Week 6 Preview
So I’m going to skip the Tuesday and Wednesday games and jump into what’s left this week…
Looking ahead at Week 6
THURSDAY
#8 Kentucky at #11 South Carolina: I don’t think many people in the pre-season expected this to be exactly one-ranking shy of a top-10 showdown, but here we are. Will Andre Woodson & Co. take their undefeated streak a step further, or will the Ole Ball Coach teach these upstarts why you don’t just waltz through the SEC? Fun fact: Kentucky coach Rich Brooks is a coach with strong Pac-10 pedigree.
FRIDAY
Utah at Louisville: Not as interesting as it could’ve been, but intriguing nonetheless: which Utah will show up? The one that tanked a number of games or the one that walloped UCLA? For that matter, which Louisville team will show up? Louisville used to be a traditional mid-major power before moving up to the Big East; Utah remains a mid-major power (though the Pac-10 isn’t hiring).
SATURDAY
Minnesota at Indiana: This is the cruel thing that is Big 10 football: because the Central Time Zone is all about acting like its as important as the East, they kick off at 12 noon ET… yup, that’s 11am CT. Brutal –and not in the “metal” kind of way. Minnesota should be defeated, but the game could be closer than expected –especially if the Gophers can reign in their mistakes.
#5 Wisconsin at Illinois: Unranked Illinois is currently favored in this game. Wisconsin has been badgered by the media (sorry) for being a paper tiger –barely winning games and simply back-dooring its way up to #5. The Fighting Illini are more of the opposite: a team with raw talent that’s trying to focus itself into winning games (which it has been pulling off this year). If they pull off the “upset”, I hope the Illini fans are ready to tear down some goalposts.
Bowling Green at #7 Boston College: Speaking of unproven top-10 teams, the Eagles host the Falcons.
Georgia Tech at Maryland: The ugly battle for the ACC continues in this uninteresting match-up.
Kansas at #24 Kansas State: The Sunshine Showdown is actually an interesting game this year, with the two teams combining for one loss. The Jayhawks are undefeated after consuming more Mangino-brand cupcakes, and K-State is ranked after a season marred by a very close loss at Auburn. I think the Wildcats are determined to knock the Jayhawks back into “when does basketball start, again?” mode.
#13 West Virginia at Syracuse: The ‘Cuse upset Louisville in spectacular fashion, then flubbed against a weak MAC team. Which team will show up in the Carrier Dome? West Virgina, recovering from last Friday’s loss, is going to be mighty pissed this week, so I hope the Orange brought the first team.
Northwestern at Michigan State: The Wildcats are bad this year, but not a complete loss –the Spartans are out to prove they can keep the ‘Cats from getting an early lead like their hated rivals did last week.
Eastern Michigan at Michigan: Its a safe bet that the Wolverines will not be looking past any so-called “weak” opponents this season.
Miami (FL) at North Carolina: Will Butch Davis even recognize Randy Shannon’s Hurricanes? Just like old times, he’ll watch another Miami win.
Central Michigan at Ball State: If you look at Ball State’s season record, they seem to be getting a lot better.
Vanderbilt at Auburn: Vandy, ever in search of a “W” wherever it can get one, walks into Jordan-Hare with a wing and a prayer…
Wake Forest at Duke: While this isn’t basketball, these teams aren’t nearly as awful as they normally are. WF is favored, but Duke can put up a fight. This is more of a game to determine how good WF is.
Northern Illinois at Temple: The Huskies are this week’s contestant on “Who gets to beat up Temple now?” Any guesses on how many will be in attendance in the Linc?
Ohio at Buffalo: Solich, you need to win this. No ifs ands or buts, get out there and show me some hustle!
Louisiana Tech at Mississippi: Yeah, one is in the WAC and the other’s in the SEC, but I don’t think you can automatically predict the outcome. Coach O will still sound like he’s ready to explode. Speaking of Coach Orgeron, here is a true, must-see video from last year (from a radio station) –if you’ve never heard him talk (he was an assistant at USC for some time), listen to this first to get the idea (realize he normally yells a lot during practice/games).
TCU at Wyoming: The forgotten Frogs walk into War Memorial Stadium where the Cowboys are so far undefeated. UVA turned out better than expected, so Wyoming’s 23-3 victory seems all the better.
UAB at Mississippi State: The Bulldogs should have no problem with the Blazers.
Houston at Alabama: The Cougars get a Nick Saban helmed team with something to prove at home in Tuscaloosa. Yikes.
Miami (OH) at Kent State: Nothing to pay attention to.
#6 South Florida at Florida Atlantic: Even if USF were to have a week-after let down, it would take a collapse of the ages to lose to FAU. Nah, USF is looking to clean house/fatten up on the lower-tier Florida football schools (their former brethren)
#10 Oklahoma at #19 Texas: And in one short week, the Red River Shootout went from interesting to a battle for second place in the Big 12 South.
North Carolina State at Florida State: Time for Florida State to use the bump from beating Bama into a good ole fashion Bobby Bowden butt-whoopin’ on the struggling Wolfpack.
Iowa at Penn State: Penn State’s skid should stop here. While Kirk Ferentz’ salary has been known for some time, I just realized how obscene $2.7 million per year is when you realize the guy lives in Iowa. Adjusted for the cost of living, that’s like $10 billion. He must sleep on a mattress filled with money on a solid-gold bed frame.
#12 Georgia at Tennessee: This is the classic SEC match-up where a ranked team with swagger gets pantsed by a good team having a so-so year –thus causing the winning team to be ranked and the ranked team to stay ranked slight over the team they were just beaten by…
#18 Arizona State at Washington State: Wazzu is bad this year, but Pullman is a weird place for visiting teams (its the most remote location in D-IA) –it’s also a former spot on Erickson’s long coaching tour.
Idaho at San Jose State: Lots of points, no real defense, all WAC.
Fresno State at Nevada: Two teams in actual contention battle for WAC position.
Arizona at Oregon State: Reser isn’t an easy place for visitors, but the Wildcats will take and swagger they can muster (they won last week!) and try to parlay it into a victory (the Beavs aren’t particularly great).
San Diego State at Colorado State: Here lies the bottom of the Mountain West.
#15 Virginia Tech at #22 Clemson: Two weak ranked team collide. The good news is the loser should make room in the top-25 for a deserving team.
Stanford at #2 USC: This promises to be ugly. Starting redshirt-senior QB T.C. Ostrander, who was sacked seven times by the Sun Devils, had a seizure on Sunday (he appears okay) and is not going to play against USC. That means redshirt-sophomore Tavita Pritchard, with only three passes in his career, gets the start against USC in the Coliseum. The last team to win in the Coliseum other than USC was Stanford way back in September of 2001 –three coaches ago– when they were helmed by Tyrone Willingham. This won’t be the team to break that streak. Stanford Coach Jim Harbaugh made things a little personal with Pete Carroll –the question has been “will Carroll run up the score… whether he means to or not“? Looks like the guys in Vegas hit the golden number: with their 39.5-point spread, the Trojans are only getting 50.59% of the bets (50/50 is the perfect split in the gambling world).
Chattanooga at Arkansas: The McFadden-for-Heisman campaign gets another promising campaign stop/sacrifice.
Colorado at Baylor: The Buffs have a very nice feeling, but they should be careful –they’ve lost in Waco within recent memory.
North Texas at Louisiana-Lafayette: Two awful, winless teams collide in a game that’s actually being picked up for ESPN Gameplan –as Chris Fowler noted, the “Mean Green vs. Ragin’ Cajuns” sounds cool…
Tulane at Army: Tulane put up a heroic half against the Tigers, but will the have the heart to beat Army?
Troy at Florida International: Troy gets to visit the Orange Bowl (FIU’s temp home this season), this time they have a solid chance at a win!
Arkansas State at Louisiana-Monroe: The Indians are looking to take down the team-formerly-known-as-the-Indians. C’mon, Arky State, how hard is it to get a new, cool name like the Warhawks? I’d go after the Warthogs to play off the in-state Razorbacks.
Iowa State at Texas Tech: TT feasts on weak opponents.
Liberty at Toledo: Jerry Falwell might be dead, but his university lives on in D-IAA. GO ROCKETS!
Akron at Western Michigan: Yawn.
Virginia at Middle Tennessee: UVA isn’t a total lock, and if MTSU can put up offensive numbers like they did at Louisville, there’s a chance –this is UVA’s second visit to a mid-major’s stadium, someone in their scheduling dept. needs to be fired.
UCF at East Carolina: Not a lock for UCF, but if they win they’re going to continue to turn heads. Kevin Smith should keep the Knights on top.
Oklahoma State at Texas A&M: The Aggies lead the Big 12 South. The question is for how long? The ‘Pokes plan to challenge their supremacy. They have a passionate coach. He’s a man. He’s 40.
#4 Ohio State at #23 Purdue: Purdue didn’t look great in the second half against Notre Dame. Ohio State is another Big 10 team that defaulted into the top-5 after so many other teams ahead of them lost. This could go either way, but the Buckeyes have a talent edge in their favor.
#20 Cincinnati at #21 Rutgers: This should be a very good game: Cincy’s been looking sharp, Rutgers is probably having second thoughts after losing to MD last week. Will the Bearcats continue to rise, or will Rutgers reorganize and start making its claim for the Big East title?
Notre Dame at UCLA: UCLA is 24 in one poll and unranked in the other. There’s no guarantee that beating ND will help their case… still, the Bruins have been looking forward to this game since last season’s last minute loss in South Bend: the Bruins dominated the game, but a Brady Quinn to Jeff Samardzija drive brought the Irish to victory. This is Notre Dame’s first visit to the Rose Bowl since they played in the 1925 Rose Bowl (their last bowl game before a long self-imposed bowl boycott). I doubt the Fighting Irish envisioned returning with the worst opening record in ND history.
#9 Florida at #1 LSU: This kicks off at 8:28pm ET, you’re guess is as good as mine. Being in Death Valley, LSU should have a great shot at staying undefeated. However, if they show the same mediocrity as they did in the first half of Tulane, and Florida comes out with venom after losing to Auburn –well, ya never know…
UNLV at Air Force: The Mountain West: providing semi-interesting games in the Rockies since 1999.
Tulsa at UTEP: CUSA games have made for interesting box scores, but I’m still not going to tune in. Good luck, Mr. Price.
#25 Nebraska at #17 Missouri: This was pegged in the pre-season as the battle for the Big 12 North, but things are more complicated: last week had the North devastate the South’s best teams, and it looks like the two Kansas schools could also have a shot. Still, this is a battle to be the current front-runner. Mizzou’s victory over Illinois is looking more impressive all the time.
SUNDAY (!?)
(this late in the season?)
Utah State at #16 Hawaii: Okay, this is actually on Saturday, but 12:05am ET. Lets see if the Brennan-for-Heisman campaign can improve from the five picks thrown last week (in a decisive victory…).
New Mexico State at Boise State: Boise’s always taken the spotlight whenever it can find it. That means playing games on days no other college team is playing. Without those pink socks, I don’t think the Aggies are going to survive.
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