The MAC is back, at least back in control of early week games on Tuesday and Wednesday.
I could say that all signs point to a fun week but mention signs and Jim Harbaugh might try to steal them.
No “Game of the Year” type match-ups this week but some opportunities for some upsets. We have reached the point where many schools have to accept that their seasons aren’t going to meet their goals, including a few that have slipped from their normal status. Starting to reach the point when some coaches are getting uncomfortable and some others are hoping that a strong finish will let them move up.
The crunch of trying to qualify for a bowl or even staying alive for a conference championship game is here for a lot of teams
Tuesday opens with Northern Illinois (4-4) at Central Michigan (4-4). Each needs to win two of their last four for bowl eligibility but NIU has the much easier schedule. CMU needs this one more.
Toledo (7-1) should Rocket past visiting Buffalo (3-5).
Wednesday Ball State (2-6) at Bowling Green (4-4) should provide BGU with one of the two wins they need to go bowling.
Kent State (1-7) is Flashing to the bottom at Akron (1-7) who may be Zipping lower. One of these teams will finally be able to claim a BCS level win this season. Get the garbage game of the week out of the way early.
Thursday we finally get some P5 football.
TCU (4-4) has fallen far from the playoff team of last year. They need two more wins just to get a bowl but still have Texas and Oklahoma so beating Texas Tech (3-5) this week and Baylor in a couple of weeks are almost required. TTU (Trailer Trash U) would have to win 3 out of 4 which looks highly unlikely.
Wake Forest (4-4) who has lost 4 of their last 5 is at Duke (5-3) who has lost 3 of their last 4 after being ranked earlier in the season. If Duke fails to reach a bowl it will be a collapse of epic proportions. Is bwalk now a Duke fan?
Friday has Boston College (5-3) at Syracuse(4-4.)
The game of interest around here has Colorado State (3-5) taking that long bus ride to Laramie to face Wyoming (5-3.) Wyoming has struggled of late after a strong start but CSU hasn’t been much good either lately. Weather should be much nicer than it was in Fort Collins last weekend but being Wyoming, windy.
Saturday morning starts with (12) Notre Dame (7-2) at Clemson (4-4). Most recent years this would have been a marquee game but Clemson who has been a playoff team in recent years has fallen apart losing 3 of their last 5.
Best early game looks to be (25) Kansas State (6-2) at (7) Texas (7-1.) Texas still has an outside chance at a playoff spot, K-State has more than once put a dent in the Longhorns season.
Rutgers (6-2) has an impressive record against a less than impressive schedule. Visiting (3) Ohio State (8-0) wants to avoid a let down game.
Texas A&M (5-3) fans expected better this year but as usual they have disappointed again. (11) Ole Miss (7-1) isn’t the best place for them to try to turn around their season.
In the next couple weeks we will see a bunch of SEC teams scheduling themselves bye weeks by bringing in the weakest excuse for an opponent they can find. (19) Tennessee 6-2) gets a jump on them by hosting UConn (1-7) this week. If the Tennessee starters are still in the game much after the start of the 2nd quarter it is a loss for the Volunteers.
Mid-day games seem a little less interesting.
(14) Missouri (7-1) is ranked but the oddsmakers don’t give them much of a chance at (1) Georgia (8-0.)
Oklahoma State (6-2) hosts (10) Oklahoma (7-1) who picked up their first loss last week. This is the Bedlam game which means even more this year since OU is leaving for the SEC next season.
(9) Penn State (7-1) is at Maryland (5-3.) Maryland has recently played worse than their uniforms look, losing 3 in a row but an upset of Pedo State would put them in a bowl and get them back on track.
(4) Florida State (8-0) should be able to walk over Pitt (2-6) for a road win.
Virginia Tech (4-4) lost 3 of their first 4 but now have turned that around winning 3 of their last 4. Might we see a huge upset win at (15) Louisville (7-1) this week?
Later in the day we have some fun looking contests.
For PAC fans the game of the day is (5) Washington (8-0) and pushing for a playoff spot at (24) Southern Cal who lost two in a row before barely surviving by one point against Cal last week.
(13) LSU (6-2) is at (8) Alabama (7-1) These are two teams that were hoping to be in the playoff this year. That is unlikely but a top 10 finish is still possible for the winner of this one.
A Big 12 game of note puts (22) Kansas (6-2) at Iowa State (5-3.) The Jayhawks beat Oklahoma last week for the biggest win that almost any of their fans can remember. The Cyclones have won 4 of their last 5 and a win here would put them in a bowl.
Purdue (2-6) is at (2) Michigan (8-0) in what shouldn’t be much of a contest but may be one of the last games at Michigan coached by Jim Harbaugh if evidence of cheating keeps coming out.
Can we get an asteroid strike in East Lansing this Saturday? Nebraska (5-3) will likely reach bowl eligibility against Michigan State (2-6) who have come apart faster than Mel Tucker’s zipper after losing their coach. This means some poor bowl city will have to face an invasion of red polyester clad pasty white fat fans buying all their twinkies.
At least Baylor (3-5) is unlikely to bring their team of felons to a bowl this year but could get closer hosting Houston (3-5) this week.
Other important PAC 12 games include (20) UCLA (6-2) at surprising Arizona (5-3.) A wildcat win would put them in a bowl and take UCLA out of the rankings.
(6) Oregon (7-1) shouldn’t have trouble with visiting Cal (3-5) but the Bears almost upset USC last week.
Closer to home (17) Air Force (8-0) is hosting Army (2-6) at Empower Field in Denver. This is one of the best Air Force teams in years and Army is bad but in Commander in Chief games you can throw the records out. This is a game worth seeing in person if you can.
Air Force is excellence, in Greeley you can see a team that may be described as excrement as Northern Colorado (0-8) brings in Idaho (6-2) to add yet another loss to their record.
For small college football right now you can’t get better than Colorado School of Mines, the #1 ranked team in the nation.
Avoiding an upset before the playoffs shouldn’t be hard in the last two weeks of the regular season.
This week Mines (9-0,7-0) host New Mexico Highlands (2-7,1-6)
Western Colorado (8-1, 6-1) coming off a loss to Mines but still likely to make the playoffs gets the closest thing to a bye hosting Fort Lewis (0-9, 0-7.)
Out of the playoffs but hoping to finish strong CSU Pueblo (6-3, 5-2) is at South Dakota Mines (5-4, 4-3.)
Colorado Mesa (4-5, 3-4) can still pull out a winning season but needs to win this week against visiting Chadron State (4-5, 3-4.)
I could say that all signs point to a fun week but mention signs and Jim Harbaugh might try to steal them.
No “Game of the Year” type match-ups this week but some opportunities for some upsets. We have reached the point where many schools have to accept that their seasons aren’t going to meet their goals, including a few that have slipped from their normal status. Starting to reach the point when some coaches are getting uncomfortable and some others are hoping that a strong finish will let them move up.
The crunch of trying to qualify for a bowl or even staying alive for a conference championship game is here for a lot of teams
Tuesday opens with Northern Illinois (4-4) at Central Michigan (4-4). Each needs to win two of their last four for bowl eligibility but NIU has the much easier schedule. CMU needs this one more.
Toledo (7-1) should Rocket past visiting Buffalo (3-5).
Wednesday Ball State (2-6) at Bowling Green (4-4) should provide BGU with one of the two wins they need to go bowling.
Kent State (1-7) is Flashing to the bottom at Akron (1-7) who may be Zipping lower. One of these teams will finally be able to claim a BCS level win this season. Get the garbage game of the week out of the way early.
Thursday we finally get some P5 football.
TCU (4-4) has fallen far from the playoff team of last year. They need two more wins just to get a bowl but still have Texas and Oklahoma so beating Texas Tech (3-5) this week and Baylor in a couple of weeks are almost required. TTU (Trailer Trash U) would have to win 3 out of 4 which looks highly unlikely.
Wake Forest (4-4) who has lost 4 of their last 5 is at Duke (5-3) who has lost 3 of their last 4 after being ranked earlier in the season. If Duke fails to reach a bowl it will be a collapse of epic proportions. Is bwalk now a Duke fan?
Friday has Boston College (5-3) at Syracuse(4-4.)
The game of interest around here has Colorado State (3-5) taking that long bus ride to Laramie to face Wyoming (5-3.) Wyoming has struggled of late after a strong start but CSU hasn’t been much good either lately. Weather should be much nicer than it was in Fort Collins last weekend but being Wyoming, windy.
Saturday morning starts with (12) Notre Dame (7-2) at Clemson (4-4). Most recent years this would have been a marquee game but Clemson who has been a playoff team in recent years has fallen apart losing 3 of their last 5.
Best early game looks to be (25) Kansas State (6-2) at (7) Texas (7-1.) Texas still has an outside chance at a playoff spot, K-State has more than once put a dent in the Longhorns season.
Rutgers (6-2) has an impressive record against a less than impressive schedule. Visiting (3) Ohio State (8-0) wants to avoid a let down game.
Texas A&M (5-3) fans expected better this year but as usual they have disappointed again. (11) Ole Miss (7-1) isn’t the best place for them to try to turn around their season.
In the next couple weeks we will see a bunch of SEC teams scheduling themselves bye weeks by bringing in the weakest excuse for an opponent they can find. (19) Tennessee 6-2) gets a jump on them by hosting UConn (1-7) this week. If the Tennessee starters are still in the game much after the start of the 2nd quarter it is a loss for the Volunteers.
Mid-day games seem a little less interesting.
(14) Missouri (7-1) is ranked but the oddsmakers don’t give them much of a chance at (1) Georgia (8-0.)
Oklahoma State (6-2) hosts (10) Oklahoma (7-1) who picked up their first loss last week. This is the Bedlam game which means even more this year since OU is leaving for the SEC next season.
(9) Penn State (7-1) is at Maryland (5-3.) Maryland has recently played worse than their uniforms look, losing 3 in a row but an upset of Pedo State would put them in a bowl and get them back on track.
(4) Florida State (8-0) should be able to walk over Pitt (2-6) for a road win.
Virginia Tech (4-4) lost 3 of their first 4 but now have turned that around winning 3 of their last 4. Might we see a huge upset win at (15) Louisville (7-1) this week?
Later in the day we have some fun looking contests.
For PAC fans the game of the day is (5) Washington (8-0) and pushing for a playoff spot at (24) Southern Cal who lost two in a row before barely surviving by one point against Cal last week.
(13) LSU (6-2) is at (8) Alabama (7-1) These are two teams that were hoping to be in the playoff this year. That is unlikely but a top 10 finish is still possible for the winner of this one.
A Big 12 game of note puts (22) Kansas (6-2) at Iowa State (5-3.) The Jayhawks beat Oklahoma last week for the biggest win that almost any of their fans can remember. The Cyclones have won 4 of their last 5 and a win here would put them in a bowl.
Purdue (2-6) is at (2) Michigan (8-0) in what shouldn’t be much of a contest but may be one of the last games at Michigan coached by Jim Harbaugh if evidence of cheating keeps coming out.
Can we get an asteroid strike in East Lansing this Saturday? Nebraska (5-3) will likely reach bowl eligibility against Michigan State (2-6) who have come apart faster than Mel Tucker’s zipper after losing their coach. This means some poor bowl city will have to face an invasion of red polyester clad pasty white fat fans buying all their twinkies.
At least Baylor (3-5) is unlikely to bring their team of felons to a bowl this year but could get closer hosting Houston (3-5) this week.
Other important PAC 12 games include (20) UCLA (6-2) at surprising Arizona (5-3.) A wildcat win would put them in a bowl and take UCLA out of the rankings.
(6) Oregon (7-1) shouldn’t have trouble with visiting Cal (3-5) but the Bears almost upset USC last week.
Closer to home (17) Air Force (8-0) is hosting Army (2-6) at Empower Field in Denver. This is one of the best Air Force teams in years and Army is bad but in Commander in Chief games you can throw the records out. This is a game worth seeing in person if you can.
Air Force is excellence, in Greeley you can see a team that may be described as excrement as Northern Colorado (0-8) brings in Idaho (6-2) to add yet another loss to their record.
For small college football right now you can’t get better than Colorado School of Mines, the #1 ranked team in the nation.
Avoiding an upset before the playoffs shouldn’t be hard in the last two weeks of the regular season.
This week Mines (9-0,7-0) host New Mexico Highlands (2-7,1-6)
Western Colorado (8-1, 6-1) coming off a loss to Mines but still likely to make the playoffs gets the closest thing to a bye hosting Fort Lewis (0-9, 0-7.)
Out of the playoffs but hoping to finish strong CSU Pueblo (6-3, 5-2) is at South Dakota Mines (5-4, 4-3.)
Colorado Mesa (4-5, 3-4) can still pull out a winning season but needs to win this week against visiting Chadron State (4-5, 3-4.)
