Wow, are we talking about bowl-eligibility and post-season awards already? Week nine is here for what could go down as the best season of college football in my lifetime. Tonight I got to watch Matt Ryan put a firm grip on the Heisman trophy with his virtuosic performance in the last six minutes of the Eagles’ victory at Virginia Tech. Up until his final two drives, Ryan had pretty much given away the Heisman, but that’s what makes college football so great, it’s not over until the final whistle, and guys like Ryan are why we keep watching every Saturday.
Before we get to the picks, a few words on the ALCS and the World Series.
Another game I had the great pleasure of watching tonight was the Red Sox taking a commanding 2-0 series lead against the Colorado Rockies and their band of misfits. Curt Schilling pitched what could be his last game in Fenway, and I couldn’t be more upset about this. The Red Sox owe Schilling for what he gave in 2004. Schilling gave his health for a few wins, and the first Red Sox World Series title since Woodrow Wilson was in office. This has to count for something doesn’t it? The only way that it’s acceptable to me that Schilling doesn’t come back is if he retires, bottom line. Trot Nixon and Kevin Millar were expendable, and I’m glad we dumped Pedro when we did, but that still doesn’t make it right. If you are Terry Francona right now, would you rather have Pedro or Dice-K pitching game three? I guess this is really only something a fan can rationalize. It’s hard to argue what Theo Epstein and Larry Luchino are doing right now … I just wish we had more loyalty to the players who were there in 2004. The Red Sox are quickly becoming the New England Patriots of Major League baseball, and honestly I have mixed emotions about it.
Congratulations to Indians fans for a magnificent season. You have now taken the Yankees spot as our sworn enemy for the foreseeable future (at least in my eyes). The Yankees are not really as much of a threat anymore as they were, the magic is gone, and you can thank the 2004 Red Sox for that. There are a lot of stars on this team, some ready for prime time (Victor Martinez) and some obviously not (C.C. Sabathia and Travis Hafner) but there is talent to build off of. Mark Shapiro and his smoking hot wife have done a magnificent job building this team for the long haul. I would like to buy Victor Martinez for when Jason Varitek retires, but Martinez is under contract until 2010. Did you see how I phrased that? I would like to BUY him. The Red Sox can do that, the Indians simply can’t. Again, do I feel good about this, no. But it is baseball today, and until Bud Selig and company do something, teams like Cleveland are going to continuously be rebuilding on players leaving for bigger money (This is the new era of the Albert Belle/Jim Thome deals that made Cleveland hate both of them).
Once again, congratulations on a fantastic season, and I’m officially terrified of the Indians for the next three seasons.
World Series Prediction:
Red Sox in six
I’m hoping to be able to see Jonathon Papelbon do this to the World Series trophy and then doing his pants-less Irish Jig next to a horrified Bud Selig.
On to the picks! As always, the home team is in caps.
Notre Dame over BYE
Mercifully, Notre Dame has the week off. I’m never making a pick based on divine intervention ever again … at least for the rest of this year. On a side note, in the days following the nightmare that was the USC game, the Irish secured two more verbal commitments from Michael Floyd and Jonas Gray. Floyd (Wide Receiver) and Gray (Running Back) are both ranked near the top of their respective positions by pretty much every recruiting service. Floyd will be something special, I will guarantee that.
Big 10
Ohio State over PENN STATE: This Ohio State team, as Double C admits in his column yesterday, hasn’t been tested by anyone yet. Well, they get their first test in a very big way, a night game at Penn State. The problem facing Penn State is that their offensive play-calling leaves a lot to be desired and the best linebacker in America (aka James Laurinitis) will eat them alive.
Another quick note on Double C and Ohio State. As much as you hate the phrases “Red Sox Nation” and “Manny being Manny”, I loathe people who capitalize THE Ohio State University. It’s OSU, Ohio State, or the Buckeyes … no other responses will be accepted. It’s more pious and sanctimonious than anything we can call Red Sox fans, Notre Dame fans, or anything. Are we going to confuse Ohio State with the mighty Bobcats of Ohio? I know there is supposedly some history that goes along with it, but I want to kill people who say THE Ohio State University instead of any of my other options. If you feel the need to say THE Ohio State University, kill yourself.
MICHIGAN over Minnesota: Do you think Minnesota is glad they got rid of Glen Mason?
WISCONSIN over Indiana: I actually swayed back and forth on this game for about a good ten minutes. Wisconsin is overrated and Indiana is underrated … a bad combo.
ILLINOIS over Ball State: Illinois is pretty damn good, and I still hate Martez Wilson and Arrelious Benn.
Michigan State over IOWA: “The Fan” I really don’t know what to tell you here. Michigan State can run and throw the football pretty well. They don’t really throw enough to keep going with your theory/fact of “Iowa can’t stop the spread,” but watching them last week was very familiar, I’ve seen that same glazed over look in the eyes of the Notre Dame players.
PURDUE over Northwestern: This game, on paper, is just like the Wisconsin/Indiana match-up. Same result … I can’t justify picking an inferior Northwestern squad.
SEC
Florida over GEORGIA: Georgia is quickly spiraling out of control. They are going to wake up and be Arkansas in two years.
TENNESSEE over South Carolina: South Carolina is being exposed of being a year away from seriously contending in the SEC.
KENTUCKY over Mississippi State: I’ll go ahead and jump on Crowell’s Andre’ Woodson for Heisman bandwagon.
AUBURN over Mississippi: Will Muschamp (Auburn’s Defensive Coordinator) will land a high profile head coaching job in the off-season.
ARKANSAS over Florida International: Arkansas gets a much needed easy week while Huston Nutt works on his resume.
VANDERBILT over Miami (OH): I always root for schools like Vanderbilt, and pick my upsets in the NCAA Basketball tournament on the Vanderbilt corollary: teams with high academic standards can beat far superior athletic talent under perfect circumstances.
ACC
Clemson over MARYLAND: Clemson being a MAC team by 50 points doesn’t prove anything, a win over Maryland does.
WAKE FOREST over North Carolina: I’m going to go ahead and label this one a potential upset for North Carolina. Butch Davis has them improving by leaps and bounds every single week.
Virginia over NORTH CAROLINA STATE: What is Tom O’Brien thinking right now? Is he watching Boston College games with a bottle of Jack Daniels and whenever Jagodzinski and Matt Ryan hug after another win he whips it at the television.
FLORIDA STATE over Duke: Thank God Duke plays Notre Dame soon.
Big 12
TEXAS over Nebraska: Thank God Tom Osborne is back at Nebraska … just in time to fire Bill Callahan.
TEXAS TECH over Colorado: Colorado is another team that is downright “frisky” as my counterpart likes to say.
MISSOURI over Iowa State: Missouri is going to secure a commitment this weekend from the next great spread quarterback Blaine Gabbert.
KANSAS STATE over Baylor: Kansas State is on the upswing, Baylor is stuck in neutral.
TEXAS A&M over Kansas: Kansas has had an easier schedule over Ohio State while Texas A&M has survived a tremendous amount of turmoil.
Big East
LOUISVILLE over Pittsburgh: Who has done a worse coaching job this season, Wanny or Kragthorpe?
West Virginia over RUTGERS: I’m sorry, I’m still not entirely sold on Rutgers. I’m going to give myself a semi-pass on this game because Slaton and White are both banged up.
South Florida over CONNECTICUT: South Florida is still the best team in the Big East.
Pac-10
OREGON (Home Team) over USC: Heisman voters, meet Dennis Dixon, the most valuable quarterback not named Matt Ryan (with apologies to Andre’ Woodson).
ARIZONA STATE over California: Arizona State is a fantastic football team. This is another game where two fast, talented teams are going to give us a show.
Arizona over WASHINGTON: A dynamic battle of coaches on the hot seat. I’ll take the one that actually looks like he gives a shit.
UCLA over WASHINGTON STATE (Home Team): Bill Doba is out at the end of the year, leaving the door open for Mike Price to return.
OREGON STATE over Stanford: Stanford happy days are over.
MAC
Akron over BUFFALO
KENT STATE over Central Michigan
Western Michigan over EASTERN MICHIGAN
BOWLING GREEN over Ohio
Northern Illinois over TOLEDO
Conference-USA
TULSA over Southern Methodist
Memphis over TULANE
EAST CAROLINA over Alabama-Birmingham
MARSHALL over Rice
UTEP over Houston
SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI over Central Florida
Mountain West Conference
WYOMING (Home Team) over UNLV
Utah over COLORADO STATE
Brigham Young over SAN DIEGO STATE
Sun Belt Conference
FLORIDA ATLANTIC over LA-Monroe
Middle Tennessee over NORTH TEXAS
Troy over ARKANSAS STATE
WAC (AKA Colt Brennan’s Conference)
Boise State over FRESNO STATE
LA-Tech over UTAH STATE
NEVADA over Idaho
HAWAII over New Mexico State
1A Independents
NAVY over Delaware
WESTERN KENTUCKY over North Carolina Central
You have no idea how thrilled I am to hear that there is actually something I CAN do to get under YOUR skin. It’s a nice change of pace. THE Ohio State University!! Seriously though, who do you think will win the Heisman? The field is so wide open this year, and there isn’t a Reggie Bush out there to win it based on hype, over exposure and name value. I think it’s going to be a close call.
THE Ohio State University…I think if Oregon beats USC and Dixon has a good showing then his consideration for Heisman should really jump..because he really has not had a bad game this year. The Cal lost was a freak thing and thats the only blemish I can see. But Ryan has the signature play with the cross body TD pass against VT. But all in all its a good race with really no front runner
If I had to pick my Top 5 right now, it would be:
1. Matt Ryan
2. Tim Tebow
3. Dennis Dixon
4. Graham Harrell
5. Andre’ Woodson
Woodson is toast after tonight. I now also would put Ryan #1 and Dixon #2… and that’s it.
Iowa actually beat a pass oriented offense. Got completely dominated in the 1st half, then went back to Iowa football the second half and rammed it down the throat of MSU. Surprisingly, Norm Parker decided to finally blitz in the second half……coincidently, the opposing qb was flustered and forced into mistakes. no shit. who would have thought, huh mr parker. idiot.
I’m not sold on Ryan yet. He struggled entire game against first defense he faced. These last 4 weeks against 4 good teams will define his season. Obviously Woodson is out now. I think Jake Christensen may have climbed into the top 5 with his 5-20 for 64 yard performance yesterday. I hate him.