College football weekend preview

by WCT, The Ship of Fools

pic: College Gameballs does it again!

Week nine-er! And we have some really compelling matchups again. The first BCS rankings were released this past week, meaning we can predict how games will affect BCS ranking, we can start to slot teams into likely bowl scenarios, and we can begin the speculation on what team (or teams) will be royally screwed by this horribly awful and awfully horrible system we are stuck with to pick a national champion. But there will be plenty of time to grouse in November, lets enjoy October while its still here!

This week, the ranked-team round-robin continues in the Big 12, a grudge-match or two in the SEC, the new game-of-the-century of the week in primetime in the Big Ten, and we learn how the BCS makes for strange bedfellows.

Lets dive in!

(all times Eastern)
#8 Texas Tech at #23 Kansas (-2.5) - Noon - I have said it before, and I will say it again: How in the hell is this the noon game? Thats 11am local time! I'm not entirely sure what the schedule makers were thinking on this one. I'm also not entirely sure what Kansas does to remain ranked week after week. They have played two ranked teams, and lost to both of them. Their two best wins were over Colorado and Iowa State (in a miracle comeback) who are a combined 1-5 in conference. All that being said, the oddsmakers are begging you to take Tech, and you know what that means. History tells us that Mike Leach and his gimmicky basketball-on-grass pass offense is good for at least 1 or 2 losses in conference each year, and I think this will be one of them. Kansas wins and finally justifies their inclusion in the Top 25.

NC State at Maryland (-10.5) - 3:30pm - Its anybody's guess what Maryland will do from week-to-week. Last week they shut out what many people thought was a pretty good Wake Forest team. The game before, they were crushed by what is generally considered a pretty shitty Virginia team. This week, they play another bad team, so I will bet against them.

Michigan State (-5.5) at Michigan - 3:30pm - I include this game just because last week's MSU drubbing at the hands of Ohio State just felt like the beginning of the annual "Spartan Slide." The Spartan Slide occurs when MSU comes out of the gate like gang-busters in the first half of the season, only to have one game in the middle of October completely derail the season, and cause the team to go into a month-long tailspin where they lose 4 or 5 games in the final month and a half of the season and completely crush the hearts of their fans. Remember that Notre Dame comeback in the rain in East Lansing two years back?
Classic Spartan Slide game. How about the triple-OT come-from-ahead-loss to Braylon Edwards and Michigan a few years ago? Hellooooo Spartan Slide! Although MSU usually recovers enough to backdoor their way into a bowl game, and somehow play above their heads and cost me money betting against them, but I digress. Take the Wolverines and the points.

#7 Georgia at #13 LSU (-2.5) - 3:30pm - Its sad that the loser of this game will have 2 conference losses and provoke haters to come out of the woodwork and call them "overrated." Let me state for the record, neither of these teams is overrated. True, both were absolutely embarrassed in their first loss, but such is life in the SEC, where great teams have 1 loss, and you have to be good to only have 2. Georgia has played 4 conference games. 3 of them have been, shall we say, closer than they should be, and the other was a loss to Alabama. LSU, on the other hand, has looked impressive in conference play, besides one hiccup. That is, if you can call a 30-point beatdown in the Swamp a "hiccup." I'm going to give the Tigers the benefit of the doubt on that one. I'll take LSU and lay the points.

#6 Oklahoma State at #1 Texas (-12.5) - 3:30pm - I continue to be impressed by Texas. I expected them to put up a good fight and lose against Oklahoma (they won) and I expected them to have a let-down against Missouri (they crushed the Tigers). The only thing more astonishing than Texas' handling of their own success is the ascension of Oklahoma State all the way up to #6. This team was unranked when they met the Washington State Cougars way back on August 30th (those two teams have followed divergent paths following that contest, huh?). This seems like a lot of points, but I have been underrating the 'horns recently, and I'm not going to get fooled again. Take Texas.

#2 Alabama (-6.5) at Tennessee - 7:45pm - We're all still waiting for Tennessee's patented "they did WHAT?" win of the season, that usually comes when Phil Fullmer's seat is at its hottest. This seems like the obvious choice for this year's occurrence of that phenomenon. 'Bama has survived two close calls the last two games, while the Vols are coming off of a dominating win (albeit, against Mississippi State). Plus the spread is unusually low for a #2 team against an unranked team, and the game is in Knoxville, at night. I will take the points.

#3 Penn State (-1.5) at #9 Ohio State - 8pm - USC honks, you should pay very close attention to this game, and you should be cheering very loudly for the scarlet and gray. If Penn State wins this game, the BCS points the win would give them, coupled with their laughable schedule, means they will be a lock for the BCS title game. The other spot will likely be taken by a 1-loss SEC team, or a 1-loss Big 12 team, leaving the Trojans shut out of the title game again. However, a Buckeye win not only eliminates Penn State from title contention, but makes USC's September 13th win over OSU look better. And with the Trojans' equally weak schedule, they need the teams they've beaten this year to do as much damage as possible Isn't it strange how the BCS, if only for one night, brings Trojan fans onto the Buckeye bandwagon? (in some cases, that means this would be their second bandwagon of the year! zing!) I never thought I would live to see that.