Week 9 College FB Preview: Top 10 Teams on Alert

There's one thing Matt Ryan and I had in common after Thursday's Boston College-Virginia Tech game:

We both wanted to throw up.

The ACC has officially become the worst BCS conference. Those were really the two best teams? Ryan is really a Heisman candidate?

Okay, Ryan did have a great final four minutes—but any quarterback with 10 seconds to throw against a soft prevent can find someone open. 

The box score tells the story of a QB who completed less than 50 percent of his passes and had more turnovers (two INTs, one fumble) than touchdowns.

Those are hardly Heisman numbers—and Ryan nearly had two more picks on top of that.

A game-winning drive can't negate 56 terrible minutes against BC's first decent opponent. Don't forget that Matt Flynn and LSU torched this same Virginia Tech team 45-0.

If Ryan and BC win out against the embarrassingly bad ACC, expect the QB to make a strong push for the Heisman. But if Tim Tebow and the Gators finish without another loss, expect Ryan to place a distant second in the voting.

And after a personal bye week, onto the picks...

Florida vs. Georgia (at Jacksonville, FL)

This game reminds me of Florida-Auburn in the sense that there's no on-paper reason for UF to lose.

Matt Stafford has looked like a sophomore all season, and the Bulldog defense has been far from dominant. The Gators have won 15 of their last 17 against Georgia, and have confidence after defeating Kentucky on the road in convincing fashion last week.

And to all Georgia fans—or Jawjuh fans, as you pronounce it—take a break from the jean shorts jibes and look down at what you're wearing.

I bet you see some torn-up denim.

My pick: Florida

Ohio State at Penn State

Nearly every weekend of the 2007 season has seen one of the top two teams go down.

Boston College survived. Ohio State better be wary going into Happy Valley—especially because they haven't been tested, and don't know what kind of team they really have.

My pick: Penn State

Cal at Arizona State

Are they still considered upsets when the underdog has won the majority of the big games?

Arizona State is another undefeated, untested team. Cal is coming off two losses and facing a do-or-die game.

My pick: Cal

USC at Oregon

Mark Sanchez is getting his third start in a row, and you could really see the growth from his first game to his second.

Wait a minute, it was against Notre Dame. Never mind.

This Oregon team lost their last big home game against Cal, so the Trojans will be confident coming in. Will there really be three upsets in the top 10 again?

My pick: USC

West Virginia at Rutgers

Rutgers has had two extra days to prepare for this one. They know they can score on the Mountaineer defense, but can they contain Pat White and Steve Slaton?

The forecast calls for rain, which means it will be harder to tackle WVU's slippery stars. It also means turnovers may be a factor, as was the case for West Virginia against USF earlier in the year.

My pick: Rutgers

Kansas at Texas A&M: Texas A&M

USF at UConn: USF

South Carolina at Tennessee: South Carolina

Nebraska at Texas: Texas

Miss State at Kentucky: Kentucky