Arizona vs. UCLA: Can the Wildcats Exorcise Their Demons?

44-41 2OT

In this life, or the next, they will all pay for their sins.

Current students at the University of Arizona may not recall the score that still haunts the football program to this day, but those of us who were at the last Wildcat game to host ESPN's Game Day crew will never forget it. Arizona had Oregon on the ropes when many in the Zona Zoo prematurely jumped onto the sidelines in preparation of rushing the field, angering the football gods with their hubris*, & bringing the team's Rose Bowl hopes crashing down. More rational people may argue that the students didn't really cause the team to lose that day, & that the existence of football gods is a ridiculous attempt to bring order to an inherently chaotic sport. The Ducks quarterback, Jeremiah Masoli would agree with, at least, the first half of that sentiment, saying in regards to the students crowding the field, "I saw it and I actually smirked. It was kind of funny. I wasn't really worried about it." But football, with its Hail Mary's, Immaculate Receptions, & touchdown celebrating deities, is clearly a place of the spiritual, if not the downright supernatural, & Masoli was an asshole. Thus there is no doubt in my mind that the loss belongs squarely on those students who attempted to celebrate early, & the rest of my feelings regarding those kids can best be summed up by the great Samuel L. Jackson:

The players, coaches, & students at today's game are not the least bit responsible for that tragedy, but it is a legacy that they are tasked with putting to rest for the sake of the Arizona fan base, less that anguish follow us the rest of our lives.

*Less anyone accuse me of only chastising the students' actions because of the end result I want to be clear that I was at that game, I refused to leave the stands, & I warned my friend not to jump onto the sideline. I would never claim to fully understand the will of the football gods, but I knew that claiming victory before it was bestowed upon us could only have calamitous consequences. 

This Week In College Football!

This Week: 0-1 (To quote Tommy Stoessor, “Sigh…”)

Season Total: 48-13

Championship Games:

· ACC: #15 Virginia Tech vs. #21 Florida State-Props to Mark Stoops. He took over a defense ranked at the bottom of the ACC & turned them into the 11^th best defense in points allowed. In fact they’ve allowed over 20 points only three times this season, which just so happens to be the three games they lost. It also so happens that Tyrod Taylor & the rest of the Hokies offense has only scored under 20 once this season, a 19-0 victory over Boston College. I’ll take VT to win its 11^th straight.

Virginia Tech 27, Florida State 20

Today In College Football!

Normally I do my entire look at the week’s major college football games on Friday night & thus I’m forced to ignore any games played on Thursday or Friday, obviously that wouldn’t do this week (Though I’m only previewing Friday’s games here, the rest I will preview at my normal time). This year not only is the day after Thanksgiving Black Friday, but it is quite possibly the defining day in deciding who will play for the BCS National Championship (It’s important to always try & remember to include the BCS part of that because to do otherwise would suggest D-1A college football has a legitimate championship game).

#1 Oregon faces its last ranked opponent in a 21^st ranked Arizona team that’s fought it tooth & nail nearly every year regardless of the final outcome. #2 Auburn face its greatest challenge yet in the defending “National Champions” #11 Alabama (Remember, Boise State finished last year undefeated too). While #4 Boise State goes up against a one loss Nevada team ranked 19^th, giving them a chance to prove the remaining doubters that they truly do deserve a chance at college football’s mythical title.

That’s the three biggest contenders for this year’s title (So long as Boise wins their last two I fully expect them to jump TCU in the rankings) going up against three ranked teams, & two of them must do so on the road (Oregon’s the lone home team). College football just doesn’t get any better than this. At least until they have a playoff…

This Week In College Football!

Last Week: 11-3 (Gah! Two UA games missed in a row.)

Season Total: 40-7

I have to be up in less than 5 hours so once again I will try to keep this short (& with no Arizona game I might actually succeed!).

Top 10

· Mississippi at #5 LSU-LSU has quite possibly the best defense in college football. Ole Miss has… a terrible defense & Jeremiah Masoli (Hah! I knew he was an overrated product of Oregon’s system).

LSU 34, Ole Miss 14

· #7 Wisconsin at Michigan-A win here would guarantee Rich Rodriguez another year in Ann Arbor & one can only hope karma will come back to bite the Badgers for running up the score on an outmatched Indiana team last week. Now if only Michigan didn’t have the 93^rd ranked defense in point allowed & Wisconsin wasn’t the 8^th ranked scoring offense.

Wisconsin 41, Michigan 30

· #8 Nebraska at #19 Texas A&M-A&M’s offense has been on a roll since Ryan Tannehill took over the quarterbacking duties & they’re riding a 4 game win streak. However I’ve been on the Cornhusker bandwagon all year & I’ll be damned if I jump off now.

This Week In College Football

Last Week: 10-4 (Damn me for switching my Arizona pick)

Season Total: 29-6 (What’s up “experts” on ESPN?)

The first set of games is about to start so I’ll try and make this quick.

Top 10

· Georgia at #2 Auburn-Let’s get this out of the way, Cam Newton is ineligible. No, he hasn’t been ruled ineligible yet but any reasonable person knows that he is. However that doesn’t mean he won’t play. Interestingly Georgia’s best player, wide receiver A.J. Green, missed the first 4 games of the season due to problems with the NCAA. In those games Georgia went 1-3 while averaging 24.3 points-per-game. Since his return they’ve averaged 40.3 points-per-game & gone 4-2. While Auburn has the 55^th ranked scoring defense & has won 3 home games this year by 8 points or less. Make no mistake; even with Newton Auburn could lose this game. Could…

Auburn 41, Georgia 34 (If Auburn does the right thing & benches Newton: Georgia 37, Auburn 27)

· San Diego State at #3 TCU-San Diego State’s actually pretty good, they’re a solid 7-2 & one of those losses was by only 3 points to Missouri. Problem is TCU is awesome.

TCU 34, SD St. 10

· Louisiana-Monroe at #5 LSU-Expect LSU to comfortably win this bye week.

LSU 41, LM 3

This Week In College Football

Last Week: 8-1 (Ok Oregon you’re legit)

Season Total: 19-2 (If only I had any faith I could keep that up)

My guys have state tomorrow (Come on State Championship!), & I’m enjoying my Season 1 “Community” DVDs ("Community">"The Office", now, not all-time), so I’m a little preoccupied so the analysis will be kept to a minimum this week.

Also Jan Brewer? Really Arizona? Apparently none of you watched the governor's debate, know what the GOP legislature is doing with the budget, or understands the reality of our immigration problems. But I digress...

Top 10

· Chattanooga at #2 Auburn-seriously?

Auburn 83, Chattanooga 6 (or something like that)

· #3 TCU at #5 Utah-As good as Arizona/Stanford & Bama/LSU are going to be this is the game of the week. Whoever wins this game has a good shot at going to the title game & at the very least will be in a BCS bowl. TCU hasn’t won at Utah in 4,000 years but they’ve also only given up 16 points in their last 5 games (that’s not a typo).

TCU 27, Utah 17

· Hawaii at #4 Boise State-this will be one of Boise’s last true hurdles to a perfect season, the other being Nevada. If there’s one thing you can expect, besides a Boise State win, it’s a whole lot of points.

Boise St 48, Hawaii 24

· #6 Alabama at #10 LSU-like the TCU/Utah game there are title/BCS game complications here (even LSU still has an outside shot at the title). LSU has the advantage of a bye week before this game; Bama has the advantage of having an offense that can score. LSU’s only shot at winning this game is by winning the turnover margin by at least 2, I don’t think they will.

Bama 27, LSU 20

This Week in College Football

Last Week: 11-1 (perfection thwarted by Ricky Stanzi’s complete ineptness at running a 2-minute drill)

It’s pretty late & I’ve got to be up in the morning so I’ll make these picks brief (apparently that didn't happen, gonna be a long Saturday...).

Top 10:

· #1 Auburn at Ole Miss-Jeremiah Masoli must hate himself for blowing a chance at national stardom leading the Oregon Ducks on a quest for a title. Instead he’s stuck on a mediocre Ole Miss team & facing off against the most dynamic QB in the nation, Auburn’s Cam Newton. Ole Miss has the potential to be dangerous but, Auburn’s offense should be too much & the streak of #1’s going down should end.

Auburn 37, Ole Miss 24

· #5 Michigan State at # 18 Iowa-Both these teams played tough games that went down to the final minutes last week. MSU fell way down against Northwestern only to climb back up & hold onto the win. Iowa, on the other hand, blew a late lead & saw their quarterback self-destruct in the last 2 minutes. Despite the different showings I still believe in this Iowa team & they’re at home so they’re the pick.

Iowa 27, Michigan State 17

· #6 Missouri at #14 Nebraska-Mizzou is coming off a huge victory over #1 Oklahoma (called it!) & my pre-season #1 Nebraska came back strong from their loss to Texas to hang 51 on Oklahoma State. These two offer differing styles as Mizzou likes to air it out while Nebraska likes to keep it on the ground with QB Taylor Martinez. This game should be a thriller & I like Braska to edge it out on their home turf.

This Week in College Football

Due to my now very lax schedule I’m free to provide more coverage to the things that really matter-sports (especially football), television, movies & a little bit of politics. Hence I will now begin a few weekly columns with my college football weekly predictions being the first. In this column I will preview each PAC-10 game, all games involving top 10 teams, & any between two ranked teams (going by the BCS standing since those are the rankings that matter). Now here we go!

Top 10:

· #1 Oklahoma at #11 Missouri-Yes, Oregon ended the streak of AP #1s losing, but the AP rankings mean about as much as an MTV award now, so Oklahoma is now on the clock as #1 w/ thanks to the BCS computers & they’ve got a tough one ahead of them. Oklahoma is an impressive 6-0 with wins over 2 currently ranked teams as well as a solid Air Force squad. What’s not so impressive is their 71^st ranked defense, and the fact they’ve only played one true road game in which they barely edged out a mediocre Cincinnati team. So yea, I’m taking the less talked about undefeated Big 12 team in this matchup.

Mizzou 31, Oklahoma 27

· #6 LSU at #4 Auburn-In what has to be the game of the week we get two undefeated SEC schools one with a fantastic defense (LSU) & the other with an incredible offense (Auburn). Conventional wisdom says defense wins championships but, LSU has been the least impressive of the undefeated teams & I’d rather not bet against Heisman frontrunner Cam Newton.

Auburn 34, LSU 24

College Football Preview!

Yesterday was the PAC-10 preview, now today I give you the full NCAA D-1 football preview including the top 10 teams, the winner of each BCS conference, the Heisman winner, & who will play in each BCS Bowl.

TOP 10:

1. Nebraska-Loses the best player in college football, Ndamukong Suh, & will actually improve. The defense should continue to anchor the team under coach Bo Pelini & the offense, which returns 9 starters, should be improved enough to get Nebraska its first BCS title.
2. TCU-if the Horned Frogs get through the Mountain West (which should be a BCS conference) undefeated they should finally break up the big boys club of the BCS & score a title game birth. & I believe they will as they return 16 starters from last year's team including QB Andy Dalton who leads all D1 QBs with 29 career victories going into the season.
3. Alabama-Bama, who returns only 1 defensive starter, won't be able to rebuild fast enough to get another BCS "Championship", but they should still win the toughest conference in college football.
4. Virginia Tech-Coach Frank Beamer & QB Tyrod Taylor are, simply put, winners. Then add in an always fantastic defense & 2 RBs in Ryan Williams & Darren Evans who have run for a thousand yards and what you get is the best team in the ACC.
5. Boise State-Returns an unfathomable 20 starters, including stud QB Kellen Moore, from last year's undefeated team. If they can get past Virginia Tech & Oregon State they may be able to reach the title game.
6. Iowa-a top notch defense that returns 8 starters including DE Adrian Clayborn (11 and a half sacks) & safety Tyler Sash (6 picks) plus an improving offense should allow Iowa to reach the Rose Bowl.
7. Ohio State-Dual threat QB Terrell Pryor & 13 other returning starters will be looking to make the BCS "Championship", if they can beat Iowa & Wisconsin on the road they should do so.
8. Texas-lost stud QB Colt McCoy & 10 other starters from last years team, but sophomore QB Garret Gilbert has already played in a national title game & Texas is never short on talent.
9. Miami-since coach Randy Shannon's first season in 2007, when the team went 5-7, the Canes have improved by 2 wins each season. Behind QB Jacory Harris & an improved defense Miami should add another 2 wins yet again.
10. Stanford-With a fantastic QB in Andrew Luck & an equally adept coach in Jim Harbaugh the Cardinal will eak out a PAC-10 title.

PAC-10 Football Preview

We're about to begin the last season of PAC-10 football, (Stanford & UCLA open the PAC-10 season on Saturday) before expansion begins, & the league is as wide open as ever. Realistically 5 teams have a shot at winning the PAC, though only 4 of those can reach the Rose Bowl thanks to USC's restriction from post-season play (maybe that will cut down some of their arrogance), & all 5 have serious questions to answer. Can USC stay motivated without a light at the end of the tunnel? Will Oregon be the same without former QB Jeremiah Masoli? Can Oregon State & their new QB play well throughout the entire PAC-10 season? Will Jim Harbaugh be able to replace Toby Gerhart & complete his transformation of Stanford into a PAC-10 power? & of course the biggest question of all: Can Arizona do what every other PAC-10 team has done & make it to the Rose Bowl? Well let me answer those questions for you.

2010 PAC-10 Final Standings

1. Stanford 7-2 (10-2 overall) (Rose Bowl)

Coach Jim Harbaugh & QB Andrew Luck lead Stanford to its first Rose Bowl since its Jan 1, 2000 loss to Wisconsin thanks to wins over both Oregon State & Arizona.

2. OSU 7-2 (8-4) (Holiday Bowl)

OSU’s tough non-conference schedule pays off, as most of the PAC-1o proves much easier than TCU & Boise State.

3. Arizona 7-2 (10-2) (Alamo Bowl)

Arizona fails to make it to the Rose Bowl yet again, but Stoops & the Wildcats can take solace in their first 10-win season since 1998.

4. Oregon 6-3 (9-3) (Sun Bowl)

The loss of Masoli proves too much for the talented Ducks who fail to live up to pre-season expectations.

5. USC 5-4 (9-4) (None, ahahahaha!)

For the second year in a row USC proves overrated as they fade down the stretch.