The Other Fifteen

I watched the #5 Boise State vs. Tulsa game last night (admittedly, only during commercial breaks for “Modern Family” and “Top Chef”) and found myself naturally pulling for Tulsa. For one thing, there’s nothing greater than watching a home underdog beat a top 5 team. And for another thing, I wanted to make sure that Boise didn’t crash the BCS again.

But the more I thought about it, the more I began to shift my opinion. If Boise State beats everyone on their schedule, why shouldn’t they go to a BCS game? Would a two-loss Miami team or (god help us) a nine-win Notre Dame team really deserve it that much more?

If you really want to make a college football fan wring his hands, talk about the possibility of Boise State making the National Championship game. As much as we all love an underdog story, people are very uncomfortable with the idea of a non-power program playing for it all. This is a tangent for another time, but the game last night reminded me why a playoff would be so good for this sport. Then there’s no second-guessing, no wondering “what if” and no complaining that this team and that team got shafted. Just something to chew on. Let’s get to some picks, shall we?

Last week: 10-9

Good calls: Arkansas over #17 Auburn (Arkansas win 44-23), the entire ACC (6-1)

Bad calls: UCLA over #13 Oregon (Oregon win 24-10), the entire Pac 10 (1-3)

ACC

Wake Forest at Clemson
The media has been talking a lot lately about parity in the ACC. What this means, basically, is that this league is littered with mediocre teams. Each of them is capable of either surprising one of the “good” teams or losing to one of the bad teams. So what happens when two mediocre teams play each other? It means one team squeaks by the other and the collective football universe utters “meh.” I’ll take Clemson.

NC State at Boston College
First I’d like to thank NC State for making me look like an idiot after I said last week that they were “sneaky good” before they went out and lost to a team that has gone 19-101 in the last ten years and hasn’t won a bowl game since Eisenhower was in office (seriously). Secondly, I’d like to thank BC for making me look like an idiot after I predicted they’d “keep it close” against VA Tech, before they went out and lost 48-14. I’ll take Boston College.

Virginia at Maryland
Remember what I was saying about the ACC being littered with mediocre teams? That doesn’t mean there aren’t a couple of legitimately bad teams. I’ll take Maryland, but I don’t want to.

#4 Virginia Tech at #19 Georgia Tech
I had Georgia Tech beating Florida State last week and felt pretty good when they did. I can’t say I feel as confident about their chances against Virginia Tech, the only real contender in the ACC. However. We’ve seen it week-in and week-out, strange things happen in college football. I’ll take Georgia Tech here in my Guaranteed (non-binding) Upset Lock of the Week.

#9 Miami at Central Florida
Miami will win this game by three touchdowns. Let’s not waste any more time on it.

SEC

Georgia at Vanderbilt
Georgia is reeling after a disappointing loss to Tennessee. And Vanderbilt is reeling after a disappointing loss to Army. A loss in Knoxville is understandable. An SEC team losing to Army? Yikes. I’ll take Georgia.

Mississippi State at Middle Tennessee State
I gave Mississippi State too much credit last week thinking they could beat the University of Houston . Aaaand I’m giving them too much credit again. They should win this game handily.

Arkansas at #1 Florida
I’d feel a whole lot better about the Razorback’s chances if this game were being played in Fayetteville. As it stands, there’s no way in hell they waltz into the Swamp and leave with a win. I still think Arkansas is better than their 3-2 record indicates.

UAB at Ole Miss
Nice work, Mississippi. You’ve somehow gone from the #4 team in the country to unranked in the span of two weeks. I think they’re gonna take their frustrations out on UAB in a big way. Ole Miss will win this game by 35+ points.

Kentucky at Auburn
Like I said last week, Kentucky stinks. Auburn is gonna rebound from a tough loss and smack the fightin’ Ashley Judds around a bit in this one. I’d like to point out, NFL fans, that Gus Malzahn, the current offensive coordinator at Auburn, is the architect behind the fancy pants Wildcat formation that’s taking the league by storm right now. He devised it at Arkansas as a way to get Darren McFadden and Felix Jones on the field at the same time. So the idea that the college schemes are less sophisticated just because they’re simpler is complete malarkey. Please, NFL, keep borrowing from college offenses. I would give my left testicle to see Peyton Manning run the option.

#22 South Carolina at #2 Alabama
As with the Arkansas/Florida game, I’d feel a lot better about the Gamec*ck’s chances if this game were in Columbia. Alabama has been plugging along, methodically and dutifully beating everyone in their path. It’s possible, just possible, that they’re the best team in the country. Never sleep on Nick Saban.

Pac 10

Cal at UCLA
Well, I stupidly picked UCLA to knock off Oregon last week. I guess the Rick Neuheisel/Norm Chow experiment is still in its early stages. Once they actually have a quarterback, look out. Cal wins this one.

#6 USC at Notre Dame
Notre Dame is gonna be all kinds of jacked up for this game. They’ve got a Heisman candidate at quarterback, a coach with multiple Super Bowl rings and…snort…chuckle…I’m sorry, does anyone honestly believe Notre Dame has a chance here?! They’ve done nothing but squeak by terrible teams all year! In all seriousness, they’ve got as good a chance this year as they’ve ever had. But until they actually beat USC, I’ll never pick them to win this game. Ever.

Stanford at Arizona
Stanford isn’t half bad this year. Arizona, despite being favored in this game, is disappointing, as always. I’ll take Stanford in the mild upset.

Washington at Arizona State
Washington got everyone’s hopes up by knocking off big, bad USC then followed that up by losing two straight and barely beating Arizona. You have to assume the real Huskies are the ones we’ve seen these last three weeks, not the ones who played out of their minds against the Trojans. I’ll take Arizona State.

Big XII South Game of the Week

The Red River Shootout – #3 Texas vs. #20 Oklahoma
Texas is overrated. There, I said it. They’ve got no running game and no real leadership. This team lives and dies with Colt McCoy and Jordan Shipley on one side of the ball and Sergio “I got wasted and rammed my car into a house but somehow my lawyers convinced everyone it happened because I was sending a text message” Kindle on the other. That being said, I really don’t see how Oklahoma can pull this off. They’ve lost too many key guys, their offense hasn’t had time to find its rhythm…on the other hand, can we really live in a world in which an Oklahoma team with a Heisman-winning quarterback is unranked?! I say no. OU wins in a stunner.