October 20, 2001 Sheet

Indiana (+10) at Iowa - 9:10am Pacific
The Hoosiers started the season with the controversial decision to move the super talented Antuan Randle El to wide receiver. After an embarrassing loss to NC State in the season opener they quickly scrapped that idea and moved him back to full time QB where he led the offense to 30.6ppg last season. Understandably after preparing most of the fall with a new QB, it took the offense some time to find itself. They lost a heartbreaker to Utah 26-28 and then lost 27-14 to Ohio State. The OSU game was much closer than the final score indicated and in that game the offense was showing signs of turning the corner. Next time out they hit on all cylinders and blew out Wisconsin in Madison 63-32! Following that game, fans were even calling for a run at the Big 10 title as they anticipated a visit from Illinois. The Hoosiers played hard and were right with the Illini into the 4th quarter, but mental mistakes and a persistent rain bogged down their offense in an eventual 35-14 loss. Still this is a very dangerous team. On offense, after almost losing his starting job after running for just 3 yards in the opener, senior RB Levron Williams has averaged 141.2ypg since and has a scary 7.8 yard per carry average! Defensive coordinator James Bell had high expectations when coming over from Wake Forest 2 seasons ago. His defense is still far from stellar but is definitely improved from last two years. Senior LB Justin Smith was 2nd team Big-10 last year and is having a standout season with 10.8 tackles per game. 

Iowa's defense is not as good as it looks on paper. The Hawkeyes high defensive rankings are in large part due to their soft schedule which has included Kent State, Miami Ohio, and Penn State all at home to start the season 3-0. They are 0-2 since. Their offense has looked very predictable. Against Purdue and Michigan State their best offensive play was a wide receiver screen which they ran continually on 3rd down. It may work a few times in the first half, but not in the second half. Iowa scored on two drives of less than 5 yards after recovering a fumble and blocking a punt vs Michigan State in the first half which counted for half of their 28 points. Another touchdown came in garbage time with just :06 seconds left leaving just one touchdown drive that was really earned. Indiana has beaten Iowa three straight seasons. The Hoosiers are more than capable and are desperate for a win here to keep their slim bowl hopes alive. They head into this game with a very optimistic outlook and a straight up win would not surprise me. Take the 10 points. Indiana  1 UNIT 

USC (+1) at Notre Dame - 11:30am Pacific
After all the talk in the offseason about offensive coordinator Norm Chow coming over from NC State and with so much talent on the Trojans offense fans have been waiting and waiting for the scoreboard to light up. In the 2nd quarter last week everyone finally saw what they have been waiting for. "We're really gelling", said QB Carson Palmer after the 48-17 win over Arizona State. The 48 points was twice as much as they had scored in any game prior this season. It was Palmer's best performance of the season as he completed 18-of-26 for 295 yards. USC lost running back Sultan McCullough to injury but it did not seem to bother them. WR Kareem Kelly is playing with renewed focus of late. After spending time on the sidelines vs Oregon three weeks ago he has responded with 18 catches for 431 yards in his last 4 games. The Trojan defense has kept USC in every game this year as they are giving up just 18.1ppg despite a very tough schedule. Last week for the first time since their season opener they had all three starting linebackers healthy. They have a ton of speed and a top notch secondary on that side of the ball.

I have to think that ND coach Bob Davie had everyone fooled last year that Notre Dame was on their way back to becoming one of college football's elite programs. They finished the regular season 9-2 but with very few quality wins and a fortunate +12 turnover ratio as they set a school record with only 8 turnovers on the season. They then were exposed by Oregon State in a 41-9 bowl game loss and have not looked the part of a good team ever since. Last week they struggled to beat West Virginia despite the rainy conditions heavily favoring their style of play. The Mountaineers led by 7 in the second half and were driving down by 3 in the 4th quarter until they were intercepted at the 12. Notre Dame is a little banged up with their top two running backs Jones and Fisher listed as doubtful. Safeties Isreal (doubtful) and Sapp (questionable) are also hurting. 

Keep in mind that USC's four losses have all come against ranked teams and by a combined total of 14 points. Two of the losses were on last second field goals at Oregon and at Washington. After finally snapping the four game losing streak, there is a new level of optimism and confidence within this team. Their favorable schedule (Arizona, Oregon State, Cal) the next three weeks gives them an exellent shot at their first bowl game in three years which is something the seniors are really pushing for. This is coach Pete Carroll's first big "rivalry" game and a win here could do wonders for his support. Chalk up another non-conference win for the Pac-10. USC 1 UNIT

Memphis at East Carolina (-10) - 12:30pm Pacific
It's been a disappointing season for the Pirates. Expectations were high for this team who returned 15 starters from an 8-4 bowl game winning team of a year ago. They stumbled out of the game with a 2 point loss to upstart Wake Forest. More recently they lost back to back road games at Syracuse and at North Carolina before a big win at Army last week. The Pirates led in both games at Syracuse and at North Carolina but let them get away. They have had tremendous success running the ball this year even against those two very good defenses. Senior RB Leonard Henry is averaging 135 yards per game and an amazing 9.2 yards per carry! Senior QB David Gerrard is a 4 year starter who is the schools all-time leader in passing. He lost his top three receivers from last year so it is taking some time for the passing game to get going, but make no mistake, this is an explosive offense. On defense the Pirates returned 12 of their top 14 tacklers from last season. They have been somewhat of a disappointment so far, but they are expected to get back their top cover corner Kelly Hardy this week who has missed the last few games with injury. He should give them a big lift.

Memphis got a big home win over Southern Miss two weeks ago and followed that up with a big win at Houston last week but I am still very comfortable playing against them. Last week they beat a Houston program that is just in shambles. The Tigers had just as many fans as the home team Cougars did. Houston who is now 0-5 was playing with a backup QB but still racked up 331 yards in the air and 33 points. Houston is so bad they lost to Army by 14 points. Redshirt freshman Danny Wimprine is being called the QB of the future at Memphis but I question how effective he will be in his first career road start against a high-quality opponent. 

I have always liked ECU head coach Steve Logan. I do not believe this team has yet to play near their best or with their highest level of intensity this year. Memphis upset ECU 17-10 last season and come into this game surprisingly ahead of ECU in C-USA standings. Players are looking forward to returning home after three straight road games and it his homecomeing day in Greenville. Look for the Pirates to impress here with a convincing win and cover. Give the points. East Carolina 1 UNIT

Weekly Recap

I knew Indiana's defense was not very good, but they were horrible vs Iowa this week.  Everything the Hawkeyes ran seemed to work.  Indiana scored touchdowns on 3 of their 4 possessions in the first half and only trailed by 7 at the break and got the ball first in the 2nd half, but could not do anything with it.  They also had two chances for the backdoor cover late in the game but could not get it done losing by 14 in the end. USC suffered another disappointing loss.  Not sure what they were thinking by running a fake punt up by 10 late in the 2nd half deep in ND territory but they did, it didnt work, and it led to an ND touchdown and changed the momentum of the game.  East Carolina dominated on both sides of the ball and covered easily.