(8) Notre Dame @ Florida State – How does Notre Dame stay in this ball game? Make it ugly.
Notre Dame has the 8th ranked defense in the country in points. Their formula in 2012 and this year is to have Everette Golson make plays while his defense plays tough. FSU is not what they were offensively last season. They’re 98th in the country in rushing. And the best defense they’ve played thus far was Clemson, who are currently ranked 46th. Notre Dame must get some easy points, have Golson make a play or two.
(1)Stanford @ Arizona State – I love late night Pac 12 football. Love the depth of quarterbacks in this league. Love the unpredictability. But this league is cannibalizing itself from the playoffs. Arizona State has 1 loss, but it was at home and it was a 35 point margin to UCLA. Arizona has 1 loss, but it’s too the wrong team in USC. Oregon has 1 loss and leads their division, but their offensive line is shaky. I think Oregon is the one team…the only team who can reach the playoffs with their remaining schedule. And even that is a dice roll.
(62%) Is running the football back in the NFL? This year we’ve seen a swing back to running in this copycat league. When you look at the football teams who have thrown the ball a lot…62% of the time or more…in recent years you’ve had winners like New Orleans, New England, Atlanta, Indianapolis. That has changed this year:
- Five teams have thrown the ball 62%; they have a combined record of 5-23. Of the teams who have a 60-40 split on passing, only 3 of 10 are over .500.
- The five teams who have run the ball the most by percentage are 18-10. The 10 teams who have thrown in 57% of the time or less…8 of 10 are .500 or better.
(0)Kansas City @ San Diego – The Chargers are good. They are Super Bowl, number 1 seed in the AFC good right now. It’s still early, but teams that reach November in good shape typically make it to the NFL playoffs. The Chargers are the best 4th quarter defense in the NFL. They’ve given up the fewest 4th quarter points in the league, and have given up zero fourth quarter points at home so far this year.
(Manning) 49ers at Broncos – How good is Peyton Manning at figuring out what you’re doing? The Broncos are 16th in the league in 1st quarter scoring. They are first in 2nd quarter scoring. The Broncos are 31st in the league in 3rd quarter scoring. They are 2nd in 4th quarter scoring.