College Football Weekend November 6th-8th, 2008

A slew of incredible games this week (starting on Wed night with Ball State vs. N. Illinois) and we might be witness to the same number of top 25 teams losing as we were last week given that so many of them are playing one another, although it may not be possible to get the level of excitement and quality finish we got at the end of the Texas/Texas Tech game. I mean if I'm a Texas fan I've got to be hating life. They had so many opportunities to win that game, but an interception slipped through someones hands, they miss a tackle here, the strong safety sneezes while running and tripped over his untied shoe and got his foot stuck in a bucket while he stepped on a rake. I mean the Texas band practically ran on the field. Also let's not forget (or ever forgive) Tulsa for breaking my heart by losing to Arkansas, how dare you, now I'll be a bitter old maid till the end of my days. It's tough to take sometimes, and already this year my heart has been broken by BYU, TCU, and Northwestern. Who's next? Boise State? Utah? Ball State? Please ladies, I need at least one date to the dance (although lord knows I've been to enough dances stag under the premise of "not wanting to be weighed down by a date" as a cover). So I'll just keep on dreaming about these undefeated Cinderellas.


Comments:
"Are you watching the texas v texas tech? !!!Me too!! Now i can make a clever contribution to your weekly email!!!- Tess"
You've finally made it after all!

"Oh it's not over!-Spike/Wiley"
How foolish i was to declare that Texas/Texas Tech game over, you were right, it wasn't over until the very end, and I'm sorry.

Games:
#12 TCU at #8 Utah - This game is on Thursday night. This is the beginning of a hellish stretch for the fairytale Utah Utes. They face defensive power TCU this week, San Diego State the week after, and then they finish the season at ranked darling BYU. What these boys need is a fairy godmother (yes before you groan I am planning on doing this entire update using fairy tale jokes) and it could be in the form of the Utes two big running backs Darrell Mack (which just sounds like the name of a big running back, or, perhaps a troll that lives under a bridge?) and Matt Asiata. The TCU horned frogs have a defense that ranks first in the country in rushing defense. They are like the deadly walls guarding the magical lamp that is TCU's ticket to the BCS game…But despite everyone I've seen in the national media talking about how Utah can't overcome the speed of TCU's defense, something about the determination of this Utah team is impressive. A commitment to the run and a strong defensive effort at home will be the key to Utah's victory, and it doesn't matter that they match up especially poorly against TCU. Sportswriters have raved about TCU's defense but they got killed by Oklahoma, embarrassed frankly, and Utah has more to play for. The just need to pull the thorn from the lions paw to be successful, think about it!

#11 Ohio State at #24 Northwestern - I'm taking half of this game as my academic game of the week (for Northwestern obviously not for Ohio State). Northwestern has been the darling of the college football sportswriters this season partly because so many of them went to the journalism school there. They are led by senior QB C.J. Bacher, who has terrible stats but somehow has continued to win games in spite of himself. But the Wildcats haven't really defeated any team of consequence other than Minnesota and it very much could be a case of Paul Bunyan, where they never faced anyone till he lost to a chainsaw. Well the Ohio State Buckeyes are that chainsaw, and they have great offensive weapons in the form of RB Beanie Wells and freshman QB/Scrambling Machine Terelle Pryor. Northwestern got beat down earlier in the year when they faced a real running game against Michigan State, and the Buckeyes have a defense to match that running game. OSU may not be having the season it thought it might, but there's still an outside chance for them to get into the Rose Bowl if either Penn State somehow loses, or they place second in the Big 10, and Alabama or Texas Tech lose. It's a tangled web but just like the Ugly duckling, OSU has to keep plugging on until they turn into a swan. No trip down the rabbit hole in this game, just stark reality witch ends in a loss for the Wildcats.This is the week. This is the time that the Alabama Crimson Tide finally get off the pile of mattresses and realize they didn't feel a pea (they're going to lose ok, this is hard I don't remember that many fairy tales, we're going to have to start resorting to letters to the editor of Penthouse or Men's Health soon…those are fairy tales right? I mean I don't read or own and Penthouse's but they usually start with "I never thought this would happen to me…") and thus they do not get to be a princess.

#1 Alabama at #16 LSU - The LSU Tigers have been beat up in big games this year, they got beat down by Florida, they got beat down by Georgia and their porridge was too cold :( But I have a feeling that this is the week, now is the time for the Alabama Crimson tide to go down. And if it's not this week, then it's next week, or the week after it. This is going to be your typical SEC game, lots of hitting, lots of bruising defensive plays, and lots of surprise. Alabama's offensive line is one of, if not the best in the country, and running behind them is junior RB Glen Coffee who leads the nation in caffeine content except for CGNU QB Mike Redbull. LSU runs a two quarterback system, putting in either Andrew Hatch or Jarrett Lee at any given time. Alabama has a bruising defense, as fast as any in the country and big on the defensive line. But you never know, this is Alabama coach Nick Saban's return to the team that he once lead to a National Title, they remember his fake words, and his lies, and his cries for wolf. And they are out for revenge, there's some leftover hostility and it's going to take considerably less than a prick from a rose bush to make the Tigers go quietly into the night.

#9 Oklahoma State at #2 Texas Tech - It would be unwise to assume that the Red Raiders of Texas Tech are going to go unbeaten the rest of the way. Can The Cowboys of Oklahoma State be David to their Goliah? The tortoise to TT's hare? The Wall to their Humpty Dumpty? (Ok that last one is a bit of a stretch) I don't think so, I think the Cowboys are a good squad, but they would need to put on a performance like they did against Missouri to win. Meaning they would have to pressure the heck out of QB Graham Harrell so that he didn't have time to throw the ball. They would also have to stop the run game, which Texas was almost unable to do last week, and QB Zach Robinson would have to play out of his mind. It's not impossible, but TT just looked too darn good at home last week. If someone is going to give them a poison apple it will probably be at Oklahoma in the last week of the season. But who knows, Ok. St. has faced two big spread offense teams already, they beat down Missouri's Chase Daniel and held Jeremy Maclin in check, maybe they can do the same against TT's Michael Crabtree, who doesn't need to have Rapunzel lower her hair to climp the tower, he can jump that high (this is hurting me more then it's hurting you).

#21 California at #7 USC - The Cal Bears shocked Oregon in the rain last weekend, but sadly for them the Trojans aren't Chicken little and the sky isn't going to fall (it's also probably not going to rain). Southern California got its rain quota for the quarter out of the way last Saturday so it looks like a nice Southern California afternoon (they are all nice by the way). The Trojans need QB Mark Sanchez to continue firing away to all of USC's offensive weapons. Cal will have to hope that their QB tandem of Keven Riley and Nate Longshore can come through against a very tough USC defense, although it's not clear who will be starting both will probably see time. Hard to gauge which Cal team will show up, will it be the ones who beat Michigan State and Oregon? Or the ones that lost to pathetic Maryland? Since 2001, the Trojans under coach Pete Carroll have never lost a game in November, they are 24-0. Cal will pull out all the stops and do some fun things and maybe make a game of it for a half, but in the end as Agent Smith said, "You hear that Mr. Anderson?... That is the sound of inevitability... It is the sound of your death... Goodbye, Mr. Anderson... " Well Cal is Neo, and unlike in that fairy tale (it counts ok...) Cal won't be coming back to the dead because nobody beats USC in November. USC wins big, Cal might keep it close for a half.

New Hampshire at Villanova - The 7-1 New Hampshire Wildcats at the 6-2 Wildcats of Villanova. The one thing they should do for this game is burn the mascot of the losing wildcat and that team should have to pick a new mascot, and then they could get Northwestern and Kentucky involved and have a Wildcat Playoff. Then some mysterious Wildcat with a moustache and a hood could come spilt an arrow in twain with another arrow to win it all and excape capture, we'll call him Sir Wildcat of Arizona. But these are two pretty good schools fighting for their playoff hopes and trying to win a conference. The Wildcats are lead by sophomore R.J. Toman, who is completing 70% of his passes, but he'll have to outplay the Wildcat's own sophomore Christopher Whitney. New Hampshire runs a pro style passing offense, and they usually have a handful of great possession receivers who run great routes, their running game consists of a lot of draws and trick plays. Villanova runs more of a traditional offense from the I-form, relying on the big offensive linemen to open holes. I'll take Villanova since I used to drive by the campus every time we used to visit my Grandfather. Should be a good game between to very academically competitive schools.

There are a number of games that I'm not writing about because of time this week, but I'd like to list them because they should be great games:
#20 Georgia Tech at #19 North Carolina - UNC's Cameron Sexton has a cannon for an arm, check him out if you get a chance. I'll take the heels at home.
#13 Georgia at Kentucky - Can a decent Kentucky team catch an emotionally drained Bulldog team that lost to Florida last weekend? I say no.
Virginia at Wake Forest - If it hadn't of been for the other game I could have used this as my academic game of the week. However now I'll just say that UVA wins.
Cincinnati at #25 West Virginia - Huge game in the Big East, which has become a national afterthought. WVU wins at home.
OK, that's all for me this week, but remember what Aesop told us in The Ass and the Lapdog, "Clumsy jesting is no joke"