Alabama Over Florida and College Football Picks for Saturday's Top Five Games
With the college football season in full swing and teams into their conference schedules, this weekend provides a full slate of top-quality matchups for fans of every conference.
There are key matchups between powers in the SEC, Big 12, Big Ten, and Pac-10 that will go a long way toward shaping the national championship picture as well weeding out the impostors among the 19 undefeated teams in the AP top 25.
National championships cannot be won in September, but for Alabama, Florida, Oklahoma, Oregon, Stanford, and many others, dreams of raising the crystal ball are on the line already this Saturday.
In the Big 12 and SEC the key games feature teams who are fixtures in the national championship conversation while in the Pac-10 and Big Ten some new blood is trying to take that next step toward greatness.
No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide vs. No. 7 Florida Gators
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While this game involves the nation's No. 1 overall team, it is not the best game on the docket for the weekend.
Alabama has looked absolutely dominant this season, and although Arkansas jumped out to an early lead against the Crimson Tide last weekend, do not expect similar drama this weekend.
On the defensive side of the ball this game includes two of the nation's top defenses, both of whom are extremely fast and very physical. Florida's defense has been carrying them this season especially during stretches when the offense played down to the level of inferior opponents. Alabama's defense looks almost as strong as their championship caliber unit from last season and has been making plays all season to keep them undefeated.
Alabama is the No. 1 overall team in the land for a reason. His name is Mark Ingram. Ingram is just too fast and too physical for seemingly any defense in college football. Even on plays where Ingram takes the snap himself in Alabama's version of the wildcat he simply cannot be stopped.
Florida would have a difficult time beating Alabama with just Ingram but add in quarterback Greg McElroy, a man who has not lost a competitive football game since middle school and watch for the Crimson Tide to win a competitive game with an outcome that is never in doubt.
No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners vs. No. 21 Texas Longhorns
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This game includes a pair of national title hopefuls, both of whom have been woefully inconsistent to this point in the season.
Texas, after starting the season with three consecutive victories, looked like a team that was not worthy of a spot in the Big 12 Championship game let alone the national championship conversation. They were dominated by a middle of the road UCLA team that simply ran their way to victory. UCLA threw a total of nine passes in the entire game and yet were still able to embarrass the Longhorns at home by 22 points.
Oklahoma has managed to maintain their perfect mark for the season but have struggled mightily with consistency issues.
It is hard to believe that a team who demolished the 17th-ranked Florida State Seminoles in week two by 30 points would have question marks but after consecutive victories over Air Force and Cincinnati by a mere average of two and half points each, it is hard to know which Sooners team will show up on Saturday.
That said, look for the Sooners to take this year's installment of the famed Red River Rivalry. Oklahoma has at least had flashes of greatness this season while Texas has looked idle and lost without Colt McCoy under center for the first time in four seasons.
Watch for Oklahoma's senior running back DeMarco Murray to have a monster game as Bob Stoops will likely want to replicate UCLA's success on the ground from last week.
No. 11 Wisconsin Badgers vs. No. 24 Michigan State Spartans
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This matchup between best teams in the Big Ten not named Michigan or Ohio State could play out as the most entertaining game of the weekend.
Watch for a shootout as both teams have been showing off their high powered offenses all fall. Neither team has faced much in the way of competition so this game could go a long way to determining who, besides Michigan, may be ready to challenge Ohio State for the Big Ten crown.
Wisconsin is coming off a game in which they scored 70 points against Austin Peay. Watch for them to run the ball heavily while also utilizing quarterback Scott Tolzien to open up the field.
Michigan State is also coming off a big win over Northern Colorado so look for their offense to be synced up as well. Quarterback Kirk Cousins completed almost seventy percent of his passes in their overtime victory over Notre Dame so watch for his efficiency and game managing abilities to play a major part in deciding the outcome of this game.
While both teams have yet to really be tested and Michigan State was only able to sneak past Notre Dame, look for the return of Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio, following a heart attack two weeks ago, and home field advantage to give the Spartans enough of a spark to upset the Badgers.
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No. 23 North Carolina State Wolfpack vs. Virginia Tech Hokies
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While it may seem a strange choice to make the number two most important game to watch this weekend this game has far ranging implications for this year and beyond.
First, N.C. State needs to win this game for the sake of the ACC. The ACC is experiencing yet another down year and is risking being downgraded into a category with the Big East of BCS conferences that simply do not produce BCS contenders.
Aside from Virginia Tech, no ACC team has performed on the national stage since Miami lost in its last national championship appearance. This year Florida State, Virginia Tech, and Miami have all dropped nationally televised games to highly ranked opponents often in embarrassing fashion.
If this trend continues, more and more recruits will be lost to the SEC and other regional competitors and traditional powerhouses like Miami and Florida State will have an even more difficult time regaining credibility on the national stage.
This may be an awful lot of pressure to put on one game in September, there needs to be a sense of urgency within the ACC as a whole. If N.C. State drops this game to Virginia Tech, there is a real chance that Miami will be the lone representative of the conference in the top 25 this time next week.
Secondly, this game has interesting national title implications for Boise State. Boise's win over Virginia Tech has lost much of its luster in recent weeks as V.T. dropped a second game to James Madison before easily defeating two lackluster opponents in East Carolina and Boston College.
If Boise wins out and wants a shot at the National Championship they need Virginia Tech to knock off as many ranked opponents as possible, starting with N.C. State, in order to rebuild the credibility of Boise's opening week victory.
No. 4 Oregon Ducks vs. No. 9 Stanford Cardinal
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The most important game this weekend comes from the wild west of the Pac-10 in the form of a matchup between the conference's two top dogs, Oregon and Stanford.
Both Oregon and Stanford are new to the national championship debate, but thus far this season both have shown that their claims to high rankings are completely legitimate.
This game also offers a showcase of how the Pac-10 will remain relevant and grow stronger even with the loss of USC's bowl eligibility.
Oregon has one of the most prolific offenses in the nation and relies on the speed of their offense to simply outrun their opponents. So far this season the Ducks are first in the nation in points per game, averaging an astounding 57.8 points per contest.
Ducks star quarterback Darron Thomas has already thrown 10 touchdown passes this year and will look to add to that total in a likely shootout with Stanford.
Stanford has been one of college football's nicest surprises as, although good things were expected, nobody was quite sure just how good they would be.
The Cardinal plays a bruising brand of physical football that they hope will allow them to beat up on the smaller and faster Oregon team this Saturday. Their offense, led by quarterback Andrew Luck, has also been prolific, ranking fourth in the country with 48 points per game.
As if not more impressive, however, is the Cardinal defense, which ranks 12th overall in points allowed, even with victories over UCLA (who put up 34 on Texas) and Notre Dame (whose offense looked prolific against Michigan and Michigan State) already in the bag.
This game has serious national title implications, as it pits the Pac-10's best against each other early in the season.
Look for the contrasting ideologies to determine the winner, as either Oregon will outrun the Cardinal or Stanford will bruise and batter the Ducks on their way to victory.
In a world without USC bowl participation, the annual matchup between these two up-and-comers will become must-see television—not just on the West Coast, but even in the heart of SEC, Big Ten, and Big 12 country.
This one will be close most likely coming down to the last possession. On a neutral field I would put my faith in Luck's experience at quarterback to be the defining factor, but here I simply cannot pick against Oregon in a night game, at home, and in front of the always-raucous Autzen stadium crowd.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
