I honestly think Andy Williams’ “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” was referring to college football season and not Christmas. Proof? This weekend’s lineup of games.
It all began with Florida State at North Carolina State last night. I found myself watching the game during commercial breaks of the Mets game and not making it back to Fox until there were 1 or 2 outs in the subsequent inning. Oops…
Chuck Amato is saving his job week by week with wins over Boston College and Florida State. Thursday night’s 24-20 win over the No. 17 Noles makes him 4-3 against his former mentor and employer, Bobby Bowden.
Why can’t Florida State run the ball? We’ve talked about this briefly in the past. It just baffles my mind. My Florida State guy, Mike, is also clueless and has called the lack of offense “one of the biggest surprises in the NCAA” and “I think we are due for some major coaching shake-ups this off-season.”
The most intriguing point Mike made? Florida State is 4-6 in its last 10 games:
| Wins | Losses |
| Virginia Tech 12/3/05 | North Carolina St. 11/5/05 |
| Miami 9/4/06 | Clemson 11/12/05 |
| Troy 9/9/06 | Florida 11/26/05 |
| Rice 9/23/06 | Penn State 1/3/06 |
| Clemson 9/16/06 | |
| North Carolina St. 10/5/05 |
That’s pretty intriguing. The most intriguing point I could make? Those 10 games go from 11/5/05 to 10/5/06…exactly 11 months. Weird. (Okay, not that intriguing. I tried.)
Anyway, back to Andy Williams’ alleged Christmas classic. It really is the most wonderful time of the (sports) year. Take a gander at this quintet of games:
No. 9 LSU at No. 5 Florida, 3:30
No. 7 Texas vs. No. 14 Oklahoma, 3:30
Michigan State at No. 6 Michigan, 4:30
No. 13 Tennessee at No. 10 Georgia, 7:45
No. 11 Oregon at No. 16 California, 8
There are other undercard games this weekend, but those are the main events.
- If LSU can run the ball, they’ll beat Florida. That’s been easier said than done for the Tigers this year, but I think they can rise to the challenge, even in The Swamp. Here’s my big upset.
- The only thing that has a chance at looking good in red this weekend is Adrian Peterson. Oklahoma is outmatched everywhere on the field.
- If Michigan wins this game big, Michigan State is more than done this year. I can’t see the Spartans going into the Big House and winning. I pretty much wrote off MSU after the Notre Dame game, you just don’t bounce back from catastrophes like that.
- Tennesse can run the ball better than Georgia. Tennessee can pass the ball better than Georgia. Tennessee can play defense as tough as Georgia’s. That’s all you need to know. Two SEC road upsets on one weekend.
- I picked Cal to beat Arizona State last week and it didn’t happen. I’m going with the mighty Bears again. My reason? Eh, I guess I’ll give home field advantage a try. However, if Oregon proves me wrong, I’ll start taking them seriously. I promise.
I gotta scoot, baseball duties beckon. As for what I’ll be watching? The list above pretty much covers it. I’ll peak in at Notre Dame-Stanford though at 2:30.
Enjoy.