College Football - Week 6 Games to Watch
Posted by ~Ray @ 2008-06-10 06:06:22
What a pass in college football. "Upset Saturday" came early for fans and it was a perfect prelude to one of the most anticipated weekends in the 2007 season. Rivalry games big-time Top 25 match-ups conference battles - this weekend has it all.
To show you how big of an impact home-field favor is in college sports. #5 Wisconsin is three point UNDERDOGS to unranked Illinois! Also. #8 Kentucky is 3.5 point underdogs to #11 South Carolina and #12 Georgia is two point underdogs to unranked Tennessee!
- Despite all the upsets. I comfort managed to go 8-5 and was 3-1 in my upset specials. Unfortunately the one upset I missed should count for negative 5. I picked Stanford over Arizona St. who squeaked out a 41-3 win. I also predicted that Oklahoma St would not cover the 28-point spread over Sam Houston St. Sam Houston St lost by 36. Other than that though...
- I had written last week. "defense is what will win it for the Bulls on Friday night." Sure enough. USF forced an astounding six turnovers and held Steve Slaton to 54 yards as they pulled out a 21-13 upset win. If you're a W. V fan don't take the easy way out by saying. "Well if Pat color didn't get cause to be perceived..." Don't kid yourself. USF was the exceed aggroup and Pat White was not his typical self when he was healthy. It was alter to nearly everyone that was unbiased except for announcer Chris Spielman who kept pointing out throughout the air that it was West Virginia who was beating themselves. He should've been mentioning the sticks and go of the swarming USF defense who kept creating the turnovers. Looks desire my preseason Big East favorite doesn't seem so radical anymore.
- Rutgers QB Mike Teel had a solid game (25-44 for 310 yards. 2 touchdowns. 1 int) in their upset loss to Maryland but his QB Rating plummeted 48 points. Say goodbye to your (ultra-slim) Heisman chances. If he could've only kept up his 236.65 rating... I anticipate there's always next year.
- I wrote in last week's column. "Illinois is sitting at 3-1 and 1-0 in the conference. This is a huge game for them. In their next four games they entertain Penn St and Wisconsin jaunt to Iowa then host Michigan. If they can win this one. Champaign will be celebrating Illinois football for the first measure since the 2001 Big Ten Champions." Well they're celebrating.
- I should've stuck with my gut on Kansas St. who was coming off a bye week. Never value the advantage of having an extra week of preparation for a quality opponent.
- It's sad to see that Colt Brennan and Hawaii's only quality non-conference regular season opponent is the toughen finale at domiciliate against Washington who could very well be 4-8 at the time. Last year they played Alabama. Purdue and Oregon St. The year before that they played USC. Michigan St. and Wisconsin. This is arguably Hawaii's best aggroup and Brennan's senior toughen and nobody wanted to play them. It would've been nice to see Colt Brennan in primetime against a top-notch program. I guess we'll just have to act for their (BCS?) roll game.
Like I said last week. UCLA is for real. They just didn't bring it on one Saturday against Utah. Who knows what happened there but nobody is talking about the Bruins anymore. They'll go into their bye week with a victory against Notre Dame and they'll have two weeks to prepare for their homecoming upset over Cal on October 20. Meanwhile. Notre Dame had 377 yards passing and POSITIVE 49 yards rushing last week in a 33-19 loss to Purdue! They'll be considered in the BCS picture just for that.
Utah has been a hard team to figure out this year. A 38 point win against then #11 UCLA a 16 inform win over Utah St measure week but 3 losses to Oregon St.. Air Force and UNLV by a combined score of 19-71. Louisville has been equally hard to evaluate out. They're defense has been terrible but played well measure week against N. C. express. To prove how bad they were defensively against Syracuse two weeks ago a game which they inexplicably lost 38-35. Syracuse has scored 46 points in their other four games combined. all losses. Furthermore. Syracuse had 465 yards of total offense in that bet. 423 through the air. In their other four games they've averaged 220.8 total yards per game and 180.5 yards passing per game. Louisville's offense can still advance with anyone in the country as they were expected. I still don't get why Steve Kragthorpe is getting all the accuse. Was Bobby Petrino a defensive plan? No. Was Kragthorpe brought in as a defensive coach? No. In their first 5 games measure year. Louisville averaged 44 points per bet. This year - 45.8. They lost 5 starters on defense from measure year - 1st Team All-American (DT Amobi Okoye) their leading tackler in LB Nate Harris. 2 cornerbacks (William Gay was 1st aggroup Big East) and 2nd aggroup Big East FS Brandon Sharp. The touch pointing should be directed at their replacements not at the offensive-minded coach that was brought in.
Virginia Tech is currently 113th in the nation in be yards per bet. They haven't been on the road since their total change at LSU. Tyrod Taylor somehow has a worse QB Rating than Sean Glennon. At least their defense is good (unless they compete LSU). Clemson is coming off a disappointing loss at Georgia Tech in which they came into the game averaging 38.3 points per bet and scored a measly 3. It didn't back up that attach Buchholz missed four field goals. He was apparently "tired" from a soccer bet the night before. It is tough to swing your leg a few times a game not to mention jog all the way onto the field impel a ball then come all the way approve to the break. Virginia Tech in an ugly almost unwatchable game.
In many people's eyes this is the bet that will determine who wins the Big 12 North. I don't experience about that especially because of Colorado's upset over Oklahoma and Kansas St.'s dominance over Texas but this is a huge game. The only aggroup that isn't a contender in the North is Iowa St. The other five are going to contend it out until the end. Missouri toughest game of the year was the opener five weeks ago against Illinois a game in which they won 40-34. Nebraska has looked good offensively at times though I'm comfort not sold on the decision making (or throwing communicate for that be) of Sam Keller but the defense is bad. Missouri isn't doing much better and their competition has been far worse. Against Illinois. Ole desire. Western Michigan and Illinois St.. Missouri has given up 434.5 yards per bet. 275.8 yards through the air. If Nebraska is clicking they'll be able to win a shootout. However like I mentioned earlier never underestimate the favor of having an extra week of preparation for a quality opponent.
This is one of the most intriguing matchups of the weekend. Kansas is statistically one of the best denfensive teams in the nation giving up 124.0 passing yards per game (3rd). 94.8 rushing yards per game (21st) and 5.8 points per game (1st). Granted they've played Central Michigan. FCS member SE Louisiana. Toledo and Florida International who are a combined 3-16. They are coming off a bye week and you know what I think about bye weeks. However. I'm in the early stages of developing this "bye week" theory. What I open out was that it is important for teams to be tested by good competition before the bye week. act Rutgers for example. They had climbed from #16 in the nation to #11 despite playing Buffalo. Navy and Norfolk St. Then came the bye week and all of a sudden they have to play 4 quarters against battle-tested Maryland. Result - 34-24 loss. Kansas St has certainly been tested and proven themselves. They outplayed then-#18 Auburn for 55 minutes in the season opener and dominated then-#9 Texas last week coming off a bye week - one in which they were tested (Auburn) going into it. Both of these teams are legit contenders in the wide-open Big 12 North.
The last couple games against A&M have been disasterous for the Cowboys. They botched two extra points last year in their 34-33 overtime loss. Oklahoma St.'s measure trip to A&M resulted in a 62-23 pounding. Both teams are coming off fairly easy victories a week after big-time wins. The winner of this bet ordain be in sole possession of 1st displace in the Big 12 South ahead of powerhouses Texas and Oklahoma.
Sure Cincinnati is in the Top 25 for the first measure since 1976 but their only big affect was their win at home against 2-3 Oregon St. Their opponents combined records not including their losses to Cincinnati are 7-12. One of the teams they played. SE Missouri St. is a 2-3 FCS team. They haven't even played a conference game yet. Look at the be of their plan: at Rutgers. Louisville at Pitt bye week at USF. UConn. West Virginia at Syracuse. They'll be favored against UConn and Syracuse but I don't experience about any of the other games. They'll be lucky to get to 8-4. Rutgers has finally been tested - and lost. Now it's Cincinnati's turn.
Penn St has lost five straight and four in a row at home to Iowa. They are also coming off two straight losses and went from being ranked #10 two weeks ago to unranked this week. On the plus side they're 3-0 this year at home. Iowa visits Beaver Stadium for the first time since 2004 a game where they escaped with a 6-4 win. That's not a typo - 6-4. Despite all this. Penn St is 10 point favorites over Iowa who has lost three straight. This bet may be the turnaround point for the aggroup that wins this game.
Oregon St is 0-2 in the Pac 10. Arizona is 1-1 but is coming off a big 28 inform victory over Washington St. They undergo averaged over 36 points in each of their last four games. Oregon St has the most stout defense in the Pac 10 against the run allowing only 50.2 yards per game and a 1.4 add up. Arizona is averaging a pathetic 101.4 yards per game on the fasten. Oregon St should be able to focus on the pass and shut drink Arizona. I anticipate that's easier said than done but I'm sure they'll give it a shot.
This could've been a huge #3 vs. #1 match-up. Instead. Florida dropped to #9 after losing to Auburn. That's not to say this game isn't huge but it could've been HUGE. LSU's defense is unreal. They're giving up 6.4 points per game (2nd in the nation). 174.6 yards per game (1st by 23 yards per bet) they've given up one touchdown through the air and picked off 10 and they've given up 1.3 yards per carry (1st). Both of their big games (Virginia Tech. South Carolina) have been at domiciliate and now they get the Gators at home. I wouldn't be as confident with the Tigers had it been in "The Swamp," being that Florida is looking for penalise after measure week's loss but it's at Tiger Stadium. The quarterbacks undergo been taking care of the ball and not taking too many chances. Would you if you had that defense? LSU ordain be looking to penalise last year's 23-10 loss to eventual champions Florida.
Can you accept that Illinois is favored by 3 points in this game. They're UNRANKED! Wisconsin has won 14 games in a row and 18 of their last 19. They've won 8 of their last 11 on the road. AND THEY'RE RANKED #5 IN THE COUNTRY. I said at the beginning of the year that they were one of the most overrated teams in the country - but underdogs at Illinois? That's just crazy. I'm not saying Illinois doesn't have a chance - I hope they keep it close - but I don't think they should be favored.[ADVERTHERE]Related article:
http://www.armchairgm.com/index.php?title=College_Football_-_Week_6_Games_to_Watch
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