College Football Weekend 30 October

Last week was unusually fantastic. Four undefeated teams lost, including the #1 team, and I got to have chili con queso which was fantastic. There would have been 5 undefeated teams that lost but somehow Michigan State paid off the refs and squeaked out a come from behind win at the mighty Northwestern Wildcats, who are known for their excellent sports journalism school and also being bad at sports. If you watched the Auburn/LSU game, you saw Auburn QB Carlos Newton dominate a game by basically running over defenders like they were small children trying to tackle their father in a backyard football game. If you saw that game then you also may have noticed that the commentator made the same joke I did about regardless of the outcome the tigers winning, which just goes to show how hilarious I am...

Anyway, this week has a slightly less stellar slate of games, but don't be surprised if for the third week in a row the number 1 or 2 team in the nation loses. And in the comments we get a lot of posturing for smaller schools.

Comments:
"Common (Ed. Note: is that supposed to be Come on?) man no plug for San Diego State other than the Missouri conference!?!?! We beat Air Force and realistically should be 6 - 0 if you take away the two horrible ref "no-calls" against BYU and Missouri. I'm disappointed! Otherwise good column.
Regards, Brad"

You're right, I'm not giving them much due, maybe it's because I hate small schools and small conferences (sarcasm), or maybe it's because they lost to a mighty BYU team who is 3-5 overall and 5th in the Mountain West Conference...San Diego State will certainly have a chance to prove their worthiness in the middle of November when they play TCU and Utah. Until then they'll have to hang their hat on that signature 47-0 win over Division 1-AA Nicholls State.

"Will Duquesne continue it's road dominance of Wagner in a pivotal NEC tilt? People want to know! I know it's not Lafayette-Lehigh, but still Jenkins ... You're better than that!! - Dan"

How does Duquesne feel about being included in the Northeast Conference? I would hardly call that the Northeast, if anything shouldn't they be pushing to get into a real mans league, something like the Patriot League? Speaking of which, how does it feel to lose to perennial Patriot League doormat and current 1-6 Bucknell, a school so pathetic that they have to try and goad other Patriot League teams into being their rival since they don't have a rival to call their own. I wish that I was making that up...

"If it was me, I would've eaten more sandwiches. But then again, pretty much anything makes me want to eat more sandwiches - Michael Ratcliffe"

Best/most accurate comment ever

Games:
Tennessee at #20 South Carolina:
What's the over under on the number of times it gets mentioned that the Tennessee head coach Derek Dooley compared to his team being like the Germans waiting for the allies to land at Normandy? How many signs in the South Carolina crowd are there going to be comparing him to Hitler. I wish I was making this up:
http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/Dooley-Were-like-the-Germans-in-World-War-II-9774.html
The classy thing to do here if you are a South Carolina fan would be to ignore it completely and have a poster of Dooley with some hound dog ears.

#5 Michigan State at #18 Iowa:
Michigan State is due to lose a game, so much so that I've already bet that I would eat a hat if they do not lose in the regular season. Imagine my surprise when my friend brought over a hat catalogue last weekend...delightful. The Spartans of Michigan State have relied all year on trickery and smoke and mirrors as well as a strong running game. Expect the Iowa Hawkeyes defensive front to slow down the rushing attack, which will cause Michigan State to throw the ball, which may not be such a bad thing considering QB Kirk Cousins put up 330 yards last week. Iowa will rely on Senior QB Ricky Stanzi who was excellent in last week’s 1 point loss against Wisconsin. I really want Iowa to win this, as it may be the last decent challenge on the Michigan State schedule, and I've got a certain place in my heart for not having to eat a hat.

#6 Missouri at #14 Nebraska:
Last week I vocalized how nicely the schedule sets up for the Missouri Tigers to run the table if they get past Oklahoma, and get past them they did. Now they take their high powered pass offense to Nebraska to face a Cornhuskers defense that is number three in the country in pass defense. The difference this year for Missouri from past seasons is that they are apparently playing defense now. Which sounds odd I know, like hearing that your deadbeat cousin got a job and got married and is a good father but you are always going to remember him as the guy who had to go to the hospital because he swallowed super glue and some legos when he was 15, but apparently it's true as Missouri has the 4th best defense in the country. The recipe for success against Nebraska this year is stop QB Taylor Martinez from running all over the place and win, also add a touch of salt. Missouri stops him and they win, they fail to stop him and their dreams of an undefeated season go out the window like Charlie Sheen's pride. I'll take Nebraska at home.

#2 Oregon at University of Southern California:
I can't decide if the Oregon Ducks are really really good, or if they are playing people on weeks when they are down. This game will confirm which one of those is the correct answer. Oregon's offense moves fast and lives large, like me in an all you can eat buffet. And nobody can question their stance on kicking butt, they have really crushed everyone they played this year even Stanford, who were close and then eventually couldn't keep up the pace. USC has had two weeks to plan for Oregon, and QB Matt Barkley will have success throwing the ball. The USC defense will probably be able to hang with Oregon for a bit, but again to bring back the all you can eat buffet comparison, like me they can only do that for so long before they get full and fall asleep and have to be embarrassingly escorted out of the buffet by the manager. I think if anyone is going to beat Oregon this year it will be USC, and the Trojans would love to spoil the fun since they aren't allowed in the post-season. I expect this game to play out much like the Stanford-Oregon game, close for 3 quarters, unclose for the last.

Have a great weekend. (Note: there was not one Halloween joke in this entire thing, deal with it)