September 22, 2010
Miami at Pittsburgh 7:30 ESPN
Both teams are coming off a Bye week. That is the most important thing to point out. Both coaching staffs had an extra week to prepare for the other. Normally, the team with the bye week has the advantage, but in this case which one? The games in Pittsburgh, but again this is a September game where it’s not exactly cold weather yet whereas it could affect Miami if this was a November game.
Both of these teams that were favorites to win their respective conferences already have a blemish on its record, Miami losing to Ohio State and Pitt losing its opener to Utah in overtime. Miami QB Jacory Harris, plagued by interceptions his whole career, threw four picks against Ohio State, yet his team lost by only 12. If those turnovers don’t happen, Miami potentially pulls that upset despite the fact they lost complete contain on Terrelle Pryor.
In all honesty, these two teams are very similar. The battle of the trenches will be one to watch. Pitt has two dominant defensive ends in Greg Romeus and Jabaal Sheard, but they’re both out. Romeus underwent surgery for a hernia and Sheard was arrested. Miami counters with two All-ACC ends in Allen Bailey, a top NFL prospect, and Marcus Robinson. Both of these defenses are very athletic and forces turnovers. Bailey will be going against maybe the best left tackle in the country in Jason Pinkston.
Miami is ranked in both the AP Poll an the Coaches’ Poll while Pittsburgh is 23 in my rankings and Miami is barely out as they’re listed as my first team on the bubble, but Miami should be in the Top 25, I just wanted to mainly give Nevada that #25 spot for recognition.
It’s time Miami played to its full potential. This isn’t the young team from a couple years ago, all of those young guys are now juniors and seniors. Miami can bring the ACC back to life by winning a good non-conference game or Pitt could put itself back in the discussion to overtake West Virginia in the Big East.
We’re going to see big physical receivers in this game. Aldarius Johnson, Leonard Hankerson, and La’Ron Byrd on the Miami side; Mike Shanahan and Jonathan Baldwin on the Pitt side. Those guys are going to create a lot of matchup problems in the secondary. These are two well-above average defense that are going to have its hands full; so, therefore I expect this to turn into a back-and-forth game although maybe not a complete shootout.
The only way Pittsburgh wins this game is if Dion Lewis gets back on track. The extra week off should help him, but the dynamic Freshman of the Year from a year ago who found himself on the Heisman Radar is struggling badly averaging just 2.9 yards per carry this season. He was shut down by Utah in the opener, and had only 27 yards on 10 carries against New Hampshire. That’s unacceptable. His longest run of the year is 18 yards, when last year we saw him burst for big gains on occasion. Dion Lewis needs to get rolling.
Pitt lost just one game at last year and that was shocking 45-44 defeat to Cincinnati for the Big East Championship, but if you were watching Pitt should have won that game. Miami tends to struggle a little bit on the road unless playing an inferior team, and that’s not Pittsburgh.
Miami hits the road to Clemson and then hosts Florida State after this week. Pittsburgh hosts Florida International. I don’t think the Panthers are going to get caught looking ahead on the schedule, but will the Canes?
This is going to be a great Thursday night game. It’s hard for me to pick a winner, but I think Jacory Harris rebounds and Miami OC Mark Whipple has a perfect game plan. I like the Miami defense to force Pitt QB Tino Sunseri into mistakes and for the secondary bolstered by sophomore free safety Ray-Ray Armstrong to get an interception or two. I think the Pitt defense is going to try to swarm Harris early and be overaggressive and get burned before adjusting. Miami wins this game in the 4th quarter with Harris leading a mistake-free comeback against an under-manned Pittsburgh team.
Prediction: Miami wins 31-27
Result: Miami 31, Pittsburgh 3
There's a lot of upset potential this weekend, but I'm going with a lot of the favorites. My big upset pick this weekend is Arkansas over Alabama. I need this to happen. I'm also very confident with Rutgers over North Carolina.
Upsets of the Week
Arkansas over Alabama
Rutgers over North Carolina
Mississippi State over Georgia
Auburn over South Carolina
Put these teams on Upset Alert this weekend, going with most of the favorites this time though.
Upset Alert (probability of happening, scale of 5)
Pittsburgh over Miami (3/5)
Rice against Baylor (1/5)
UCLA over Texas (1/5)
Fresno State over Ole Miss (2/5)
West Virginia over LSU (3/5)
Ohio over Marshall (2/5)
Utah State over San Diego State (2/5)
BYU over Nevada (2/5)
Oregon State over Boise State (1/5)
Boston College over Virginia Tech (1/5)
California over Arizona (2/5)
Arizona State over Oregon (1.5/5)
Kentucky over Florida (1/5)
Duke over Army (2/5)
Notre Dame over Stanford (2/5)
Temple over Penn State (1/5)
Northern Illinois over Minnesota (2/5)
NC State over Georgia Tech (2/5)
My First Top 25 Score Predictions.
This is MY Top 25, not the AP Poll or USA Today Coaches' Poll
1. Alabama at Arkansas
Arkansas 31, Alabama 30
Ironically, college football guru Phil Steele picks Alabama to win 31-30.
2. Ohio State vs. Eastern Michigan
Ohio State 42, E. Michigan 3
3. Boise State vs. Oregon State
Boise State 35, Oregon State 16
4. TCU at SMU
TCU 34, SMU 23
5. TEXAS vs. UCLA
Texas 34, UCLA 13
6. Nebraska vs. South Dakota State
Nebraska 52, S. Dakota State 0
7. Oregon at Arizona State
Oregon 25, Arizona State 20
8. Oklahoma at Cincinnati
Oklahoma 45, Cincinnati 10
9. Florida vs. Kentucky
Florida 23, Kentucky 17
10. Wisconsin vs. Austin Peay
Wisconsin 44, Austin Peay 3
11. Arkansas vs. Alabama
Arkansas 31, Alabama 30
12. Arizona vs. California
Arizona 31, California 20
13. South Carolina at Auburn
Auburn 27, South Carolina 24
14. LSU vs. West Virginia
LSU 24, West Virginia 21
15. Iowa vs. Ball State
Iowa 38, Ball State 10
16. Auburn vs. South Carolina
Auburn 27, South Carolina 24
17. USC vs. Washington State
USC 42, Washington State 16
18. Utah vs. San Jose State
Utah 38, San Jose State 13
19. West Virginia at LSU
LSU 24, West Virginia 21
20. Stanford at Notre Dame
Stanford 38, Notre Dame 24
21. Missouri vs. Miami (OH)
Missouri 38, Miami (OH) 17
22. Michigan vs. Bowling Green
Michigan 38, Bowling Green 14
23. Pittsburgh vs. Miami
Miami 31, Pittsburgh 27
24. Penn State vs. Temple
Penn State 27, Temple 20
25. Nevada at BYU
Nevada 33, BYU 28
Bubble: Miami, Virginia Tech, Oregon State, Michigan State, Rutgers, Oklahoma State, Florida State, Temple
Miami at Pittsburgh 7:30 ESPN
Both teams are coming off a Bye week. That is the most important thing to point out. Both coaching staffs had an extra week to prepare for the other. Normally, the team with the bye week has the advantage, but in this case which one? The games in Pittsburgh, but again this is a September game where it’s not exactly cold weather yet whereas it could affect Miami if this was a November game.
Both of these teams that were favorites to win their respective conferences already have a blemish on its record, Miami losing to Ohio State and Pitt losing its opener to Utah in overtime. Miami QB Jacory Harris, plagued by interceptions his whole career, threw four picks against Ohio State, yet his team lost by only 12. If those turnovers don’t happen, Miami potentially pulls that upset despite the fact they lost complete contain on Terrelle Pryor.
In all honesty, these two teams are very similar. The battle of the trenches will be one to watch. Pitt has two dominant defensive ends in Greg Romeus and Jabaal Sheard, but they’re both out. Romeus underwent surgery for a hernia and Sheard was arrested. Miami counters with two All-ACC ends in Allen Bailey, a top NFL prospect, and Marcus Robinson. Both of these defenses are very athletic and forces turnovers. Bailey will be going against maybe the best left tackle in the country in Jason Pinkston.
Miami is ranked in both the AP Poll an the Coaches’ Poll while Pittsburgh is 23 in my rankings and Miami is barely out as they’re listed as my first team on the bubble, but Miami should be in the Top 25, I just wanted to mainly give Nevada that #25 spot for recognition.
It’s time Miami played to its full potential. This isn’t the young team from a couple years ago, all of those young guys are now juniors and seniors. Miami can bring the ACC back to life by winning a good non-conference game or Pitt could put itself back in the discussion to overtake West Virginia in the Big East.
We’re going to see big physical receivers in this game. Aldarius Johnson, Leonard Hankerson, and La’Ron Byrd on the Miami side; Mike Shanahan and Jonathan Baldwin on the Pitt side. Those guys are going to create a lot of matchup problems in the secondary. These are two well-above average defense that are going to have its hands full; so, therefore I expect this to turn into a back-and-forth game although maybe not a complete shootout.
The only way Pittsburgh wins this game is if Dion Lewis gets back on track. The extra week off should help him, but the dynamic Freshman of the Year from a year ago who found himself on the Heisman Radar is struggling badly averaging just 2.9 yards per carry this season. He was shut down by Utah in the opener, and had only 27 yards on 10 carries against New Hampshire. That’s unacceptable. His longest run of the year is 18 yards, when last year we saw him burst for big gains on occasion. Dion Lewis needs to get rolling.
Pitt lost just one game at last year and that was shocking 45-44 defeat to Cincinnati for the Big East Championship, but if you were watching Pitt should have won that game. Miami tends to struggle a little bit on the road unless playing an inferior team, and that’s not Pittsburgh.
Miami hits the road to Clemson and then hosts Florida State after this week. Pittsburgh hosts Florida International. I don’t think the Panthers are going to get caught looking ahead on the schedule, but will the Canes?
This is going to be a great Thursday night game. It’s hard for me to pick a winner, but I think Jacory Harris rebounds and Miami OC Mark Whipple has a perfect game plan. I like the Miami defense to force Pitt QB Tino Sunseri into mistakes and for the secondary bolstered by sophomore free safety Ray-Ray Armstrong to get an interception or two. I think the Pitt defense is going to try to swarm Harris early and be overaggressive and get burned before adjusting. Miami wins this game in the 4th quarter with Harris leading a mistake-free comeback against an under-manned Pittsburgh team.
Prediction: Miami wins 31-27
Result: Miami 31, Pittsburgh 3
There's a lot of upset potential this weekend, but I'm going with a lot of the favorites. My big upset pick this weekend is Arkansas over Alabama. I need this to happen. I'm also very confident with Rutgers over North Carolina.
Upsets of the Week
Arkansas over Alabama
Rutgers over North Carolina
Mississippi State over Georgia
Auburn over South Carolina
Put these teams on Upset Alert this weekend, going with most of the favorites this time though.
Upset Alert (probability of happening, scale of 5)
Pittsburgh over Miami (3/5)
Rice against Baylor (1/5)
UCLA over Texas (1/5)
Fresno State over Ole Miss (2/5)
West Virginia over LSU (3/5)
Ohio over Marshall (2/5)
Utah State over San Diego State (2/5)
BYU over Nevada (2/5)
Oregon State over Boise State (1/5)
Boston College over Virginia Tech (1/5)
California over Arizona (2/5)
Arizona State over Oregon (1.5/5)
Kentucky over Florida (1/5)
Duke over Army (2/5)
Notre Dame over Stanford (2/5)
Temple over Penn State (1/5)
Northern Illinois over Minnesota (2/5)
NC State over Georgia Tech (2/5)
My First Top 25 Score Predictions.
This is MY Top 25, not the AP Poll or USA Today Coaches' Poll
1. Alabama at Arkansas
Arkansas 31, Alabama 30
Ironically, college football guru Phil Steele picks Alabama to win 31-30.
2. Ohio State vs. Eastern Michigan
Ohio State 42, E. Michigan 3
3. Boise State vs. Oregon State
Boise State 35, Oregon State 16
4. TCU at SMU
TCU 34, SMU 23
5. TEXAS vs. UCLA
Texas 34, UCLA 13
6. Nebraska vs. South Dakota State
Nebraska 52, S. Dakota State 0
7. Oregon at Arizona State
Oregon 25, Arizona State 20
8. Oklahoma at Cincinnati
Oklahoma 45, Cincinnati 10
9. Florida vs. Kentucky
Florida 23, Kentucky 17
10. Wisconsin vs. Austin Peay
Wisconsin 44, Austin Peay 3
11. Arkansas vs. Alabama
Arkansas 31, Alabama 30
12. Arizona vs. California
Arizona 31, California 20
13. South Carolina at Auburn
Auburn 27, South Carolina 24
14. LSU vs. West Virginia
LSU 24, West Virginia 21
15. Iowa vs. Ball State
Iowa 38, Ball State 10
16. Auburn vs. South Carolina
Auburn 27, South Carolina 24
17. USC vs. Washington State
USC 42, Washington State 16
18. Utah vs. San Jose State
Utah 38, San Jose State 13
19. West Virginia at LSU
LSU 24, West Virginia 21
20. Stanford at Notre Dame
Stanford 38, Notre Dame 24
21. Missouri vs. Miami (OH)
Missouri 38, Miami (OH) 17
22. Michigan vs. Bowling Green
Michigan 38, Bowling Green 14
23. Pittsburgh vs. Miami
Miami 31, Pittsburgh 27
24. Penn State vs. Temple
Penn State 27, Temple 20
25. Nevada at BYU
Nevada 33, BYU 28
Bubble: Miami, Virginia Tech, Oregon State, Michigan State, Rutgers, Oklahoma State, Florida State, Temple
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