Curator & Coach - Week 6

Curator Sam Burnham

​Game of the Week
Michigan State @ Ohio State
We’re hearing a lot of hype about Justin Fields. The sophomore transferred to the Buckeyes after he felt he didn’t get enough attention in Athens. He’s put up some serious stats in Columbus: 81 completions on 116 attempts for 1092 and 16 touchdowns. That’s quite impressive if you don’t look at strength of schedule.

My old friend Sparty coming to town we’ll see how Fields does against a serious program. The Spartans have a way of playing up to the competition. They show out in the big games. They will be prepared coming into Columbus and they'll be hingry, looking for a chance to prove themselves against a favored Buckeye program,


Upset Alert
Iowa at Michigan
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Michigan is favored in this one and I’m not exactly sure why. Iowa has been impressive this season with their only difficulty being a crazy rivalry game that was harassed by weather throughout. Michigan gave up 21 points to Middle Tennessee and Army before being slapped cross-eyed by Wisconsin. Sure, they dropped the hammer on Rutgers last week but this is a team that just isn’t living up to the hype. The Wolverines have not performed well against ranked opponents under Harbaugh.

The Hawkeyes, on the other hand, look good this year. They have the ability to score and they're playing some tough defense.

​Watch for Iowa to stoke the fires of discontent underneath Jim Harbaugh’s seat. Hawkeyes roll.

Coach Drew Burnham

​GAME OF THE WEEK
AUBURN @ FLORIDA
Crossover games in the SEC are like the roulette wheel. More times than not 1 team is really good and the other is down and it leads to an anticlimactic end. However, every once in a while,that ball lands in the right slot and not only does it lead to tons of hype and celebration, but it keeps us at the table searching for the next one. This one is legit. We’ve hit our number. Behind the day to day leadership of new Offensive Coordinator Ken Dillingham (of Memphis fame), the Auburn offense has returned to the top of the national conversation. They live and die on the mistakes of a (talented) freshman QB, but the kid has so many weapons surrounding him that he can often get himself out of tough spots. On the other end, Dan Mullen’s return to Gainesville has proven to be triumphant to this point. The excitement of the late 2000’s Gator teams has returned. This one is going to live up to the hype but I believe the legend of Bo Nix grows just a little bigger after a big play late Saturday to win it.
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UPSET ALERT
TEXAS @ WEST VIRGINIA
They’re striping the stadium in Blue and Gold in Morgantown this weekend to welcome a big-time opponent in the Texas Longhorns. The Mountaineers have picked up right where Dana Holgersen left off with new coach Neal Brown. The work he did at Troy, much to the dismay of the curator, is the stuff of legend. They won conference championships, took down LSU in Death Valley and generally won way more games than anyone thought they were supposed to. He’s brought the all gas no brakes culture to West Virginia and all signs show them as a program on the rise. I do not think they are a better team than Texas. However, I do know that fan base and I know that stadium will be ELECTRIC Saturday afternoon. It’ll be quite the environment and I believe a little bit of Longhorn over confidence will go a long way. Keep an eye on this one.

Curator’s Picks

IOWA over MICHIGAN
PENN STATE over PURDUE
IOWA STATE over TCU
AUBURN over FLORIDA
NAVY over AIR FORCE
UNC over GA TECH
MICHIGAN ST. @ OHIO STATE
VANDY over OLE MISS
OREGON over CAL
WASHINGTON over STANFORD

Coach’s Picks

​IOWA over MICHIGAN
PENN STATE over PURDUE
IOWA STATE over TCU
AUBURN over FLORIDA
NAVY over AIR FORCE
UNC over GA TECH
OHIO STATE over MICHIGAN STATE
OLE MISS over VANDY
OREGON over CAL
WASHINGTON over STANFORD