Wow

Four teams in the Top 10 went down this week, and at this pace Boise State will be the #1 one team in the land. Florida's season looked to be in jeopardy as Tebow was taken away in the ambulance, but he gets on extra week off for his brain to quit shaking before LSU comes knocking. Speaking of LSU, they sneak by MSU in a game in which the #7 Tigers should have walked in and taken care of business, they are not playing real good football at the moment but do remain unbeaten. Also unbeaten in the SEC are Auburn and Bama, and the way Bama is playing currently I'd put them in front of Florida and Texas if i had a vote in the polls.

The Big XII's weekend featured a couple of closer than expected games, and a lot of blowouts of lesser teams. The game of the week had to be TECH @ Houston, honestly i thought Tech had this game under control late in the second half. I give Houston a ton of credit for pulling this one out ( 2 - 0 vs. Big XII ). Kansas struggled with So. Miss. and Mizzou had a hard time putting away Nevada. Despite the last minute collapse versus Virginia Tech, Nebraska is playing solid football and should be the clear favorite in the north now.

This week features a couple of big games: OU @ Miami, LSU @ UGA, A&M vs. Arkansas, and Auburn @ Tenn.

Last but not least, i'd like to thank Iowa for knocking off Penn State and potentially eliminating the Big 10 from a spot in the National Championship.

What a week

Every week seems to be getting better and better, USC and BYU fall, Texas wins but wasn't exactly dominating in doing so, and Florida struggles to get by Tennessee. The BCS busting MWC took two big hits this week with Utah and BYU going down, but TCU, Boise, and Houston ( idle ) remain unbeaten looking to stay in the BCS hunt.

The Big XII opener between UT and TT was closer than the so called experts thought, as the Horns went off favored by 18 1/2, but it was Tech that gained my respect in the game. Texas will have to improve off of this win or OU could roll past them as they seem to have gotten the offense rolling after a poor showing versus BYU. Nebraska also gained a lot of respect this week, and if it weren't for one blown coverage in the final minute of the game would have left Blacksburg with a W ( not many teams can say they've done that) . Three weeks into the season now, and i'll revise my Big XII picks as follows North - Nebraska vs. South - Oklahoma . Sorry Texas, but this week could have been a statement week for you and the statement was you don't deserve to be #2 in the country after that performance.

The SEC week was a mixed bag as well, 1st where has all the defense gone? 2nd what the heck is wrong with Florida's offense. Tennessee played inspired football vs UF, but just doesn't have any offensive fire power at this point to make any real push for competing in the East. Georgia has allowed 41 points in each of it's first two SEC games, which doesn't bold well for the rest of the SEC schedule. LSU continues to win quietly as the offense still isn't running as well as it should. Bama and Ole Miss roll on to easy wins, although the Rebels really haven't played anyone to this point. Auburn' defense allowed close to 500 yards of offense to WV, but also forced 6 turnovers that was the difference in the game.

last but not least my picks were 6-0 this week, which is much better than the previous two weeks.

Week 3 SEC / Big XII

Well so far my picks and predictions have been pretty useless, with couple of exceptions. So here are the key games in the two conferences this week.

Big XII

UConn @ Baylor: i know Baylor? key game? The Bears have slowly but surely been improving under Briles, but this UCONN team may be one of the better defenses in the country that nobody talks about. So we'll start the week off with an upset alert, he Huskies will control the clock and keep the Bears off the field

UCONN - 13 Baylor - 10

Nebraska @ Virginia Tech: VT looks to show the country that the ACC does at least have one good team in it. Inexperience at the QB position will be the downfall of the Huskers as this is a very solid VT defense, and Blacksburg is no picnic either. The Hokies are close to unbeatable at home.

VT - 20 NEB - 13

TT @ UT : see previous entry for more details but here's the score prediction if you're to lazy to read the previous post

UT - 34 TT - 31

SEC

Tenn @ UF: don't expect any surprises here

UF - 38 Tenn - 10

UGA @ Arkansas: haven't seen or heard much from the Razorbacks, but this Georgia team better find a defense and fast after allowing way too many points to a bad South Carolina offense.

UGA 30 ARK - 27

West Virgina @ Auburn: Auburn looks for redemption at home after being run out of the building last year in the 2nd half by the Mountaineers, but that was last year and Auburn seems to have found some offense to give the defense a little more rest on the sidelines.

Auburn - 41 WVU - 24

UT vs. TECH

Last year this game gave us on of the best games of this decade, and now the Horns look for revenge as the whiney orange have their hopes set on a championship run. Two weeks into the season so there's not a lot to go one from the teams either of these have played as to what the future holds for them both. What we do know is that Tech lost key players on both sides of the ball, and replacing Crabtree's production from last year is next to impossible. Texas on the other hand really has no excuses if this season falls short of their lofty expectations, considering the bulk of the offense is back, and the Big XII is an offense heavy conference their destiny lies squarely in their hands.

So lets get to what we think could happen, although two weeks in I've been completely wrong on just about every game I've highlited on. The Texas defense will be the key to this game, the Horns D allowed 300 yards of offense to ULM and 260 or so to Wyoming, without a doubt they'll have a much tougher time containing the Tech machine. Also, the Texas coverage team on kickoff is allowing over a 20 yard avg. on returns which could lead to TEch working with a short field. On the other hand the TECH defense has been pretty solid against it's two lesser opponents thus far in the young season. For the Red Raiders Potts is the key to this game, can he step up in his first road start among 100,000 plus and deliver? I don't know the answer to that, but my feeling on the game is TECH will give Texas all they can handle, but the Horns sneak out with a last second field goal.

UT - 34 TT - 31

OS(hit)U

The Pokes and what glimmer of a hope they had for a BCS game took a serious hit over the weekend. Two weeks in and both Oklahoma schools have a loss in the books, and it would appear that Oklahoma State still has some serious defensive questions to answer heading into Big XII play. The other OSU Buckeyes and Tressle kept to form by finding away to lose another big game, and this time at home in front of 106,000. Now if we can just find a way for them not to win the Big 10 we won't have to suffer through another Buckeye BCS humiliation.

The Big XII went 6-4 this weekend, with two bad losses by CU and KSU, and a huge upset with the Cougars taking down OSU. Maybe it's the year of the Cougar, as both OU and OSU were defeated by Cougars. If i'm the AD at CU the only chance Hawkins has to keep his job is to win the Big XII North, and after the first two weeks I'd say he'll be lucky to win 3 games the remainder of the season.

The SEC went 2-1 in non-conference match-ups, as the upstart Vols hit a road block that was UCLA.

Conference play got started this week with Auburn running away from MSU, LSU sliding by Vandy, and UGA tipping a pass in the final moments to get by USC. The East side of this conference looks to be UF and a bunch of scrubs, but the west side of the SEC could be as wide open as it's ever been. So wide open that the winner of the West could very easily have 2 conference losses, as Ole Miss, LSU, Bama, and we'll now throw Auburn in the mix since they seem to have found some form of offense at the moment.

Big XII week 2

Week 2 or Weak 2 for the Big XII should be a week of routes for the Big XII except for a couple of interesting games.

Iowa vs. Iowa State

The Hawkeyes look to rebound after narrowly getting by another in state foe in NIU, anything can happen in these rivalry games, but if the same Iowa team from last week shows up the Cyclones could walk away with victory.

Iowa 17 ISU 24

K-state vs. Louisiana-Lafayette

i only highlite this game because if KSU struggles here it's going to be a very long season, i expect they will rebound with a more convincing victory this week.

KSU 27 ULL 10

#24 Kansas vs. UTEP

UTEP is a program that doesn't get a lot hipe, but the program has been solid the last few years and should provide a decent test for KU. With that said, Kansas has too much offense for the Miners.

#24 KU 38 UTEP 24

#5 OSU vs. Houston

The Pokes have to avoid the let down game coming off an impressive win against UGA, but they can't let the guard down now. The Cougars have the ability to put points on the board with the spread offense, but reality is they can't outscore this Cowboys team should this turn in to a score fest.

#5 OSU 51 Houston 27

SEC conference games get going

Week 2 doesn't seem to hold a lot interesting match-ups, but the SEC schedule gets rolling. Let's look at the SEC match-ups and the handfull of other could be good games.

Vandy vs. #11 LSU

LSU comes off a closer than expected game versus a much improved Husky team, and i think they'll have a little easier time of it this week as VAndy doesn't offer much in the way of explosive offense. Jefferson is going to have to get the kinks out early if the bayou boys have any shot at the SEC title game.

Vandy 10 LSU 24

South Carolina vs #21 Georgia

Georgia was a little over ranked going into the season, and the Pokes were just to much for this young team to handle. Things won't get any easier this week as the Gamecocks play tough defense, this could be my upset pick of the week if USC can find a way to get into the endzone twice.

South Carolina 17 #21 Georgia 13

MSU vs. Auburn

Hopefully this game is a little more high scoring than the barn burning 3-2 game of last year. I have little faith in the Tigers at this point and the Bulldogs have nowhere to go but up. Minor upset in the making here.

MSU 20 Auburn 17

UCLA vs. Tenn

Two teams looking to get things moving in the right direction, Tennessee coming off its confidence building blowout over cupcake U gets it's first test of the Kiffin era.

UCLA 24 Tenn. 27

The other two SEC games this week are #1 Florida against Troy and BAMA vs. FIU, i don't anticipate any surprises in either of those.

O- my what a start to the season

So, what did we learn in week 1, and yes i realize it's early. We learned that OU must win out to have any shot at the BCS, the Big 10 and ACC are a joke, and if week 1 is any indication it could be a wild season.

OU, no excuses, Bradford or not they should have plenty of talent to handle the 3rd best team in the MWC. Stoops may possibly be the worst big game coach in college football, well, at least behind Tressle.

Ohio State, REALLY an interception of a 2 point conversion to avoid OT with Navy? Iowa, two blocked FG attempts to squeak by Northern Iowa ( are they even D-1 ? )

The Hawkins era in Boulder could officially be coming to an end in week 1 as the Buffs fall to CSU, and K-state with Snider back on the sidelines eaks by UMass.

Let's take a look at week 1 by conference

BIG XII: 10-2 ( 2 wins vs. BCS Conference schools )
SEC: 11-1 ( 3 wns vs. BCS Conf. schools )
Big 10 (11) 10-1 ( 1 win vs. BCS )
ACC : 4-7 ( 5 losses against BCS, 1 being a conf. match up UM vs. FSU )
PAC 10: 7-3 ( 2 BCS wins, 1 was conf. match up)
Big EASt: who gives a shit, they don't deserve to be in the BCS to start with!!

It's Time

The best 4 months of the year are set to kick off tomorrow night, and all i can say is IT'S ABOUT TIME. There are plenty of what seem to be good games in store for week 1, i've already touched on a few of these in the previous post, but realize i left a couple of good match-ups out.

THURS> #16 Oregon vs. #14 Boise State - interesting ballgame, but if the Oregon team that ended the year shows up they should have this game in hand by the start of the 4th quarter

Oregon 31 BSU 20

#5 Bama vs. #7 Va. Tech - if you like low scoring grind it out football, this is your game. My gut tells me that the first team to 13 wins.

Bama 17 Va. Tech 10

Miami vs #17 Florida State - not long ago this game every year seemed to be the deciding game on who was in the title game, well times have changed but the hatred between the two schools remains.

Miami 10 Florida State 20