon Williams and
company just did a really good job this game. Roebucks
kind of been the wide receiver one ever since Denzel
Boston has came out. I wonder if they'll I wonder
if Boston and Coleman will play Adam Mohammad. He had
over one hundred yards on the ground and they rushed
for two hundred and twelve yards as a team to
fourteen through the air. Yeah, they kind of just took
care of business versus c CLA obviously with Luke Duncan.
Oh Nico did play too as well, but they couldn't
run the ball ball damn. And they couldn't pass the
ball worth of damn either. Yeah, Washington just really took
care of business. And their pat their secondary is really taken. Uh,
there wasn't much experience, but obviously they had to Carrio
Davis transfer from Arizona. They really liked their lengthy corners
over there. You know, Jed Fish was not made fun of,
but it was a no pointed out to them from
a lot of the people at Big Ten media days.
And I think it's starting to come, finally come in
fruition for Washington. Look, they got a game where they
could ruin Oregon's dreams and nightmares. I think Oregon would
still get in, but obviously you'd want a home playoff
game in December at Audsin compared to traveling to somewhere
else and playing like an Ole miss or Texas Tech.
I mean, it would be warm weather, but you know,
obviously those being hostile environment, so you'd rather have that
hostile environment at your home field. So any who, All right,
let's move on to Week fourteen. We got two games
on Friday. The rest of the Big Ten will play
on Saturday and on Friday Iowa versus Nebraska. Oh, we
didn't talk about Penn State versus Nebraska. That's one game
I miss. Not that there's really much of anything to
be talked about. So we'll just go over this very briefly.
Nebraska looked very bad. Emma Johnson could not get anything
going for this offense. He's kind of been the heart
and soul of this Nebraska offense. Like, yes, he did
have over one hundred yards on the game, but if
you watch like it did not look pretty fort Nebraska.
I think they were down twenty to three at halftime.
K Tron Allen had a huge day. One hundred and
sixty yards, two touchdowns. He broke one a I want
to say it was career rushing touchdowns. He broke of
Saquans and gar Kameier. I mean he only had to
throw the ball twelve times, but one hundred and eighty
one yards in a touchdown. I mean that's a yeah.
I mean, if you could do that and it leads to wins,
especially convincing wins like losing Ryola for Nebraska, it just
so much. I thought Latif looked well against UCLA, But
I mean, what kind of data point is that with
UCLA coming back down to earth and now losing the
twenty seven. Also, Penn State showed up to play. They
want Terry Smith as their head coach. The players do.
I don't think recruitings suggests anything or suggests that it's
probably gonna be a successful wave of this Penn State team.
I think they're going to make some sort of outside
higher but the players all playing for them, and they
might get to a bowl game with them. They do
play Rutgers this Saturday Saturday. Yeah, so I mean they're
probably going to be bowl out. That's a battle of
bull eligibility right there. Man to five and six teams
competing to play an extra game into the season, earn
more practices. That's exciting. But I mean just physically, Nebraska
is way worse than Penn State on the lines of scrimmage,
and that was very that was shown in this week.
They they were better, especially on the defensive line. They
were so much better than Nebraska. And well, I mean
when you have draft picks on the defensive line, yeah,
compared to Nebraska's where you know it's whetzers and guys
just thrown out there. Obviously, you know, they work harder
and they develop and they had to go through a
bunch of stuff. But all in all, the talent it
was on Penn State side and it showed and they
they dominated this game. So yeah, unfortunate for Nebraska, but
you know, I mean they're seven and four and they're
playing Iowa. Okay, back to this game twelve o'clock on CBS,
Iowa was favored by six and a half points. It
opened at four and a half over under a thirty
nine and a half. Nebraska, don't put the ball the
kid in weeds and trust me, don't do it. It
will lead to very bad things. I don't really know
what this looks like. I think Iowa could win in
like a twenty to ten just kind of you know,
like grind it out, just ugly ugly last week in November.
You know, Iowa victory, it's very possible. I think Latif also,
I think he could be more of a threat with
his legs. I don't know which way you would want
to go in this game. I go with Iowa, and
obviously the spread, you know, going in that favorite shows
I don't know if there's six and a half point favorites,
but I will predict Iowa to win the game. I
think defensively they're better than I think Iowa could do
a little bit more trickery, and you know, they have
a lot more comfortability with Mark Ronowski being you know,
the play caller of the offense, and they've been able
to run it some on the ground. I don't know
if they're gonna do that versus Nebraska. I think they
could do something, and yeah, I just it really is
just the how much this offense is limited in terms
of what they want to do offensively for Nebraska with
having Latif instead of Riola as the quarterback, and you know,
Iowa could really just hone in on em Att Johnson
to make sure in Isaiah Hunter or Dane Key don't
have a lot of space. They're gonna do great things
in this game. It's gonna be a good Iowa football win.
That's what I'm predicting. I think this next game we
could spend maybe thirty seconds on and I think a
lot of it's just the spread and whatnot. Indiano travels
to Slapa yet to play Purdue twenty and a twenty
eight and a half point favorites fifty four and a
half over under. I think Indiana might want to go
over themselves. Fernando Mendoza is just gonna try to play
his way into a heisman. They're gonna use their running backs,
They're just gonna, you know, probably dominate. To be honest,
like on the produce side, I don't have much. They
haven't been great. They've been fun to watch at times,
especially when they get the first play in the red
zone and you know they run their trickery and do
a bunch of it. Yeah, it's it's going to be
an Indiana win. I I would love to give you
so much x's and o's And I feel bad for
whoever has to be on the broadcast of this game,
because what are you gonna talk about? Oh? Yeah, you
know Purdue. They they you know, they're the spoiler makers.
They have a chance. It's probably gonna be mentioned a lot.
You know. Can they ruin Indiana season? I don't think so.
If it does, they do they they would they would
ruin Indiana season, and they I don't know if they would.
I think they would still technically be able to play well.
All depends what happens, right, but I think if they're
tied with Oregon, they have had to head over Oregon
and no other team would have a big ten loss
of Ohio State beats Michigan, which is not possible because
Ohio State hasn't been able to beat Michigan in the
twenty twenties, so you know there's that to look at.
But yeah, I don't think pretty has a chance. I
think it's safe to say Indiana should win that game
as a four touchdown order it well. Also, I mean
anything's possible. The last week in November, all right, the game, Yes,
the game, the game, the game, the game, the game.
The game Ohio State Michigan being played in ann Arboro,
Ohio State is nine and a half point favorites over
under a forty four and a half. Will Michigan have
either of their running backs back in Jordan Marshall or
Justice scenes I don't know. I actually think this does
make a big difference because I don't think. God, I
already forgot the kid's name. This is terrible as a
podcast host, their third string running back who had just
had a one hundred yard versus Maryland. I'm blinking on
the name so much. Oh my goodness, this is terrible. Cousdahll, Right, Yeah,
that's that's his name, Kusdall. I wonder if he's in there.
I think that does make a big difference because I
think Jordan Marshall and Justice Heans are better running back better.
They provide more open field ability than he does. Not
to knock the kid, I just he's not as experienced
and been gay moments and Slee. I hate to say
this because he probably said the same thing as last year.
This Ohio State team's way different than last year's team.
This Ohio State team last year struggled at points through
the season. They looked very vulnerable. I don't think there's
other than in Week one, where they had a new
starting quarterback and a decent amount of new pieces, a
whole new defensive line, basically new pieces in the secondary,
new pieces in the running game, new offensive line, and
they still beat Texas, which Texas is not the most
impressive team that we've ever seen, but there's still a
you know, talented team. Ohio State has killed everybody this season,
but since that point, they have not looked vulnerable. They
look vulnerable a little bit against Penn State in the
first half, but other than that, I mean, well, Jeremiah
Smith and Carnell Tape be back, I think so. I
think that's been a little bit of a loaje management situation.
If I had to guess, they will be playing this Saturday,
even if they aren't at one hundred percent. If they're
out like ninety, I think they will. And I think
the big t if you go twelve to zero and
losing the Big Ten Championship to Indiana, as long as
it's not by fifty, which I know Kirk Signetty would
love to do, I don't think it's even possible against
this Ohio State defense. I would suspect that Ohio State's
gonna win this game, as much as Michigan fans are
gonna be like, well, but you could have said that
last year. And you know Ohio State's been favored over
this Michigan. I don't care. I don't care. This Ohio
State team's a lot different than every Ohio State team
in the twenty twenties. And you know that team last
year won a national championship. I get that they got
hot at the right moment, they started playing well down
the stretch. This team's better team than that team last year,
whether they win a national championship or not. On a
talent perspective, right better defense than last year. In my opinion,
I think the secondary really could shut down what Michigan
wants to do. I think they could really get Underwood
into uncomfortable situations. And I know it's like, oh, he's
just a freshman quarterback. You know, he's played eleven games
this year. He has some experience. Now, he's still young,
he's still vulnerable to making mistakes. I think Ohio State's
going to take advantage of that in this game. Think
Ohio State's gonna really want to just try to out
physical Michigan. And hey, they don't, guess what if Jeremiah
Smith theyre back, Guess what? Just chuck it up to them,
Julian saying, you've been accurate all season, why not do
it again for the twelfth time this year. So yeah,
I mean, I know it's tough to say, and you
know you used to be like, oh, throw the records
out out the book. It's a rivalry game, not matter
what happens. It for those who had a mine before
twenty twenty, which most Michigan fans haven't. Because they've won
the last four, Ohio States still dominates this series in
the two thousands. Just keep that in mind. Yeah, I
truly think Ohio State's gonna win. And I will eat
my own words if they don't. I will, I will,
I will come on that show. I will be like,
first thing, I'll be like, sorry, guys, I was wrong.
I should have went with history and how it's been
trending the last four years or however many games they've played.
They've won every game in the twenty twenties. I should
have suspected, you know, they who still would continue to
do that. But for now, I think Ohio State's gonna
win the game. I think they covered the spread, but
who knows. Maybe I eat my own words. It wouldn't
be the first time, right, Uh, excuse me. We're going
in Washington, play at three thirty. Think Washington. If they
have Boston Coleman back, I think they could poison threat
to this Oregon team. I think with having Roebuck and
Williams on the outside, the Grov's been able to be
a guy that's stepped up in some games. I think
they could really, you know, poise a threat to this
Oregon team. Now, if they don't protect on the offensive line,
Demond Williams is running for his life. I think it
changes a little bit. But if you can give Demon
Williams just a little bit of time to make a decision,
it could be tough for Oregon. Oh As for Oregon. Look,
I think you're gonna be able to run it against
this Washington team. Teams have been able to do it
this season. Teams have been able to out physical Washington
and take them out of games. I think that could
happen here. Six and a half point favorites over under
a fifty one and a half. I don't know if
Coleman and washedon, If Coleman and Boston are back, give
me Oregon, give me organ By like two scores. But
if not, I think this could be a one score game.
And look, a game at Huskies Stadium is not easy.
I don't care how close so you live there. You
could live by, your school could be five minutes down
the street. Washington fans are gonna show up. They're gonna
show up and be proud and be rowdy and be able.
Let's get behind this team. It's senior day and they're
looking to play. Oregon's gonna come away with the win.
I like, I do see a side where Washington does
win this game. How likely is that side to be,
you know, translating into a win for them? Not like
not likely in my opinion, But I mean that's why
the games are played. Give me a Oregon in that game,
Oh Wisconsin, Minnesota. Minnesota is favored by one and a half.
This should be a fun one over under a thirty
seven and a half. I don't even know, Like, how
do you how do you even break down this game.
It's gonna be fun. It's gonna be good old Big
ten West football. It's a rivalry game. If Minnesota could
do in the past game what they did versus Northwestern,
Wisconsin's not gonna keep up with that offense. If Minnesota,
I think the I think the goal for Minnesota is
if you get to twenty four points, you'll beat Wisconsin.
So just get to twenty four points. Their defense hasn't
been bad on the season by any means. Yeah, I mean,
I don't know. Minnesota has been so bad on special
teams this year between last game the game Versaioha the game, Yeah,
they just haven't been great. Yeah, Gibb, you know what,
for Minnesota, if you want to win this game, gets
to twenty four points, make some field goals, don't mess
up special teams that much, and you'll win. You'll be Wisconsin. Hey,
Wisconsin only won because of the special teams miss cues
versus Washington and versus Illinois. So just win. Just just
be clean on special teams. That's all you have to
do to beat West. They're not gonna drive the field
on you, and if they do well, then you got
problems with your defense. All right. I feel like that
was an easy, easy breakdown right there. Penn State Rutgers,
the battle of the eligibility. Penn State's for everybody, twelve
and a half over under a fifty. I don't think
it reaches the over just because of Penn State's offense,
but who knows, maybe k Tron Allen goes for like
three hundred yards. Yeah, because like Gruckabayer has been great
through the air, and I don't think they're gonna try
and throw it a round on this Rutgers team. Rutgers
hasn't been great defensively, but Kaylake, Manison, Raymond, you know,
and teams that haven't been Oregon in Ohio State, they've
been able to move the ball against oh I don't know.
I like if Rutgers just completely gets whipped up front
by this Penn State DEFENSEI lied, they don't have a chance,
like they don't. It's just is that going to happen
for Penn State is the question that everyone's going to ask.
I think so. I think this team does want get
to a bowl game, especially being three and six, being
able to win the last three games of the season.
It could really prove something to the players coming back
next year and the recruits that they're still trying to
buy into this program. Obviously, James Franklin takes a job
at Virginia Tech. Wish we did. We didn't even mention
that until fifty minutes in. Look at us not caring
about what goes on elsewhere because we're big ten only. Yeah,
I mean, I don't know this game like I just
think Penn State takes takes control of it. Honestly. I
think they whip them up front. I think the under
hits and yeah, they're they're Bowl eligible. Rutgers is not,
unfortunately for these Scarlet Knights and Piscataway, New Jersey. Oh.
Maryland versus Michigan State. Score over twenty four points Maryland
and you'll win MSUs a three and a half point favorite.
What would take the Maryland money line? They're gonna win
this game? Actually, I don't know. It's Maryland in November.
This is just a terrible football game. Forty nine and
a half over under. I don't know, because Maryland still
bought in. Not really, Michigan State still bought in kinda.
They tried. They still don't win, but they try. I
don't know. The tickets as low as zero dollars people.
I actually did see something that people that did buy
tickets got it like an extra two tickets to bring
like friends and family because they weren't selling enough tickets.
I don't know if it was the legitimate source, so
don't I don't completely take that as factual information. But
I don't know, dude, no one wants to watch this game.
I'm a Michigan State fan, and I would rather I
hope Michigan State plays basketball on Saturday because I don't
want to watch that. That's so mean, but it's so true.
That's so true. It's been a long season I have luckily,
you know, a lot of other teams in the Big
Ten and even across the country I enjoy watching have
brought me a lot of joy. Not this football program.
Not one bit they did in September, I guess, but
you know it was versus Western Michigan Youngstown State and
an exciting win versus Boston College. You know, the worst
team in the a c C. Woo hoo. I guess
the Big Ten is better than the ACC because the
worst team of the Big Ten beat the worst team
in the a c C. So yeah, that's that's how
that works. I think State could be Mississippi State too.
I don't know USC, U c l A U c
L A is dead. They're dead in US. He is
favored by twenty one and a half points. Nico's not
playing great anymore. USC's gonna whip them up front. They're
for to score fifty Alekaia Lemon's gonna have like a
two hundred yard game. Yeah that's all you need to
know about that game. And then Northwestern Illinois seven and
a half point favorites the fighting line. I are for
every seven and a half over under look. If Preston
Stone plays the way he did versus Minnesota, this game
could be interesting. Kamalafe's really started recognizable for this Northwestern offense.
For Illinois, they still haven't been able to run the ball,
and Minnesota can do it against Northwestern. What what makes
me to play? I think Minnesota has a better running
back than Illinois, and maybe not on the lines of scrimmage.
But if Luke Altmeyer is able to check it around
through the air, he's kind of struggled to do that
in these last couple of games. If he can get
going and connecting with Hank Beatty and uh oh, what's
the other receiver's name, I'm blanking guys. I'm blanking Colin
Dixon's another guy that's really good and Clement as well. Like,
if they could get the ball moving around through the air,
I think they'll take your business versus Northwestern. And you know,
to be quite honest, I think this Illinois defense is
still pretty good. Like Wisconsin really didn't do anything special
in terms of doing any thing against this Illinois defense.
They got a lot of short fields and we're able
to take advantage. Can Northwestern do in the same I
don't think so, But you know, then again, Illinois has
not looked great down the stretch here. Yeah, I mean,
like Maryland, they looked very sluggish against Wisconsin. They lost,
got housed by Washington. Look particularly amazing Verus Rutgers. Like,
there's a path for Northwestern to do special things and
if they're able to do it, that's that would be great,
great entertainment I like watching Northwestern be successful, and you know,
there's a chance games not at Wrigley. Unfortunately, for the
third week in the row, they will be going to Champagne.
But you know, before we get out of here, look
at the ap POL just briefly talk about the big
ten teams. Indiana and Ohio State are at one and two,
Oregons at five going over Ole Miss and Texas Tech.
Notre Dame at nine, we don't talk about that team,
although they did beat the ever living crap out of Syracuse.
My goodness, they had twenty one points before even the
offense got a single yard of offense. Just wild Michigan's
at fifteen, USC nineteen after the loss. No other big
ten teams ranked other receiving votes. Washington at sixteen, Iowa
had ten, Illinois still had a vote. Who in their
you lose to Wisconsin and ies Washington did too, But
Washington actually showed that they're capable of being a good
football team again. Yeah, okay, alright, this is I've had
enough of the people. College football rankings do come out
on Tuesday at I want to say, hopefully it's seven o'clock.
I don't think there's any college basketball games on ESPN.
There might be obviously there's is there maction this week?
I saw I saw actually a lot of Mac teams
are playing on Friday too, So who knows been any
who that's gonna do it here for the Big ten Paradigm.
Thank you for teat into the College grit Aroon Coast
to Coast Network, and make sure you listen to all
the other shows. You know, I get off my Pilon
with Matt Zemeck talking about West Coast football, All Sports
Daily with the ACC Pig Skins and Burnt Ends with Indycard,
Tim Yards and Stripes with Steve Carney talking about Service Academy,
Jason Powers were for Football Insiders and the rest of
the College grid Iron Coast to Coast Network shows. But
for now, my name is Zoe Drew saying so long.
I enjoyed this last week of the regular season of
twenty twenty five College of Football. Catch you next week.