How can Michigan be favored over anybody right now? How bad is Minnesota?

Yeah, Michigan is God awful and the fact that they are a double-digit favorite over Minny tells you how bad the Gophers are.  Minnesota is averaging less than 100 yards per game through the air, which puts them dead last among teams that make up the five power conferences.  But would I be willing to take Michigan and lay double digits?  Not on your life.  Two bad football teams here, and not sure how Michigan will respond to the damages from the iceberg their ship just hit.  If I were a betting man, I would stay away from this one.  

With Brady Hoke's ever expanding girth, perhaps Michigan AD Dave Brandon should have given away free tickets with every Diet Coke purchase instead of regular. Would this have made it easier for the season ticket and PSL owners to swallow?

What an embarrassment.  Where is the pride?  You seriously gave away pairs of Michigan football tickets for $3 Coke purchases?  I thought it was a joke when I first heard the news, until I figured out that you can’t make this sh*t up.  What kind of athletic director wouldn’t realize that this was PR suicide?  This was the final straw for Dave Brandon. 

What does Brady have to do now to save his job? Any non-Harbaugh candidate you think would be a good fit?

Short of Michigan beating Ohio State AND Michigan State AND winning AT LEAST 9 of their 12 regular season games, Hoke is out, and Brandon is out regardless.  If by some miracle, Brandon somehow survives, the top head coach candidate pool is going to shrink, as some of the top available coaches are not going to want to serve under him.  Non-Harbaugh coaching candidates, if/when Hoke is axed?  Gotta put Les Miles near the top of the list.  You could see Michigan go after Kevin Sumlin, but that may be a longer shot.  Other names being thrown out there aren’t going to knock anyone’s socks off, i.e. Buffalo Bills RB coach (and former Michigan running back) Tyrone Wheatley, Miami of Ohio head coach Chuck Martin, and LSU current offensive coordinator (and former Indiana head coach) Cam Cameron.

Gunner Keil was considered a top QB recruit from his class, are any other notable QBs from his year doing well?

Well, there is Jameis Winston, who continues to make quite the name for himself on and off the field.  Winston has made Maurice Clarett look like a sound decision maker.  Then there is Trevor Knight, who has a good shot of leading the Sooners to the CFB playoff.  Other big names include Missou QB Maty Mauk, Nebraska QB Tommy Armstrong, and former Oklahoma State starter (and current Illinois QB) Wes Lunt.  The undersized Mauk should become quite the QB before he leaves Missouri.

Another semi-quiet week nationally. What games and lines will you be watching?

UCLA at Arizona State, Missouri at South Carolina, and Oregon State at USC are three nice matchups.  Unfortunately, the UCLA-ASU game is probably the only one of the three that I will catch much of.  In terms of lines, I like USF getting 34 against Wisconsin – that’s the best bet on the board that I see.  USF is solid against the run and that spread looks like it’s 6 points too high.  I also like Oklahoma State (a 14 pt favorite) to roll Texas Tech Thursday night.  Tech just fired their DC and are in trouble against Mike Gundy’s overachieving OSU lite team.  Finally, I like Northwestern getting double digits (10 pts) on the road against State Penn.  I think the Wildcats keep that one close

Brent Baver knows more about college football than you. Click here for previous story OSU vs Cincy Preview.