Is college football great or what? We've got more great matchups this weekend. And the number one team in the nation is preparing to go down.
Anybody surprised by what's going on between TCU and SMU right now? Don't be. TCU will win the game, but SMU is a pretty good football team. If the Mustangs would have been able to pull through against Texas Tech two weeks ago they'd be ranked right now. The defense is improved and June Jones is rebuilding that run-and-shoot offense. If SMU can stop the TCU run game, this game is about to get real interesting in the second half.
Upset Watch and My Top 25
No. 1 Alabama at No. 11 Arkansas 3:30 CBS
This is going to be great. For those of you Penn State people here, I am not going to the Penn-State temple game, essentially just to watch this game (and the Texas game is also on at 3:30 so you all know where my priorities lie). And having a cable splitter now and two laptops this is great, I can watch four games at the same time without flipping the channel back and forth. Two TV’s and two laptops on espn3.com. But anyway, I circled this date back in August. I made the announcement then, and three weeks into the season I’m sticking by my word: Arkansas, folks, WILL beat Alabama.
First of all, Arkansas has one 18 straight SEC openers.
When you talk Alabama, what do you think…Mark Ingram, Trent Richardson, and defense. Last year, Arkansas held Mark Ingram to 50 yards and if you take away Richardson’s long touchdown run, the Arkansas D held him to 13 yards on 8 carries. If you watched the Alabama 35-7 blowout of Arkansas last year, you remember Arkansas gave up big plays to Alabama. Now, this is an improved Arkansas defense and a faster more experienced secondary which should matchup well with the physical Julio Jones and then the speedy Darius Hanks and Marquis Maze. Alabama QB Greg McElroy had his best game against Arkansas last year, but this year Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett will have his best game against this young, yet talented, Alabama secondary. Alabama has two first year starters in sophomore Dre Kirkpatrick and true freshman DeMarcus Milliner at cornerback. Both these guys have the talent, they were #1 cornerback recruits, but Alabama’s secondary hasn’t played together too often yet and we have seen some blown coverages. Give Arkansas a blown coverage and let Greg Childs or Joe Adams get behind you and it’s a field day for the Hogs.
Ryan Mallett has all of his weapons back from a year ago from top receiver Childs to tight end DJ Williams. Childs had the game-winning catch against Georgia last week. Arkansas’s offensive line is going to be a big difference in this game. That line let too much pressure on Mallett last year causing him to go 12-of-35 for 160 yards. Coming off a physical matchup with Georgia they could be a little banged up, but Alabama is beat in the film room. You have to be able to recognize the blitz packages that Kirby Smart throws at you. We’ll see how well Arkansas handles the blitz Saturday.
Arkansas wins 31-30
Ironically, college football guru Phil Steele is picking Alabama to win with the same score of 31-30.
Result: Alabama 24, Arkansas 20
UCLA at No. 4 TEXAS 3:30 ABC
Texas has been one of those schools criticized for its soft non-conference schedules in the past, but now it adds UCLA, maybe not the most high profile matchup but a decent one. Texas is doing its best though as they have added BYU and USC in the future (can’t wait to play USC again, but I’d like another shot at Alabama more or at Michael Crabtree).
UCLA QB KeviN Prince is back healthy with most of his weapons in receivers Nelson Rosario and Taylor Embree.
The last time Texas and UCLA played each other, UCLA was in the top ten. Now they’re in the top ten in the Pac-10. But this is a program on the rise under Rick Neuheisel. The Pac-10 is hard to figure out, we don’t know if USC is going to stick around in prominence and same for how long Oregon’s magic is going to last while UCLA, Arizona, and Stanford are on the high rise. The Pac-10 is the most competitive conference.
UCLA brings in its new version of the Nevada “Pistol” offense, but it’s the UCLA defense that could not stop the running of Kansas State’s Daniel Thomas that needs to step up. UCLA has some playmakers on that defense with strongside linebacker Akeem Ayers, defensive end Datones Jones and the big-time freshman Owamagbe Odighizuwa rushing from the other end, and Rahim Moore anchoring that secondary. Moore led the nation in interceptions last year and competed with Texas’s Earl Thomas (1st round pick of the Seattle Seahawks) as the best free safety in the nation.
The UCLA defense is giving up 26 points per game. That should be enough for my Texas Longhorns with the kind of defense we play (because Will Muschamp is the best defensive coordinator in the land, unbiased). UCLA has turned the ball over seven times in two games so Texas will capitalize on turnover opportunities which is the biggest improvement in the Texas defense the past two years. The Texas pass-rush will be too much for UCLA.
On offense, this isn’t the same Texas offense that’s scored 40 points per game the past five years, but it has the potential to be a 30 point per game offense. The goal for Texas was to turn itself into a down-hill running team like the Ricky Williams and Cedric Benson days, but ever since Jamaal Charles, the Texas offense hasn’t had a back it can rely on for 20 carries a game. Fozzy Whittaker is the most explosive, Cody Johnson is the most powerful, and Tre’ Newton is the most balanced. I figure Fozzy will get the start again, but we saw against Texas Tech that Texas abandoned the run game and went back to the spread that Colt McCoy ran. They put more responsibility on Garrett Gilbert, but his receivers need to step up. Malcolm Williams needs to step up. Williams is a first round NFL Draft Pick on potential. Too bad it’s the NBA that drafts on potential, not the NFL. Malcolm needs to get right and Texas of course we’re playing 12 freshmen, Mike Davis and Darius White, the two top receiver recruits are among them. Davis needs to be a little more consistent, he’s dropping passes, but also making big catches, but we can’t have him by any chance drop a pass in a clutch situation. Teams are zeroing in on Texas top receiver James Kirkendoll so the other guys need to help Gilbert is Texas reverts to the passing game.
Garrett Gilbert will be a great quarterback in time. He makes good decisions and he’s improving his throws. His three interceptions were all deflected or dropped so it’s not his fault. The offensive line play of Texas needs to improve too, aside from Mason Walters at right guard, the redshirt freshman, these are all guys who have experience in the system. They’re not handling the whole lower your pads and open running lanes too well. The offensive line needs to improve.
Texas wins 34-13
Result: UCLA 34, Texas 12
No. 17 Stanford at Notre Dame 3:30 NBC
Things don’t get any easier for Notre Dame as they now host the red-hot Stanford Cardinal after they finished their 68-24 blowout of Wake Forest and Notre Dame suffered that tough loss in overtime to Michigan State.
Hey remember when Mark Schlabach predicted that Notre Dame was going to a BCS bowl? Yeah think he still thinks that? Me neither. I never bought it. Brian Kelly is an offensive coach, and Notre Dame is a bad defensive team. That’s why they should have hired Randy Edsall from UConn instead.
After hosting Stanford, Notre Dame has Boston College and Pittsburgh. Stanford is at Oregon and USC after this weekend. The only way Stanford drops this game is if they caught in a trap game and look ahead to Oregon. It happens all the time in college football.
The Stanford secondary has given up 90 passing yards per game. This is a very good experienced secondary and a defense that’s reemerging. But there lacks some depth in the secondary and Notre Dame’s up-tempo spread could tire the Stanford defense out. Notre Dame will score it’s point, but how many will they give up to Heisman front-runner Andrew Luck? Luck so far has 10 touchdown passes and no interceptions and has his top targets Ryan Whalen and Chris Owusu available. Notre Dame has nine starters back on defense, but it’s a terrible defense that they’re returning and like other Brian Kelly coached teams, the secondary is shaky.
Stanford wins 38-24
Result: Stanford 37, Notre Dame 14
Temple at No. 20 Penn State 3:30 Big Ten Network
Temple is one of those teams you haven’t really figured out yet. In week one they hold on against Villanova to win 31-24 and then get taken to the brinks by a rebuilding Central Michigan team to win that one 13-10 in overtime and then come out and beat Connecticut by two touchdowns. Maybe Temple just plays to the level of its opponent, which means this Saturday Beaver Stadium is in for a good matchup.
Temple’s 3-0 for the first time since 1979, but hasn’t beaten Penn State since 1941 and the Nittany Lions have outscored Temple 154-9 and haven’t allowed the Owls to score a touchdown in four years. That will change, Temple will score two touchdowns this time, but it won’t be enough to win.
Temple is 12-0 when sensational tailback Bernard Pierce runs for 55 yards or more. Last year Pierce got 24 yards on 7 carries but was just bursting onto the scene. We’ll see how well Temple can run the ball because Kent State has a similar running game but was not able to get anything going up the middle and ended up making all of their runs to the outside.
Speaking of running the ball, when is Evan Royster going to show up? It needs to happen now with a big matchup on the road at Iowa looming next week. The team needs to instill confidence in Royster’s ability. Royster ran for 134 yards against Temple last year and Penn State did establish a running game against Kent State and it really opened up the play-action pass. Robert Bolden’s footwork on play-action and rolling to the left was magnificent. He’s grown so much after the Alabama game which we expected. There’s no better experience than getting beat up by the Alabama defense in your first road start.
Temple’s strength is the defense with linebackers Elijah Joseph and Amara Kamara, but UConn’s Jordan Todman still ran the ball for over 190 yards last week against Temple. It was a costly turnover that lost the game. It was costly turnovers that lost the bowl game against UCLA last year, too.
Penn State’s defense finally broke through in the shutout of Kent State last week to force a few turnovers. That needs to happen again because Temple does have the personnel that Youngstown State and Kent State didn’t have to put drives together against Penn State’s defense.
Penn State wins 27-20
Result: Penn State 22, Temple 13
No. 6 Oregon at Arizona State
It’s as they say the real season doesn’t start until conference play starts (unless you’re Boise State). Oregon has blasted it’s FCS opponents, well I guess New Mexico was an FBS school right? Oh yeah, Tennessee. Well, I’m the guy that said Tennessee was going to beat Oregon. That didn’t happen so I just cut the Vols out of the picture.
Everyone is raving about Oregon’s “point-a-minute” offense averaging 63 points and over 600 yards per game. It’s been enough to earn them a top five ranking the AP Poll (which is ridiculous). Oregon rushed for 528 yards against Portland State last week and the game was still three hours because Oregon scored so many times.
Oregon has faced a good defense in Tennessee and ran all over them in the second half of that game. Now they come against an Arizona State team that was so close to upsetting Wisconsin. Arizona State has a good defense too, but the key to stopping Oregon is holding your assignment. Arizona State hasn’t faced a zone-read since losing 44-21 to Oregon last November. New Oregon QB Darron Thomas makes his reads off of the positioning of the defensive end, in this case Dean DeLeone and James Brooks. Vontaze Burfict, the number one linebacker recruit a year ago (I think he’s better than Manti Te’o) is a stud.
Arizona State has a new quarterback with Michigan-transfer Steven Threet. Oregon has just allowed 13 points, all of them to Tennessee this year, but now it’s time that Oregon defense will be exposed as a weakness again like it was last year. They’ve got solid players like Kenny Rowe, Spencer Paysinger, and Casey Matthews, but as unit, they’re just not that good.
All the talk is Darron Thomas, LaMichael James, and Kenjon Barner, but Oregon’s got Jeff Maehl and big Lavasier Tuinei on the outside. Arizona State has it’s own capable back in Cameron Marshall. It’s going to be a true road test, but Oregon’s weapons are going to come up clutch.
Oregon wins 31-20
Result: Oregon 42, Arizona State 31
North Carolina at Rutgers 3:30
Rutgers continues to fly completely under the radar. Am I the only guy keeping tabs on them? They’ve been on my bubble for the Top 25 all last year and all this year thought hey haven’t quite broken through yet, but you’ve got to love what’s going on in Piscataway. Tom Savage and Mohamed Sanu is the best quarterback-receiver combination in the country. They became a productive duo as true freshmen last year. Savage hasn’t quite found his groove yet this year and struggled a little against Florida International, and now without playing any capable opponent, Tom Savage is placed against North Carolina. This is a test I believe he’s going to pass. Savage has struggled against the better defenses like West Virginia, but was spectacular in the St. Petersburg Bowl against Central Florida.
North Carolina has handed out some definite suspensions this week as corner Kendric Burney is out for four games and safety Deunta Williams is out for six. Both are projected first round NFL Draft picks. The other big time UNC defenders Marvin Austin and Robert Quinn along with top receiver Greg Little and starting halfback Ryan Houston. Shaun Draughn, Bruce Davis, and Quan Sturdivant have been cleared to play. Draughn brings the run game dimension back to the Tar Heel offense that up to this point had been carried by the drastic improvement of quarterback TJ Yates and Davis and Sturdivant are first round talents as well.
North Carolina was supposed to be 2-0 coming into this game, instead they’re 0-2 dropping both games 30-24. I believe if UNC had its defense in tact, 30 points are not scored in either game and the Tar Heels win.
Rutgers is a much improved team with Savage having a year of experience and all-purpose Mohamed Sanu continuing where he left off his freshman year. The defense lost Devin McCourty to the Draft (1st round pick of Patriots), but it’s still a solid secondary. Rutgers is at home where they shut out South Florida and played West Virginia and Pittsburgh tough to the very end. I think Rutgers is the most underrated team in America and they win this game and finally break into the rankings while no other Big East team has decided to step up.
Rutgers wins 27-23
Result: North Carolina 17, Rutgers 13
No. 9 Oklahoma at Cincinnati 6:00 ESPN2
Well, this is the big game for Oklahoma. That’s right, the game before the Texas game. For whatever reason, for both OU and Texas, this is always the biggest week where both teams get caught looking ahead. Luckily for Texas, they’re defense is going to stuff UCLA while the offense finds a rhythm, and for Oklahoma, they get to play Cincinnati, so even if the offense doesn’t find a rhythm, they still win.
Everyone knows that I do not like this Cincinnati team (or last year’s) and it should have been Pittsburgh in the BCS last year for the Big East. Cincinnati has always been the most overrated program and Brian Kelly is the most overrated coach.
So much was made of the Cincinnati offense and with the personnel they have they should be better. 14 points in a loss to Fresno State and the same lack of production against North Carolina State, this should not happen when you have a quarterback like Zach Collaros and a top-flight receiver in Armon Binns and return most of the offense with possession guy DJ Woods. However, the Cincy offense took a huge blow when Vidal Hazelton, the USC transfer, was lost for the season with a torn ACL and tight end Ben Guidugli is out for the Oklahoma game. On offense, Collaros has been sacked 15 times already this season, so Adrian Taylor and Jeremy Beal along with the Oklahoma linebacking corps are going to have a field day. Travis Lewis is maybe the best outside linebacker in the nation.
Defensively, Cincinnati (no surprise) is in the bottom ten in pass defense. This is a defense that Tim Tebow, let me emphasize this: TIM TEBOW shredded this secondary passing. Yeah, passing. Cincinnati should just thank everyone that Oklahoma doesn’t have Sam Bradford anymore, but Landry Jones we’ve seen is capable. Six touchdown passes for Jones this weekend? Maybe not that much, but with these Oklahoma receivers Ryan Broyles, Brandon Caleb, Kenny Stills, everyone else, the offense is loaded, not to mention DeMarco Murray. Cincinnati has no chance, even if the Sooners are on the road. If the Bearcats get lucky, Oklahoma will get caught looking ahead to Texas and score 40 points instead of 80.
Oklahoma wins 45-10
Result: Oklahoma 31, Cincinnati 29
Nevada at BYU 6:00
Nevada had a very impressive performance in the 52-31 win over California last Saturday. Nevada earned quite a few votes for the Top 25 while I gave them some recognition putting them 25th in my rankings.
Nevada rushed for 316 yards against a pretty good Cal defense. Colin Kaepernick had five touchdowns (3 rushing, 2 passing), but he has made drastic improvements that now make him a viable NFL prospect.
Nevada averaged 6.3 yards per carry against California, and after shutting down Jake Locker and Washington in week one, BYU’s defense has struggled giving up over 30 to Air Force and Florida State, both of those teams averaged 6.3 yards per carry against the Cougars defense.
The way Nevada has been playing they could be a challenge for Boise State late in the year if they continue to take strides in the right direction, but let’s not forget that what the Boise State Broncos have exposed every year is the Nevada defense. It’s overshadowed in a 52-31 win but the Wolf Pack gave up 502 yards of total offense to Cal. Cal’s Shane Vereen almost ran for 200 yards, while Kevin Riley would have had a good passing day if not for three interceptions. Corbin Louks is the stout safety for Nevada, but that’s about all they have in the secondary.
If you recall BYU had been using a two quarterback system with junior Riley Nelson and true freshman Jake Heaps. Nelson is out for the year now with a shoulder injury, but Heaps, the number one QB recruit, is the better natural passer and he really got a lot of work in against Florida State that should help him going against Nevada.
Nevada is 3-0, but all three games have been at home and Cal being the only strong opponent. Nevada does struggle on the road especially in the first road game of the year as the Wolf Pack have lost 14 straight road openers. Is this where they buck that trend or do they struggle and drop one on the road?
Nevada and BYU will be a regular matchup when Nevada completes its move to the Mountain West Conference, but for now BYU is looking for respect while Nevada might still be feeling good about beating Cal.
It’s going to be tough, but I like Nevada in this game, barely, due to Kaepernick’s improvements, but it’s hard seeing BYU drop to 1-3 in this game when they have McKay Jacobson and O’Neill Chambers going against the Nevada secondary. I’ll say this game is a toss-up, either team could win or either team could win decisively. For the sake of argument I’ll go Nevada.
Nevada wins 33-28
Result: Nevada 27, BYU 13
No. 15 South Carolina at No. 14 Auburn 7:45 ESPN
Auburn has lost to South Carolina once and that was way before our time in 1933. These teams are mostly even in terms of personnel. South Carolina also has a tough history on the road, not being able to win big games away from home.
Here’s some nice parallels between these two teams: South Carolina’s Marcus Lattimore vs. Auburn’s Michael Dyer. Both true freshman runningbacks are making huge contributions for their teams. South Carolina’s Stephon Gilmore vs. Auburn’s Neiko Thorpe. Thorpe will likely be matched up against the big 6’4” sophomore Alshon Jeffery who’s Stephen Garcia’s go-to man while Gilmore will take on Auburn’s best receiver Darvin Adams. South Carolina may have a slight edge defensively and Auburn is banged up after playing a tough physical game last week against Clemson and losing their right tackle for the year with a broken ankle. That could come up huge against South Carolina’s pass rush with Cliff Matthews. South Carolina may also have an advantage with having Jeffery and the big 6’5” Tori Gurley on the other side. If tight end Weslye Saunders wasn’t dismissed from the team, South Carolina would no doubt have the edge in this game. South Carolina also boasts Chris Culliver to cover Terrell Zachery. South Carolina has the egde in the secondary, but Auburn has the stronger front seven. But that front seven got pushed around a little bit against Clemson as those Tigers ran for 180 yards while Lattimore for the Gamecocks, rushed for 180 yards by himself last week and could do it again.
Whoever runs the ball better in this game will win. Stephen Garcia has improved so much in the play-action pass, Auburn’s safeties will start to cheat and Jeffery will get behind them. For Auburn, Cameron Newton has proven to be a great runner but what is he as a passer? He struggles when he has to scramble, but also stands tall in the pocket. Auburn needs to protect Newton and give him time. Mario Fannin could be a wildcard in this game as he’ll be used in all kinds of different looks. Brandon Mosley filled in for Lee Ziemba at left tackle and will probably start at right tackle.
Auburn’s at home, so I give them the edge and I've got to stick to my prediction back in August that Auburn will be undefeated entering the Iron Bowl. In my mind, South Carolina is the favorite so this is one of my upset picks for the weekend.
Auburn wins 27-24
Result: Auburn 35, South Carolina 27
Oregon State at No. 3 Boise State 8:00 ABC
I would love to be in Boise one day for a game, but in my place for Saturday it’s ESPN’s “College Gameday” making its first ever appearance in Boise, ID.
Was it just a publicity stunt or is Boise State getting in the heads of Oregon State? We all know about Boise State’s awesome blue turf field, and if you haven’t heard, Oregon State spent thousands of dollars to paint it’s practice field blue to simulate game environment. What good does that do? Unless they dressed up their runningbacks in all blue and tried to find him, then painting the field was a waste if not just for public attention.
In week one, TCU beat Oregon State 30-21. Oregon State QB Ryan Katz made his first start and was a bit overwhelmed but played pretty well. It was interesting, even though TCU was, or should have been, the more dominant team, they turned it over a few times that almost led to their downfall. The argument of who is better between TCU and Boise State is going to be present again this year, so Boise is definitely looking to make a statement and blow out the Beavers by way more than nine points.
Does anyone remember how close I was to putting Boise State as number one in my preseason polls? When you return 21 of 22 starters from a 14-0 football team, that’s a good football team you have. What kept them out of number one or even the top two was who did they play? And they didn’t exactly dominate TCU in the Fiesta Bowl. They won that game with a fake punt.
Boise State’s defense has been stout, and their offense is spectacular with Heisman candidate Kellen Moore running the show. Here’s my dilemma with Moore, obviously he’s only good as a college quarterback, you don’t see Jared Zabransky in the NFL do you? But that’s not my issue, my issue is I’m rooting for Boise State to bring about change to the college football world and to do that they need to win, they need to go undefeated, and what does that mean? Unless Kellen Moore gets hurt, he will break Colt McCoy’s all-time NCAA wins record. And you know what that means to me.
Anyway, the Broncos offense outgained Wyoming by 500 yards last week and won 51-6. That’s something that the Colt McCoy-less Texas offense can’t say they did.
Boise’s got too many weapons with a three-headed monster in the backfield with Doug Martin, Jeremy Avery, and back from injury DJ Harper. Harper’s changed his number to 6 and has been a rejuvenated back. They have Titus Young and Austin Pettis tough to defend on the outside. The offensive line is gelled and Moore just sits in the pocket and at 6-foot on a good day, sees the whole field. There’s nothing that this Boise State team doesn’t do well: offense, defense, special teams, trickery.
Oregon State’s main dose of offense is the Rodgers duo with brothers James and Jacquizz. I just don’t see the Oregon State offense being able to get much. I just believe that Boise State is that good. They held Ryan Williams of Virginia Tech, who was my Heisman favorite in the preseason, to 2 yards per carry. I don’t think Quizz Rodgers is any exception. And Alvester Alexander against Wyoming is a pretty good runningback too, remember when he tore it up and burst onto the scene in the bowl game last year along with Austyn Carta-Samuels? Boise State held Wyoming (counting sack total) to negative. 21 yards on the ground on 28 attempts. Then when you try to go overtop you have safeties Jeron Johnson (stud) and George Iloka along with Brandyn Thompson at corner. The only guy you can really throw at is the only new starter replacing shutdown Kyle Wilson and that’s Jamar Taylor who is the only non-upperclassmen starter.
Too much for Boise State, they’re going to dominate this Oregon State team that should not even be ranked right now. North Carolina is better than them. That’s my strong opinion. Boise has won 51 straight home games, but they need to dominate on the scoreboard, but the scoreboard will be a little closer than some will expect, and like the BCS Championship Game last year and many other games, the scoreboard won’t reflect the game, and that’s why it’s important that ESPN has made the effort to send its Game Day crew to Boise to put the Broncos in the national spotlight so the pollsters will actually watch the game instead of voting based on boxscores. Style points matter, they’re everything, but the pollsters need to watch the games so they can reward them.
Boise State wins 35-16
Result: Boise State 37, Oregon State 24
No. 21 West Virginia at No. 12 LSU 9:00 ESPN2
When you hear West Virginia vs. LSU it sounds like a marquee matchup that happens once in a while doesn’t it? I can’t believe it either that this is the first time these two programs will meet on the football field. And on that football field should be an LSU team that’s on Upset Alert.
There’s so many potential upsets this week, but this is not one of them that will go down. LSU is 25-1 in night games in Baton Rouge. They have Patrick Peterson. Jordan Jefferson is getting command of the offense. They’re establishing a run game. Their defense is a solid SEC defense again after falling off last year. That’s all enough for me. LSU at home wins this game even though West Virginia will fight to the end.
The Mountaineers have a good run defense and could be getting Brandon Hogan back in the secondary (though I’m not sure yet). Robert Sands anchors that secondary and Scooter Berry on the D-Line, and what’s weird is that no one is talking about Noel Devine this year. Because of the reemergence of Kendall Hunter at Oklahoma State and DeMarco Murray at Oklahoma, and the struggles of Dion Lewis and Ryan Williams, and what Daniel Thomas is doing at Kansas State, all of that has stolen the spotlight from Noel Devine. And the guy who is really stepping for West Virginia’s offense aside from new quarterback Geno Smith is Tavon Austin, the Baltimore native. Austin is one of those smaller playmakers that can really alter a game. And Smith, how about him he could be the best quarterback in the Big East, after watching him sub for Jarrett Brown in the Gator Bowl last year I thought Smith maybe wouldn’t even win the starting job for West Virginia and look at him now.
As big a win as this would be for West Virginia and the struggling Big East Conference, LSU has too much. Reuben Randle, Terrance Tolliver, and Russell Shepard. No answer for the Moutaineers in those matchups. If Jordan Jefferson keeps the game under control and doesn’t turn the ball over, LSU wins. As good as West Virginia is on special teams too, they don’t have Patrick Peterson.
LSU wins 24-21
Result: LSU 20, West Virginia 14
California at No. 16 Arizona 10:00
Arizona is coming off its big win against Iowa while California is drubbing over their loss to Nevada. Which team is going to come out with more intensity? When you lack intensity on the football field you turn into Virginia Tech against James Madison.
Is Arizona still celebrating or are they ready to prove that they can go farther and make the Rose Bowl this year? Is California going to stay down in misery or realize that the real season starts now as the teams open conference play.
The pattern for my Wildcats the past five years against California has been lose-win-lose-win-lose-?. So history says that after they lost to the Cal Bears last year, they should win this year. Arizona lost on the road last year and the home team is 5-0 in the most recent matchups between these two teams. Arizona’s only loss at home was the double overtime bid for the Rose Bowl against Oregon last year.
Juron Criner is probable for the game with his shoulder injury last week which is big. Criner is Nick Foles’ top target and deep threat and he’s had to take on a bigger role after Delashaun Dean was dismissed from the team in the summer. Bug Wright is the underneath guy for Wildcats and he’s going to cause matchup problems for Cal.
Arizona is the better team on special teams and defensively and needs to force turnovers. California is embarrassed by the performance against Nevada last week so they’re going to come out ready to prove something and upset Arizona. Kevin Riley through three interceptions last week and Trevin Wade is maybe the best corner in the Pac-10. This a new undersized Cal offensive line that has to deal with the pass rush that sacked Iowa’s Ricky Stanzi on four consecutive plays. Arizona has a great defense, not to mention they've only allowed four possessions inside the redzone so far this season.
Arizona’s at home, Cal has been blown out in its last two road games (by Nevada and Washington last season).
I like my Wildcats to start their trek to the Rose Bowl on the right foot.
Arizona wins 31-20
Result: Arizona 10, Cal 9
Anybody surprised by what's going on between TCU and SMU right now? Don't be. TCU will win the game, but SMU is a pretty good football team. If the Mustangs would have been able to pull through against Texas Tech two weeks ago they'd be ranked right now. The defense is improved and June Jones is rebuilding that run-and-shoot offense. If SMU can stop the TCU run game, this game is about to get real interesting in the second half.
Upset Watch and My Top 25
No. 1 Alabama at No. 11 Arkansas 3:30 CBS
This is going to be great. For those of you Penn State people here, I am not going to the Penn-State temple game, essentially just to watch this game (and the Texas game is also on at 3:30 so you all know where my priorities lie). And having a cable splitter now and two laptops this is great, I can watch four games at the same time without flipping the channel back and forth. Two TV’s and two laptops on espn3.com. But anyway, I circled this date back in August. I made the announcement then, and three weeks into the season I’m sticking by my word: Arkansas, folks, WILL beat Alabama.
First of all, Arkansas has one 18 straight SEC openers.
When you talk Alabama, what do you think…Mark Ingram, Trent Richardson, and defense. Last year, Arkansas held Mark Ingram to 50 yards and if you take away Richardson’s long touchdown run, the Arkansas D held him to 13 yards on 8 carries. If you watched the Alabama 35-7 blowout of Arkansas last year, you remember Arkansas gave up big plays to Alabama. Now, this is an improved Arkansas defense and a faster more experienced secondary which should matchup well with the physical Julio Jones and then the speedy Darius Hanks and Marquis Maze. Alabama QB Greg McElroy had his best game against Arkansas last year, but this year Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett will have his best game against this young, yet talented, Alabama secondary. Alabama has two first year starters in sophomore Dre Kirkpatrick and true freshman DeMarcus Milliner at cornerback. Both these guys have the talent, they were #1 cornerback recruits, but Alabama’s secondary hasn’t played together too often yet and we have seen some blown coverages. Give Arkansas a blown coverage and let Greg Childs or Joe Adams get behind you and it’s a field day for the Hogs.
Ryan Mallett has all of his weapons back from a year ago from top receiver Childs to tight end DJ Williams. Childs had the game-winning catch against Georgia last week. Arkansas’s offensive line is going to be a big difference in this game. That line let too much pressure on Mallett last year causing him to go 12-of-35 for 160 yards. Coming off a physical matchup with Georgia they could be a little banged up, but Alabama is beat in the film room. You have to be able to recognize the blitz packages that Kirby Smart throws at you. We’ll see how well Arkansas handles the blitz Saturday.
Arkansas wins 31-30
Ironically, college football guru Phil Steele is picking Alabama to win with the same score of 31-30.
Result: Alabama 24, Arkansas 20
UCLA at No. 4 TEXAS 3:30 ABC
Texas has been one of those schools criticized for its soft non-conference schedules in the past, but now it adds UCLA, maybe not the most high profile matchup but a decent one. Texas is doing its best though as they have added BYU and USC in the future (can’t wait to play USC again, but I’d like another shot at Alabama more or at Michael Crabtree).
UCLA QB KeviN Prince is back healthy with most of his weapons in receivers Nelson Rosario and Taylor Embree.
The last time Texas and UCLA played each other, UCLA was in the top ten. Now they’re in the top ten in the Pac-10. But this is a program on the rise under Rick Neuheisel. The Pac-10 is hard to figure out, we don’t know if USC is going to stick around in prominence and same for how long Oregon’s magic is going to last while UCLA, Arizona, and Stanford are on the high rise. The Pac-10 is the most competitive conference.
UCLA brings in its new version of the Nevada “Pistol” offense, but it’s the UCLA defense that could not stop the running of Kansas State’s Daniel Thomas that needs to step up. UCLA has some playmakers on that defense with strongside linebacker Akeem Ayers, defensive end Datones Jones and the big-time freshman Owamagbe Odighizuwa rushing from the other end, and Rahim Moore anchoring that secondary. Moore led the nation in interceptions last year and competed with Texas’s Earl Thomas (1st round pick of the Seattle Seahawks) as the best free safety in the nation.
The UCLA defense is giving up 26 points per game. That should be enough for my Texas Longhorns with the kind of defense we play (because Will Muschamp is the best defensive coordinator in the land, unbiased). UCLA has turned the ball over seven times in two games so Texas will capitalize on turnover opportunities which is the biggest improvement in the Texas defense the past two years. The Texas pass-rush will be too much for UCLA.
On offense, this isn’t the same Texas offense that’s scored 40 points per game the past five years, but it has the potential to be a 30 point per game offense. The goal for Texas was to turn itself into a down-hill running team like the Ricky Williams and Cedric Benson days, but ever since Jamaal Charles, the Texas offense hasn’t had a back it can rely on for 20 carries a game. Fozzy Whittaker is the most explosive, Cody Johnson is the most powerful, and Tre’ Newton is the most balanced. I figure Fozzy will get the start again, but we saw against Texas Tech that Texas abandoned the run game and went back to the spread that Colt McCoy ran. They put more responsibility on Garrett Gilbert, but his receivers need to step up. Malcolm Williams needs to step up. Williams is a first round NFL Draft Pick on potential. Too bad it’s the NBA that drafts on potential, not the NFL. Malcolm needs to get right and Texas of course we’re playing 12 freshmen, Mike Davis and Darius White, the two top receiver recruits are among them. Davis needs to be a little more consistent, he’s dropping passes, but also making big catches, but we can’t have him by any chance drop a pass in a clutch situation. Teams are zeroing in on Texas top receiver James Kirkendoll so the other guys need to help Gilbert is Texas reverts to the passing game.
Garrett Gilbert will be a great quarterback in time. He makes good decisions and he’s improving his throws. His three interceptions were all deflected or dropped so it’s not his fault. The offensive line play of Texas needs to improve too, aside from Mason Walters at right guard, the redshirt freshman, these are all guys who have experience in the system. They’re not handling the whole lower your pads and open running lanes too well. The offensive line needs to improve.
Texas wins 34-13
Result: UCLA 34, Texas 12
No. 17 Stanford at Notre Dame 3:30 NBC
Things don’t get any easier for Notre Dame as they now host the red-hot Stanford Cardinal after they finished their 68-24 blowout of Wake Forest and Notre Dame suffered that tough loss in overtime to Michigan State.
Hey remember when Mark Schlabach predicted that Notre Dame was going to a BCS bowl? Yeah think he still thinks that? Me neither. I never bought it. Brian Kelly is an offensive coach, and Notre Dame is a bad defensive team. That’s why they should have hired Randy Edsall from UConn instead.
After hosting Stanford, Notre Dame has Boston College and Pittsburgh. Stanford is at Oregon and USC after this weekend. The only way Stanford drops this game is if they caught in a trap game and look ahead to Oregon. It happens all the time in college football.
The Stanford secondary has given up 90 passing yards per game. This is a very good experienced secondary and a defense that’s reemerging. But there lacks some depth in the secondary and Notre Dame’s up-tempo spread could tire the Stanford defense out. Notre Dame will score it’s point, but how many will they give up to Heisman front-runner Andrew Luck? Luck so far has 10 touchdown passes and no interceptions and has his top targets Ryan Whalen and Chris Owusu available. Notre Dame has nine starters back on defense, but it’s a terrible defense that they’re returning and like other Brian Kelly coached teams, the secondary is shaky.
Stanford wins 38-24
Result: Stanford 37, Notre Dame 14
Temple at No. 20 Penn State 3:30 Big Ten Network
Temple is one of those teams you haven’t really figured out yet. In week one they hold on against Villanova to win 31-24 and then get taken to the brinks by a rebuilding Central Michigan team to win that one 13-10 in overtime and then come out and beat Connecticut by two touchdowns. Maybe Temple just plays to the level of its opponent, which means this Saturday Beaver Stadium is in for a good matchup.
Temple’s 3-0 for the first time since 1979, but hasn’t beaten Penn State since 1941 and the Nittany Lions have outscored Temple 154-9 and haven’t allowed the Owls to score a touchdown in four years. That will change, Temple will score two touchdowns this time, but it won’t be enough to win.
Temple is 12-0 when sensational tailback Bernard Pierce runs for 55 yards or more. Last year Pierce got 24 yards on 7 carries but was just bursting onto the scene. We’ll see how well Temple can run the ball because Kent State has a similar running game but was not able to get anything going up the middle and ended up making all of their runs to the outside.
Speaking of running the ball, when is Evan Royster going to show up? It needs to happen now with a big matchup on the road at Iowa looming next week. The team needs to instill confidence in Royster’s ability. Royster ran for 134 yards against Temple last year and Penn State did establish a running game against Kent State and it really opened up the play-action pass. Robert Bolden’s footwork on play-action and rolling to the left was magnificent. He’s grown so much after the Alabama game which we expected. There’s no better experience than getting beat up by the Alabama defense in your first road start.
Temple’s strength is the defense with linebackers Elijah Joseph and Amara Kamara, but UConn’s Jordan Todman still ran the ball for over 190 yards last week against Temple. It was a costly turnover that lost the game. It was costly turnovers that lost the bowl game against UCLA last year, too.
Penn State’s defense finally broke through in the shutout of Kent State last week to force a few turnovers. That needs to happen again because Temple does have the personnel that Youngstown State and Kent State didn’t have to put drives together against Penn State’s defense.
Penn State wins 27-20
Result: Penn State 22, Temple 13
No. 6 Oregon at Arizona State
It’s as they say the real season doesn’t start until conference play starts (unless you’re Boise State). Oregon has blasted it’s FCS opponents, well I guess New Mexico was an FBS school right? Oh yeah, Tennessee. Well, I’m the guy that said Tennessee was going to beat Oregon. That didn’t happen so I just cut the Vols out of the picture.
Everyone is raving about Oregon’s “point-a-minute” offense averaging 63 points and over 600 yards per game. It’s been enough to earn them a top five ranking the AP Poll (which is ridiculous). Oregon rushed for 528 yards against Portland State last week and the game was still three hours because Oregon scored so many times.
Oregon has faced a good defense in Tennessee and ran all over them in the second half of that game. Now they come against an Arizona State team that was so close to upsetting Wisconsin. Arizona State has a good defense too, but the key to stopping Oregon is holding your assignment. Arizona State hasn’t faced a zone-read since losing 44-21 to Oregon last November. New Oregon QB Darron Thomas makes his reads off of the positioning of the defensive end, in this case Dean DeLeone and James Brooks. Vontaze Burfict, the number one linebacker recruit a year ago (I think he’s better than Manti Te’o) is a stud.
Arizona State has a new quarterback with Michigan-transfer Steven Threet. Oregon has just allowed 13 points, all of them to Tennessee this year, but now it’s time that Oregon defense will be exposed as a weakness again like it was last year. They’ve got solid players like Kenny Rowe, Spencer Paysinger, and Casey Matthews, but as unit, they’re just not that good.
All the talk is Darron Thomas, LaMichael James, and Kenjon Barner, but Oregon’s got Jeff Maehl and big Lavasier Tuinei on the outside. Arizona State has it’s own capable back in Cameron Marshall. It’s going to be a true road test, but Oregon’s weapons are going to come up clutch.
Oregon wins 31-20
Result: Oregon 42, Arizona State 31
North Carolina at Rutgers 3:30
Rutgers continues to fly completely under the radar. Am I the only guy keeping tabs on them? They’ve been on my bubble for the Top 25 all last year and all this year thought hey haven’t quite broken through yet, but you’ve got to love what’s going on in Piscataway. Tom Savage and Mohamed Sanu is the best quarterback-receiver combination in the country. They became a productive duo as true freshmen last year. Savage hasn’t quite found his groove yet this year and struggled a little against Florida International, and now without playing any capable opponent, Tom Savage is placed against North Carolina. This is a test I believe he’s going to pass. Savage has struggled against the better defenses like West Virginia, but was spectacular in the St. Petersburg Bowl against Central Florida.
North Carolina has handed out some definite suspensions this week as corner Kendric Burney is out for four games and safety Deunta Williams is out for six. Both are projected first round NFL Draft picks. The other big time UNC defenders Marvin Austin and Robert Quinn along with top receiver Greg Little and starting halfback Ryan Houston. Shaun Draughn, Bruce Davis, and Quan Sturdivant have been cleared to play. Draughn brings the run game dimension back to the Tar Heel offense that up to this point had been carried by the drastic improvement of quarterback TJ Yates and Davis and Sturdivant are first round talents as well.
North Carolina was supposed to be 2-0 coming into this game, instead they’re 0-2 dropping both games 30-24. I believe if UNC had its defense in tact, 30 points are not scored in either game and the Tar Heels win.
Rutgers is a much improved team with Savage having a year of experience and all-purpose Mohamed Sanu continuing where he left off his freshman year. The defense lost Devin McCourty to the Draft (1st round pick of Patriots), but it’s still a solid secondary. Rutgers is at home where they shut out South Florida and played West Virginia and Pittsburgh tough to the very end. I think Rutgers is the most underrated team in America and they win this game and finally break into the rankings while no other Big East team has decided to step up.
Rutgers wins 27-23
Result: North Carolina 17, Rutgers 13
No. 9 Oklahoma at Cincinnati 6:00 ESPN2
Well, this is the big game for Oklahoma. That’s right, the game before the Texas game. For whatever reason, for both OU and Texas, this is always the biggest week where both teams get caught looking ahead. Luckily for Texas, they’re defense is going to stuff UCLA while the offense finds a rhythm, and for Oklahoma, they get to play Cincinnati, so even if the offense doesn’t find a rhythm, they still win.
Everyone knows that I do not like this Cincinnati team (or last year’s) and it should have been Pittsburgh in the BCS last year for the Big East. Cincinnati has always been the most overrated program and Brian Kelly is the most overrated coach.
So much was made of the Cincinnati offense and with the personnel they have they should be better. 14 points in a loss to Fresno State and the same lack of production against North Carolina State, this should not happen when you have a quarterback like Zach Collaros and a top-flight receiver in Armon Binns and return most of the offense with possession guy DJ Woods. However, the Cincy offense took a huge blow when Vidal Hazelton, the USC transfer, was lost for the season with a torn ACL and tight end Ben Guidugli is out for the Oklahoma game. On offense, Collaros has been sacked 15 times already this season, so Adrian Taylor and Jeremy Beal along with the Oklahoma linebacking corps are going to have a field day. Travis Lewis is maybe the best outside linebacker in the nation.
Defensively, Cincinnati (no surprise) is in the bottom ten in pass defense. This is a defense that Tim Tebow, let me emphasize this: TIM TEBOW shredded this secondary passing. Yeah, passing. Cincinnati should just thank everyone that Oklahoma doesn’t have Sam Bradford anymore, but Landry Jones we’ve seen is capable. Six touchdown passes for Jones this weekend? Maybe not that much, but with these Oklahoma receivers Ryan Broyles, Brandon Caleb, Kenny Stills, everyone else, the offense is loaded, not to mention DeMarco Murray. Cincinnati has no chance, even if the Sooners are on the road. If the Bearcats get lucky, Oklahoma will get caught looking ahead to Texas and score 40 points instead of 80.
Oklahoma wins 45-10
Result: Oklahoma 31, Cincinnati 29
Nevada at BYU 6:00
Nevada had a very impressive performance in the 52-31 win over California last Saturday. Nevada earned quite a few votes for the Top 25 while I gave them some recognition putting them 25th in my rankings.
Nevada rushed for 316 yards against a pretty good Cal defense. Colin Kaepernick had five touchdowns (3 rushing, 2 passing), but he has made drastic improvements that now make him a viable NFL prospect.
Nevada averaged 6.3 yards per carry against California, and after shutting down Jake Locker and Washington in week one, BYU’s defense has struggled giving up over 30 to Air Force and Florida State, both of those teams averaged 6.3 yards per carry against the Cougars defense.
The way Nevada has been playing they could be a challenge for Boise State late in the year if they continue to take strides in the right direction, but let’s not forget that what the Boise State Broncos have exposed every year is the Nevada defense. It’s overshadowed in a 52-31 win but the Wolf Pack gave up 502 yards of total offense to Cal. Cal’s Shane Vereen almost ran for 200 yards, while Kevin Riley would have had a good passing day if not for three interceptions. Corbin Louks is the stout safety for Nevada, but that’s about all they have in the secondary.
If you recall BYU had been using a two quarterback system with junior Riley Nelson and true freshman Jake Heaps. Nelson is out for the year now with a shoulder injury, but Heaps, the number one QB recruit, is the better natural passer and he really got a lot of work in against Florida State that should help him going against Nevada.
Nevada is 3-0, but all three games have been at home and Cal being the only strong opponent. Nevada does struggle on the road especially in the first road game of the year as the Wolf Pack have lost 14 straight road openers. Is this where they buck that trend or do they struggle and drop one on the road?
Nevada and BYU will be a regular matchup when Nevada completes its move to the Mountain West Conference, but for now BYU is looking for respect while Nevada might still be feeling good about beating Cal.
It’s going to be tough, but I like Nevada in this game, barely, due to Kaepernick’s improvements, but it’s hard seeing BYU drop to 1-3 in this game when they have McKay Jacobson and O’Neill Chambers going against the Nevada secondary. I’ll say this game is a toss-up, either team could win or either team could win decisively. For the sake of argument I’ll go Nevada.
Nevada wins 33-28
Result: Nevada 27, BYU 13
No. 15 South Carolina at No. 14 Auburn 7:45 ESPN
Auburn has lost to South Carolina once and that was way before our time in 1933. These teams are mostly even in terms of personnel. South Carolina also has a tough history on the road, not being able to win big games away from home.
Here’s some nice parallels between these two teams: South Carolina’s Marcus Lattimore vs. Auburn’s Michael Dyer. Both true freshman runningbacks are making huge contributions for their teams. South Carolina’s Stephon Gilmore vs. Auburn’s Neiko Thorpe. Thorpe will likely be matched up against the big 6’4” sophomore Alshon Jeffery who’s Stephen Garcia’s go-to man while Gilmore will take on Auburn’s best receiver Darvin Adams. South Carolina may have a slight edge defensively and Auburn is banged up after playing a tough physical game last week against Clemson and losing their right tackle for the year with a broken ankle. That could come up huge against South Carolina’s pass rush with Cliff Matthews. South Carolina may also have an advantage with having Jeffery and the big 6’5” Tori Gurley on the other side. If tight end Weslye Saunders wasn’t dismissed from the team, South Carolina would no doubt have the edge in this game. South Carolina also boasts Chris Culliver to cover Terrell Zachery. South Carolina has the egde in the secondary, but Auburn has the stronger front seven. But that front seven got pushed around a little bit against Clemson as those Tigers ran for 180 yards while Lattimore for the Gamecocks, rushed for 180 yards by himself last week and could do it again.
Whoever runs the ball better in this game will win. Stephen Garcia has improved so much in the play-action pass, Auburn’s safeties will start to cheat and Jeffery will get behind them. For Auburn, Cameron Newton has proven to be a great runner but what is he as a passer? He struggles when he has to scramble, but also stands tall in the pocket. Auburn needs to protect Newton and give him time. Mario Fannin could be a wildcard in this game as he’ll be used in all kinds of different looks. Brandon Mosley filled in for Lee Ziemba at left tackle and will probably start at right tackle.
Auburn’s at home, so I give them the edge and I've got to stick to my prediction back in August that Auburn will be undefeated entering the Iron Bowl. In my mind, South Carolina is the favorite so this is one of my upset picks for the weekend.
Auburn wins 27-24
Result: Auburn 35, South Carolina 27
Oregon State at No. 3 Boise State 8:00 ABC
I would love to be in Boise one day for a game, but in my place for Saturday it’s ESPN’s “College Gameday” making its first ever appearance in Boise, ID.
Was it just a publicity stunt or is Boise State getting in the heads of Oregon State? We all know about Boise State’s awesome blue turf field, and if you haven’t heard, Oregon State spent thousands of dollars to paint it’s practice field blue to simulate game environment. What good does that do? Unless they dressed up their runningbacks in all blue and tried to find him, then painting the field was a waste if not just for public attention.
In week one, TCU beat Oregon State 30-21. Oregon State QB Ryan Katz made his first start and was a bit overwhelmed but played pretty well. It was interesting, even though TCU was, or should have been, the more dominant team, they turned it over a few times that almost led to their downfall. The argument of who is better between TCU and Boise State is going to be present again this year, so Boise is definitely looking to make a statement and blow out the Beavers by way more than nine points.
Does anyone remember how close I was to putting Boise State as number one in my preseason polls? When you return 21 of 22 starters from a 14-0 football team, that’s a good football team you have. What kept them out of number one or even the top two was who did they play? And they didn’t exactly dominate TCU in the Fiesta Bowl. They won that game with a fake punt.
Boise State’s defense has been stout, and their offense is spectacular with Heisman candidate Kellen Moore running the show. Here’s my dilemma with Moore, obviously he’s only good as a college quarterback, you don’t see Jared Zabransky in the NFL do you? But that’s not my issue, my issue is I’m rooting for Boise State to bring about change to the college football world and to do that they need to win, they need to go undefeated, and what does that mean? Unless Kellen Moore gets hurt, he will break Colt McCoy’s all-time NCAA wins record. And you know what that means to me.
Anyway, the Broncos offense outgained Wyoming by 500 yards last week and won 51-6. That’s something that the Colt McCoy-less Texas offense can’t say they did.
Boise’s got too many weapons with a three-headed monster in the backfield with Doug Martin, Jeremy Avery, and back from injury DJ Harper. Harper’s changed his number to 6 and has been a rejuvenated back. They have Titus Young and Austin Pettis tough to defend on the outside. The offensive line is gelled and Moore just sits in the pocket and at 6-foot on a good day, sees the whole field. There’s nothing that this Boise State team doesn’t do well: offense, defense, special teams, trickery.
Oregon State’s main dose of offense is the Rodgers duo with brothers James and Jacquizz. I just don’t see the Oregon State offense being able to get much. I just believe that Boise State is that good. They held Ryan Williams of Virginia Tech, who was my Heisman favorite in the preseason, to 2 yards per carry. I don’t think Quizz Rodgers is any exception. And Alvester Alexander against Wyoming is a pretty good runningback too, remember when he tore it up and burst onto the scene in the bowl game last year along with Austyn Carta-Samuels? Boise State held Wyoming (counting sack total) to negative. 21 yards on the ground on 28 attempts. Then when you try to go overtop you have safeties Jeron Johnson (stud) and George Iloka along with Brandyn Thompson at corner. The only guy you can really throw at is the only new starter replacing shutdown Kyle Wilson and that’s Jamar Taylor who is the only non-upperclassmen starter.
Too much for Boise State, they’re going to dominate this Oregon State team that should not even be ranked right now. North Carolina is better than them. That’s my strong opinion. Boise has won 51 straight home games, but they need to dominate on the scoreboard, but the scoreboard will be a little closer than some will expect, and like the BCS Championship Game last year and many other games, the scoreboard won’t reflect the game, and that’s why it’s important that ESPN has made the effort to send its Game Day crew to Boise to put the Broncos in the national spotlight so the pollsters will actually watch the game instead of voting based on boxscores. Style points matter, they’re everything, but the pollsters need to watch the games so they can reward them.
Boise State wins 35-16
Result: Boise State 37, Oregon State 24
No. 21 West Virginia at No. 12 LSU 9:00 ESPN2
When you hear West Virginia vs. LSU it sounds like a marquee matchup that happens once in a while doesn’t it? I can’t believe it either that this is the first time these two programs will meet on the football field. And on that football field should be an LSU team that’s on Upset Alert.
There’s so many potential upsets this week, but this is not one of them that will go down. LSU is 25-1 in night games in Baton Rouge. They have Patrick Peterson. Jordan Jefferson is getting command of the offense. They’re establishing a run game. Their defense is a solid SEC defense again after falling off last year. That’s all enough for me. LSU at home wins this game even though West Virginia will fight to the end.
The Mountaineers have a good run defense and could be getting Brandon Hogan back in the secondary (though I’m not sure yet). Robert Sands anchors that secondary and Scooter Berry on the D-Line, and what’s weird is that no one is talking about Noel Devine this year. Because of the reemergence of Kendall Hunter at Oklahoma State and DeMarco Murray at Oklahoma, and the struggles of Dion Lewis and Ryan Williams, and what Daniel Thomas is doing at Kansas State, all of that has stolen the spotlight from Noel Devine. And the guy who is really stepping for West Virginia’s offense aside from new quarterback Geno Smith is Tavon Austin, the Baltimore native. Austin is one of those smaller playmakers that can really alter a game. And Smith, how about him he could be the best quarterback in the Big East, after watching him sub for Jarrett Brown in the Gator Bowl last year I thought Smith maybe wouldn’t even win the starting job for West Virginia and look at him now.
As big a win as this would be for West Virginia and the struggling Big East Conference, LSU has too much. Reuben Randle, Terrance Tolliver, and Russell Shepard. No answer for the Moutaineers in those matchups. If Jordan Jefferson keeps the game under control and doesn’t turn the ball over, LSU wins. As good as West Virginia is on special teams too, they don’t have Patrick Peterson.
LSU wins 24-21
Result: LSU 20, West Virginia 14
California at No. 16 Arizona 10:00
Arizona is coming off its big win against Iowa while California is drubbing over their loss to Nevada. Which team is going to come out with more intensity? When you lack intensity on the football field you turn into Virginia Tech against James Madison.
Is Arizona still celebrating or are they ready to prove that they can go farther and make the Rose Bowl this year? Is California going to stay down in misery or realize that the real season starts now as the teams open conference play.
The pattern for my Wildcats the past five years against California has been lose-win-lose-win-lose-?. So history says that after they lost to the Cal Bears last year, they should win this year. Arizona lost on the road last year and the home team is 5-0 in the most recent matchups between these two teams. Arizona’s only loss at home was the double overtime bid for the Rose Bowl against Oregon last year.
Juron Criner is probable for the game with his shoulder injury last week which is big. Criner is Nick Foles’ top target and deep threat and he’s had to take on a bigger role after Delashaun Dean was dismissed from the team in the summer. Bug Wright is the underneath guy for Wildcats and he’s going to cause matchup problems for Cal.
Arizona is the better team on special teams and defensively and needs to force turnovers. California is embarrassed by the performance against Nevada last week so they’re going to come out ready to prove something and upset Arizona. Kevin Riley through three interceptions last week and Trevin Wade is maybe the best corner in the Pac-10. This a new undersized Cal offensive line that has to deal with the pass rush that sacked Iowa’s Ricky Stanzi on four consecutive plays. Arizona has a great defense, not to mention they've only allowed four possessions inside the redzone so far this season.
Arizona’s at home, Cal has been blown out in its last two road games (by Nevada and Washington last season).
I like my Wildcats to start their trek to the Rose Bowl on the right foot.
Arizona wins 31-20
Result: Arizona 10, Cal 9
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