Cole Tollison

Tolly’s Top 25 – Post Week 7

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My ballot for the AP Top 25 – If they let me have one

I have some short explanations for my picks in groups of 5 from 1 to 25. Then, at the bottom, I have the top 25 all in one list with the AP rankings in parentheses. I’m closer to the AP than I expected, but there are still a couple of major disagreements between our lists. 

Top 5

1 – Michigan
2 – Washington
T-3 – Penn State
T-3 – Ohio State
5 – Georgia

Michigan is the only team that has blown out every single opponent they’ve played. Their schedule is hot garbage, but they’ve done what good teams do to bad schedules: dominate.

Washington has the new “best win in the country” designation. And outside of a pesky Arizona game, they’ve been as dominant as Michigan against their schedule.

Penn State looks like the better team to me, but Ohio State has the better resume (the Notre Dame win on the road). I couldn’t decide, and they play this week. I’ll sort it out then.

Georgia has looked good exactly once: the destruction of Kentucky. Every other game they’ve started slow, had running game issues, …

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Time for the B1G… I Mean Pac-12, to Shine. – Week 7 Preview

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Offense #1 vs Offense #2, USC’s first real test, and A West Championship Game.

It’s the Pac-12’s week to dominate the CFB landscape. The top 2 teams in the conference have a record setting showdown in the PNW. USC gets to show the country if they can win against good teams despite choosing not to play defense. It appears that this week we went heavy on the good primetime games. Noon is lacking, but after 6 pm there are so many good games I don’t have time to cover all of them. 

But let’s address the title for a moment. Washington, Oregon, USC, and Notre Dame are the headliners this week. That effectively makes this a Big 10 week. The Pac-12 schools are joining the conference next year, and Notre Dame will come along eventually. It might be 2 years, 20 years, or 200, but ND will be in the B1G one day. It just feels inevitable. 

At the bottom, I have my picks for the week.  I was dreadful last week going 1-10 ATS. As bad as that was, I’m now .500 on the season. This week’s pick will determine if I’m on the winning or losing side for …

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Wisco Wednesday: Might the Badgers Actually be Good? 

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Still undefeated all time vs. Rutgers. The first team to 15 points wins this week. Mordecai can run now?

The Badgers play the Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday. It’s easily the most important game of the season. I know they play Ohio State too, but no one is expecting Fickell to win that game, and that’s okay. The Iowa game matters the most for showing improvement from last year and for how the B1G West is going to shake out. But first, let’s go back and look at some of the keys to the homecoming win over Rutgers. 

Looking Back: Great Defense, Poor Passing, Terrible Snaps.

Rutgers 13
Wisconsin 24

Ricardo Hallman

Give Ricardo his flowers, he had a hell of a game. The 95 yard pick-six couldn’t have come at a better time. It was near the end of the 2nd quarter, and Rutgers still had some life. They drove down the field, were at the 5, and expected to score. That would’ve made it a 3 point game going into halftime. 

Instead, it’s 17-0. All the wind left Rutgers’ sails. Hallman effectively ended the game. 

On top of his INT, Hallman played well for the entire game. He was …

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2 Loss Saban or 2 Loss Fisher, Who Needs the Win More? – Week 6 Preview

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The Red River Shootout, B1G Noon, and SEC Ranked vs. Ranked action. Why must all good things be at 11 AM?

It’s an SEC heavy week, so don’t make any Saturday plans with your buddies down south – unless of course football is involved. Not only are there 3 big SEC matchups this week, but future SEC members have the best game of the week. 11 AM (CT) is the best TV window this week, and I’ll explain why shortly. Who loses the CBS SEC 2:30 spotlight game will have season long ramifications. And, I look at the P5 conference races for those who want to renege on their preseason predictions. I know I have some picks I want back.

At the bottom, I have my picks for the week. I’m on a lot of road teams this week; I’m not sure how that happened. Last week was rough, but I didn’t do too bad for how many bad breaks I got. I was 4-4 ATS. Hopefully, this week goes a bit better. 

What is Interesting this Week? 

I’ll be attending the Wisconsin Homecoming game vs. Rutgers on Saturday morning (So I’m missing the good morning games). After that, the …

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Wisco Wednesday: Homecoming, There’s No Way Bucky Can Screw Up a Party

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What’s a Peacock? Iowa won with Wisco’s leftovers. Rutgers for Homecoming, maybe not my first choice.

Watch out Rutgers, this Wisconsin team had an extra week to prepare and isn’t satisfied with their results so far. They may be itching to make an example of someone. And Badgers, this isn’t the same old Rutgers, watch out. This is only Wisconsin’s second conference game of the season, but it’s their first opponent out of the East. Later on, I’ll talk about some East teams doing very well right now, but this is Wisconsin’s opportunity to prove the West isn’t all bad. If they get the win, they will double the West’s win total over their Eastern counterparts 

Looking Back: Wisco’s Week Off

Want to Read about the Purdue Game?

Check out last week’s Wisco Wednesday.  We covered the Purdue game (Boiler Down!) as well as other games that Badger fans might have had an interest in in week 4.

Bucky was on vacation,

And so is our looking back segment. Move on to the next part to read about what happened in the B1G last weekend.

Around College Football: 

Iowa fans, it’s time to panic.

Many of you likely didn’t watch …

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We Will Watch Deion, Win or Lose – Week 5 Preview

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The basketball schools dominate my CFB viewing plans. There are some upset possibilities this week. Even when Deion loses he’s still winning. 

Going into the season, I wrote about the games I thought would be the best in week 5. I was on the right path but missed the mark a little. I just couldn’t see the Deion effect being this all-encompassing. This is a shorter preview that mostly just covers the games I want to watch. Week 5 isn’t as good as week 4, but it’s possible no week will stand side by side with week 4 in quality until rivalry week. 

At the bottom, I have my picks for the week. Last week we absolutely killed it, going 7-1-1 ATS. Let’s see if I can keep the hot streak rolling.  

What I’ll be Watching this Week 

There is no Badger game this weekend, and I have no major plans. Guess I’ll just be lying around watching football all day. 

  • Odds listed refer to spreads taken from FanDuel at the time of writing

11:00 AM CST:
Deion overshadows some good games

There are some solid morning games this week. But let’s be honest. If you have football on, …

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Wisco Wednesday: Time for a Break

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Wisconsin is the Lord of the Flies. Purdue wasn’t much of a threat. The Best QBs in the B1G are out West.

The Badgers handled business on Friday night, time for a long break before Homecoming. With next weekend being a bye week, I won’t have a game preview at the end of this week’s Wisco Wednesday. Also, I don’t have as much to say about the Purdue game as previous games this season. I think most of us have an idea of who the Badgers are right now; we just want to see consistent improvement now. 

With that in mind, this will be a shorter Wisco Wed piece. Without further introduction, let’s get into it. 

Looking Back: Offense is improving faster than Defense

Wisconsin 38
Purdue 17

WOF attended the game in West Lafayette last Friday, and it was a fantastic experience. 

The cliff notes: Ross-Ade was great, the massive video board put NFL stadiums’ to shame, the fans around town were super nice, selling beer in the stadium is great, Purdue fans stand more and are louder than Wisconsin fans (recently), and Badger fans travel well.

Shout out to Lana from Colorado who tailgated with us. 

Long Live

…

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Saturday, Saban, and Sanders, Everything You Want and More – Week 4 Preview

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What is it about a little number next to a team name that makes us want to watch them more?

Texas at Alabama was the most anticipated game of the year – that can’t be disputed. But, week 4 is definitely the best full weekend of the year so far. And it’s not close. I wouldn’t be surprised if this ends up being the best week of the whole season (rivalry week is still pretty great). Going into the season, I wrote about the games I thought would be the best in week 4. Check it out if you want to see what the storylines going into the season were. 

There is a packed Saturday full of great games. Let’s start with the ones everyone wants to hear about.  

Ranked vs. Ranked 

Ranked on ranked violence, that’s what the fans want. People need to be told who matters and who doesn’t. It makes life easier for them. Are there other games that matter? Sure. But that’s not why we’re here. We’re here for two reasons:

  1. Ranked vs. ranked games are usually darn good games.
  1. A ranked team loses no matter what, and we love watching the big brands go
…

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Wisco Wednesday: Ready or Not, Here Comes B1G Football

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So how about that Defense? At least the “No Turnovers” streak is over.

Ready or not should be the expression of the week. Wisconsin has better players than Purdue. But, based on what we saw over the first 3 weeks, the Badgers do not look ready to go on the road in conference. 

Looking Back: A Jekyll and Hyde Defense. Yards and Turnovers.

Georgia Southern 14
Wisconsin 35

BUCKY GOT A TURNOVER! WOO!

They actually got 6!

The streak has ended. After 2 games without a turnover, Wisconsin got six. But, were they earned? Kind of? All 6 turnovers were on Georgia Southern QB, Davis Brin, and I think he deserves blame more than Wisconsin deserves credit. Some were bad throws because the Wisconsin D-Line was generating pressure, and some were just bad throws. 

Brin threw 5 picks and fumbled once. Watching the game, most of the picks were thrown right to Badger defenders. They didn’t so much “make a play on the ball,” it was more “they caught the ball that hit their hands.”

So yeah, 6 turnovers is great, and it takes skill to catch INT’s and secure loose fumbles, but it wasn’t impressive. More so just something …

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Tolly’s Top 25 – Post Week 3

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My ballot for the AP Top 25 – If they let me have one

I have some short explanations for my picks in groups of 5 from 1 to 25. Then, at the bottom, I have a list of 1-40. I went 40 deep to show what my personal “others receiving votes” section would look like. 

We got some upsets in week 3, so there was plenty of movement. And realize that teams can move based on wins they got earlier in the year – wins over Florida look better now, right?

We’re mixing things up with the top 25 this week. I think we know most of the teams at the top, so I decided to go top-down this week. I also have quite a bit to say at the bottom due to a certain team falling more than I ever thought they could. I guess it’s true: the bigger they are, the harder they fall. 

Top 5

1 – Florida State
2 – Georgia
3 – Texas
4 – Penn State
5 – Washington

I feel like I need to explain myself here. LSU is good, really really good. So I HAVE TO have Florida State #1. That …

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