College football weekend preview

by WCT, The Ship of Fools

Week...Six...Bitches...

This weekend marks the first weekend of the best month on the calendar, bar none. College football is in full swing with big conference matchups, playoff baseball is off and running, and the NFL is in the thick of the season. Its a 31 day sports feast. Enjoy it folks.

This week on the college football slate we have College Gameday live in Nashville for the first time in...well...ever, we have Missouri playing their first quasi-tough road game, and a primetime matchup of ranked teams in the Pac-10 (there are two ranked Pac-10 teams? Who knew?)

All times Eastern.
Florida State at University of Miami (-2.5) - 3:30pm - This rivalry has fallen like a stone in the last 5 or so years. It went from being the game of the year and an NFL talent showcase, to just another game between two boring and underwhelming ACC teams. I guess I will lay the points and take the 'canes, but these teams, and this game are barely recognizable from the memories of my childhood. Bobby Bowden's crew is led by an erratic underclassmen QB who barely completes 50% of his passes. Miami has games literally stolen away from them in the end zone, in the final seconds by their former coach Butch Davis and North Carolina of all people. Worst of all, there's nary a scantily-clad, silicone-enhanced slut strutting around in the stands at this game anymore. Just a sad, sad state of affairs...

Illinois at Michigan (-2.5) 3:30pm - Vegas seems to think that Michigan righted its ship when they came back from a 19-0 deficit to beat Wisconsin last week, because that is the only possible explanation for this spread. Illinois really got a raw deal by being unranked this week. They lost by 10 in the opening week against #4 Mizzou, and they lost by 14 (in a game that was actually closer) at #6 Penn State, at night. I told myself not to get wound up by the rankings, but what has #25 Wake Forest done? Besides lose at home to Navy and barely squeak by Florida State. All that said, the oddsmakers are begging you to take Illinois, and I'm not taking the bait.

Auburn (-4) at Vanderbilt - 6pm - Not only is this a matchup of ranked teams, but it begins a bizarre 6pm/9pm ESPN doubleheader. Weird, right? What happened to the 7:45 game? I'm a creature of habit, so maybe I'm the only one who actually notices things like this. You may be a believer in Vandy, but I'm not (even though they beat my Ole Miss Rebels). Auburn, on the other hand, went toe-to-toe with the defending champs LSU, and have one of the stingiest defenses in college football. It doesn't make for very entertaining television (unless you like a good 3-2 game) but it gets the job done. Gimme the Tigers

Ohio State (-1.5) at Wisconsin - 8pm - Three weeks ago, this was a HUGE game. Last week, it was a big game. Now it is somewhere between "eh" and "meh" for most people. I love night games at places like Madison because the talking heads all speak in code about how absolutely hammered all of the fans are, and how much of a factor it is for the opponent. But they say it, without really saying it. Get ready to hear plenty of "its a night game, so you know the fans are going to be ready!" or, "the fans have all day to get, ahem, lathered up for this game!" Why not just come out and say it? The fans will be tailgating all day, drinking their faces off, and those of them that are lucid enough to make their way into Camp Randall Stadium without passing out or falling on their faces, will be screaming at the top of their lungs and trying to intimidate a true freshman quarterback in his first road start. Now that is analysis you won't get anywhere else.

Oregon at USC (-17) - 8pm - Another game that probably looked more interesting when the schedules came out than it looks now. Oregon lost at home to Boise State last month, after needing overtime to beat Purdue, so its a wonder how they are still ranked (seriously, who does Mark Dantonio have to sleep with to get Michigan State ranked? UConn is ranked and the Spartans aren't!). USC is coming off of their annual sleep-walk loss, which usually re-focuses them, fires them up, and causes them to beat the snot out of whatever team they play immediately after said loss. I will lay the points and bet on a bounce-back from the Trojans.

Missouri (-10.5) at Nebraska - 9pm - Right now, and I know this is sacrilege in parts of this country, the Big 12 is neck-and-neck with the SEC for deepest conference in the nation. 4 of the top 7 teams in the nation are Big 12 teams, and there 2 more ranked in the top 25. There are also teams like Nebraska and Colorado that are good, and can jump up and bite a top team on any given Saturday (speaking of Colorado, watch out Texas!). Nebraska is tough to figure out. They had looked much better in the early season (albeit against three non-BCS conference teams) under new coach Bo Pelini. Then they allowed 35 in a loss to an inconsistent Virginia Tech team in Lincoln last week. Missouri has been arguably the most impressive team in the country so far, outscoring opponents 215-83. Chase Daniel so far is completing more than 75% of his passes and has thrown 12 TDs to 1 (1!) interception. I will take the Tigers, but I'm not happy about having to give that many points.