Here’s the best of a relatively light day of college football:

Oklahoma State (+8) at Oklahoma – It amazes me that the Cowboys are still getting as little respect as this line indicates given the seasons the two teams have had. This one really matters for the Cowboys, and only counts for pride for Oklahoma.

New Mexico (+44.5) at TCU – Boise State did their job yesterday. Now TCU needs to avoid a humiliating upset to secure a BCS bid. This is a chance for style points for the Horned Frogs.

Continue reading “Saturday Storylines” →

I am not looking forward to this day of college football. as a major Michigan fan this is normally my favorite day – the brilliant rivalry that is Michigan-Ohio State. This year I just face it with frustration and dread, though. Our team is lousy, we’re not bowl eligible, and we are more than likely going to lose badly. Again. Painfully frustrating. I may or may not be able to watch the whole game. Either way, I will be paying more attention to other games than I normally do on this day. These ones are the most interesting to me:

North Carolina (+3.5) at Boston College – I like the progress that North Carolina is making and would like to see them wind up raked. They are just clinging to the last spot in the polls, though, so they really can’t afford to lose this one. Boston College would be close to climbing into the polls themselves with a win here.

Minnesota (+11) at Iowa – The Hawkeyes stand a good chance of making the BCS if they win here, and the bigger the win the better. If that’s not motivation for a big showing – by both teams – then nothing will be.

Oklahoma (-6.5) at Texas Tech – This team doesn’t mean a thing for either team in a real sense, but it still should be fun as both sides try to salvage some pride.

TCU (-30.5) at Wyoming – TCU needs to keep winning to maintain their chances of glory. Wyoming is outclassed, but they can be a tough, feisty team at home – just ask Texas. Wyoming won the last time these teams met in Laramie.

UConn (+6) at Notre Dame – The Charlie Weis death watch continues. I’m not at all convinced that he can do anything to save himself, but a loss here would be fatal.

LSU (+4.5) at Ole Miss – LSU is at number 10 and could play themselves higher in the rankings with a win here. They aren’t going to make the BCS barring a miracle because there are already two SEC teams ahead of them, but the motivation will still be high here for pride. Mississippi has a better record than their play should warrant, and could earn a nice bowl with a win here, too.

Virginia (+21) at Clemson – C.J. Spiller is a beast and Virginia can’t stop the run. This one could be a big factor in the Heisman race.

Penn State (-3) at Michigan State – If Iowa loses then Penn State would be playing for a BCS bid here. That isn’t likely, but it would make for a classic. Either way, this one should be a good one.

Cal (+7) at Stanford – The Cardinal have been amazing the last couple of weeks, but can they maintain the momentum when they play a slightly lesser opponent? This one is always a war anyway because of the rivalry, but this time around it should be fascinating.

Kansas (+27.5) at Texas – The Longhorns have their fate in their hands – stay on track and they are headed to the BCS championship game. This one won’t be close if Texas is focused because Kansas is self-destructing.

Oregon (-6) at Arizona – The Pac-10 is offering by far the most drama in the country right now, and this is yet another game that will help to determine the conference champion and the bowl rankings. Arizona needs a big win.

It’s another big weekend of college football action. Here are the storylines that are the most intriguing:

Tennessee (+6) at Mississippi – The large majority of the bets have been on the Vols, but the line is on an elevator up – from 3.5 where it opened to six now. That isn’t what you would expect, and that means that some smart money is hitting Mississippi fairly hard. It will be interesting to see if Mississippi can back up the faith.

Continue reading “College Football Storylines” →

I won’t be watching too much college football today because of the Breeders’ Cup, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t be keeping an eye on the scores and the summaries, and probably clicking over to some games for a bit between races. Here are the stories I’ll be most interested in following:

Purdue (+6) at Michigan – I will be watching this one with fear in my heart. I have so little faith in my Wolverines right now that I am terrified of what could happen here. This is probably their last chance to become bowl eligible, so it’s an important one. There are about a million ways we are capable of losing this one right now.

Central Florida (+34.5) at Texas – Texas is looking great right now, and are back in the good graces of the media and the public. It will be interesting to see if they can maintain the momentum now that they have probably read the headlines about how great they are again. The Knights are dangerous enough that they could make this interesting if the Longhorns aren’t into it.

Northwestern (+15.5) at Iowa – The Hawkeyes need to keep winning, and Northwestern really needs a career-defining win as they attempt to rebuild their program.

LSU (+7.5) at Alabama – The Tide need a big win to gain back the public opinion that they have been losing gradually. LSU needs a big win to get back into the BCS Championship picture. Both teams will be fired up for this one.

Ohio State (+5) at Penn State – If and when the Hawkeyes falter the winner of this game is going to be there to try and pick up the pieces. This is the battle for second best in the Big Ten.

Wake Forest (+14) at Georgia Tech – The Wreck is quietly playing some fantastic football and are increasingly relevant nationally. This would move them to 9-1 if they win. If they play as well as they can then 11-1 is perfectly possible, and that’s when things get interesting.

Oregon (-7) at Stanford – This one is interesting for a couple of reasons. We get to see how the Ducks will react to a big win – if they can stay focused and on task. The Cardinal isn’t a team to be taken lightly, though, and they have a track record for killing giants.

TCU (-24.5) at San Diego State – Boise State had a bit of a scare on Friday night, and it could hurt their reputation. A big win here by TCU would further increase the gap between them and Boise State, and would make the road to the BCS all the more clear.

Vanderbilt (+35) at Florida – Florida needs to win this one in a big, big way or, if Texas or Alabama wins big, it is going to get harder and harder for Florida to justify their position atop the polls. Tebow and the team need to play like 35 point favorites here.

Houston (-1) at Tulsa – This one is going to be a good old fashioned shootout. I love that.

UConn (+17) at Cincinnati – The Bearcats need to keep winning to prove themselves, and they could stand to win by a really big margin to improve their public perception and try to move higher up the rankings.

USC (-10) at Arizona State – How do the Trojans bounce back from being blown out? We have no idea because it has never happened before under Pete Carroll. This will be educational.

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.

Continue reading “College Football Storylines” →

Here are the stories capturing my attention for today:

Minnesota (+16) at Ohio State – The Buckeyes need a big win here in order to salvage something from this season. They also need Terrelle Pryor to look like the player that he is supposed to be.

South Florida (+6.5) at Pittsburgh – Neither of these teams can afford a win as they try to stick close to Cincinnati and keep the Big East BCS bid in their sights.

Arkansas (+6.5) at Ole Miss – Both these teams still have a chance to finish the season ranked, but a loss here would be a blow to those chances.

Boston College (+7.5) at Notre Dame – I don’t have a whole lot of love for Boston College, but I couldn’t possibly be cheering for them more. A third Notre Dame loss would be, hopefully, a nail in their BCS coffin. That would make me very happy.

Clemson (+4.5) at Miami – Miami goes back to playing real competition after a couple of easy weeks. The Hurricanes are by far the better team, but Clemson is playing well right now and can be pesky. This will be a test of Miami’s concentration.

Penn State (-4.5) at Michigan – A win by the Wolverines at the Big House would be a clear sign that this team is on the right track – a fast one back to respectability. Penn State’s defense has been very good, but this is by far the best offense they have faced. Surprisingly, this one could be a contest for second or third in the Big Ten.

Oklahoma (-7.5) at Kansas – The Sooners could actually be below .500 with a loss here. Hard to believe, but these guys haven’t had a single piece of luck.

Louisville (+17.5) at Cincinnati – If the Bearcats want to prove that they belong in the discussion with the big boys then they can’t get caught looking past lightweights like the Cardinals have sadly become.

Oregon (-10) at Washington – Washington has been playing well – better than their record, really. They will be desperate to keep the momentum rolling, and knocking off Oregon would certainly do that.

Tennessee (+14.5) at Alabama – I don’t for a second think that Alabama will lose. I certainly hope not, because Lane Kiffin is hard enough to take now. With a win here he would be unbearable.

Iowa (+1.5) at Michigan State – The Hawkeyes are in the driver’s seat in the Big Ten, but this is a dangerous spot for them. The public thinks so, too – the game opened with Iowa favored by 2.5.

TCU (-2.5) at BYU – With a win here TCU will likely finish the season undefeated, and will have a real chance of earning a BCS bid. BYU wants to make sure that that doesn’t happen. This one will be one heck of a war.

Florida (-22.5) at Mississippi State – Florida is badly depleted in their defensive front seven, and Mississippi State can run the ball. This could get interest. It probably won’t, though.

Texas (-13) at Missouri – If Texas plays their typically lethargic, disinterested style of this year then the Tigers may be good enough t make them pay for it.This is a big test – probably the biggest they have had this year given the injury situation at Oklahoma.

Oregon State (+21) at USC – You know that Oregon State is dreaming of another Trojan upset.

As always, there are all sorts of great storylines in today’s college football action. Here are my favorites:

Oklahoma (-3) vs. Texas – Both teams desperately need this win, but for very different reasons. Texas dropped out of the second spot in the polls last week, and their play hasn’t been particularly impressive. They need an impressive win over a good team in order to prove that they are a good team and that they belong in the BCS Championship game. Oklahoma has had a very rough year – two losses, the injury to Sam Bradford, and so on. This team is better than a 3-3 team, or at least they should be. They won’t be if they don’t win here, though. There is real desperation on both sides, and that leads to good drama. It also doesn’t hurt that these teams don’t exactly like each other.

Iowa (+2.5) at Wisconsin – Iowa is still undefeated and poised to keep climbing up the charts. They face a tough rival here, though, and they aren’t exactly coming off a tour de force performance in their narrow win over Michigan last week. They need to win, and win big, here to continue to gain respect and climb the polls since they are burdened by playing in a pretty underwhelming conference this year.

USC (-10) at Notre Dame – This is being painted as the game of the week. Like so many games of the week featuring USC, I expect this one to be a bust. Notre Dame has a largely one-dimensional offense, and they haven’t run up against a defense as good as USC has. Notre Dame has played very close games against teams that it should be totally outclassing. For all their faults this year, the Trojans are significantly better than any team they have faced. I don’t see how the Irish can measure up. This could be the end of yet another Heisman campaign – Jimmy Clausen’s.

Continue reading “College Football Preview” →

Here are the storylines that stand out for me this week in college football action:

Michigan (+2) at Michigan State – The Spartans have been terrible so far this year. The Wolverines have yet to play on the road, and have gotten worse defensively as the season has progressed. This is a big rivalry game, and one team is going to wind up very disappointed.

South Florida (-6.5) at Syracuse – Was last week’s stunning upset a fluke, or is B.J. Daniels ready to do big things at South Florida. And will GregPaulus continue to take strides forward?

Alabama (-16.5) at Kentucky – We saw what the Gators did against Kentucky last week, so this is a way to get a very rough estimate of how the top two teams in the SEC measure up.

Penn State (-7) at Illinois – Both teams need to bounce back from embarrassing performances last week. Illinois really needs to find a way to pull off a win this week in an attempt to get a once promising season back on track.

UCLA(+6) at Stanford – One of these teams has a good chance of being a factor in the Pac-10 race. This game will give us a good sense of which one.

LSU (+3) at Georgia – I really don’t believe in either of these teams. A decisive win by one of them would be a sign that they achieve their rankings. For now, I think both are badly overrated.

Washington (+13.5) at Notre Dame – The Irish need a convincing win over someone to prove themselves. Washington needs to bounce back from last week and prove that their USC performance was no fluke.

Oklahoma (-7.5) at Miami – Will Sam Bradford play? How well? Can Miami bounce back from last week’s humiliation, or are they exhausted from their ridiculously tough opening string of games?

USC (-5) at Cal – Two weeks ago you could have argued convincingly that this game was for a spot in the BCS championship. Now it’s next to impossible to know what we have from either team. This could be a great game, or it could be a train wreck, but it will be interesting either way.

Houston (-16) at UTEP – I will be watching Houston closely all the way through this season. They have a couple of impressive wins already, so if they could remain undefeated they could create a real headache for the BCS. Besides that, they are just so much fun to watch.