College football picks 9/11

Some quick thoughts headed toward an awesome day of college football matchups that are what early season nonconference weekends should be all about...

bama vs penn state will get a lot of hype, and it'll match up two of the prettiest uniforms and best traditions in football, but the game is a no contest. PSU is starting a true freshman qb on the road in tuscaloosa against one of the nation's top defenses and the defending champion. roll tide.

another no contest is the weirdly hyped game between florida state and oklahoma. yeah i know OU struggled with utah state.... ya think maybe cuz they were thinking of this game? please, christian ponder is not lighting them up. oklahoma has the longest home win streak in the nation. theyre going to show why its absolutely ridiculous for these two teams to be ranked next to each other right now and finish the weekend a lot closer to #10 with fsu out of the top 25 or close.

florida struggles to put away south florida, even at home, and john brantley struggles again but the gators prevail. oregon tennessee is a very good matchup and the vols surprise and protect home ice. and we get some great conference matchups already in the SEC where lsu and georgia go to vandy and south carolina. look for one or both of the road favorites to go down. lsu is fresh off a big scare against unc and a big tv game, and vandy is always tough. and georgia's true freshman has a tough road task ahead of him, plus sc is always good for an early home sec win over a ranked foe. i'll take both the home squads.

best games of the day are right here in the good ol midwest. michigan at notre dame should be a good one if you enjoy watching teams score points. look for dayne crist to break out for the irish after a quiet first week, and denard robinson is one of the fastest football players ive ever seen with the ball in his hands. coaching and location make notre dame the definite pick for me but i also wouldnt be surprised to see another great game like last year. and then of course is miami at ohio state, or as i call it, the rucker bowl. a rematch of that awful national title game a decade ago marred by a brutal flag that cost miami its dynasty and a more brutal knee injury to mcgahee that cost me my dinner. i hope this rematch is all it looks like -- two potential heisman qbs, great talented smashmouth defenses, and a low scoring affair. and unfortunately, ohio state wins those games at home, so i gotta go with them. but go canes.