4 Down Territory: Buckeyes, Badgers, Tigers & Tigers..Plus Amazing Football History
1st Down: Badgering the Buckeyes: #13 Wisconsin at #3 Ohio State:A clash of styles between ball control Wisconsin and hyper-speed Ohio State. Three main questions to watch on Saturday. Question #1: Can Wisconsin's defense handle the explosive speed of Ohio State's skill players? Question #2: Can Ohio State's defense handle their first real test against a power running attack and big time back? If they can make Wisconsin have to win by passing it will be a long day throwing into a big-time secondary. Question #3: Can Wisconsin eliminate the turnovers that killed them against Illinois? If not, this could get ugly.
2nd Down: Big Game for The Tigers...Again: #9 Auburn at #2 LSU: It seems that these Tigers (both Auburn and LSU) live for big games. This will be LSU's 3rd game against a Top 10 opponent, while Auburn faces a 4th ranked opponent...and both still have Alabama left to play. Can Auburn's defense stymie LSU QB Joe Burrow? They will need their d-line to get pressure on him with a four-man rush so they can play coverage against LSU's dangerous receivers. Auburn's young QB must avoid the big mistake that gives LSU a short field.
3rd Down: Blue-Blood Matchup: #8 Notre Dame at #19 Michigan: This is a rare non-conference match-up between two teams in the 900-win club. Michigan's offense appeared to make major strides at Penn State coming within a dropped pass in the end zone from making a 21-point comeback to force OT. QB Shea Patterson had time to throw and made clutch plays, but there were also several other dropped passes by Michigan's receiving corps. The Wolverines also found their running game and held the ball for over 37 minutes. If they can match that performance against Notre Dame the Wolverines could win this one and get their season back on course.
4th Down: Best of The Rest: Maryland at #17 Minnesota: At 7-0 the Gophers are the surprise of the Big 10. A win here puts them at 8-0 with an open date before Penn State comes to town. That game could be among the biggest in recent Gopher history, but they must take care of Maryland first. Their play of late with routs over Illinois, Nebraska and Rutgers suggest they will get it done.....#6 Penn State at Michigan State: Michigan State Coach Mark Dantonio has a habit of beating Top 10 teams (10 wins) with two of them coming in 2017 &18 against Penn State. After an off-week look for the Spartans to have some tricks up their sleeves to inject life into their offense. This may be a bigger tussle than many expect.....#15 Texas at TCU: The Longhorns survived a near-death experience against lowly Kansas. Texas needs to improve on defense and this road test will be a first step to see if they can be ready for their stretch run......Cal at #12 Utah: The Utes will face a stern test in an underrated Cal defense...... Washington State at #11 Oregon: The Ducks survived a trip to Washington last week and now host the Cougars. The Pac 12 needs both Utah and Oregon to keep winning to keep hopes for a big conference title match-up on track.
College Football 150 Relic: "Touchdown" by Coach Amos Alonzo Stagg: This is a 1927 first edition that covered a lot of college football history when the game was still fairly new. When Stagg retired he had the College record of 314 wins. In this book are some amazing pictures. Click on the Gallery to see these old photos.
Picture #1 Is Yale's Walter Camp with Coach Stagg. Picture #2 Is the 1926 Army-Navy Game played in Chicago's Soldier field in front of 110,00 people. Picture #3 is the Chicago-Illinois game in 1924 (note the Chicago fans had formed a "C" in the crowd on the left). Picture #4 Illinois legend Red Grange playing against Chicago. Picture #5 Chicago's John Thomas bursting through the Princeton line. Picture #6 shows the difference in parking between an 1895 game and one in 1926.
