Oct 2nd predictions

Hard to imagine a better Saturday of football than this one. Homecoming? No thanks. I think I'll stay indoors and watch some real football on tv.

Even the ACC gets into the action this week. Notre Dame travels to BC in what looks like it might be a real slopfest, but these two teams always play to a slopfest anyway. I think ECU at UNC will be a real dogfight as well with the cross state rivalry and I like the Pirates to get the upset victory on the road. NC State cracked my rankings for the first time this week at #22 and now they get an angry 2-2 Va Tech team that I think can take them on the road. The marquee ACC game looks like #15 Miami at Clemson, the two ACC teams that have the talent at times to hang with other real teams across the country. This conference tends to cannibalize itself, and I like the Tigers to take out Miami in a close ugly one.

The Big 10 is where a lot of the other action is at, but it's with some overinflated "undefeated" teams due to a bunch of creampuff schedules. Undefeated Michigan travels to Indiana, and undefeated Wisconsin travels to Michigan St. The Hoosier defense is miserable and won't be able to contain Denard, but I like Sparty to get the home win and keep both Michigan squads undefeated. The biggest Big 10 game of the day matches a pair of 1-loss teams who are actual Rose Bowl contenders with #17 Penn St at #14 Iowa. I still think Iowa is underrated with a strong run game and great defense, and they should take care of the freshman QB on the road.

And now to the three games of the day that will get all the hype...

25 Texas vs 19 Oklahoma
I was less excited for this one anyway with both of these teams looking overrated, and now I am having a hard time getting hyped, but the reality is that this one still plays a huge role in the national title picture -- if Oklahoma gets the win. Texas is done after that embarassing UCLA loss. Wouldn't it be ironic if a 13-0 OU team ended up stealing a national title spot away from Boise State on the back door? I sure hope not. Thankfully even though Texas' offense seems overmatched and they *still* cant find a run game, the biggest matchup that matters here is coaching: Mack Brown vs Bob Stoops. I could never have believed I'd say this 5-7 years ago, but that is a big mismatch in Mack's favor. It's enough to make this a coin flip game, but I like Texas' experience and grittyness to pull through.

18 Florida at 1 Alabama
It's a little crazy that we're overlooking this game some, not sending over the Game Day crew and making it the big game of the day. After all these are our last two national champions and this game plays a bigger role in the national title picture than any other today, or maybe this season. The problem is that I think it's a sizable mismatch. Bama's defense is not what it was last year, but Florida's offense is pretty terrible right now, Trey Burton or not. And even though Florida has easily the sickest defense in the country, the Bama run offense is good enough to put up points. I expect something similar to what we saw when Penn St visited a few weeks ago, something like a 24-10 boring Bama win.

6 Stanford at 2 Oregon
This is the game getting all the hype all week, and I am loving it because I'm pretty excited. Stanford's smashmouth in your face style vs Oregon's high speed video game offense, as I've heard on SportsCenter all week. I was at least a little underwhelmed by Oregon last week, more of a one trick pony with that spread option, though it's a heck of a trick. The defense did not impress me and got totally bailed out time and again, and the Ducks should be coming off a loss in this one. I think Stanford is big enough, strong enough, and smart enough to contain this offense, and I think Andrew Luck gets the scouts drooling with a big time road performance. Stanford gets the road victory, the upset, and vaults into my top 5 - maybe even higher.