College Football Week 8 Thread

Well, Indiana took it to Oregon last week and you know what, that’s a great team Curt Cignetti has put together there. All props to what they did. How good Oregon actually is becomes an open question. Did they simply crush the heart out of Penn State causing them to give up on James Franklin (the most amazing 3 week career collapse in college football history) or was Penn State just not that good to begin wtih. Probably a bit of both, but Oregon now has no signature win and since they don’t play Ohio State–or even Michigan or Illinois–they probably wont’ get one. They still have games at Iowa and Washington and at home against USC, so they could end up 11-1 with some good wins, but I dunno, we will see. Anyway, it was a bad week for the Ducks. So maybe this week will be better.

Top 10 games of the week based on the Athletic’s ranking of all teams from 1-136, in order of the time of start.

1. #29 Louisville at #2 Miami (-13.5), Fri. 7, ESPN. Saying it right now, Miami in a rout. Louisville ain’t bad, but Miami is great. You can make fun of me for being wrong about college football if you want when Louisville pulls the upset before this goes live, it’s all good.
2. #10 LSU at #16 Vanderbilt (-2.5), 12, ABC. It’s hard to believe Vanderbilt is actually favored in any game against LSU. They’ve probably earned it too. They are a good team. However, I think LSU is a better team and that they win this game.
3. #28 Washington at #21 Michigan (-6.5), 12, FOX. Michigan didn’t look good against USC. Washington has beaten no one and nearly lost to some no ones. These are both solid teams that no one really believes in. I don’t really believe in either one either, but I believe in Michigan quite a bit more at home against a team traveling for a super early game. So I take Michigan by a TD.
4. #37 Baylor at #38 TCU (-2.5), 12, ESPN2. A good matchup here that is fun for the serious college football fan. Neither team is thought of that much nationally, but both are good solid squads. Both played Kansas State in their last games–TCU lost, Baylor won. Not really based on that per se but on the fact that I don’t like TCU’s losses so much as Baylor’s, I will take Baylor here.
5. #7 Ole Miss at #8 Georgia (-7.5), 3:30, ABC. This should be a fun game. Ole Miss played like trash on Saturday and barely beat a bad Washington State team. I am going to assume that was the classic overlooking of a bad team in between big games. I think that’s an awfully wide spread and that Ole Miss might steal this game, but I do think will come within a TD on the road.
6. #6 Texas Tech at #35 Arizona State (+12.5), 4, FOX. The problem with this game is that ASU QB Sam Leavitt either won’t play or will be hobbled. ASU was awful against Utah without him. Texas Tech is really freaking good. ASU doesn’t have a massive home field advantage generally either–Sun Devil Stadium ain’t Autzen. So I think Tech wins in a rout.
7. #11 Tennessee at #5 Alabama (-8.5), 7:30, ABC. This is an interesting spread. Presumably Alabama and Tennessee are close to equal, but that spread suggests few think they are. In the end, I probably don’t either. Bama’s loss to Florida State to start the season is increasingly inexplicable but it also feels like a long time ago now. So I will take Alabama -8.5
8. #15 USC at #18 Notre Dame (-8.5), 7:30, NBC. So I questioned last week whether USC was actually good and then they stomped Michigan in impressive fashion. Meanwhile, Notre Dame has lost twice. Two tough games, yes. And Notre Dame is a good team. But I think this spread is too wide so I take USC under it.
9. #12 Missouri at #36 Auburn (+1.5), 7:45, SEC. Hugh Freeze needs to win some SEC games to save his job. Auburn has talent now, but can’t seem to get over the hump. Could this be the upset that he is looking for. A lot of people are suggesting so given the line is pretty close. I think there’s a chance and that it happens this week against a good but not great Missouri team. So sure, I will take Auburn with these points.
10. #25 Utah at #19 BYU (+3.5), 8, FOX. Utah looked great in demolishing Arizona State, but ASU was also without their QB. This is one of the most underrated rivalry games in college football and given it is in Provo, I will take the Mormons outright, never mind losing by a field goal.

Last week I was 6-4 against the spread, making me 39-35 on the season. Rolling in the cash!