Rocky’s V: The Big Ten, Big ‘Berger, Blowouts and Big Games

09/25/2013

Rockys VI. The Big Ten takes another hit: Michigan is also bad

I hate to bash the Big Ten for a second straight week, but it’s hard to defend a conference that continually under-performs. After watching Michigan squeak out a victory over a winless UConn team a week after almost losing to a perennially bad Akron team, I have given up on the Wolverines even remotely competing with top SEC, Pac-12 and ACC teams. At the season’s beginning, I drank the Kool-Aid like everyone else and thought Devin Gardner was the pocket-passing quarterback that offensive coordinator Al Borgess was looking for to lead this offense. But other than against Notre Dame, Gardner has been inept, completing only 57% of his passes and already throwing eight picks. When I watch Gardner, I still see a quarterback who is uncomfortable in the pocket, lacks poise and looks to run at the first sign of pressure.

II. I’ll take a Mettenberger, please

Last season Cam Cameron was fired as the Baltimore Ravens’ offensive coordinator and the consensus was he got the axe because he did not make Joe Flacco the center of the offense. It then got even worse for Cameron as the Ravens went on to win the Super Bowl without him. But this past off-season, things began looking up. He was hired by Les Miles to be the offensive coordinator for LSU and has shown that he knows how to develop a quarterback – Zach Mettenberger has never looked better. Only four games into the season, Mettenberger already has 10 passing touchdowns. He threw just 12 all last season. The big guy also has just one interception after throwing seven picks a year ago. As the saying goes, every cloud has a silver lining, and perhaps for both Cameron and Mettenberger this is it. This season I see a confident, poised quarterback in Mettenberger who is finally living up to all the potential he has shown the past two seasons. He is putting up big numbers and leading this LSU team that has not trailed at any point in their four games this season.

III. Were this past weekend’s small vs. big school games unethical?

There has been much discussion this week after all the huge blowouts (Ohio State 76, Florida A&M 0 and Louisville 72, FIU 0 to name a couple) and whether it is right or even moral to allow these second-tier schools to take a huge payday to come and get rolled by top FBS programs. Sure, it isn’t pretty, but I am fine with it. First, economically it makes a lot of sense for these smaller programs. Florida A&M received $900,000 to come and take their licks against OSU in Columbus last week. That is money that not only helps the football team at a cash-strapped school like FAMU, but also helps fund all the other sports like softball, cross country, etc. These programs need to take these paydays to stay afloat and provide athletic programs for all their students. Without it, their school’s athletics department would crumble.

Secondly, I bet most of the players on Florida A&M loved coming into the Buckeyes’ stadium to give it a shot against a school they probably watched growing up or even wanted to play for. By and large, athletes are competitors and they want to challenge the top competition and see what they are made of. In a world where competition and challenges are at times frowned upon, I’m glad to see a small football program at least try to give a big program a run for their money.

IV. Notre Dame vs. Oklahoma, Part II

Last year, the Irish’s win against the Sooners catapulted them into the national championship conversation and Saturday’s game in South Bend will begin to foretell each team’s fate as well. This year’s meeting will be all about who can find their run game. Notre Dame’s rushing attack this season, even with five different running backs, has been awful. The Irish rank 100th in the nation at a dismal 113.3 yards per game. Oklahoma’s ground game, on the other hand, has been great, with an average of 272 yards rushing per game. The Sooners will need to keep that going Saturday to help out quarterback Blake Bell, who will be making just his second start. It won’t be easy, however, as Notre Dame’s defensive front is one of the best in college football. Neither team’s quarterback has the ability to win the game on their own so whichever team can establish the run will afford their offense the luxury of not being one-dimensional and give them the best chance to win

V. Big game between LSU and Georgia

With all the talk of Alabama going for three straight championships, Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel and his huge offensive numbers and Jadeveon Clowney being the top defensive player in the country at South Carolina, the Tigers of LSU have flown under the radar in the SEC. However, LSU has being playing great football thus far, going undefeated and putting up some impressive stats, namely the second-highest points per game in the SEC at 43.2 (only A&M is higher at 50.2), and a ground game that has racked up close to 900 yards in four games. Folks can talk all they want about the rest of the SEC, but LSU is playing some of the best football in the country.

The running attacks will be important on Saturday between the hedges, but to me this game will ultimately come down to the quarterbacks. Both Georgia’s Aaron Murray and LSU’s Zach Mettenberger have played well this year, but each come in with question marks regarding playing well in big games. Whichever quarterback can emerge will tell the story. I personally like the chances of Mettenberger stepping up and LSU’s run game doing its part as well in this matchup against the Bulldogs.

– Rocky Boiman

Rocky Boiman is an analyst for WestwoodOne’s coverage of NCAA Football. Each week in “Rocky’s V,” the former Notre Dame captain and Super Bowl champion writes about five topics that have captured his interest from around college football. You can also follow Rocky on Twitter.

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