🏈 🔵 Previewing The Big Ten & SEC Title Bouts
Buckle up, college football fans. We're treated to two, separate top-five matchups on Saturday with College Football Playoff byes on the line.
Welcome to Blue Chip Journal by Adam Breneman — a 2x per-week newsletter with analysis, hot takes, and news on all things college football, NIL, and recruiting. Subscribe now and join nearly 13,000 other sports fans, and share this newsletter with all the college football fans you know!
My College Football Stock Report
Trending Upwards 📈
Jadarian Price
Running Back, Notre Dame
While shifty Jeremiyah Love leads the Fighting Irish’s backfield with nearly 950 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns, burner Jadarian Price has steadily morphed into his own throughout Notre Dame’s last four matchups.
Price amassed 12 carries in his squad’s 49-35 victory over USC and compiled 111 yards on over nine yards per rush.
The Texas native is now up to 7.3 yards per attempt on the season, with a gaudy 8.6 yards per carry clip since November 9.
Quarterback Riley Leonard threw for just 155 yards in the victory, but with Price and Love heading the backfield, he simply tasked with managing contests accordingly.
Illinois’ Late-Season Success
Bret Bielema’s confident squad took down Northwestern 38-28 at Wrigley Field on Saturday afternoon, bringing its season win total to nine after an eventful rivalry weekend.
The Fighting Illini won three-straight in November to cap off their most successful season since 2007, with two of their three defeats coming to squads ranked in the AP top three.
Illinois’ newfound success under Bielema continued with in-state recognition and commitment this Wednesday on National Signing Day.
Three of Bielema’s top five rated signees hail from the Land of Lincoln, proving his newfound ability to keep Illinois’ most heralded prospects in-state.
Oregon’s National Signing Day
Speaking of sustained success on the recruiting trail, Oregon head coach Dan Lanning’s National Signing Day haul took the word “elite” to an entirely different level.
The Ducks were able to flip a pair of five-star prospects in quarterback Jaron Keawe and cornerback Na’eem Offord, with the latter selecting Oregon over Ohio State.
In a conversation with CBS Sports, Offord spoke highly of Nike co-founder Phil Knight, who’s morphed into an NIL mogul for the Ducks.
“He played a big role, like a huge, big role [in my recruitment],” Offord said on Knight. “… He’s going to help me make my [own] shoe.”
The rich continue to get richer in the NIL era, with the nation’s top-ranked squad showing zero signs of slowing down anytime soon.
This newsletter is presented by... PrizePicks
PrizePicks is the easiest way to play daily fantasy. Getting started is very simple — register for an account, make a deposit, and pick more or less on 2-6 player stats to win payouts of up to 25x!
This season, place a $5 lineup, and use code “AdamB” to instantly earn $50 in bonus bets. Click on the link below to get started today!
Trending Downwards 📉
Nebraska’s Pregame Antics
Prior to kickoff at Kinnick Stadium between Nebraska and Iowa, the Cornhuskers may have stretched the fabric of “Rivalry Weekend” too far.
As three Iowa captains extended their arms for a pregame handshake ahead of the coin toss, Nebraska’s team leaders failed to return the gesture, and stood without mutual recognition.
The instance, which Iowa fans are now deeming as “Handshake Gate,” resulted in fire from the Iowa defense directly out of the gate.
“It probably wasn’t a good idea to not shake our hands,” linebacker Jay Higgins uttered to Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule during the game.
Ultimately, the Hawkeyes held Nebraska to just 10 points, winning 13-10 by picking up only five first downs. That’s Big Ten football.
South Carolina, Miami, & Ole Miss’s Playoff Chances
The final College Football Playoff ranking reveal of the regular season hit the press on Tuesday evening, leaving many squads on the outside of conference championship matchups in wonder of their looming postseason chances.
To the surprise of most fans, Alabama came in at No. 11 in the poll, ahead of arguably “more deserving” teams in the form South Carolina, Miami, and Ole Miss.
The Gamecocks rattled off six-straight wins dating back to October 19, but according to College Football Playoff Committee Chairman Warde Manuel, there’s nothing else they can do to plead their case.
“There’s nothing that’s going to change for us to evaluate them any differently than we have them now,” Manuel said on South Carolina, Miami, and Ole Miss.
Even with the heightened, 12-team field, teams are still feeling the brute effects of narrowly missing the dance.
Best Position Battle Of The Weekend
Penn State’s Edge Rushers vs. Oregon’s Tackles 💪
Dan Lanning’s starting tackles, Josh Conerly Jr. and Ajani Cornelius, reside as two of the most dominant offensive cornerstones of any front nationally.
The Big Ten awarded Conerly as a first-team all-conference commodity this week, with Cornelius granted as a third-team selection.
However, both anchors on the edge have yet to see a pass rush as daunting as the Nittany Lions’, headlined by Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, Abdul Carter.
The self-proclaimed “Big Ten Bully” became the first Penn State defender to collect 10 or more sacks since Carl Nassib’s senior tear in 2015.
Moreover, Carter has helped the Nittany Lions bring collective pressure to the quarterback in just 2.3 seconds per snap, according to CBS Sports’ Josh Pate. That clip ranks first nationally among all FBS defenses.
Carter’s inside counter-mate, Zane Durant, will also attempt to punish Oregon’s stout interior. Durant picked up an All-Big Ten honorable mention distinction for his 35-tackle, three-sack campaign, which played a key role in holding opponents to only 3.12 yards per carry.
While Oregon is typically identified as an offensive juggernaut, the total for the Big Ten Championship is currently set at 50.5 points, per ESPN Bet.
The first team to 20 could likely take home the title in Indianapolis, in rugged, physical showdown between two top brands.
Hot Prediction Heading Into Championship Saturday 🔥
Georgia Takes Down Texas, Secures No. 2 Seed In College Football Playoff 🤯
Kirby Smart’s group took care of all it could handle last Friday in a 44-42, thrilling eight-overtime victory over in-state rival Georgia Tech.
While Texas’ defense didn’t give up an offensive score and bottled up Texas A&M’s attack in a 17-7 road win, I expect Georgia to get the better of the No. 2 Longhorns for the second time this season.
No matter how much it’s believed that the Bulldogs have regressed, and Texas has recently hit another gear, it’s important to remember a few, key metrics:
Georgia comfortably cruised to a dominant, 30-15 road win with quarterback Carson Beck at his absolute worst.
Beck completed just 56% of his passes for just 175 yards and tossed three interceptions in his team’s October 20 win. Still, Georgia put up 30 points behind a three-score day from Trevor Etienne, who’s “hopeful” to return from injury this weekend.
Defensively, Georgia’s front seven controlled Texas in the trenches. Texas was forced to throw it 49 times with zero sustained momentum stemming from the backfield.
The Longhorns picked up just 29 rushing yards in 27 attempts, averaging a mere 1.1 yards per go on the ground.
In the Bulldogs’ latest matchup against a top-10 team, Smart’s front limited No. 7 Tennessee to just 3.7 yards per carry on 39 attempts.
If Georgia’s rush defense can remain itself after an unsteady performance last weekend, I can’t see a Texas squad winning the conference title solely on the right arm of signal caller Quinn Ewers.
If you have any questions, comments, or feedback, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me by email at adam@brenemanmedia.com.
You can also find me on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn or Facebook.
Shoutout to Connor Krause for helping to write this newsletter and putting it together!
Interested in advertising with Blue Chip Journal? Email me.