COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEKEND PREVIEW

by WCT, The Ship of Fools

It's week TEN already, and that really depresses me. We’re into November and the season is winding down. Before you know it, on Saturdays we will be turning on the TV and just praying that this will be the week that MTV is running a “My Super Sweet Sixteen” marathon, am I right?

What?

No one else watches those? Oh, ok, neither do I.

Lets just move on to football.

(times Eastern)

Wisconsin at Ohio State (noon) – This is one of only four match-ups between BCS top 25 teams, and its a noon game? On the freaking Big Ten Network? Well that just means that Badger and Buckeye fans living in most of the country (like New York City for example) will have to get an early start at the sports bars (have that 12 noon Guinness ready for me!). Every top team has to be tested at some point in their season right? Ohio State has blown out everybody that they have faced this year (don’t be fooled by the score in that MSU game. The Buckeyes were never in any danger of losing that game) and that just can’t continue. Can it? I don’t think so. I think the Badgers test them this week.

Wake Forest at Virginia (noon) – Yeah, THIS is a match-up of BCS top 25 teams. Weird, weird year. I have seen both of these teams play at least once this year, and haven’t been particularly impressed with either. Wake lost at home to Nebraska of all people, and Virginia’s two losses are to Wyoming and NC State. Yet this has a chance, however remote, to be a preview of the ACC Championship Game. What a joke that conference is. Take Wake, I guess.

Nebraska at Kansas (12:30pm) – I have included this game for two reasons. A) To link to this picture via the wizard of odds. You have to get behind a team coached by a guy that looks like Jabba the Hut in a Paulie Walnuts-esque track suit. And honestly, when we are talking about Mark Mangino, is there anything more ironic than calling anything he wears a “track suit?” B) To bring up a hilarious slip of the tongue by former Nebraska coach, and new Nebraska AD, Tom Osborne. If you haven’t heard, Osborne was asked about how his walk-ons will perform in the future. Osborne responded that it “depends on the new coaching staff.” Whoops! Mr. Callahan, you might want to put that house in Lincoln up for sale sooner rather than later. Take the Jayhawks.

Navy at Notre Dame (2:30pm) – Don’t laugh, this should be a hell of a game. Navy knows they may never get a better chance to beat Notre Dame and snap their decades-old losing streak to the Irish. Notre Dame really has nothing left to play for besides continuing this winning streak. The last straw in this disappointing season would be a loss to the Midshipmen. Navy has a horrible defense, and runs like 50 different versions of the option, so it will be entertaining. But when something has been happening 43 years in a row, it’s a good bet it will happen the 44th. Take the Irish.

LSU at Alabama (5:00pm) – Oh I wish this game were being played in Tiger Stadium. The anti-Saban hate would be palpable. But we’ll have to wait another year on that one. Who would have thought that the same ‘Bama team that inexplicably lost to Florida State would be in the driver’s seat to win the SEC if they win this game. Nick Saban, for all of his dick-ishness, has always been a good coach, and has undoubtedly had this date circled on his calendar. He does not want to lose this game. He will, but I think it will be close. That is of course unless one of Les Miles ballsy/reckless coaching decisions comes back to bite him.

Arizona State at Oregon (6:45 pm) – The game of the day is once again in the Pac-10 and it is once again in Eugene. The winner of this game has a real good shot to leapfrog a handful of teams in the BCS rankings. Sun Devil QB Rudy Carpenter was unable to throw for much of the week because of a thumb injury. That, and the fact that ASU is thus far untested means I will take Heisman co-frontrunner (at least in my mind) Dennis Dixon and the Ducks. And if the Ducks can pull it off, I think they will be the overall #1 team in the nation, regardless of what Ohio State and Boston College do. Speaking of BC…

Florida State at Boston College (8:00pm) – Thanks, ABC, for this primetime match-up. Don’t over think this one folks. FSU is not going into Chestnut Hill and derailing the Eagles BCS chances. If there is a worse coached, worse executing team in college football today, I certainly haven’t seen them. Boston College easy.