College Football: Michigan State Remains Undefeated Behind The Arm of Kirk Cousins

You have to give a lot of credit to both teams, Northwestern for showing up from snap one to push the Spartans to the very brink of upset and to Michigan State for finding a way, yet again, to stave off defeat.

From the very start, it seemed the Spartans were shell-shocked. After a failed first possession, Dan Persa and his Northwestern Wildcats moved the ball with ease, on their second possession, converting two key third-down plays inside the 30-yard line before Persa tucked the ball and ran in for the score—7-0 Northwestern.

By stark contrast, Kirk Cousins and company found little room to breathe against the Wildcats—early—committing two three-and-outs before Edwin Baker fumbled in Spartan territory to return the ball to a rabid Wildcat team that was ready to pounce.

While that was by no means the only opportunity the Wildcats would have on the day, it was the best point for them to make a major statement. Instead, the goal line challenge was met by the Spartans, and the Wildcats would have to settle for three.

The latter point is a valid one, given the missed opportunity Northwestern left on the table to really place Michigan State squarely behind the eight ball—by entering the half with a 21-point lead instead of a 10-point one.

By the start of the second-half, Michigan State remembered their top 10 ranking and started to play like a team that actually wants to be taken seriously by the BCS. They finished the game on a 28-10 run—capped off in the final seconds by a 25-yard touchdown run by Edwin Baker.

The Spartans escape the State of Illinois undefeated and a valiant effort by Dan Persa, who rushed for three touchdowns on the game, is all but erased by defeat. 

College Football Odds (ATS): Can Northwestern Pull The Upset Over Michigan State?

The 'Lady' is getting killed against the spread (ATS) over the last couple weeks as another below average finish sets the site record at 29-36. However, it's not time to give up on this weekly pick em' yet, even though it's been heavily contemplated.

That said, we will dive head first into another slate of possible spread-breakers—there are plenty to choose from this week.

As usual, all lines are quoted via courtesy of VegasInsider.com.

1. Northwestern vs. Michigan State: Michigan State (-6)

People are figuring that Michigan State has to lose one eventually. After all, there is no way they are really THIS good, right? Well, the verdict is still out on that point but, one thing is for certain, the Wildcats will have their hands full trying to contain Kirk Cousins, Edwin Baker, and Le'Veon Bell.  The home field advantage will help, but, it may not be enough.

The Lady's Pick: Michigan State

2. Rutgers vs. Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh (-13)

It's not that Rutgers is phenomenal on offense, but they do have a good rushing defense—despite the impression the Army game might have given you. That said, Dion Lewis hasn't been nearly as dominant this season as he was in 2009 and Greg Schiano has a way of getting his team ready for the big game.

The Lady's Pick: Rutgers

3. Iowa State vs. Texas: Texas (-21)

This seems like an awful lot of points for the Longhorns to cover, especially given the fact that they are coming off a huge upset victory over the Nebraska Cornhuskers last week. Iowa State's defense is deplorable, but Texas has had some questionable play over the season too—remember Wyoming?

Keeping that in mind, it just seems unlikely that the Longhorns get it done this week.

The Lady's Pick: Iowa State

4. Vanderbilt vs. South Carolina: South Carolina (-12.5)

Vanderbilt was embarrassed last week—getting shut-out by Georgia—and South Carolina is clearly a different offense minus Marcus Lattimore.

The Lady's Pick: Vanderbilt

5. Arkansas vs. Mississippi: Arkansas (-9.5)

You can bet that Houston Nutt will be ready for whatever Bobby Petrino has for him in Fayetteville. If there is one thing that Nutt has, historically, done well, it's getting his team prepared for big games.

Jeremiah Masoli will have more room to run than he did last week and, although Ryan Mallett is ready to play (suspect given he sustained a concussion just six-days ago), this game will come down to pride for Houston Nutt. 

The Lady's Pick: Mississippi 

6. BYU vs Wyoming: BYU (-10.5)

BYU should not be favored by anything more than three points over any opponent for the rest of the year. They are deplorable this season.

The Lady's Pick: Wyoming

7. Mississippi State vs. UAB: Mississippi State (-20)

There is no denying the fact that the Bulldogs are on a roll this year, but it seems premature to start giving them this much respect against a UAB team that has shown no hesitation in going toe-to-toe with any opponent this season—including a near defeat of Tennessee at Neyland Stadium. Buyer beware.

The Lady's Pick: UAB

8. Oklahoma vs Missouri: Oklahoma (-3)

Either you like Oklahoma or you don't.

The Sooners might be ranked the No. 1 but, as usual, that ranking is premature given the fact that they've looked just a touch average over mediocre opponents this season. Missouri will have the home crowd on their side, and this seems just the spot for the Sooners to choke.

The Lady's Pick: Missouri 

9. Tennessee vs. Alabama: Alabama (-18)


There's something wrong with Alabama's run game right now. Neither Mark Ingram, nor Trent Richardson, look as dominant as they did earlier in the year. Not to mention, Julio Jones is banged up and Marcel Dareus is doing the best he can working with a bum ankle. Add all that together and you have a team that is in desperate need of a break.

Tennessee may not be very good right now but, fortunately for them, they won't need to be.

The Lady's Pick: Tennessee

10. LSU vs. Auburn: Auburn (-6)

The easy pick here is Auburn. No team has been able to slow Cam Newton in the slightest and he's been money all season long. That said, the Tiger's have been suspect against even the most moderate defense and, if not for the Razorbacks atrocious secondary, that game might not have been the blowout it became.

LSU has a ton of questions on offense but their defense has been solid.

The Lady's Pick: LSU

College Football Rankings: It's Time to Ditch The Preseason AP Poll—It's Useless

If you're a fan of Michigan State, South Carolina or Nevada, you felt good waking up this past Sunday, finding your team making moves in the Associated Press (AP) Top 25.

After all, it's reassuring to have a team that's recognized on a national level as one to be reckoned with—respected.

However, if you’re a fan of one of the above-mentioned, then you also recall that they were not given such respect a mere five weeks ago—when none of them were ranked.

That's right, South Carolina (a team that just beat the brakes off the No. 1 team in the land), Michigan State (the only team that has been able to slow Denard Robinson down), nor Nevada (who managed to beat BYU in Provo) were listed in the AP Preseason Top 25—not a one.

By stark contrast, you know what teams were listed in said poll: Pittsburgh (a team that has two wins on the year), Virginia Tech (a team that lost to a I-AA opponent in week two), and Penn State (a team that just lost by 20 points to Illinos...in HAPPY VALLEY).

Did any of those teams really deserve to be considered Top 25 worthy?  Think about it? Did any of them warrant as much respect as they received earlier in the year?

Of course, it's easy to say "no" now because we’ve seen them play. We know who has playmakers (Marcus Lattimore of South Carolina and Kirk Cousins of Michigan State) and who’s missing their departed players (Tim Tebow of Florida and Daryll Clark of Penn State).

However, why did it have to take so many of these teams losing before anyone started taking a closer look at the teams that were actually playing good football? After all, if you follow a particular conference, most of these things weren’t hard to miss.

For example, people are looking at South Carolina as being "for real" now that they’ve beaten Alabama, but the average SEC fan knew this was a possibility eight months ago.

Outsiders looked at the Oregon Ducks as being done after the Jeremiah Masoli suspension, but the average Pac-10 fan knew better—Chip Kelly is no slouch where quarterback development is concerned—and most felt Oregon would be just fine as long as the defense didn’t regress too much. 

As for Nevada, well, the college football world is so focused on that "other team from the WAC" that they can't see the forest for the large tree growing in Boise.

The more games that are played, the greater ability people have at separating the good from the bad, the contenders from the pretenders, and the winners from the losers. The picture gets clearer because you have better criteria to assess a team’s overall value.

That said, why on earth does college football still allow preseason rankings?  Why not wait until teams have played a couple months of football before you assign a number to the left of their name?

It's not fair that South Carolina has to start at the bottom, while Alabama gets a pass to the top— just because they played great football...in 2009.

This is a new year, with new players, new teams, and new schedules. No team should start off with the advantage of being "number" anything because they haven't done anything to prove they deserve that distinction—yet.

If you look back at the preseason poll, released just before the start of the 2010 season, you will find that 10 of the 25 teams that were listed, have either dropped significantly or have exited altogether —two of those teams were once listed in the top 5 (Texas and Florida).

The polls are useless. The only thing they serve to do is create an unfair advantage for teams who may or may not live up to the expectations that the "experts" have place on them.

Of course, some might argue that there is just as much of a chance that more teams will tumble. It’s still early enough and some of these teams still haven’t “played anybody” yet.  It’s possible that this week’s poll isn’t any more right than it was six weeks ago.

All of that is true but, at least we know more about the teams we’re choosing to rank. At least our assessments can be based more on fact than fiction...at least we know who truly has a team worth writing and talking about.

It's time to stop releasing the AP Poll and the useless Coaches Poll that comes before it because, in truth, both are worthless.

What say you?