November 10 Sheet

Wisconsin at Indiana (+6.5) - 9:10am Pacific
The Hoosiers are having another frustrating season, but it has very little to do with the play of their offense. Head coach Cam Cameran is becoming recognized as an offensive guru, and rightfully so. However, he certainly does not deserve all of the credit. Junior QB Antwaan Randle El is having a scintillating season. He simply averages 274 yards of net total offense per game and is responsible for 21 touchdowns. If Indiana was having a better season, Randle El almost certainly would be a top Heisman candidate. The combination of Cameran's play calling and Randle El's talent is scary for opponents. The problem is that as much yardage as this prolific offense racks up, the defense seems to give up just as many yards on most weeks. However, the Hoosiers have put together three straight solid, better than looked efforts since being shutout 58-0 at Michigan 4 weeks ago. Three games back they upset Minnesota here as they racked up 611 yards total yards (136 more than the Gophers) against a tough defense. The following week, the Hoosier defense showed improvement, but the offense was turnover plagued and they ended up losing on a last second field goal to Penn State at the RCA Dome. Finally, just last week they outgained Illinois by 201 yards, fumbled once at the 1 yard line, and ended up losing on a touchdown in the final seconds of another excruciating loss. I just have to think they will get up off the ground and find a way to win this, their final home game of the season. Wisconsin has been pretty sluggish in their last 5 games. They were outgained and out first downed my Minnesota last week, but capitalized on 4 Gopher turnovers including an interception runback for a TD to produce a misleading final score. They are still banged up a little with starters OT Ben Johnson, DE John Favret, and FS Jason Doering all questionable for this game. RB Michael Bennett missed the last game as well but has been upgraded to probable for this. The Wisconsin offense has been extra lethargic in their two games on real grass this year scoring just 10 points at Michigan and just 13 points (0 in 2nd half) at Iowa. This line may be inflated as conventional wisdom suggests that Wisconsin will pound away at Indiana's poor run defense, but I really think Indiana's speed on offense will be even more of a factor. Hoosiers also have huge revenge motivation for this game as they lost 59-0 at Madison last year. Take the points.  Indiana  1 UNIT

Georgia at Auburn (-2) - 4:30pm Pacific
As you know I have been pretty high on this Auburn team all year. They started the season at 7-0 before dropping back to back games on the road at Mississippi State and at Florida, both places where no one else has even come close to winning this year. Their following two games were both at home and they were heavily favored in each. I really feel they just were going through the motions as they beat Louisiana Tech by 38-28 three weeks ago, and Arkansas 21-19, two weeks ago. These were actually solid performances considering they played nowhere near their full potential in either game. Last week they had their first and only BYE week of the season. It gave Tubberville some time to fire up his troops and I really believe that they are poised to finish the season strongly. All Auburn must do is win their last two games and they will be playing for the SEC championship. This is their final home game of the year, making it senior day, and the home fans have not had a ranked team or even a big name opponent come in to get excited about all season. This is a time change to a night game and will be televised on ESPN which fires up the fans that much more. Auburn QB Ben Leard has been performing below par in recent weeks but was given a few days off during the BYE week and reportedly is again throwing with the precision that we saw early in the season. In addition to this being his final home game, he hails from the state of Georgia. Coach Tubberville quoted that Leard would not allow the offense to get off track this week. Leard will get a boost this week with the return of his favorite target WR Ronney Daniels who sat out the Arkansas game and Tubberville expects to be 100% come game day. After beating Tennessee (who hasn't beaten or almost beaten the Vols this year?) in early October, Georgia just barely escaped losses to Vanderbilt and Kentucky before finally succumbing to Florida in their last game two weeks ago. They are now 1-3 ATS on the road this year and have now probably lost starting QB Quincy Carter (thumb ligament) for the season. Backup QB Corey Phillips will get the start in this game and he did throw for 400 yards at Kentucky in his only other significant action. However, that was against Kentucky. The field was slick, Kentucky's defensive backs are suspect at best, and their was no effective pass rush. None of those circumstances will be in the young QB's favor this week. His inexperience will be major disadvantage at Jordan-Hare stadium. I really do not think Georgia has what it takes to compete here, they will have to play very well just to keep this game close. Tigers stay undefeated at home.  Auburn  1 UNIT 

LSU at Mississippi (-2.5) - 6:00pm Pacific
The Rebels are now at 6-2 after their big win at Arkansas last week. The game was not televised on the dish, but I was able to watch the David Cutcliffe show on Monday and got to see most of the highlights. During the show, the coach reiterated that they had a great week of practice leading up to the game after getting several players back on the field. They showed great intensity throughout the game and after trailing 7-0 early, outscored Arkansas 38-3 before the Razorbacks tacked on two garbage touchdowns in the 4th quarter. It was a true team effort as the offense, defense, and special teams all played well. The offense was balanced with QB Miller throwing for two touchdowns and RB McAllister (looked good despite injuries that had him listed at ?) rushed for 131 yards and two touchdowns. He is expected to be even stronger this week. Cutcliffe later in the week said that the offensive line probably had their best game of the season so far. Recovering starting center Ben Claxton saw increased playing time vs Arkansas and could be back in the starting lineup vs LSU. Also, this week the Rebels will add two starting defensive lineman, Shane Elam & Anthony Sims, that missed the Arkansas game back into the rotation. That should help both their run defense and pass rush. LSU is a winner of three straight SEC games, and four out of last five overall and I am a big fan of their head coach Nick Saban. However, the Tigers have had the benefit of playing 7 of their 9 games so far at home, including each and every one of their wins. They have only been on the road twice this year and both were blowout losses at Auburn and at Flordia. They have not won a game on the road since September of 1998! Their last two wins were also a bit misleading as they needed 21 4th quarter points to take Miss State into overtime, and last week benefited from 3 Alabama turnovers while having none of their own in a 2 point win. They also had the benefit of a BYE week before playing the Bama game. The Tigers also may have a bit of a letdown this week following the emotional Alabama win that ended 30 years of frustration. LSU is improved, but not enough to stand in Mississippi's way this week. The Rebels still have a shot of winning the SEC west title. All they have to do is win out and hope that Auburn loses one of their last two games. Ole Miss coach also noted that the team and fans would be very fired up as it will be their first big home game since early September against Auburn. By the way, they looked very good that night. This will again be a night game and televised on ESPN 2. Expect another good showing and a Rebel victory. Mississippi  1 UNIT

Weekly Recap

Another sub par 1-2 week for us.  Indiana led 6-0 late in the 2nd quarter and then were intercepted in the end zone and Wisconsin took over and drove for the go ahead touchdown to take a 7-6 lead at the half.  The Hoosiers still stayed within the number until late when turnovers and big plays did them in.  Auburn came out great and then were victims of a 75 yard interception run back and fell behind 13-0 before getting things going.  It took overtime, but they managed to get the job done.  Mississippi had a great home crowd but just could never get anything going vs LSU in a tough loss.  We are back to .500 for the year and hopefully we can have a few winning weeks to build some confidence before the bowl season.