TwoBlueandOSU

The college football regular season is winding down, with eyes starting to shift to conference championship games and projected bowl berths we have one final weekend of Big Ten action - and it's for all the marbles.  Iowa @ Nebraska - The Friday night game of the week is the battle for who has the better corn field. Nebraska has been the best worst team all season long. The Cornhuskers are 3-8 (1-7) and have lost 5 straight. Unsurprisingly is they've lost seven of those eight games by one possession scores, their average margin of defeat is 6 points per game. A touchdown a game is the difference between them leading the Big Ten West and their current position of next to last. They have a magical habit of finding new ways to lose games, and I would expect nothing less this week as the 16th ranked Iowa Hawkeyes (9-2, 6-2) come to town still competing for the Big Ten West crown. Iowa has to win this game and hope for a Wisconsin loss to stamp their ticket to Indianapolis for the...

 I came into this college football season with very low expectations (as did the nation considering they were pre-season unranked) for the Michigan Wolverines. Coming off of a 2-4 shortened COVID season and having a very young team I predicted a 6-6 or 7-5 at best season. And here we are, the last week of the regular season and Michigan is 10-1 - hosting the 10-1 Buckeyes for the Big Ten East crown, a shot at a Big Ten championship and a potential spot in the playoffs. This team is not the most talented during the Harbaugh era, they're not the biggest nor the fastest. They have a quarterback who physically there's nothing too impressive with him. A secondary that was torched last year repeatedly and wide receivers who anyone outside of Ann Arbor couldn't name. Yet they're 10-1, they hold their fate in their hand. This team just keeps finding ways to win, and more importantly, they have fun doing it.  It's been a while since I have been this excited for "The Gam...

It's almost time for another week of Big Ten football, and we have some potential good ones on the docket this time around. Both Ryan and Morgan bounced back with 5-2 records last week, I am still leading the charge though. Back to back 6-1 weeks has me sitting pretty at 12-2, and we're going into the championship rounds.  (6) Michigan @ Penn State - Kicking off with one of the big games of the week, Michigan (8-1) travels to Happy Valley to take on the Nittany Lions (6-3). This is a huge game for Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines, after last week's loss for Michigan State at Purdue, Michigan is now right back in the running for the Big Ten East crown. A loss here could all but end those hopes, at the very least it would take their fate out of their hands.  This game is going to come down to a few key factors, 3rd down efficiency, red zone efficiency and Jahan Dotson. Michigan's defense is stellar in a lot of areas, they put pressure on the quarterback as well as...

This may seem like an odd topic to discuss for a team that is currently sitting at 8-1 and still has a chance for not only a conference title, but a playoff berth as well. I promise you though, there is some merit here.  The Michigan faithful are, and have been, divided on Head Coach Jim Harbaugh. I will be transparent and say that I never wanted Harbaugh at Michigan. I understood why so many did; his ties to the program and Bo Schembechler, his success at Stanford and San Francisco. To me though, his offensive style was from a by-gone era, one that was better suited for the analytical nature of the NFL. I'm a modern Michigan fan, I believe in the spread offense, I like alternate uniforms, and I don't even care if they change the helmet for a game or two a year. I don't worship at the altar of Bo Schembechler and I believe three yards and a cloud of dust only leads to a lot of punts. Nothing about Harbaugh appealed to me. None the less he was hired, and admittedly he's ...

Michigan beat Indiana 29-7 on Saturday, it was a 22 point victory that lacked any real substance or excitement. The big take away from the game were the injuries. Going into the game Michigan was already down star tight end Erick All and freshman third string running back Donovan Edwards. During the game the Wolverine's medical tent seemed more like a revolving door. The lightning in our thunder and lightning combo Blake Corum went into the locker room and returned in street clothes and a walking boot. Freshman wide receiver Andrel Anthony, who had a breakout game last week, and speedster A.J. Henning both were knocked out of the game during special teams, adding them to the list that includes Ronnie Bell (who was knocked out for the year in the first game of the year) of wide receivers who've gotten injured during punt returns. Gemon Green who's had a solid year in the defensive backfield also left in the second half. And quarterback Cade McNamara was in and out of the ten...

 Week 9 is behind us, and all Michigan fans are thankful for that. None more so thn Ryan, who not only had to watch our beloved Wolverines collapse to in state rival Michigan State but who also went 2-5 in his picks. Don't fret Ryan, it's not how you start, it's how you finish right? Even if your start is historically bad! Looking ahead to this weekend's match ups it looks like it should be a calm, by the book slate of games in the Big 10. But if 2021 has taught us anything, nothing in college football is certain.  Ohio State @ Nebraska  - The Frost curse continues in Lincoln. Nebraska lost their 3rd game a row and 6th overall by a one possession score, falling to Purdue 28-23 thanks in large part to Adrian Martinez four interception day. Nebraska has already played three top 10 teams in Oklahoma, Michigan State and Michigan, losing all three by a combined 13 points. With #5 Ohio State coming to town everything points to a 4th loss to a top 10 team on the horizon for ...

 The first 2021 College Football Rankings came out last night, and while they are sure to change in the coming weeks (a lot of football still to be played) the committee continued showing their SEC bias and made one thing very clear; your losses may hurt you, but Alabama's don't count.  I wrote a paper in my creative writing class my freshman year of college titled the B.S. in the B.C.S. highlighting all of the issues with having a computer decide who were the two best teams in college football. I didn't feel like it was a great way for one of the biggest sports leagues in the country to decide a champion. Sixteen years later and I find myself having similar thoughts, only this time it's with the limited four team playoff that the NCAA decided on in 2014, where the decisions are up to a committee. The recent rankings highlight many of the issues I have. The rankings were as followed: Selected 1. Georgia (8-0) 2. Alabama (7-1) 3. Michigan State (8-0) 4. Oregon (7-1) Out ...

I was sitting on the couch with my fiancé when Michigan was up 30-14, she looked at me and said "Hey they're doing great!" Without skipping a beat I just shook my head and responded "I've seen this game before." I'm not sure how I can further illustrate how frustrating it is to be a Michigan fan right now, we were winning the game 30-14 and as I sat there I knew - to my very core that we were going to lose that game. The way it had unfolded, settling for field goals, defensive mistakes, big drops in the passing game, overthrows in the end-zone, this was such a Harbaugh coached big game.  When I was doing my preview for the Big Ten week 9 games I posted that I was planning on doing an in depth preview of the Michigan vs Michigan State game, I decided against that because what I wrote on the preview was perfect. It wasn't going to be about the Jimmy's and the Joe's, it was going to come down to the X's and the O's.  The Jimmy'...