COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEKEND PREVIEW

by WCT, The Ship of Fools

Its week eleven in college football, and I just have to get something off of my chest before we get started. If you are an avid follower of college football, like I am (or if you read awful announcing, like I do) then you know that the patron saints of this weekly feature, the “College Gameday” crew, are heading to rural Massachusetts for the clash between Amherst and Williams College. That’s right, the Amherst Lord Jeffs (?) take on the Williams Ephs (???) for western Massachusetts small, private liberal arts college supremacy.

Is the slate so weak that they have to eschew every D-1A venue, and drop all the way to Division III? Isn’t there even a compelling “championship subdivision” game that they could travel to? No intriguing games in the Ivy League? Columbia at Cornell doesn’t blow your skirt up? As one AA commenter points out, this game isn’t even the best match up in this conference, as 6-1 Middlebury is taking on 5-2 Tufts (I’ll take your word for it) for first place in the New England Small College Athletic Conference. They are ignoring the de facto NESCAC Championship Game for crying out loud!

Well, I say screw them, lets preview some good-ole-fashioned “bowl subdivision” contests.

Who’s with me?

(all times listed are Williamstown, MA time, since ESPN thinks that’s the center of the football world)

Michigan at Wisconsin (Noon) – The second Saturday in November is always a tough game for Michigan (and Ohio State, who hosts Illinois at 3:30pm) because it is the game before “the Game.” Wisconsin has been a huge disappointment this year, coming in 7-3 with two losses by at least 21 points. To be fair, Wisconsin is very fortunate to only have 3 losses, barely escaping UNLV, Iowa, and Michigan State in the early season. Michigan, on the other hand, has completely turned their season around, and seems to be getting better each week, the close-shave in East Lansing notwithstanding. Michigan has come too far to let an underachieving Badger team derail their comeback. Take the Wolverines

Texas A&M at Missouri (12:30pm) – Missouri has aspirations to win the Big 12 North, Texas A&M is negotiating a buyout to get Dennis Francione out of town (not a minute too soon!). In other words, two teams heading in opposite directions. Take the Tigers, and maybe, just maybe, if Chase Daniel has another 400+ yard, three touchdown day, somebody somewhere will give this guy some Heisman consideration.

Georgia at Auburn (3:30pm) – The game of the day is in the deep south. This game, in this blogger’s humble opinion, is the most underrated rivalry in all of college football. This is called “the South’s oldest rivalry” as the teams have been knockin’ heads since 1892. The 111th meeting between these teams should be a good one, as both teams come in ranked, both were left for dead after terrible losses, both have come back to respectability after big wins, and interestingly enough, both have beaten defending champ Florida. Personally, I think Auburn is one of the most improved teams in the nation, and I have always liked Tommy Tuberville as a head coach. I think that UGA might be getting a little too much love from the oddsmakers for their win at the Cocktail Party, because they really haven’t accomplished much else this year. Take the Tigers.

Connecticut at Cincinnati (3:30pm) – Ok, this is the week it finally ends. UConn goes down at Cinci this week. They have been on borrowed time all year, winning close games on flukey plays and dubious officiating. This is where the luck runs out. Take the Bearcats. Speaking of luck running out…

Virginia at Miami (7:15pm) – Ok! This has gone far enough! How is this Virginia team still ranked? Look at their last five games: two point win at Middle Tennessee State (!!) , one point win against UConn, one point win at Maryland, five point loss at NC State (!!!), one point win against Wake Forest. Those are not exactly world-beaters that they have been playing close games with. This team also lost in week one to Wyoming. This is the last ever game at the Orange Bowl for crying out loud! Take the Canes.

USC at California (8:00PM) – Remember back in September, when we looked ahead to this game and thought it could be for a Pac-10 championship, if not a berth in a BCS game? Maybe even the Championship Game? Now Cal has three losses and is unranked, and USC is looking up at Hawaii in the BCS standings. Cal has had this game circled on their calendars all year, and I think they come in focused and upset the Trojans.

Thanks to Football Jesus for the pic