10 Things to Know for Week Four

1. Gamecock’s Spur(rier) the Rebels?

Thursday’s matchup between the No. 4 Mississippi Rebels and unranked South Carolina will be the best thing on TV that night.  Forget the season premieres of Survivor: Samoa, Grey’s Anatomy, Fringe, Bones, etc. 

Up to this point in the season, no team has really shown anything spectacular, aside from maybe Miami last week against Georgia Tech.

Jevon Snead and Co. will need every last bit of talent they have to keep the ‘Cocks in check and help prove the SEC is a quality conference and deserving of four teams in the top seven.   Any chance at a BCS bowl game could be ended if the Rebs aren’t careful.  The Ol’ Ball Coach starts his retirement paperwork this week.

The Call: Ole Miss by 8.

2. ACC Coastal Championship Crowned Saturday?

Miami has emerged on the national stage once again.  Are they really as good as everyone on the bandwagon says?  I’m not buying it. 

Jacory Harris will be a great QB in the future, but the offensive line must pick it up and give their leader more time.

With a young team and young QB, the Hurricanes will not handle all the attention well.  Tyrod Taylor proved himself with the last-minute TD against Nebraska last weekend and will help his visitors learn a little something about experience.  There is no other game that should be on your TV Saturday afternoon (unless you have Picture in Picture—then put on the Cal-Oregon game, too), as this is sure to be a great game.

The Call: VT by 4.

3. Best in the Pac-10?

As I mentioned, Cal-Oregon will be a good game to watch Saturday, even if it does not sound like it.  Javhid Best is off to a great start this season and will be in New York in December as a Heisman finalist.   Chip Kelly could be a big roadblock in the Bears’ quest for a Pac-10 Championship, though.

With USC already a game behind California (thank you, Washington), the Bears are the favorite to win their conference, but the past few years have shown us that the Bears tend to climb high in the rankings only to fall on their face as the season progresses. 

Oregon pulled off a great win over Utah last week and junior QB Jeremiah Masoli and newfound RB LaMichael Jones could be just the right tandem for Cal to stumble over.

The Call: California by 3.

4. Another BCS Buster Will Get Busted

First, it was BYU and Utah.  Boise State, Houston, and TCU are the only remaining teams from the non-“Big Six” conferences with any real chance to break into the BCS.  After this weekend, you will be able to whittle that list to two.

Houston came into the picture after QB Case Keenum and his teammates knocked off Oklahoma State.  Keenum will continue to impress throughout the season, but Texas Tech will be too much for this team to handle Saturday.  Taylor Potts is filling Graham Harrell’s shoes more quickly than expected, and he played better than Heisman hopeful Colt McCoy in their matchup last week.  What Houston has accomplished is respectable and they should finish 11-1 with a Conference USA Championship, but will not break into the BCS this year.

The Call: Texas Tech by 14

5. JoePa Gets His Revenge

Whether he will admit it or not, Coach Joe Paterno is excited to get a chance to avenge last year’s loss to Iowa.  The Nittany Lions would have been in the National Championship game if not for their sole loss against Iowa last year.  After starting off the season with a close call against Northern Iowa, the Hawkeyes have returned to form but will not be able to handle the night game in State College, PA.

The Big 10 will come down to Penn State, Michigan, and Ohio State yet again. 

Will the Nittany Lions make it to the BCS Championship?  Probably not, because Daryll Clark is not a good enough QB to lead them there, and a loss will come later in the season, so the best chance they have at a championship is that of their conference.

The Call: Penn State by 24

6. Team Tebow

The Florida Gators did not dominate the game against Tennessee as much as the rest of the nation (including me) anticipated.  Instead, The Boys from Ol’ Florida showed the country just how vulnerable they are.

Tim Tebow has been the backbone of the team for four years now, but he is almost all they have right now.  While Tebow’s accuracy has improved, he has no quality receivers to throw to at this point in the season. 

Add in the fact that the offensive line can’t give him enough time to throw the ball and it shows that the Gators are almost one-dimensional and will rely heavily on their rushing unless the roster at WR improves.

Luckily for Florida, a trip to Kentucky will not be terribly taxing and all their athletes with the flu can take the week off to recover and be ready for the trip to Death Valley in two weeks.

The Call: Florida by 30

7. A Nod to Washington

Since the Huskies are off to a great start this season with a 2-1 record and their only loss coming by eight points at the hands of the LSU Tigers, we’ll give them their due respect. 

After beating USC, Washington can keep their Pac-10 Championship hopes alive with a win this weekend when they visit Stanford.

It won’t be easy, but if the Huskies can tame USC’s offense, they should be able to handle the Cardinal.  Jake Locker can further his team’s legitimacy and keep Washington in the Top 25 with a great showing this weekend.

The Call: Washington by 2

8. Trojan Comfort

After another tough loss to an unranked opponent last weekend, USC has a little breathing room Saturday against visiting Washington State.  The Cougars are even worse than they were last season and won the only game they will this season when they hosted SMU last Saturday.

Matt Barkley will be back at QB and he’ll prove to coach Pete Carroll that he is surely the best QB the Trojans have.  Don’t expect a lot of passes, though.  USC will put up some big rushing numbers as their freshman QB works his way back to 100%.

The Call: USC by 35

9. Florida State Roller Coaster

The Seminoles seem to be an up and down team so far this season.  Their opening game against Miami was a spectacle that any college football fan could enjoy, and they fought hard in a close loss. 

The next week, they hosted Jacksonville State and didn’t have the lead until the last minute of the game.  This past Saturday, Florida State traveled to Utah and thumped a good BYU team. 

Will they continue their ride or change things up this weekend?

With South Florida missing its QB, this will be an easy game for the ‘Noles, one they should not win by fewer than two touchdowns.

The Call: FSU by 24

Well, it looks like you only get nine things this week due to time constraints.   I’ll be back with a full 10 next week.