Friday night fun

Do yourself a favor tonight and watch Washington @ UCLA.  The Pac 12 is the most interesting conference in College Football and these 2 teams are amongst the most interesting.  Washington is a real up and comer with some good players on both sides of the ball.  Bishop Sankey is 3rd nationally in rushing yards per game.  Keith Price will be playing on Sundays soon enough.  On the other side Brett Hundley will be a first round draft pick. LB Anthony Barr is also excellent and the Defense is loaded with young talent. Again do yourself a favor and tune in tonight.  These teams are quite good and you will not be sorry.  You can thank me tomorrow.

Looking ahead to week 8

Its going to awful hard to top last week.  There were upsets all over the place and thrilling finishes galore.  This week has an awful lot to live up to.  Lets take a look at some top matchups.

Texas Tech @ West Virginia- A few weeks ago I wrote off the Mountaineers.  I figured they were Dog feces after getting shut out by Maryland.  Then they beat the bejesus out of Oklahoma State in Morgan town.  This shocked the hell out of me and has restored my faith in them.  The Red Raiders will be starting their second Freshman QB in Davis Webb.  I think its going to be too much for Tech and they fall to West Virginia.

Florida @ Missouri- Do the Tigers have the maturity to forget about last week’s MONSTER win and focus on a team at home minus James Franklin?  I say no.  Give me the Gators.  Their Defense will feast on a backup QB.

Auburn @ Texas A&M- The Aggies are coming off an absolute thriller in Oxford.  It was perhaps the most excititng game I have watched this season.  This week Auburn comes to town for a game that will not be short on firepower.  The Auburn Offense is averaging 287 yards per game while The Aggie Defense ranks 96th in the country for points allowed.  We know The Aggs can score but can they come up with the necessary stops to win the game?  I don’t think so.  This game is my upset special.

UCLA @ Stanford- The big stunner last weekend has Stanford losing to Utah.  There is no time for a hangover for The Cardinal as this week they get a very good UCLA team.  UCLA is led by Brett Hundley whose Offense is averaging 45 points per game.  But the Bruins have yet to play a Defense like this one.  The Stanford front 7 is as good as any in the country.  This one will be fascinating.  Give me the home team.

USC @ Notre Dame- A classic matchup even though neither team is very good.  Give me Notre Dame.

Washington @ Arizona State- The Huskies have to forget about last weekends loss to Oregon and take to the road against the Sun Devils.  Arizona State smoked Colorado last week but Washington will be a much tougher test.  This game pits 2 terrific QBs against each other.  Taylor Kelly and Keith Price are 2 of the best this conference has to offer.  Ill take Price to take his team on the road and come out with a victory.

LSU @ Ole Miss- I still think Ole Miss is a good team despite 3 straight losses.  They are simply in a tough stretch in a tough league with a TON of young players.  This team is still dangerous to a team like LSU.  After a big game against Florida perhaps LSU comes out a bit flat.  I like the Tigers in this one but I think it will be closer than most experts would have you believe.

Florida State @ Clemson- This one is going be be fantastic.  2 great teams, both with a ton at stake.  I think whoever wins is a frontrunner in the National Title chase.  Clemson has the edge at QB with Boyd.  He has the skins on the wall and thus the upper hand.  Clemson is also at home.  But give me the Seminoles in this one.  I think the bright lights might be a bit much for the Tigers.  Either way this one is a cant miss.

Big time Saturday 10/12

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.