first ncaa football 2004 play (buffalo/emu sept.2nd).....

[gman2]

eastern michigan (-4.5) over buffalo

capping the first week or two of the season is never easy, but emu stands out to me because of the way they finished last season. they could have mailed the season in when they were 1-8 and their head coach fired with 3 games left still to play. they didnt. what they DID do was play excellent football the final 3 weeks, winning 2 games convincingly and then playing northern illinois to a halftime tie before running out of gas in the final quarter of the season finale. anthony sherrell could be one of the best mid-major running backs in the country. he closed last season on a tear; in his final 5 games he rushed for 187 yds, 126 yds, 155 yds, 230 yds, and 170 yds. he actually was the 2nd leading rusher in the conference behind michael turner. not sure how buffalo plans on stopping the run. they were absolutely brutal against it last year, allowing an average of 5.3 yards a carry and 222 yards a game. never like laying chalk early in the season, but this game could kinda go under the radar because both teams are pretty lame and there are 4 other higher profile games on the card for this day but i think eastern michigan gets out of the gate strong with a nice win heading into their visit to gainesville against florida....where theyll lose by 50

 

[Blackman]

Best of luck GMan --- I like this side. I agree that Sherrell is going to be a difference maker in this one.

 

[spang]

Well....

Well....

I must admit that I was puzzled a bit by the opening line myself. I thought it would be around 7 or so, and it has already moved to 5 so there has been a bit of EMU sentiment early.

You have already done a very adaquate job of expounding on the strengths of the Eagles, so there is little for me to add other than wonder if the kid who transfered from from Iowa won the QB job for EMU from his little brother. I did see Sherrell play last year and came away impressed with the kid. He can only get better.

I like the play here, and still think the number may shoot up to 6-7 by kickoff. Good luck!

BTW: Are you still in my neck of the woods?

 

[Sun Tzu]

But what about Monmouth?

 

[gman2]

sun:

monmouth has their hands full with st.peter's in week one. as you know, you don't just travel to the peacock's home field and expect to waltz to an easy win. there will be at least 1,400 screaming townies, faculty members, and marching band members to make it tough for monmouth.

 

[Sun Tzu]

I imagine a big day for filings at the family courthouse come Monday

 

[gman2]

also played this one on saturday:

miami,ohio (+13) over michigan

everyone knows michigan is gonna be damn good this year. im not sure if people realize that miami,ohio really isnt going to miss a beat this year -- even without roethlisberger. this is a program that has lots of big game experience and has played here before and competed. theyre NOT going to be intimidated at all. the redhawks bring back basically everyone except big ben. no reason they cant be just as good as last year (and maybe better). theyre absolutely loaded on offense. also worth noting that miami has had the luxury of a patsie tune-up game vs. indiana state last week. the opponent and final score doesnt matter (it was 49-0 anyway) but i think the live competition / quasi-scrimmage (whichever you prefer,lol) helped mu prepare for this game so theyre not going into the big house with timing issues and stuff like that.

on the fence with this one, not sure if im gonna play it:

oklahoma (-32) over bowling green

i rode bowling green to the bank last year but i think theyre gonna get absolutely blasted against oklahoma. sooners will likely be focused after their limp to the finish line last season against ksu and lsu. and with bowling green bringing an inexperienced qb (harris gone) into a place like ou -- could get ugly. only reason im hesistant to pull trigger is because its tough to blow bgsu out because their spread offense can move the ball and all their receivers are back from last season (magner, mcgrady, sanders, et al). but not sure if oline will give any time to throw.

 

[Superbear]

what do you think of No Ill +14.5 at a depleted Terps squad,..these guys continue to get dissed even tho they beat the Terps and Bamma last year

 

[gman2]

superbear:

its all about niu being able to run the ball. with turner gone, their offense has some question marks. maryland had no idea what they were in for last year for the season opener. niu is very very tough at home. theyve got marylands attention this time around im sure. last year was a great spot for niu to pull an upset. this year, im not sure this one will be close. northern was really bad on the road last season (aside from their bama upset). but in conference play, they let up a ton of points and yards away from home. a lot of these mac teams are getting great exposure by having the power conference teams play them home-and-home. its a sign that the mac conference is no longer inferior to the bigger conferences. but along with that 'respect' comes the fact that theres no 'overlooking' and no 'lookaheads' -- especially in marylands case. they know what can happen if they go through the motions. +14 is tempting, but i dont think theyll cover it. maryland too well coached to let another potential upset happen.

 

[ToddF76]

Great analysis. Let's not forget though that Maryland has started slow the last two seasons. I'm staying away from the game as well, but if I were in a pool where I was mandated to pick x amount of games I would probably side with NIU.