College Football - Live Thread - Week Five

ESPN.com Scoreboard ^ | 28 September to 30 September 2006

[MikefromOhio]

Week Five – College Football

wasn’t supposed to be a weekend that gave us great games, yet it gave as many as “Separation Saturday” did. Between the instant classic that was Notre Dame vs. Michigan State(or an epic choke job if you listen to this clip, to the shocking upset of Boston College by NC State, to the near heart attack that Georgia gave it’s fans against Colorado, the weekend was absolutely spectacular. This week features one real marquee matchup. #1 Ohio State visits Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City to play #13 Iowa. This should be an excellent game. Other notable games are #24 Georgia Tech at #11 Virginia Tech and Alabama at #5 Florida.

As always, all rankings are from the ESPN.com Scoreboard page. The betting lines (used sorely for the basis of predictions) are from Yahoo.com. I will list any games of interest (FReepmail me if you want your team included and I will include them from here on out) and any other games listed in my Yahoo league. I have a new feature this week. In each game that I do not have any confidence, or any game that I think a team could have an unexpected struggle, I will post a picture of a landmine for illustration.

GAME of the WEEK

Saturday, September 30th, 2006 – 8:00 PM on ABC

(1) Ohio State (-6.5) at (13) Iowa

Ohio State faces easily it’s biggest in conference challenge until the Michigan game in November. This is a tough game with an Iowa team that dominated Ohio State the last time they played (33-7 in 2004) in Iowa City. That was then and these are both very different teams. Iowa, having escaped Syracuse and played two consecutive uninspired games against Iowa State and Illinois, have a chance to make a lot of noise in the Big Ten and nationally. Ohio State has a chance to keep the dream season going. The key of this game comes down to the battle of the Quarterbacks. If Troy Smith throws 2 interceptions like he did against Penn State, Ohio State will struggle to win this game. Same goes for Iowa and QB Drew Tate. If he struggles or gets rattled like what happened last year against Ohio State, then Iowa will struggle to win this game. In the end I think Ohio State’s defense will continue to play well enough to put this team in position to win the game. Iowa will keep it close, but this Ohio State team went into Austin and won. Iowa can win this game, but I think Ohio State will win this game.

Ohio State 29 – Iowa 17

Thursday September 28th, 2006 (ESPN Thursday Night Game)

(2) Auburn (-14) at South Carolina

Carolina as a 2TD underdog at home on a Thursday night ESPN game (when crazy things tend to happen)? No way. Auburn wins, but it will be closer than expected.

Auburn 23 – South Carolina 16

Saturday September 30th 2006 (in ranking order)

(3) USC (-17) at Washington State

USC 28 – Washington St. 17

(4) West Virginia BYE

Alabama at (5) Florida (-16)

Florida 32 – Alabama 10

(6) Michigan (-9.5) at Minnesota

Michigan 35 – Minnesota 18

Sam Houston St. at (7) Texas (NL)

Texas 56 – Sam Houston St 6

(8) Louisville (-14) BYE

Mississippi St. at (9) LSU (-33)

LSU 48 – Tulane 7

(10) UGA (-18) at Mississippi

UGA 20 – Mississippi 10

(24) Georgia Tech at (11) Virginia Tech (-10.5)

Virginia Tech 26 – GT 18

Purdue at (12) Notre Dame (-14)

Purdue 43 – Notre Dame 33

(14) Oregon at Arizona St (-1.5)

Oregon 33 – Arizona St. 24

(15) Tennessee (-13) at Memphis

Tennessee 35 – Memphis 21

(16) Oklahoma BYE

BYU at (17) TCU (-6.5)

No pick – The game started before I got to this point. Judging from the score so far, I don’t think TCU has gotten to the game yet either.

LA Tech at (18) Clemson (-33.5)

Clemson 52 – LA Tech 13

(19) Florida State BYE

(20) Cal (-9.5) at Oregon St

Cal 42 – Oregon St. 16

Kansas at (21) Nebraska (-23)

Nebraska 38 – Kansas 12

(22) Boise State at Utah (-5.5)

Boise St. 28 – Utah 17

(23) Rutgers (-4) at South Florida

Rutgers 24 – South Florida 19

Colorado at (25) Missouri (-16)

Mizzou 32 – Colorado 15

BY REQUEST

New Mexico at Air Force (-13.5)

Air Force is a good enough team to take Tennessee to the limit. Although New Mexico surprised me last week and kicked UTEP off of the field, I don’t think they will do that to this Air Force team.

Air Force 32 - UNM 17

71-12 Straight UP
48-33-2 Against the Spread

My straight up picks are doing ok, but I got annihilated by the spread last week.

[catholicfreeper]

College Gameday is infuriating me more every week. They were just talking about Auburn and how they are not number 2 and close call this and close call that against South Carolina. I am a LSU fan and I am not an Auburn Apologist. But did anyone notice all those close calls last weekend other top teams had. How come Auburn being on the road Saturday and then having to go on the road again and play on THURSDAY in front of a hostile crowd is not considered. How about the fact that every SEC game is dangerous or so they say. THe plots against the SEC continue. OK that is my rant for the day. Early kickoffs suck and has got me grouchy. ZGo Tigers beat State.

[MikefromOhio]

the father of the bride (and my dad too) brought little TVs, but I wanted to watch the game on a bigger screen :)

[MikefromOhio]

Sorry for being a bit late this morning....

Gameday is on ESPN, and we have several early games that should be nice appetizers for the main courses later on.

[MikefromOhio]

you know what I'm talking about then :)

[dakine]

In the background of College Gameday sign read:

"Troy Smith likes Unicorns", the sign had a rainbow on it...

[MikefromOhio]

we want confusion and controversy and several undefeated teams from big time conferences so the BCS will go boom....

[MikefromOhio]

yeah I saw that....

I kinda doubt that.

Of course it's coming from a kid who probably still has $h!t on his shoes from Cow tipping all night.

[dakine]

I've seen more clever signs in the background before...usually when Corso talks....

[hispanarepublicana]

Texas Tech vs. Texas A&M on ABC at 2:30!

[hispanarepublicana]

[Professional Engineer]

I'm a Red Raider married to an Aggie.

Who should a root for? LOL

[Wyatt's Torch]

They are also hypocrites. In 2004, they constantly said, USC and OU didn'y lose, how can we move then down? USC beat Stanford by 3 that year and Cal by 7 (at home). OU struggled to beat Oklahoma State and Texas A&M. If Auburn is moved down, then the hypocricy has been completely exposed.

[Wyatt's Torch]

BTW, hope you guys go undefeated this year and beat the daylights out of Florida next week.

[aft_lizard]

Did Auburn beat everybody that year comfortably? If everybody comfortably beats there opponents this week Auburn will probably drop a slot.

[Wyatt's Torch]

Our only close game was LSU (10-9). Outside of that we killed Tennessee, beat UGA handily (24-6), beat Alabama handily, Beat Tennessee again handily. Poin of the matter is, the pollsters said repeatedly, "Neither USC nor OU lost, how can we move them down?" If they move AUburn down for not losing, they are hypocrites. Simple as that.

[MikefromOhio]

yeah

That one about the baby arm was hilarious...

Glad he picked Iowa by the way :)

[MikefromOhio]

Auburn won.

They shouldn't drop because of one game.

I learned that one in 2002 :)

[MikefromOhio]

I checked my TV listings tonight.

I got the Nebraska Kansas game.

Interestingly enough, I don't get the Cincy - Miami of Ohio game.

I really wanted to see what the local radio hacks were going to talk about all day /sarcasm

[hispanarepublicana]

Do you have one of those "House Divided" TTU/TAMU flags?
Does it get under your skin when she calls you a "Techster"? Aggies can't ever seem to get the name right.

[Wyatt's Torch]

While I agree, the problem is that it is a beauty pageant. Colin Cowherd actually compared picking AUburn over USC in the polls would be like picking the ugly date from Match.com because Auburn isn't "flashy and sexy enough". USC is "pretty" with the LA glitz and bling while Auburn is from lower Alabama and we play smashmouth football and run and play defense to win. Not "pretty" enough for the pollsters according to Cowherd...