Jeff and Adam talk Big 10 football with Bill Connelly of ESPN
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00:27 Welcome in to another edition of the Big Ten show presented by Jacobson C Company.
00:34 JacobsonC.com, your healthy hybrid advantage.
00:37 He's the almost famous Adam Carriker.
00:39 I'm the much less famous Jeff Tern.
00:41 Adam, we're a couple of weeks in, buddy.
00:44 The football season is completely underway.
00:47 I'd ask how you're doing, but you're in love with the Huskers, so it's got to be rough
00:52 right now.
00:53 I'm doing great.
00:54 The Huskers, not so much, but I'm doing phenomenal.
00:57 Thank you for asking, Jeff.
00:58 Miami still stinks, just so you know.
00:59 Hey, man, I don't even have the helmet today, but the U is two and O.
01:03 The Huskers are O and two for those keeping track at home.
01:08 We're going to get to our predictions for the Big Ten Parlay.
01:11 We're going to jump into some other storylines as well, but we're going to start today with
01:16 a guest on the Big Ten show.
01:18 Remember, you can find us iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, Bally's, Sports Illustrated, everywhere
01:22 else you can find your podcast.
01:25 We're going to hang out with Bill Conley from ESPN.com.
01:28 He joins us now on the Big Ten show.
01:30 You can read the work, ESPN.com, senior writer.
01:33 Bill, welcome into the show, man.
01:35 How are you doing today?
01:36 I'm pretty good.
01:37 How are you guys?
01:38 We're doing great.
01:39 We're doing great.
01:40 Well, I'm doing wonderful as a Hurricane fan.
01:41 I'm doing great.
01:42 You shut your face.
01:43 Sorry, excuse me.
01:44 So, Bill, we're going to get to some of the games this weekend, but I think we both want
01:50 to start with some of the storylines early on in the season, and I'm going to start at
01:53 the top.
01:54 Going into the year, I think a lot of people thought Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State
01:59 were the cream of the Big Ten.
02:01 Of those three teams, I know they haven't played extremely tough competition, but of
02:05 those three teams, which one has impressed you the most so far, Penn State, Ohio State,
02:09 or Michigan?
02:10 Well, I think the one that has absolutely exceeded projections and exceeded expectations
02:15 so far is Penn State.
02:16 I mean, the expectation is really high.
02:19 Michigan and Ohio State have done just fine so far, and I don't really have any serious
02:24 concerns, but I do think Penn State has tried as hard as possible to prove that this is
02:28 a three-team race as opposed to a two-teamer.
02:31 Obviously, they basically performed right to projections in terms of my SP+ ratings
02:37 against West Virginia.
02:38 That was almost exactly the game it was supposed to be, and Drew Allard looked the part and
02:42 all that.
02:43 And then against Delaware, when you had teams coast to coast kind of struggling with lesser
02:47 teams, either lesser G5 teams or FCS teams.
02:49 I mean, Tennessee looked like garbage for most of the game against Austin Peay.
02:54 Obviously, Ohio State didn't blow the world away against Youngstown State.
02:59 Penn State took on a pretty good Delaware team, a pretty good FCS team, and after Delaware
03:06 scored that early touchdown, it was over very, very quickly.
03:09 So they've handled their business.
03:11 Obviously, the tests pick up now moving forward, so we don't have to kind of speculate and
03:16 try to figure out, squint and try to figure out what's real when you're playing FCS teams
03:20 or whatever, but it was a good start for them.
03:22 Hey, real quick.
03:23 Wait, wait, wait.
03:24 I have a question for Adam and for Bill.
03:26 Let's see if we can get this correct first.
03:28 What is a chant that goes on in the Austin Peay student section as the game is going?
03:34 Let's go Peay!
03:35 Let's go Peay!
03:36 I just got nominated.
03:37 I had no clue.
03:38 I wasn't even close.
03:39 Adam, fire away question if you can't beat that one.
03:46 I can't beat that one, but I'll try to just come close.
03:49 So you said you don't have any concerns when it comes to Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State,
03:52 but Ohio State only put up a couple of offensive touchdowns in their first game versus Indiana,
03:56 as you mentioned in their previous game, didn't exactly blow the roof off the joint.
04:00 So is there anything when you look at this Ohio State team, particularly on offense,
04:04 that gives you any sort of reason to be concerned at all going forward for Buckeye fans?
04:08 Yeah, I mean, I should clarify.
04:10 They didn't look as good as they were supposed to, especially on offense, but I'm trying
04:14 to be forgiving early in the season.
04:17 We don't know yet that it's a concern, but it might be.
04:20 I mentioned performing two projections.
04:22 So far, Ohio State in two games, they've allowed 11 points fewer than I had projected, and
04:27 they've scored about 33 points fewer than I had projected.
04:30 So obviously, things are not clicking there as well as they should be.
04:34 They didn't have to against Youngstown.
04:36 They had a couple of very pretty passes to Marvin Harris early on, and then they could
04:41 just kind of cruise from there.
04:42 So we don't know what happens when they're challenged, but the fact that I'm looking
04:47 at, what, 92nd in my rushing success rate measure so far, that's bad.
04:51 That's bad for having played Indiana and Youngstown State.
04:54 And now that they get one more week here against Western Kentucky, which doesn't have much
04:58 to offer defensively but can throw the heck out of the ball, it'll be a nice test for
05:02 the Ohio State secondary to figure out if they really have improved like they've looked
05:06 so far.
05:07 But then, starting in week four, the offense has to show up, and we'll see if it does.
05:12 Big 10 show here on the Believe Podcast Network, Bally Sports Illustrated, iTunes, Spotify,
05:17 and YouTube.
05:18 Find us all of those places.
05:19 Bill Conley joining us from ESPN.com.
05:22 You can read the work there as well.
05:23 Adam Karriker, I am Jeff Turner.
05:25 Let's get to Nebraska.
05:26 And, you know, the Matt Rule era hasn't started out obviously how they'd like, owing to the
05:32 loss in the first game very close against Minnesota, not so much in the second half
05:36 against Colorado.
05:37 When you watch the way that the Matt Rule era has gotten off to a rocky start there
05:42 in Lincoln, what do you point to as some of the biggest problems that the Huskers are
05:45 facing?
05:46 Well, I think the biggest thing is that, among other things, Jeff Sims is who he was at Georgia
05:51 Tech.
05:52 You know, we're not guy transfers.
05:54 We see potential.
05:55 We see the highlights.
05:56 But we don't necessarily, we think, you know, it's a fresh start and maybe he's a new player.
06:00 And I guess maybe that happens occasionally.
06:02 But most of the time, you are who you are when you move.
06:04 And Jeff Sims was a guy who is very mobile, can run the ball really well, gets careless
06:09 with the ball, isn't the most amazing passer in the world.
06:11 And he comes to Nebraska and he's exactly that same guy.
06:14 I think they've tried to build around his strengths and it can work at times.
06:17 Obviously he's run the ball pretty well.
06:19 Gabe Irvin's run the ball pretty well at times.
06:21 But when they've had to throw, they haven't even been able to come close to throwing the
06:24 ball.
06:25 And that's obviously now moving forward, that's a decision that they're going to have to make,
06:29 Rule and all of his assistants.
06:30 And they're like, are we going to still try?
06:33 We have a good defense.
06:34 We can try to just run the ball and play, you know, field position and slow the game
06:38 down and try to stay close.
06:40 Or we can try to score points and scoring points might require putting in somebody who
06:45 can throw the ball a little better if one exists.
06:48 We don't, obviously Harburg and Purdy didn't, they got tiny samples and didn't exactly light
06:52 the world on fire the other day.
06:53 And so we'll see what they're capable of.
06:56 But that seems to be the choice moving forward.
06:58 We know who Jeff Sims is and you can control the ball and run the ball pretty well, but
07:02 you got to score and we don't know that they could do that with Sims.
07:07 So Rule said in his press conference yesterday, he said, you know, barring an injury, Sims
07:11 is his guy.
07:12 Sims is going to be out there.
07:13 He's dealing with this ankle thing.
07:15 So we'll see how that plays out.
07:17 There's this growing sentiment among Husker fans that they want to see a fresh face, a
07:21 new guy get an opportunity.
07:22 Heinrich Harburg appears to potentially be that guy listed as number two on the depth
07:26 chart.
07:27 What are your thoughts on Rule's comments?
07:28 Because so far, Sims has shown that he can run.
07:31 Got great at throwing and had a hand in seven different turnovers.
07:33 So what are your thoughts on Rule's comments?
07:35 Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, we can maybe you can chalk up the fumbles to randomness
07:40 and just kind of, you know, shaky early execution and that'll get polished up over time.
07:45 And if so, that that cuts some of the turnovers right there.
07:48 The four picks, though, it's hard.
07:50 Some of those were just really bad decisions.
07:51 And again, like he wasn't throwing a million picks at Georgia Tech, but he still the decision
07:56 making was clearly a little bit shaky there.
07:59 And you could think you could hope that maybe it was just a very poor supporting cast and
08:02 that it come somewhere new and it'd be different.
08:04 But it's not.
08:05 And I mean, the defenses aren't going to you know, the next couple defenses aren't very
08:10 good.
08:11 You got in you and Louisiana Tech coming up and maybe at the very least over the next
08:15 two weeks, we'll find out exactly what he's capable of against lesser opponents, because
08:20 after that, there's barely a bad defense off the schedule.
08:23 So now's the chance, I guess, to polish it up.
08:25 And I don't think rules, you know, rules clearly not a very stupid guy.
08:29 Like if if you have to make a change, if it's not working against Louisiana Tech and in
08:34 you, I assume he will make a change.
08:36 It's just, you know, I guess now's the time to see the best of Jeff Sims and you'll know
08:39 what you have working, what you're working with moving forward.
08:44 Bill Conley, ESPN dot com, hanging out here on the Big Ten show presented to you by Jacobson
08:48 Seed Company, Jacobson Seed dot com.
08:50 Let's move on to some of the games this weekend, Bill, that involve Big Ten teams.
08:55 And I want to start with what Washington and Michigan State and we'll leave all the off
09:01 the field stuff with Mel Tucker and the details about that for dot com and for all the stuff
09:05 that comes from the university.
09:07 But specifically for a team that had a great first year under Mel, not a great second year
09:12 and a team that's off to a 2 and 0 start, they're big time underdogs against Washington,
09:17 who's the top 10 team.
09:18 Do you give Michigan State any chance to win this game, all things considered?
09:22 Well, I mean, a chance, sure.
09:24 I mean, Washington hasn't been on the road yet or hasn't hasn't made a trip like this
09:28 yet.
09:29 And if they can generate some pressure and their defensive line has looked pretty good
09:33 so far, the stack rates, you know, the pass rush has looked very good, albeit against
09:38 Central Michigan and Richmond.
09:39 If Michigan State can pressure Penix, that's just not something he's faced very much over
09:44 the last year and change up in Washington.
09:46 Obviously, he gets the ball out of his hands quickly, but he also just hasn't played that
09:50 many good pass rushes.
09:51 And so if you can get pressure on him, maybe force a mistake or two early on, I think,
09:55 you know, this is Michigan State's not a, you know, more abundant program by any means,
10:01 even though they're not as good as they were two years ago.
10:03 Even two years ago, they weren't as good as they were.
10:05 Sure.
10:06 They won a lot of close games.
10:07 And I would like to think that maybe we've learned a lesson about giving a massive, spectacular
10:12 contract extension after one good year where you won a bunch of close games.
10:16 We'll see.
10:17 We don't seem to learn many lessons when it comes to spending money.
10:20 But in this game specifically, ignoring all the head coaching stuff, Michigan State has
10:25 proven to have a good pass rush and if they can get home, that it could turn things.
10:29 Washington is just so explosive and they're really, really well-rounded on offense.
10:34 And you figure eventually that kind of breaks through and they score enough points to win
10:38 the game.
10:39 But I absolutely give Michigan State a shot here.
10:41 I want to get your thoughts on a big 10 ACC battle.
10:44 We got Minnesota to an O coming in.
10:46 They got a stout defense.
10:48 Seems to be another year where their defense is going to bail out.
10:51 Kind of a mediocre type offense, so to speak.
10:53 You know, North Carolina is coming in with one of the top NFL prospects, quarterback Drake
10:58 May, legendary head coach, Matt Brown, as we all know.
11:01 Now, they breeze past, so to speak, South Carolina, 31, 17 and week one, but needed
11:05 double overtime.
11:06 OK, to beat Appalachian State just a week ago.
11:10 Minnesota 13 to 10 walkoff field goal win versus Nebraska in week one, then rolled past
11:14 east.
11:15 I was waiting for a Jeff comment there, but we got by without him.
11:18 Just a deep breath was all it was.
11:19 All right.
11:20 But they rolled past eastern Michigan, 25 to 6.
11:22 Now, the Tar Heels, OK, can do some things on offense, as we know, but they give up over
11:27 200 yards rushing to eastern Michigan.
11:29 And Minnesota's got a young quarterback who's learning, kind of growing, struggling just
11:33 a little bit.
11:34 North Carolina is favored by six and a half.
11:35 The over under is 49 and a half in this.
11:37 So maybe a little bit lower scoring a little bit closer.
11:40 I don't personally think so.
11:41 But what are your thoughts?
11:42 Yeah, I mean, I think obviously North Carolina is the favorite.
11:46 I do think this is a cartoonishly kind of an exaggerated Minnesota team so far.
11:51 We're used to them over these last couple of years playing very good defense and just
11:56 enough offense.
11:57 While I was talking about performing versus projections earlier, Minnesota's underperformed
12:01 by 25 points so far on offense and overperformed by about nine on defense.
12:05 And they came into the year with a good defense and shaky offense.
12:09 So they've that's been magnified a little bit.
12:11 And they have a you know, they're like their past numbers so far, past defensive numbers
12:16 so far have been phenomenal.
12:17 And it's a step up to playing Drake May and company now.
12:21 But I do think they're going to be able to make some stops and give their defense their
12:24 offense a chance to to stay in the game.
12:28 Some points you're going to have to score, though, and they don't make any big plays
12:31 whatsoever.
12:32 They don't really run efficiently either.
12:33 I don't know what they do well on offense.
12:36 And I mean, that's why North Carolina's favorite I do.
12:39 I do.
12:40 I don't trust North Carolina's defense yet.
12:42 We saw some good things against South Carolina and then those things vanished.
12:45 They never play well.
12:46 I was going to say they never play well against App State.
12:49 App State always plays really well against them.
12:51 So I don't want to overreact to that game.
12:53 But regardless, their defense seemed to backslide a little bit there.
12:56 Minnesota's going to have opportunities if they are capable of taking advantage of them.
13:00 I don't know if they are.
13:01 Bill Conley from ESPN.com, Adam Carrick, or I am Jeff Turn.
13:07 This is the Big Ten Show.
13:08 Bill, we started talking Penn State, Michigan and Ohio State.
13:12 We're going to end with our conversation with you talking about Penn State.
13:16 They take on Illinois this weekend.
13:18 Brett Bielema can draw up some big time game plans against big time opponents.
13:21 We've seen him do that before, and we saw it even against some tough teams a year ago
13:25 for Illinois, the way that they were able to scheme things up defensively.
13:27 I had some big time moments a season ago tailed off at the end.
13:31 This could be a big time moment to upset Penn State.
13:34 What would be the scenario?
13:36 What would have to happen for Penn State to stumble here?
13:38 Well, I mean, first of all, Illinois has to defend.
13:42 We're two games in, still waiting for them to be anything close to the defense they had
13:46 last year.
13:47 Obviously, lost their defensive coordinator, lost a really, really, most of a really, really
13:52 dynamite secondary.
13:53 And so I kind of figured this would be a little bit of a reset.
13:55 And so far, they are struggling, especially just in terms of pure efficiency.
14:00 They can't knock teams off schedule.
14:02 When they knock teams off schedule, they don't necessarily get off the field.
14:05 It's been really frustrating.
14:06 So I think, you know, maybe we saw in the second half against Kansas, I think Kansas
14:10 only scored what, six points in the second half.
14:12 Maybe that was a sign, or maybe Kansas just had a big lead and was playing things a little
14:17 bit safer.
14:18 But, I mean, that's the whole deal.
14:20 Illinois has been more efficient offensively.
14:22 They run the ball pretty well.
14:24 Maybe they can do some damage in that regard.
14:27 But they've got, they haven't really shown any proclivity towards making enough stops
14:32 to beat a team like Penn State.
14:33 That's going to be by far the issue here.
14:35 Maybe, I mean, Drew, Drew Ehlers, a first time starting quarterback, he's got to have
14:39 a game where he makes a bunch of mistakes and maybe this is it.
14:42 Probably more likely next week against Iowa, though.
14:44 I think that's probably the most likely step backward for him.
14:46 Yeah, no doubt.
14:47 It's going to be fascinating.
14:48 Thanks.
14:49 Go ahead, Adam.
14:50 I said one last question because we were talking about fan bases that maybe or maybe should
14:53 not be concerned.
14:54 You look at Wisconsin.
14:55 OK, ran the ball over, you know, over 300 yards game one, threw it for 189 with Tanner
15:00 Mordecai, the SMU transfer quarterback.
15:02 They go to, but they struggle to pass the ball.
15:04 OK, they're trying to implement this new offense.
15:06 They don't have to do it all in year one, as we know.
15:08 Go up to WSU.
15:09 OK, lose 31-22, get upset on the road.
15:12 If you're a Wisconsin fan, are you at all concerned about the rest of this season after
15:15 what you've seen for the first two games?
15:17 Yeah, possibly.
15:18 I mean, Washington State was inspired the other day.
15:21 Like you could tell that was a really, really big game for them.
15:24 And they didn't, Wisconsin didn't quite match that intensity, especially early on.
15:28 And so, you know, maybe a game like that is it's you can just explain it away, but it
15:32 would make perfect sense if Wisconsin, with all the change that they're implementing,
15:36 even if down the line it works beautifully, it would make sense if early on there's there
15:40 are some bumps in the road.
15:42 So I mean, I if you were hoping for a 10-2 season or something, then I would absolutely
15:47 be concerned by that.
15:48 But if we're talking about more just concern about the Luke Fickle era or something like
15:52 that, I'm not worried about that yet at all.
15:54 I think they've got there will be some particularly good performances and maybe a few particularly
15:59 bad ones this year.
16:01 And we'll just chalk the last week up to being a particularly bad one.
16:05 Bill Conley, ESPN.com always brings the knowledge and has the stats to back it up.
16:10 Thanks so much, man, for the insight throughout the Big Ten.
16:12 Enjoy this next week.
16:13 And college football should be a lot of fun.
16:15 We'll check in sooner rather than later.
16:17 Bill, thanks for the time, man.
16:18 Absolutely.
16:19 Take care.
16:19 Bill Conley, the best, man.
16:22 Check out the work at ESPN.com.
16:25 He's the almost famous Adam Karrick.
16:27 I'm the much less famous Jeff Turton.
16:29 This is the Big Ten show presented to you by Jacobson Seed Company, your hybrid advantage.
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16:59 All right, Adam, I got to ask you something here.
17:02 I was trying to end that conversation with a positive note with Penn State, and then
17:06 you come in and swoop in with some negative around Wisconsin.
17:09 Are you trying to—you were bringing up the negatives around Minnesota's offense.
17:13 Are you trying to deflect?
17:15 Are you trying to deflect from how bad the Huskers have been through two games?
17:19 Oh, not at all.
17:20 We're well aware of how bad—he's talking about Minnesota's defense and how they've
17:25 overperformed so far.
17:26 I held my tongue, but I was like, "Well, one of those games was against Nebraska."
17:29 Nine points!
17:30 What does that really mean?
17:32 It means that they showed up.
17:33 I held my tongue.
17:34 I'm just asking questions.
17:35 I'm just asking questions.
17:36 Hey, I do want to mention one thing, though.
17:39 If you're going to be in the Grand Island, Nebraska area tomorrow, on Wednesday, okay?
17:44 We're recording this on Tuesday.
17:45 The show will go out on Wednesday.
17:46 So, actually, today.
17:47 So, it's pre-recorded.
17:48 But I will be at Husker Harvest Days in Grand Island, Nebraska at the Jacobson C stand that
17:55 they're going to have.
17:56 Easy for me to say.
17:57 But I will be there from 2 to 5 p.m. if you want to swing by and come meet yours truly.
18:00 Not Jeff.
18:01 He's too cool to show up, but I will be there.
18:02 Dude, it's probably closer to my house than it is yours, and they had no interest.
18:07 They had no interest in bringing me.
18:08 They had more interest, of course, in bringing you.
18:11 I've signed one autograph in my life.
18:14 It's sold for hundreds of dollars on a baseball at an Augustana football auction.
18:18 The only autograph I've ever seen.
18:20 That's cool.
18:21 That's cool.
18:22 My mom was bidding on it, too.
18:23 So, you know.
18:24 I mean, cool story.
18:25 Drive that up, dude.
18:26 Whatever works.
18:27 Hey, don't let facts get in the way of a good story, man.
18:31 Don't let it happen.
18:32 You know that's how we work.
18:33 All right, man.
18:34 So, I do want to ask you quickly, just generically, okay?
18:38 We don't have to get into the specifics of the Mel Tucker situation.
18:40 We're going to get to our Big Ten Parlay picks in just a second.
18:44 But how much does, in your mind, you played the game, you were in the locker rooms, how
18:49 much does controversy surrounding a head coach, the uncertainty about their job, or maybe
18:53 it's even just, you know, towards the end of a year where a team's had a bad year and
18:57 the guy's on the hot seat, you don't know he's going to be back, and you still have
19:00 a couple of games to play.
19:02 In this case, they have a whole rest of their season to play with all the stuff going on.
19:05 How much does that actually affect the players in the locker room, their ability to go out
19:10 and perform?
19:11 It typically does one of two things.
19:13 The first option, potentially, is players get fired up.
19:16 They almost want to go out and play for their coach and represent their coach, depending
19:21 on how they feel about their coach.
19:22 Okay, so they can almost get more fired up.
19:25 The other thing it can do, if things aren't going great, and you aren't a fan of your
19:29 coach and then there's a bunch of potential negative, well there is negativity, but we'll
19:32 see what comes to fruition with it, you know, it can have the opposite effect.
19:36 It can almost bring a team down a little bit.
19:39 So you might learn a little bit about how this team feels about Mel Tucker with how
19:43 they come out to start this game on Saturday versus their future Big Ten brethren, the
19:48 Washington Huskies.
19:49 Yeah, it's going to be one of those things where it can go, I think like you mentioned,
19:53 sort of, "Hey, we're going to rally the troops.
19:56 This isn't our problem, it's our coach's problem.
19:59 We're going to play for the name on the jersey and everything that's prideful with what we
20:04 do.
20:05 This is the guy that recruited us here, etc., etc."
20:07 Or, man, you could get down a touchdown and be like, "Bleep this, man.
20:10 Things are going to get ugly and we're just going to have to deal with the ramifications
20:13 from it."
20:14 In this case, it could go one way or the other, but Michigan State to a 2-0 start, now dealing
20:20 with all kinds of controversy surrounding their head football coach.
20:23 This is the Big Ten Show.
20:24 Find us on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, Bally's, and si.com.
20:27 Of course, a part of the Bleep Podcast Network.
20:31 All right, so every single week on Twitter @JESPN, you guys can get your Big Ten Parlay
20:39 picks and all kinds of goodies for you to win from our good friends.
20:42 So Adam, we got a one-on-one start.
20:46 We updated it earlier this week on the show.
20:48 You won the first week with your picks.
20:50 I won the second week with mine.
20:52 What's on the line?
20:53 One of us has to get a tattoo if we lose at the end of the year.
20:56 Nope.
20:57 Factually inaccurate.
20:58 I'm not correct at all.
21:00 It's still up in the air.
21:01 Unless it's you.
21:02 Unless it's you, then you're getting the tattoo.
21:05 It's still up to date.
21:06 I'm going to get you a nice little Mike Tyson one right here, buddy.
21:08 It's still up to date.
21:10 We'll figure that out.
21:12 So we have three games plus the tiebreaker.
21:14 Pick all three plus the tiebreaker for your chance to win one winner each week.
21:17 All right, Adam, I'm going to let you go first with your picks today, and I'll take my second
21:22 shot at it.
21:23 Syracuse and Purdue, we got a little non-conference action here.
21:27 Their cues off to the 2-0 start.
21:29 Dino Babers was kind of on the hot seat, I think, coming into this year, but he has
21:34 the orange to 2-0 start.
21:36 Purdue 1-1 on the season.
21:38 Nice win last week.
21:40 Syracuse is on the road in West Lafayette.
21:42 The Big Ten team is at home, yet Syracuse is a 2-1/2 point favored.
21:47 Who are you going with this one?
21:49 This was probably the toughest one for me because Purdue's 1-1, but they've had two
21:54 decent opponents, whereas Syracuse hasn't necessarily been tested yet at 2-0.
21:59 But their offense, 1,173 total yards, 56.5 points per game, 60 total first downs, 13
22:05 TDs, eight through the air, five rushing, 273 pass yards per game, which is 11th in
22:10 the country.
22:11 Then you got a Purdue defense who struggles mightily against the pass, so I'm going to
22:16 take Syracuse.
22:17 Okay, my favorite photo of all time is when, in football, is when Mangino was coaching
22:29 Kansas and he went to the Orange Bowl and he took a picture next to the orange.
22:35 You guys can Google it.
22:36 You'll see why it's my favorite picture.
22:39 When I am asked about Syracuse and they're the orange, that's the picture that comes
22:43 into my mind.
22:44 It puts a smile on my face.
22:46 Because of that, I'm taking Syracuse to beat Purdue and cover the spread by two and a half
22:53 points.
22:54 All right, next game.
22:55 UNC.
22:56 I'm picking Syracuse because of a Kansas head coach at a bowl game that Syracuse hasn't
23:07 played in since 1998 in a bowl game from a picture that was, what, 2011?
23:12 Yeah, we make a lot of sense.
23:14 Next game, Jeff.
23:15 All right, we only got about a minute and a half.
23:17 All right, so next game, UNC minus seven and a half versus Minnesota.
23:22 I can't follow that logic.
23:24 I'm just going to say I'm taking UNC.
23:26 That's it.
23:27 Okay.
23:28 You got it.
23:29 I think Minnesota loses this game, but I think their defense, which Bill was talking about
23:33 earlier in the conversation, is the reason why it stays within that seven and a half.
23:38 Seven and a half is a tough number, man.
23:39 When it gets to seven and a half, a lot of times the sharp bettors will start to take
23:43 the seven and a half versus the touchdown.
23:46 I think the defense keeps it close.
23:47 They control enough tempo with that run game.
23:49 Not a lot through the air, but I'll take Minnesota plus seven and a half.
23:53 Final game before we get to the tiebreaker.
23:55 Your Huskers are favored by 11 and a half for Northern Illinois.
23:59 I was surprised when I saw that.
24:01 That's a big number.
24:02 Big number for an 0-2 team.
24:03 Who are you going with here?
24:05 Northern Illinois beat Boston College, a power 5-D-1 team in overtime game one.
24:10 Then they lose to Southern Illinois, who I had to look up.
24:13 But then I looked up Boston College second game, and they beat Holy Cross, no disrespect,
24:18 but Holy Cross by a field goal.
24:20 So because of that, I'm taking the mighty, explosive, dynamic Nebraska offense by 11
24:27 and a half, and I don't feel very confident, but that's my pick.
24:30 Not so fast, my friend, as our good buddy Lee Corso would say.
24:33 Not only, not only does ... Remember last week, I had a lock of the week.
24:38 It was the lock of the week.
24:39 The Huskers, I mean the Hawkeyes were going to cover the spread against Iowa State.
24:43 It happened.
24:44 Here's the lock of this week.
24:46 Northern Illinois covers the spread.
24:48 Northern Illinois may win this game.
24:51 Take them on the money line as well.
24:52 It won't be more than a three-point disparity for sure when this is all said and done.
24:57 I think they're called ... I don't know what they're called.
25:00 I was going to say the Salukis.
25:02 They're called the Huskies.
25:03 I'll get you.
25:04 Really very simple, Jeff.
25:06 There's the Salukis.
25:07 Those are like the Southern Illinois, I think, Salukis.
25:09 Anyways, give me Northern Illinois.
25:11 They might outright win the game.
25:13 Final quick pick, total points, Michigan and Western Michigan.
25:17 I'm going to go first this week, 58 points.
25:21 I thought Michigan played Bowling Green.
25:22 I looked up their schedule and it says Bowling Green.
25:24 Sorry, Bowling Green, my bad.
25:27 Michigan and Bowling Green, 58 points.
25:30 By the way, I'm not taking Nebraska because I think they're going to score 56.
25:33 I'm taking Nebraska because they're going to give up like six and then score like 18.
25:38 All right, you said 58?
25:40 58, Michigan and Bowling Green.
25:43 All right, 57, up yours.
25:45 Excuse me, Iowa plays Western Michigan.
25:47 All right, what was your number?
25:48 What was your number?
25:49 51?
25:50 57.
25:51 57 for Adam.
25:52 All right.
25:53 Fair enough, man.
25:54 Fun show today.
25:55 Thanks to Bill Conley for joining us from ESPN.com.
26:01 Seed Company, as always, check them out at JacobsonSeed.com as well.
26:05 Another page has turned here on the Big Ten Show.
26:06 Until next week, y'all enjoy the football.
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