LSU has a big test coming up. AJ Green has shown that he knows how to put his teammates on his back. See.
Like this article? Hate it? Need a place to tell us why? Sign up for the DraftZoo Forum and discuss football all season long.
Week five is here and it is once again time to discuss which five games you should be watching this weekend. This week has more and more great matchups being played, and more great conference games are starting to show up this week! Like last week we will try to give you five good games that don’t conflict with each other, and that will keep you watching all weekend.
The key problem that happens this week is that most of the great games start at 7:30 or 8:00 EST. The Thursday games are not as good as the last few weeks, and we unfortunately have three of the best games being played at the same time. It’s bad enough that you may have to flip the channel over and over again between two great games, but you might have to do it with three great night games. The “Game of the Week” is actually only the 2nd or 3rd best and most important game, but is lucky enough to fall at a very good time. And if you are wondering why the team rankings might be different to you it is because we are using the Draft Zoo Expert’s Poll.
5) Arkansas v Texas A&M
Time: 7:30 PM (EST) Saturday 10/3
Spread: Arkansas by 1
The key to victory for the Aggies is to embrace their Gem at QB. QB Jerrod Johnson might be the best true pro-style QB in the Big 12 at this moment, and his stock is going up. In fact, if I were to be putting out a 2011 NFL mock draft any time soon I would have Jerrod Johnson as the best QB taken after the obvious names. He reminds me a lot like a Jay Cutler who became a 1st round QB despite being on a bad team, and Johnson is the reason that the Aggies could win their 4th game this weekend.
Johnson is throwing at 320 YPG at nearly a 70 % completion rate. He also has 9 TDs to 0 Picks, and he has run for 4 TDs (3 in the last game). Johnson has the skill set to pass first and run if he needs to, and he is playing in an offense that the NFL will love to watch. He must prove that he can win some big games, and a huge win over a good SEC would be huge. Just remember that I was one of the first to respect Jerrod Johnson out there, and if he actually pulls a win this weekend look for his name to start getting leaked out.
The key to victory for the Razorbacks is to regain faith in the offense and to rebound against losses to SEC elite. Of course Alabama crushed the razorbacks last week, and Georgia needed a lot of help and regained confidence to beat Arkansas. Ryan Mallett is still one of best QBs in the SEC, and he will definitely be aiming to show it this weekend. The team must also hand the ball a lot more to Michael Smith who has averaged 6.1 YPC, but has only gotten the rock 24 total times. Smith has too much talent to not keep him on the field, and the team must show some balance if they want to beat an underrated (but not elite) Aggies team.
4) Michigan at Michigan State
Time: 12:00 PM (EST) Saturday 10/3
Spread: Michigan State by 1.5
The key to victory for the Wolverines is to not underrate the interstate rivalry, and to not be looking past the Spartans towards Iowa. The Wolverines will be traveling to a likely 5-0 Iowa team in two weeks to try to pull the same stunt that Iowa pulled on Penn State last week, especially since it is the Iowa homecoming. This cannot let the Wolverines start planning for Iowa however because Michigan State might be the most talented 1-3 team in the country. Michigan might be 4-0, and they definitely beat Notre Dame a few weeks ago, but they barely just beat Indiana last weekend, and the team hasn’t truly shown much else thus far. Tate Forcier must explode all over his first interstate rivalry, and he must not give the game away under pressure.
The key to victory for the Spartans is to play tough like they have all year, and to finally turn the page on their last three weeks of play. The Spartans have lost their last three games, and they lost those three games by a total of 13 points. The defense is truly keeping the team in games against good offenses, and the offense is doing some pretty good things of their own. Their 4 opponents thus far have a combined record of 12-3, and one of those losses was to Michigan State. The game this weekend is at home for the Spartans, and if they can play with the need to win like they did against Notre Dame, there might be a major upset in the works.
3) No. 7 Oklahoma at No. 19 Miami
Time: 8:00 (EST) Thursday 10/3
Spread: Oklahoma by 7.5
The key to victory for the Hurricanes is to learn from their mistakes last week, and to go into the game with the knowledge that Oklahoma is a more complete Virginia Tech. VT has one of the best DL and DB cores in the country, and Oklahoma has an even better DL and an elite LB core to match with a great DB core. So the defense will be the most talented that they have faced thus far, and the Oklahoma offense is more balance and a scarier threat. So if Miami wants to win this weekend against a team that is better than VT is on paper, they had better learn from their mistakes and learn how to confuse and block the defense. Sam Bradford could be back this weekend, but if not Landry Jones has looked just as good, so they must either pressure the kid or scare the veteran depending on the starter.
The key to victory for the Sooners is to stabilize the OL completely, and to not let Miami take the advantage. Oklahoma has a DL that can break through Miami, and they have a back 7 that can stop the Miami passing attack, so theoretically they shouldn’t give up too much to Miami. Oklahoma also has a strong enough run game to keep the Canes guessing, and there is no doubt that if the WRs step up and the OL doesn’t go BYU on their QB the Sooners should go into Miami with a very big chip on their shoulders.
2) No. 8 Southern Cal at No. 18 California
Time: 8:00 (EST) Saturday 10/3
Spread: USC by 5
The Oklahoma v Miami game might mean more on a national level, but this game may mean a lot more on the Rose Bowl level. The Pac 10 looks wide open at this point in the season, and no team wants to suffer a 2nd Pac 10 loss when Oregon has yet to get one. If Cal wins this game, then a USC win in Eugene might end up with an insane 3-way tie in the West similar to the Big 12 South last year. This game also looks to be a fun one on both sides of the ball because there could be 100 points score each or 3 scored each.
The key to victory for the Bears is to stay balanced on offense, and to do what Washington did to USC. If you want to beat the Pac-10 champs, you had better watch and learn from the team that did it just a few weeks ago. Kevin Riley needs to command his team a lot better than he did last week at the Zoo, and Jahvid Best has got to create some confusion and break for some huge plays. On the other side of the ball the team needs to get into situations where the Trojans have to pass. If the run game is slowed to a level in this world, then the Trojans will be forced to pass their check downs and their conservative routes. Stop the USC offense, and make Matt Barkley make the mistakes that most true freshmen make.
The key to victory for the Trojans is to stop Jahvid Best. It really has come down to this simple point. If Best is taken out of the game then the team becomes very 1-dimensional with Kevin Riley. There is a reason why Minnesota almost beat them and why Oregon destroyed them, and that is because they stopped Jahvid Best from breaking for huge plays (ignoring the 54 goal line TDs he had in Minnesota). The Bears have looked good when Riley is playing well, but if there is no major threat from Jahvid Best then there might be some major problems in at home for the Bears in Berkeley.
1. No. 6 LSU at No. 20 Georgia
Time: 3:30 (EST) Saturday 10/3
Spread: Georgia by 3
The Oklahoma/Miami and Cal/USC games might mean more to a lot of people, but the most complete game this weekend might just be this game. Georgia has looked a lot better since they dropped a turd on opening weekend, and the Tigers offense has not gotten it done like they need to this year. The teams have a combined 7-1 record between the two teams, including two conference wins each. LSU
This might not actually be the best game of the week, and Iowa might absolutely get destroyed by the Penn State talent, but history would like to say otherwise. Iowa has absolutely owned Penn State in the Ferentz era, and other than a 27-7 win two years ago they team hasn’t won in nearly 10 years. The game also gets the benefit of being the only great night game of the week, and Iowa comes into the game underrated.
The key to victory for the Tigers is to score more than 40 points. The LSU Tigers have had a pretty consistent scoring offense this season and have scored 31,23,31,30 points in their four games this season. The passing offense has gotten some decent things done, but the rush game has looked awful for the most part. Charles Scott had 18 TDs and 1,200 yards last year but has yet to get into the end zone this year, and is on track to achieve fewer than 6,000 yards. The run game must get it going against Georgia, and the pass game needs to play smart. If the team can score 10 more points than they are averaging, it is hard to imagine that Georgia will get the better of them, especially since Georgia has allowed twice as many points as LSU has this season.
The key to victory for the Bulldogs is to hold LSU’s offense back. LSU has had a decent enough offense this season, and the Georgia defense has at times looked better than the Georgia offense this year. The defense has got to step up like they did against Arkansas and South Carolina, and they must not let the game get out of hand. Georgia barely beat South Carolina, Arkansas, and Arizona State in their last three weeks, and it is unbelievable to think that they are favorites against a top-6 team.
There is no doubt that LSU is on an upset alert because of the potential from Georgia and from the fact that LSU has been hit or miss this season. Joe Cox has a huge game against Arkansas, but it is hard to think that he will have another 5 TD game against LSU. If you take away that one game he has a TD to INT ratio of 4-4, and he has thrown a pick in every game. Cox cannot make the mistakes that he has made this year, and he must step up against his biggest challenge ever. If Cox has a smart game, and if the Bulldogs can give him the support that he needs (especially if A.J. Green has yet another 130+ yard game this week), then look for yet another top-10 upset this weekend.
{ 1 trackback }