Week Thirteen TV Guide
The biggest TV weekend of the season with big games on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
I choose Friday as the best of the bunch.
Also remember to keep a lookout for Oklahoma St. and Oklahoma battling it out Saturday at 9.30am in a game that has immense BCS implications.
I choose Friday as the best of the bunch.
Also remember to keep a lookout for Oklahoma St. and Oklahoma battling it out Saturday at 9.30am in a game that has immense BCS implications.
Thu 5.00 ESPN Texas v Texas A&M (+22.5) - Another walk for Texas. Sure it's a rivalry game and A&M aren't so bad this season, but obviously this won't be a problem. Not that Nebraska will give them much trouble in the Big 12 Championship game either, but at least they are the best team out of the North and they haven't already played this year.
Fri 8.00 ESPN2 Rutgers v Louisville (+3) - Rutgers was shocked last week against Big East bottom feeder Syracuse. And while they are favored here, they just simply aren't good. Padding their win total against the likes of Howard, FIU, Army and Texas Southern their best win was a 31-0 thrashing of South Florida. They'll get their eighth win of the season here. They can play Northwestern in the Worst Eight Win Team Bowl.
Fri 9.00 ABC Illinois v Cincinnati (-18) - Illinois is playing as good as they have all season, the problem is that they've had a terrible season. With this game being at home, nobody is going to see this as a trap game before the big face off with fellow top 10 team Pitt.
Fri 11.30 CBS Alabama v Auburn (+10) - Auburn hasn't done enough to make us believe that they have a legit shot at taking out Bama in this year's Iron Bowl. Auburn's signature victories include home wins over Ole Miss and West Virginia and a road victory over Tennessee before the Vols' resurgence had quite begun. They have played much better at home though, with their only slip up being a seven point loss to Kentucky. Alabama QB Greg McElroy had a midseason slump but seems to have recovered from that after a solid performance in their win against LSU.
Fri 12.30 ABC Nebraska v Colorado (+9) - Talk about a rivalry that has lost its luster. The game is completely meaningless in a practical sense for both teams with Nebraska already set to face Texas next week. Colorado meanwhile fails to make a bowl game for the second consecutive year after their seemingly breakout 2007 season under Dan Hawkins. Now it looks like Hawkins may be on the way out.
Fri 4.00 ESPN2 Pittsburgh v West Virginia (pick 'em) - While Cincy has more in the way of a bye week, its anything but for the Panthers who go on the road in an intense rivalry game against the Big East's third best team. This will not be easy. However, for all practical purposes this has no bearing on the Big East title, which will be decided next week between Cincy and Pitt. Even if Pitt were to lose here a win at home over Cincy would do the job.
Fri 7.15 ESPN2 Nevada v Boise St. (-10.5) - Can you even call this a test for Boise? Its the best the WAC has to offer them in the way of a hurdle to a BCS game and wouldn't it actually hurt the conference financially if Nevada does pull out the win? Even Nevada's AD will be rooting for Boise. After an 0-3 start losing to the likes of Notre Dame and Colorado St. the Wolfpack have come storming back, undefeated in conference. While I'm sure the team has gotten it together over the course of the season, at the end of the day it just goes to show how awful the WAC is.
9.00 ESPN Clemson v South Carolina (+3) - It's a rivalry game, but not too important to anyone outside of South Carolina this year. Clemson is already in the ACC Championship game and the way they are playing now I'd give them a 45% chance of beating Georgia Tech presuming they win here.
9.00 ESPN2 North Carolina v North Carolina St. (+5) - Another forgettable season for the boys from Raleigh. North Carolina will win here and go to 9-3 yet they are so far down in the polls they have no chance at a BCS finish in the top 14. More proof that if you lose a number of games early and then get hot it doesn't help. There's just too many teams to jump.
12.30 CBS Florida St. v Florida (-22.5) - Florida needs to stop pointing to this game to show that their OOC schedule isn't incredibly weak.
12.30 ABC Arizona v Arizona St. (+3) - After the way Arizona looked against Oregon I am now a believer. I expect them to win by more than three against an Arizona St. team with no offense to speak of. And then I'm looking forward to the USC game on Dec 5.
12.30 ESPN Virginia Tech v Virginia (+16) - As we wrote earlier, VT will be in good position for a BCS bowl provided they win here. While nothing in the ACC is ever guaranteed, this is.
4.00 ESPN Arkansas v LSU (-3.5) - LSU more than likely locks up their Cotton Bowl spot with a win. Ryan Mallett has been tossing around going to the NFL. We hope he sticks around for one more season with the Hogs where I think we'll see even more improvement and maybe even a Heisman-discussion type season.
5.00 ABC Georgia v Georgia Tech (-7) - Another ACC Championship participant has a tuneup game against a mediocre SEC rival. Since I'm still not sold on Georgia Tech's consistency I'll be watching this game closely. Georgia is really down this year and Tech should not have a problem with them at home if they are going to handle Clemson in their rematch.
5.00 ABC Notre Dame v Stanford (-10) - Charlie Weis has no doubt already lost his job and his statement this week is tantamount to a resignation. If they don't win here they will be 6-6 and may miss out on a bowl entirely as all 7 win teams need to be taken first. If they do win, they steal the more prestigious Gator Bowl from the loser of the Pitt/Cincy game. I don't expect the Irish to leave Stanford with a victory, but this season has shown they will probably cover the +10.
Fri 8.00 ESPN2 Rutgers v Louisville (+3) - Rutgers was shocked last week against Big East bottom feeder Syracuse. And while they are favored here, they just simply aren't good. Padding their win total against the likes of Howard, FIU, Army and Texas Southern their best win was a 31-0 thrashing of South Florida. They'll get their eighth win of the season here. They can play Northwestern in the Worst Eight Win Team Bowl.
Fri 9.00 ABC Illinois v Cincinnati (-18) - Illinois is playing as good as they have all season, the problem is that they've had a terrible season. With this game being at home, nobody is going to see this as a trap game before the big face off with fellow top 10 team Pitt.
Fri 11.30 CBS Alabama v Auburn (+10) - Auburn hasn't done enough to make us believe that they have a legit shot at taking out Bama in this year's Iron Bowl. Auburn's signature victories include home wins over Ole Miss and West Virginia and a road victory over Tennessee before the Vols' resurgence had quite begun. They have played much better at home though, with their only slip up being a seven point loss to Kentucky. Alabama QB Greg McElroy had a midseason slump but seems to have recovered from that after a solid performance in their win against LSU.
Fri 12.30 ABC Nebraska v Colorado (+9) - Talk about a rivalry that has lost its luster. The game is completely meaningless in a practical sense for both teams with Nebraska already set to face Texas next week. Colorado meanwhile fails to make a bowl game for the second consecutive year after their seemingly breakout 2007 season under Dan Hawkins. Now it looks like Hawkins may be on the way out.
Fri 4.00 ESPN2 Pittsburgh v West Virginia (pick 'em) - While Cincy has more in the way of a bye week, its anything but for the Panthers who go on the road in an intense rivalry game against the Big East's third best team. This will not be easy. However, for all practical purposes this has no bearing on the Big East title, which will be decided next week between Cincy and Pitt. Even if Pitt were to lose here a win at home over Cincy would do the job.
Fri 7.15 ESPN2 Nevada v Boise St. (-10.5) - Can you even call this a test for Boise? Its the best the WAC has to offer them in the way of a hurdle to a BCS game and wouldn't it actually hurt the conference financially if Nevada does pull out the win? Even Nevada's AD will be rooting for Boise. After an 0-3 start losing to the likes of Notre Dame and Colorado St. the Wolfpack have come storming back, undefeated in conference. While I'm sure the team has gotten it together over the course of the season, at the end of the day it just goes to show how awful the WAC is.
9.00 ESPN Clemson v South Carolina (+3) - It's a rivalry game, but not too important to anyone outside of South Carolina this year. Clemson is already in the ACC Championship game and the way they are playing now I'd give them a 45% chance of beating Georgia Tech presuming they win here.
9.00 ESPN2 North Carolina v North Carolina St. (+5) - Another forgettable season for the boys from Raleigh. North Carolina will win here and go to 9-3 yet they are so far down in the polls they have no chance at a BCS finish in the top 14. More proof that if you lose a number of games early and then get hot it doesn't help. There's just too many teams to jump.
12.30 CBS Florida St. v Florida (-22.5) - Florida needs to stop pointing to this game to show that their OOC schedule isn't incredibly weak.
12.30 ABC Arizona v Arizona St. (+3) - After the way Arizona looked against Oregon I am now a believer. I expect them to win by more than three against an Arizona St. team with no offense to speak of. And then I'm looking forward to the USC game on Dec 5.
12.30 ESPN Virginia Tech v Virginia (+16) - As we wrote earlier, VT will be in good position for a BCS bowl provided they win here. While nothing in the ACC is ever guaranteed, this is.
4.00 ESPN Arkansas v LSU (-3.5) - LSU more than likely locks up their Cotton Bowl spot with a win. Ryan Mallett has been tossing around going to the NFL. We hope he sticks around for one more season with the Hogs where I think we'll see even more improvement and maybe even a Heisman-discussion type season.
5.00 ABC Georgia v Georgia Tech (-7) - Another ACC Championship participant has a tuneup game against a mediocre SEC rival. Since I'm still not sold on Georgia Tech's consistency I'll be watching this game closely. Georgia is really down this year and Tech should not have a problem with them at home if they are going to handle Clemson in their rematch.
5.00 ABC Notre Dame v Stanford (-10) - Charlie Weis has no doubt already lost his job and his statement this week is tantamount to a resignation. If they don't win here they will be 6-6 and may miss out on a bowl entirely as all 7 win teams need to be taken first. If they do win, they steal the more prestigious Gator Bowl from the loser of the Pitt/Cincy game. I don't expect the Irish to leave Stanford with a victory, but this season has shown they will probably cover the +10.
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