 |
Spartans RB
T.J. Duckett
|
Each week during the season, Joel Buchsbaum highlights key college games. This week,
Buchsbaum previews Michigan State vs. Notre Dame, Arkansas vs. Alabama and USC vs. Oregon.
He breaks down each team, provides a scout’s perspective on key players and picks a
final score.
Last week there were at least three games every true college football fan would have
bent over backward to see, but this week there really are no exciting matchups on the
board, with the following games serving as the best of a mediocre lot.
| Michigan State
vs. Notre Dame |
Saturday, Sept. 22
at South Bend, Ind. |
Notre Dame is a good team, not a great team. The Fighting Irish are very
deep in a lot of areas, but they don’t have a lot of great impact players.
Michigan State has a great impact player in RB T.J. Duckett, who has the speed and
explosiveness to be a much better back than Ron Dayne was at Wisconsin. The Spartans also
have a lot of talent at the other skill positions as well as veteran kickers. However,
losing CB Cedric Henry to academics really hurt their defense, and if pass rusher Ivory
McCoy can’t play with a foot injury, it will only compound the problem.
Last year, with a busload of talent left behind by Nick Saban, the Spartans had top-10
potential but did not even finish .500. Notre Dame had the type of season MSU was supposed
to have in what many felt would be a rebuilding year. This year the Irish have a handful
of potential draft picks, led by DEs Anthony Weaver and Grant Irons, but no surefire top
picks. A good season could put Weaver in that category, however.
Prediction: Michigan State 21, Notre Dame 20
Arkansas has ace RB Cedric Cobbs back, and while he has the potential to
be as good as anyone in the country, he is off to a terrible start because the entire
Razorbacks offense seems out of sync. He has been forced to make some great runs just to
get back to the line of scrimmage.
Alabama was a huge underachiever last year, still does not have a true No. 1
quarterback and has a lot of overhyped players who seemed to lose toughness last season.
While the Tide has some star players, it also has some areas where the starters can be
exploited.
On defense, the Razorbacks are solid but not super. They need to get more out of DE
Carlos Hall, an underachiever with great speed and athletic ability that does not transfer
to the field.
Prediction: Alabama 21, Arkansas 17
Since Oregon does not play Washington this season, this could be the
Ducks’ toughest game all year if USC plays up to its potential. Both teams are
strongest at the offensive skill positions. USC has QB Carson Palmer pitching to superfast
and talented Kareem Kelly and a host of other good receivers. At running back, Sultan
McCullough is a true gamebreaker whose brother played for Oregon. RB Malefou MacKenzie is
a big-time player as well. Defensively, the Trojans are not that big, but they are mobile.
Under former head coach Paul Hackett, the Trojans were the biggest underachievers in the
Pacific-10 Conference.
Oregon, on the other hand, has always overachieved under head coach Mike Bellotti. But
on paper, the Ducks are just not that good most years and not all they are hyped up to be
this year. Joey Harrington is no Heisman candidate at quarterback. He is technically
unsound and makes a lot of bad plays when he drops down and throws sidearm. However, when
his technique is good, he can be outstanding, but the problem is the Ducks get two
different Harringtons every game. At running back, the Ducks are very strong with Maurice
Morris and Onterrio Smith, but there are no Gary Zimmermans to block up front. On defense,
everyone up front except DE Seth McEwen has limited starting experience, but CB Rashad
Bauman leads an excellent secondary.
The game is in Eugene, Ore., where the home crowd gives the Ducks about a 10-point edge
to begin with.
Prediction: USC 17, Oregon 16 |
