College football weekend preview

by WCT, The Ship of Fools

pic: CollegeGameBalls

Its week 8, and its sort of a let-down week.

Let-down in one sense because last week was so stacked, that this week can't possibly live up to that slate. Its also a let-down because we are entering the second half of October, meaning the second half of the football season. Its coming to an end soon, and that that is just depressing...

But we'll worry about that later. For now, let's check out this week's schedule. We have four ranked vs. ranked matchups, an under-the-radar SEC matchup in primetime, another thrilling pistol-whipping in the Pac-10, and an SEC giant-killer tries to take down another Goliath.

Lets get it on! (for your benefit, I have included AP rankings just to add some flavor)

(all times Eastern)

#21 Wake Forest (-1.5) at Maryland - Noon - I include this game only because Maryland seems to beat ranked teams, and only lose to shitty teams. They beat Clemson when Clemson was ranked, and beat #25 Cal. On the other side, they lost to Middle Tennessee State and Virginia. The oddsmakers don't seem to know any more than we do, as they made the Deacons a 1.5 point favorite in College Park. Weird. I'm going to bet on the trend continuing and take the Terps.

#22 Vanderbilt at #10 Georgia (-15) - 12:30pm - Vandy is the posterchild for not handling prosperity. They have a big high-profile game, they win it, they improve their ranking, then they go on the road and collapse against an unranked team the very next week. Its performances like that that makes me slow to jump on the bandwagon of teams like this when they win a few games in a row. And it looks like Vegas isn't drinking the Kool-Aid either, by making the Commodores more than a two TD dog at UGA. Georgia is only one game removed from the drubbing at the hands of Alabama, and they did not look particularly strong in beating a bad Tennessee team 26-14. Vandy's inability to score (14 points each of the last two weeks) hurts them here. I'm taking Georgia, which, if it happens, means that Vanderbilt will have gone from national darling to unranked in less than three weeks. Sad.

Ole Miss at #2 Alabama (-13) - 3:30pm - The same team that knocked off Florida in Gainesville tries to knock off 'bama in Tuscaloosa. Not going to happen. Take the Tide.

#16 Kansas at #4 Oklahoma (-20) - 3:30pm - How is Kansas ranked this high? They lost to South Florida, needed an absolute miracle to beat a terrible Iowa State team, and were less than impressive against Colorado last week. Where is the signature win for this team? In the next two weeks they play a pissed-off Oklahoma team coming off a hard-fought loss, and #7 undefeated Texas Tech. I don't like their odds in those games. Last week's Red River Shootout was one of the most entertaining, high-level games I have seen in a while, and was much closer than the 10-point final disparity. That game just reinforced my feelings about Oklahoma in particular and the top of the Big 12 in general. Not only that, but how impressive does OU's win over TCU look now that we have seen the Horned Frogs brutalize BYU? Take the Sooners.

#6 USC (-42.5) at Washington State - 3:30pm - Take the Trojans. I don't care what the spread is. I don't care where the game is being played. Bet against Washington State every week. I do it, and it works for me. You'll thank me later.

#12 Ohio State (-3) at #20 Michigan State - 3:30pm - Coming into last week, we thought that the Buckeyes going into Madison and beating Wisconsin was an impressive win. In retrospect, we now know that Wisconsin (0-3 in conference) is garbage, so that win is no longer impressive. On the other hand, OSU destroyed Minnesota, and Minnesota looks like a pretty good football team, so who knows. The Spartans have bounced back from an opening week loss to Cal to rattle off six wins in a row behind the best RB no one is talking about, Senior Javon Ringer. Ringer, an Ohio native, already has over 1,100 years and 14 TDs! How is this guy not getting more run for the Heisman? I've also heard that the MSU fans are planning a "Green-out" for this game. I still remember back in the day, when you used to just wear your team's colors to a game, without feeling like you had to because it was mandated by a contrived "[insert team's primary color]-out!!" It was a simpler time.

Michigan at #3 Penn State (-23.5) - 4:30pm - I'm only including this game because I'm going to be there (!!) to watch it with my own eyes. Despite the fact that Penn State has not played a team with a winning record all season, they are many people's pick to go to the BCS championship game. Michigan might as well not even board the planes.

#11 LSU (-3) at South Carolina - 8pm - Ok, if you are an experienced bettor, this spread should jump off the page at you. LSU was #3 just eight days ago, they lose one game, and now they are only a FG favorite over the Gamecocks? I've fallen for sucker spreads recently, but not anymore! Take a quietly improved South Carolina and the 3 points.

#11 Missouri at #1 Texas (-5.5) - 8pm - All week people have been patting the brand new #1 Texas team on their backs and telling them how great they are. And all week people have been wondering what went wrong for Missouri as they lick their wounds from the home loss to Ok State. This type of stuff plays with the minds of 18-22 year old football players. I think that Texas is in for a rude awakening in this game. I'm going to take my boy Chase and the Tigers in this one.