WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Bleacher Boys: Beatdown in the Big House and Dame in Distress

Episode Date: September 13, 2024

George and Paul talk about Texas absolute decimation of Michigan at home and Notre Dame’s stunning loss at home. They discuss the other big college football games of the past week and update the Tigers’ chase for the last wildcard spot. The show wraps up with the boys’ picks for Week 3 of college football.

He's lining it up. Five seconds left, N IU up 16, 14. 62-yarder. Snap, hold, Jeter's kick. It's blocked! It's blocked! It's blocked! Picked up by N IU! Picked up by NIU! The Huskies! It's done it!

The Huskies! With the biggest upset in NU history! You're listening to Bleacher Boys, where Paul and George break down the biggest stories in sports... From the cheap seats, I guess. on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. Coming to you from Hillsdale, Michigan, I'm Paul Marquette,

and alongside me is my co-host, George Akela, and we are the Bleacher Boys. Well, we had a great week of college football for week two. The big game of that week was Texas, Michigan, in the big house. Paul, I think I saw you at that game. Did you go to that? I actually was there, George. Thank you for noticing.

I had a nice little college game day, work hat on, and wait, weren't you sitting right next to me there? Yeah, I think we got seats together in the stands. That's right. We had the great opportunity to go to the Texas-Michigan game. If you want to call it a game, I know for all the Michigan fans out there, it probably didn't feel like it. Yeah, I'm going to lovingly call this game the beat down in the big house.

Texas went in there and kind of stomped Michigan. I think it started at their quarterback position where you had Quinn Ewer's going 24 for 30, 26, 250 yards, and three TDs. Honestly, it felt like the score doesn't even represent how badly Michigan got beaten. All areas, their offense just couldn't get clicking, and five turnovers, you're not going to win many games doing that. Yeah, at the end of the first half, it looked like the game was over. The Michigan student section was still hanging on to hope, but not much into the third quarter, and we saw them draining out on the other side of the big house.

Texas had 409 yards of total offense. As you mentioned, George, Quinn Ewers looked really good on the field, hitting his targets and leading his team to another big win on the road. He did so last year at Alabama in Tuscaloosa, and he does it again here in Ann Arbor. On the other side of the ball, Michigan struggled, both defensively and offensively. A lot of Michigan fans were talking about how they didn't like what their defense was doing.

They seemed kind of lazy, lackadaisical, and not. really into the game. Davis Warren was 22 for 33 with 204 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. This Michigan team seemed to be plagued by turnovers in this football game. They had another fumble as well, so much so that they only punted twice in this game. It was funny. We were having a debate with our friends, and I'd like to get your opinion on this poll, but Davis Warren, their quarterback. I personally thought that he played worse than his stat line showed. Missed a couple bigger throws down the field, and when I say bigger, he was really only looking for 15 or 20 yards on the deep ball, but pretty much everything was 5, 10 yards.

I know a little of that has to do with play calling. To me, it didn't really seem like he was making great decisions, not making great throws where he needed to. Other people thought we're comparing him to J.J. McCarthy as far as he has a tight spiral, he was making the checkdowns. 22 for 33 certainly isn't a bad completion percentage, but just really not able to get anything going down the field. Yeah, I tend to agree with you, George.

I believe Davis Warren has a little. lot of room for improvement. And I mean, the whole team has a lot of room for improvement. The play calling could have been a little bit more aggressive, especially towards the end of the game, running flat routes and, you know, short little receiver routes when you're down by a couple scores. I thought it was a little timid. There's rumblings that Sharon might not be the guy down in Ann Arbor. We'll have to monitor that situation as the season progresses. And even their run game was a little weak and tepid. Donovan Edwards had eight carries alone in this game. and he only got 41 yards.

And on the total, the Michigan offense had 284 yards of offense. So it just seemed like they needed more spark and oomph out of that offense. But granted, they had a lot of players leave in the offseason going to the NFL. They lost their head coach, Jim Harbaugh. I just expected more from Sharon Moore and his play calling, considering he was the offensive coordinator under Jim Harbaugh, though something can be said for not having the great defense that Michigan had last year. Yes, their defense might not be great, but when you're turning the ball over that much again,

to give up 31 points to Texas with how strong their offense has been. Last year in the college football playoff, Texas scored 31 against Washington, and Washington scored 37 or 38 ending up winning that game. When you play Texas, you have to expect to get into a little bit of a shootout in the play calling early on especially. It looked like Michigan was trying to control the pace with weapons that they didn't have. Speaking of weapons, though, Northern Illinois proved to be a thorn in the side of Notre Dame. Yeah, we had the Northern Illinois Huskies going into Notre Dame to face the fighting Irish.

Notre Dame was riding high after their prime time win over the Texas A&M Aggies and seemed to have a little bit of a hangover from that game Saturday night. And they proceeded to lay an egg, so to speak, and they lost 14 to 16 to the huskies. Riley Leonard had a pretty dismal game with 2432 at 163 yards and zero touchdowns. And if you remember last week, we opened the show with a Jeremiah Love rushing touchdown that put Notre Dame ahead. He only ended with 11 carries and 79 yards and scored one of the two touchdowns for the fighting Irish. But overall, the Huskies kind of locked down that Notre Dame offense and seemed to take it to them on Saturday. afternoon. Yeah, the stat that really stuck out to me is Northern Illinois, controlling the time of

possession 35 to 25 minutes. Notre Dame was pretty effective when they did run the ball with their lead running back, Jeremiah Love, going 11 for 79, which is a 7.2 yard average. You really wonder if he could have gotten more touches. So you had Riley Leonard, who is 20 for 32 passing. I didn't watch the whole game, but Riley Leonard had 11 carries for 16 yards. A lot of of those were passing plays where he's scrambling where the play breaks down. But to have only run the ball with running backs 15 times that game for Notre Dame, especially when you're playing against a weaker school, Notre Dame historically has had a great offensive line. I just found that super interesting. Here's the funniest stat that I saw. So usually these smaller schools, they go and play

these big schools and they get a nice payday to come in there and kind of serve as a little a cupcake game for these schools. And Northern Illinois received a payout of $1.4 million to come into South Bend and play the fighting Irish. And they didn't just leave with that money. They left with that W. And Notre Dame is kind of reeling. And as I mentioned last week in our episode,

we talked about how Notre Dame had a cupcake schedule, and this was one of those matchups. And I said they have a really good shot to go undefeated. And I guess they really blew that shot to get an undefeated. bid into the college football playoff. One thing that I did find frustrating, or I do find frustrating with the new expanded college football playoff, is that a loss like this doesn't take you out of the national

championship contention. And I don't think that a loss, such as last year when you had Alabama beating number one Georgia, and then Georgia ended up being the five seed, not making the college football playoff, that was really a shame. I think Georgia was a top team in the nation. Should have been competing for a national championship. What I did like about the 14 playoff is that you got punished for losing a very easy game. If you're a one loss, a lot of times you could make it in as long as it was a good loss.

But really, what are the consequences for Notre Dame losing? Even in the AP poll, what are they this week? 16, 14? To your point, George, we had Alabama getting in that fourth spot for the college football playoff despite having that one loss to Texas last year. And it's interesting to notice how Florida State went undefeated, but, you know, the college football playoff committee didn't believe that they had a strong enough strength of schedule.

So a team like Notre Dame, not an independent, not affiliated with a conference. They're, you know, like I mentioned, they're playing a couple of ACC teams in terms of power four schools. But other than that, it's pretty light, and they don't have a strong schedule. So is this going to ruin their chances at the playoffs

after such a humiliating defeat? And right now in the AP poll, they're 18. Remember, they only have to get to number 12 in the college football playoff rankings. which I think they should be able to easily do based on their remaining schedule provided that they don't lose any more of these Cupcake games. Additionally, I think the college football playoff,

the argument for it is that you get more football, you get more solid football. Michigan is 17. If they win a lot more big games, they're going to be able to make it into the playoff. And potentially, if they were the 12 seed, if Texas was the one seed, we'd be seeing that matchup again.

Or I don't know if that's exactly how they're doing the brackets style. I believe the top few teams get buys. Either way, though. I think that Michigan is just at a different level this year than a team like Texas or Alabama or Georgia. And I don't really know if it's in the best interest of getting the best two teams in the championship to have a 12-team playoff because if one of those big teams loses,

maybe it's a fluke, maybe it's an injury, and I don't think anyone wants to see that. Right. As I mentioned earlier, the top four. seeds will get a buy into the quarter finals, while seeds five through 12 will duke it out in the first round. Yeah, so we'll definitely keep an eye on Notre Dame as they progress. As a result of this victory, Northern Illinois sneaks into the top 25 at this number 25 spot, and it is their first time beating a top 10 team in their school's history, and it is a big moment for the program as they move their way up the ladder, and hopefully they can stay there for.

a little while longer. Yeah, even the Mac, it's the first time of Mac conference school has beaten a top five team. So huge to put the Midwest Athletic Conference on the map. Yeah, and we might be able to watch ranked football on Tuesday and Wednesday when that matchion kicks off. Next up, we had Iowa State versus Iowa in the rivalry game for the Corn State. We had Iowa State sneaking out a close one after they stifle Iowa's new offense. We had a final score of 20 to 19. Yeah, and I think getting overlooked because of the Notre Dame game being a huge game, Iowa versus Iowa State was on a walk-off field goal as well,

which often gets lost in the shuffle. Yeah, we had many close games in this week two of college football, not to mention these two games that we just mentioned, but others, Houston at Oklahoma, Kansas State Tulane, Bowling Green Penn State, Georgia Tech, Syracuse, a lot of close football games that will get to some of those later. But they're worth mentioning now after George said that Notre Dame had the big loss and kind of overshadowed some of these. But there were some very close walk-off style wins for ranked teams and unranked teams going off the upset. Especially for Iowa State's kicker who had missed a much closer field goal, his first field goal of his career.

it was way off. Like it was, I'm pretty sure I could have put up something closer than that, but redeems himself on the 54-yard field goal as time was winding down. And it was a typical Iowa game. You saw them punt nine times. And Cade McNamara, their quarterback, didn't even break 100 yards, which very typical Iowa football. I think Carton would have a couple things to say about that,

as he's very high on Iowa punters. Yeah, so it was very interesting. Their punters, I saw a couple of them. They, you know, ended up within the five-yard line, typical Iowa fashion, and the crowd cheered and, you know, celebrated as their punters showed off their masterful artwork. But as we got to the halftime break, it was interesting because Iowa looked like they were on their way to an easy victory. They were up 13-0 at the half and really just shutting down Iowa State's offense. Iowa State couldn't get anything going.

They were punting. and, you know, struggling to get the ball moving. As George mentioned, Cade McNamara didn't have a big game, only 99 yards passing. But on the other hand, their running back Caleb Johnson had 25 carries for 187 yards and two touchdowns. He was responsible for the bulk of that Iowa offense, and he really showed out.

We'll have to see if Cade McNamara can keep up with the production that Caleb Johnson is putting out there. Yeah, speaking of passing, though, One school that didn't have a problem passing this week was Syracuse as they win over Georgia Tech. Kyle McCord has over 700, 780 yards plus this season, eight touchdowns. I believe his touchdown count leads the FBSF at this point. And though he might not be a top five or a top 10 quarterback, didn't look great at Ohio State last year, according to a lot of the fans.

But when you go out of slightly worse school, have another year of development. He was making all the throws on the field. very poised pocket presence, probably in part playing against those big 10 defenses and really just sliced up Georgia Tech. Yeah, George, you and I really called it last week during our picks. We both saw Syracuse taking that game and Kyle McCord showing out. And he showed out, indeed, he had 381 yards of passing and four touchdowns on the day. And he led that Syracuse offense at home to beat Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. As I mentioned, Georgia Tech, they beat a really week Florida State team on a walk-off field goal, and, you know, that ranking proved to be

kind of some fools gold, as I mentioned. They didn't look terrible, but Syracuse proved that they were the better team this week. Yeah, and I could definitely see them sneaking into the top 25 next week as they're the fourth team out. Right, so it's interesting because we had a Boston College and Georgia Tech, the two opponents of Florida State kind of switch in the rankings this week. as Boston College stepped up after a win to take the number 24 spot. So we'll have to watch them this week, especially as they play Missouri in Missouri. So they may soon drop out and Syracuse may be able to step up. And just to remind our audience picks to come in part two as you continue listening to Bleacher Boys on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.

Paul, what happened to Penn State? They're supposedly a top 10 team in the nation. almost losing to Bulling Green. Do we think that Bullying Green is a top 10 team as well? Are they really that legit? Or is it just a bad look for Penn State? Yeah, maybe Bulley Green is legit. You never know how that football down in Kentucky is.

But we'll have to watch Penn State as they continue their season. I thought it was just an embarrassing game for them. They got down early to Bowling Green. I remember us sitting in the Big House looking at the scoreboard, checking the scores around the league, continuing to monitor that game. I kept being shocked that Penn State was struggling with a Bowling Green team that they should have easily handled, especially being in Happy Valley. But they pulled it out in the end.

They kind of toughened up and stopped Bowling Green and saved their record and their reputation. I just want to remind you, again, people can get a little animated about this, but this is Bullying Green, Ohio. Oh. There are two Bowling Greens, often confused. But yeah, the university is in Ohio. Well, that's a lack of research. research on my end. Often confused. But yeah, I would say the same thing. Watching from the big house, it was kind of fun. Seeing that, of course, people weren't paying attention to the demise of Penn State

when there was a football atrocity taking place right in front of our eyes. So another game we were keeping an eye on during the Michigan, Texas game was Arkansas, Oklahoma State. So Arkansas went into Stillwater and played the number 16 ranked Cowboys. And that was a fun shootout in the early time slot for college football. Yeah, and we got a shout out. Former Hillsdale College wide receiver, Isaac Tesla, doing what he can to put Arkansas ahead in that game. Isaac Tesla had one catch for 32 yards.

It was a big catch down the middle of the field from the Arkansas quarterback Taylin Green. And despite only having one catch, it was a big gainer that resulted in, a score for them, I believe. And Arkansas jumped out very quick in that game, but Oklahoma State crawled their way back, led by their quarterback Alan Bowman and Ollie Gordon, their running back, who has been receiving a lot of hype preseason. The Razorbacks couldn't keep their lead. One of the funny things that I saw about this game is one comment I read said that Arkansas

continues to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. So, Fans are not happy with the Arkansas Razorbacks as they were up 21 to 7 at half and proceeded to let Oklahoma State score 18 points in the fourth quarter to tie that game and lead it into overtime. Yeah, Arkansas still looking for that signature win last season losing by three to Alabama. Yeah, Arkansas was the victim of many close games and yet again they fall to their weakness, it seems. And another team, which looks very weak, is the Oregon Ducks. as they got their second close victory of the 2024 season in only two games. And I think they kind of lucked out in some ways. The Oregon offense was supposed to be high-flying with their quarterback,

being a potential Heisman frontrunner, but it really came down to the Duck Special teams that put this game out of reach. When I say out of reach, it was a three-point game, so it really came down to the wire. But I think Boise Stout definitely wins that game without a punt return and a kick return touchdown given up. Yeah, Oregon, after a close game with Idaho, proceeds to play Boise State at home and gets another very close game.

They ended up winning on a walk-off field goal, as we mentioned earlier. Another close game for this action-packed week two. I personally wasn't impressed with Oregon's offense. They did get 352 total yards of offense, but looking like Iowa Hawkeyes with seven punts out there. They also had three fumbles, two of which were lost to the Boise State defense. And as George mentioned, the Ducks special teams really stepped up. They got a punt return touchdown and a kick return touchdown.

And one thing that has been maybe causing a little bit of controversy but has been kept quiet was the kick return touchdown in the fourth quarter. The Oregon Ducks kick returner Whittingham ran it back 100 yards. but as he was striding into the end zone seemed to drop the ball, right, as he crossed the goal line, the play was review and ultimately upheld, and the touchdown tied the game, allowing Oregon to eventually win later on in that quarter. George, did you happen to catch that play? Yeah, when you showed me the play, it definitely looked like you dropped the ball early from

my perspective. And look, I think it's one of the dumbest moves in sports. Why are people dropping the ball early? this happened before. It's not very hard. Like, just take two steps into the end zone. Make a rule about it. I don't even care. It's not that cool of a celebration. It's not that cocky. It's just so incredibly dumb. Yeah, it's mind-boggling. Why not just carry that thing in a couple more steps and, you know, pull a Rob Gronkowski and spike that thing in the end zone. I just don't understand it. Sometimes you see guys throw the ball up in the air a little early. But very close call for Oregon. And it's a lot.

it could have been a costly mistake that cost them the game, as it would have fumbled into the end zone, and Boise State would have gotten that ball as a touchback. So I personally as well did not believe that it was in his possession as he crossed the goal line, as the ball crossed the goal line. And I think that was a missed call. However, Boise State's running back, Ashton Jinty, I mentioned him last week with his six touchdown game.

He continued to ball out and had 25 carries for 192 yards with three touchdowns. So now that makes it nine touchdowns on the year for the Boise State running back. I know George mentioned Kyle McCord leading quarterbacks with eight touchdowns, but you've got a running back who's already got nine in two weeks. Well, Monta Ball from Wisconsin about 10 years back had 37 or 38 touchdowns, and he still didn't win the Heisman. A little sore about that. Still, I think they've made it pretty clear that it's going to be a quarterback that wins the Heisman

if recent history is any indicator. Well, however, we did have that one year where Devante Smith came in and took that award, so hopefully Jinty can have a chance at the prestigious college football award. Paul, if you'll indulge me a little bit, I really want to talk about the strong showing that we saw from all rocky top. Who could have predicted it? Yeah, Tennessee goes in and destroys NC State at home, 51 to 10. Old volunteers put out a good beat down on the NC State Wolfpack. proving that NC State's problems from week one were real problems for when they faced real competition,

they really showed out and kind of crumbled under that pressure. Yeah, I think it's really impressive what Tennessee did and how much respect they're now getting. We've talked about how the AP top 25 they've been unwilling to make huge fluctuations. I would argue some of the teams should have fallen more with Michigan and Notre Dame still being at 17 and 18. respectively. But Tennessee gets the respect it deserves moving up seven slots from 14 to number seven, taking the place of Oregon, which only fell two slots. I would also argue that they should be much further down based on two very poor showings. But yeah, I mean, Tennessee, they look like a complete football team with their quarterback being able to air it out when he needs to, but ultimately

our running attack led by Dylan Samson has looked really strong in that defense, which was able to keep NC State under wraps all game. The Tennessee defense really held NC State's offense quiet that whole game. Nico Imalava 211 yards on 5 or on 16 for 23 passing with two touchdowns and two interceptions. He may not have had his best game, but still the Tennessee volunteer showed out. They're running back, as George mentioned, had a big game. It's interesting that the Tennessee volunteers are back and trying to prove that they're a

contender in the SEC. We'll have to watch them, especially in those big games against Alabama, Florida, and I believe Georgia. Before we do our pick seven, how we'll end the show. Let's talk about them Detroit Tigers. We said that they had a chance going into this week if they played well. They have the third easiest schedule in the American League down the stretch. In addition to playing a team that is no longer directly in front of them, but two in front of them for the wild card. or two teams rather in front of them in the wild card, the Kansas City Royals. And they were able to pick up some games this week,

increasing their chances of making that last wild card spot. Yeah, they are now three games behind the wild card as of this recording, and we'll have to keep an eye on them. As George mentioned, they have a big series this weekend against the Baltimore Orioles, which will be their toughest opponent until the end of the season. But, you know, they've got some easy games on their, schedule. They still have Colorado currently and as well as a couple games against the White Sox,

which should hopefully pad those stats for the wind column as well. So the Detroit Tigers have a very good shot at making the playoffs and we'll have to see if they can catch the twins for that last wildcard spot. And yeah, there's no better time to be chasing the twins. The team has gone two and five over the last seven and really haven't looked great down the stretch. Tigers have been hot. they have a 35 and 25 record after the All-Star break, which is, I believe, the best in baseball or tied with the Houston Astros for the best in baseball. If you haven't tuned in for the Tigers at all this season, this might be the time to check it out. I'm looking at the standings right now, and I think I found something very interesting.

I just have to do a little bit of calculations, but it looks like the AL Central is a very good division in baseball, and the four teams at the top of the division all have positive run differentials and above 500 records. So very solid teams in that division. However, at the very bottom of that division, you have the Chicago White Sox, whose run differential outweighs all the run differentials combined of the other teams in their division. So adding them all up, It's interesting to see that there's a positive 245 run differential for the top four teams in that division. But the Chicago White Sox have a run differential of negative 309. So they outweigh them by quite a bit.

That's like averaging getting beat by two runs every game. They have been beaten by more than that. So they really have been that punching bag for that division, helping those other teams get those wins. and maybe stay above 500. But for those of us who are rooting for them to be the worst team in baseball, it was a tough week. There was a stretch there where they went two and two. And, you know, that's certainly not helping set any records.

Now, George, I want to flop it back to some college football. And let's take a look at that AP top 25 poll, as we do not have the college football committee's poll yet. What do you think is the most overrated team? on this week's iteration of the poll. I think that's very easy. I really do think that Oregon, they do not deserve to be number nine right now.

Two, any other team, if you almost lose to Boise State, if you almost lose to Idaho, you're probably not even getting votes for inclusion in the top 25, but because it's Oregon, because they have the name recognition, I think they're pretty overrated.

Also, Notre Dame and Michigan, I do think they have the potential to bounce back, them being at 17 or 18, where you have schools like Louisville or Iowa State or even Boston College who have already picked up a couple big wins. But yeah, I think you're got to go with Oregon. Yeah, I'm going to have to go a little bit further down the poll. I'm going to say Iowa State. They had a good win against Iowa, but as per usual, you know, you never know how Iowa is going to be. Look, I kind of hyped up the offense a little bit because it was fun to talk about Iowa in offense because we rarely get to do so.

Usually, as Matthew Carton have alluded to last week, you know, we talk about their special teams and they're punting. So it was fun. It was a little bit of fun, hyping up Iowa. But, you know, we had one week of football against an FCS team for Iowa, and they faced real, you know, power four competition in Iowa State, their rival. And it was a close one. I'd like to see Iowa State play some big 12 competition, and that sure is coming up. But put them at 21 after a win over an Iowa team that was really. maybe ranked 20 at the time of the game,

just seems a little bit premature, if not overreaction. If I can choose another one, sorry, I'm making this go long, but I also think Nebraska at 23. What have they done? And you had a big primetime game against Coach Prime in Colorado where they put up 28 in the first half. One of those touchdowns should have been a pick. Colorado's defense, calling it suspect,

would be the biggest compliment they've received this year. they're atrocious and Nebraska didn't score in the second half against them. I think that including them in the top 25 over some of the teams receiving votes, like Texas A&M or even Boise State, who we saw almost beat Oregon, is just wrong. Yeah, we failed to discuss this game earlier, but I think now would be a good time. The Colorado Buffaloes, you know, really got whipped by Nebraska, but that was all in the first half, it seemed, because Nebraska ran up the score 28 to zero in the first half but failed to score in the second.

It's interesting to see how that team just fell off in the second half. I don't know if that was because they got comfortable and kind of laxadaisical, but that defense definitely could not have held them for a full half, in my opinion. So as George said, I think they do have a little bit more to prove. And that was a Colorado team that almost lost to North Dakota State the week prior. And so it's interesting to see how an FCS team, could score more points against a Colorado defense than a highly touted Nebraska team with Dylan Ryola who's being hailed as Patrick Mahomes Jr. Yeah, I think part of it though is Nebraska

historically a fantastic football school, an incredible culture down there in Lincoln, and so people are doing everything they can to say they're back. Nebraska's offense, I mean, Dylan Ryola only had 185 yards in a touchdown, and they ended up with a pick six as some of their points. So that offense, and Colorado's defense is not good by far, but if a mediocre, or as George said, at best suspect defense holds you to 28 points, and your quarterback, who's a highly touted five-star recruit to 185 yards,

I think you got more work to do before being considered one of the top 25 teams in the nation. And then as far as underrated teams go, I'm going to have to stick with Washington. I said it last week. they have a great quarterback that transferred from Mississippi State. And I just think that a team that was one game away from the championship to say that they don't deserve to be in the top 25, as a two and oh team where you're going to put one and one teams like Clemson, Notre Dame for sure.

Like I think Washington, you have to put over Notre Dame because they haven't lost to a small school. I just think that they're slept on and people are over-emphasizing the role that the coach played in, his leaving to go to Bama. As George mentioned, Washington, another big win. They won by 21 points over Eastern Michigan. I personally think that an underrated team is Illinois. We saw them beat the Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday. Quite comfortably, I might add, and yet they're still not in the top 25, but we want to include other teams, such as Iowa State or Clemson, you know, these teams that have had some struggles already or even early losses. So I would like to see a team like Illinois,

maybe get a little bit of respect for beating the number 19 in the team in the nation. If Iowa State beats 21 and gets in at 21, why can't the Illinois fighting a line eye after beating a higher-ranked team get a little bit of respect and get in that prestigious top 25? Well, is it time now to do our picks for this week

in our weekly pick seven? Yeah, George, let's go ahead and get to those. First up, we've got the Friday game. We have Arizona. the number 20 team in the nation going and facing Kansas State at home. Yeah, I think that Arizona, they're seven and a half point underdogs in this game. I don't think that's justified. So last week, Kansas State, they were carried in a lot of ways by their running back,

who is their leading rusher and leading receiver. Well, I went back and looked at Arizona. Arizona has a very solid run defense from the looks of it. They held northern Arizona to three, four yards of carry. And I think that if they're able to shut down Kansas State's running attack, they have a very good chance of controlling the pace of the game and making Kansas State play to Arizona's pace of play, which seems to be a little more air raid-style offense.

I'm going to go with Arizona in this one. I'm going to have to go with Kansas State in this one. They're at home. That's a little bit of an advantage. And Avery Johnson's a good quarterback. He's highly touted. He may not have had a great game this past Saturday, but I think he has a little bit of a bounce back and kind of takes it to that Arizona deem.

George mentioned the running game of Kansas State and how it carried them through that Tulane game and how Arizona's rushing defense is up there. I would watch for that pass attack on the Kansas State Wildcats. Avery Johnson, he'll lead them to victory at home against the Arizona Wildcats. Okay, next it looks like we have Alabama, Wisconsin. Yeah, I'm going to have to go with Alabama here, number four team in the nation. They struggled early against USF, but Jalen Miller did not get benched this time. Last year, he got benched against USF after her struggles,

but he ended up pulling it through and Alabama won pretty handily, ended up scoring 42 points on the night. I think that we're going to see them go into Camp Randall and do what most people expect, which is just pour it on the Wisconsin badgers. I'm from Wisconsin. I love Wisconsin. If there was any chance I thought Wisconsin was winning, this game. I'm picking Wisconsin. I think just in pretty much every area, Alabama has more talent, depth. And Wisconsin hasn't looked particularly great this year. You got to go with the SEC school for this one.

All right. And after that game, we've got number 24 Boston College going to number six Missouri. Yeah, Missouri is a tough SEC Stadium to play at. They have looked really good. They only lost, what, one game last year, and they're undefeated yet this year. They have looked really solid. So I see no reason. why they shouldn't take care of business with Boston College, who I would say as a borderline. The rank 24, I don't know if Boston College should be necessarily in the rankings this early. Missouri takes care of business. Yeah, I'm going to have to tend to agree with you here. Missouri, very good school.

They had a great football season last year. They keep that momentum that they built last year, number six in the nation. They have a tough SEC schedule. I'll say it's a close game because they probably kind of, look to the future, but this is their first ranked matchup. Excitement and adrenaline might be high. The game is big. It's going to be on national television.

Look for Missouri to kind of capitalize on the national attention and win the big game at home. Well, Paul, who do you think is winning the Civil War? I don't know. Let's see. We've got number nine Oregon going into Oregon State. I'm going to be honest. I wouldn't be surprised if Oregon State pulls it off. It is, it's still a Pac-12 school, but I'm going to call it a Power 4 school, even

though it is in that outside conference. This is Oregon's not their first real test, I would say, because Boise State and Idaho seem to test them. But George and I have been talking a lot about how Oregon just seems kind of fraudulent. This might be like our fraud check game for Oregon. And it's a rivalry game. Oregon states the host. So you've got the rabid fans showing up to cheer on their team and hopefully put the ducks where they belong. Yeah, I want to point to the Civil War history. So last year, Oregon State got handily beaten 7 to 31. Over the last four years, Oregon State has gone two and two with a 141-38 in 2020, lost by 9 in 2021, one by four in in 2022. Oregon State has played Oregon tough. And I think I'm going to hedge here, but I think that

Oregon State, they're either going to beat Oregon or Oregon gets back on track and they just take get to Oregon State. They are in desperate need of some sort of, not even a signature win, just a dominating win. So I think Oregon's going to either reestablish their supremacy or get beat. I'll go with Oregon here, but I could see it go either way. Next up, we have Texas A&M going into Gainesville to face the Florida Gators in the swamp. George, what do you think? Until Florida shows me that they can win big games, I have a hard time betting for them. Texas A&M, their validity is a little quite, now that Notre Dame lost to N IU. They still look like a great

football team or they did against Notre Dame. I have no reason to pick against them. All right, George is going with Texas A&M. As a partisan of the Florida Gators, I'm going to have to go with the Florida Gators. You can't pick against your boys. I did. Yeah, well, George, that's a different scenario.

We've got a good battle here. Most people did not watch Florida play Samford. I did. Florida started their freshman quarterback, DJ Lagway. and he looked pretty good. He's a five-star recruit. Graham Mertz, the Florida quarterback is hurt with a concussion,

though he should be back for this next week. But we get to see DJ Lagway lead the Florida offense and put up quite the performance. Florida did dominate Samford 45 to 7. DJ Lagway passed for 456 yards, setting the freshman record for Florida, and ended up scoring three touchdowns through the air. The Florida rushing attack also,

resulted in two touchdowns from Montreal Johnson Jr. So I'm a little bit optimistic following that game against Samford. Granted, it is Samford, but I'm hoping to see DJ Lagway take that offense and win against the visiting Texas A&M Aggies. I will say this. Look for that game to be close, especially since Coach Napier said that the quarterback's Mertz and Lagway will split time. I'm expecting to see Lagway show out. while Mertz will probably be a little bit lackluster, if not struggling completely. And once Lagway takes over that game, I expect to see Florida's offense score some points on Texas A&M. Next up, we've got another in-state rivalry game.

Washington State, the other Pact 12 school, is going up against Washington on the road. Yeah, this is a big game because if Washington wins this, they break into the rankings. Seattle is a tough place to play. I am going to continually advocate for Washington. I think there should be a top 15 team right now in the nation, and I think they take care of business. Washington state's not bad. They just beat Texas Tech this past week, 37 to 16.

You know, their quarterback is pretty solid out there. The former home of Mike Leach, however, with that being said, I'm going to have to go with George. Washington, they still got a good football team. They've got some talent out there. Look for them to win at home against their in-state rival. Yeah, and I think especially the fact that Eastern Michigan carried it for 37 times, it looks like, for 75 yards. And that's really what Washington State needs to get it going.

Last week, they had 21 carries for 197 yards for one tutty. That is John Matere, their leadback. Just ran all over Texas Tech. They won't be able to do it. Well, actually, I guess their leadback is their quarterback. But either way, I think that they're going to force him to be a pocket pack. passer, and ultimately, I think Washington is well suited for the type of game that Washington State will play.

And before we go on to our last game that we're going to pick, it is worth mentioning that the two big teams in Michigan, Michigan and Michigan State are playing some weaker opponents this week. We've got Michigan taking on Arkansas State in the big house. It's a foregone conclusion. Michigan should win that game. And then also you have Michigan State is taking on Prairie View. Prairie View A&M.

and George and I both believe that the Michigan schools should take those easily. And finally, we have the Tulane Green Wave coming off their close loss to the Kansas State Wildcats. They are going into Norman, Oklahoma, to face the number 15 in Oklahoma Sooners. So, George, what do you think? Tulane, I think they're going to be coming off mad against their loss. Last week, Oklahoma only put up 16 points against Houston. And Houston had already lost by 20 to UNLV. which isn't really that great of a school by any stretch of the imagination.

I think all signs point to the fact that Tulane should win, but it's Norman, Oklahoma, that is a tough place to play. Oklahoma, the one bright spot is their passing attack. It's why they were able to put up 51 points in their opener against Temple. And I think they'll take care of business. Might be a close one. They get it done. Yeah, I'm going to have to agree with you here.

They're at home. Tulane played a close game. It's kind of tough to lose those games. You put a lot into it, and we'll probably see them have a little bit of a lapse coming into their second big game in a row against a top 25 Big 12 school. Look to Oklahoma to win it by a couple scores and kind of come off that close win over Houston. Brett Venables is going to tell his boys to, you know, bring the rain or else they might get upset. So look for Oklahoma to win that game. And before we go, I would like to cover our record from last week. I personally went six in one,

with my picks last week with the Iowa, Iowa State game being my only lost. I was kind of buying into that Iowa hype, as I said, having a little bit of fun. But George, how'd you do last week? Does that make me 5 and 2? Did you pick Maryland over Michigan State? I picked Maryland over Michigan State. So that makes me 5 and 2, I guess. Yeah, George and I were pretty locked.

Oh, no, I picked Michigan too. So that makes me 4 and 3. Oh, yeah. Okay. Well, there you go. I was 6 and 1. George was 4 and 3. So we'll be keeping track of our records as we go throughout the season.

a little bit of fun and competition for that. Thanks for joining us, and I hope you guys have a great week watching all the sports we have. Thank you for listening to Bleacher Boys on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.