Northwestern at Michigan
Michigan is currently rebuilding their program under Jim Harbaugh. They are currently 3rd in the Big 10 East division behind Ohio State and Michigan State. This year they’re not going to win the Big 10, but they do get a chance to play spoiler over the next two weeks. Michigan State is up in two weeks, but this weekend it’s Northwestern.
Northwestern opened up the season by making Stanford look like a bad football team. If you haven’t noticed, Stanford now has the inside track to appear in the PAC 12 title game. Northwestern currently leads the Big 10 West, and along with Iowa, are a contender for that division.
Everyone has their eye on Ohio State as the defending national champion. But remember that the Buckeyes are currently 80th in strength of schedule and just 25th in the country in game control. They’re simply not beating up on bad teams. It’s time to look at some of the good teams in the Big 10 to see just who can possible upset Ohio State. Northwestern could be one of them.
Cal at Utah
You did hear it here first, Utah is currently in contention to be a college football playoff team. Last week I had LSU, Utah, Notre Dame, and Michigan State as my four playoff teams. Utah remains solidly in my current group of LSU, Clemson, and Texas A&M.
Utah already has wins over Michigan at home and a demolishing of Oregon on the road. They are one of only two PAC 12 teams who are currently undefeated, the other being Cal. This is not an elimination game, but similar to last week’s Clemson vs Notre Dame game, this game is important for the conference to hold onto a potential bid for the playoffs.
Utah’s strength of schedule is 25th in the country, which is significantly better than Ohio State (80), TCU (78), Baylor (113) and Michigan State’s (88). Utah is also 6th in the country in strength of record and game control.
The first rankings are due out November 3rd. If Utah can continue to win they will be part of the playoff four.
Seahawks at Bengals
Who are the highest rated quarterbacks right now in the NFL? Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is in his customary spot at #1 in the league. The real surprise here is Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton, who is currently the 2nd highest rated passer in the NFL.
After re-working his mechanics this offseason, Dalton is enjoying the best season of his career. Dalton has thrown just one interception for his nine touchdown passes. His QB rating is 40 points higher than it was last season.
One of the biggest changes is that Dalton has gone from a dink-and-dunk passer to enhancing his accuracy down the field. After being a seven yards per completion thrower, Dalton’s average yards per completion is now over 10 yards. He’s second in the league to Ben Roethlisberger in getting the ball down the field. This is not your normal Andy Dalton.
The Seahawks head to Cincinnatti as the NFL’s #2 defense, and are 5th in the league in pass defense. This will be the game to see if Dalton really has taken the next step to getting the Bengals deeper in the AFC playoffs.
Rams at Packers
The Rams are two completely different teams. One team is the one that plays against NFC West teams and is capable of beating anyone. The other team is the one that plays every other team in the NFL and looks completely different.
The Rams are 2-0 vs the NFC West, putting 34 points on Seattle and beating Arizona on the road 24-22. Verse the Steelers and Redskins, the team has combined to score 16 total points. It doesn’t get any easier taking on the Green Bay Packers.
This year in Green Bay it’s just not about the greatness of Aaron Rodgers at quarterback. The Packers are currently 2nd in the NFL in quarterback sacks. I’m big on two things, QB play and sacks on defense. The last time the Packers were getting to the quarterback this well was during the 2010 season.
That Packers won the Super Bowl that year after finishing 2nd in the league in sacks.
49ers at Giants (SNF)
I’m not sure the 49ers will ever be a factor offensively this season, and perhaps not until they make a change at quarterback.
The 49ers scored 20 points in their season opening win against the Vikings, since then, they’ve scored 28 points in their next three ball games. It’s not just that 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick is the 33rd ranked passer in the NFL, he’s also one of the most incapable passers downfield. His six yard average on completion also puts him at 33rd in the league.
The 49ers simply cannot move the football when asked to make enough plays to get down the field in small chucks.
The Giants have their own set of problems, but receiver Odell Beckham Jr. isn’t one of them. If there are only a few sure things in the NFL, Beckham is one of them each week. His 1,612 yards to open up his career is the record for a receiver over his first 16 games.