College Football 2013-14

Only saw highlights, but he looks like he can really spin it, but also can throw it with touch. 3 TD catches for Jack Nicklaus' grandson in that one.

Not a great slate of games, but here are a couple;

#6 South Carolina at #11 Georgia. The Bulldogs traveled to Clemson last week, and a fumbled snap on a chip shot field goal really cost them. Now their Natty title hopes can be done and dusted in week two if they don't find a way to beat SC. Tough call, but will take Spurrier's team in a close one.

#14 Notre Dame at #17 MIchigan Primetime from the Big House in Ann Arbor. They have stopped scheduling each other for the foreseeable future (I believe they do play next year at ND). Losing Golston didn't hurt the Irish that much because Tommy Rees is a really good college QB in Brian Kelly's system. Can Michigan run the ball? They've played some great games over the last few years and would expect this one to come down to a play or two in the final quarter. Will take the home team to get it done.

**Upset Alert; Really hard to see any on the schedule this week, so here a couple that will be closer than first anticipated:

San Jose State at #5 Stanford. SJSU already played a game, and have had some real close games/upsets in this Bay area rivalry. The Spartans have a big chip on their shoulder when they play Big brother.

Washington State at #25 USC. The knives are out and the psychotic USC alumni have already begun the 'Fire Kiffin' campaign. It doesn't matter that the NCAA put the hammer to the Trojans and Kiffin has done a decent job given the circumstances. LA fans have this stereotype nationwide as being laid back, and wanting to go to the beach all the time. The latter is true, but the former isn't. SC football fans are delusional and anything less than 1 or 2 losses is a disaster. Wazzu hasn't figured out how to win close games yet (evidenced by their close loss at Auburn last week), but have a good QB and can pull the upset.

 

I'm going with UGA simply because they "have to." I'll take the Southern Miss upset over Nebraska. I have to believe and keep some faith that one day USM will be able to win another game.

 

Georgia has a terrible record in big games. If you're looking for top 25 upsets, I think Miami over #12 Florida is the best candidate followed by Syracuse over #19 Northwestern. Miami has some exciting players in qb Stephen Morris and so rb Duke Johnson. I like Al Golden as a coach and Miami is playing at home. Florida still struggles on offense. Same reasoning for the Northwestern game. Northwestern plays close and that leaves room for an upset if Syracuse shows up and plays their best game.

If you're looking for the FCS over FBS upset, look at Old Dominion over Maryland. ODU's offense is ridiculous and they put up video game numbers and scores. While Maryland looked good in their opener, they are one year removed from a disastrous 4-8 season.

A&M plays Sam Houston St on ESPN3 & ppv. Doubt I'll even bother watching the slaughter.

My Sun Devils :whistle: rolled to victory last night so that leaves UNLV as my designated 2nd team this weekend. Go Running Rebs!! Hi, Joe.

 

Matteo, glad to see your Scum Devils challenged themselves. If my Cats can't beat UNLV then it's going to be a longer year than I thought it was going to be already. Good luck with the Aggies playing Yosemite Sam's alma mater Sam Houston State today should be a real :sleeping-sleeping: barn burner.

 

Nailed the call on Miami, but turns out not only is Old Dominion no longer an FCS school as of this season, they got crushed by Md. Not that that's a bad thing (my dad's a terp alum).

 

Will this prompt a certain other Maryland grad to chime 'fear the turtle'?

Good call on Miami. Thought about BYU against Texas (isn't that your 3rd favorite team?), but after the Cougars lost to Virginia last week, I bought into the 'Longhorns are back rhetoric'. BYU ran for 550 yards :shock: Shiner, if your lurking feel free to vent.

Actually had some SC fans over so sat through some of the worst offensive football imaginable as my Wazzu pick came through 10-7. SC should of won by at least 20 points (Wazzu's td was an interception), but I found out first hand why a decision on a QB hasn't been made...neither kid can throw (or run for that matter). I know they were venting at the coach, but the classy SC fans were raining boos at the Coliseum.

Some other good results. Tim your Northwestern Wildcats are off to a good start. Lax, the Hawkeyes found somebody they could beat. Dtown, USM? I can relate (at least Colorado won). Arizona managed to squeak by UNLV 58-13 :mrgreen:

 

yeah, at least i'm getting to see some football. actually heading to arkansas next week for USM/Arkansas with my old man. just glad i still get to go with him to at least one game a year. I'll miss the CU/Fresno game here. I'm hoping CU is gaining confidence, but I think Fresno might be a reality check.

What's up with oreg st. they struggled again, granted pulled it out. Great calls on Miami and Wash st though.

Glad to see HD gets a reason to chime in on pointy football.

 

Not a fan of either institution, but have to admit I watched the 2nd half. It was comedic gold. Speaking of comedy, did you see those stupid masks the sips wore in training to prepare for playing in altitude? Apparently their trainer has as much medical training as my dog.



texas reassigned defensive coordinator Manny Diaz the day after the game.

 

I do believe Michigan has a chance of reaching the top five before November, looking at the schedule. We have a real shot at the title this year, the first time in years. Devin Gardner can actually lead a team because he can run and throw the ball. Love the start of the season.

 

I've missed you and your blind Meatchicken optimism. Although I've got to admit, you may be right this time. Their defense looks suspect but they should outscore everyone on the schedule leading into November. That schedule tightens up quite a bit once 11/2 rolls around though. Four of those final 5 games could ruin their season....or validate the ranking they should have at that time.

 

Not true. This was the last game at Michigan between the two (they do play next year in South Bend). The Irish have longer played rivalries w/both Purdue and Michigan State that will continue. Since Notre Dame is an Independent in football, but joined the ACC for all other sports they have scheduled more ACC schools in upcoming years. For a school like ND that has to recruit nationally in order to compete they try and play a wide variety teams from coast to coast. They aren't about to stop playing their Indiana rival Purdue, which left Michigan State or Michigan. Those season ending BCS bowls are worth so much more $$ than the other bowl games, the Irish won't admit it, but kept the school they have a better chance at beating every year.

 

I hate Iowa State. That is all.

 

:clap:

Games of the Week:

Iowa at Iowa State. Disregard losses by both teams to NIU (Northern Illinois, Northern Iowa), this will be as intense a game as any on Saturday. I like the fact Iowa got back on the horse and got a W last week, Hawkeyes win in Ames.

#16 UCLA at #23 Nebraska. The Bruins won a great game between the two in Pasadena last season. Taylor Martinez seems like he's been the QB in Lincoln for a decade. The kid is from SoCal and will be desperate to beat some of his high school teammates. However, UCLA suffered a team tragedy when a wide receiver died in an accident last week and will be galvanized, Bruins on the road.

Vanderbilt at #13 South Carolina. The Gamecocks find themselves in the same position Georgia did last week. The season is basically on the line, and Vandy is no joke. Will take South Carolina to win a tight one.

**UPSET ALERT**

#24 TCU at Texas Tech. Cliff Kingsbury was the perfect hire for the Red Raiders, even though it might have been a year or two before he was ready to be the HC. TCU lost their QB last week, so will take Tech in Matt's favorite Texas town.

#25 Ole Miss at Texas. Only calling this an upset in terms of rankings. If the Longhorns don't respond after last week then the ice will really start to melt under Mack Brown's feet (if it hasn't already).

#20 Wisconsin at Arizona State. Night game in Tempe (9 pm for the Whisky players). Both teams smacked around small schools, so we'll find out more about them this Sat. ASU will seek revenge from last year's game in Madison which they had in their grubby little hands. WIll take the Scum, but won't be too broken up if they lose :roll:

That's it, NO OTHER BIG GAMES THIS WEEK... :angelic-green:

I suppose I should mention one other game that only has been talked about for 9 months :whistle:

#1 Alabama at #6 Texas A&M. Bama looking to avenge last season's loss, and got two weeks to prepare. Looks like Manziel mania is finally settling down a little bit and the Aggies can relax and get down to the business at hand. Let's be honest, A&M's run defense has looked dreadful against Rice and Yosemite Sam State, so the Tide will be looking to control the clock. I'm sure the Aggies coaching staff is using the fact that there isn't a single person picking them to build an 'us and our fans against the world' mentality. Manziel and the O will move the ball, but keep in mind they lost a whole bunch of talent on the line and skill guys to the NFL, so they are a work in progress. No shock here as I'm picking the Tide to wear down A&M in an entertaining affair.

 

Gonna be a big Saturday in my house starting with WBA and followed up by the Ags. Given my interest, this will probably be a long preview.

STRENGTHS - A&M again has a very good offense. We lost 2 guys from the o-line, but we returned 2 Matthews (as in HOF Bruce's kids), 2 starters and our 6th man G/T from last year. We're younger at receiver, but we're bigger and more explosive deep. We have 3 r's and a te over 6'5". We have 3 gamebreakers at rb and a 4th who is a battering ram. Johnny has stayed in the pocket and worked through his progressions instead of taking off quickly in the 1st 2 games and he looks much better throwing the ball, especially deep. So I think the offense is just fine. Bama's defense is the same way, they're a strong unit and appear to have replaced any losses to the NFL well. Defense is Saban's calling card and this comes as no surprise.

WEAKNESSES - The question marks are the Ag D and the Tide O. VT is a very good d, so Bama's O probably isn't as bad as it looked in game 1. Their o-line did blow assignments and looked pretty gassed against Tech. While they've had 2 weeks to prepare, I think the Tide may be wishing they had another tune-up game to work things out at game speed instead. RB Yeldon is a talent, but he was fumble prone last year and coughed it up again in game 1. McCarron was a lot less accurate and more careless with the ball with less protection as well. Bama can't afford to help A&M's D with to's. The Ag D was w/o 5 defensive starters (arguably the best 5) for the first 2 games due to suspension. We were w/o a 6th (DeShazor Everett who had the clinching goalline pick last year) for the first half of the 1st 2 games as well. As a result, we've already played more than 10 freshmen on D this season. We've recruited well, but still, they're not up to par yet. We did get gashed by Rice and Sam, particularly in the run game and that was due in large part to missed gap assignments. That's what you'd expect with so many backups in. I wish we'd had one game with the starters back to iron out the wrinkles, but that's not the case.

And that's where I think the game will be won or lost. We'll score on Bama. It'll be down to whether our D can stop them enough for us to outscore them. DC Mark Snyder has said that we'll give up more big plays on D this year, but we'll make more big plays on D as well. That's been the case so far (averaging 2 takeaways per game). One thing that I'm surprised by is the way Kyle Field is being ignored as a home field advantage. Saban gets all this credit for his prep with 2 weeks off, deservedly so based on the record, but how exactly do you prepare for a player like Manziel? Johnny himself doesn't even know what he's going to do until he does it. It also discounts Kevin Sumlin who I think is a great head coach.

VERDICT - If A&M gets to 30, we'll win. If not, we'll lose. Last year, I had a strong gut feeling that we'd beat them. This year, I spent the summer thinking the Tide would avenge the loss, but I've got that feeling again (though not as strong). The players have rallied around what they perceive as unfair TMZ style coverage of Johnny and they're rallying around being overlooked yet again. I think that chip on their shoulder and the energy from the 12th man will elevate the Ags' play and get us the win.

 

Ok, so now for the upset candidates:

TCU @ Tech is certainly an upset possibility. If you've followed this thread over the years, you've heard me say "strange things happen on the plains of west Texas" many times. The two coaches with the best track record defending the up-tempo, zone read spread are Stanford's David Shaw and TCU's Gary Patterson. TCU sees a lot of spread in the B12. Tech has a FR qb who hasn't seen a defense remotely close to TCU's. TCU qb Boyton is experienced as a starter, so while losing Pachall is a hit, it's not that big a deal. I expect TCU to win this one but won't be surprised if there's an upset b/c, well, Lubbock is strange.

Wisconsin @ (my new 2nd favorite team) Arizona State. Late game, on the road, new coach, both teams have played no one. Hard to know what to expect in this one. Wisconsin hasn't allowed a point this year and that's impressive no matter who you play (and Whisky has played 2 real dogs). I just don't trust Arizona State. Only reason I think they'll win is to bug Joe. So I'm going with Wisconsin.

Ole Miss @ texas. Loved last week's texas game and even moreso the panicked reaction of reassigning their dc after the game and bringing in retread Greg Robinson. Ole Miss has a good young qb who is deceptively mobile. They have a gamebreaker at rb and one at r. Defensively, they've recruited well the last 2 years, but it's a young d and vandy exploited it quite a bit. texas has become a summer camp for 5 star players to stagnate in recent years. It seems there's this arrogant, we're the best brand in football mentality that has spread throughout the fanbase and program. Brown has made comments to the effect that the LHN demands interfere with his duties as coach and I believe that is probably true. He did lead them to 2 Nat'l Championship games afterall and they won one. On raw talent alone, texas at home should win this game. I liked this one as an upset ever since I saw it on the schedule, but after being humiliated in Provo, I think the horns will bounce back. I think texas wins a very close one. If they don't, Katie bar the door, b/c the mob already have their pitchforks and torches, they're just looking for an excuse to burn Austin to the ground.

So that leaves my upset pick of the week as Illinois at home over #19 Washington. The Huskies are a good team, but going east is historically a problem for PAC teams. Illinois was impressive in blowing out Cincinnati and I think that momentum and playing at home will be enough.

In the other games:

Iowa over Ia St - because that's what always happens. Neither team appears to be very good.

UCLA over Nebbish - The Huskers haven't looked good at home in either of their matchups. Yes, they beat So Miss handily, but So Miss is dismal (sorry DT). I like the direction UCLA is headed and think there's enough talent there (esp on offense) to overcome playing in Lincoln. The noon (ET) start time makes me a little nervous for the Bruins.

So Carolina over Vandy. I like Franklin and Vandy but their D is a sieve and they're on the road.

 

Matt, thought about Illinois also, but that win over Cincinnati deserves a big asterisk. The Bearcats for some unknown reason hired that hack Tuberville who will surely undo all the good work that Kelly and Jones did in The Queen City in a matter of a couple seasons. My parents alma mater to win a close one.

Did you say that Greg Robinson is the new D coord. at Texas??? :lol: I guess I should thank Mr. Robinson because he was a disaster at Michigan, which got RichRod fired, which in turn led RR to Tucson, where we are looking good with a great recruiting class coming in and and brand new football facility opened. As far as him being the new DC at Texas, thanks for the memories Mack, you are toast.

 

Yeah, I don't really like any of the upsets. I can make a case for most of them, but don't have a lot of confidence in any of them. There's always at least one though. A&M would be an upset, but I don't view two top 10 teams playing as a candidate, especially this early in the season.