College Football Hodgepodge Week 9

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Basically, Lee Corso cannot touch me. I went 5-0 three weeks ago with my picks, and although I would have taken a beating if I was betting against the spread, and of course if gambling was permitted here in the great U.S of A, I take solace in the fact that i'm essentially on fire right now. I stay humbled by the fact that I was more than a little off base with my Notre Dame homerism, but still let me give this another spin with this weeks best matchups, followed by an update of my player rankings.

Michigan St. (6-1) at Nebraska (6-1): Michigan St. has run the gauntlet of Ohio St, Michigan, and Wisconsin, coming away with wins in all three. Their defense led by DE Denicos Allen and LB Max Bullough has been arguably the best in the nation. Nebraska has been throwing the ball better, but still is built on the run with Rex Burkhead and Taylor Martinez. In a low scoring game, I look for Sparty to keep rolling here. For Vegas purposes, take the under. Kirk Cousins controlling the game, and the Spartans D holding serve will help Michigan State prevail. (MSU 14-10).

Oklahoma (6-1) at Kansas St. (7-0): Kansas St. has been a nice little story, but even though they're playing this one at home, the fairy tale ends today. There's a reason Oklahoma was the preseason number one team in the country. And they will be plenty pissed off after losing last week. Colin Klein has been arguably the best running QB outside of Taylor Martinez and Denard Robinson, but the pressure of studs Frrank Alexander (11.5 sacks) and Ronnell Lewis (9.5) will be too much to handle. Oklahoma will win big. (Oklahoma 45, Kansas St. 24).

Illinois (6-2) at Penn St. (6-1): Snow football is back in various points on the map this weekend, and they're calling for low 30's temperatures and some white stuff in Happy Valley. Penn St. is another Big 10 squad with a nasty D, but Illinois has gotten a huge year from DE Whitney Mercilus. I think the difference will be the combo of QB Nathan Scheelhaase and WR A.J. Jenkins for the Illini, which is better than anything Penn St. has on that side of the ball. (Illinois 21-17).

Baylor (4-2) at Oklahoma St. (7-0): RG3's Heisman campaign has lost a little bit of its shine as the Bears have fallen out of the top 25. They still will put points on the board in this one, but OSU might have the best set of "triplets" in the nation with Brandon Weedon, Joseph Randle, and Justin Blackmon all up near the top in my offensive rankings. The Oklahoma St. defense will give up some points, but they also will create turnovers with 15 interceptions and 11 forced fumbles on the season. Oklahoma St. stays undefeated in a scoring bonanza (Ok. St. 55-38).

Stanford (7-0) at USC (6-1): The Trojans are somehow 6-1 despite the fact that Lane Kiffin is their coach. Matt Barkley and Robert Woods might be too much for Stanford to handle. That being said, Stanford has Andrew Luck, Andrew Luck's neck beard, and a stable of about 58 RB's to tote the rock. They will wear down the USC D, take advantage of Kiffin doing something stupid like committing a recruiting violation during the game, and come away with a close win in LaLa land. (Stanford 28-23).
Added up to the Minute Bonus: The Stanford band was just playing "Reptila" by the Strokes. They just got infinitely cooler in my book. Gotta love watching College Gameday while writing this half-asleep.

Player Rankings: Here's my up to the minute WR and DB rankings. Interesting to note: This isn't necessarily a Mel Kiper/Todd McShay type list looking at NFL projections. It merely looks at on field production. There's some "system" type people on the list because they play in a spread that puts up heavy numbers. Feel free to argue and enjoy.

WR's
1. Ryan Broyles, Oklahoma (67 catches, 899 yards, 9 td's)
2. Justin Blackmon, Oklahoma St. (61-662-7)
3. B.J.Cunningham, Michigan St. (48-723-3)
4. Stedmon Bailey, WVU (41-764-6)
5. Ryan Swope, Texas A&M (44-659-6)
6. Tavon Austin, WVU (48-624-2)
7. Jairus Wright, Arkansas (34-574-6)
8. Marquis Maze, Alabama (39-482-1)
9. Ivan McCartney, West Virginia (35-464-3)
10. Kendall Wright, Baylor (55-757-9)

The disclaimer about system WR's was basically my justification for having 3 people from WVU on the list. Ryan Swope has the best white boy WR title belt right now, but VT's Danny Coale is closing fast. Maze has been having a quietly efficient year for a team that is built on running the ball, and with a new QB. Broyles and Blackmon have been just as good as everyone predicted as soon as they decided to come back to school last spring.

DB's
1. Tyrann Mathieu, LSU (42 tackles, 2 ints, 4 forced fumbles, 5 pass breakups)
2. Dre Kirkpatrick, Alabama( 2 forced fumbles, 8 pass breakups)
3. Markelle Martin, Oklahoma St. (43 tackles, 2 forced fumbles, 6 breakups)
4. Daimion Stafford, Nebraska (48 tackles, 4 breakups)
5. Daytawion Lowe, Oklahoma St. (47 tackles, 2 sacks, 3 forced fumbles)
6. Carrington Byndum, Texas
7. Tharold Simon, LSU
8. Jay'ron Hosley, VT
9. Broderick Brown, Oklahoma St.
10. Quandre Diggs, Texas

The exploits of Mathieu have been chronicled both nationally and on this blog (one in the same basically with my credibility). Like I said in the game predictions, Oklahoma St gets a lot of turnovers, and gets a lot of them from their DB's. Martin, Lowe, Brown, and Justin Gilbert have been huge for the undefeated Cowboys. Stafford has come on after playing in junior college last year having a huge impact, much like Lavonte David did last season. Simon has been a part of and LSU pass defense that has more depth than anyone in the country.