2010 NCAA Football Week 5b

As pointed out by the comment today, I whiffed on both the outcome and location of last night's OSU-A&M game.

In my defense, we've had ISO audits all week.

As for last week's picks, well there's no defense. I went 7-1 for the Big XII, with the lone loss by my butter-fingered Longhorns, bringing my overall conference record to 40-4. I think that game was perhaps the Abomination that causes Desolation. Okay, in the grand scheme of things, not that bad, but a bad portend for what's to come in conference play. And besides the Horns going down, I was nowhere close on the points predictions for OU and Nebraska.

For this weeks games:
I already lost the A&M pick. (Poooooooor A-ggies!) Apparently Jerrod Johnson wanted to outdo Garrett Gilbert.

Baylor over Kansas
Georgia over Colorado in Boulder. It's amazing what having AJ Green back will do for the 'Dogs.
Tech over a frisky Iowa State team.

And the Red River Rivalry...the second of a three-game losing streak. Listen friends, UCLA put up 27 yards on 5/9 passing. They pretty much completely eschewed the air attack, wisely taking the game out of Kevin Prince's incapable hands, and just ran the ball down our throats. Why we didn't play man-to-man on the outside and stack 9 in the box is beyond me. Now, Bobby Stoops won't go to such an extreme, but he will find ways to get Demarco Murray the ball: zone reads, screen passes, flare passes/bubble screens and vertical routs. You thought our D was winded at half-time of the UCLA game, baby you ain't seen nothin' yet. If we turn the ball over like we did last week, it's going to be much, much uglier. Assuming we don't play hot potato with the pigskin, I think we'll keep the margin of defeat under three touchdowns, say 28-13. So let's take a look at the rest of the schedule with the date, opponent and record after that game:
10/16 @ Nebraska, 3-3
10/23 vs Iowa State, 4-3
10/30 vs Baylor, 5-3
11/6 @ K-State, 5-4
11/13 vs OSU, 5-5
11/20 vs FAU, 6-5
11/25 vs A&M, 6-6
That's pretty much the worst-case scenario. Nebraska will destroy us. Baylor will give us trouble with RG3. We visit a K-State squad that's probably 6-2 and brimming with confidence and with Joe Thomas killing it at running back. OSU will not lose this year if up by 21 points. A&M at least scored 35 points in a losing effort on the road while turning the ball over 5 times.

Not good times friends. Not good times. But if this is what it takes to finally get Greg Davis fired, I will suffer through it.

On to the national games. A 9-1 record boosts me to 18-3 for the year as the Gamecocks spit the bit. As for this week:
Miami over Clemson
Ohio State over Illinois
Michigan outpointing Indiana
LSU 13-9 over Tennessee
Michigan State in a mild upset over Wisconsin
NC State over Va Tech by 3
Ineligible USC over Washington
#1 Bama over #7 Florida, but not without a fight
Penn State stealing a victory over Iowa on the road

The Oregon Ducks versus the Stanford Cardinal in Autzen Stadium. The question really isn't who's going to win, but which garish uni the Ducks will pull out for this game. They're pretty unbeatable in Eugene, but the Fighting Jim Harbaughs aren't necessarily chopped liver. Oregon's QB has gone through nonconference largely untested. If the Ducks turn the ball over like they did against ASU, Stanford will step on their throats and not let up. This game will come down to who has the ball last. Speed kills, and Oregon has plenty of it. But speed does nothing for you if it's on the sideline. Stanford will grind the clock and it's defense will make some stops. I say the scoreboard explodes with a 56-45 Oregon win.