You're never as good (or bad) as you think.

Well, this time last week we had visions of a 3rd straight north division title heading to the trophy case. It was just waiting for the formality of 6 conference wins. Now after watching the team struggle to put Bowling Green away, it's hard to figure where we're going to find 4 more wins to become bowl eligible. Blaine Gabbert went from a can't miss Heisman winner to just another sophomore quarterback trying to keep his head above water. Well folks, welcome to college football. The non BCS schools are getting good players too, and when you catch a team with 17 seniors starting; well, they have an idea how to win games too. Ask Oklahoma State, Michigan State and so forth. It's becoming March madness in September.
The important thing to remember is that it's better to win ugly than to lose pretty. After Bowling Green went up 20-6 with 10 minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter the Tigers took over. Derrick Washington and Kendial Lawrence began gashing the tired Bowling Green defense and their offense never crossed the 50 yard line again. This kind of game was predictable, (although I didn't predict it) with a young team and may well prove beneficial in the weeks to come. Another important thing to remember is that despite a couple of turnovers, the defense was able to hold the Falcons to field goals. Aldon Smith continued to look like the most dominant defensive player we've had since another Smith named Justin.
I predicted a Missouri win covering the 18 1/2 point spread by a 42-17 margin. The final of 27-20 fell short, but the bottom line is, Mizzou faces Furman this week and their record is 2-0. I doubt Coach Pinkel will have any trouble getting the players attention this week.
All in all I had a pretty good week with my predictions, going 8-2 outright and 7-3 against the spread. It certainly is an improvement on week one. For the year I'm 16-6 straight up and 13-9 against the point spread.
I covered, in a brief post Friday morning the Colorado game. Dan Hawkins still has a job in Boulder and will likely at least finish out the season. I'd predicted the Buffs to win the game but fail to cover the 4 points they were giving up. They of course were routed.
I predicted Iowa would cover the 6 1/2 points they were giving to Iowa State and win 27-17. The final was 35-3 Hawkeyes with ISU quarterback Austen Arnaud throwing 4 interceptions. It could be a long season in Ames.
I predicted the ku jayhawks would cover and beat UTEP 31-13. They did a little better winning 34-7. I doubt a home game against Duke this week will provide much insight about them either. We'll have to wait until conference season to get an idea of what they are.
I expected K State to not only fail to cover the 7 points against Louisiana Lafayette, but to lose outright. They didn't let me down. Bill Snyder may yet pull off another miracle in Manhattan, but it's not going to come this year. I don't expect that next weeks game at UCLA will be pretty.
I thought that Nebraska would cover the 23 1/2 point spread and top Arkansas State 45-21. They in fact won 38-9. We'll see if order is truly restored this week as they visit Va. Tech.
I predicted the Sooners would bounce back from last weeks loss of the game and their quarterback by smashing Idaho State 52-0. They in fact won 64-0. Suddenly the cake walk Nebraska and kansas thought they might have looks far less likely. Oklahoma always has athletes. Now Stoops is pissed and is going to hammer everyone as badly as possible.
Oklahoma State basked in the glory of their win over Georgia in week one and promptly fell by 10 points to the University of Houston. They'll get a chance to heal against Rice this week, but can now put their dreams of a national championship aside.
I predicted Texas to cover a 33 1/2 point spread against Wyoming, but they fell short winning by "only" 31, 41-10, and Texas Tech did what I expected. They covered a 27 1/2 point spread against Rice and once again showed that the pirate knows how to move the ball through the air. Texas Tech travels to Austin this week to play the Longhorns in our first glimpse of conference play.
I'll have my predictions out this week by Friday at the latest. In the meantime I'll try to find something out about Furman. Anyone know what their mascot is or what state they are located in?


Some photos courtesy of PowerMizzou