Just nothing to say. Embarassing…in the words of Jim Mora, Sr.: “We couldn’t do diddly-poo offensively, we couldn’t run the ball….”

Sigh.

Normally, this would be my listing of games that would be broadcast where I am and my opinion on them.

However, I’m going to be busy today. Also, looking over the slate, I don’t know what’s worth watching outside of GT-Clemson, anyway. I’ll leave you with this:

Clemson is a redneck school, doo-dah, doo-dah
Clemson is a redneck school, dah-doo-dah-day
Gonna moo all night
Gonna moo all day
Clemson is a redneck school, dah-doo-dah-day

Hey folks. I want to let everyone know about the computerized college football prediction system I run. You can track my progress over the season at http://tito.asimweb.org/cfp. Click on “Week 8” on the left of your screen to check out this week’s picks. (I start making predictions midway through the season, for reasons explained on the site.)

This week, the CFP (College Football Predictor) picked Vanderbilt to beat South Carolina, which would be a big win for the Commodores following their October 14 upset of Georgia. 4-3 Washington State has a slight edge on 6-1 Oregon, but only because of the home-field advantage. Also, undefeated Louisville is not very heavily favored on the road against Syracuse. LSU, Auburn, Northern Illinois, Ohio, and Ohio State essentially have bye-weeks; the CFP has never mispredicted a game with the ratings margin that these teams will enjoy on Saturday.

Obviously these predictions aren’t guaranteed, but you can find my rate of success within certain rating margin ranges on the left of the CFP site. Here’s hoping the 2006 system’s inaugural run is a success!

I’d like to welcome a Tech friend of mine, Will, to the site.

In light of the greatness that was the Auburn/Florida game, I left out my thoughts on the rest of college football in my Sunday post. Here are those thoughts.

Miami and Florida International got into a fisticuffs midfield on Saturday, which was pretty ridiculous from what I hear. In related news, ESPN.com ran a story about Lamar Thomas, a former Miami player and color commentary for CSS. Thomas was fired for his on-air comments about the fight. Here’s a sample:

“Now, that’s what I’m talking about…You come into our house, you should get your behind kicked. You don’t come into the OB playing that stuff…You can’t come over to our place talking noise like that. You’ll get your butt beat. I was about to go down the elevator to get in that thing…I say, why don’t they just meet outside in the tunnel after the ball game and get it on some more? You don’t come into the OB, baby…We’ve had a down couple years but you don’t come in here talking smack. Not in our house.”

Later, Thomas tried to apologize:

“Anybody who knows me knows I played the game of football with my heart on my
sleeve…Unfortunately for me during the fight I got a little hyped up. In no way do I condone fighting.”

“In no way do I condone fighting”? The statement “why don’t they just meet outside in the tunnel after the ball game and get it on some more” doesn’t condone fighting? My dad used to tell me how much he disliked the Miami football program. He said they were arrogant and unsportsmanlike. This Saturday, the Hurricanes and Thomas sure proved my dad right.

But enough about the fight. Ohio State rolled over Michigan State (sorry Laura) on their way to the season-ending showdown on November 18. Speaking of Michigan, the Wolverines won a close one at Penn State, where my friends in State College showed up in full force. Up 17-10, the Michigan D stopped the Lions from turning their final drive into overtime. I still think the white out is the coolest student section collaboration I’ve ever seen, with Mississippi State’s cowbells a distant second.

USC scraped by another?! Pac-10 team with a fourth-quarter touchdown drive. ESPN still won’t accept that USC is not that good, emphasizing their undefeated status. They might be undefeated going into their three-week death march on November 11, but they won’t be that way by its end. Fun/disgusting fact: USC has scored 20 or more points in their last 58 games. Louisville didn’t look their best, either, even with the return of Brian Brohm. A game-ending deflection by the Cardinals D kept their win streak and (extremely slim) national championship hopes alive.

Georgia did this weekend what USC will do at the season’s end: finally lose a close game. The Bulldogs fell to the mighty Commodores of Vanderbilt on homecoming week. I guess I was overly optimistic when I predicted that Georgia would only lose four games this year. I wonder, will they earn a W against Mississippi State this weekend? West Virginia once again waited until halftime to start scoring, taking care of Syracuse 41-17. Hawaii stomped Fresno State 68-37. Seriously, that’s a lot of points.

The first BCS standings gave me hope that Auburn still has a good shot at a national championship berth. Obviously, Ohio State or Michigan will remain at the top at the end of the season, barring any unforeseen upsets. Like I said earlier, USC will also lose. It may be in Auburn’s favor for Arkansas to win the SEC West, though this looks doubtful with Tennessee and LSU in the Razorbacks’ future. Although it would prevent the winner of West Virginia/Louisville from leapfrogging into #2, I doubt Auburn could pull off another win against Florida.

This weekend, Georgia Tech and Clemson play a possible ACC Championship preview. Clemson would need help to win the Atlantic division if they lost, but Georgia Tech should win the Coastal division even if they lose on Saturday. I guess I wouldn’t mind seeing Tennessee crush Alabama, but I’ll be watching Auburn take care of Tulane during that matchup. Hopefully the Tigers will come prepared and will take things one game at a time for the rest of the year. That course of action served them well in 2004. See you guys next Monday!