Revenge of the Nerds

Special Report

Retired Coach Rick
ACC Correspondent

Vandy is 5-0 for the first time since 1943. I was born in 1944. Heck, they didn't wear facemasks at that time. The Commodores are 3-0 in the SEC for the first time since 1950. I loved it when ESPN's Lee Corso picked Auburn. The sure sign of wrong.

One sign in the crowd during Game Day said, "#1 in SAT every year. #1 in the SEC 2008!" I loved it. Another one was, "Move no one can see the library." I thought that was cool.

USC made a nice comeback. I hope no one was thinking they might not. Oklahoma and Texas is the first Game of the Century this year. Should be a wild and crazy game. Florida and LSU is another good match-up.

Wisconsin had the chance of a lifetime the last two weeks. Not much to show for it. Illinois is teaching a lot of teams in the Fat Ten about speed. Is Florida still playing with any of Zook's recruits? I don't think so.

I hope no one thinks Penn State is that good. If they were to get in the BCS championship game it would be a disaster. The officials might take care of Papa Joe giving them a chance. Penn State and Wisconsin is the big match-up this week. Depends on who the officials are. Watch the calls closely in this game.

Buckeye Legend is Born

Not that Ohio State fans (as well as Jim Tressel) had not already declared Terrelle Pryor a savior, but his performance against Wisconsin last night is the stuff of legends. He will win a Heisman Trophy before he departs. It may have been nothing more than an 11-yard TD run, but Pryor led the Buckeyes on this late scoring drive for a huge win. What a performance by a true freshman in hostile Camp Randall.

Snoozefest

For most of the afternoon, the early games have been beyond boring.

- Penn State is not playing particularly well, but Purdue has made a boatload of mistakes and it looks PSU will win this one barring a miracle.

- Michigan State - Iowa has finally gotten interesting after it looked like MSU would pound the Hawkeyes into submission. Iowa has rebounded with a solid second half.

- Florida is up 14-0 at half against Arkansas, but has given up some yardage. The Hogs muffed a punt that turned into a TD.

- Oklahoma rolling.

- Duke-Georgia Tech is downright boring. GTech is up 24-0 which might as well 150-0 in this game.

That's about it. I'll be gone for the rest of the day. So, have fun with the rest of the games. Oh, and the Eer will be having fun at his wife's class reunion, I'm sure

Picks of the Week

Wow! I stunk it up last week. After going 0-5 in my picks last week, I return to redeem myself and regain some self respect. Remember my picks also include the spread, so let's see how I can do this week.

Arizona (-18) over Washington
The 'Cats rebounded last week with a 31-10 victory over reeling UCLA. A victory here is critical for the future of Mike Stoops in Tucson. A win here gets 'Zona to 4-1 with winnable games still on the slate with Stanford, Washington State and Arizona State. Game should prove to be a showcase for two of the Pac-10's top receivers in UA's Mike Thomas and Washington's D'Andre Goodwin. However, October has been a rough month on Arizona under Stoops (3-14).
Pick: Arizona 42, Washington 18

Florida (-21) over Arkansas
Tim Tebow had a bad game against Ole Miss. Urban Meyer's performance was even worse. That doesn't happen in back-to-back weeks. Look for Tebow and Meyer to take out their frustrations on Bobby Petrino's boys. Watching Arkansas quarterback Casey Dick try to complete a pass is as painful as trying to say his name without snickering like a 10-year-old.
Pick: Florida 45, Arkansas 14

Missouri (-9.5) over Nebraska
Now we find out how high-flying the Tigers' offense really is. I think we'll find out that the Chase Daniel to Jeremy Maclin matchup is just too much for the rebuilding Cornhuskers. Bo Pelini's squad held its own against Virginia Tech last week (35-30 loss), but a home victory was more important than a moral victory. Expect Missouri to exploit Nebraska's weaknesses even more than VT.
Pick: Missouri 48, Nebraska 24

Vanderbilt (+4.5) over Auburn
I don't think Vandy will pull off the win, but the Commodores will hang with the Tigers. Vanderbilt leads the SEC East and has played well against decent competition. Wins against South Carolina and Ole Miss look OK right now. Auburn is the team I can't figure out. Played an outstanding game against LSU, but struggled with Southern Miss, Mississippi State and Tennessee—all three are teams on the rocks. Expect this to be close and potentially some strange play to sway momentum.
Pick: Auburn 7, Vanderbilt 6

Upset Special South Carolina (+3) over Mississippi
The Ol' Ball Coach has been off his game this year. I think Spurrier's starting to realize signing that long-term deal with South Carolina may not have been such a good idea (or for his legendary status). He's looking to impress the brass at Tennessee so he can work his way into the fold as a replacement for Phil Fulmer. Look for the Gamecocks to put together a good game plan and execute (sorry for stealing Herbstreit) against the Rebels, who are still in shock after winning in The Swamp last week.
Pick: South Carolina 20, Mississippi 17

Last week: 0-5
Season: 4-6

The Stache vs. Raspy Voice Guy

VS.



Not blogging LIVE! cause I've got to pick up a friend at the airport, but this game has been interesting.

South Florida decided to show up in the second half after trailing 17-7 at halftime. Now it's 17-14. Both teams are playing to form. Pitt is running the 2000 Baltimore Ravens offense of Matt Cavanaugh and South Florida is horrifically erratic with dumb penalties and poor decisions followed by great athletes running around making plays.

Not sure what will happen the rest of the way. I'm somewhat betting on Pitt being able to pound the ball against an undersized USF front.

Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock

This year's edition of "How can we appease the networks AND piss off our fans at the same time?" has come in the form of the new clock rules.

While last year's rule changes were blatant, this year's rules are sneakier in that attempt to conform all college football games into that network-approved three-hour window. You don't even notice the entire third quarter disappearing after four running plays.

This piece in the Columbus Dispatch does a nice job detailing how easy it is to run clock in the second half on a minimum number of running plays.

Of course, Gator coach and noted not-winner last week, Urban Meyer, was ticked off by the rules after the game with Tennessee. And that was a game the Gators won. Just imagine how mad he is this week!

Urban's point probably comes down to his thinking that the more plays are in a game, the more chances for the more talented team to make a play that could win the game and his team is usually the more talented.

On the other hand, there's fewer chances for crazy second half comebacks.

Moral of the story? Don't be down by more than two scores at halftime.

Episode 6