I feel that the oddsmakers are really exaggerating the line here after South Carolina dominated a couple of Conference USA teams in UAB and East Carolina. Missouri meanwhile got a tough win with their star player missing time in QB James Franklin who is probably for Saturday. Missouri will challenge South Carolina's secondary that has 4 starters who combine for just 3 starts. South Carolina has not faced a team that can pass thus far and with injuries and a suspension in their secondary leaves them vulnerable despite their strong pass rush.
On the other side South Carolina has injury issues on offense as well with Connor Shaw, but he should start and the Gamecocks will look to pound the rock and that falls into the strength of Missouri who can obviously defend the rush holding Georgia to 3.2 ypc and only allowed 3.8 ypc last year. I expect Missouri which has a more balanced offense right now to have the advantage as long as Franklin is 90% like he has said. Missouri really surprised me in Georgia as I had Georgia as my big play a few weeks ago. They hung with Georgia for 3 quarters before Georgia pulled away.
Look for Missouri which has started the season passing more to scale it back a bit this week and run more despite South Carolina's issues in the secondary. South Carolina has one of the best pass rushes and Missouri will want to keep this game close and avoid the big mistakes. South Carolina meanwhile has been slow out of the gate this year and the longer you leave Missouri in the game the more confident they will get and they definitely have the talent to pull an upset here with the way South Carolina's secondary is lacking experience. Bottom line it's who can avoid the mistakes as both defenses are at the top of their game allowing 25% conversions on third downs. I'll trust Missouri's offense over South Carolina's offense in this one as they are more battle tested thus far and that should benefit them in this game.
Charlie Weiss has not been shy about his strategy this year and that is to milk the clock. last year Kansas defeated Northern Illinois at home 45-42 and Northern Illinois clearly is not the same team and neither is Kansas. If anything Kansas seems to have more of an idea while Northern Illinois just was gashed on the ground by Army. Kansas will return their best player in James Simms at RB and he should have field day. This will be a huge game for Kansas as they will continually not be favored the rest of the year. I think they can most certainly take this game with Sims returning and behind the big arm of Dayne Christ who almost led a little come back against TCU before he fumbled at the goal line. The Kansas defense is also #1 in the nation in forcing turnovers with 12 already and I think Jordan Lynch the QB of Northern Illinois will have more troubles than he had last week against Army. Remember Lynch is not left with a lot of help without a go to RB and a rebuilt offensive line that left with the departure of star QB Chandler Harnish.
Temple has been so close winning this rivalry game the last two years but have come up short. I think this is the year they can get the win. Yes last week was a nice win for Penn State, but now they are about to face a style of defense that won't benefit Matt McGloin. Temple also has an extra week to prepare for what's a huge in state rivalry game for them. They don't forget last year where they blew a 10-7 lead in the 4th quarter. Temples strength is their defense as they have produced a few NFL starters over the last few years, but their secondary is the strength this year with a senior dominated depth chart returning from a group that had more interceptions than passing TD's allowed a year ago. This falls into exactly what Penn State has been doing in passing the ball and I don't think they'll have the time they have had to throw the ball 40-50 times like they have the last few years.
Don't forget even after putting up 30+ points last week against a Navy team that can not get any sort of pass rush they are still ranked 98th in scoring. On the flip side Temple's offense has not shown much and has the extra time and preparation to add a few wrinkles. Coyer is a more capable passer than a year ago and I think Penn State's secondary is vulnerable to big plays and that's something you will see Temple try on Saturday.
