|
By Richie Weldon
Each week this article will
focus on some of my predictions and insights for the coming
week and discuss some of my previous, faulty predictions.
The article will also feature pictures of a different
college football stud that defines the term “Eye Candy”.
Top 10 Troubles
As expected, Virginia Tech
lost its first game of the season as Georgia Tech jumped out
to a 21-0 lead before the end of the first quarter. Chan
Gailey had his team looking like Frank Beamer’s Pride and
Joy squad when the Yellow Jackets blocked a punt and ran it
back for a touchdown. Iowa also dropped a big-time home
game against a vicious Ohio State team. The Hawkeyes, who
were my No. 2 team preseason, were just not able to get
enough going behind quarterback Drew Tate. Ohio State held
the ball for more than 40 minutes in the game. Ohio State
has now beaten three ranked teams in the Top 25, two on the
road. Anyone doubting the Buckeyes are now the team to beat
on the way to the national title game?
The Wacky Pac-10
Is anyone else paying
attention to USC? With such a close game against the
Washington State Cougars on Saturday, it seems that coach
Bill Doba may have found some kinks in that seemingly
impenetrable Trojan armor. Rest assured that California
head coach Jeff Tedford will keep that game tape on his desk
and study it night and day trying to finish the job the
Cougars started. It’ll be tough, as that game on Nov. 18 is
down in Los Angeles, but the Golden Bears have the right
personnel to come away with a huge victory.
The Washington Huskies are
4-1 and undefeated in conference play. Wow. Not bad for a
coach who was left with no recruits and who was fired
prematurely from Notre Dame a few years back. Tyrone
Willingham is a great coach and he’s proving it this year in
Seattle. He’s got his Huskies believing they will make a
bowl game and finish high in the Pac-10 standings.
Willingham just needs to make sure his team does not get
discouraged after what will probably be a tough loss to USC
this weekend.
The Big East: Back to
Earth
Much talk was bantered about
during the first few weeks of the season about how solid the
Big East is this year and how the conference is ready to
play with the “big boys”. In the latest Sagarin conference
ratings (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/fbc06.htm),
the Big East has slipped down to sixth place. Why the drop
from third place just two weeks ago? Taking a guess, it’s
the same reason as always for the Big East: the out of
conference schedule is nothing to shake a stick at and this
will continue to negatively affect the conference in
standings. Currently, out of the eight members in the
conference, only three of them have schedules ranked harder
than 100. (There are 119 teams in division I-A football
this year.) Out of those schools, Syracuse and Louisville
have winning records; Cincinnati sits at 2-3. Pittsburgh’s
schedule is ranked at 115, West Virginia’s at 118, Rutgers
at 139. What it all means is that the Big East champion
will need help from other teams ranked ahead of them in the
polls in order to be high enough ranked in the BCS standings
to have a chance at the national title game. If WVU or
Louisville go undefeated, a one-loss Texas, Michigan, or
Auburn team could potentially have enough love from the
computers to jump either of those teams in BCS standings.
More Off Officials
Is anyone else sick of how
instant replay is shaping up this season? How it works is
supposed to prevent any wrong calls by the officials on the
field from sticking. It just doesn’t seem to be turning out
that way, however. First there was that horrible
officiating crew that worked the Oregon-Oklahoma game, next
it was the Florida diving touchdown this past weekend that
should have been over turned. In that game there was one
camera angle that clearly shows the ball coming out of the
player’s hands as he was in the air and about to cross the
goal line. The referee was seen signaling the touchdown
before the player cross the goal line! That clearly was the
wrong call and it should have been overturned. Until
someone is able to come up with a computer program or
generated images that extend the plane of the goal line,
reviewing close calls like these two will continue to be
controversial.
Since last week I was silly
and forgot to predict a bunch of games, this week I’m going
to rattle off more than the usual number of predictions.
Washington Huskies vs. USC
Trojans: Can the Huskies pop the Trojans? Doubtful, but so
is another pageboy for Mark Foley, that wise Republican
Congressman from Florida. Look for the Trojans to win by
four touchdowns.
Oregon Ducks vs. Cal Golden
Bears: The Ducks are a pretty nasty team in general, and
that’s not just another slight on their uniforms. I had the
Golden Bears picked high in my preseason poll, thinking
they’d beat everyone on their schedule. Apart from their
week one debacle (losing to Tennessee 35-18), the Golden
Bears are creaming the competition. Look for Cal to win by
17.
Stanford vs. Notre Dame: In
what will go down as a blessing by Touchdown Jesus, Notre
Dame makes a last minute drive and nails a 46-yard field
goal to win the game after being down by five touchdowns.
Texas vs. Oklahoma: The
Sooners are still peeved about the “loss” up in Oregon
(where the Pac-10 officials screwed up instant replay twice
on Oregon’s last drive that allowed the Ducks to win the
game) and I think they will use that “loss” as motivation to
beat Texas. Not to mention the Sooners are seeking
redemption for the 33-point loss they suffered at the hands
of the Longhorns last season.
Dangles
In this week’s version of “my
bad,” I didn’t really predict any games last week apart from
the Virginia Tech loss to Georgia Tech. However, if you go
back to my preseason top-25, I stated that Iowa would beat
Ohio State and I couldn’t be any more wrong on that
prediction even if I tried.
It looks like Virginia coach
Al Groh may have pared back the wolves win winning the game
against Duke this past weekend, but he still has a big
uphill battle if he wants to have job security. His team is
now 1-1 in the ACC standings; a few more ACC victories and
the chorus of “Fire Groh” will diminish.
I still can’t believe that
Illinois won that game against Michigan State. Was the
Spartan’s loss to the Golden Domers that disheartening?
 Perks
As Ryan Smith pulled in two
interceptions during Florida’s 28-13 victory over Alabama,
television viewers were treated with a bunch of great shots
of No. 28. He was the man on the field, and I’m sure after
the game, he was the man off the field as well! And another
thing’s for sure, Ryan Smith is definitely more attractive
than the
Florida’s football website. That is one UGLY
website!
Related:
Week
4 recap
Week
3 recap
Week
2 recap
Week
1 recap
Our Top 25
Burning questions and hot players |
