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.”
Angles
Time to Play Ball
We’ve come to the part of the
season where the men are separated from the boys. Some
conferences all but have their champions determined while
other conferences are waiting for a few more games to sort
things out. For the Big East, the later statement holds
true.
Up until this week, the cream
of the Big East have feasted on a diet consisting of schools
such as Illinois, Howard, Temple, East Carolina, and
Marshall. Out of the three undefeated Big East teams --
Rutgers, Louisville, and West Virginia -- only one has
played a non-conference BCS bowl caliber team. Well, I
should say on any normal year that team, Miami, would be a
BCS bowl caliber team but this year, the Hurricanes look
more like a tropical depression.
This week brings much of the
Big East hype to a climax as West Virginia travels to take
on Louisville. On Thursday night, we get to find out this
week if the No. 3 Mountaineers, who have played teams with a
combined record of 16-29 (35.5%), are more prepared than the
No. 5 Cardinals who have played teams with a record of 23-32
(41.82%). We get to find out if West Virginia Coach Rich
Rodriguez really was distracted by thoughts of leading North
Carolina next season or if he spent enough time preparing
his team for this tough battle. We get to find out if
Louisville can avenge last season’s three-overtime loss in
Morgantown, W.Va.
My gut feeling on this game:
The Mountaineers just won’t have enough fight in them once
Louisville starts taking some slugs. The Pizza Parlor is
going to be loud and the Cardinals are going to be sharp as
they slowly dissect the Mountaineers, showing the nation
that West Virginia is still not an elite team. Not this
season at least.
The game will be a good one
to watch as the victor will likely win the Big East. That
is, unless Rutgers has something to say about it.
Random Predictions
Sticking with the Big East
theme, there is only one other game being played: Pittsburgh
at South Florida. The Bulls have been inconsistent this
season, winning big one week while barely being able to put
points up on the board the next. Pittsburgh has played only
one good team this season and that resulted in a 20-10 loss
to Rutgers. My gut tells me this is going to be a close
game, with the Panthers winning by less than a touchdown.
In the ACC, Miami hosts
Virginia Tech in a game that the suddenly resurgent Hokies
are looking to exact revenge upon the hobbling Hurricanes.
Last season, Miami blindsided the Hokies, 27-7, in
Blacksburg, Va. Don’t think for one minute that Frank
Beamer will not use that game as motivation for Tech this
week in practice. Larry Coker can use this game to solidify
his team’s No. 2 position in the ACC Coastal division, not
to mention his coaching job. I just don’t think the
Hurricanes will be able to stop Brandon Ore or find a way to
run the ball against the tough Hokies defensive line. VT
wins by 10 points in the Orange Bowl.
In the SEC, LSU travels to
Knoxville, Tenn., for a mid-afternoon affair with the
Volunteers. Motivation is on the side of Rocky Top as the
Vols continue to scratch and crawl their way through the SEC
hoping for first place Florida Gators to drop one more game.
The Vols should win this one in convincing fashion.
The Big XII sports a game
between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Aggies of Texas A&M.
Most people did not predict the Aggies would be sandwiched
between the Sooners and Texas Longhorns at this point in the
season. A&M wants to make some noise nationally and prove
they are finally back on the college football map; this is
the game to do such a thing. Look for a big win by the
Aggies.
UCLA has dropped three in a
row dating back to the 30-20 loss against No. 18 Oregon.
The Bruins didn’t have much luck against No. 10 Notre Dame,
losing 20-17, and they forgot to come out of the locker room
to play the final 30 minutes against Washington State last
weekend. Don’t expect Cal to have a let down this week as
the Golden Bears know the Pac-10 is theirs to lose, and they
will beat UCLA.
Dangles
For someone that lives on the
West Coast in the middle of Pac-10 country, I should do a
much better job predicting Pac-10 games. Who would have
thought that USC would lose at Oregon State? Well, yeah, I
should’ve realized the Trojans were not playing solid the
past few weeks having too many narrow escapes from teams
they should have beaten handily. I still can’t figure out
how Washington lost to Arizona State. Maybe the loss of
Isaiah Stanback really does spell disaster for the Huskies.
Back in the preseason Top 25,
I suggested that Texas Tech would have plenty of motivation
to get pumped up about their game against Texas trying to
get back at the Longhorns for the 52-17 drubbing they
suffered last season. And they did! But it only lasted for
the first 30 minutes of the game, as they jumped out to a
21-0 lead. The last 30 minutes of the game weren’t so good,
as the Red Raiders lost their lead and wound up losing by
four. Needless to say, another one of my preseason thoughts
went down the tubes. Man, did I really say that Iowa was
going to play Auburn in the BCS title game? Sheesh!
Last week I also said the
game between the Virginia Tech Hokies and Tigers from
Clemson would be a close one. Oops.
Perks
Anyone
who watched Clemson play last Thursday got many good
glimpses of Will Proctor. He’s been highlighted in this
article before, but he’s just too much of a stud to only
mention once!
Related:
Week
8 recap
Week
7 recap
Week
6 recap
Week
5 recap
Week
4 recap
Week
3 recap
Week
2 recap
Week
1 recap
Our Top 25
Burning questions and hot players
