Wisconsin @ Michigan State –
These are the types of matchups that allow the Big 10 to claim the status as the strongest conference in American this year.
Coming off the victory over Wisconsin, Michigan State gets the chance to show they’re a contender to repeat as the Big 10 champion…which is an automatic playoff birth this year.
This will be as blue collar as it gets. Michigan State is 13th in the country in terms of running the football.
Wisconsin who was 2nd in the country in fewest rushing yards per game allowed, is 8th so far this year. Michigan State has been solid thus far against the run as well.
Wisconsin has an issue as RB Corey Clement isn’t fully healthy due to an ankle injury. He’s practicing but he’s not at 100%. Against the Michigan State front 7…featuring DE Malik McDowell and LB Riley Bullough… this is not a game to try and go with a busted wheel.
Florida @ Tennessee –
11 straight wins for Florida. Which sounds impossible.
Florida Austin Appleby now gets the start in place of injured Luke Del Rio.
Florida is statistically, the best defense in the country. #1 in total defense. #1 in points per game. Florida has a good shot to win on the road by exposing Tennessee’s biggest issue.
Tennessee is sloppy with the football. 11 total fumbles, 10 they have recovered. If they lost at 50% rate, they fall is 113th in the country in giveaways.
Pittsburgh @ Philadelphia –
In a league with parity, you’re not supposed to have wildly different experiences in talent playing week to week. Philadelphia is about to experience just that.
Philadelphia currently has the best defense in all of football, and Chip Kelly being gone is a big part of that. Last year the Eagles held the ball for 25 mins a game on average. This year, they’re holding it for 37 mins…a big part of that is playing the very poor offensive teams in Chicago and Cleveland.
Pittsburgh is wildly different. Pittsburgh’s biggest issue in recent years has been a porous defense that forced an explosive offense to score constantly.
This year, Pittsburgh is among the league leaders in points per drive offensively and fewest points allowed per drive defensively.
If the Steelers have an Achillies heal defensively, they’re not sacking opposing quarterbacks enough. They’re tied with the Atlanta Falcons for last in the league in total sacks with just 1. It’s the one championship component that they’re missing…so we’ll watch that over the course of the year.
This should be fun to watch as Carson Wentz, who’s size and ability gives him some Big Ben like qualities when he was a younger player…trying to keep up with the actually Big Ben offensively.
San Diego @ Indianapolis -
Is it possible that a quarterback has been so poorly protected and so poorly built around that even his best play isn’t good enough?
That’s the early fear for fans of Andrew Luck of the Colts. Luck had a tough year last year with the injuries and the amount of times he gave the ball away. It was very un-Luck-like.
This year luck has 5 TD’s and just 1 interception, and while he’s just under 60% in passing, this year is shaping up to be Luck’s best as an NFL QB.
The defense in Indy though, is awful. They’re 30th in the league in total D, and 32nd in points allowed per game. Even with great offensive production, that’s a recipe for a 7-9, 8-8 season.
The Chargers have been coming out and putting a ton of points on their opponents over the first two weeks of the season. Unfortunately the Chiefs came back in the 2nd half of the season opener…but the Chargers have outscored their opponents this year in the first half by a score of 42-3.
Chicago @ Dallas –
This is supposed to be a layup, right? Dallas is 1-1, and is doing what they need to do to win games.
Dak Prescott has been impressive in his ability to management games and give his team a chance to win. Dallas defense isn’t great, but the Cowboys ball control style puts them amongst the league leaders in TOP. Dallas has only defended 19 drives from their opponents, 2nd fewest in the league.
Despite Chicago’s injuries, Dallas can always be Dallas in these types of games. Dallas has lost its last 8 home games. ESPN had the note on how Dallas hasn’t won a home game without Tony Romo since Dec of 2010.
I went back even further, Dallas has only won two homes games without Tony Romo since Cowboys stadium opened in 2009.
The last 12 times Dallas was a 7 point favorite, which they are, they’re 2-10 against the spread. Now they’ve won those games, but they haven’t been as easy as you would think. This one screams EASY win by NFL standards…but there’s no such thing with Dallas.