The Saturday Speculator: Week 5
Iโm going to spare you a lot of prologue.
Just go read this, okay?
Home teams are listed first in my picks, if you care. My picks are in bold. And over the last two weeks, I went 31-6 (15-3 in Week 3 and 16-3 in Week 4), bringing my season total to a quite healthy 70-12 mark. But itโs already 70-13 before Saturday.
- Oregon State vs. USC: Thanks a lot, Trojans.
- Maryland vs. Clemson: The two most spectacularly streaky and consistent inconsistent teams in the ACC play in College Park. But these Tigers have to loose the terrible twosome of James Davis and C.J. Spiller, right? Right?
- Ohio State vs. Minnesota: I think Tim Brewsterโs Magic Gopher Carpet Ride ends against Terrelle Pryor. The freshman may not have been polished against Troy, but he needs only to be effective for this team to win so long as their defense isnโt turning to putty as in Los Angeles. The Buckeyes win in a walk.
- Florida vs. Mississippi: I keep waiting for Mississippiโs Ed Orgeron talent to meet with Houston Nuttโs coaching acumen for an upset, but theyโre apparently both distracted by the gals in The Grove. Itโs an early game and on Raycom Sports, the sort of low-profile thing the Gators have stumbled on from time to time, and the 2007 game in Oxford required Herculean stuff from Tim Tebow on the ground, but I canโt see a loss.
- Auburn vs. Tennessee: It would be easy to say that Tennesseeโs due for an out-of-nowhere win against an SEC opponent, maybe one in the vein of their clobbering of Georgia last year, but I watched some of the UCLA game and all of the Florida game. Jonathan Crompton, I knew Erik Ainge. Erik Ainge was a friend of mine. Jonathan, youโre no Erik Ainge. Tigers roll.
- UCLA vs. Fresno State: There are games that just frustrate the hell out of the prognosticator in me; anything involving UCLA this year is going to fit that bill. There was hope in the Kevin Craft Project for a half, but thatโs gone up in smoke faster than Ludacrisโ pool house. But Fresno struggled against Rutgers and Toledo and got ground to a pulp against Wisconsin, so the Bulldogsโ bandwagon is a little light. Iโm not jumping on, either.
- Texas vs. Arkansas: Texas gets to look good again by beating up the SECโs worst team. At least Mississippi State has a defense. The Longhorns will have no problems, and I would take the points if the spread is anything less than 35.
- East Carolina vs. Houston: I canโt imagine Patrick Pinkney playing as poorly for the Pirates (say that five times fast) as he did down the stretch against NC State, but, then, I wasnโt expecting the fairly good ECU defense to collapse without a couple of glue players. Houstonโs nothing special, and that means the Pirates are my pick, but Iโm not going to be surprised either way.
- Michigan vs. Wisconsin: I think Wisconsinโs overrated, with a win over Fresno State as their respectable victory so far, but Michiganโs only a little bit underrated, and thereโs still no semblance of a cohesive offense in Ann Arbor. Any other year, with a bit more enthusiasm in the Big House and a little more talent on the field, Iโd take Big Blue, but itโs going to have to be the Badgers for me.
- Wake Forest vs. Navy: The government makes, Wake takes. (I couldnโt resist.) Demon Deacons keep a zero in the loss column.
- Oklahoma vs. TCU: If you listened to EDSBS Live this week (and if you didnโt, you should), you heard Peter Bean teasing Orson Swindle/Spencer Hall about his inability to believe in anything but a close game here. And, well, my thought has been classic Lee Corso, that itโs going to be closer than the experts think, and I canโt quite come up with a reason to change that.
- NC State vs. USF: Iโve written about this, but, basically, though I believe in the now-injured Russell Wilson, NC Stateโs still not very good with him, and without him and the talented Nate Irving, it should be a long day for Harrison Beck, and heโs going to be very well acquainted with George Selvie by the end of the Bullsโ win.
- LSU vs. Mississippi State: This game last year was not pretty. And guess what, Wesley Carroll? Youโre still Wesley Carroll, and the Tigers donโt lose to Wesley Carroll.
- Georgia vs. Alabama: Itโs going to be brutal, itโs going to have at least one play where Knowshon Moreno makes you sit up in your seat, itโs going to wake people up to just how ahead of schedule Baby โBama really is, itโs going to be close until the end, and, of course, it involves John Parker Wilson being trusted to win a game. Because of that, Iโm taking the Bulldogs.
- Utah vs. Weber State: Because the Mountain West gets cupcakes, too! The Utes win huge.
- Penn State vs. Illinois: Remember when I was yapping about how Juice Williams was the second-best quarterback in the Big Ten? Well, I was hoping you didnโt, because the new best guy, Penn Stateโs Daryll Clark is going to be giving Illinois fits and leading the Nittany Lions to a win Saturday night, and I wanted to say something about him coming from nowhere. Rats.
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Quick Hitches
Trindon Holliday is going to do something big this weekend. No one will want to be Harrison Beck or Rich Rodriguez on Sunday. The blackout in Athens is going to be a damn cool sight between the hedges.
In a world starved for Heisman candidates and reluctant to embrace Chase Daniel (more on this next week), Javon Ringerโs standard performance against Indiana to kick off the day will be enough to maybe get his name on ESPN.
A meteor will hit the Pittsburgh-Syracuse game and no one will notice. (I wish harm on no one, but people watching that game need lobotomies and refunds.)
Northwesternโs Tyrell Sutton gets a camera on him to do something special this weekend, and his quarterback, C.J. Bacher, gets to show heโs one of the Big Tenโs best.
North Carolina-Miami will be a good game; Colorado-Florida State will not.
The SEC will look even better than last week, and though Washington will get its first win against Stanford, the Pac-10 will be mentioned as the worst conference in America.
Iโll be blogging the Florida game, but, beyond that, who knows?
Questions, grievances, additions, corrections? Leave a note.
