Week 14 College Football Musings

My historical worst week of the season, Thanksgiving, continued it's shitfest this year. Everything I touched turned to fecal matter. 3-4-1. Just start fading me I guess. USC and Florida are the most perfect football teams the Good Lord has ever bestowed on this earth, apparently. I bet on Florida, they suck donkey ass against Georgia. I bet on USC, they look like a bunch of frightened children against Oregon. Then both of them completely lay a beat down on a couple of solid clubs. Whatever. By the way, I'm getting to the point where I am trying to handicap which team is most likely to win the turnover battle, but we all know that's a bunch of nonsense, since it's impossible to tell who is going to drop the football in a given week, and if we waste time trying to predict it, we'll end up in like J Peterman in the Burmese jungle speaking gibberish to one of the natives. Having said that, I'm still considering it, because I am getting hammered by turnovers. I stopped counting, but I amidst the carnage last weekend, I checked the box scores of the games I bet on to see how many of "my" teams won the turnover battle. I stopped checking after game #13, when the grand total remained at zero. On those 13 games, I was -23. Nice. Waaaaaaaaahhhh!!!!!!!!! Stop crying you half a queer! Season results aren't worth talking about anymore. If you followed the numbered musings this year, you'd be up enough to maybe buy yourself a Mars Bar.

As for the BCS/why is there not a playoff babble, we all agree that college football is great, yes? Every once in awhile there is a season like this one where there is no clear cut participants who we all can agree should be facing off in the MNC game. In most years, there is. Why do we feel that there is a need to change the entire landscape of a great sport just so we MIGHT be able to better identify who should be playing in one game. Is avoiding the unfortunate circumstance of a team having an unfulfilled claim to the play in the MNC game worth changing college football as we know it? I don't know about you guys, but other than for gambling purposes, I don't give even one quarter of a shit about college basketball right now, nor will I at any point until March, since my team inexplicably doesn't have a single good player on it. I don't want that to happen to college football. I'm not saying that a playoff couldn't work, but I just don't want to take a chance that it makes it worse.

The only good thing to say about this being the last week of college football is that we are that much closer to the bowl season. Here we go:


1. Oklahoma -3 V Missouri: Missouri played a fantastic game against Kansas last week, much better than I thought they could. If Gary Pinkel can get his team to play that well one week later, when all the pressure in the world is on his team, then he is all that and a bag of Doritos. Here's the problem. Oklahoma is better than Missouri. They aren't as consistent, but they're better. There is a ton of pressure on this Missouri team, since they are playing for a chance to play for the National Championship for the second week in a row. That is heavy, baby. Both teams have weak pass defenses, but interestingly, OU has the higher ranked pass offense, as well as a higher ranked pass defense. Mizzou is at 107 in pass D efficiency, and Bradford is ranked #2 among QBs in the same area. I just think asking Mizzou to pull this out, a week after the biggest game in their history is asking too much.

2. Tennessee +7 1/2 v LSU: Ok, can someone please explain to me why I keep hearing people on the radio say variations of the following: "I realize that LSU has lost two games, but in my opinion, if they had a playoff, they would walk right through it." Must we continue to listen to people continue to say that LSU is he best team in the country? Based on what? The Virginia Tech game? After that game, we assumed that this was what we could expect from LSU. Then the Tulane game happened, where they trailed at halftime. We all figured that was an anomaly. Then the should have lost to Florida. Then they definitely should have lost at home to a decent Auburn team. Then they should really definitely have lost to a .500 Alabama squad. Another anomaly. Then they gav up 465 yards and got outgained by 100 against Ole Miss with their backup QB in there. Fluke. Then they lost at home to a ho hum Arkansas team(lost to Kentucky at home, hammered by Tennessee, etc) when they were playing for the right to go to the National Championship as a 2 TD favorite. So what game was the anomaly? Yeah, the Va Tech game. Conclusion: As much as we all want LSU to be the best team in the country, they just aren't, ok? They're coached by a moron, and they just arent the best team in the country. Deal with it America, and move on. ok.....so now they get Tennessee. They've been carved up by just about everyone in their last 8 games, and you can make a case that this is the best offense they have faced since Florida. Very balanced. LSU does do a couple things well: put pressure on the QB, and get turnovers. However, Erik Ainge does a great job of holding on to the ball, and he's only been sacked 4 times ALL SEASON. LSU is bummed out because their chances to play for the MNC are gone. I think it shapes up for a good opportunity for UT. Their defense is not good, but LSU has not exactly lit it up on offense lately either.

3. Virginia Tech -4 1/2 v Boston College: This is a very dangerous play because a lot of public consensus agrees with it, but I think this is the play here. Va Tech has the obvious emotional edge because of what happened to them in Blacksburg a few weeks ago. Don't forget that for most of that game Matt Ryan looked awful, as did the BC offensive line. Also, since then, VT has turned into a downright respectable offensive club, with Branden Ore finding holes and Sean Glennon turning remarkably accurate throwing the ball. They piled up 430 yards against a very good Virginia defense on the road last week, and they ran Miami off the field the week before that On the flip side, BC slogged through a weak performance against Miami last week, and was extremely lucky to beat Clemson the week prior to that. I think the Hokies get it done here and move on to the BCS.

4. @Stanford +13 v Cal: Has anyone actually watched Cal play the last month. They suck. They can't stop anyone, and their offense has become largely pedestrian. I know Stanford is nothing to look at themselves, since they have the offensive explosiveness of a potted plant, but they still play hard, and this will be their Super Bowl for sure. Cal is just trying to get the whole thing over with and they have been in that mode since the USC game. 13 is a lot here. One other thing. If Cal wins, they play at home in shit weather in the Emerald Bowl. I they lose, they get to go to Vegas. Maybe not a bad idea if they lose, huh?

5. North Texas - 2 1/2 @ Fla International: What the hell am I doing here? No kidding, I feel dirty even referring to this game, backing a 1-10 team as a road favorite. Sometimes, though, just keep it simple. FLAINT is ranked 118th in total offense, 107th in total defense. It's the last ever college football game in the Orange Bowl, but that didn't work for Miami, so why should it work for Florida International? North Texas actually can move the ball, and they've done it both on the ground and through the air recently. All they have to do is beat this putrid team. I'm guessing Todd Dodge, who despite his record is getting feelers from other schools, gets it done here.

6. Central Michigan -3 v Miami(OH). CMU is the best team in the MAC. They have the best QB in the conference in Benet Academy's Dan LeFevour, and he's facing a defense that has had a hard time this year. For the record, CMU's has too, but there isn't much comparison at all between the offenses. CMU has struggled as a significant favorite this year, but that's not the case here. The cream generally rises to the top in the MAC title game, and CMU is the better team with the much better QB.



Others: Who would believe two weeks ago that on November 30th, Oregon would be a 1 point dog at home to the Beavs in the civil war? Well, that's how much Dennis Dixon means to this team. It's legit. Jonathan Stewart is back, and he's their only offensive hope this week. Too bad OSU is #1 in the country against the run......I get this game wrong every year, but I'll take Army +14. They have some talent at WR and QB, and Navy cannot stop a soul on defense. As we discussed previously, they should not be favored by 2 scores when they have the worst D in division 1......I caught some of the Apple Cup last week on replay last week. I noticed that Washington was helpless against WSU's two good wide receivers, who combined to catch 12 balls for 225 yards. UW was absolutely unable to cover these guys, as their secondary is banged up and just doesn't have the bodies to handle a good passing attack. That being the case,if they can't cover 2 good receivers, how in the hell are they going to cover 5 on the island aganst Hawaii when the 'Bows will be looking to run up as many points as possible to help ther BCS case as well as Colt Brennan's Heisman case? This should actually be a musing, but Washington has been good on offense lately, so there is a risk of them putting up 40 themselves.Probably not though. Maybe the over here.

Take care and Godspeed.