2014’s 10 best college football performances, led by Ohio State’s Wisconsin beatdown
Good morning! Here’s your daily digest of college football news and stuff.
Ohio State repeat? Repeating as national champs is difficult, but Ohio State is in excellent position to do it, says resident team-previewing expert Bill Connelly. So it’s no surprise that the Buckeyes top our preseason Big Ten power rankings.
Speaking of that Buckeye domination, that 59-0 win over Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game really was the best performance you saw last year. Based on stats from Bill’s preview:
Top 10 performances of 2014 by Adj. Scoring Margin
1. Ohio State vs. Wisconsin (plus-86.5)
2. Alabama vs. Texas A&M (plus-72.8)
3. Arkansas vs. Nicholls State (plus-68.9)
4. Ohio State vs. Kent State (plus-67.8)
5. Clemson vs. NC State (plus-67.3)
6. TCU vs. Ole Miss (plus-64.4)
7. Ole Miss vs. Memphis (plus-63.7)
8. Oklahoma vs. Louisiana Tech (plus-61.9)
9. Michigan vs. Appalachian State (plus-61.1)
10. USC vs. Notre Dame (plus-60.3)
Lambo with SEC speed. Georgia Heisman contender Nick Chubb doesn’t tweet much. Now we know why.
Me "why don't you ever tweet or Instagram?" Chubb "You ever seen a Lamborghini commercial. don't gotta advertise." @NickChubb21
— Hunter Long (@hlong73) June 7, 2015
B1G Monday. Thanks in part to LeBron James, Monday was Ohio day at SB Nation, but the entire Big Ten is having a good week or so. The conference has picked up 19 commits since the weekend started, some of them highly touted.
Michigan landed three recruits, including a four-star running back and a linebacker from Jim Harbaugh’s Alabama camp. Michigan State got four commits — all defensive linemen — including a top-20 defensive tackle. Mark Dantonio was excited.
Future is BIG and shining today for the Spartans! Nay I say, it starts UP FRONT!#Fearsome4SomeComplete #Wildkits #V4MSU
— Mark Dantonio (@DantonioMark) June 8, 2015
Northwestern also got in on the action, picking up five commits, including two quarterbacks (though one could switch to receiver) on the same day.
More crootin’. Alabama cracks the 247Sports Composite top 10 by adding four-star LB Jaquan Yulee.
Schedulin’. Mississippi State is a good SEC team. UMass is one of the worst teams in the FBS. So naturally, the Bulldogs will be playing a 2016 non-conference game at UMass.
Horrible defense. Remember that time Lane Kiffin celebrated an Iron Bowl touchdown that hadn’t happened yet? Our Alabama site broke down the play in video form. The analysis was quite simple: “The only thing I can say about this is this is just terrible defense from Auburn.”
FSU QBs. Florida State has some questions at quarterback this year, but the Seminoles are set at quarterback in the near future. With that said, could they go against conventional wisdom and skip out on getting a QB in 2017?
Fake rivalry. Last week, UConn created a rivalry with UCF without telling its new “rival” about it. Some UConn and UCF fans discussed the “Civil Conflict.”
Previewing the ACC. The ACC is more wide open this year than it has been in a while. Dan Rubenstein and Ryan Nanni highlight Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech and ... Pitt (!) in this quick preview.
