College Football ADD: Week Six Edition

For those of us who don’t enjoy full articles, but only the finer points.

- If Wake Forest doesn’t have Sam Swank, they’re 1-3 heading into next week’s game vs. Clemson. If Wake Forest doesn’t have Sam Swank, Ole Miss is 4-1 (2-0 in the SEC West) and their win over Florida isn’t nearly as shocking.  By the way, Sam Swank is Wake’s All-American kicker.

- LSU as the nation’s No. 3 team confuses me. They have a negative turnover differential. They have pounded on a Div. I-AA opponent and the worst team in Div. I-A. They reluctantly beat Mississippi State. I’ll get behind LSU right about the time that they impress against Florida.  I held out on ‘Bama until last week...now I’m a believer.

-  If the round robin tournament that is the Big 12 conference schedule doesn’t make you excited to watch college football, you need to find a new sport to follow. The NHL is in training camp and the English Premier League is only two months in. Those are my suggestions to you.

- George Selvie has disappeared in the Bulls defense this season with only 2.0 sacks and 4.0 tackles for loss. He had 14.5 sacks last season with 31.5 TFL and was the key spark in big early season wins over Auburn (1.5 sacks, 3.5 TFL), North Carolina (three sacks and five TFL), and West Virginia (one sack, two TFL). 

Since the West Virginia game, Selvie has only had 7.0 sacks and 19.5 TFL in 14 games. The Bulls need a big game from him tonight vs. Pitt.

- If I could attend one game this weekend, it would be No. 4 Missouri at Nebraska.  Missouri’s last win at Nebraska was in 1978. While I’d bet the farm the Tigers haven’t had a team nearly this talented in that time since, that’s a pretty big monkey on a program’s back.

- No, I do not want to go to Madison this weekend. The rankings of worst fans in college football start and end with the Badgers. It goes No. 1—Wisconsin, No. 2—everyone else.

Obscene, obnoxious and just downright a**holish from a program that has the proud history of winning exactly one bowl game—that’s right, one bowl game—before Barry Alvarez showed up in 1990. That was a 1982 triumph over Kansas State in the illustrious Independence Bowl. College pride yields to basic stupidity in the land of cheese.

- If Oregon pulls off the upset of USC this weekend, how disappointed will they be looking back at that Boise State loss? Not that Boise’s a bad team, but the Ducks' QB injury woes for that game (three QBs used) will have cost them significant poll status. 

Of course, USC hasn’t lost two games in a row since Pete Carroll’s first season in Troy (2001).  They haven’t lost to a ranked opponent in the Coliseum in their last 14 games. Big hopes for the Ducks—mega-big hopes.

Conference Games of the Week

ACC

Duke at Georgia Tech. That’s right...Duke at Georgia Tech. If Pat Forde wouldn’t have already stolen my “braintrust of the BCS conferences” idea, I’d elaborate.

Big 12

The aforementioned No. 4 Missouri at Nebraska, though No. 7 Texas Tech at K-State intrigues me as well

Big Ten

No. 14 Ohio State at No. 18 Wisconsin. A-side to appease the Badger fans. USC loses to an unranked, underachieving, conference opponent on the road and stays in the top 10. Wisconsin does the same and barely stays in the top 20. Tough luck.

Big East

No. 24 UConn at North Carolina. The better UConn looks, the better their and South Florida’s chances of getting into the big dance look. It’s still about as likely as me becoming a Scientologist. And that's not to offend scientologists—it'll just be a cold day in hell when I become one.

Pac-10

No. 23 Oregon at No. 9 USC, for all the reasons I said above.

SEC

No. 13 Auburn at No. 19 Vanderbilt.  GameDay, two Top 25 teams, under the lights. Yet one team enters with their last two wins by three total points (Auburn) and the other has a QB that’s thrown for 91, 90, 71, and 40 yards in his first four games (Vandy).  Yawn...

Players that will have big weeks (anyone playing Washington not included)

Javon Ringer

At the rate he’s going, he’ll be like Eddie George—so many carries in college and his first few years in the pros, he’ll be lucky to still have a job by the time he’s 28.

Graham Harrell and Michael Crabtree

How do you throw for 1,573 yards and catch 457 yards respectively and still be perceived to have an “off start”? They’ll continue their “off start” vs. K-State to the tune of 400-plus passing yards and 150-plus receiving yards.

If you want to talk about offense in the Big 12, don’t look at the completion percentages and all the gaudy stats. Texas Tech is No. 9 in the nation in scoring offense at 45.8 points per game. The ninth team in the nation is ranked only No. 6 in their conference, and they only beat out Baylor—yes, Baylor—by 0.1 point/game.

Pat White

Remember him? Better yet, remember when Rutgers vs. West Virginia was a marquee game for about two seconds?  Rutgers couldn’t stop Navy’s option attack—I’m guessing they’ll have difficulty with Pat White and Co. 

Enjoy the slate of games this week, and get ready...if you haven’t already snuck a peek at next week, well, I’d clear off your schedule and get the leaves raked early. It’s gonna be a good day to spend time with your couch.