Believe it or not folks this Saturday marks the halfway point of the College Football Season. I for one am stoked for a big time lineup loaded with awesome games. Lets look at each time slot.
11 a.m- The headliner is The Red River Shootout in the Cotton Bowl. Lord knows that is a monster gamer around here. Folks have been gearing up for it for days. A little fact I found fascinating is that The Texas student tickets didn’t sell out. That is down right disgraceful. I also learned this week that Mack Brown is 5-9 against Bob Stoops. Consider that 3 of those wins came in a 4 year period in the mid 00’s. Basically Bob Stoops owns Mack Browns ass, and the games the last couple of years show it. Today the Sooners will attempt to win 4 in a row in this historic rivalry. The spread is 14.5 and I think that is conservative. Its going to be an ass whooping, which is always fun. However I will not be watching this game.
The Nebraska Cornhuskers take to the road for the first time this season against the hapless Purdue Boilermakers. If the Huskers are indeed making progress this game should not be close. Tommy Armstrong makes his 3rd career start against a decent, but still not good, Boilermaker Defense. The calls among many Husker fans for Armstrong to be the permanent starter are getting louder. Armstrong is fueling that fire with efficient play and strong running. Today the sample size grows for Armstrong and perhaps the controversy along with it. On the Defensive side of the ball the Huskers look to build on the improvement seen last week. The Big Red Defense only allowed 10 points (minus a junk time TD) and were better all the way around. This Boilermaker Offense is weak, and is starting a first time freshman QB. If this Defense is worth their weight in salt they should smell blood in the water and go after this guy. The Big Red rolls in this one.
2:30- This lineup is absolutely stacked. First off Florida/LSU will square off in Baton Rouge. The TIgers have won 2 of the last 3 meetings in this matchup. This one is the battle of the impotent Gator Offense against a struggling Tiger Defense. The difference to me is Zach Mettenberger. He has provided the LSU Offense with a spark I haven’t seen in a long, long time. If the Defense can get it together the Tigers will be a force in the SEC West. Offensively they have playmakers all over the field. Odell Beckham and Jeremy Hill are absolute studs. But it starts and ends with Mettenberger who will again be terrific. The Tigers wont put up 40 on the Gators but they wont have to. Give me the Tigers at home.
Northestern @ Wisconsin. Last week the Wildcats exerted a tremendous amount of energy against Ohio State. This week they go to Madison. Camp Randal will be fired up for this one. If this were any team but Northwestern I would say they are doomed. But Northwestern appears to have what it takes to bounce back, go on the road, and play great again. Wisconsin is a damn good team but I think The Wildcats will make this a game and perhaps come away with it. Either way it will be a fantastic affair.
If those 2 games weren’t enough to wet your appetite there is also the Oregon @ Washington game. This one pits the Pac 12 upstart Huskies against the well established Oregon Ducks. The Huskies are surprising a lot of folks right now with the way their season has begun. Keith Price looks to be one of the best QB’s in the nation. Currently Price is completing 71% of his passes. Newly renovated Husky Stadium will be the backdrop for this one and you can bet it will be rockin. Still I think the Ducks will show why they are a legitimate National Title contender. Marcus Mariota is phenomenal. His completion % is not in the neighborhood of Price, but Mariota has 14 Tds and NO INTERCEPTIONS. Mariota is the straw that stirs the drink for The Ducks and will be the difference in this one.
7p.m- Compared to the 2:30 time slot, this one has no juice. There are a number of games with good teams against inferior competition. At 4:00 there is Michigan @ Penn St., Stanford @ Utah starts at 5, Alabama @ Kentucky kicks off at 6. These are all decent affairs but fall well short of what happens at 2:30. The one game that really turns my head is Texas A&M @ Ole Miss. This one will be good. I don’t think the Aggs are good enough to blow folks out. Likewise I don’t think The Rebs are good enough to run away from anyone either. This one will be back and forth. Johnny Football has shown he can shred most any Defense, and The Aggs dont have the kind of playmakers Defensively that they have had in the past. Don’t blink in this one. Ill take the Rebs in a squeaker.
College Football Junkie 2015 