COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEKEND PREVIEW

by WCT, The Ship of Fools

Week 4 is here, and this is where things start to get good. Real good. We have three big games putting ranked teams against each other in primetime, and a big-time SEC rivalry game. After this weekend we will have some clarity around the race in the SEC west division, and the ACC coastal division (I know you're all following that one).

We have the always interesting Notre Dame-Michigan State game, a SEC team traveling west to play in the Pac-10, and another pig is led to the slaughter in Happy Valley. Should be an interesting Saturday, so lets get to it!

(all times Eastern)

Temple at Penn State (-28) - Noon - Honestly, does anyone consistently schedule more non-conference cupcakes year-after-year than Penn State? Temple, Oregon State, Syracuse, and Coastal Carolina (The Nittany Lions '08 non-conference opponents) have a combined 3 wins so far this year. In '07 it was Temple, Buffalo, Florida International, and Notre Dame, and those 4 teams had 13 wins combined all of last year (with ND and Buffalo accounting for 8 of them). All it serves to do is overrate the Lions during the early season, and they invariably get exposed during conference play. Of course, I'm taking PSU and laying the 4 touchdowns.

Buffalo at Missouri (-34) 2pm - Have you seen the Tigers play this year? They might score a hundred in this game.

Notre Dame at Michigan State (-8.5) - 3:30pm - This game always makes for great theater. Remember the overtime game in South Bend a few years back when the Spartans won and planted their flag at the 50 yard line? Remember the comeback in the monsoon 2 years ago when MSU let by 16 points with like 8 minutes to go and found a way to lose? This is always an interesting matchup. The spread here is somewhat puzzling to me. MSU was unimpressive last week in beating Florida Atlantic, and the Irish destroyed Michigan. Not to mention the fact that these teams always seem to play close games. I'll take the points.

(note: I cannot mention last week's Michigan-ND game without linking to this, which is the funniest goddamn thing I have seen in a long time)

Florida (-7) at Tennessee - 3:30pm - I have read multiple college football "experts" who believe that Florida is overrated this year. They let a young and offensively-challenged Miami team hang around, in Ganesville, a few weeks ago in a game that ultimately was closer than the final score. Tennessee is one of those teams that makes you question everything you know about college football. One week they look great, the next week they look like dogshit. One week they beat a team that you thought was a top contender, the next week they lose to a team that gave up 59 to BYU. Remember last year when they destroyed Georgia, but needed to hold on for dear life to beat Vandy by 1? In '07 they gave up 45, 59, and 41 in their three losses, before getting to, and almost winning, the SEC Championship game. Betting on a Tennessee game is risky business because you never know what team will show up from week to week. Aw hell... F it, I'll take the Vols.

Wake Forest at Florida State (-4.5) - 7pm - Don't laugh, this is a really big game between two ranked teams. Not only that, but when Clemson does their annual collapse sometime in the next few weeks, the winner of this game will have the inside track to the ACC Championship Game, and a BCS bowl bid.

(quick aside, I cannot mention the ACC Championship game without showing this hilarious picture. Plenty of good seats still available ACC fans!)

The Seminoles have quietly snuck back into the top 25 after beating up on two 1-AA teams. I have been on the Wake bandwagon all season. As the saying goes, in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. Wake Forest is looking like that one-eyed man in the land of the blind that is, the ACC. I was really impressed by the way they battled a tough Ole Miss team two weeks ago, and have had the week off to prepare for this game. Give me the Deacons.

LSU (-2.5) at Auburn - 7:45pm - Some teams ease into their conference schedule, others, like these two, have a physical, tough, top-10 team as their first - or in the case of Auburn, second - conference game. With Auburn, there is good news and bad news. The good news is, their stingy D doesn't allow many points. The bad news is, their at-times anemic offense doesn't score much. As evidenced by their thrilling 3-2 SEC opener last week at Mississippi State. You read that correctly, they won 3-2. LSU is also built around good defense, as they always are, so expect a low-scoring game. I don't know if it will be 3-2, but it should be low-scoring. I'm going to resist the temptation to make the lame and obvious "gimme the Tigers!" joke (although I have made that very same joke in the past) This will be a good game for those of you who, like me, enjoy hard-hitting defensive battles. I'm taking LSU, not so much because I have been so impressed with their two wins - although it is kind of cool that they scored exactly 41 in both, what are the odds? - but I just have not been impressed with Auburn.

Georgia (-7) at Arizona State - 8pm - This is the regular season game that SEC and Pac-10 teams had circled in order to settle conference supremacy. Although some would argue that supremacy was settled last week when the Mountain West Conference went 4-0 against the Pac-10, including UNLV beating ASU, but that's neither here nor there. There is a chance that the Sun Devils were looking ahead to this game when they lost to the Runnin' Rebels, although I think that is an excuse that people make for good teams when they play poorly in a game they should win easily. I don't think ASU sees any defenses the caliber of Georgia's playing out on the west coast (besides USC of course) and I think they are in for a rude awakening. Take the Dawgs.