THE USB Roundtable: Benjamin/Nelson Injuries, Slumping Dodgers, Perfect Ohio St

In this edition of the Ultimate Sports Blog Roundtable, Steve Cook, Dustin James, and myself discuss big injuries to top wide receivers, the slumping Los Angeles Dodgers, and Ohio State going undefeated.

1. Bigger injury for their team: Jordy Nelson or Kelvin Benjamin?

Steve Cook: Easily Kelvin Benjamin. Jordy's a better wide receiver, but Aaron Rodgers can throw it to whoever's out there & the Packers offense won't miss a beat. He's still got a WR1 in Randall Cobb. Who does Cam Newton have other than Kelvin Benjamin? Greg Olsen? Lambert will probably talk up this Devin Funchess kid, but I'm not buying it until I see it. Rodgers will keep doing what he does: throw all over the place & score tons of points, and Newton will keep doing what he does: run for his life thanks to having no receivers & no offensive line. 

Jeremy Lambert: IT'S KELVIN BENJAMIN! THE ONLY CORRECT ANSWER IS KELVIN BENJAMIN! AARON RODGERS IS GOING TO BE FINE PASSING TO RANDALL COBB AND WHOEVER ELSE THEY HAVE! CAM NEWTON THROWS EVERY BALL TEN FEET TOO HIGH BUT KELVIN BENJAMIN IS A MONSTER WHO CAN GO UP AND CATCH IT! NOW WHO IS GOING TO CATCH IT? SIGN RANDY MOSS!!!!!

Dustin James: This one is easy. It's Kelvin Benjamin. Jordy Nelson's loss is a big one for Green Bay, but they have guys who can step in and make up for his production like Randall Cobb and Davante Adams. Plus, Aaron Rodgers is the best quarterback in the National Football League and you could give him the Cleveland Browns' wide receivers and he would make them look like gold. The Packers will definitely miss Nelson, but they will be fine in the long haul. The Carolina Panthers on the other hand are really going to be feeling the loss of Kelvin Benjamin. It's no secret that Cam Newton is not near the quarterback that Rodgers is and he needs all the help he can get. Benjamin had an excellent rookie year and all signs were pointing towards him continuing to be a major impact in the Panthers offense and then boooooom. Now who is left to replace his production? The unproven rookie Devin Funchess? Ted Ginn? Jerricho Cotchery? Yikes. Just when I was starting to feel good about the future of Cam Newton, this comes along. I'm sorry Panthers fans. 

2. Will the Los Angeles Dodgers win the NL West?

SC: The Dodgers are certainly in a bad way right now, going 5-10 in their last 15 games. The trades they made to acquire the likes of Mat Latos & Alex Wood haven't really panned out. The bullpen is a mess, the offense is non-existent, and everybody expects the Giants to pass the Dodgers in the standings any day now. We've been expecting it all season, really. But it's not like the Giants have been setting the world on fire either, losing series to St. Louis & Pittsburgh last week. They get Chicago & St. Louis this week while the Dodgers will look to pad their division lead in Cincinnati against the sorry, no-account Reds before hosting the Cubs.

I expect the Dodgers to retain the division lead for now. The teams' schedules are fairly equal, with a lot of intra-division games for both teams before the season ends, including 3 games between the 2 teams in Los Angeles & 4 games in San Francisco. The Giants have 3 more games at home than the Dodgers do, and I think the teams are equal enough that that will make the difference, especially since the Dodgers have a woeful road record this season while the Giants are acceptably mediocre outside of San Fran. Giants take the NL West. 

JL: They're faltering right now, but the Giants aren't doing much better. Both teams have series coming up with the Cubs, but the Giants have to face the Cardinals while the Dodgers get the Reds before they play a three game series against each other. I'll assume that the Dodgers will have more momentum heading into that series since they should handle the Reds while the Giants might struggle with the Cardinals. I always overrate the Dodgers, I'm pretty sure I picked them to be in the World Series last year, so I'm going to continue to overrate them and predict that they'll hold on to the division crown. 

DJ: Yes. The Dodgers are slumping right now, but they will get things turned around soon. If not, it wouldn't be the first time I've been wrong about a baseball division race. 

3. True or False: Ohio State will go undefeated this season.

SC: Let's take a look at the schedule & find out.

At Virginia Tech: Never easy to go into Blacksburg & get a win, but after last year's loss to the Hokies you gotta know the Buckeyes will be more than ready for this one. 1-0

Versus Hawaii, Northern Illinois & Western Michigan: 4-0, nothing to see here.

At Indiana: Every time I make fun of IU's football program Dustin James has flashbacks to the time they beat Oregon & gets really upset. But 5-0.

Versus Maryland: The Terps are legit in basketball, but this isn't basketball. 6-0.

Versus Penn State: Could be a challenging one. I think the Nittany Lions keep it close but OSU pulls it out late. 7-0.

At Rutgers: Come on now. I vote we take this off the schedule & put Wisconsin on to make things more interesting. 8-0.

Versus Minnesota, At Illinois: 10-0.

This is where things get real interesting...

Versus Michigan State: Sparty is ranked #5 in the preseason. We never really know if that means anything in August, but they're usually in Big 10 title contention & there's no reason to currently think that this game won't have playoff implications. Close, low-scoring game that I'm giving to the Buckeyes to make things more dramatic... 11-0.

At Michigan: That team up North. They've lost 10 of the last 11 times they've met the Buckeyes, but this is the first time they'll be coached by the man himself, Jim Harbaugh. You have to figure that Harbaugh will get the Wolverines on the right track, but will this year be soon enough for Michigan to beat Ohio?

Yeah, why not. It's just the kind of crazy thing that happens at the end of college football seasons. 11-1. My answer to the question is False.

JL: If they get by Virginia Tech on the road, things become pretty easy until the last two games on the schedule where they have to play Michigan St. and Michigan. I don't think they're going to win both of those games. Michigan St. should be good this season, they're ranked #5 in the preseason polls and our own Dustin James has them losing only one game this year, to Ohio St. That should be a close and competitive game though. Then there's Michigan under new coach Jim Harbaugh. That game is going to be treated as the biggest game of the year by just about everyone and Harbaugh is going to have the entire state fired up. Winning those games back-to-back is going to be extremely tough and I'm not sure Ohio St. will be able to do it, especially since some of those easy games will be tougher than expected given that the Buckeyes are the defending champs. 

DJ: True. Anyone who saw the Ohio State Buckeyes dismantle Marcus Mariota and the Oregon Ducks last year in the National Championship saw how good the Buckeyes are when it matters. Well I have bad news for everyone in college football. BASICALLY THAT WHOLE ENTIRE TEAM IS RETURNING! Ohio State is so loaded right now, they have three guys who could all start at QB for them and lead them to another National Title. It's just ridiculous. If anyone has a shot at beating Ohio State, it's going to be a team that they take lightly during the regular season, but as far as the post-season goes....this team is winning another National Title. Might as well start the celebration parade right now.