Michigan: "Oooh, look at the pretty lights!"

Michigan has finally relented, announcing today it will play its first night game in history at "The Big House" in 2011 against Notre Dame.

This is big. I'm sure Les Miles will have his troops fired up to beat the Irish.

Podcast: Episode 50

We're coming at you a little early this week because of the Thanksgiving holiday, but we are definitely in a celebratory mood as we hit the 50 mark in podcasts. So here's what's on this week's An 'Eye and an 'Eer: College Football Podcast.

Of the remaining undefeated teams who is most likely to lose? Calling Cincinnati ... Bearcats do you hear me? We also look at the big Florida State-Florida game and wonder if Bobby Bowden and Mickey Andrews can call up the ghosts of Charlie Ward and Deion Sanders to pull off a major upset in The Swamp? Probably not, but it's nice to consider.

So who do you think has done the worst coaching job in 2009? There are some easy choices, but it seems are fearless podcasters don't like some guy name Weis and another one named Stoops. Tom and Phil also dissect Les Miles' meltdown in Mississippi as well as the Heisman Trophy race.

AEAAE Top 25 (Week 9)

Thanks to Les Miles' poor game-day management LSU has plummeted in the rankings and Ole Miss is back in at No. 24. However, the top six are still the same, while Ohio State jumped Pitt and Georgia Tech after a so-so win against Michigan.

Team (LW) Record

1. Florida (1) 11-0
2. Texas (2) 11-0
3. Alabama (3) 11-0
4. Cincinnati (4) 10-0
5. TCU (5) 11-0
6. Boise State (6) 11-0
7. Ohio State (9) 10-2
8. Pittsburgh (8) 9-1
9. Georgia Tech (7) 11-1
10. Oregon (11) 9-2
11. Oklahoma State (12) 9-2
12. Iowa (15) 10-2
13. Penn State (13) 10-2
14. Clemson (17) 8-3
15. Oregon State (22) 8-3
16. BYU (18) 9-2
17. Virginia Tech (19) 8-3
18. Miami (23) 8-3
19. Utah (20) 9-2
20. California (NR) 8-3
21. USC (24) 8-3
22. North Carolina (25) 8-3
23. LSU (10) 8-3
24. Mississippi (NR) 8-3
25. Nebraska (NR) 8-3

Others receiving votes: West Virginia, Houston, Wisconsin, Stanford

Miles' meltdown in Mississippi

It's all about your perspective.

There are Michigan fans calling for Rich Rod's head so the Wolverines can bring in Michigan Man Les Miles. After watching Miles mismanage and mishandle the final seconds of LSU's game at Ole Miss last night, there are not many supporters remaining in Baton Rouge.

Have you ever seen a team screw up a perfect situation more? LSU scores and misses the two-point conversion to pull within two in the waning seconds. Manages to get the on-side kick, get into field goal range and then make horrible calls that pushed the Tigers out of range.

Then Miles' team didn't get a timeout called quick enough and allowed more than 20 seconds to run off before getting the call. Miles said after the game, "That play, the clock ran down, timeouts were being called verbally and I didn't relate to the official apparently, and that was the mistake. We didn't know that it hadn't been called."

That can happen, and neither can the hysteria that was taking place on the LSU sideline.

Still, the Tigers completed an unlikely 42-yard pass to Terrance Tolliver at the Ole Miss 6. With the first down, the clock stopped with 1 second remaining. Instead of running the field goal team on the field to rush a shot at the win, QB Jordan Jefferson spiked the ball and the clock struck zero.

Miles claims he doesn't know who called for the spike. The video shows otherwise.

Hey Michigan fans ... you still want Miles over Rich Rod?

Podcast: Episode 48

What a weekend!

Ohio State is back in the Big Ten race and looks like a good bet to represent the conference in the Rose Bowl. So Buckeye fans are raucous again. West Virginia has a chance to remain in the hunt for the Big East title as the Mountaineers travel to Nippert Stadium and face undefeated Cincinnati. Would it be better for the Big East to have Cincy win or lose? We'll tell you what we think.

As much as we hate to do it, Charlie Weis and Rich Rodriguez are back on the program. How can you leave them off? These two jokes are ruining once proud programs. We give our opinion on where we think Tommy Tuberville and Phil Fulmer may be coaching next season as well as potential replacements for Weis and Rodriguez (can you say Brian Kelly and Les Miles?).

Picks of the Week: No. 2

I'll take a 3-2 week, but wow was I off on the Notre Dame-Nevada game. Probably avoid the Irish until I get a better feel for Charlie Weis' team. Let's see if I can do a little better this week.

Texas (-33.5) over Wyoming
Clearly Texas is going to win this game, but by 33.5 points? Without a doubt. The Longhorns are the most talented team in the nation and Mack Brown has been known to run up a score to earn computer points. Colt McCoy will pick apart the Cowboys and Texas will roll big.
Pick: Texas 63, Wyoming 7

Vanderbilt (+14.5) over LSU
The Tigers were shaky in their win at Washington last week. The once-vaunted defense of LSU gave up 478 total yards of offense to the Huskies, who finished 0-12 last year. Les Miles says the defense will perform better this week. Maybe, but not enough to cover the spread. LSU will win though. The Tigers never seem to lose night home games.
Pick: LSU 27, Vanderbilt 21

USC (-7.0) over Ohio State
'Eye will probably be upset to see this pick, but if wants Ohio State in an upset then he should make these picks. This goes against everything I believe in, especially picking true freshmen QBs (Matt Barkley) to win in hostile environments at night. But the Buckeyes have lost five consecutive games against Top 5 teams. The Buckeyes will keep this much closer than a year ago, but USC will control the line of scrimmage and win back-to-back against OSU.
Pick: USC 31, Ohio State 17

Virginia Tech (-19.0) over Marshall
One thing Frank Beamer coached teams usually do well is putting tough losses behind them and focusing on the next game. The Thundering Herd are better this season, but not Hokies' good. VT will score at least one special teams TD and roll in the home opener and erase some of the bad memories of last week's nationally televised loss to Alabama.
Pick: Virginia Tech 36, Marshall 9

Upset of the Week
Stanford (+3.0) over Wake Forest
I'm not feeling a real upset this week. Maybe I'm gun-shy after last week's horrible pick. This would be a minor upset, but if Stanford could go across the country and win at Wake that would be a very nice win. I don't usually pick against Jim Grobe because he's the best coach in the nation (seriously, this guy wins with less talent). But Jim Harbaugh also does a fine job with the Cardinal and following Wake's loss to Baylor last week the Demon Deacons may be losing confidence.
Pick: Stanford 28, Wake Forest 24


Last Week: 3-2
Season Record: 3-2

Podcast: Episode 27

It appears only Tom is ready for College Football to get going again (spring practice doesn't count). Phil is enamored with the Columbus Blue Jackets and their first appearance in the NHL playoffs. But the big guy still made time to talk about his real love. So your two favorite podcasters predict two surprise winners in 2009, breakdown the Big 12 and SEC as well as ponder what could have been if Mitch Mustain had never left Arkansas. During Quick Hitters we call out Pete Carroll and Jim Leavitt and look at the NFL draft again.

Will anybody be sober?

LSU's Tiger Stadium at night? You have got to be kidding me.

Well, in the fall of 2010 West Virginia will trek down south to face LSU in a night game. To quote the kids, "This is going to totally off the hook." (They still say that right?)

Picture this: About 80,000 totally blitzed cajun inbreds co-mingling with 15,000 liquored-up hillbillies. Sweet!!! ESPN will need a permanent crowd-cam, and Erin Andrews will think Rey Maualuga's sneak attack was consensual.

This is an outstanding non-conference match up. WVU is proving that its not afraid to play anyone anywhere. With Colorado and Auburn on the schedule in 2009, Michigan State in 2010-11 and Florida State in 2012-13. Of course the Mountaineers are saddled with playing in-state stepchild Marshall for what seems like an eternity.

LSU and Les Miles have also proven that they will take on all challengers also, unlike many others in the SEC who fear leaving the warm weather and comfort of the South. The Tigers face Washington this season and again in 2012.

Would have loved this game more during the Pat White/Steve Slaton era when the Mountaineers owned the SEC. But if HC Bill Stewart can get out of his own way WVU could continue its dominance over the nation's best conference.

I can't wait for this game. Maybe we should start celebrating now.

Late-Night bowl links

While watching Utah shock 'Bama, thought I'd do some random scanning of blogs around the nation. Here are some interesting posts that I have found this evening.

• Tom Kirkendall at Houston's Clear Thinkers hits on something that both Phil and I have been saying all season about Texas Tech's Mike Leach. Kirkendall says Leach is more PR genius than coaching savant.
• Is Houston Nutt a better coach than everyone has given him credit for? That's the question Matt Hinton at Dr. Saturday asks after watching Ole Miss take down Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl. He also has a very funny post about Pat Summerall broadcasting the Cotton Bowl.
• Larry Brown Sports stops just short of calling LSU's Les Miles a douchebag for running a fake punt in the fourth quarter of the Tigers blowout win over Georgia Tech in the Chick-fil-a Bowl. I've been looking for video of this since I saw it, but haven't had any luck.
• Tony Barnhart at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says Matt Stafford will probably leave for the NFL and Knowshon Moreno will return to Athens for another year with Georgia.
• Iowa could have easily fallen apart this year, but according to Mike Hlas over at The Hlog Coach Kirk Ferentz stuck to his "old-school" values and that's why Iowa rebounded after a 3-3 start. In case you missed it, the Hawkeyes totally schooled South Carolina and Steve Spurrier
• It appears Randy Shannon has a heart after all. According to the Miami Herald's Manny Navarro, the U has partially lifted the SEC ban on former quarterback Robert Marve.

Good night.

Bowl Preview: Chick-fil-a Bowl

Chick-fil-A Bowl
Georgia Dome, Atlanta
Georgia Tech vs. LSU
Date: Dec. 31
Time: 8 p.m.
TV: ESPN
Line: Georgia Tech -4

About Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets are going for their second straight embarrassment of an SEC "power" after thumping Georgia to end the season. GaTech ran for 1,200 yards in that game. Maybe it just seemed that way. But the Jackets can defintely run the ball.

Intangibles:
'Ramblin Wreck: +4
Three Amigos: +2
In Atlanta: +4
In Atlanta traffic: -4

About LSU: You may recall them as last year's national champs. But this year they was Implosion Island on the Bayou as the Tigers forgot how to play defense and had a quarterback from a local high school's JV team take over. Not the best combination.

Intangibles:
"Tiguh Bayt!": -5
Death Valley: +3
Hate Saban: +3
Hate Everyone else too: -1

Impact player: LSU QB Jarrett Lee. This kid was pretty bad, but if he plays well the Tigers can be a decent squad. Now, what exactly are the chances of that happening?

Little known fact: Chick-fil-A is not that good. It's okay, but I don't really get the love.

The Pick: LSU 31, Georgia Tech 26