Les Miles will be taking it easy this week, not a bye week exactly but they’ve invited Bob’s College (…er the Mighty McNeese State…Widgets!) down for a game which is pretty much the same thing. Honestly, he deserves the break because it must seriously hurt to be pulling full size horseshoes out of one’s backside week after week. In case you missed it, this happened last Saturday night (videohere). They win their second game in a row out of end of game chaos, though this time they decided to put their offensive switch in the On position and actually score some points beforehand. The fact that he called a fake FG isn’t all that surprising in and of itself, not when you consider his style of play calling, history and the damn long field goal that would have been otherwise, but the way that play self-destructed so terribly and still worked is just perfect Miles. What are the chances they will be able to keep this up? Low, considering Auburn, Alabama and Arkansas are still in the hopper. However if working as a low-rent errand boy on a casino floor taught me anything it’s that you don’t bet against the crazy looking guy in a hat who keeps rolling sixes.
SATURDAY
Arkansas @ Auburn: Will be framed as another “QB Shootout” but their styles couldn’t more different. Ryan Mallett for Arkansas is the whiny cannon-armed gunslinger, who Brett Musburger would like to remind you is of above average height. That said this week he’ll be facing an equally vertically gifted QB albeit one who makes Mallett look like the skinny bespectacled kid who ran your chess club in 5th grade. Cam Newton is a new arrival on the scene who can be described as a bigger and faster Tim “Second Coming of Jesus” Tebow (he actually was Tebow’s backup in 2008 at Florida). The guy is an absolute beast, 6’6″ 250lbs and has an arm on him as well. There’s not a linebacker in the league who could honestly tell you they are fine with trying to tackle him off the edge. For an idea of the kind of player he is, watch here and here. This game means a lot more for Auburn than it does for Arkansas in terms of conference standing but both teams will come firing. Should be a good physical game to kick off the weekend.
Texas @ Nebraska: Perhaps not the matchup it could have been if Texas wasn’t rolling in with two losses but this is a HUGE game for Nebraska. They are coming off a solid win against Kansas State last Thursday in which the defense looked nasty (as expected) and the offense surprisingly explosive. Nebraska’s QB, Taylor Martinez, a redshirt freshman, looked great last week (4 rushing TDs) and was launched onto the national scene. The ESPN talking heads were drawing comparisons to D. Robinson, Cam Newton and Tebow. Now he certainly looked great but most of his production comes on the ground, they looked like old school option attack Nebraska. As impressive as that attack was against Kansas State they will be facing a whole different animal in Texas. They’ll jam the box and try to force Nebraska to throw, which no one has done yet. Texas is not a great team this year but they are still Texas. Their offense has faltered (NO running game) and will struggle to score against the Blackshirts. Will likely be a defensive struggle but fun to see how Martinez holds up against a serious D.
South Carolina @ Kentucky: South Carolina has to stay sharp to avoid a letdown after their statement victory over Alabama (Best roundup of that can be found here. They didn’t win that game on lucky plays or any flukes they simply outplayed Alabama, looking better than they have at any other point in the season. The Gamecock’s offense is extremely balanced and put up some big points against a stout Alabama D while their own defense managed to stifle ‘Bama and make the big plays when necessary. Kentucky is only a mid-level team this year even after giving Florida a somewhat hard time.
Ohio State @ Wisconsin: This will be Ohio State’s biggest matchup until facing Iowa in late Nov. Wisconsin has been a bit of a disappointment. They are the typical Badger team, solid running game, stout defense, absolutely hopeless at QB and never one to pass up a blowing heightened expectations. They lost control of their game with Michigan State and despite putting up some big points have not yet beaten anyone decent. Ohio State is also plugging along with the usual Tressell ball. Only showing just enough power on offense to win the game and letting their defense slow things down to a crawl. Hard to imagine they won’t be read for Wisconsin. Unless Tressell let’s his QB Pryor off his leash to run wild (unlikely) it’s hard to imagine this one will be a barn burner.
Ole Miss @ Alabama: Ole Miss has played like complete dogshit so far this year losing to Vanderbilt and Jacksonville State (D2 team) but this one is at least worth checking in the box score on Sunday if only to see how Alabama responds to their loss last week. Hard to imagine anything but a pure beatdown and tune up for Alabama before continuing their brutal SEC march.
| Saturday, October 16th | ||
| Arkansas at Auburn | 2:30 p.m. | CBS (HD) |
| Texas at Nebraska | 2:30 p.m. | ABC *1 / ESPN-GP *2 |
| South Carolina at Kentucky | 5:00 p.m. | ESPN2 (HD) |
| Ohio State at Wisconsin | 6:00 p.m. | ESPN (HD) / ESPN 3D |
| Ole Miss at Alabama | 8:00 p.m. | ESPN2 (HD) |
Comments, thoughts, criticisms? Hit Reply All or feel free to stew in silence and obscurity
p.s. And yes, the Jen Sterger pic is likely all I will say about the NFL this year, I think it was actually pretty topical of me to do so.
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