What a spectacular weekend of college football. Week 5 provided more excitement than an adult movie and more upsets than the first round of this year’s men’s basketball tournament (literally – count ‘em). As the Bulldogs lick their wounds, the Gators look for their next meal and the Trojans try to get back in their horse (yes, in), the landscape of the Kingdom of College Football has changed with a swift dropping of Nick Saban’s guillotine blade, and it gets me more pumped than Beck’s banjo solo in “Sexx Laws.” With such perspective, we look forward to our first October weekend.
Game of the Week: (13) Auburn at (19) Vanderbilt
For the third week in a row, the Game of the Week is an SEC duel, though it is admittedly of an unorthodox nature. Vanderbilt is playing its first game as a ranked team since 1984, and the school’s focus on academics has left much to be desired from an SEC football team: their last winning season and bowl game were in 1982, and they haven’t won a bowl game since 1955. They’ve only bowled one other time (1974) and have never won an SEC championship in the 76 years they’ve been a member.
Alas, on Saturday they host the Auburn Tigers. The 4-0 record will be difficult to uphold against the Auburn defense. The Tigers have a stellar run defense, allowing just 92 yards per game, which could be trouble for the ground-pounding Commodores, who have only 323 total passing yards through four games.
Switching sides, Vandy’s defense has been less than bullet-proof, allowing over 200 yards passing to each opponent thus far, with the exception of Ole Miss, who ran for over 200 instead.
However, there are two major factors aligned in favor of the Commies (my pet name for them). The game is in Nashville, and you can bet students and alumni are realizing why the rest of the southeast is so intense in the fall. The momentum and anticipation have certainly built up, and coming off a bye week, an upset is entirely possible, especially given Auburn’s lackluster performance against a weak Tennessee team following an exhaustive effort in their loss to LSU.
Is Vanderbilt the better team? Probably not. They are most likely just a BCS conference version of East Carolina. But that doesn’t mean this game is already decided, and if there were an upset to occur this weekend, this one might be it. A win will get them real respect in the football world. If they lose a close game, they may only drop to a ranking of 23 or 24, but lose by more than 10 and they fall unranked. The Commies only have to win twice more to become bowl eligible, and with four unranked teams left on schedule and two SEC wins already under their belt, we’ll see the Vanderbilt Commodores playing in late December, but don’t bank on that elusive conference title this year.
Winner: Auburn
Most Interesting Game People Wouldn’t Watch If It Were On Saturday: Oregon State at (15) Utah
There are seven games between Tuesday and Friday (and really, Tuesday is too early in the week for college football, even for me – where does the week end and begin? The line begins to blur). Four of them involve teams ranked in the top 20, and none of them would really be that exciting if Oregon State hadn’t upset USC last Thursday. The Beavers looked great by out gaining the Trojans, committing less penalties, converting more third downs and controlling the clock.
Jacquizz Rodgers is definitely in the spotlight this week after posting 186 yards on the ground last week, especially against a Utah defense that has allowed only 60 yards rushing in each of its first five games. If the Badgers want it, and play well, the Thursday could result in an odd BCS-conference-team-upsetting-a-non-BCS-conference-team scenario, otherwise look for Utah to continue to make the Mountain West look better than the Pac-10, Big East, WAC and ACC.
Winner: Utah, due to home field advantage.
Team I would love to see win: Colorado Buffaloes
Some respect for a Big 12 North team not named Missouri would be nice. The Buffaloes were on the verge of earning some national respect and becoming the seventh Big 12 school to be ranked, but instead they were outperformed by an underwhelming Florida State squad in Jacksonville last week. Father Hawkins and Co. could pull off the upset this weekend if Texas is too distracted with next week’s Red River Shootout versus the now-top-ranked Oklahoma Sooners.
Team I would love to see lose: (20) Virginia Tech Hokies
Oftentimes I find myself feeling unusually jaded by a Top 10 team. My hostility toward them is similar to that of seeing a girl who all the guys seem to love: they haven’t done anything to directly offend you, but you just know that beneath all that make-up, she’s not even cute. The Big Ten ) – with exception of Penn State – has exited the highest rankings (especially you, Buckingham U. Badger), and for now I am content. That being said, Virginia Tech is the worst team in the Top 25.
I’m not saying this because they beat my Huskers last week, I’m saying that because they are 4-1, winning only one game by more than five points, the Furman…Somethings. I can’t even name their mascot, therefore that game doesn’t count as a real victory. Fact check says they’re the Paladins, which sounds like something I’d be able to define if I spend my childhood reading fantasy novels instead of box scores. Fact check also says Virginia Tech needs to give their spot to a team like Maryland or Northwestern, who wins games instead of not losing. Western Kentucky probably won’t be the team to drop the Hokies from the ranks – considering they fall victim to the same nickname woes as Furman – but stranger things have happened.
P.S. For the record, Western Kentucky are the Hilltoppers. Yeah, Webster doesn’t know what a Hilltopper is either. That’s probably why they don’t belong to a conference.
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