Week 8

Like I said: Oklahoma, really? I knew they wouldn't go undefeated. And I still think Nebraska is winning the Big 12 to go out with a bang. UCLA was embarrassed at Oregon. USF caught a break when Cincy had to put in a backup QB for its attempt at a game-tying drive. Northwestern DID come to play like I expected, but Michigan State came away with a win. West Virginia is apparently as bad as everyone though they were during the Marshall game. Rutgers got my hopes up in the first half, but they apparently left Pittsburgh at halftime. Arkansas beat Ole Miss - no surprise there. Wisconsin got lucky. I thought they'd win, but I didn't think it would be because of Iowa's inability to manage timeouts. Lucky Les couldn't handle the other SEC West Tigers. Martinez got his act together for Oklahoma State's homecoming and spoiled the party for the Cowboys. After seeing Texas lose to Iowa State, I really can't figure out how Martinez froze up like that against the Longhorns. Nebraska should be undefeated. It's a shame, really. Spurrier beat Vandy, as expected, and Alabama beat Tennessee. And hopefully Georgia's victory over Kentucky will leave them overconfident and unprepared for this weekend.

BCS...Week 2. After Auburn won on Saturday, I texted my father and said, "Auburn number 1" ...he wrote back "No way, Oregon." Last night I texted him, "told you so. SEC is too good." Let's be honest. The Ducks look great. But who have they played other than Stanford? Auburn is playing in the SEC West. The SEC West is the best division in this country. If you're 8-0 playing in that league, you deserve to be number 1. End of story. I still don't get why the BCS looks at Ohio State so favorably. Number 11? Seriously? I'd put them at 20, maybe. They're definitely not better than Arkansas, Stanford, Nebraska or LSU. But the BCS loves to put Ohio State in title games it can't win...so if there are no undefeated teams left at the end of the season, I won't be at all surprised if Ohio State magically jumps to number 1 in the BCS.

Week 9. Well, Boise State has another oh-so-challenging game in Boise. Somehow I don't see 3-4 Louisiana Tech matching up well with the Broncos on the smurf turf. Also, who plays games on Tuesdays? Thursday I'm obviously pulling for the Wolfpack over those dirty Seminoles. I expect the Oklahoma State-Kansas State game to be close because neither team has any defense, but I think the Cowboys have more offense. Miami will beat Virginia, but because it's in Virginia, I think it will be close. Gotta pick Zook over Purdue. I'm picking Iowa over Michigan State. Michigan State has not proven anything to me yet. The only game that surprised me was when they beat slow Wisconsin. Iowa isn't that good, but they're mad after they lost to the badgers. They'll be back with a vengeance this weekend. Plus they have home advantage. I think Washington will give Stanford a fight, but the Cardinal will probably win. Luck vs. Locker should be interesting, though. Arkansas will beat Vandy. Miss State may be surprised by Kentucky - depending which Kentucky team shows up. Kentucky has a better offense than Miss State, so I'm tempted to pick the Wildcats in this one. Ohio State will beat Minnesota. I hate Lane Kiffin, but I think USC is ready for this one. Part of me wants to see Oregon lose. But another part of me wants to smack Lane Kiffin's face off of his face. Oregon is clearly the better team, but Kiffin just might cheat enough for the Trojans to win. Michigan-Penn State - I will not be watching because I'm pretty sure that game would put me to sleep. Oklahoma beats Colorado. Nevada beats Utah State. TCU beats UNLV. Hawaii beats Idaho. Sidenote: I want Hawaii to be the team to upset Boise State this year. As for my teams... Rutgers is off this weekend. I'm picking T-Magic and Nebraska to beat Missouri. And at the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party...of course I'm picking the Gators.

GO GATORS!! Go Huskers!! And Rutgers - be prepared to beat the Bulls next week!

Week 7...BCS Rankings Join the Party...

All I can say about Pryor is, "I told you so." Wisconsin forced him to throw, and that is why Ohio State lost. That's exactly why I picked Wisconsin to win that game. Pryor's running game is about 97% of Ohio State's offense. Take that away...and BAM - they're not good. LIKE I SAID. Terribly overrated, as usual. On, Wisconsin! Spartans stayed undefeated - but really? I still don't think Michigan State is good. Pitt won. West Virginia won. Does anyone care about the Big East anymore, though? Rutgers beat Army. My thoughts are with the LeGrand family. That awful play reminded us all that football can be very, very dangerous. FSU was pathetic, but got lucky. Jake Locker and the Huskies beat the Beavers in double overtime. Not sure why the Beavers went for 2 in double overtime to win instead of going for the tie, but the weird part is: during the first overtime, I predicted that's how the game would end. Michigan isn't good. There were some big disappointments this week. Clearly, the Gators were the biggest disappointment for me. So much talent going to waste. And there are FIVE players on the roster listed as Kickers. So Sturgis is hurt. Where are the other 4? If any of these guys are on scholarship, they need to leave. If your position only requires you to kick field goals and extra points and you are so terrible that your coach would rather let a PUNTER kick field goals instead of you, you should not be a part of Gator football. I feel awful for Chas Henry. Field goals are not his responsibility, and the loss is not his fault. It's a matter of coaching. Don't get me wrong - Urban Meyer has done great things in Gainesville and I certainly appreciate his contributions to Gator Nation. But right now it's getting hard to support him. Brantley is obviously injured. Stop making him play with a broken thumb. Moody is AWFUL. Bench him. Addazio is out of his mind. Let him go back to coaching just the offensive line - he didn't do much damage then. It's just getting pathetic. In reality, the Gators are 2 plays away from being 6-1. But they're 4-3. And it's getting really sad to watch. They better use this bye week to regroup and get ready to win out... Taylor Martinez also had a disappointing Saturday. Sure, he's a freshman. He has lots of time to develop his game. But it was still disappointing to see him freeze up and lose to a bad Texas team. And then to put Lee in as a running QB in the second half? If you're gonna run the ball, put Martinez back in the game! Not really sure what happened with South Carolina, but I do know Trey Burton ran all over the same Kentucky team. What is up with the SEC East?! Is Missouri any good? What about Oklahoma State? It's hard to tell. Oklahoma State still hasn't played anyone, and really, neither has Missouri. But they're creeping up the polls with perfect records... Lucky Les actually needed some luck to get past McNeese State. It was a close game for a little while. His undefeated streak will end very, very soon. Favorite game of the weekend? Ohio State losing to Wisconsin, of course. Best game of the weekend? Auburn-Arkansas. Auburn gave up 43 points and STILL won by 3 touchdowns. That game should shut up anyone who says the SEC is all defense, no offense. Gator fans are more upset than ever about Newton leaving....but I guess that's the price we pay for having Tebow for 4 years.


So the first BCS rankings came out, and Boise State is not number one. I'm glad Ohio State fans aren't whining about not being number one in the rankings. But Oklahoma, really? Number 1? Just a hunch, but if Oregon had played this weekend, I think they'd be number 1. Sure, Oklahoma had a good game. But it was against Iowa State. Did we already forget about their tight wins over Air Force, Cincinnati, Texas and Utah State? And somehow undefeated Missouri is at 11 and undefeated Oklahoma State is at 14. Correct me if I'm wrong...but aren't all 3 teams in the Big 12? So it can't be all about schedule strength since they play a lot of the same teams. I'm gonna go ahead and assume this is based on previous season hype. In other words, they're still living off Sam Bradford-hype. And remember what happened when the oh-so-great Bradford went up against a real team? Oh yeah. Oklahoma lost to the Gators. Oklahoma is not staying undefeated. So I guess it won't matter. Boise State is not better than Auburn. Schedule strength alone should put Auburn at #1 right now. They play in the SEC West. There is no part of any conference better than the SEC West right now. Five of the six teams in the SEC West are ranked in the BCS top 25. I believe these BCS rankings will shake up a lot over the next few weeks, so I won't get too worked up. There are plenty of upsets to come in the coming weeks.

On to week 8... UCLA doesn't have a prayer at Oregon. Cincy should beat USF - but really, does it matter? Northwestern isn't good, but I think they'll come to play for the Mich St game. But Michigan State will continue to get lucky and win despite not being that good. It's okay, Spartan fans. Don't be mad. You still have a great shot at winning the Big Ten and being blown out by Oregon in the Rose Bowl. West Virginia beats the Orange. Rutgers has a challenge this weekend. But I never pick against my teams. I see Scarlet. Arkansas beats Ole Miss. Les's luck runs out this weekend. Auburn moves to 8-0. Wisconsin-Iowa will be a close game. I'll pick the badgers simply because I'm happy they didn't disappoint me against the buckeyes. Nebraska will regroup. Martinez will get his act together. Should be a close game, but I'm hoping Nebraska pulls off the victory at Oklahoma State's homecoming. Missouri will give Oklahoma a fight. I'd love to see the tigers win, but I have no idea if Missouri is good, and Oklahoma is way too inconsistent. But I'll pick the Sooners. South Carolina will beat Vanderbilt. Alabama will beat Tennessee. Georgia-Kentucky? Who knows. The SEC East is a disaster. I just hope Georgia is overconfident in Jacksonville and it leads to a Gator victory. Well, if there's on thing I can be happy about it's this: The Gators can't lose this weekend.

Get your act together Gators! Go Scarlet Knights! Go Huskers!

Week 6

Well, one Gator got his revenge on Alabama. Way to go, Steve Spurrier! I'm happy Bama lost - but what surprises me most? Lou Holtz was right! Nebraska looked great on Thursday, and they even got 2 first-place votes in the USA Today poll. Maybe Kansas State isn't that great, but they were undefeated, and it was a road game for Nebraska. Taylor Martinez had 4 rushing touchdowns. The refs didn't let UConn cheat, and Rutgers won! I think I like Dodd more than Savage already. Wisconsin beat Minnesota, but they better be ready for next week. Denard Robinson had a disappointing day, and the Spartans surprised me. I'm not sure how much longer their winning streak will last, though. I haven't been impressed yet. TCU and Boise State continued to beat what looked like high-school teams. (Sorry, Wyoming and Toledo...) Arkansas won in Texas. Oregon still looks pretty good. Kentucky gave Cam Newton a run for his money, but Auburn pulled it out in the end. Oregon State put up quite the fight with Arizona and ended up beating the Wildcats. This may help Boise State more than anyone... Miami looked pathetic. The Gators looked very inconsistent and young, but seriously, this game came down to coaching. Meyer and Addazio just HAD to know that was a fake. It's freaking Les Miles. He always does that. Even if they kid was gonna go for the field goal...let him go for it. Not only has he never made a field goal that long, but it was for the TIE, not the WIN. Also, I'm pretty sure they botched that trick play. That was definitely a forward pass, and it was not supposed to hit the ground. But Lucky Les got lucky again. Too bad he still has to face Arkansas, Auburn and Alabama. And if Florida wins out in the SEC, they can still go to Atlanta and maybe ruin someone else's season. Mark my words, LSU will not be undefeated at the end of the season. Les's luck will run out. Again, I would have been very upset...but I changed the channel and watched Lane Kiffin lose AGAIN. Thanks, Stanford!!

So, Ohio State is number one again. I think it will be very short-lived this time, though. In 2003 Ohio State went to Madison undefeated, and I believe ranked #3. My brother, a badger, rushed the field after the game. I'm calling for another upset. Badgers win this one. On, Wisconsin! I'm pulling for Zook at Michigan State, but I think the Spartans will go 8-0, create a false identity of being a good team, and then they will crumble at Iowa. FSU has no challenge this weekend with Boston College. Good, let the Seminoles get overconfident in a terrible conference before the Gators eat them for lunch. Pittsburgh should win at Syracuse. West Virginia will beat South Florida and the Big East will continue to have a single team ranked in the top 25. The Big East has proven to be worse than the ACC, sadly. I'm picking Jake Locker and the Huskies over the Beavers. I think Iowa-Michigan will be a shootout. Michigan wins if Denard has a big day. South Carolina beats Kentucky. Nebraska beats Texas. I see a close game with Texas Tech and Oklahoma State, but with home advantage Texas Tech has a good chance. Though the cowboys keep getting lucky... Calling Texas A&M over Missouri. The Aggies hung in there with a great SEC opponent. This will be Missouri's toughest game so far. Gators beat Mississippi State for homecoming. Lucky Les beats McNeese State. Sooners beat Iowa State. Rutgers should play a close game with Army in East Rutherford - of course I'm pulling for the SCARLET Knights in this one. Miami should be able to beat Duke and build some confidence for the rest of its (weak) ACC schedule. Georgia will beat Vanderbilt and build some confidence after an awful start. But I think the best game of the weekend will be Arkansas at Auburn. In the quarterback battle - Newton wins. I pick Auburn by a field goal.

Go Gators! Go Scarlet Knights! Go Huskers!

Week 5

Ron Zook, you were so close. Miami found the one team who could turn the ball over more than Harris - that's the only reason they won. Northwestern remains undefeated! TCU and Boise State keep winning...and I'm still not impressed. Especially with TCU. 59-0 is more impressive than 27-0. TCU should not be ranked ahead of Oklahoma or Nebraska. There is no justification for that other than trying to make the little guy feel good about himself. Texas may not be great, but they're better than Colorado State - and they were still ranked every week up until now. Oklahoma beat a ranked team for the 2nd time this season. TCU hasn't played a ranked team since the first week of the season, when they won 30-21 over then 24th ranked Oregon State. Wisconsin was very disappointing. After a 70-point offensive performance the week before, I expected Wisconsin to come out with momentum. Instead, I saw a team with no offense, no defense and no special teams. In other words, they came out playing like a big ten team, and I almost fell asleep watching them. The game definitely reminded me of Wisconsin basketball. Les Miles continues to be the luckiest coach in the world. Tennessee's inability to count strengthened my belief that secondary education in the south needs a lot of help. 13 men on the field? Really, Vols? As expected, Iowa beat Penn State. Oregon played impressively at home. Florida looked pathetic. They are much more talented than they appeared Saturday night. They lost all momentum on their first drive with the intercepted jump pass. Trey Burton will be a tremendous player for Florida in time, but at the moment, Urban Meyer and Steve Addazio need to understand one thing: Trey Burton is NOT Tim Tebow. If we're gonna compare any Gator to a former Gator, let it be this: Emmanuel Moody is the Dan Werner of football. In other words, he is not good enough to play for Florida. This guy has been in school long enough - he better be graduating this year and moving on to a dream other than football. I'm sorry, Moody, but there is a reason you didn't play at USC, and you shouldn't be playing so much at Florida. Like I've said, though, this is a rebuilding year for Florida, so I can handle losing in Tuscaloosa to the #1 team in the country. What I can't handle is Rutgers losing its homecoming game to Tulane. This one really broke my heart. I was upset about Florida, distraught over Rutgers...and then I changed the channel on my tv to watch the end of the Washington-USC game, and suddenly I could not help but smile. Lane Kiffin, I love to watch you lose. You looked so mad. It made me so happy. And Pete Carroll...I'm not sure if you had anything to do with how the Huskies played since you're up in Seattle with the Seahawks now...but if you did anything to inspire them...thanks.

On to week 6...Thursday night: Nebraska heads to Manhattan! ....Kansas, that is. But I'll still be watching. Huskers win this one. I'd like to pick Rutgers over Connecticut Friday, but even if Rutgers can regroup after the Tulane game, we all know UConn cheats. Oklahoma State will beat Louisiana-Lafayette on the road. Wisconsin should beat Minnesota in a game played for a piece of bacon or an axe...or whatever crazy thing they made up. I'm not sure which game will put me to sleep faster...that or Michigan State-Michigan. I'll pick Michigan to win because they're at home and they've got a good quarterback. Alabama will beat South Carolina, but with home advantage, the Gamecocks will look better than the Gators did against the Tide. TCU will beat Wyoming. I still won't be impressed. Boise State will blow out Toledo. Arkansas-Texas A&M may actually be a good game in Arlington, but I think the razorbacks win the Southwest Classic this year. Oregon will have no problem with Washington State. Oregon State may put up a fight with Arizona, but I think the Wildcats will win. Auburn wins at Kentucky. Miami beats Free Shoes University. How many Seminoles does it take to change a lightbulb? ...Just one, but he gets 4 credits for doing it. Kiffin loses again at Stanford. The Gators will hopefully rebound and beat LSU in Gainesville. Florida still has a great chance to win the SEC East...so work hard, Gators!

Go Gators! Go Scarlet Knights! Go Huskers!