Bowl Preview: Emerald Bowl

Emerald Bowl
PacBell Field, San Francisco
USC vs. Boston College
Date: Dec. 26
Time: 8 p.m.
TV: ESPN
Line: USC -7.5

About Boston College (8-4): The Eagles fired their somewhat successful coach last year because he interviewed for another job. That's what happens when you work for the clergy. They don't F around. So BC hired some other guy and they're fine like they always are. Frankly, they could have hired some patio furniture to be the coach and they'd finish 8-4. It's just what they do.

Intangibles:
Doug F*in Flutie: -2
Doug F*in Flutie's hair: +2
In the ACC despite being in BOSTON: -5

About USC (8-4): A plucky, upstart program from a well-regarded program in Los Angeles, USC showed plenty of promise for the future by finishing fifth in the Pac 10. I would like to say I did predict USC would lose three games this year. I also predicted one of them would be to Ohio State. Mother#@@$##$%W$%#@!!#@@!@ Anyway, about time these jokers had a crappy year.

Intangibles:
Pete Carroll: -1
Not Rick Neuheisel: +3
Joe McKnight's Land Rover that's not his: +0
USC in the Emerald Bowl: +45

Impact Player: USC wide receiver Ronald Johnson will catch many passes for many yards and many touchdowns.

Bowl slogan: "Old school football! And by that we mean playing the game in a facility ill-suited for football, like they used to do in the 1890s."

Little known fact: USC losing a couple starters to academic ineligibility won't matter much because they're playing Boston College.

Watchability (1-5): 3

The pick: Men of Troy 34, Eagles 14

Picks of the Week: No. 14

I got a little redemption last week by ending my 12-week losing skid in picking upsets, but still only managed a 3-2 outcome. At one game over .500 I'm putting my winning season on the line in the final week.

USC (-7.0) over Arizona
It appears the winner of this game gets a Holiday Bowl invitation. Nice for ’Zona, not so much for the Trojans. The Wildcats would be a serious contender for an upset here if not for the fact no one in the Pac-10 plays well on the road and QB Nick Foles is injured. Looks like USC will get to 9-3 with a chance to add a 10th victory in the Holiday Bowl.
Pick: USC 27, Arizona 14

Wisconsin (-12.0) over Hawaii
Maybe when this game was scheduled Badgers coach Bert Bielema was looking for a warm location to coach his last game at UW. Then he did a remarkable job this year and Wisconsin is 8-3. The Badgers should just pound the ball on the ground with RB John Clay, who will more than likely have a career day against a Hawaii defense that allows 193 yards per game.
Pick: Wisconsin 38, Hawaii 12

Alabama (-5.5) over Florida
Look, the SEC officials will not let Tim Tebow lose this game. The Gators will get every call Saturday. But they’ll keep it close and the Tide will be in this game because of Nick Saban and the best defense in the nation. Mark Ingram’s injury hurts Alabama’s offense. Sorry Bama fans, Florida wins for a second year in a row.
Pick: Florida 24, Alabama 21

Central Michigan (-13.0) over Ohio
One week after picking the Bobcats to pull the upset of Temple (finally an upset pick in 2009), I’m going against Frank Solich’s team. Ohio QB Theo Scott is beat up and the Chippewas are clearly the class of the Mid-American Conference. CMU’s Dan LeFevour will officially become the greatest QB in conference history (statistically speaking) after this championship game in Detroit Friday night.
Pick: Central Michigan 34, Ohio 15

Upset of the Week
Florida Atlantic (+1.5) over Florida International
This is the eighth annual Shula Bowl and the Owls hold a 6-1 advantage over the Golden Panthers. This is a nice South Florida rivalry that includes a wild 57-50 overtime victory by FAU last year. Owls QB Jeff Van Camp should be the difference in this game. He threw for three TDs and ran for another in last week’s 29-23 win over Western Kentucky.
Pick: FAU 39, FIU 38

Last Week: 3-2
Season Record: 33-32

USC-UCLA rivalry intensifies

Let's be clear ... the USC-UCLA rivalry is back.

At least the contempt for one another is back. In case you missed it (and most of you probably did), USC coach Pete Carroll dialed up a long play-action pass play with less than a minute to play and a 14-point lead. Of course, Matt Barkley threw a perfect pass to Damian Williams for a 48-yard TD.

Today, most of the columnists and other pundits are telling you what a jerk Carroll is and how this broke some sort of etiquette or unwritten rule. I'm here to tell you they are wrong.

Carroll was prepared to let the game end when he had his offense take a knee. But UCLA's Rick Neuheisel called a timeout. So Carroll just responded and made a statement with the TD call. What happened next wasn't pretty, but it's what makes college football rivalries special.

The Trojans were celebrating and jumping around on their sideline. OK, maybe they were taunting the Bruins a bit. Of course UCLA's players were pissed and started to cross the field. No punches were thrown, but the players exchanged some pleasantries.

This game wasn't pretty. UCLA actually slowed the Trojans and were in this game, but the Bruins couldn't overcome self-inflicted mistakes. So the Bruins may not be too far from closing the gap with USC.

Now USC-UCLA is a must-see game again next year instead of being relegated to FOX Sports with a 10 p.m. (EST) kickoff. That's right, the rivalry is back.

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 39

The Big Ten has two big games this weekend that could help enhance its image. First, of course, is Ohio State's shot at redemption against USC at Ohio Stadium. Will the atmosphere of a night game at the Shoe be enough to rattle the freshman QB Matt Barkley? Then there is Michigan's shot at Notre Dame. Both teams need this win in the worst way, but the Irish have more experience, and probably a lot more riding on this game. We also look at the biggest surprises and disappointments from Week 1 (Can you say Iowa and Oregon?), as well as which coach's seat just got a little hotter (Hint: Al Groh).

For our friends on Facebook who want to hear the podcast, just click here.

Podcast: Episode 38

You can tell by our voices in today's podcast that were more than ready for Thursday night's kickoff to College Football. However, how could we do a show without starting it off by talking about Practice Gate and the problems with Rich Rodriguez in Ann Arbor. No sympathy here.

After we spend way too much time talking about the team up north, we get on with other important topics such as Pete Carroll's love affair with Matt Barkley and if the Cincinnati-Rutgers game on Monday could provide the Big East with some relief. 'Eye and 'Eer also make their Heisman picks, as well as give you a game this weekend that you should care about.

The next Tebow

What happened to arrogant, full-of-shit stud quarterbacks? Give me Jeff George, Ryan Leaf or even Dan Marino. But now we get guys like Matt Barkley. He loves God. He loves his family. Hell, he even spent his Christmas holiday at an orphanage. That's so Tim Tebow.

Luckily, Oklahoma still recruits dirtbags. Even if it's not at quarterback.

Pete Carroll: Stop being such a jerk

With all of those Blue Chip, 5-Star recruits you would think USC's Pete Carroll would just wish Mark Sanchez the best of luck in the NFL and move on with Mitch Mustain or Aaron Corp or Garrett Green or incoming frosh Matt Barkley.

Instead, Carroll came off as a spoiled, no-it-all baby during Sanchez' press conference. Sure you'd love the guy back for another year. Say, how did that work out for Matt Leinart?