College Football - Live Thread - Week Twelve

Sportsline.com Scoreboard ^ | Thursday November 16th to Saturday November 18th

[MikefromOhio]

Weekend Eleven threw the entire BCS mess into an even bigger mess if that is possible. No fewer than 3 one loss teams lost (Texas, Auburn, Cal) while another one (Florida) needed to block 3 kicks to win their game 17-16 against South Carolina. This week is the week that just about everyone in the national media has been waiting for. The greatest rivalry in college football renews and that game finds that Ohio State is #1 and Michigan is #2 for the first time in the 102 game history of this game.

Saturday, November 18th, 2006 (ABC)

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(2) Michigan at (1) Ohio State (-7)

It doesn’t get any better than this. For the FIRST time ever, an 11-0 Ohio State team will play an 11-0 Michigan team. For the FIRST time ever, the teams are ranked 1 and 2 in every major poll. For the FIRST time ever, the loser of this game will end up in the Rose Bowl. This is the best rivalry in college football, and this one clearly has the best setup of any of those previous 102 games.

Ohio State and Michigan have both played dominant defense and very well on offense. Ohio State has a Heisman candidate in Troy Smith and Michigan has a Heisman candidate in Mike Hart. Ohio State has a coach that has brought a new focus to this rivalry whereas Michigan has the coach who was so dominant in this rivalry that Ohio State was forced to make a change. Does it sound like I’m having issues picking this game? Really I’m not. Every comparison for these teams shows that Ohio State is better on offense while Michigan is better on defense except for scoring defense. In the end, this game will come down to who makes the bigger plays. I think Troy Smith, who has burned Michigan each of the previous two years, will make enough plays to allow Ohio State to win this game.

Ohio State 28 – Michigan 18

Thursday, November 16th, 2006 (ESPN2 Friday Night Game)

(8) West Virginia (-10.5) at Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh started out the season looking like a contender for the Big East championship. Unfortunately loss to Rutgers about a month ago, this team seems to have lost it’s way. For WVU, this game is all about remaining in the hunt for the Big East championship. West Virginia is NOT out of the BCS National Title hunt, but needs a lot of help to get there.

WVU 44 – Pitt 20

Saturday November 18th 2006 (in ranking order)

Western Carolina at (3) Florida (NL)

Florida 53 – Western Carolina 3

(17) Cal at (4) USC (-5.5) ****UPSET WATCH****

USC 38 – Cal 31

(5) Arkansas (-15) at Mississippi St.

Arkansas 39 – Mississippi St. 12

Army at (6) Notre Dame (-28.5)

Army 70 – ND 6

Just kidding….

ND 42 – Army 10

(7) Rutgers (-6.5) at Cincinnati ****UPSET ALERT****

Cincinnati 23 – Rutgers 20

Mississippi at (9) LSU (-27)

LSU 38 – Mississippi 13

South Florida at (10) Louisville (-16.5)

Louisville 44 – South Florida 20

(11) TEXAS BYE

Buffalo at (12) Wisconsin (-38)

Wisconsin 53 – Buffalo 0

Utah St. at (13) Boise State (-37.5)

Boise St. 34 – Utah State 10

(19) Virginia Tech at (14) Wake Forest (PICK) ****UPSET WATCH****

Wake 22 – VT 18

(15) Auburn (-3) at Alabama

Auburn 23 – Alabama 17

(16) Oklahoma (-20.5) at Baylor

Oklahoma 38 – Baylor 14

Duke at (18) Georgia Tech (-26.5) ****UPSET WATCH****

Georgia Tech 21 – Duke 3

(21) Maryland at (20) Boston College (-7)

BC 24 – Maryland 21

(22) Tennessee (-8.5) at Vanderbilt

Tennessee 31 – Vandy 17

New Mexico at (23) BYU (-26.5)

BYU 42 – New Mexico 20

(24) Nebraska BYE

(25) Clemson BYE

BY REQUEST

New Mexico at (23) BYU (-26.5)

New Mexico hasn’t disappointed yet this year. I pick them, they lose. I pick against them, they win. I paper this one doesn’t look like it will be very close. Let’s see how this prediction goes….

BYU 42 – New Mexico 20

Texas A&M BYE

Western Michigan at Florida State (-16)

I never thought I would see the day that Florida State would be ONLY a 16 point favorite against a directional school. Now the good news for FSU fans is that Jeff Bowden has been canned resigned, but the bad news is that he’s still there the rest of this season.

FSU 41 – Western Michigan 12

[lepton]

Might be different if they had played early in the season, but now it is time to see how OSU stacks up against an out of conference team.

I think Michigan and Ohio State appear to indeed be the best teams in the nation...but they just played, and you are exactly right. It IS difficult to see exactly how good they are due to lack of common opponents with many other teams.

[fkabuckeyesrule]

Hey Mike how was the game....was that you on tv running onto the field like I did in 1984. I taped the game. When I went grocery shopping on sunday I was wearing my Ohio State Sweatshirt and 4 different people said stuff to me about what a great game it was.