Oct 9th predictions

Not our best slate of games this weekend, but a lot of times when we think we see that coming, we get a bunch of unexpected upsets. Will that be the case this time around?

GameDay chose to head to South Carolina to see the undeservedly ranked Gamecocks host #1 Alabama. The Tide are probably tired of marquee games and may start out slow in this one, but they'll roll and make sure GameDay doesnt come back to SC for a good while.

GameDay was probably counting on heading to the other Carolina for a tasty matchups of top 15 ACC squads, but the Clemson-UNC matchup has gone all wrong so far with both teams dropping two already and starting 0-1 in the conference. Loser is out of the ACC race, and I think that has to be UNC at this point. The real matchup in the ACC is one we've seen before, Florida State at Miami. These games are always good, and this one shouldn't fail us. Unfortunately Miami is coming off two draining road wins and I'm just not sure they have the energy to keep it up at home this week, so I have the Noles winning. Never an upset in this rivalry.

I don't think Stanford needs to be worried too much about being upset by visiting USC this week, and yes you just read that right. I wonder when the Cardinal were last the favorite in this one? Either way, it comes down to coaching and I will take Harbaugh over Lane Kiffin 7 days a week and twice on Saturdays.

So where are all of today's upsets? Well I think the Denard Robinson show may come to something of a screeching halt today. Both Michigan and MSU are (shockingly) overrated, and both should have lost to a now underrated Notre Dame team. The difference between the two is that the Spartans actually have a defense. I think they bottle up Denard, enough, and force him to beat them in the air, and I don't believe he can. Sparty gets the road victory. I also think #7 Arizona needs to be on upset watch this week. Even after a brutal stretch of schedule, I think the Rodgers brothers and Oregon State have what it takes to walk in and get the victory to stay in the Pac 10 race.

I like Florida at home against LSU in a battle of who-gets-to-double-digits-first. This one ain't gonna be pretty. It's possibly the top two defenses in the nation, but neither of them has called home much about their scoring offenses just yet. But at least Florida isn't making the mistakes that LSU so often does, and I'm not going to pick Les Miles to beat Urban Meyer unless I'm very compelled to. I'm not.

I'm compelled by the Pitt-Notre Dame game. The Irish are 2-3 but their losses are to both undefeated Michigan teams (and they should've won both), and a deserving loss to a far better Stanford team. Pitt's run game is sick but their style suits the Irish, and I think they can win it. It's a bigger game than you think. If the Irish can pull to 3-3, they'll have a superb chance of being 6-3 when top ten Utah comes to visit in November fresh off games against rivals Air Force and TCU and ripe for the upset. Before we know it, the Irish could be 8-3 heading to USC as favorites to win a game that *could* send them to the BCS. Just sayin.

And in the toilet bowl rivalry of the season, we get winless New Mexico facing off against winless New Mexico State. The two teams lost combined 131-0 against Oregon and Boise State if that tells you anything. It has to be the most empty worthless rivalry of them all. Neither team has much of a defense, but neither team scores a lot either. I miss the days when guys like Chase Holbrook were putting up ridiculous numbers for the Aggies. They're long gone. I'll take the Lobos on the road for possibly their only win of the season. :)