40 Acres Sports

Conference play is in full swing this weekend with many teams getting their first real test of the season. The Big 12 now has 4 teams in the Top 10, with all of them on the road. It will be interesting to see if they can all come out unscathed. If Texas and Oklahoma both win their Big 12 openers, they will face off next week in a possible #1 versus #5 match-up.

Let’s take a look at a game in each of the big conferences. Remember, I did go 3-1 last weekend against the spread.

#13 Auburn at #19 Vanderbilt (+4) - 6:00 PM EST on ESPN. Vanderbilt is definitely one of the surprises of the season. And after last week their win against Ole Miss is looking that much better. Auburn has been anemic on offense and basically riding their defense to wins. With two weeks to prepare and home field, Vanderbilt has the advantage in this one. It will probably be close, but take Vandy to win.

#7 Texas at Colorado (+13) - 7:00 PM EST on FSN. There are a couple of things that worry me about this game. First, it is an almost night game in Boulder. The fans will be crazy (probably drunk) and it is tough to play with that thin air. Second, the last time we played Colorado we beat them 70-3 and knocked out their quarterback. I’m pretty sure Colorado is looking for a little revenge and will keep that previous game in mind. And finally, this game comes a week before the Red River Rivalry, so there is definitely a possibility that the Horns will be looking ahead. Now with all of that said, I still think Texas has too much offense for Colorado to handle. And with the improved defense I don’t see Colorado doing too much. Texas needs to jump out to a quick start to kill the hopes for the Buffaloes. If they do that they should roll.

#23 Oregon at #9 USC (O/U 57) - 8:00 PM EST on ABC. Everyone wants to see how USC will respond after getting smoked by Oregon State last week. I don’t expect to see a blowout or anything against Oregon, but I do expect to see USC’s A game. Both teams can score almost at will and this will probably be the typical Pac-10 shootout. Look for each team to score in the 40s and take the over in this one.

#14 Ohio State at #18 Wisconsin (+2) - 8:00 PM EST on ABC. Hardly anyone comes out of Camp Randall with a victory, with Wisconsin winning their last 16 at home and 27 of the last 28. Ohio State has now turned over the reigns to Terrelle Pryor, and with Beanie Wells back from injury their offense is heating back up. As long as their defense can do a decent job against the Badgers, Ohio State should be able to come out with the victory. Actually on second thought this game probably shouldn’t be on the “what to watch” list since it will probably be pretty boring. Just take Ohio State and cash-in in the morning.

Talk about a crazy weekend in college football. Three of the top four teams go down in upsets, with unbeatable #1 of all-time USC losing to an unranked Oregon State team.

1. Oklahoma

   

   The clear #1 in the nation after other teams in the Top 5 seemed scared to win. The Texas game in two weeks looks bigger than ever.

2. Alabama

   

   Maybe even more of a butt-kicking than the USC/Ohio State, Alabama got out to a 31-0 lead at Georgia. I think this was a combination of Alabama having a solid team and Georgia being ridiculously over-hyped.

3. Missouri

   

   Good time to have a bye week. Their schedule gets tough now as they open Big 12 play.

4. LSU

   

   LSU didn’t look all that impressive in their win against Mississippi State. They will need to improve their quarterback play if they want to continue to win in the SEC.

5. Texas

   

   Talk about slaughtering the pig against Arkansas. The Texas defense finally showed up and held them to only 3 points for most of the game.

6. South Florida

   

   The class of the Big East continues to look good. Now they start conference play, so we will see if they can keep it up.

7. Auburn

   

   They don’t win pretty, but their defense can keep them in any game. If they actually had a good quarterback they would probably be #2 in the nation.

8. BYU

   

   BYU in the Top 10? Just doesn’t seem right somehow but they are playing great football right now. Two shutouts in a row will usually give a team some confidence.

9. Penn State

   

   I hesitate to put a Big 10 team so far up in the rankings because they will soon get smashed by some other crappy Big 10 team. Will this happen to Penn State? No doubt.

10. Texas Tech

    

    Not sure what to say about Tech except that they probably won’t last much longer with no losses. In fact, they will probably lose to Kansas State.

11. USC

    

    On cue, USC has their one “bare-minimum” game of the season and somehow loses to Oregon State. Now they can cruise for the rest of the season with their easy Pac-10 schedule.

12. Georgia

    

    Not really surprised that they lost to Alabama, more surprised about how they lost. Down 31-0 at the half at home? I knew they were over-rated, just didn’t know it was that bad.

13. Florida

    

    Rounding out the upsets this weekend is Florida. If Tim Tebow was an actual quarterback and could throw the ball, maybe they wouldn’t lose to a mediocre Ole Miss.

14. Kansas

    

    Bye week

15. Utah

    

    Utah continues to sneak up the polls relatively quietly. Now they have to play the vaunted Oregon State Beavers.

16. Vanderbilt

    

    With Georgia and Florida losing, Vanderbilt now leads the SEC East. If they beat Auburn this weekend is it time for them to start thinking national championship? Ha.

17. Oklahoma State

    

    The Big 12 is absolutely stacked this year. Oklahoma State’s offense can hang with anyone. Too bad they play @Missouri, @Texas, and @Texas Tech.

18. Boise State

    

    Bye week

19. Ohio State

    

    Not sure that a 13 point win over Minnesota is very impressive, but a win is a win. Terrelle Pryor looks like a legit college quarterback. I bet they are wishing he played more against USC.

20. Oregon

    

    Hard to get a read on just how good or bad the Pac-10 is. My guess is that Oregon will be dropping soon as they play USC this weekend.

21. Virginia Tech

    

    Man, Virginia Tech has an incredibly weak schedule this season. If they didn’t lose to East Carolina they would easily be in the Top 10.

22. Wisconsin

    

    The Big 10 is just awful and I think Wisconsin proves that. Not sure how a Top 10 team loses to a horrible Michigan team. Oh yeah, it’s the crappy Big 10.

23. Maryland

    

    Maryland actually looks like they have a good team this year. The ACC is wide open right now and Maryland should be near the top at the end.

24. Fresno State

    

    Pretty impressive win at UCLA.

25. Connecticut

    

    Impresive win at Louisville. They will be tested in next two games of three straight road games. If they can make it through that, they will be looking good.

Like most people, I have been waiting for this weekend for some time because we get to see two of the top teams in the nation square off during the regular season, #1 USC vs. #5 Ohio State. There is almost as much hype for this game as the National Championship. Unfortunately some of that excitement has diminished for me since it has been reported that Chris “Beanie” Wells will not play this Saturday against USC.

And now that we know Texas vs. Arkansas is postponed, we have to find something else to watch. Let’s see what is going on this weekend. (P.S. I went 2-0-1 last weekend with my picks)

Michigan at Notre Dame (+1) - 3:43 PM EST on NBC. Some of the luster of this game has worn off since both programs seem to be struggling. Even so, NBC’s broadcast of this game in HD looks great, and it will be good fun seeing Notre Dame get embarrassed at home. Notre Dame should have lost last weekend, and I just can’t see anyway they can pull off that same miracle against Michigan. I’m not a huge fan of Rich Rodriguez, but I seem them winning easily this weekend.

#3 Oklahoma at Washington (+20) - 7:45 PM EST on ESPN. I’m pretty curious to see how Washington responds to getting screwed last weekend against BYU. It will probably either be extremely good, or extremely bad. I am going to go with the latter. Oklahoma’s offense continues to improve and their young wide receivers are absolutely torching the opponents’ secondary. Oklahoma is averaging 55 points per game, Washington 19. You can do the math here. Expect Oklahoma to win by 30.

#5 Ohio State at #1 USC (-11) - 8:00 PM EST on ABC. Like I said, this game isn’t as exciting since Ohio State isn’t bringing all of their weapons, but this will still probably be the biggest game in college football this year. So far this year USC has been more impressive than we thought, and Ohio State has been not nearly been as good as we expected. Without Chris Wells I don’t see them able to get the running game going against USC’s strong defense, which in turn puts more pressure on QB Todd Boeckman and freshman QB Terrelle Pryor. Boeckman is coming off one of the worst games of his career. Things are probably only going to get worse. And Pryor will most likely be a big-time quarterback soon in college football, but now is not that time.

USC on the other hand has a “stable” of 6 running backs on their team, probably all of whom would start on most teams in the country. Does 6 sound like a little too many? Yeah, sure does, but 5 of the 6 scored touchdowns against Virginia in their season opener. Talk about depth. Bottomline, Ohio State has no shot in this game and will probably lose by 20. Take USC here.