PGWU Podcast: Week 4

This week we discuss the legal troubles at Florida, talk about the big stories in each conference in The Breakdown, make our selections in the PGWU Pick’Em segment and finish the show off with the World Famous Prospect Quick Fire. Enjoy!

MAC News & Notes Week 4

Last week had some very impressive showings in the MAC.  Big wins by Temple, Miami(OH) and UCF highlighted week 3.  Hard fought losses by Ball State, Kent State and Northern Illinois show how deep this conference truly is.

Last Weeks Best Performance

Temple had the biggest win of week 3, with a 30-16 victory over UConn.  The Owls have now won 8 straight home games and start a season 3-0 for the first time since 1979.  Bernard Pierce had a huge day for Temple.  The Owls running back had 169 yards and 3 TD.  The biggest play of the game from the Temple defense.  Temple DE Adrian Robinson stripped UConn RB Jordan Todman on 3rd and short, then took the ball to the house for a 24 yard strip and score.  The Owls never looked back from there.

Looking Ahead to Week 4

It is Big Ten week in the MAC, as almost every conference member plays an opponent from the Big Ten Conference.  The only exceptions being Miami(OH) travels to Columbia,MO to battle the struggling Tigers, Ohio travels to Marshall and Buffalo heads to UConn.  This could be a very tough week for the MAC to find wins, as the Conferences best team heads to Penn State and an extremely tough crowd.  Bowling Green heads to Ann Arbor to face the Wolverines.  This will be a tough game for the Falcons.  Ohio travels to take on Marshall. The Akron Zips head to Indiana to face the Hoosiers, the list just goes on an on of tough games for the MAC this week.

Ranking the MAC

East 1. Temple  2. Miami (OH)  3. Bowling Green  4. Ohio  5. Kent State  6. Buffalo  7. Akron

West  1. Toledo  2. Northern Illinois  3. Central Michigan  4. Ball State  5. Western Michigan  6. Eastern Michigan

Week 4 Picks

Temple @ Penn State  Penn State wins 24-17

Bowling Green @ Michigan  Michigan wins 44-20

Ohio @ Marshall  Ohio wins 24-23

Buffalo @ UConn  UConn wins 30-14

Akron @ Indiana Indiana wins 38-13

Miami(OH) @ Missouri  Missouri wins 52-21

Northern Illinois @ Minnesota Minnesota wins 20-16

Central Michigan @ Northwestern  Northwestern wins 24-17

Toledo @ Purdue Toledo wins 21-20

Ball State @ Iowa Iowa wins 45-10

Eastern Michigan @ Ohio State Ohio State wins 59-6

Writen by Jason Madson @isbnJMAD on Twitter

Big 10 News & Notes

 

Overview: I don’t know how you don’t start your Big 10 conversation this week without mentioning Michigan State.  The Spartans pulled off a big win against Notre Dame with a fake field goal in overtime.  This win has the makings of a pace setter that could propel a team to several more wins.  Michigan State did what they did best by running the ball.  I was also pretty impressed with the defense who were expected to lose the game for the Spartans.  Of course not all things were good for Michigan State as their Head Coach Mark Dantonio suffered a mild heart attack and will be out for awhile.

The other big news in the Big 10 this weekend was Iowa suffering an upset to upstart Arizona.  Iowa was taken out of their game early when they went down by 14 points.  They were never able to rebound as they were forced to throw the ball.  They mounted a late comeback only to fall short.  For most this eliminates the Hawkeyes from National Title contention and exposes some of their weaknesses. 

Michigan and Wisconsin both struggled to put away teams they were suppose to handle easily as UMass and Arizona State hung around and made things interesting.  Michigan and Wisconsin fans are happy with the win but should feel a little uneasy about their team’s performance.  There are a few more games before the teams open up Big 10 play and thing will need to be tightened up before then.

Standout Players: Michigan State RB Le’Veon Bell put up another good performance as he builds his resume for Big 10 freshman of the year.  He had 114 yards on 17 carries and 1 touchdown.  Denard Robinson continues to be an all purpose yard machine combining for 345 yards and 3 touchdowns.  Robinson continues to gain momentum as we head towards Big 10 play.  Two Wisconsin players made headlines with big games and they were John Clay and Lance Kendricks.  Clay rushed for 123 yards and a touchdown as Kendricks hauled in 7 passes for 131 yards and a touchdown.  Both players were instrumental in Wisconsin’s tight victory.

Looking Ahead: The biggest game on this week’s schedule is Temple at Penn State in what is sure to be a good match-up.  Temple comes into the game undefeated coming off an impressive win against UConn but to this point hasn’t played a team as talented as Penn State.  The Nittany Lions need to stay focused and not look ahead to their big match-up against Iowa in a few weeks.  This is a potential trap game for Penn State as they will be expected to win but can easily be upset.  Temple possesses a good defense and a solid running game, with some experience at the quarterback position.  Temple Coach Al Golden has heard his name in connection to the Penn State coaching job once Joe Paterno steps down, this will be his audition.

The rest of the Big 10 slate is filled with lesser opponents where I don’t expect any upsets.  The only other game to keep an eye on is Northern Illinois @ Minnesota.

Written by Jon Dove @NFLMocks on Twitter

Pregame Warm-Up Podcast Week 3

This week on The Pregame Warm-Up Podcast, we discuss quite a few topics. Tune in for a discussion about Reggie Bush and what he should’ve done with his Heisman Trophy, the Pregame Warm-Up conference breakdown where we discuss the hot topics in each conference for this upcoming weekend, we made our selections for the Pregame Warm-Up Pick’em segment and finished this week off with the World Famous Prospect Quick Fire. Thanks for listening!