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.

[MikefromOhio]

The Big Ten has done that in the past too....

[LisaMalia]

Are any other Buckeye fans thinking this is the longest day of the year? Between watching the other games, I'm actually cleaning my apartment to keep busy...:)

GO BUCKS!!!!!

[aft_lizard]

Don't forget the MAC.

[MikefromOhio]

LOL

I'm playin poker on ESPN right now :)

I would be doing yardwork, but it rained and I don't feel like getting muddy and cold today

[MikefromOhio]

yep them too....

It's not just a Pac-10 thing.

Honestly their best OC went to The Titans and look what's going on there....

[LisaMalia]

You must not be married.

Divorced. I'm one of those strange ladies who would rather watch football all day than a Lifetime movie....:)

[MikefromOhio]

It's more than just the owner and it's more than just this year too...

[aft_lizard]

Yeah but to be fair many good college coaches have troubles in the pros, like Steve Spurrier for instance.

[MikefromOhio]

I know....

I'm not not at all convinced that the best offensive minds reside in the Pac 10.

Honestly one of the best minds for offense unfortunately passed away this past summer (Randy Walker - Northwestern)

[MikefromOhio]

LOL

you could have the second coming of Troy Aikman and he wouldn't be any good in Tennessee..

Both Houston AND Tennessee screwed up their drafts.

good teams need to have good lines. Neither of those teams do.

Matt Lienart wouldn't make a damn bit of difference there.

[Wyatt's Torch]

AP Poll does not play into the BCS anymore.

I'm not going to argue strength of schedule. Waste of time IMHO.

[MikefromOhio]

I could've sworn it went into the polling average...

anyway, SOS when it's close is fruitless to argue. However, it isn't close.

[aft_lizard]

It is replaced with the Harris Poll

[catholicfreeper]

LSU game delayed because of lightning. MSU was showing some momentum on a drive so we had to unleash our weather experiments

[MikefromOhio]

That's right...

sorry I'm a bit tired today

[MikefromOhio]

UPSET alert:

Illinois 20

Michigan State 10

Not quite an upset, but:
NAVY 27

UCONN 17