College football weekend preview

by WCT, The Ship of Fools

Its week 12, and its another let-down week. Next week we start to see some some rivalry games, and we start to get some clarity around the BCS picture in the Big 12, but we can't look ahead. Why look ahead when there are so many great gambling opportunities in front of us this Saturday? Anyone can put money down on the Texas Tech-Oklahoma game, or BYU-Utah. That's easy. But when you look down at your betting slip, and you see that you have your next mortgage payment riding on Western Michigan's ability to cover 15.5 against Toledo, then you sir, are my hero.

(all times Eastern)
Notre Dame (-3.5) at Navy - Noon - Yes, there has been a lot of talk this week about the negativity surrounding Notre Dame and its coach Charlie Weis. So what? A lot of people have been saying that since Navy beat the Irish last year that somehow that means they have a chance to win again this year. Do you know what last years win means for Navy? It means they are 1-43 in their last 44 against ND. You ever notice that the New York Yankees always seem to have their "closed-door, players-only, team meetings" right before they play somebody like the Orioles? So then they go out and crush them, and everybody thinks whatever they said behind closed doors worked. The Notre Dame football program did the same thing this week by circling the wagons right before they play Navy and Syracuse in consecutive weeks. The Irish win big.

#3 Texas(-13) at Kansas - 12:30pm - To me, Texas is the forgotten team in the whole BCS pecking order. First of all, they have the most impressive win of anyone in top 25 by soundly beating #5 Oklahoma on a neutral field. Secondly, their only loss was by 6 points at #2 Texas Tech, at night, on a miraculous pass play with 1 second left. Yet despite all of this, the conventional wisdom states that if Oklahoma can beat Tech (in Norman) next week, the Sooners will vault over the Longhorns in the BCS standings and likely go to the Big 12 Championship game representing the South division. Huh? Did that game in the Cotton Bowl not count? Although this smaller-that-should-be spread gives me momentary pause, I still like Texas in this game.

#10 Georgia(-8.5) at Auburn - 12:30pm - The "oldest rivalry in the deep south" or maybe its the "deepest rivalry in the old south?" Who knows. In any case, it shocks me that Georgia remains in the top 10. But as disappointing as the Dawgs have been, Auburn began the season in the top 10 in the AP poll. Consider this, on September 13th, the Auburn Tigers woke up in the morning 2-0 and the #9 team in the land. Life was good on the Plains. Since then, they have beaten Mississippi State (in a thrilling 3-2 shootout), squeaked past a laughable Tennessee team 14-12, and knocked off somebody named Tennessee-Martin. They have lost every other time they have taken the field since then. Georgia wins big.

#25 South Carolina at #4 Florida(-23) - 3:30pm - The Gamecocks are in the BCS top 25 and Oregon State isn't. Utter garbage. Florida has been one of the most impressive teams in the nation since their loss to Ole Miss in September. Since then, the Gators are averaging (averaging!) nearly 50 points per game and about a 40 point margin of victory. And those were all SEC games. Don't be fooled by the fact that South Carolina has won 6 of 7 games. 4 of those 6 wins came against Wofford, UAB, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Take Florida.

#16 North Carolina(-3) at Maryland - 3:30pm - Maryland seems to only do well against top 25 teams (3-0) and only do well at home (5-0). Get them on the road, against a crappy team, and they are complete dogshit (hence, 24-14 road loss at Middle Tennessee and 31-0 road loss at UVA). That is why this spread is so low, and that is why Maryland is going to win outright. Plus, I have three dreams about this college football season: 1) as always, BCS chaos, 2) no teams from the ACC or Big East in the top 25, and 3) you can read about right below...

California at Oregon State(-3) - 3:30pm - In my opinion, it would be just comedic, to see Oregon State win the Pac-10 and represent the team in the Rose Bowl. The next three weeks will not be easy - Cal, followed by 'Zona and the Civil War vs. the Ducks - but with my support, along with the 5 of 6 of you who are reading this, I think we can push the Beavs over the top.

#6 USC(-23) at Stanford - 7:00pm - My prediction? PAIN.

Washington State at Arizona State(- 1,245.5) - 5:30pm
UCLA (-eleventy billion and a half) at Washington - 10:15pm - Honestly, whats the difference anymore? We are all thinking the same thing: These games are just window-dressing. Is it November 22nd yet? Is it time for the Apple Cup to be awarded yet? Is it time for the teams that have been brutally beaten on a weekly basis to finally start trading some paint with each other? Is it time for the clash of the titans in Pullman, when winless Washington and winless-unless-you-count-1-AA-teams Washington State share the field to determine, definitively, unequivocally, who is the worst team in the long, storied history of the Pacific-10 conference (and, in turn who is the second-worst team in the history of the Pacific-10 conference)?

Boston College at #20 Florida State(-6.5) - 8pm - After weeks of seeing the best the Big 12 has to offer in primetime, this is what we are left with this week. Second-tier ACC teams. I guess you can consider Florida State a first-tier ACC team, but the ACC is in-and-of-itself, a second-rate league. So they are a first-tier team from a second-rate league. As I have said in the past, betting on FSU is maddening. I have never seen a team shoot itself in the foot more with penalties, poor execution and bizarre play-calling. That being said, BC is terrible. I'm taking the 'noles.