Scoops' CFB Quick Hits

Some quick thoughts on the college football weekend:

-Wisconsin is going to lose at least 2-3 Big Ten games this year.
-Penn State is better than most everyone thought, except for Pliers & myself, who both had PSU 1st & tied for 1st respectively. I don’t care who it was against. There was never a bigger 21 point ass kicking in college football history than what was shown Saturday night in Happy Valley. There’s no way Wisconsin is winning in that stadium, and I don’t think Ohio State is either.
-I do think it’s too early to give up on Michigan, at least in terms of Big Ten terms. I’d definitely put them below PSU, & OSU, but I still could see them being a 6-2 or 5-3 Big Ten team. The offense is just too talented. Oregon slapping on 39 wasn’t surprising, but Michigan’s offensive woes was.
-I think Minnesota is in line for a 4-8 record. I see them beating Florida Atlantic by at least 14 points, but the Big Ten is going to be a grind. Purdue is going to put up 600 yards of offense on Minnesota, Ohio State will be closer than what some think, but will still win by at least 10 points, and Indiana & Northwestern definitely aren’t gimme wins. I think Minnesota will squeeze out 2 of the remaining 6 Big Ten games, but will be playing a whole different brand of football the last two games against Iowa & Wisconsin. Anything can happen in those two, but my money says 4-8 to 5-7. With Minnesota, you have to expect the worst until the culture of losing changes.
-LSU is freaking scary. However, watching the Taylor kid of Tech running the ball at QB in the 2nd half was fun to watch. The kid is like a created video game QB. When he was making the LSU defensive players look slow, you know you’re fast.
-Oklahoma is cranking it up as well. Unlike Pliers, I do think highly of Randy Shannon & Miami. That was an impressive win by the Sooners. More importantly, they are not going to have any type of grind during the conference season unlike LSU or USC.
-Oregon looks like they could be a pesky offense, and USC does travel to Eugene. Pesky game for the Trojans.
-I think Rutgers loses a cheapie outside of West Virginia & Louisville.
-Scoops’ question of the week: Is South Carolina ready to challenge Florida for the SEC East? Nice win at Georgia. But the Gators are a whole different ball. Teabow looks sharp.
-As a whole, I do think the Big Ten is down a bit this year, but this stuff goes in cycles. The conference was down in 1997 with only Michigan & Purdue winning bowl games, but was back up in 1998 & 1999, went down in 2000, was awful in 2001, but back up in 2002, decent in 2003 & 2004, back up in 2005, and somewhat down last year & this year. I think Penn State is the cream of the crop, but is definitely a tier down from LSU, Oklahoma, & USC. But PSU is right along at the next tier with West Virginia & Florida, and I would put them above Texas, Cal, Louisville, Ohio State & Wisconsin.

Gambling News & Notes:
-I am 99.8% sure that Scoops will be missing his first Gopher conference game at home since 1993 as he'll be in Las Vegas that weekend. He'll be taking extensive notes of certain teams this week to make sure he's educated.
-LAST WEEK ATS: 6-5. SEASON: 6-5.