This Weekend in College Football: Week 10

Boo! In a hurry tonight, so let’s get this over with.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

  • Wisconsin @ Michigan State (ESPN): I still can’t get over the virtual implosion of this Wisconsin team. MSU is coming off a huge win over Michigan and should (repeat, should) have no problem with the Badgers.
  • Northwestern @ Minnesota (ESPN2): The Big Ten’s two most resurgent programs face off in an epic battle! Well, I don’t know about “epic”, but they are basically playing for 3rd place (along with Michigan State) behind Penn State and Ohio State. That said, NU suffered a really bad loss to a really bad Indiana team last weekend, so I have to go with the Gilded Gophers here.
  • Michigan @ Purdue (BTN): Michgian is bad this year, but unfortunately not as bad as Purdue. Wolverines should pick up a win.
  • Miami @ Virginia (Raycom/Gameplan): I don’t know how this happened, but it turns out that Virginia is a decently good football team. Of course, they also got the SMQ Dr. Saturday kiss-of-death this week, but rational thought (insofar as it applies to the ACC this year) has to favor the Cavs. Also, it makes us look better, even if we do need them to lose.

12:30:

  • Kansas State @ Kansas (FSN): Kansas isn’t as good as everyone thought, but they are unfortunately good enough to beat KSU.
  • Auburn @ Mississippi (Raycom/Gameplan): I miss the days, of, oh, say, the last 4 years or so where this was an automatic pick. (Actually, it’s probably more than that, but still.) Things look pretty bleak for the Tigers, losers of 3 straight, but the only pin of the cap of Ole Miss is the freak upset for Florida. Given this is probably about even, I’ll take the home team here.

2:30: Pittsburgh @ Notre Dame (NBC): With South Florida’s loss yesterday, suddenly Pitt’s 5 game winning streak prior to losing to Rutgers last week is making me re-evaluate the Big East frontrunner. I think ND’s got this one in the bag.

3:30:

  • Georgia vs. Florida (@Jacksonville, FL; CBS): The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party name may not really make any sense (it assumes fans of either school can afford cocktails, baffling when you consider how much cheaper PBR, Steel Reserve, or Bud Light is) but it’s still better than nothing, which is what it officially is now. This game is hideously difficult to pick. Though UGA’s loss may be better, UF has really put things together and both sport blowouts against LSU in which they scored 50 points. Therefore, I will pick who I want to win (UF) and just say this game will be on my TV while I’m Slingboxin’ the GT game.
  • Oregon @ California (ABC/Gameplan): Cal, I guess? Man I don’t care about this game, but it probably could go either way.
  • Oklahoma State @ Iowa State (Gameplan/ABC): This game will end sometime Monday morning because Oklahoma State will not stop scoring until then. Seriously.
  • Florida State @ Georgia Tech (Gameplan/ESPN/ABC): “Fun” fact: since FSU joined the ACC in 1992, only two ACC teams have failed to beat them at least once. They, of course, Georgia Tech and Duke. Duke you can understand, but while GT hasn’t exactly had a sustained run of success since then (see: 1993-1997), they also couldn’t beat them with Joe Hamilton. GT’s second best player in this time period, Calvin Johnson, never actually got to play the Seminoles because in their infinite wisdom the ACC put FSU and GT in seperate divisions, so they have not met since 2003. 2003 was, of course, my freshman year. Tech played FSU the week after the Auburn upset and led 13-0 going into the 4th quarter. FSU then scored 14 points and came back, winning 14-13. That is basically the series in a nutshell. Next to beating UGA, I cannot think of a sweeter win we could get this season.
  • Iowa @ Illinois (ESPN/ABC): Illinois, I guess? I’m in a hurry here.
  • Temple @ Navy (CBSCS): Navy, by a few touchdowns. Over/under on the number of pass attempts by the Midshipmen is about 3.

6:30: Washington @ Southern California (FSN): The line is something absurd, like 40 points or something? If I were a betting man, I still might take USC to cover.

7:00: Tennessee @ South Carolina (ESPN2): The other USC is less formidiable, and their opponent is slightly better. That isn’t really saying much, though, for Tennessee. Spurrier-ball should prevail.

8:00:

  • Texas @ Texas Tech (ABC): I don’t need to tell you how big this game is, thanks to ESPN. Both these teams are really good. I can’t really even think of any positives or negatives here except that Texas’s schedule to this point has been superior. So for absolutely no rational reason, I like the Longhorns here.
  • Nebraska @ Oklahoma (ESPN): I don’t have time to go link it, but as Dr. Saturday said this game sure isn’t what it used to be. Especailly since Oklahoma should dominate here.
  • Texas Christian @ Nevada-Las Vegas (CBSCS): I think TCU is pretty legit, and so I’ll take them here in this MWC road contest.

10:00: Arizona State @ Oregon State (FSN): Finally. ASU has been a disappointment, to say the least. I’d go into why, but I need to go so I’m taking the Beavers.