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

Hot off the presses!
A breakdown of what I do and some interesting matchups:

• The process: first, I had to go through and try and figure out the conference pecking orders. I use about three sources to try to guess at it. This is probably the most tedious part of the whole thing, but it essential if you want to be anywhere near correct.
• The selection numbers do not neccessarily tie-in to the conference standings. Though several conferences have implemented this, some do not. (For instance, before this year, the ACC did not do this, resulting in NC State going to the Car Care Bowl in Charlotte while both Boston College and Georgia Tech got sent to Boise and San Fransisco last year.) Generally, what happens isn’t nearly as bad as my example, but just be warned “Pac-10 #2” means “the first Pac-10 team not picked by the BCS” more than it means the Pac-10 runner-up.
• Also, this early in the year, things are still a crap shoot. There are several teams with 3 or 4 wins that may struggle to make 6 wins, and it’s difficult to tell until they’ve played more conference games.
• By my count, the Big Ten will be in the most trouble making its bids this year, unless Michigan State stops sucking. For now, I’ve got them going to the Motor City Bowl, but they’ve looked completely lost after that Notre Dame game and will be struggling to get to 6 wins.
• The SEC may also have problems – Kentucky or Vanderbilt will need to garner 3 more wins to fill out their allotments.
• As a Georgia Tech fan, I am somewhat scared to put us in the Orange Bowl, which is why I’ve put them in the Peach/Chick-fil-a. That said, the matchup against Alabama would be cool – another old SEC rivalry (we’re in their fight song, even).
• Assuming the SEC doesn’t continue to beat up on itself, they should put both Florida and Auburn in the BCS. The best situation will be if UF and AU don’t meet again in the SEC title game (i.e., Arkansas wins out), and UF wins the SEC title to go the Sugar. AU should remain plenty strong to garner an at-large berth, probably in the Orange. AU will probably play BC, Clemson, or GT there – the latter two being the most interesting matchups to me. (Tigers vs. Tigers, or AU tries to take revenge for 2003 and 2005. I like ’em both.)
• The ACC is a total mess right now. GT, Clemson, Wake, and BC are the top teams in the standings. The main question is: how far will the Florida schools and VPI fall? I have no idea honestly. I can’t really see Miami going to Boise, but I have no idea where else to put them.
• Though it will probably happen, for the time being I’m not putting Boise St. in the BCS. Mostly because I need another WAC team to act as an at-large in the Poinsettia Bowl.
• Yes, that’s right, SMU in a bowl. Will probably happen, or else C-USA won’t fill its bids.
• I’ve said that I’d like to attend the Birmingham Bowl or the Music City bowl this year, but they’re both turning out pretty crappy. UAB probably won’t make a bowl, so C-USA will have to send someone there. USF fails to excite me as well. And while I like cheering for Wake, USC-East vs. Wake probably isn’t very interesting.

That’s about all on the bowl predictions front. Standings will be updated every Sunday after the BCS standings for the week come out.

On another note, lemme talk about Vandy-UGA. I’ve been cheering for Vandy every since I can remember, mostly because I enjoy cheering for underdogs, and well, Vandy is almost always an underdog. Over the past few years, one of my best friends from HS is at Vandy, which gives me additional incentive to root for them. (In fact, Vandy’s stadium is the only other college stadium I’ve been to, where I witnessed GT’s overtime win in 2003.) On the other hand, as a student and fan of Georgia Tech, I loathe the so-called “University” of Georgia and just about everything it stands for.

Therefore, outside of GT beating them, nothing was sweater than watching Vandy put it to UGA last Saturday – during UGA’s homecoming, nonetheless. The most hilarious part is that the announcers and most delusional UGA fans seem to thing Matt Stafford is some sort of god, when their starter’s numbers looked mighty fine to me. I’ve watched Vandy fade so many times in the 4th quarter the past few years I thought it was over when UGA returned that interception for a TD. Vandy never gave up, though, and drove for the last second field goal that split the uprights.

Anyway, looking forward, GT plays Clemson Saturday. Don’t let Vegas’s 9 point line fool you: this is an extremely close rivalry. I’ll elaborate more on this later in the week. And make sure to read Tito’s AU-UF gameday post below.

It’s time for my usual Saturday games post. I’m back in Madison this weekend so my list will reflect that – no ACC game of the week games or ESPNU games. Times will also be CDT. That said, let’s do this.

11:00am
*Minnesota @ Wisconin, ESPN – Probably a battle for some sort of Big Ten trophy.
*Iowa @ Indiana, ESPN2 – Iowa rolls.

11:30
*Vanderbilt @ Georgia, LF Sports – Poor Vandy, but nonetheless, go ‘Dores!
*Iowa St @ Oklahoma, FSN – Woo, woo, crappy Big 12 matchups…

2:30
*Ohio State @ Michigan State, ABC – Did I mention there’s not a lot of exciting games this weekend? OSU has been rolling, and MSU is not the team from Michigan that stands a chance.
*Ole Miss @ Alabama, CBS – FOOTBAW

6:00
*Baylor @ Texas, TBS – Why is this on television? Baylor’s improved, but this will probably be a massacre.

6:45
*Florida @ Auburn, ESPN* – Full circle shenaniganry again for what is easly the best game of the day. It’s not even close. Will Auburn be able to regain their composure? If not, UF probably stomps them and establishes themselves as the team to beat in SEC. Auburn wins, and it’s still wide open. I’d like to see Auburn win for sentimental reasons, but I’d also like to see an undefeated SEC team. Ah, heck, I’m going for AU anyway.

7:00
*Michigan @ Penn State, ABC – Honestly, this seems like it’s going to be boring…UMich should roll. Additionally, the west coast ABC game this week is Arizona St.-USC, which I was looking forward to (for all the wrong reasons), but alas. Maybe UMich-PSU will be a blowout.

Down with the red and black…

Here we go.

Noon:

• Arkansas @ Auburn, CBS – As much as I admire Arkansas for somehow beating Alabama, they’re probably heading for a beating here.
• UNC @ Miami, LF ACC Game – Amato has saved his job, so these are the two hottest seats in the ACC right now. The funniest message board post I’ve seen in the past two weeks involved a UNC fan going on the Miami board to make sure that UM was pysched about beating UNC. The UM fans responded in kind, asking UNC to lay the wood on UM. I kid you not. These people are depressed.
• Purdue @ Iowa, ESPNU – Once again, fellow engineering school bias. Go Biolermakers!
• Clemson @ Wake, ESPN – A surprisingly heated ACC rivalry – Wake has won the last two meetings. Wake is also the sole remaining undefeated team in the ACC. Can the Deacons pull it off?

2:30- Stanford @ Notre Dame, ABC – ND rolls. Why can’t they just play USC already?

3:30:

• Oklahoma @ Texas, ABC – I think Texas rolls here. Adrian Peterson has a chance to make some noise, and I wish I could see it, but nonetheless, the horns hook ’em again.
• LSU @ Florida, CBS – I wish I could also see this game. A lot of people like LSU, but I think Florida has a good chance. It helps Auburn a lot if LSU wins, though.
• Maryland @ Georgia Tech, ESPNU – Can Tech keep it up? Will the Fridge outsmart us? If for some reason you happen to have ESPNU, tune it in. I’ll be there (hence my two previous statements) along with a guest appearance by my brother.
• Washington @ USC, FSN – USC rolls. (It’s almost 6am, I’m tired.)

4:30: Michigan St. @ UMich, ESPN – How, MSU looked so good 3 weeks ago. Amazing what one horrendous loss can do to a team. And John L. Smith is insane.

7:00:

• Missouri @ Texas Tech, TBS – TTU burned me last week, but I refuse to believe that Mizzou is actually any good. General good rule right now for the Big 12 is that the Big 12 South is a lot better than the North, so I’m going with the Raiders on this one.
• Central Mich @ Toledo, ESPNU – Uh, go Rockets?
• South Carolina @ Kentucky, ESPN2 – Kentucky is in the bottom 3 worst programs in the SEC right now, along with the Mississippi schools. The Visored One rolls.

7:45: Tennessee @ Georgia, ESPN – Big SEC East game. Go Vols! (Seriously, UGA, where is your offense? Not that I’m complaining.)

8:00: Oregon @ Cal, ABC – Cal continues to try to recover from their opening loss to UT, and karma hopefully will work against Oregon. Cal, I imagine, also has a better post-3rd quarter song. So Go Bears!