Nado’s Notions is back for a fourth season. May the winning ways continue. First, let’s check the records.
Collectively, that gives me a record of 113-92-4, a winning percentage of 55%.
No time to rest of my laurels now as a new season is upon us. How about some action for Week 0?
Wyoming Cowboys @ Illinois Illini | August 27 | 3:00 PM CT | Memorial Stadium (Champaign, IL)
Line: Illinois -10 | Total: 46
If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen this pick.
I don’t expect these two teams to light up the scoreboard based on the stats above. However, we can take a deeper look.
In 2021, Wyoming had a healthy 5.8 yards per play. However, the Cowboys did not play a single team from a Power 5 conference. Illinois presents a step up in class. For all their flaws, the Illini D stiffened up towards the end of 2021. Their final three opponents, Minnesota, Iowa, and Northwestern, were all held to under 300 yards of offense.
As mentioned, Wyoming finished 2021 with one of the worst passing offenses in FBS. Things could get even worse as starting quarterback Sean Chambers and leading Isaiah Neyor both transferred out. Neyor, who will be playing at Texas, is a significant loss as he had 12 of the team’s 15 receiving touchdowns.
The Illinois offense had troubles of their own in 2021. The Illini averaged 20.2 points per game and 327 yards of offense per game, both ranked #111 among FBS teams.
Illinois is also not settled at the quarterback position as Artur Sitkowski and Syracuse transfer Tommy DeVito will battle it out. Neither has had a stellar career up to this point. DeVito had a solid 2019 season at Syracuse that saw him throw for 19 touchdowns and only 5 interceptions. However, there was a decline in 2020, and he was ultimately benched three games into the 2021 season. Sitkowski struggled in 2021, only completing 50% of his passes before his season was ended early due to a shoulder injury.
Illinois running back Chase Brown is the real deal and I expect the offense to revolve around him. Brown finished the 2021 season with over 1,000 rushing yards at a clip of 5.9 yards per carry. His rushing success leads me to believe the Illini will lean on him to lead the offense. In 2021, Illinois ran the ball 57% of the time, which was 31st in the FBS.
A run-heavy offense is conducive to low scoring, so I am going under 46.
OUTTA HERE!
Clarknado Sports 