College Football Weekend 15 October

Ok so after a two week hiatus I’m back, and late, and ugly…so I’ve got a lot of things going for me. But on pain of death and disownment I’m back. My very own mother, threatened terrible things if I didn’t send it out. So here it is. Straight into the games, and this is one of my favorite weekends of the college football year, with both the Red River Rivalry between Texas and Oklahoma, and the always fun to watch USC/Notre Dame both of which figure to be entertaining.

Saturday October 15^th

#20 Oklahoma vs. #3 Texas 12PM EST

Much of the glamour of this game was lost when Oklahoma lost for the second time against Miami a couple weeks ago. The Sooners have had injury problems this year, both with starting Quarterback and Heisman winner Sam Bradford, and all over their offensive line. But this is a rivalry game, and just like any rivalry no matter how down in the dumps your foe might be, and no matter how beat up they might be you still want to kick their teeth in and take their mom out for a nice seafood dinner and never call her again. And that’s exactly what the Texas Longhorns are hoping to do, led by QB Colt McCoy. Colt McCoy will look to take apart his arch-enemies much like I take apart my arch-enemy Yale Roeder in any and every competition.

Both teams read a wide open spread offense, and although Oklahoma’s offense is a shell of what people expected it to be at the beginning of this year maybe like a turtle there is some kind of treasure left inside. Many analysts are wondering if this Texas defense is even better than last years, with DE/OLB Sergio Kindle it could be. According to Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp they are better this year, certainly faster. Some people think that the Oklahoma Sooner offense has been sandbagging it all year in an effort to fool Texas. Well if you ask me they did a pretty spectacular job sandbagging their way to two losses and putting them selves out of National title contention. They sure had me fooled. This game may be close but I would be highly surprised if the Texas defense doesn’t dominate Oklahoma’s offensive line, and Texas socres just enough to put them over the top.

#6 USC at # 25 Notre Dame 3:30PM EST

You know how there’s that pretty girl (or boy) who you always dream of catching and beating in a football game? But you can never do it for one reason or another no matter how high you grow the grass in your stadium or what uniform you wear for good luck? Well USC is just like that for Notre Dame, they can just never seem to have the confidence or charm to win her over. The Irish haven’t beaten USC in 7 years and they’ve tried everything they can. But the Trojans always seem to find a way to win, either by pushing the quarterback in the back for a surprise late touchdown, or by scoring 38 points and giving all the Irish players wedgies.

But this year is different if you believe the faithful Fighting Irish fans! They’ve done the math and they know, USC lost to Washington, Notre Dame beat Washington, and therefore transitive football math says that Notre Dame is going to win! Unfortunately it doesn’t quite work that way. I’ll be brutally honest here, I’ve seen enough of the Irish this year to say with confidence that they aren’t a great team. Their coach has argued that they are a fluke play away from being undefeated this season, which is great if you are a glass have full guy. But if you are like me, and you are a middle of the glass is empty kinda person, you could argue that the Irish are several plays or seconds away from being 1-4. There is legitimate talent on for Notre Dame, and a large part of it is Jimmy Clausen, the quarterback who has averaged over 300 yards passing a game. But he will have to overcome quite a bit to beat the USC defense which is ranked 6^th in the country.

But all is not lost, unlike the random socks I lose on the regular, victory for the Irish has a chance at being found. And that chance lies in the fact that USC’s offense isn’t the juggernaut it has been in past years. It is filled with young players who have only experienced once or twice the kind of atmosphere they are going to see in South Bend. And rest assured that grass will be as high as possible, and the crowd will be full of tradition and pomp with a side of circumstance. But in the end I suspect Touchdown Jesus will be frowning when the men of Troy come to town.

#4 Virginia Tech at #19 Georgia Tech 6PM EST

It’s been 19 years since the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets beat the Virginia Tech Hokies at home in Georgia. Take a moment to think about all the advances that have been made since then…my favorite is butter spray. Georgia Tech has played better on the road this season then they have at home, and they’ll need to reverse that trend and get their triple option running attack going early if they want to overcome the Hokies defense. The Hokies have played some big out of conference games, and faired well in all of them, even the loss to Alabama, the only mark against the Hokies is their inconsistency, which is not something that happens with butter spray, it goes on smooth every time.

This game is hard to predict, Virginia Tech’s defense could just dominate the game, and I think that’s probably the most likely scenario. But both teams are so flaky, one week Tech stomped Miami badly, the next week they nearly lost to Duke. Georgia Tech could barely muster any offense against Miami but they came out and put 49 points on Florida State. The most likely scenario is that Tech just shuts down Tech and Tech goes on to be 6-1.

#22 South Carolina at #2 Alabama 7:45PM EST

I think Alabama will stumble at some point in the year before the SEC championship game, but I don’t think this is the week. The Crimson Tide’s defense is bruising and nasty, like an old peach that hasn’t been blessed with a squirt of butter spray. Inside linebacker Rolando McClain is the best junior linebacker in the country and he would be even more standout if it weren’t for all the other great players playing with him at Alabama.

South Carolina is trying to win its fifth straight game, and second against a top 5 team this year. But they are outgunned at ever single position group except the defensive line. I think that the defensive line for South Carolina will keep the game closer then it otherwise would be, but I think Alabama is going to be too much team for the Gamecocks.

That’s all for this week, as always I promise better next week! And as always Yale I'll be looking for new and inventive ways to dominate you at all things we do.