Stock Up / Stock Down: CJ Stroud silences doubts, Luke Fickell gets signing win, Wisconsin drops to 1-3

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As for the Buckeyes, stocks are up across the board this week.

Ohio State beat expectations on both sides of the ball against Rutgers, ending a game in which he was only favored by a few touchdowns with a margin of victory of 39 points.

Several other Big Ten powers have increased their stock as well, with teams like Iowa, Penn State and Michigan all remaining undefeated in five games this weekend.

The same can’t be said of many other top-tier programs, however, and we’re looking at both sides of the equation today as we keep you updated on which college football stocks to buy and sell.

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CJ Stroud

There will be no more debate on who should be QB1 in Columbus.

After a week off that CJ Stroud said gave him both time to heal and to think, the freshman in the red shirt was dazzled in New Jersey, throwing for 330 yards and five touchdowns, with just one more failure than he scored on Saturday.

Finally armed with confidence and momentum, Stroud has the sixth-best overall QBR (85.3) and passer rating (181.9) in the country, the latter stat being higher than any full season for Justin Fields. , Dwayne Haskins, JT Barrett or Braxton Miller under center for the State of Ohio.

Stroud is at the head of the nation’s No. 2 total offensive, and it feels like the unit is just starting to take off.

Defense of the State of Ohio

The much-maligned and often-criticized defense of the state of Ohio suddenly followed the Buckeyes’ back-to-back performances.

Keeping Akron at seven points wasn’t something Ohio State could really use as a calling card, but giving just six points to a three-quarter-improved Rutgers team certainly is. Without the Scarlet Knights’ 125 offensive yards on Buckeye’s fourth-quarter saves, Ohio State could have kept Rutgers below 300 yards for the game.

Denzel Burke, Tommy Eichenberg and Ryan Watts all intercepted passes, Burke returning his own for a touchdown to give Buckeye’s secondary his third pick six in the last three games.

Reliable contributors have started to assert themselves in the Buckeyes’ starting roles, and the team has undoubtedly benefited from that over the past two weeks.

RELATED Film Study: How Ohio State Turned Into A Double Deep Defense In As Many Weeks

Luc Fickell

The former Ohio State defensive coordinator is no longer without a real signing victory.

Cincinnati has been nothing short of stellar since the start of the 2018 season – Luke Fickell’s second at the helm – but even with a 35-6 record in that stretch before Saturday, the Bearcats hadn’t beaten a ranked opponent. outside conference outside the army. .

Fickell and his company topped Indiana with two touchdowns a few weeks ago, but a 24-13 victory over No. 9 Notre Dame was even better. Desmond Ridder and the Bearcats verified the legitimacy of their No.7 ranking and rose to No.5 in Sunday’s AP poll, marking the program’s highest peak since Brian Kelly coached the team in 2009.

Fickell’s stock continues to soar as former Buckeye has Ohio’s top-ranked team for the fourth week in a row, and quite possibly a true college football playoff contender.

Iowa

Maryland entered the weekend with flashy offensive numbers to boast and an unbeaten record to boot. It all meant nothing on Friday.

The Hawkeyes forced seven turnovers from Terrapin in the inter-divisional game, including six interceptions and five from Taulia Tagovailoa alone. But we already knew that Iowa’s defense was among the best in the country.

What we didn’t necessarily know was that the Hawkeye offense could come alive to the pace of a 51-point performance. Spencer Petras had the best night of his career with 259 passing yards and five total touchdowns, and Kirk Ferentz and his company appropriately jumped to No.3 in the AP poll for their efforts.

Iowa is class of the Big Ten when it comes to the standings right now, and with an upcoming clash with Penn State on the schedule, they’ll have the opportunity to prove it on the court as well.

Michigan

If the Wolverines aren’t real this year, they make it pretty hard to tell.

After giving up their last two clashes with Wisconsin in a rather deflated fashion – not to mention losing five of the last seven games in the series – Michigan secured a victory over the Badgers for the first time in three years.

The win might not age as impressively as Wisconsin continues to slide, but the Wolverines nonetheless took a three touchdown win at Madison, giving Jim Harbaugh a 5-0 start to the year.

Michigan is back in the AP’s top 10, and with games against Nebraska and Northwestern on the horizon, it seems likely that the Wolverines will only continue to climb in the coming weeks if they stay on. the right path.

State of pennsylvania

The Nittany Lions proved once again on Saturday why this year is so different from 2020.

Michael Penix Jr. of Indiana put on one of the most memorable plays of the past year to bring down Penn State and start the Hoosiers’ rapid rise. But on Saturday, Penix couldn’t muster a single point of offense as Indiana fell 24-0 to a Penn State team that ranks No.4 in the country.

Auburn is the only one of the Nittany Lions’ first five opponents to score 20 points, as Penn State now has the third best defense in the country, allowing just 12 points per game.

James Franklin’s running game stuttered at times, but Sean Clifford continues to have a year-long career as a quarterback, and Penn State could make some noise as a CFP candidate if he can pull off victories against Iowa and Ohio State in the coming weeks.

Falling stock

Paul chryst

For the first time in more than 30 years, Wisconsin has won just one of its first four games at the start of the season.

That’s right, the Badgers have been 1-3 to start their schedule since 1990, and Paul Chryst is now 5-8 in his last 13 games stretching back to the last two games of the 2019 season. .

Two seasons ago, Wisconsin beat Michigan 35-14, and last year they beat the Wolverines 49-11. But a week after a total fourth-quarter collapse that resulted in a 41-13 loss to Notre Dame, the Badgers were beaten 38-17 by Corn and Blue.

Chryst told media after the game that he should be absorbing the heat instead of his players, and that he might just score a point.

Oregon

Maybe Oregon isn’t as good as we thought it was.

The Ducks suffered their first loss of the season on Saturday, and the 31-24 overtime loss to unranked Stanford was enough to drop them from No.3 domestically to No.8, a spot short of the Buckeyes, which Oregon defeated. just three weeks ago.

Worse still for Oregon, star running back CJ Verdell suffered a “fairly significant” leg injury in the game, according to head coach Mario Cristobal. Since the Ducks are only the 82nd in the country in passing attack, the loss of their best forward could be embarrassing for the future.

Oregon doesn’t have a single ranked opponent left on their schedule, and that could work for or against the Ducks by the end of the regular season.

Florida

The Gators lost several games for the 12th consecutive season.

Florida were a failed two-point conversion away from potentially sending things into overtime with Alabama just a few weeks ago, but now Dan Mullen and his company have given up two of their last three games as no. . 10 Florida were beaten 20-13 by unranked Kentucky on Saturday.

The grounds were stormed and couches were set alight in the streets of Lexington on Saturday as the Gators’ CFP hopes went up in smoke.

Clemson

Yes, Clemson won on Saturday. Yes, DJ Uiagalelei finally broke his streak of less than 200 yards with the pass. But no, the Tigers didn’t increase their stock with a 19-13 victory over Boston College.

In fact, Clemson dropped out of the AP poll for the first time since 2014 because it might have been a bad shotgun blast to suffer his third loss of the season on Saturday.

Clemson’s offense has now scored under 20 points in three of its five games this season, and two of the team’s three wins this year have been just six points to unranked opponents.



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