Wasn’t sure whether to even bother to include this but it is just so unbelievable and a football train wreck that if you didn’t see it happen live it is well worth watching. (Billy, stop reading and please loosen that belt around your neck before untying it from the fan)
This is the last two minutes of the LSU-Tennessee game last week where you get to see how one of the most insane, wildly inept and luckiest coaches in football history keeps a winning streak alive. Against all reason, it really is not safe to bet against the possibility that Les Miles will continue pulling horseshoes like this out of his ass (see 2007 Championship Season). We’ll see for real on Nov. 6 versus Alabama. Until then, pour yourself a cold one and watch the horror.
My semi-composed thoughts on the conferences now that most inter-conference matchups are out of the way:
ACC: The usual unintelligible blob of equally matched and variously dysfunctional teams, probably the most wide open in terms of who will win it.
Big East: ….an irrelevant and laughable mess…but they still have an automatic BCS bid, dammit!!!
Big Ten: Boring and predictable if you ignore the insanities going on at Michigan. Ohio State is dominant, PSU, Iowa and Wisconsin have already choked well ahead of schedule. If you’re counting on one of the teams from Michigan to run the table don’t hold your breath and welcome to the 21st century.
Big 12: Mediocre at best. Texas has shit on offense, Oklahoma looks iffy at best, Nebraska still has yet to play anyone and everyone else is marginal. Not expecting too much excitement until the conference championship.
Mountain West: Top heavy with TCU up on top, Utah down, Air Force…eh. They’ll go to some bowls this year, probably even send TCU to a BCS game but they are really waiting for the new members next year. Still, they already make the Big East look like a terrible joke.
Pac 10: Offense happy and probably the best record in big non-conference games. How they will matchup against teams with truly solid defenses (e.g SEC, OSU) is another question. Expect lots of random intra-conference cannibalism.
SEC: Top heavy but still clear favorite for the title. Alabama is looking more dominant than ever but the middle has never looked so…well, questionable. Take the SEC East’s performance last week, the only team that didn’t lose was S. Carolina who had a bye. Regardless don’t bet against further carnage and chaos, even the favorites will be lucky to get out by December with only 1 loss.
WAC: Boise State hides out here for most of the year stomping on baby rabbits and game planning for January
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THURSDAY NIGHT
Nebraska @ Kansas State: A fun looking Thursday night game with the first real chance to see Nebraska play anyone. Kansas State doesn’t look to be a very impressive team but they are 4-0. As always these Thur night games usually lean towards the home team but Nebraska is clearly the superior team here.
SATURDAY
Tennessee @ Georgia: Georgia is pitiful (1-4) this year while Tennessee is just tragic. The teams actually do line up pretty well against each other squad to squad but I have no idea how the Vols will react emotionally after that LSU loss. I’m not even saying that to be mean, I don’t know how any young team could really handle that. It was cruel and unusual. Only good explanation for it is as karma payback for something absolutely unspeakable one of Tennessee Coach Dooley’s ancestors did in the Crimean or First World War. The again, Georgia did just lose to Colorado…and that is pretty embarrassing in and of itself.
I’ll let Billy fill in here if he has any thoughts on the game. Come on out, buddy, it’s okay, gonna be alright.
Alabama @ South Carolina: South Carolina is coming off a bye and hopefully a long week of making sacrifices to different deities in the hope one of them will come out and give them a chance against Lord Saban. South Carolina has been playing well but there is nothing to indicate that they should any better than Florida against ‘Bama. An upset is possible, for sure, always is in the SEC particularly coming off a bye week but I just don’t see it.
Michigan State @ Michigan: This is a stressful game for Michigan fans even when they’ve been a clearly dominant team, which is not the case this year with #17 vs #18. Their performance last week against Indiana highlighted the disastrous instability of Michigan’s squad with a Denard Robinson..err…Offense (hint, it’s 95% Robinson) that can score quick and a defense that lets a team from Indiana do the same. Michigan State is 5-0, knocked off a favored Wisconsin last week and ranked nationally just one spot below Michigan. There will be points, lots of points, probably at least 30 on each side. The fact that Michigan’s D struggled so much against Indiana is a very very bad sign. They’ll need to improve or count on Denard racking up about 600+ yards (possible) if they’re going to have a chance. Michigan State isn’t a pretty team but they’ve proven they can win close games. This one should be fun to watch.
Pittsburgh @ Notre Dame: The Wannstache is headed to South Bend. Both teams are almost laughably tragic but let’s not forget that even midget fights can be competitive and a good time all around.
LSU @ Florida: If you watched the video in the intro you know that to call Les Miles lucky is like calling water wet or Jenna Jameson a ‘woman of loose morals’, somewhat of a massive understatement. Florida was dismantled last week by Alabama (seriously, not even a fun game to watch unless you’re the kind of guy that likes to watch snuff films) but Florida should still be considered a superior team to LSU if for nothing else than for actually possessing an offense, no matter how inconsistent. A Ouija Board could call a better offensive game than Les Miles at this point but I still wouldn’t count him out. On LSU watch for Patrick Peterson on defense and kick returns, an explosive playmaker. Florida has loads of talent but no one has stood up consistently. Their QB Brantley will start but probably not be 100% after being knocked silly a few times against Alabama.
Florida State @ Miami: Battle for the ACC??? Both teams have looked about as strong as anyone realistically expected them to. Personally I think FSU’s schlacking against Oklahoma was a bit more embarrassing than the beating Miami took up in Ohio State that same week but that’s debatable. Expect lots of offense and while I think Miami should probably be favored as always that will depend on Jacory Harris’ “Fuck it, I’m going Deep” TD vs Interception rating. Watch out for some wild special team plays.
USC @ Stanford: Both are coming off losses from last week. Stanford’s was against probably the best team in the conference while USC had a fantastically delightful loss to Washington. Really don’t know what to expect in this one as Stanford has to be feeling beat after dropping a major lead against Oregon and USC is…well, coached by Lane “I’m a douche“ Kiffin. All I can say here is that sometimes but not often in life there are clear conflicts between good and well if not true evil then something very douchey. This is one of those cases. Go Christmas Trees!
TV Schedule: Accurate to the best of my knowledge though I know the tv execs in the Chicagoland area had some fun playing random Big Ten matchups last week rather than the Red River shootout and thought that the Oregon-Stanford game would be best fit on ESPN “The Ocho”. Anyways, good luck with all that.
| Thursday, October 7th | ||
| Nebraska at Kansas State | 6:30 p.m. | ESPN (HD) |
| Saturday, October 9th | ||
| Tennessee at Georgia | 11:21 a.m. | SEC Network / ESPN-GP |
| Alabama at South Carolina | 2:30 p.m. | CBS (HD) |
| Michigan State at Michigan | 2:30 p.m. | ABC *1 / ESPN *7 |
| Pittsburgh at Notre Dame | 2:30 p.m. | NBC (HD) |
| LSU at Florida | 6:30 p.m. | ESPN (HD) |
| Florida State at Miami | 7:00 p.m. | ABC *1 / ESPN-GP *2 |
| USC at Stanford | 7:00 p.m. | ABC *1 / ESPN-GP *2 |
