CFB Weekend Preview: SEC Survival
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by Suckatsports
College football weekend preview will run weekly, and will take a quick gander at some of the upcoming games. Quick breakdowns and predictions will be included, but don't quote it on SportsBook, they'll still take your money.
This week doesn't boast the kind of games that we've been accustomed to seeing later in the year. The highly ranked teams meeting each other with the season and national title aspirations in the air, creating an environment ripe with competition. This week, that is missing. In fact, it seems like this entire year we've been missing that great matchup week in and week out. Sure, here and there will be a couple of games we're really looking forward to watching, like the USC-Oregon, ASU-Oregon, LSU-Florida, but that's four different weeks out of 10 that we've been in the college football season. We're talking less than half of the weeks we're actually looking forward to sitting down and watching these games. That's not to say that the games haven't been good this year, but random ones have turned out to be exciting, there's been little hype for the weekends before that. Parity? I sure hope so.
Speaking of games that don't make me mark my schedule down for watching, it's the SEC game o' the week, Auburn and Georgia. I'm sure in the South this is a huge deal, because it may eventually decide who will beat LSU in the SEC championship game. And it's not that this is a bad game, but just doesn't have that certain, je ne sais quoi. Now that I've said that, it's about turn out to be a sweet ass instant ESPN Classic worthy tug of war. I'm still trying to figure out what Georgia is. Are they the team that stepped on Florida's face on their way to the endzone, or the team that couldn't get out of the way of their offensive ineptness to beat a pretty bad South Carolina team? In fact, we can apply the same to Auburn. They have looked great in games against quality opponents like Florida and LSU (a game they should have won), but downright unimpressive and lazy against the doldrums of BCS conferences teams like Kansas State (a game they should have lost), and South Florida. So, with that said, it's hard to even try to break down what we're going to see from two seeming inconsistent foes. However, if there's one thing that is consistent, its the defenses on these two squads, so get ready for some exciting punts - this should make Jim Tressel very happy. If this is based on defense, I'm going to take Auburn in a close battle, just because what they've done to like opponents. Add into that, the fact that Tebow was on the road and injured in one game, and at home at full strength in another. Remember Mark Richt's record in SEC away games? Not as good as at home. Auburn 20, Georgia 14.
Other games to keep an eye on:
- USC at California. Everyone and their mother had this game circled at the beginning of the year as the quintessential Pac 10 decision game. In fact, it would have been surprised to see either of these teams with a loss, much less a combined five losses. So, certainly, some of the air has gone out of this game as a national title contender type of atmosphere. There's still a lot to play for on both sidelines here. For USC, it's time to show that they can be the USC of the last four years, and not of the last four games. And for Cal, it's just to show that they're a team worth talking about that won't lose all of their remaining games. Also, seeing as how this is merely one of two matchups between ranked teams, there'll still be plenty of eyes on this game, even if it's clearly not deserving of the attention. USC came into this season boasting about their defense, and it hasn't completely disappointed. While they've lost two games, neither of these was a blowout, and certainly their opponents didn't exactly pile up the points. Cal is having trouble all the way around. What started as a brain fart by a backup quarterback has turned into a brain fart by the entire team. It's like a snowball of brain farts. Cal ends the snide. USC 24, Cal 33.
- Illinois at Ohio State. Why this game? Because the Buckeyes are ranked #1, and they need to mentioned somewhere, somehow. Two issues with this game: 1) It's a week before The Game and 2) Illinois was one of two teams to give the Buckeyes a close game last year. This year, Illini are much improved physically and athletically on both sides of the ball, and return one of the best unknown linebackers in the nation, J. Leman. A lethargic Ohio State team went into Champagne last year and barely got out of there with a win, this year the Illini want to finish the job and ruin what to this point has been a fantastic season. Ohio State has the defense to make an already one-dimensional Illinois team... [even more] one dimensional with their defense, and with the versatile balanced attack they can cause problems on offense as well. If they overlook this team at home though, there's no doubt a very physical offense, and a pounding running game can throw monkey wrench into the plans of an undefeated season. Oh, here I go, taking two steps ahead, myself overlooking Illinois. They come close, but the Buckeyes pull away late with talent. Illinois 13, Ohio State 28.
- Florida at South Carolina. New Spurrier vs. Old Spurrier comes on the heels of New Saban vs. Old Saban. There's little doubt that the blocked field goal at the end of regulation was one of the key moments to put Florida in the national championship game last year, a game they would eventually win. Spurrier has caused problems for his old team before, but they've consistently come up short against the more physically gifted and Zook recruited Gators. To be fair, I'm really waffling on this. South Carolina gave up about a thousand yards to McFadden last week, and have been soft on defense ever since the injuries on defense. But the problem is, Florida doesn't have anyone to take advantage of this in their backfield, because for reasons unknown Urban Meyer either likes to recruit worthless running backs, or his system just does not work with a normal run formation. Tim Tebow, as talented as he is will be dead on the field if he tries to rush for anything amounting to 300ish yards. Over the last couple of weeks, the injuries on offense and defense (specifically mentioned Tebow) have removed the "elite offense" label from this team, and the physical game last week certainly didn't help. So easy to go with the better Florida, and I'll do so, eventually setting up a rematch with LSU in the SEC championship game. Florida 27, South Carolina 17
Heisman watch. Hey, why isn't anyone talking about Dennis Dixon for H... oh wait, that was last week. After an impressive game against what is deemed a worthy foe in this Topsy turvy world of college football, Dennis Dixon is the Troy Smith of this year. In a muddled pool of candidates who's team lost a bunch of games, Dixon has had his "Heisman moment" as well as leading one of the best spread offenses in the nation. At worst, NOIS will be very proud.
