⚡ CFB Dashboard

Love the write up and figured I have time to put some things out there. Good Offense Colandrea is really good for this offense. Yes, he has been pretty accurate since game one and has some speed to him, but I think its just more about opening up the playbook a bit that makes defenses a little easier to play against. Raiola is the better QB skillwise, but the way games were called (or audibled) with him at the helm felt much more predictable. Rule is going to be the real deal. I suspect he cross the 100 yard mark at least three times during B1G play, and I think I'm being conservative. That would give him 5 100yd+ games, and he likely makes it to at least 1k rushing on the year. That's something that hasn't happened since Ahman Green I believe. Mekhi is as good as I was hoping/expecting, but Rule was a massive surprise. The wide receivers and offensive line feel like they are better than last year. I think probably "medium" better...not as much as I had hoped bringing in Geep, but enough to make the change a clear win. Defense The defensive line feels better to me than it does for a lot on here. I think North Dakota's starters are as good as some of the lower-middle B1G line. I am not a line guy, so I could be off-base, but I just don't think Maryland, Rutgers, or possibly Michigan State will be that far off talent-wise. We have kept explosive plays so low. Mid-tier B1G teams are rarely offensive juggernauts, so I am hopeful this can continue outside of teams like Ohio State, Indiana, and Oregon. Bad Offense Colandrea's low release is starting to worry me. We haven't played world beaters on defense and at least three of his passes were knocked down. I just think a defender is going to be able to bring that ball down with them one of these times. I was a little concerned with how we looked against North Dakota. We still put up 500 yards and scored 34 points, but that lull in the second quarter shouldn't be happening in game 3 against an inferior opponent. Defense While the leaky plays don't stay piling up, they do still pile for a little while. Against better competition that could lead to points that we have avoided so far. There have been a couple delayed releases that looked pretty open that the QB missed due to pressure. That pressure is less likely against stiffer competition, and I could see some big plays happening because of it. Ugly The competition makes all of this really hard to judge. Ohio this year is not the Ohio of previous years (though I think it's also important to remember that the Ohio we played is also not the Ohio so far this year with them being on a dinged up second string QB already). A completely rebuilt Iowa State team had an eerily similar statistical game against Bowling Green this week. The penalties have been backbreaking. It's less the penalty themselves, but the fact that they have cost us massive gains and scores. In closer games, that can really affect morale as heavily as the scoreboard. Overall I was pretty bullish on this year going with 8 wins before the season and 9-4 with the bowl game. I am leaning towards a 9 win regular season, but I need to see it against Michigan State and Maryland. If we can make offensive calls like we did against Bowling Green (especially in the first half), I think we will surprise some people.