Week Ten TV Guide
The battle for the SEC West comes to a conclusion in Tuscaloosa. Ohio St. tries to keep their Rose Bowl hopes alive on the road in Happy Valley. We see if anyone wants to win the honor of losing to Texas in the Big 12 title game. And USC tries to get back on track.
Let's go to week ten.
Let's go to week ten.
9.00 ESPN Northwestern v Iowa (-15.5) - What can even be said at this point? I don't think anything would surprise me with this Iowa team. They could lose this game, they could win by a field goal or they could cover the spread. I hope Iowa goes to the Rose Bowl just because I'd like some fresh blood, but as I've been saying all year, Stanzi is just too inconsistent to beat Ohio St. or Oregon. I think they finish with two losses, but not here, not at home against Northwestern.
11.30 NBC Navy v Notre Dame (-12.5) - This was looking like a good game with an above average Navy team going up against the perennially-close game playing Notre Dame, but Navy lost to Temple. And I know Temple is bowl eligible this year, etc but now we know this won't be too interesting.
12.30 ABC Ohio St. v Penn St. (-5) - Fifty percent of the Big 10 title is decided here. A Penn St. win and Iowa is virtually guaranteed a Rose Bowl bid, even with a loss in Columbus. I wish they were playing this under the lights in Happy Valley, there is just something about that place at night. With the Big 10 weak as it is, Ohio St. players have only a few career-making games a season. Here is another one for Pryor, let's see how he handles it. At least he isn't at home where the crowd will get on him if he underperforms. I think we know this crowd will just plain get on him.
12.30 CBS LSU v Alabama (-7.5) - Unfortunately, the two best games of the day are both at the same time. LSU has not impressed anyone outside of Louisiana, me included. The only thing keeping this game close in my mind is the play of McElroy, which has been substantially subpar over the last few games and this has led to the rise of the Mark Ingram for Heisman movement. LSU just doesn't have an offense, and that starts at QB. We know what teams that don't have an offense look like - Virginia Tech - and they lose to elite teams like Alabama.
4.15 ESPN2 Vanderbilt v Florida (-35) - One of the worst games of the weekend. Insert Brandon Spikes/Urban Meyer joke here.
4.45 ESPN Florida St. v Clemson (-8) - This ends up being an important game for the ACC Atlantic division with Clemson sitting at 2 losses and Florida St. at 3. Haven't watched much of Clemson this year so I'm looking forward to seeing how they look now that they are out of the national spotlight and therefore not underachieving. All of their losses have been 4 points or less, including a 14-10 loss against top 5 TCU. The offense has been getting it together recently after a tough start putting up 38 and 40 points on Wake Forest and Miami.
5.00 ABC USC v Arizona St. (+10) - Only us west coasters will have to deal with watching this game. USC comes out and stomps on ASU, one of the few not-so-dangerous Pac 10 teams.
5.00 ABC Oklahoma v Nebraska (+4) - Nobody wants to win the Big 12 North and I don't see the Nebraska offense, or lack thereof, keeping up with Oklahoma. You know this is a snoozer when the entire ESPN preview article is about old Oklahoma v Nebraska rivalry games and only talks about the 2009 versions of these teams in the context of them being aware of how past Oklahoma v Nebraska games were actually good.
5.00 ABC Connecticut v Cincinnati (-17) - We at CFP have been discussing the issue: Is Cincy a system team? It seems that way with the Bearcats hardly missing a beat since Pike's injury. As Matt has said, system teams usually have a week or two where things just don't go right and they lose. That could happen at any time, and UCONN is not bad. I think the 17 points is a little on the high side, but I still think Cincy has a better chance of losing to UCONN or Illinois than they do WVU or Pitt.
11.30 NBC Navy v Notre Dame (-12.5) - This was looking like a good game with an above average Navy team going up against the perennially-close game playing Notre Dame, but Navy lost to Temple. And I know Temple is bowl eligible this year, etc but now we know this won't be too interesting.
12.30 ABC Ohio St. v Penn St. (-5) - Fifty percent of the Big 10 title is decided here. A Penn St. win and Iowa is virtually guaranteed a Rose Bowl bid, even with a loss in Columbus. I wish they were playing this under the lights in Happy Valley, there is just something about that place at night. With the Big 10 weak as it is, Ohio St. players have only a few career-making games a season. Here is another one for Pryor, let's see how he handles it. At least he isn't at home where the crowd will get on him if he underperforms. I think we know this crowd will just plain get on him.
12.30 CBS LSU v Alabama (-7.5) - Unfortunately, the two best games of the day are both at the same time. LSU has not impressed anyone outside of Louisiana, me included. The only thing keeping this game close in my mind is the play of McElroy, which has been substantially subpar over the last few games and this has led to the rise of the Mark Ingram for Heisman movement. LSU just doesn't have an offense, and that starts at QB. We know what teams that don't have an offense look like - Virginia Tech - and they lose to elite teams like Alabama.
4.15 ESPN2 Vanderbilt v Florida (-35) - One of the worst games of the weekend. Insert Brandon Spikes/Urban Meyer joke here.
4.45 ESPN Florida St. v Clemson (-8) - This ends up being an important game for the ACC Atlantic division with Clemson sitting at 2 losses and Florida St. at 3. Haven't watched much of Clemson this year so I'm looking forward to seeing how they look now that they are out of the national spotlight and therefore not underachieving. All of their losses have been 4 points or less, including a 14-10 loss against top 5 TCU. The offense has been getting it together recently after a tough start putting up 38 and 40 points on Wake Forest and Miami.
5.00 ABC USC v Arizona St. (+10) - Only us west coasters will have to deal with watching this game. USC comes out and stomps on ASU, one of the few not-so-dangerous Pac 10 teams.
5.00 ABC Oklahoma v Nebraska (+4) - Nobody wants to win the Big 12 North and I don't see the Nebraska offense, or lack thereof, keeping up with Oklahoma. You know this is a snoozer when the entire ESPN preview article is about old Oklahoma v Nebraska rivalry games and only talks about the 2009 versions of these teams in the context of them being aware of how past Oklahoma v Nebraska games were actually good.
5.00 ABC Connecticut v Cincinnati (-17) - We at CFP have been discussing the issue: Is Cincy a system team? It seems that way with the Bearcats hardly missing a beat since Pike's injury. As Matt has said, system teams usually have a week or two where things just don't go right and they lose. That could happen at any time, and UCONN is not bad. I think the 17 points is a little on the high side, but I still think Cincy has a better chance of losing to UCONN or Illinois than they do WVU or Pitt.
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You could not have been any more wrong about Nebraska and Navy, but my guess is taht you are happy to be incorrect about those two games.