For the QB That's the son of Belfor the fighter?

I have been keeping tabs on some of the guys that MSU missed out on (Goodwin) or seemingly passed on (Baer).

It looks like Goodwin is solid as a true freshmen but not quite there yet. They mentioned some issues he has had getting off the ball on the snap count, but he has played in 6 games so far on an underperforming OL to date. He will likely be really good by the time he is a Sophomore. He is currently 6'8 350.

Baer isn't playing much at all and likely won't play much this year. He has received good reviews though and will likely be a starter in a year or two. He is currently 6'7 335.

You know which game I'm talking about. I'm going to guess that we will be about 20 point dogs, which will make the victory so sweet if we win.

I'll admit it. Before the Wisconsin game, I thought MSU had no chance to win this game but our Spartans showed they respond to motivational coaching. They looked a lot better against Wisconsin. So, Comp is right-I am an idiot (for a variety of reasons, I'll readily admit) for not believing.

I see that Thorne is way better when Reed is healthy. Keon Coleman is better when Reed is playing. The defense is better with X and Slade.

If we can stuff Michigan's run game, we have a puncher's chance. I'll make no predictions except for I think Vegas will give MSU 20 points but I just remember what happened 2 years ago when our guys were big time dogs and pulled it out. A wounded dog is a very dangerous animal.

Once again I am coming to the bastion of all knowledge for help.

My wife and I are heading to Mexico in January. Usually we book through Apple vacations and the transportation is included in our package. We are doing it a little differently this year. Doing some research and it seem like it isn't as easy as hailing a cab to get to our resort. We are staying about 40 miles away from the airport. Anyone with any experience in this field? Thanks in advance.

10/24 at 7:00 pm on BTN

MSU win clinches a tie for BIG title

Does anyone think Germie can transfer from receiver to running back, perhaps next season if needed?

Good read from ESPN's Heather Dinich. She has done a very good job covering CFP expansion.

I expect that it will happen in 2024. The networks certainly have a big appetite for it.

"The College Football Playoff management committee concluded yet another lengthy, closed-door meeting on Thursday still undecided about when the playoff will expand to 12 teams, but encouraged it can still happen as soon as 2024, CFP executive director Bill Hancock said.

There was a sense of optimism entering Thursday's meeting -- multiple sources had said they hadn't heard any good reasons why the playoff couldn't expand earlier -- but there was also a realization that determining the dates for the games is a significant challenge that persists, especially with campuses hosting the first-round games. The commissioners continue to struggle with conflicts surrounding the academic calendar, including December commencement and final exams, plus finding TV windows that don't compete with the NFL."

From a respected oddsmaker...Wisconsin over MICHIGAN STATE by 3 We’re not sure whose fall from grace this season has been more shocking, the Oklahoma Sooners or the Spartans. MSU has not led for a single second against a Power 5 opponent thus far this season and they’ve lost their last four games to those opponents by an average of 20.3 points. They’ve also been shut out in seven of 16 quarters against Power 5 competition. Still, head coach Mel Tucker is 7-4 ATS as a home dog, including 6-2 ATS versus foes coming off a SUATS win. On the fl ip side, the Badgers pounded Northwestern, 42-7, in Jim Leonhard’s fi rst game, a major fi rst step towards earning the interim coach a permanent job. He’ll need to make sure his troops don’t stub their toe against a team that appears to have jumped out of a sky-diving airplane without a chute. Bucky beat the Spartans, 38- 0, in their last meeting in 2019 but are just 1-5 ATS as a road favorite in this series when coming off a win. Be careful here.

Averaging 51.40 yards per punt

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12/27 players (44.4%) are transfers. All 3 LBs were portal players.

Back in the summer, I went through my annual process of crunching all of the numbers that I could find in an attempt to predict how the 2022 college football season might play out. We have now reached both the mid-point of the season as well as a much-needed bye week for the Michigan State Spartans. It seems like a good time to revisit and revise some of those projections now that we have a lot more information and data.

Overachievers and Underachievers​

There are a lot of prognosticators out there who make predictions about the college football season in the summer. Some of those analysts will even use some of the same mathematical tools that I employ. But what makes my method unique and (frankly) more accurate is that my calculations always take into account the known uncertainty in the preseason rankings.

As it turns out, human beings are simply not very good at projecting how good college football teams are going to be before the ball is ever snapped. I have looked at several years of preseason and postseason data, and the numbers indicate that any given team’s preseason ranking is accurate only to about plus-or-minus 20 slots on average.

Back in the summer, the data compelled me to project that Oklahoma would run the table, win the Big 12, and earn the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoffs. I projected that they would face 11-2 Notre Dame in the national semifinals. In reality, both teams might struggle just to get to .500 this year.

As it turned out, both the Sooners and the Fighting Irish simply are nowhere near as good as the experts predicted during the summer. Both teams were supposed to be top-10 quality. Neither in fact are.

Table 1 below summarizes the top 20 and bottom 20 teams as sorted by each team’s change in rank today relative to the preseason rankings which were derived from a selection of publications such as Athlon Sports and Phil Steele. In this case, I am using my current power ranking for each team as the current rank.

Table 1: Summary of the 20 teams who are currently overachieving and underachieving the most at mid-season mark of the 2022 season. The changes in rank are between my current power ranking and the preseason consensus ranking from a selection of preseason publications.


On the overachiever side of the house, FBS newcomer James Madison is at the top of the chart with fellow Sun Belt member South Alabama coming it at No. 2. Those teams were both ranked in the 110s out of 131 FBS teams back in the summer. The notable Power Five teams in the overachiever category include Kansas, Illinois, Duke, Syracuse, Iowa State, Kansas State, Maryland, TCU, and UCS.

The right hand side of Table 1 shows the teams who are not having as good of a season as they had hoped for back in August. So far the biggest underachiever of 2022 (as I am measuring it) is Miami. The other teams who have been major disappointments so far include Boston College, Notre Dame (as expected), Pittsburgh, Michigan State (sigh), Nebraska, and Virginia Tech. Oklahoma also just sneaks in at the bottom of the list.

Note that in a few cases, the teams who are on the underachiever list actually have overall records that are fairly respectable. Pittsburgh is 4-2, Boise State is 4-2, and Cincinnati is 5-1. However, all three teams have still not played to the level which was expected at the beginning of the year. Furthermore, all three teams are not expected (at least by my algorithm) to have strong finishes to the season.

Updated Bad Betting Advice​

As a part of my preseason analysis, I performed a deep dive on a wide variety of season bets, including wagers on division races, conference races, playoff spots, the national champion, and total regular season wins. In all honesty, a lot of those suggestions do not seem to be panning out well.

However, the data generated so far in the first half of the season provides an opportunity to revisit the odds for various teams to taste post-season glory. It also provides the opportunity to make a few new wagers.

In Table 2 below, I summarize the latest money lines from DraftKings SportsBook for a selection of Power Five teams to both twin their conference and win the National Championship. I have converted these money lines to percentage odds, and I have compared these number to the percentages that result from my latest Monte Carlo simulation of the remaining games.

Table 2: Updated Conference Champion and Playoff odds, curtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook compared to the odds calculated from my 60,000 Monte Carlo simulation of the remainder of the season.


When I compare my odds to the odds from DraftKings, it is possible to calculate a return on investment (ROI) for a 100 dollar bet on each outcome. The results of these calculations are shown in the rightmost columns of Table 2. I have also highlighted in green all the potential wagers where the ROI is significantly positive. As we can see, the majority of the bets have a negative ROI (which is how Las Vegas remains profitable)

As Table 2 shows, the oddsmakers currently have a lot of faith in both Georgia and Ohio State right now. Those two teams have the best odds to win the National Title with a money line of +180 (which translates to odds of about 36 percent). Alabama has the next-best odds at +450 (18 percent).

Clemson is sitting in fourth place at +1,000 (nine percent) with Michigan and Tennessee rounding out the top six with a money line value of +1,600 (six percent). No other team has effective odds over two percent to win the National Title.

My calculated odds tell a slightly different story. My numbers suggest that the six teams with the best odds to win the National Title are all overvalued with the exception of one: the Michigan Wolverines. My computer gives a positive ROI for Michigan to win both the Big Ten and the National Title. I feel obligated to note here that my computer has so far been wrong a lot this year.

As for a few other teams that might be worth a bet or two, my computer likes the odds for USC, Ole Miss, and Texas as dark horse conference champions and even as national champions. Betting on Tulane and Utah to win their respective conferences is also a positive ROI bet with a reasonable probability. Bets on Kansas State and Oregon State as long-shot conference champions also might be interesting bets.

That all said, there are two teams in particular who are very highly regarded by my computer relative to their current Vegas odds. Both Illinois and Syracuse are ranked in the top 10 of my current power rankings, and both teams have ridiculously high ROIs in Table 2 for both a conference title and the national title.

In this case, it seems likely that my computer is simply overvaluing both the Illini and the Orange. That said, if you are looking for a long-shot bet that might not actually be that much of a longshot, a small bet on Illinois and/or Syracuse might be worth your while.

Updated Conference Projections​

In closing today, I would also like to provide an updated projection for each conference race and the New Year’s Six Bowl Games. These projections are based on a combination of math and my own intuition.

Big Ten

The Big Ten East looks like it will almost certainly come down to the annual showdown between Michigan and Ohio State at the end of the year. While my computer is starting to believe in the Wolverines, I just cannot see the Buckeyes losing twice in a row to Michigan and especially not at home this year. Unless there is a snow storm and flu outbreak, I think Ohio State runs the table and returns to the Big Ten Championship Game.

In the Big Ten West, my computer really likes Illinois and I see no reason to question that. I predict the Illinois will sweep the other teams in the West and will advance to the Big Ten Championship Game against Ohio State. The only question is if Illinois can steal a victory from the Wolverines in Ann Arbor on Nov. 19. It is hard to make that prediction, but I think that game will be a lot closer than many people expect. Either way, I predict a win for the Buckeyes in Indianapolis to cap an undefeated season.

SEC

Tennessee is getting a lot of well-deserved buzz right now, but in order to win the SEC East, the Volunteers will need to beat Georgia in Athens. I just don’t see that happening. I have Georgia once against winning the East.

In the SEC West, I think things might get more interesting. Alabama is still ahead in odds, based on my calculations, but the Crimson Tide have back-to-back road games at LSU and Ole Miss coming up in early November. I am going to go ahead and pick Ole Miss in an upset which will eventually result in the Rebels winning the West even if Ole Miss themselves drop a road game at LSU or Texas A&M. But the Rebels will be no match for Georgia in the SEC Championship Game.

Big 12

The Big 12 might just be the most competitive conference in the country this year, and as such, it looks difficult to handicap. Therefore, I am just going to revert to my simulation’s results. It says that Texas will edge out Kansas State for the Big 12 Championship. Let’s go with that.

ACC

The ACC races looks very straightforward. While it is possible that Syracuse upsets Clemson this weekend and disrupts everything, this is Clemson’s league to lose. I project that Clemson will win their division and then beat North Carolina in the ACC Championship Game. But, can the Tigers get past Notre Dame on the road to complete a perfect regular season? Somehow, I think the Fighting Irish will find a way to steal the win and knock Clemson from the ranks of the undefeated and out of the playoff conversation.

Pac-12

My calculations suggest that a match-up between Utah and USC is most likely in the Pac-12 Championship game, but I am going to call an audible here and predict that UCLA will upset the Trojans to knock them out of the top two spots in the standings. When the dust settles, Utah will beat UCLA to claim the Pac-12 crown.

Group of Five

Conventional wisdom would suggest that one of three teams currently at the top of the standings in the American Athletic Conference will eventually finish the season as the top ranked Group of Five Champion. But, I like the odds for South Alabama to run the table, win the Sun Belt, and find itself in a New Year’s Six Bowl.

New Year’s Six Predictions​

When the dust settles, here is how I see the match-ups shaking out:

• Peach Bowl: No. 1 Georgia (13-0) versus No. 4 Michigan (11-1)
• Fiesta Bowl: No. 2 Ohio State (13-0) versus No. 3 Tennessee (11-1)
• Rose Bowl: Utah (11-2) versus Illinois (10-3)
• Sugar Bowl: Ole Miss (11-2) versus Texas (11-2)
• Orange Bowl: Clemson (12-1) versus Alabama (10-2)
• Cotton Bowl: USC (10-2) versus South Alabama (12-1)

For the record, I would currently project Georgia to be favored over Michigan by 6.5 points and for Ohio State to be favored over Tennessee by five points. A potential National Title Game between Georgia and Ohio State would likely see Georgia favored by around seven points.

That is all the analysis I have for today. Until next time, enjoy the bye week and Go State, beat the Skunk Bears!

,,,,That's the Article Title from today's digital WSJ.

Snippets include: New (guesstimated) Payment rate of 6.4% annualized effective November 1., per today's article.

Purchases made through October 31 get the old 9.62% annualized rate established May 1 2022.

Basics: $10 K yearly purchase Max per person ( with funky exceptions/additions)
Can't withdraw your purchases for a year(exceptions?)
3 month interest penalty if your purchases withdrawn 1-5 years.
Interest earned State income tax free.
Divide annualized rate by 2 to get 6 Month interest payment

Usual government R and R's.
May be of interest to some.

Homework time required via the treasurydirect.gov website

,,,,cheers

2 tickets section 8 row 63. Seats are under the over hang of upper deck. 35 yard line. Parking Pass is lot 39/40. Asking $ 150 for each game. Includes PP.

Check it out.

What's good, everybody!

Caught up with Cypress (Texas) Ranch four-star defensive lineman Ashton Porter who recapped his OV to Michigan State. I like the Spartans' chances to flip Porter from Northwestern as long as they can weather the storm with other P5 programs also looking to host him on an OV.

Rebecca Surian, the head of the Spartan Fund, is leaving to go to MSU Federal Credit Union.
Beekman brought her in after she led the successful College of Music campaign for the building expansion.
As to be expected, the academic side success did not translate into a good fit on the athletic side.
She's a good Spartan who will better serve the campus and the community at MSUFCU.
At least one other staffer is leaving as well.
Hope we can bring in somebody with MSU history, ideally with the athletic department.
We should never allow anybody from the academic side of the house to be part of the athletic department.
Regardless of who is in charge, keep giving.
Go Green!

To me, he could be 6-4 255 with maybe a 6-6 or 6-8 wing span, allowing him to reach the football more than a lot of other players.

Mark Dantonio gave out player dimensions pretty readily and I don't know if Mel Tucker is adverse to that.

GO GREEN

Might be a 3&Out. Might be something more substantial. Depends on whether I can get through my homework film assignment.

Post questions here!

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+ MSU's defensive ends are making in-season improvements. I mentioned it in the last couple of weeks, with Avery Dunn going from dysfunctional vs Minnesota to functional vs Maryland and Ohio State. And Michael Fletcher was on the same course.

Dunn didn't play vs Wisconsin (assuming a health item). But Brandon Wright has taken his game up a notch. That spin move for a sack he had in the first quarter was nice (thanks in part to Jacob Slade beating the left guard and flushing the QB).

+ Simeon Barrow, that was a man's play on a TFL during the opening drive in the red zone. Took on the right guard, two-gapped him, buckled him, disengaged and made the tackle. That's the type of play that draws all-conference votes from opposing coaches. (Good thing he made the tackle, though, as Aaron Brulé jumped out of his edge contain gap. Looked to me like Brulé was trying to chase the ball and not stay home.)

[By the way, it looked to me like Michigan State showed a nice, new, sophosticated coverage for that sack, and that's part of the reason the QB held the ball. Looked to me like Michigan State had one CB (Brantley) playing man-to-man while the other three DBs and Grose at nickel played cover-four zone. Nice combo coverage. They played it well.

It was REALLY strange to watch the opening drive. There were so many Michigan State defensive players in new positions, or new roles, or coming back from injury. I'm sitting there feeling like I'm making opening day observations on players and it's week seven.

Jacob Slade, how is he moving?
X Henderson, how is moving?
Dillon Tatum, replacing X Henderson, brand spanking new, first time we've ever seen him in prime time .
Jacoby Windmon at MLB. Brand new.
Brule, starting as a nickel backer, brand new extended role.
Zion Young, true freshman starting at DE.
Michael Fletcher, starting at DE.
Brandon Wright, extended role as a DE, making progress.

What is that, EIGHT goll darn defensive players in new roles? I'm not criticizing the coaching or the deployment of these guys, I'm just pointing out how uncommon this is and the number of new moving parts in play. And these guys did pretty well, some of them were excellent. It reminds me of Bill Miller's Duct Tape Defense in 2000.

As for X's and O's, Michigan State did something I don't think I had ever seen before.

It was 1-10 at the -36. Michigan State ran a unique run blitz. Michigan State blitzed Windmon from his MLB position. Usually, a LB blitzer will try to knife his way through one of his gaps, make himself small and fast, take on half a blocker, try to turnstile him, penetrate the pocket. That's what it's all about, right?

Well on this play, Windmon blitzed and went right into the center and two-gapped him. He plowed into him, shocked him, and tried to control him and two-gap him.

Meanwhile, Haladay played behind Windmon and tried to read and react around both of those gaps and hunt the ball carrier.

MSU's DTs took on the offensive guards.

With Windmon blitzing into a two-gapping of the center, it essentially becomes a Bear front. Usually a Bear front shows itself well before the snap. In this case, it came in the form of a run blitz.

How and why do you do that with Windmon? Well, because you CAN.

He already proved himself to be sturdy enough as a defensive end. He has the firmness of a defensive lineman, yet he was playing middle linebacker for the first time this year.

NEVER does a center prepare himself for a two-gapping linebacker blitzer.

Well, most of it worked out, they spilled the ball carrier to the outside. Dillon Tatum came down, stuck his nose in it, and looked like Tatum put pretty good contact on RB Allen. But Allen bounced off, got to the sideline and carried Brule down the sideline for a gain of about four or five, and then Brandon Wright came over and hit him late for a personal four.

So it didn't end well.

But the thing that stuck out to me was the create enginuity Michigan State showed on defense here, using Windmon's skills and talents in an unconventional way in run defense.

Michigan State is capable of doing some solid things on that defensive front against the run, especially if they can somehow get Bogle back at d-end. And with VanSumeren out of the lineup, Michigan State has the potential to be much better and more instinctive with run fits at LB. Need to bring Brule along. I'm still watching this Wisconsin film, trying to get a read on how he is doing.

I like VanSumeren as a kid. He tries to play hard. But I've been saying since week two that he just wasn't good enough to play LB at this level. (he makes good, athletic plays outside the tackle box, but just doesn't have it, inside the box). I wasn't surprised to see Michigan State make that move with Windmon to MLB. That changes a lot. I'm not saying the defense is ready to take a major step, but a defense with Slade, Windmon and Henderson up the middle is a completely different team than the defense that took the field through most of September. That being said, I am not sure Slade is as good as Barrow or Derrick Harmon just yet. But it's nice to have Slade back.

**

As for Tatum, I like the way he ran his feet and stuck his nose in there on that tackle attempt. I'm telling you, 12 months ago he would have had no interest or instinct in doing that while in high school. He was still new to playing defense. He had feet and athletic ability, but he had the defensive ruggedness of Zoolander (google it). But I liked his head, his heart, his feet. I really had no idea how he would do as a defensive player. He is/was a complete project as a defensive player, but an athletic one and a well-built one. He just needs to undergo the process and then we'll see what he is. But he's already further along than I would have expected.

MSU needs to find an interim President. There is nobody who knows MSU better than LAKS.
She has been cleared by the legal system. Unlike Stanley, she knows how to interact with the BofTrustees.
The survivors have reached a settlement. It is time we make decisions without the lens of Nasser.
It would be good for her and good for MSU.

Welcome to the bye week, Michigan State fans! We all know that it has been a tough season so far, but last weekend’s overtime win over Wisconsin seems to have rekindled the fire in the belly of Spartan fans near and wide.

Not only that, but we all get a full two weeks to bask in the afterglow of the homecoming win over Wisconsin. By the time Oct. 29 rolls in for the game against Michigan, it might even feel like a two-game winning streak.

Until then, I suggest lying low for a while. Take a break. Go read a book, drink some cider, or carve a pumpkin. Or, of course, watch some other football teams. If your Wolverine neighbor wants to talk some smack, just smile and wave. We will have time for that next week.

Yes. Let’s just lie low for a while. It’s a good time of year to catch up on some backlogged television. Maybe we can catch one of Michigan State’s recent upset wins in Ann Arbor on B1G Football in 60 on the Big Ten Network. Let’s see, which one should we watch? 2020? 2017? 2015? Maybe 2010? There’s just so many to choose from! It’s exhausting just thinking about it. I think I need a nap.

Picks of the Week​

While it might be a good week for us fans to take a rest, data never sleeps. So, as I do every week, Figures 1 and 2 below give this week’s projected point spreads for each of the 53 games involving two FBS teams. Figure 1 shows the projected point differentials from my algorithm relative to the opening point spreads, courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook. Figure 2 shows a similar analysis using the picks from ESPN’s FPI.


Figure 1: Comparison of the projected final margins of victory based on my algorithm to the opening DraftKings lines for Week Eight.


Figure 2: Comparison of the projected final margins of victory based on ESPN's FPI to the opening DraftKings lines for Week Eight.

Table 1 below summarizes the upset picks that are derived from the two figures above. My algorithm is certainly not napping on the job when it comes to upsets this week. It suggests a total of eight upset picks, including Duke over Miami, Kansas State over TCU and Purdue over Wisconsin. ESPN’s FPI provides three additional picks, including LSU over Ole Miss.

Note that my simulation of this week’s action using the opening point spreads suggests that a total of 15.8 upsets, plus-or-minus 3.2 upsets, are likely to occur. That is the biggest number so far this year from the simulation, so it’s a good week for the favorites to keep their heads down.

Table 1: Summary of upset picks for Week Seven Eight.


If the dear reader is so inclined to lay down a bet or two this week, Table 2 below summarizes the recommended wagers that are implied from Figures 1 and 2 above (i.e. the games that fall outside of the dotted diagonal lines.)

Table 2: Picks against the opening spread for Week Eight. The picks are listed in order of confidence score.


In this case, the computers are also relaxed this week with only three games total on the board. Two of those three games involve Big Ten teams, as both computers like Maryland to cover the spread over Northwestern while my computer predicts that Iowa will cover versus Ohio State.

Table 3 below summarizes the recommended point-total bets for the week, otherwise known as the “over/under” bets.

Table 3: Recommended total points bets (over / under) for Week Eight. Note that the picks labeled as "locks" are at a higher level of confidence.


This newest set of recommendations was having a phenomenal year until last week when the performance hit a real low point. Hopefully these picks will show a strong rebound in Week Eight.

Big Ten Overview​

Michigan State is not the only Big Ten team that plans to lie low this weekend. Michigan, Illinois and Nebraska will join the Spartans on the couch on Saturday. But that still leaves five Big Ten games on the slate, the details of which are summarized below in Table 4.

Table 4: Summary of Big Ten action in Week Eight, including my algorithm's projected scores. The teams shaded in green are projected to cover by my algorithm. The teams shaded red are projected to cover by the FPI.


Two of the five games will have little to no impact on the race in either Big Ten division. The winner of the contest between Rutgers (-3) and Indiana might be able to squeak into a bowl game, and Maryland (-13.5) is likely to blow out Northwestern at home.

Minnesota travels to Penn State (-4.5) this week as both teams cling to fading hopes of a division crown. Both computers predict a win for the Nittany Lions, but they are split as to which team will cover the spread.

Ohio State returns from a bye to take on Iowa (+29) in what will be the Buckeyes’ sixth home game (out of seven total games) so far this year. In all likelihood, this will be a blowout, but my computer projects a much closer game than the Las Vegas line would suggest. This will also be the first time this year that Ohio State will face a team that Michigan has also played. As such, it will be the first chance to make a direct comparison between the two mostly likely teams to win the East.

The game of the week in the Big Ten is Purdue’s trip to Wisconsin (-2). While the Badgers are favored in this game, my computer likes the Boilermakers in an upset. If Purdue wants to keep pace with Illinois in the Big Ten West, a win in Madison may be required.

Notable National Action​

Before we all head out to enjoy the fall weather, let’s get the low-down on the other notable action nationwide. Table 5 below gives the details for the remaining games teams that I will be watching out for this coming weekend.

Table 5: Summary of other notable national action in Week Eight, including my algorithm’s projected scores.


The SEC East is generally lying low this week as well (with Georgia and Kentucky on a bye week and with Tennessee facing Tennessee-Martin), but there are a couple of SEC West matchups that are worth watching. Alabama (-21) should have no problem at home against Mississippi State. But the biggest challenger to the SEC West crown will likely be in a dog fight, as first-place Ole Miss (-1.5) heads to Baton Rouge to face LSU.

The FPI is sounding the upset alert in this matchup, but my algorithm predicts a comfortable win by the Rebels. Either way, Ole Miss will very likely need to beat Alabama in Oxford on Nov. 12 if it is to advance to the SEC Championship game.

In the Big 12 there will be high intrigue as the four teams at the top of the standings will all be playing each other. First, Kansas State travels to TCU (-3.5) and the winner will emerge in sole possession of first place in the conference. My algorithm projects an upset win by Kansas State. In the other highlighted game, Texas (-3.5) travels to Stillwater to face Oklahoma State.

The Cowboys have a solid 5-1 record and No. 11 national ranking, but my algorithm has them ranked down at No. 35. As a result, my computer favors the Longhorns by over two touchdowns.

In ACC Atlantic Division, Clemson (-13.5) can for all practical purposes wrap up the division with a home win over Syracuse. That said, my algorithm projects that this game will be much closer than the opening spread suggests. Things are generally quiet in the Coastal Division, as current front-runners North Carolina have the week off. Note that no team in this division is ranked higher than No. 50 in my current power rankings.

Last week two of the top four teams in the Pac-12 squared off and Utah wound up edging out USC in Salt Lake City. Those two teams have the week off, but the other two members of the current top four will face off as UCLA travels to Oregon (-6). The winner will be alone in first place at the top of the Pac-12 standings. There is general consensus between Vegas and the computers that the Ducks will win by roughly a touchdown.

Group of Five action is generally a bit on the down-low, but the four leading contenders for the spot in the New Year’s Six are all in competitive games this week. In Sun Belt action, South Alabama (-3) hosts Troy, and the Trojans very well may be the toughest team left on the 5-1 Jaguars’ schedule.

In American Athletic Conference (AAC) action, the three teams that remain undefeated in conference play (Central Florida, Tulane and Cincinnati) will all get a stiff test. Tulane (-7) has the benefit of facing Memphis at home. Meanwhile, Central Florida (-4) has to travel to East Carolina and Cincinnati (-3) must travel to Southern Methodist. The computers do not predict any upsets here, but my computer sees the Bearcats’ game as a virtual tossup.

That is all the advice that I have to give this week. Rest up, Spartan fans, next week will be a big one. As always, enjoy, and Go State, beat the Skunk Bears!

Okay, my wife and I are flying down to Bradenton Friday morning to purchase something for my son and I to live in for the next 2.5 years. We've never purchased a place in Florida before, hoping the board can share anything we should know before making the plunge. Also, any input on the Bradenton area would be appreciated. We're trying to get as close to IMG as we can.

Thanks.

Finally healthy and we are reminded how good he really is. Multiple dominant plays, and it is too bad that a call like that took away the kids ability to have a TD return, catch, and throw in the same game. Kid is a baller!

Also, something I noticed is the stands is how much fired up the kids were on the sidelines. I hadn’t seen that in awhile. I’m not in the camp that said these kids quit this year, I think the effort has been consistent. This was something different though. The energy and swagger was back.

This is something to build on. Let’s stick it up their arrogant asses in 2 weeks!