Pages

Monday, October 05, 2009

Lost Money and Earned Regrets: College Football Recap Week 5




For the first time this season, all five top 5 schools survived.  The big upset was UTEP exploding on Houston, while Miami bounced back from their trouncing at the hands of Virginia Tech to hold off the Sooners at home.


# 3 Alabama (5-0, 2-0) 38 Kentucky (2-2, 0-2) 20
Spread: Alabama by 17
Kentucky turned the ball over 4 times in this game, so it's kind of shocking the score was even this close.

#4 LSU 20 (5-0, 3-0)  #18 Georgia (3-2, 2-1) 13
Spread: LSU by 3
The Tigers pull another win out of their ass, while Georgia finally runs out of luck in close-and-late situations.

#5 Boise State (5-0) 34 UC Davis (1-3) 16
Spread: N/A
If the Broncos finish the season undefeated, scheduling this game may cost them a BCS championship game appearance.

#6 Virginia Tech (4-1, 2-0) 34 Duke (2-3, 0-1) 26
Spread: Virginia Tech by 16.5
MattyWill's Heisman Super Sleeper Thaddeus Lewis nearly engineered one of the greatest upsets ever with his 359 yard, 2 TD day.

#7 USC (4-1, 2-1) 30 #24 Cal (3-2, 0-2) 3
Spread: USC by 4.5
I guess Cal isn't very good, after all.

#17 Miami (3-1) 21 #8 Oklahoma (2-2)
Spread: Oklahoma by 7
Miami looks great, while Oklahoma better hope Sam Bradford's ready to come back for the Big 12 season (if only so no one ever has to see Landry Jones's mustache again).

#9 Ohio State (4-1, 2-0) 33 Indiana (3-2, 0-2) 14
Spread: Ohio State by 16.5
4 more total TDs for Terrelle Pryor against an overmatched team, as well as some sloppy play by the Buckeyes in the last 5 minutes that allowed the Hoosiers to at least make things look respectable.

#10 Cincinnati (5-0) 37 Miami (OH) (0-5, 0-2) 13
Spread: Cincinnati by 28
The Bearcats fail to cover, but the win over the Red Hawks pushed Cincy above Ohio State in the AP poll for the first time since 1951.

#14 TCU (4-0) 39 SMU (2-2) 14
Spread: TCU by 27.5
SMU may be just as much as a blithe on TCU's strength of schedule as UC Davis is on Boise State's.  June Jones has to be wondering why he left Hawaii for this mess of a team.

UTEP (2-3, 1-0) 58 #12 Houston (3-1, 0-1) 41
Spread: Houston by 16.5
This absolutely shocked me.  UTEP managed only 41 points combined in their three games vs. schools not named New Mexico State, yet poured on 58 points and 305 yards rushing against the Cougars.  Tim Hardaway can finally wipe his tears.

#13 Iowa (5-0) 24 Arkansas State (1-3) 21
Spread: Iowa by 20.5
This game wasn't really as close as the score indicates, but winning by 3 over a Sun Belt team, regardless of how dominant you actually were, is a disgrace.

#15 Penn State (4-1, 1-1) 35 Illinois (1-3, 0-2) 17
Spread: Penn State by 6.5
The Ron Zook era may very soon be drawing to a close.

#16 Oregon (4-1, 2-0) 52 Washington State (1-4, 0-3) 6
Spread: Oregon by 32
Oregon may have been a little pissed off after everyone wrote them off following the Boise State game.  To further give the rest of America the finger, Ducks coach Chip Kelly may even be reinstating his asshole running back.

#20 BYU 35 Utah State 17
Spread: BYU by 24.5
Why I don't actually gamble:  Utah State scored a touchdown and extra point with 3 seconds left, changing the deficit from 25 to 18, and blowing BYU's cover.  If you had money on BYU, ouch.

#21 Ole Miss (3-1, 1-1) 23 Vanderbilt (2-3, 0-3) 7
Spread: Ole Miss by 9.5
The Rebels got the win, but Jevan Snead looked very shaky (3 INTs).  Steve Spurrier really wants his vote for All-SEC QB back now.

Michigan State (2-3, 1-1) 26 #22 Michigan (4-1, 1-1) 20
Spread: Pick
When Tate Forcier is their leading rusher with 27 yards, I have a feeling Michigan is going to have a hard time winning anywhere.  Michigan State salvages their season with the win. 

#25 Georgia Tech (4-1) 42 Mississippi State (2-3) 31
Spread: Georgia Tech by 4.5
Georgia Tech's only loss was to Miami, and yet they're ranked below Ole Miss and BYU?

UAB (2-3, 2-1) 30 Southern Miss (3-2, 1-1) 17
Coupled with Houston's loss to UTEP, the Conference USA is wide open*.

*No it's not.  The Golden Eagles just missed a chance to jump out to an early lead over the Cougars.

Maryland (2-3, 1-0) 24 Clemson (2-3, 1-2) 21
Virginia (1-3, 1-0) 16 North Carolina (3-2, 0-2) 3
Boston College (4-1, 2-1) 28 Florida State (2-3, 0-2) 21
Everything's setting up for my Boston College in the ACC title game prediction I made last week to bear fruit.

Wisconsin (5-0, 2-0) 31 Minnesota (3-2, 1-1) 28
South Florida (5-0, 1-0) 34 Syracuse (2-3, 0-1) 20
Auburn (5-0, 2-0) 26 Tennessee (2-3, 0-2) 22
The unranked undefeated's held serve, with Auburn coming away with the most impressive win in Knoxville.  For their efforts, all three teams made their first appearances in the polls this week.

Stanford (4-1, 3-0) 24 UCLA (3-1, 0-1) 16
At 3-0, the Cardinal hold the early lead in the PAC-10.  Did anybody expect that to be the case on October 5?

Notre Dame (4-1, 3-0) 37 Washington (2-3, 1-1) 30
Washington drops a heartbreaker, while Notre Dame continues to play a shockingly easy schedule.

Nevada (1-3, 1-1) 63 UNLV (2-3, 0-1) 28
After starting the season a disappointing 0-3, the Wolfpack decided to take out their frustrations on their in-state rivals, piling up an astounding 559 yards rushing and 773 yards total, numbers I can't even amass in NCAA Football 10 on my 360.

Idaho (4-1, 1-0) 31 Colorado State (3-2, 0-1)
A surprising start for an Idaho team expected to be among the worst in the country continues.  Winnable games at San Jose State and home vs. Hawaii lead up to what could be an interesting showdown with Nevada on October 24.

WEEK 6 LINE PREDICTIONS

#1 Florida at #4 LSU
Florida by 6.5

Colorado at #2 Texas
Texas by 19.5

#3 Alabama at #20 Ole Miss
Alabama by 8

Boston College at #5 Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech by 4.5

Wisconsin at #9 Ohio State
Ohio State by 6

#10 TCU at Air Force
TCU by 11

Michigan at #12 Iowa
Iowa by 3

#13 Oregon at UCLA
Oregon by 12

#15 Oklahoma State at Texas A&M
Oklahoma State by 9

Iowa State at #16 Kansas
Kansas by 16.5

#17 Auburn at Arkansas
Auburn by 2

#18 BYU at UNLV
BYU by 23

Baylor at #19 Oklahoma
Oklahoma by 14

#22 Georgia Tech at Florida State
Georgia Tech by 6.5

Kentucky at #25 South Carolina
South Carolina by 8.5






4 comments:

  1. From now on referees should only get to call one excessive celebration penalty per game. And if they use it too early, and a bunch of dudes happen to strip down naked in the end zone in the second half after a touchdown. Well, tough titties everybody. If a ref was dumb enough to make the ruling at all, then anarchy is exactly what he deserves.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sounds like an interesting idea, and an interesting study on cause and effect. You would have to think that the mere possibility of the strip-down scenario playing out after the excessive celebration flag was thrown would prevent refs from ever throwing it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. How high are you?

    ReplyDelete