Friday, October 05, 2007

Country Boy's College Football Commentary



What a season it has been so far. Appalachian St. beats Michigan at the Big House! Notre Dame starts 0-5 for the first time ever! What is going on here?

Lets take a look into week 6 with some commentary from Country Boy:

Who’s Hot
The hottest team in college football right now is the 11th ranked South Carolina Gamecocks. Steve Spurrier led his team to a sound victory over the 8th ranked Kentucky Wildcats 38-23 last night.

Defensive end Eric Norwood tied an NCAA record with two fumble recoveries returned for touchdowns against the previously undefeated Wildcats.

The Gamecocks now 5-1 overall and 3-1 in the SEC with wins over Georgia, Mississippi St. and Kentucky finds themselves in the hunt for an SEC title and should break into the top ten before traveling to the University of North Carolina next week.

Who’s Not.
Notre Dame, as a fan of the Irish it is just sickening to watch anymore. At 0-5 it is the Irish’s worst start ever in the schools history. At the beginning of the season the debate was if Notre Dame could win 6 games this season, and I thought they could. Now I wonder if they can win at all! It’s going to be a long season for Charlie Weiss and the Irish as they face UCLA this week and a possible 0-6 record.
Prediction: UCLA 21 Notre Dame 10

Upset Watch
#5 Wisconsin vs. Illinois
The game with the biggest upset potential this Saturday is 5th ranked Wisconsin at non-ranked Illinois. Former Florida Gator coach Ron Zook has recruited some of the finest football players in the country at Illinois and they are proving that the Illini are pushovers no more. Football is a game of momentum and right now there is a lot of momentum in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. The Fighting Illini have won four in a row and upset then ranked 19th Penn St. last week 27-20. The Illini are 4-1 overall, 2-0 in the Big Ten and should be ranked. The Illini maybe the most underrated team in college football. The Badgers are undefeated at 5-0 and hold the longest winning streak in the nation at 17 games, but have yet to play a ranked team this season, have trailed in the fourth quarter in its last 3 games and beat their last two opponents by combined score of only seven points.

Last week, the Badgers escaped Camp Randall with a 37-34 win over unranked Michigan St. when Taylor Mehlhaf kicked a 22 yard field goal late in the fourth quarter.

The Badgers fall short this week. Prediction: Wisconsin 31 Illinois 34

Top Games of the Week:
#9 Florida vs. #1 LSU
All eyes were suppose to be on Baton Rouge, La., this week as LSU was suppose to play Florida in potentially the biggest game of the year. I had this game marked on my calendar back in July, but something happened on the way to Death Valley. The Gators lost to Auburn last week and Florida Gator senior safety and team captain Tony Joiner was arrested and charged with burglary early Tuesday morning. He probably will not play, but will have to wait and see.

So this week’s clash of the titans has lost a lot of its size. I guess that is why they play the season, because you just never know what will happen. Anyways, it will still be an important game for both teams.
If Joiner doesn’t play, Tiger quarterbacks Matt Flynn and Ryan Perriloux will pick apart the Gator secondary with much greater ease than what Auburn’s Brandon Cox was able to do it last week.

If Joiner does play, the Gators may have a chance, but they will have to become more diverse on offense and spread the ball around a little bit more that the two man show they currently have going on with quarterback Tim Tebow and receiver Percy Havin. They will have to establish a running game early and that is going to be a hard task to do against LSU’s front seven. Prediction Florida 17 LSU 31.

#12 Georgia vs. Tennessee
This is another game that lost some of its flavor when Georgia lost early in the season to South Carolina and Tennessee lost to California and Florida, but Auburn’s upset over Florida last week opens the door to the SEC race for both teams.

Saturday’s game in Knoxville will not likely decide the division winner, but it is safe to say the loser will be out of contention. The Bulldogs have beaten the Vols in its last three trips to Neyland Stadium.

The Vols have lost against its last four ranked opponents and have struggled on defense this season. They rank 88th in the nation against the run which should benefit Bulldog running backs Thomas Brown and Knowshon Moreno, who combined for 277 yards against Mississippi last week. Moreno has been averaging 86.4 yards a game and Brown has gained another 78.6 average yards per game. Prediction: Georgia 24 Tennessee 14

#4 Ohio St. vs. #23 Purdue
This one may be the best game to watch with a potent Purdue Boilmaker offense hosting a smothering Ohio St. Buckeye defense. The key factor in this game will not be the Boilmakers offense but whether or not their defense can slow down Buckeye running back Beanie Wells who has rushed for over 100 yards in four games. However, Wells has had a case of fumbleitis in the past and lost a fumble against Minnesota. The Buckeyes definitely do not want to give the Boilmaker offense field position, points and/or momentum at home by turning the ball over. Wells must hold on to the football. Prediction: Ohio St 31 Purdue 24


Predictions of the rest of the top 25

#13 W. Virginia 31 Syracuse 10
Kansas 7 #24 Kansas St. 24
Bowling Green 9 Boston College 31
#10 Oklahoma 38 #19 Texas 34
#6 S. Florida 42 Fla. Atlantic 14
#18 Arizona St. 32 Washington St. 17
#15 Virginia Tech 10 #22 Clemson 21
Stanford 9 #2USC 34
#20 Cincinnati 27 #21 Rutgers 20
#25 Nebraska 21 #17 Missouri 17
Utah St. 6 #16 Hawaii 35

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

How does the Red River Shootout Texas vs Oklahoma not make the top games?

Anonymous said...

I can't believe you didn't mention the red river rivalry...they been playing that game for over 100 years and it is huge! Should have been one of the top games...

Anonymous said...

You must be smoking crack to pick Illinois over Wisconsin! I agree that Zook is doing great things at Illinois but they are not good enough to beat Wisconsin.

Anonymous said...

How about that Fiesta Bowl? West Virginia beat Oklahoma like a rented mule! 48-28 Gooooo Mountaineers!!!