College Football Storylines

The games that have me looking forward to football this weekend:

Cincinnati (-15) at Syracuse – The Bearcats need to keep winning and winning big if they want to maintain their very slight national championship chances. On the other side, this is Greg Paulus’ last and best chance to make a lasting impression as a college athlete.

NC State (+10) at Florida State – Both of these teams have been very disappointing in the face of high expectations this year. Like watching a train wreck, it will be fun to watch how bad it could get.

Ole Miss (-4) at Auburn – Both of these teams are holding on to SEC relevance for dear life. A loss here will end that for one team. I wish it could somehow be both of them.

San Jose State (+36.5) at Boise State – The Broncos need to win this one by about 100 to keep their BCS hopes alive. A tight game here would be disastrous.

Michigan (-7) at Illinois – My boys badly need to bounce back strong from the disgusting debacle that was last week against Penn State. If this game is close then we are in real trouble. On the plus side, a win here and we are bowl eligible. It won’t likely be a glamorous bowl, but after last year I’ll take anything.

Georgia (+14.5) at Florida – If Tim Tebow and Florida don’t have a big day here then it really is time to worry. Georgia just isn’t good.

Miami (-7) at Wake Forest – After last week’s bizarre loss, the Hurricanes are in a dangerous place – they could move on like it never happened, or they could self-destruct. I hope for the former, but either is possible.

UNLV (+35) at TCU – the battle to be the Buster continues. TCU doesn’t need to win as impressively as Boise State does, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt.

Texas (-9.5) at Oklahoma State – This is the biggest remaining test for the Longhorns. It will be very interesting to see how the Cowboys respond to their NCAA travesty – losing Dez Bryant for the season.

USC (-3) at Oregon – This is easily the biggest and best game of the weekend. Nothing is guaranteed in the crazy Pac-10, but this should turn out to be a one game playoff for the conference championship. Matt Barkley is impressive, but he’s not going to be warmly welcomed in Autzen. This game could be an instant classic.