JIMMY THE GREEK SAYS

[jimmythegreek]

Western Michigan -19.5 over Akron (bought half): -120
Yet another conference makes it’s long awaited debut in the MAC, where the Western Michigan Broncos take on the Akron Zips from Summa Field at IndoFision Stadium. In 2019, WMU finished second in the West Division at 7-6, 5-3 in the conference, falling to WKU 23-20 in the First Responder Bowl. Akron basically ran the table and went winless at 0-12 dropping all of their conference games as both these teams did not face each other. The Broncos averaged 33 points per contest last season while allowing 26. Akron on the other hand managed just 10.5 points on average, including getting shut out twice, both to Buffalo and Northern Illinois while giving up around 36 per contest.

In 2020 WMU will play just 6 regular season games before the MAC Championship is determined plus of course bowl eligibility consideration. Jon Wassink (241/407 3097 20 TD 8 INT) in 2019 led this Broncos offense, but Kaleb Eleby will take the reigns this season with just 5 games under his MAAC belt. Levante Bellamy led the Broncs in rushing last season (266-1472 5.5 23 TD) but has since taken his talents to a higher level of Broncos, that being of Denver in the NFL. Ladarius Jefferson looks to take the helm as the starting RB this season, a transfer from Michigan St along with Sean Tyler who rushed for nearly 400 yards last season. Skyy Moore (51-802 3 TD) led WMU in receiving last season and looks to reestablish himself as the #1 target. Giovanni Ricci (51-642 8 TD) matched Moore’s reception count and led the team in TD but has since moved on to Carolina in the NFL. Keith Mixon Jr (50-500 2 TD) was a solid third option but after graduation will likely be replaced by Dwayne Eskridge and Dashon Bussell. Head coach Tim Lester will likely keep the same frame of mind when it comes to the offense, utilizing and emphasizing the run first. That’s going to present a challenge to this Zips’ defense, who ranked near the bottom in the country surrendering 230 yards per game despite a respectable secondary against the pass. Elby completed 62.6 percent of his passes for 1,092 yards and four touchdowns with a 129.9 passer rating.

Kato Nelson (151/280 1820 11 TD 6 INT) needed to improve on his accuracy but nonetheless minimized his mistakes compared to his overall efficiency. Zack Gibson will look to get the nod this season. Gibson (41/82 425 1 TD 3 INT) was basically the #2 guy but saw a decent amount of action last season. The achillies heel for this offense is the lack of ground game where they averaged a paltry 54 ypg in 2019, including Brandon Lee who averaged below 3 yards per touch. Michiah Burton will likely get the nod as the workhorse in the backfield. Nate Stewart (37-529 3 TD) and Jeremiah Knight (31-430) were Nelson’s top beneficiaries, but the Zips only converted 12 scores through the air last season. Gavin Blunt and Tony Grimes JR will need to help pick up the slack if Akron is to stop their losing streak dating back to last season of 17 straight games. HC Tom Arth has his work cut out for him after an underwhelming recruited class. Zips will look to Nate Stewart (37-529 3 TD), Julian Hicks (32-212 2 TD), and Michael Mathison (31-243) to enhance the receiving core.

The Zips were just 100th in the FBS in passing offense in 2019 with an average of 195.6 yards per game. For Western Michigan, losing Bellamy and Wassink definitely hurts their offense but they have returning experience in the receiving corps. Akron’s offense is a work in progress and that’s putting it politely, although their pass defense looks to continue the road to respectability while their run efficiency and stoppage is another story. Western Michigan is better than anything Akron brings to the table coming into this season and that includes what the Broncos lost from last season.

I’ll have a second play coming up for Saturday later on.

 

[jimmythegreek]

(19) Oklahoma -38 over Kansas:
The 19th ranked Sooners (4-2 3-2) have won 3 straight all against conference foes including a 62-28 thrashing of Texas Tech (2-4 1-4) last week at Jones AT&T Stadium. Spencer Rattler (21-30 288 2 TD) threw a 4 yard scoring pass to Jeremiah Hall (2-12 1 TD) followed up by a 27 yard TD toss to Austin Stogner (3-77 1 TD) that got the Sooners out to a 35-7 lead early in the second quarter. Rhamondre Stevenson (13-87 6.7 3 TD) scored on runs of 2 from one yard and a third from 6, leading a Sooners ground attack that generated 213 rushing yards and 6 TD. Oklahoma’s defense forced 4 turnovers and sacked Henry Colombi (15/28 227 2 TD 2 INT) 3 times. Chadarius Townsend (6-68 11.2 1 TD) scored on a 36 yard TD run with the outcome well in hand to complete the scoring Sarodorick Thompson (4-28 7.0 1 TD) ran it in from 5 yards out to give TT its only lead early. OU returns home to Gaylord Oklahoma Memorial Stadium to take on a winless Kansas team (0-6 0-5) who despite the goose eggs is playing better than their record indicates. Iowa St upended Kansas 52-22 last week as Breece Hall (21-185 8.8 2 TD) ripped off scoring runs of 30 and 58 yards. Kene Nwangqu (5-57 11.4 1 TD) opened the scoring early with an 18 yard TD run while Brock Purdy (23/34 239 2 TD 1 INT) threw scoring passes of 36 yards to Xavier Hutchinson (5-87 1 TD) and Charlie Kolar (3-31 1 TD) that gave the Cyclones a 27-7 lead late in the first half. ISU held KU to just 73 rushing yards and 2 scores, while Jalon Daniels (16/29 185 1 INT) was subpar all afternoon and didn’t get much help from his receivers. Iowa St sacked Daniels 6 times, including 3 by Jaquan Bailey, and forced 3 turnovers in all including 2 lost fumbles.

Rattler (126/181 1806 17 TD 5 INT) seems to have righted the early season jitters, and has looked like the eventual seasoned veteran most in the Norman area has hoped to see. Rattler has a solid balanced receiving core led by Marvin Mins (23-388 6 TD), Theo Wease (23-337) and Stogner (22-335 2 TD). While the pass is the first order of priority when it comes to OU’s aerial attack, the Sooners also have a productive, efficient running game led by TJ Pledger (74-357 4.8 4 TD) and Seth McGowan (55-280 5.1 3 TD). Oklahoma averages nearly 44 points per contest and operates at a breakneck pace as Rattler has become the master of drawing opposing defenses offsides and tries to catch linemen and corners off guard. They are 9th in the country in total offense and 6th in team passing thanks to 352 yards per game overall. Kansas allows better than 46 points per game while allowing 457 yards per contest including 256 through the air. The Jayhawks struggle to produce takeaways as Jay Dineen has been contained at the line while Kenny Logan needs to provide better blanket coverage on his safety screen patterns. Kenny Logan leads KU with 44 tackles but the defense overall has recorded just 6 sacks and only 2 INT to date, so Rattler could easily expose a vulnerable secondary and take advantage.

The tandem of Daniels (61/108 546 2 INT) and Miles Kendrick (42/69 343 3 TD 4 INT) has proven unsuccessful in an offense that has averaged a shade over 16 ppg thus far. After Kwamie Lassiter (27-295 1 TD) and Andrew Parchment Paper (20-167 2 TD), depth becomes a major issue especially in the receiving core. Velton Gardner (72-325 4.5 2 TD) is the team workhorse in the backfield, but this offense ranks near the bottom in the country producing just 267 total yards per game. Now don’t get me wrong Oklahoma is no powerhouse when it comes to defense allowing 27 ppg and that includes a 48-0 goose egg against Missouri St, but they are tough against the run ranking 14th in the country allowing just 101 yards. Dashaun White and Nick Bonito each have 3.5 sacks, while Oklahoma has 18 overall in just 6 games thus far. Brian Assamoah has 36 tackles and can pound the box not permitting opposing backs to gain much ground.

Oklahoma feels like they are hitting their stride just past the midway pole and should be able to take advantage of a weak KU defense given Rattler loves to use tempo in their scheme. They are quick loading up and can also beat you with short yardage situations given their operative speed when it comes to cashing in successful drives. The return of Stevenson is only going to make the run game more explosive. The reason why Kansas isn’t doing well this season is that the Jayhawks have 37 true freshmen on the roster. Of those, 22 have appeared in at least one game. Furthermore, this program also has 67 underclassmen, which accounts for 60 percent of the roster. While there is a huge disparity in talent and styles in advantage on both sides of the ball clearly favoring Oklahoma, don’t be surprised if we see yet another lopsided score in the adventure we call the Big 12. Rattler should have his way all afternoon and I don’t see Lincoln Riley pulling the troops anytime soon given that OU is in the midst of hitting their stride.

Best of luck however you play!
YTD 4-10 .286 -7.60

 

[jimmythegreek]

Took me 10 weeks to earn the first sweep of the season! Now 8-0 on the week of Presidential elections predicted.

Congrats to all that followed!