It’s Thursday and that means the college football weekend is ready to kick off. Don’t miss those days when you could start your weekend on a Thursday after rugby practice? Anyways, I digress let’s take a look at some of the marquee match ups around the NCAA this weekend.
The majority of the countries focus will be place on the west coast and the USC vs. OSU game, and that’s all well and good, but don’t sleep on a great match up that is taking place on Friday night. The Kansas Jayhawks will do battle with the South Florida Bulls. In many ways this will be the first true test that the resurgence Jayhawks have had since they climbed their way to the top of the Big 12 last year. Last year’s schedule afforded them the luxury to skip a lot of the talent in their conference, and they played an overrated Virginia Tech team in their Bowl game. Kansas has a lot of weapons on the outside with a talented receiving core. They also boast a solid offensive line that should give QB Todd Reesing time to throw the ball downfield.
The South Florida Bulls are coming off a close contest against instate rival UCF. Despite that, the Bulls have racked up 500 yards in each of their firs two games on the season. QB Matt Grothe is without a doubt one of the best in the country, and he will look to shine in the national spotlight once again. The Kansas defense has not been tested to this point of the season and they could be suspect in the secondary. USF seems to have a knack for playing these off night games, and their crowd loves to get behind their home team. The atmosphere will be like a Texas high school football game come kickoff. That will be very good for the Bulls.
One factor that could change the outcome for this game is the prediction for rain showers throughout the evening on Friday.
USF wins: They are also a 3.5 point favorite but I wouldn’t mess with betting on this game, too close to call.
Other NCCA Football Games of note this upcoming weekend:
Virginia Cavaliers vs. UConn: Both teams played games that were affected by Tropical Storm Hanna last weekend, so it was difficult to get a read on the UConn offense. This is a big primetime game for the Huskies and look for them to shine. UVA’s offense has been nonexistent to this point, and their offensive line may be one of the worse in the country. The spread was set at UConn -11, but that has been taken down, if it comes back as a double digit spread again, takes UVA as a dog. They are bad, but not that bad.
UCLA vs. BYU: The Bruins pulled the upset in week one against Tennessee. However, their QB looked terrible throwing four picks in the first half. He cannot allow that to happen ever again. And despite his good play in the second half, I credit Tennessee more for shooting themselves in the foot than UCLA actually doing anything. BYU got luck last weekend. We know it, they know it, and they should have lost their game against Washington. Don’t think they won’t come out with a purpose on Saturday to show the Nation that they are the true BCS crashes not ECU. Take BYU and the -8.
Georgia vs. South Carolina: This could be the spot that nips the Bulldogs. Georgia has rolled through the first couple weeks of the season and gotten no respect for their effort. More importantly South Carolina is coming off an embarrassing outing last Thursday against Vandy. The Old Ball Coach Steve Spurier will have his boys ready to go come Saturday. I like South Carolina in this one, at the very least look for them to cover the +8.5.
Michigan vs. Notre Dame: Let me bottom line this; this is two teams both in desperate need of a win. Steven Threet started at QB last week for Michigan and for one drive in the first quarter he looked great and was able to run the Rich Rodriguez system. Unfortunately for Michigan he was not able to maintain that against Miami Oh. Luckily for Michigan, Notre Dame on about the same talent level as Miami Oh. Notre Dame Football is far from being back on its feet and after a lost on Saturday they will be at .500 and will be lucky to maintain throughout the season. Take the Michigan -2 and feel comfortable about it.
OSU vs. USC: This is supposed to be the biggest game of the weekend. Yet, football fans around the country will be disappointed when the smoke settles. Remember when Texas went to OSU to play a game a few years ago after Vince Young and company had left? Yeah, no one does because OSU blew them out in a boring game. When the final whistle is blown on Saturday, the only people who will remember this game is USC fans and the OSU faithful who won’t be able to shake the shame of yet another embarrassment in front of the country. The line for this game opened at 11.5, it’s has closed at the moment but anything short of USC -14 I would take.
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