Week 6 College Football Mushigs

Until further notice, we will now call this collection of incoherent gibberish "the mushings", since any nitwit with half a brain could manage to go 3-6-1 in a given college football weekend. The overall record for the musings is now 34-23,(59%) but we can only ride the good fortune of week 1 for so long. Admittedly, last week was filled with all kinds of surprises, and really, few people could have predicted that Oklahoma would lose to Colorado or Auburn would nip Florida, but just about everything I thought might happen didn't, and in a lot of cases, it wasn't even close. There were, of course, some bad breaks, but we got lucky in other cases, so I won't get into it. Just an awful week. The only bright spot was that Carissa and I were in Hawaii. So as my Blackberry was reporting the brutal carnage, at least we were looking at some pretty scenery. There's nothing we can do but press on. One last note, though. What in the world is Ralph Freidgen doing when he is recruiting quarterbacks? First of all, he already has a homosexual as his starter in the flimsy, limp-wristed Jordan Steffy. Did anyone get a look at his backup who came in and subsequently led them to victory over Rutgers? I forget the kid's name, but he looked like a cross between a black albino Napolean Dynamite and the kid in your 3rd grade class with the booger collection. How they won that game is yet another mystery from last week.

Wow...the Cubs really stepped it up the last couple of nights. After watching them flail away against the immortal Doug Davis tonight, I have a tip for 7/9ths of their lineup. There is something in baseball called a curveball. Not every pitch remains on the same arc throughout it's approach to the hitting zone. Sometimes, the pitcher throws the ball and makes it "curve", in other words, it doesn't go exactly straight, and might even end up in an area where you cannot hit the ball hard, if at all. Keep an eye out for this in subsequent games, or game.

Did anyone catch the South Carolina/Kentucky game tonight? Chris Smelley? What are the chances that this kid becomes a legitimately good quarterback? Regardless, I loved the exchange between Doug Flutie and Craig James in the game. Smelley made a decent move to avoid the rush and completed a third down pass. During the replay James says, "Now look here, check out how he avoids the blitzer here...that play was all Smelley." Then Flutie says, "Oh yeah, he came out smelling like a rose there!" Alright, let's see what we can do this week.

1. @Ball State -12 1/2 v Central Michigan: This is being billed somewhat as a showdown between contenders in the MAC. That's great, but if CMU is considered a contender, the MAC might want to move down to 1-AA and schedule some taffy pulls with Gardner Webb, Calvin College and the like. They have yet to stop anyone on defense, ranking 115th in total D, and they draw Ball St, the 13th best offense in all of Division 1. In addition,. CMU's offense has regressed under their new coach, ranking in the bottom third in the nation in total offense after ranking much higher last year at this time. They clearly miss Brian Kelly. I think the chances are very good that Ball St racks up 50 unless they completely sleepwalk through this one. CMU is the defending MAC champ, though, so I would be surprised if we saw a letdown.

2. Tulane +6 1/2 @Army. OK, here's another example of misguided slobbering all over a service academy. Army got outgained by 130+ at home last week by Temple. They won and covered due to some lucky breaks, but this team is way way way overdue for a clunker as they have covered 3 in a row. I also don't like their chances of covering 2 in a row as a fairly significanmt favorite. Tulane played LSU to a virtual standstill for a half last week. Now we all know LSU was in look ahead mode with Florida on deck, but Tulane doesn't have to know that. Let's go ahead and let them believe that they're almost as good as LSU..woulda coulda shoulda....you know, if that stupid ref hadn't called that holding penalty on Jimmy, or if Bobby wouldn't have slipped on the turf or whatever on that one play, we would have beat them!!!! Whatever. They should have some confidence, and their RB Matt Forte will easily be the best player on the field.

3. Georgia +1 1/2(and falling) @Tennessee: Over the past few years, Mark Richt has been hailed as a bit of an X's and O's savant, on top of being a handsome man with a rapist's wit and a solid plan for the future. I've always failed to buy in to all that, but let me tell you, next to that buffoon Phil Fulmer, Richt is James Bond. UT is 2-8 straight up in their last 10 home games against ranked teams, and they are 3-7 ATS in those games. Conversely, Richt is 6-2 straight up against ranked opponents on the road since he's been at Georgia. Impressive. UT is 15-28 ovr the past 7 years as a favorite at home. Tennessee has also gotten unmercifully gashed in the runnning game so far this year, and Georgia can run it. I think the wrong team is favored here.

4. @North Carolina +6 1/2 v Miami: All week this game has stuck at 6 1/2 despite the world being on Miami. Since the Canes re-inserted Kyle Wright at QB, life has been good, starting with the Thusday night thrashing of Texas A&M. Now they go on the road for the first time since their Oklahoma debacle. North Carolina is coming off 4 consecutive losses, but have not made complete asses of themselves in the process, other than their game with South Florida a couple of weeks ago. Last week, they actually outgained Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, and are making some progress on the offensive side. With Butch Davis playing his first game against his old team, I think the Heels will be sky high, and will probably give their best effort. They have some talent, and Miami tends to go into an offensive hole in games like this. I'd love to have more than a TD, but the books are not budging. With the amount of action on Miami, that might be a good sign.

5. Oklahoma -12 V Texas: The Red River Shootout. I'm not sure what has happened to Texas this year, but they've not found any kind of rhythm at all on offense, and over the past couple of years, they have not been all that dominant on defense. Kansas St got a bunch of turnovers and special teams gifts in their game last week, but they pretty much beat Texas up in the process, including QB Colt MC Coy, whose ability is finally being called into question. Mack Brown has never been hailed as a genius..this year it might be catching up with him. Prior to their game with Colorado, I was sold on Oklahoma. They looked like a team with few weaknesses. Their QB was playing almost perfect, they had a bunch of playmakers in the passing game and some gritty running backs, and their D was stout. Then that game happened, and I didn't know what to think. At this point, I think Oklahoma rights the ship and pounds Texas this week. In this coaching matchup, give Bob Stoops the better talent, and Texas has itself a big burnt orange problem. Oklahoma will be motivated coming off their performance last week as well as two consecutive DD losses to the Horns. They'll be looking to make a statement, and I don't think Texas has the momentum or confidence right now to do anything about it.

6. @LSU -7 V Florida: At first, I thought this might be a good opportunity to go with Florida, coming off their loss last week, but I think this is a terrible matchup for them. First off, it's a night game in Baton Rouge. Second, LSU has given up absolutely nothing to anybody all year on D. 1 TD allowed, 10 INTs, mutant 300 pound olympic sprinters on the D line, linebackers that eat rusty nails for breakfast and a secondary that slices off opposing receivers' heads with their razor sharp claws.Unless Les Miles is a moron,(oh no) they'll probably employ the same kind of defense that Auburn did last week, that being avoiding the blitz to keep Tebow in the pocket, then either run him down with their cocaine fueled speed when he runs or cover up the short passes. Their D line can priovide the pressure. I also think that this is the week that the Florida defense's youth is exposed. I don't expect the gators to be in this one late.

7. @Duke +7 1/2 v Wake Forest: We all know the drill with Wake when they're favored. I'm a little hesitant taking Duke here, since they suck it in short dog roles, but they have really played pretty well this year. Their QB Thaddeus Lewis is having a nice year against solid competition,(11/5 ratio, 8.33 yards per attempt) and they ran it effectively against Miami in the Orange Bowl last week. They almost won at Navy, beat Northwestern on the road and hung very tough with Virginia at Virginia.On the flip side, Wake has really dtruggled on offense, with Riley Skinner not exhibiting the same magic he did last year. They are a different team when favored for some reason. I'll go with the trend here, since Duke actually looks like they match up pretty well with them anyway.

8. @Rutgers -4 v Cincinnati: If this game was played 3 weeks ago, Rutgers would be a 2 TD favorite. Their game last week was almost as hard to fathom as the Oklahoma game was. You have to give Brian Kelly credit. Since his arrival, Cincy has been pounding everyone, but the only decent defense they have faced was Oregon St early this year. In that game, they were absolutely stuffed, but still managed to win in a laugher thanks to Oregon St's astounding penchant for turnovers. Their offense is likely to really struggle against a fired up Rutgers squad who has probably had their feelings hurt since Cincy has replaced them as Big East media darling. On the flipside, Rutgers is explosive on offense with the three fast receivers, and Cincy is a bit slow in the secondary. Cincy can certainly stop the run, but they'll be severely tested by Ray Rice. In short, I think Rutgers is way more likely to have a good day on offense than Cincinnati is. I don't think Cincy will be able to run, and that will set up Ben Mauk for several failures. Dustin Grutza is probably a better matchup at QB for Cincy in this one...we might see him out of necessity in the second half.

9. @Wyoming -3 v TCU: There might be some surprise to see TCU getting points in this situation, but not if you've seen Wyoming play defense at home. TCU comes in with a very suspect offense that needs to run the ball to have any chance of being successful, especially with the scattershot Marcus Jackson under center. Defensively, TCU is good, but they've shown chinks in the armor when they go on the road, and Wyoming has been able to move the ball against good defenses at home. As long as the Cowboys don't turn it over a bunch of times, they should be ion good shape.

10. @Maryland +3 v Georgia Tech: Ga Tech's strength is their running game..they have proven that they are in big trouble if they have to throw the ball. Maryland has struggled some in the run stopping department early this year, but appears to have righted the ship by holding Ray Rice in check this past week. As we know, teams generally look a little better at home and a little worser on the road, so you can expect Ga Tech's generally solid D to give up some yards to the Maryland ground game with Ball and Latimore. In addition, Maryland has the best receiver on the field in Darius Heyward-Bey. Home dogs in the second division of the ACC have been money lately. I think the Fridge gets it done here.

11. Minnesota +14 @Indiana: This is a VERY risky play, since Minnesota is 5-15 as a road dog over the last few years, but it's a new coaching staff, so I'll take my chances. By the way, how's this new regime working out for you Minnesota? Being in those crappy, second tier bowls sure sucked ass didn't it? Anyway, Indiana is in a supreme letdown spot after handing Iowa their lunch. Hopefully, for their sake, they don't think they are in a position where they can just roll their helmets out there because a loss to Minnesota would be quite embarrassing. The fact remains, however, that Indiana is not all that good on defense when their focused, so if they aren't focused, Minnesota IS capable of laying some points on tham. Luckily for Indiana, Minnesota is supremely bad on defense, so Kellen Lewis should enjoy himself. I do think that Minny has a decent game in them.. they've shown the ability to move the ball both on the ground and through the air. They might put together a good effort this week. 14 is a lot for Indiana in a conference game. Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

12. Vanderbilt +7 1/2 @ Auburn: Vandy has been somewhat under the radar this year..their offense hasn't gotten clicking yet, but I think they might have some success this week against an Auburn squad that can't help but be a little happy with themselves after their performance last week. They also lost their best defensive player by far, Quentin Groves, so they remain banged up on defense. We know about Auburn's offense, and Vandy's D has been stout this year, with a 3/10 TD/INT ratio to boot against an offense that has ben very mistake prone. It's a good spot for Vandy, I just wish I was getting DD in this one. I like going against favorites in these 12:30 no TV games, though.

Others....I like Arizona getting the 3 1/2 at Oregon St. OSU has trouble with spread offenses, and Arizona has looked good running it the last couple weeks. OSU is also without their best offensive player in Sammie Stroughter, and their QBs continue to invent new ways to turn it over.....UAB is getting 18 from Mississippi St. I don't care how bad UAB is on defense, MIss St can't throw the ball. In order to cover that number, they probably would have to hold UAB to 7 or less, and UAB has shown enough on offense to at least punch in a couple of scores.....Purdue really pissed me off last week. they were up 23-0 at half and then got dominated in the second half by Notre Dame. They also got run all over the field by Minnesota a week before that. Now Ohio St comes to town. Their offense has actually performed very similarly statistically to last year's Buckeye squad. I don't think they'll have any issues moving it on Purdue this week, and their defense will be by far the best one that the Boilers have faced. I'll be on Ohio St minus the 7......So far this year Kansas has played Florida International. Thornton Community College, Illiana Christian and Holy Ghost, and Holy Ghost's QB had the chicken pox. They've thundered their way through that schedule, but we still don't really know how good they are. I have an inkling that they are pretty good, though, as the margin of victory has been astounding. Kansas St is giving them 3..I have a feeling that KU stuffs K St off their Texas win and stays unbeaten.....I don't like jinxing the Illini but I think it shapes up nicely for them this week. They are rightly favored, despite the incredulity of the gambling community. "How can a #5 team be a dog to an unranked team who was 2-10 last year?" they cry. Because this might be the worst #5 team ever assembled. Don't forget that Wiscy needed a madcap busted play QB scramble for a TD in the final minute against UNLV, and also were in a tussle throughout their game with the Shitadel. Michigan St ran it for almost 8 yards a pop last week. The Illini have the #5 rushing offense in the country, so Mendenhall and co should be licking their chops. Hope I didn't just jinx them. I've got 3 units on the UW money line as a hedge though......Lastly, both Nebraska and Missouri can't stop a soul, but I think Nebraska's defense is a tad better than Missouri's. Missouri is laying 7 which is a bunch, especially when you have a defense that gave up 500+ to Ole Miss earlier this year. 7 will be a lot to cover unless they figure out a way to stop someone. That's it for now. Hopefully we have a good bounce back week.