Well, we sold out our full busload for our Annual Big Tailgate this Saturday selling all 55 tickets for Syracuse vs. Notre Dame at MetLife Stadium here in the swamps of Jersey. We expected to see a Fighting Irish team coming in ranked among the Top Ten. We also expected to see an improved Syracuse team under former Bowling Green HC Dino Babers offer the Notre Dame defense a challenge. We erred big-time on the first expectation, but look dead on regarding the second. This game could turn-out to be a high-scoring shoot-out like the 38-35 Irish loss to Duke, the 36-28 loss to Michigan State, and the 50-47 OT loss to Texas. The Irish (1-3) can put points on the board with DeShone Kizer at QB, but its defense can’t stop anybody (Ok -Nevada, 39-10). He’s completed 62.1% of his passes for 1,096 yards, 11 TDs, and three INTs. However, 33.5 ppg against the defense is probably not going to improve too much against the Orange. Led by improved QB Eric Dungey under Babers’ tutelage, he’s completed 65% of his passes for 1,397 yards, nine TDs and 3 INT. His favorite WR Amba Etta-Tawo leads the nation with 706 receiving yards. He has five TD receptions. Last Sunday, HC Brian Kelly fired his defensive coordinator Brian Van Gorder and replaced him with defensive analyst Greg Hudson. Hard to believe that improvement has taken a drastic turn over the last few days, but we’ll be there to see if the Irish get a little more fired up to start turning their poor start into at least a winning season…
DeShone Kizer should get the protection he needs this Saturday to put up some big numbers against Syracuse. The Irish will need them.
In addition to Etta-Tawo, we have or will see many of the top players leading in the nation in major statistical categories after four weeks of play in the FBS. No. 2 Ohio State’s DBs Malik Hooker and Marshon Lattimore both lead the nation in INTs tied with others for three. We will see them against struggling Penn State (2-2) on October 22. Cal QB Davis Webb currently leads in passing yards with 1,837. His favorite target, Chad Henson, is ranked right behind Etta-Tawo for second with 656 yards. We will see the Cal Bears (2-2) clash with their rival No. 7 Stanford (3-0) in The Big Game on November 19 in Berkeley. The FBS’s leading rusher is our friend Tom Ables’ favorite RB, San Diego State’s Donnel Pumphrey. He leads with 599 yards and ran for 1,653 last year when we saw him and the Aztecs fall to Penn State, 37-21 . A key to that victory was the Lions shutting him down holding Pumphrey to only 56 yards and a TD on 18 carries. As far as team rushing, Army (3-1) leads all 130 FBS teams averaging 374.8 Yards per game. We saw them defeat Temple and fall to Buffalo. On November 5 we will see the play again when they host Air Force in their Commander in Chief Trophy game. Air Force ranks No. 5 in the nation in rushing…
Army FB Andy Dickinson rambles through the Owl defense for a few tough yards.
Here’s our predictions for this week’s big games: Memphis (3-0) visits Ole Miss (2-2). Last season with Paxton Lynch at QB, the Tigers upset the Rebels, 37-24. The Memphis record is deceiving and new QB Riley Ferguson hasn’t been challenged yet. At The Grove a year after the upset, Hugh Freeze’s team will be up to win this one…Louisville at Clemson. As much as we like Deshaun Watson, we think Lamar Jackson is just going to continue to run rampant against the Clemson Tiger defense…Stanford and Washington meet Friday night. Washington has played Stanford tight the last four years. HC Chris Peterson has the Huskies on the rise. However, we think this is Stanford’s year with all the key pieces in place under HC David Shaw. QB Ryan Burns is developing into another good Cardinal QB, and Christian McCaffery is ready to explode. We’re going with Stanford…Wisconsin has big win over LSU on a “neutral” site and a big win at Michigan State last week. Can they do it at Michigan this week? We don’t think so although we’re hoping they can. Michigan plays its fifth straight home game and has Rutgers next week. All their focus is on Wisconsin (no pun intended). The Wolverines will settle for nothing less than a showdown against Ohio State on November 26…
This is where U of M is focused this season.
Here’s one we have great interest in. Navy (3-0) at Air Force (3-0). They will be playing in the first go around for the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy played for between them and Army annually. These two have won it over the last 19 years between each other. As Navy HC Ken Niumatatolo pointed out earlier this week, this is the first time the two Academies enter this game both undefeated. This is big! Both teams won their previous game by a touchdown and Navy had last week off to get ready to go out to Colorado Springs. Both excel at the triple option and Air Force leads Navy in rushing yards, but wins over Abilene Christian and Georgia State were dominant which they should have been. Both teams know how to defend against the triple option as well as anybody since they run it every day themselves. Navy can throw the ball when it has to with QB Will Wentworth when necessary. Our hopes are with Navy because we’re hoping to see the Brigade fired up in Annapolis the week after when No. 6 Houston comes to town. Could be another math-up of undefeateds if Navy wins and Houston defeats UConn next Thursday. The Huskies were the one team to knockoff UH in 2015. We say, Go Navy! In a close battel with their second biggest rival…
Navy and Air Force battled it out last season in Annapolis with Navy finishing on top in their 11-2 season.
Speaking of the US Navy, our friend Tom Ables will be with his San Diego state Aztecs when they meet South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama this Saturday. Thrilled to be with his Aztecs on the road once again, this trip is a special treat for Tom now attending at least over 780 Aztec games since he started doing this in 1946. That was that year that Tom was decommissioned from the Navy after WWII to become a civilian and a student at San Diego State after being stationed on the battleship USS Alabama. Now a floating museum in Mobile Bay, Tom is excited that he is going to be able to go on board and relive some fond memories he had as a crew member aboard his old ship. Tom is a proud and happy Navy veteran looking forward to a great weekend. We’re very happy for him. Congratulations, Tom, and thank you and all your shipmates for serving our country!
Tom Ables is still going strong into the 2016 season after catching up with him at Beaver Stadium last season.