COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEKEND PREVIEW

by WCT, The Ship of Fools

It's week 9 people, and the schedule makers did not mess around. This weekend, including last night’s BC-VT tussle, includes six, count ‘em! SIX games that match ranked teams against each other. By the time we wake up on Sunday morning (or for many of us, Sunday afternoon) we will know a lot about some teams that we thought we knew a lot about before.

I don’t know what you came to do, but I came to preview some games!

(Times Eastern. Of course.)

West Virginia at Rutgers (Noon) – First of all, how is this a noon game? Wasn’t this a prime time match-up last year? The TV execs really don’t respect the Big East. Anyway, there is still a pretty good chance that Rutgers is the best team in the conference, and yet no one is talking about them since they lost a close one against Cincinnati. I have been shouting for weeks about how vulnerable and overrated I think WVU is, and I promise to stop if they win this game. But I doubt they will, take the Scarlet Knights at home.

South Florida at Connecticut (3:30 pm) – This game matches the #10 and #23 ranked teams in the country. Weird, weird year. Connecticut should consider themselves very lucky to be 6-1 after that trave-sham-mockery against Louisville last week. If you missed it, somehow all of the officials missed the Husky punt returner calling an obvious fair catch, Louisville’s defenders saw the signal and stopped running, and the returner ran the punt back for a touchdown. The Big East has already admitted the mistake, but that doesn’t do a whole hell of a lot of good now. Even with the benefit of that obvious error, UConn needed a late TD and a Brian Brohm interception in order to win a close game at home. The Bulls’ defense is also a lot better than that sieve of a “D” UConn faced last week, and USF has to be pretty pissed after suffering their first loss of the season last week at Rutgers. I like South Florida in a close, low-scoring game.

Georgia vs. Florida (3:30 pm, at Jacksonville, FL) – The “World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.” Remember back when the networks were allowed to say that? Now the they (whomever THEY are) have told everyone not to call this game by that name because it promotes excessive drinking. Now that the name has been removed, I guess the thousands of students and fans who make the trek to J-Ville for this game just sit around and sip Shirley Temples. I really can’t make a reasonable argument in favor of Georgia in this one. I think the Gators win easily and Tim Tebow, whether he wears jorts or not, remains on the Heisman short-list.

USC at Oregon (3:30 pm) – As good as Oregon has looked in their other six games, how in the world did they lose at home to what has turned out to be a fraudulent Cal team? On the other side, who is going to start at quarterback for USC? Do you start Mark Sanchez after a good performance on the road at Notre Dame? Or do you go back to a less than 100% John David Booty? Either way, the better quarterback in this game will be wearing green (or black, or fluorescent yellow, or white, or whatever color Oregon decides to wear). Dennis Dixon has been somewhat under the radar in terms of the Heisman discussion, but a big performance, on national TV, against a high-profile team like USC puts him on the map. Take the Ducks.

Ohio State at Penn State (8:00 pm) – The number 1 team in the country faces its toughest test by far. If you like low-scoring games, good defense, power football, and lots and lots of punting, this is a game for you. PSU is 2-1 at Happy Valley against the Buckeyes under Jim Tressel, with the one loss being a 21-20 OSU win over a disastrous PSU team in 2003. In October of 2005, Ohio State was once again the superior team on paper, but the Nittany Lions won in front of their home crowd, in what remains Ohio State’s last regular-season loss. The key to this game will be which of the somewhat-shaky, sometimes mistake-prone quarterbacks will make the fewest errors in the face of stingy defenses. Todd Boeckman has been playing slightly better than Anthony Morelli so far this year, and he has a better running game behind sophomore Chris Wells, but he has never faced a hostile environment the likes of which he will see on Saturday.

Wait a minute. Let me think for a second: Penn State home game... Close to Halloween... I think we might... Yes! I think we will! We are going to hopefully see a re-creation of this! I can't wait!

Cal at Arizona State (10:00pm) – These teams meet on Saturday night traveling in opposite directions. The Sun Devils have gone from completely off the radar, to a tie for the top of the Pac-10 and a #4 ranking with their 7-0 start. Cal has gone from National Championship dark horse, to complete disaster after a laughable home loss to Oregon State, and a nine-point defeat at the hands of UCLA in the Rose Bowl. As good as this ASU team has been offensively (nearly 38 points per game), just think: Sam Keller thumbed his nose at the program and left when he lost his starting job in the pre-season two years ago. Now he is near the Big 12 basement getting his doors blown off each week in Nebraska, and the team he left is undefeated and at the top of the Pac-10. Coach Dennis Erickson (yes that Dennis Erickson) and his squad haven’t played anyone of note so far this year, and are beginning a gauntlet of sorts with Cal, at Oregon, at UCLA, and USC as their next four games. I don’t think they can navigate that stretch and remain unbeaten, but I do think they get their first big win this week at home against the Golden Bears.