Tweet
BRANDON LANG
Saturday's Selections ... 25 DIME - RUTGERS SCARLET KNIGHTS - This game today is about 2 teams heading in opposite directions and heading there fast.
Let me first talk about Rutgers, and just how good Greg Schiano has this team playing right now.
They come off a complete and utter domination of South Florida at home 31-0 in a game the Scarlet Knights defense that forced 4 turnovers, held them to 159 yards total offense including just 30 yards on the ground.
Now this Rutgers defense steps way down in class to take on a Syracuse team that has not only the 95th ranked rush offense in the country but the 110th ranked overall.
In other words folks, there are only 9 teams in all of division 1A with a worse offense than Syracuse.
Allow me to put this into it's proper prospective for you.
When you can't run the football and you are forced to throw, and the defense knows you are gonna throw, turnovers are going to happen and they are going to happen in bunches.
Of their 4 road games this year, Rutgers has beaten Maryland 34-13 forcing 5 turnovers, beat Army 27-10 forcing 3 turnovers, beat Uconn 28-24 forcing 4 turnovers.
This does not bode well for a Syracuse team that has turned it over 25 times facing a Rutgers team that is 2nd in the nation at forcing turnovers getting 29 of them.
Only Ohio has forced more and it's just one more at 30.
The Orangemen are seeing the wrong team at the wrong time. Nothing more and nothing less, and just like Maryland and Army before them, they will lose this game by 17 points or more.
Unlike Syracuse, which can't get out of it's own way, Rutgers has suffered 2 losses this year and they just happen to be against the two teams battling for the Big East championship in Pitt and Cincinnati.
If a former point guard from Duke, or his back up a redshirt freshman play well enough against this Rutgers defense to keep this game within single digits, then I will take my hat off to them, take my loss like a man and move on.
For my money, I say they can't. End of story.
10 DIME - STANFORD CARDINAL - There is no stopping Stanford right now.
And it sure isn't going to be Cal coming anywhere close to shutting them down with their 71st overall defense in college football.
The last 2 weeks have shown me that Stanford is playing at a level unmatched in the history of their school, and I am talking about the days of John Elway included.
You start putting up over 50 back-to- back weeks on the likes of Oregon with the 22nd best defense, and USC on the road with their 48th best defense, trust me when I tell you things have really clicked.
Let me take this one step further.
At home Stanford has won by margins of 25 over San Jose State, 20 over Washington, 8 over Ucla, 19 over Arizona St, and 9 over Oregon.
What is even more impressive is against the 15th overall defense in the country in Arizona State they scored 33, against the 22nd best defense in the country in Oregon they put up 51, and against the 49th best in USC they put up 55.
If you think it has anything to do with being at home, let me point out they went on the road versus the 18th best defense in Arizona and put up 38 and at Oregon State against the 58th best defense they put up 28.
Cal comes in with the 71st overall defense in the country. Somebody please say, "Watch out below!!!!!!!"
Of all the defenses in the Pac-10 Stanford has faced this year, Cal has the worst. Juggle that around in your head for a minute...you have time.
One last point. At the end of the USC game last week Stanford scored to make it 53-21 and Jim Harbaugh went for 2 to stuff it in Pete Carroll's face due to the fact in recruiting circles Carroll has been telling players being recruited by both USC and Stanford, "Why do you want to go there, we beat them everytime."
Well, ask Jim Harbaugh what you think of him now.
If Harbaugh did that to USC, what do you think he is going to do to his arch-rival Cal in a game that for one of the few times has the superior team.
You do the math. Stanford beats USC and Oregon by a combined score of 106-63. Cal lost to those two schools by a combined score of 72-6, and they have to face Stanford without star tailback Jahvid Best.
Are you ready for the river card? The ace on the river? The flush on the river? The full house on the river?
Stanford is going for their 12th straight home cover which is the best mark in the entire country, and I see nothing that leads me to believe they won't win this game by double digits as well.
5 DIME - ARMY BLACK KNIGHTS - So let me get this straight.
I have the 102nd ranked run defense in the entire country who in their 5 home games this year allowed almost 1,000 yards rushing to shut down Army's option attack?
A defense that in their last 2 home games versus the 30th, and 38th ranked rushing attacks in UL Monroe, and Western Kentucky they allowed 281 and 172 yards respectively.
Now they take on a rush offense ranked 16 spots better at Army at 14th in the country.
The bottom line is a 2-8 team shouldn't be favored over a service academy any time anywhere.
I mean, Army knocked off an SEC school earlier this year in Vandy for crying out loud so that right there shows you what this team is capable of.
Furthermore, this could be a home game for Army as 18 kids on their roster are from the state of Texas and you don't think there is some magic going on here.
Army has covered 8 in a row in the Lonestar State. I'm talking about 8 in a row.
I have no problem grabbing any kind of points in a game I feel Army can win outright. Simple as that.
FREE SELECTION - KENTUCKY WILDCATS
Saturday's Selections ... 25 DIME - RUTGERS SCARLET KNIGHTS - This game today is about 2 teams heading in opposite directions and heading there fast.
Let me first talk about Rutgers, and just how good Greg Schiano has this team playing right now.
They come off a complete and utter domination of South Florida at home 31-0 in a game the Scarlet Knights defense that forced 4 turnovers, held them to 159 yards total offense including just 30 yards on the ground.
Now this Rutgers defense steps way down in class to take on a Syracuse team that has not only the 95th ranked rush offense in the country but the 110th ranked overall.
In other words folks, there are only 9 teams in all of division 1A with a worse offense than Syracuse.
Allow me to put this into it's proper prospective for you.
When you can't run the football and you are forced to throw, and the defense knows you are gonna throw, turnovers are going to happen and they are going to happen in bunches.
Of their 4 road games this year, Rutgers has beaten Maryland 34-13 forcing 5 turnovers, beat Army 27-10 forcing 3 turnovers, beat Uconn 28-24 forcing 4 turnovers.
This does not bode well for a Syracuse team that has turned it over 25 times facing a Rutgers team that is 2nd in the nation at forcing turnovers getting 29 of them.
Only Ohio has forced more and it's just one more at 30.
The Orangemen are seeing the wrong team at the wrong time. Nothing more and nothing less, and just like Maryland and Army before them, they will lose this game by 17 points or more.
Unlike Syracuse, which can't get out of it's own way, Rutgers has suffered 2 losses this year and they just happen to be against the two teams battling for the Big East championship in Pitt and Cincinnati.
If a former point guard from Duke, or his back up a redshirt freshman play well enough against this Rutgers defense to keep this game within single digits, then I will take my hat off to them, take my loss like a man and move on.
For my money, I say they can't. End of story.
10 DIME - STANFORD CARDINAL - There is no stopping Stanford right now.
And it sure isn't going to be Cal coming anywhere close to shutting them down with their 71st overall defense in college football.
The last 2 weeks have shown me that Stanford is playing at a level unmatched in the history of their school, and I am talking about the days of John Elway included.
You start putting up over 50 back-to- back weeks on the likes of Oregon with the 22nd best defense, and USC on the road with their 48th best defense, trust me when I tell you things have really clicked.
Let me take this one step further.
At home Stanford has won by margins of 25 over San Jose State, 20 over Washington, 8 over Ucla, 19 over Arizona St, and 9 over Oregon.
What is even more impressive is against the 15th overall defense in the country in Arizona State they scored 33, against the 22nd best defense in the country in Oregon they put up 51, and against the 49th best in USC they put up 55.
If you think it has anything to do with being at home, let me point out they went on the road versus the 18th best defense in Arizona and put up 38 and at Oregon State against the 58th best defense they put up 28.
Cal comes in with the 71st overall defense in the country. Somebody please say, "Watch out below!!!!!!!"
Of all the defenses in the Pac-10 Stanford has faced this year, Cal has the worst. Juggle that around in your head for a minute...you have time.
One last point. At the end of the USC game last week Stanford scored to make it 53-21 and Jim Harbaugh went for 2 to stuff it in Pete Carroll's face due to the fact in recruiting circles Carroll has been telling players being recruited by both USC and Stanford, "Why do you want to go there, we beat them everytime."
Well, ask Jim Harbaugh what you think of him now.
If Harbaugh did that to USC, what do you think he is going to do to his arch-rival Cal in a game that for one of the few times has the superior team.
You do the math. Stanford beats USC and Oregon by a combined score of 106-63. Cal lost to those two schools by a combined score of 72-6, and they have to face Stanford without star tailback Jahvid Best.
Are you ready for the river card? The ace on the river? The flush on the river? The full house on the river?
Stanford is going for their 12th straight home cover which is the best mark in the entire country, and I see nothing that leads me to believe they won't win this game by double digits as well.
5 DIME - ARMY BLACK KNIGHTS - So let me get this straight.
I have the 102nd ranked run defense in the entire country who in their 5 home games this year allowed almost 1,000 yards rushing to shut down Army's option attack?
A defense that in their last 2 home games versus the 30th, and 38th ranked rushing attacks in UL Monroe, and Western Kentucky they allowed 281 and 172 yards respectively.
Now they take on a rush offense ranked 16 spots better at Army at 14th in the country.
The bottom line is a 2-8 team shouldn't be favored over a service academy any time anywhere.
I mean, Army knocked off an SEC school earlier this year in Vandy for crying out loud so that right there shows you what this team is capable of.
Furthermore, this could be a home game for Army as 18 kids on their roster are from the state of Texas and you don't think there is some magic going on here.
Army has covered 8 in a row in the Lonestar State. I'm talking about 8 in a row.
I have no problem grabbing any kind of points in a game I feel Army can win outright. Simple as that.
FREE SELECTION - KENTUCKY WILDCATS