Maddux Sports Blog

It’s another big weekend of college football action. Here are the storylines that are the most intriguing:

Tennessee (+6) at Mississippi – The large majority of the bets have been on the Vols, but the line is on an elevator up – from 3.5 where it opened to six now. That isn’t what you would expect, and that means that some smart money is hitting Mississippi fairly hard. It will be interesting to see if Mississippi can back up the faith.

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I won’t be watching too much college football today because of the Breeders’ Cup, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t be keeping an eye on the scores and the summaries, and probably clicking over to some games for a bit between races. Here are the stories I’ll be most interested in following:

Purdue (+6) at Michigan – I will be watching this one with fear in my heart. I have so little faith in my Wolverines right now that I am terrified of what could happen here. This is probably their last chance to become bowl eligible, so it’s an important one. There are about a million ways we are capable of losing this one right now.

Central Florida (+34.5) at Texas – Texas is looking great right now, and are back in the good graces of the media and the public. It will be interesting to see if they can maintain the momentum now that they have probably read the headlines about how great they are again. The Knights are dangerous enough that they could make this interesting if the Longhorns aren’t into it.

Northwestern (+15.5) at Iowa - The Hawkeyes need to keep winning, and Northwestern really needs a career-defining win as they attempt to rebuild their program.

LSU (+7.5) at Alabama – The Tide need a big win to gain back the public opinion that they have been losing gradually. LSU needs a big win to get back into the BCS Championship picture. Both teams will be fired up for this one.

Ohio State (+5) at Penn State – If and when the Hawkeyes falter the winner of this game is going to be there to try and pick up the pieces. This is the battle for second best in the Big Ten.

Wake Forest (+14) at Georgia Tech – The Wreck is quietly playing some fantastic football and are increasingly relevant nationally. This would move them to 9-1 if they win. If they play as well as they can then 11-1 is perfectly possible, and that’s when things get interesting.

Oregon (-7) at Stanford – This one is interesting for a couple of reasons. We get to see how the Ducks will react to a big win – if they can stay focused and on task. The Cardinal isn’t a team to be taken lightly, though, and they have a track record for killing giants.

TCU (-24.5) at San Diego State – Boise State had a bit of a scare on Friday night, and it could hurt their reputation. A big win here by TCU would further increase the gap between them and Boise State, and would make the road to the BCS all the more clear.

Vanderbilt (+35) at Florida – Florida needs to win this one in a big, big way or, if Texas or Alabama wins big, it is going to get harder and harder for Florida to justify their position atop the polls. Tebow and the team need to play like 35 point favorites here.

Houston (-1) at Tulsa – This one is going to be a good old fashioned shootout. I love that.

UConn (+17) at Cincinnati - The Bearcats need to keep winning to prove themselves, and they could stand to win by a really big margin to improve their public perception and try to move higher up the rankings.

USC (-10) at Arizona State - How do the Trojans bounce back from being blown out? We have no idea because it has never happened before under Pete Carroll. This will be educational.

The games that have me looking forward to football this weekend:

Cincinnati (-15) at Syracuse – The Bearcats need to keep winning and winning big if they want to maintain their very slight national championship chances. On the other side, this is Greg Paulus’ last and best chance to make a lasting impression as a college athlete.

NC State (+10) at Florida State - Both of these teams have been very disappointing in the face of high expectations this year. Like watching a train wreck, it will be fun to watch how bad it could get.

Ole Miss (-4) at Auburn – Both of these teams are holding on to SEC relevance for dear life. A loss here will end that for one team. I wish it could somehow be both of them.

San Jose State (+36.5) at Boise State - The Broncos need to win this one by about 100 to keep their BCS hopes alive. A tight game here would be disastrous.

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Here are the stories capturing my attention for today:

Minnesota (+16) at Ohio State - The Buckeyes need a big win here in order to salvage something from this season. They also need Terrelle Pryor to look like the player that he is supposed to be.

South Florida (+6.5) at Pittsburgh – Neither of these teams can afford a win as they try to stick close to Cincinnati and keep the Big East BCS bid in their sights.

Arkansas (+6.5) at Ole Miss – Both these teams still have a chance to finish the season ranked, but a loss here would be a blow to those chances.

Boston College (+7.5) at Notre Dame – I don’t have a whole lot of love for Boston College, but I couldn’t possibly be cheering for them more. A third Notre Dame loss would be, hopefully, a nail in their BCS coffin. That would make me very happy.

Clemson (+4.5) at Miami – Miami goes back to playing real competition after a couple of easy weeks. The Hurricanes are by far the better team, but Clemson is playing well right now and can be pesky. This will be a test of Miami’s concentration.

Penn State (-4.5) at Michigan – A win by the Wolverines at the Big House would be a clear sign that this team is on the right track – a fast one back to respectability. Penn State’s defense has been very good, but this is by far the best offense they have faced. Surprisingly, this one could be a contest for second or third in the Big Ten.

Oklahoma (-7.5) at Kansas - The Sooners could actually be below .500 with a loss here. Hard to believe, but these guys haven’t had a single piece of luck.

Louisville (+17.5) at Cincinnati – If the Bearcats want to prove that they belong in the discussion with the big boys then they can’t get caught looking past lightweights like the Cardinals have sadly become.

Oregon (-10) at Washington - Washington has been playing well – better than their record, really. They will be desperate to keep the momentum rolling, and knocking off Oregon would certainly do that.

Tennessee (+14.5) at Alabama – I don’t for a second think that Alabama will lose. I certainly hope not, because Lane Kiffin is hard enough to take now. With a win here he would be unbearable.

Iowa (+1.5) at Michigan State – The Hawkeyes are in the driver’s seat in the Big Ten, but this is a dangerous spot for them. The public thinks so, too – the game opened with Iowa favored by 2.5.

TCU (-2.5) at BYU – With a win here TCU will likely finish the season undefeated, and will have a real chance of earning a BCS bid. BYU wants to make sure that that doesn’t happen. This one will be one heck of a war.

Florida (-22.5) at Mississippi State – Florida is badly depleted in their defensive front seven, and Mississippi State can run the ball. This could get interest. It probably won’t, though.

Texas (-13) at Missouri – If Texas plays their typically lethargic, disinterested style of this year then the Tigers may be good enough t make them pay for it.This is a big test – probably the biggest they have had this year given the injury situation at Oklahoma.

Oregon State (+21) at USC – You know that Oregon State is dreaming of another Trojan upset.

As always, there are all sorts of great storylines in today’s college football action. Here are my favorites:

Oklahoma (-3) vs. Texas – Both teams desperately need this win, but for very different reasons. Texas dropped out of the second spot in the polls last week, and their play hasn’t been particularly impressive. They need an impressive win over a good team in order to prove that they are a good team and that they belong in the BCS Championship game. Oklahoma has had a very rough year – two losses, the injury to Sam Bradford, and so on. This team is better than a 3-3 team, or at least they should be. They won’t be if they don’t win here, though. There is real desperation on both sides, and that leads to good drama. It also doesn’t hurt that these teams don’t exactly like each other.

Iowa (+2.5) at Wisconsin – Iowa is still undefeated and poised to keep climbing up the charts. They face a tough rival here, though, and they aren’t exactly coming off a tour de force performance in their narrow win over Michigan last week. They need to win, and win big, here to continue to gain respect and climb the polls since they are burdened by playing in a pretty underwhelming conference this year.

USC (-10) at Notre Dame – This is being painted as the game of the week. Like so many games of the week featuring USC, I expect this one to be a bust. Notre Dame has a largely one-dimensional offense, and they haven’t run up against a defense as good as USC has. Notre Dame has played very close games against teams that it should be totally outclassing. For all their faults this year, the Trojans are significantly better than any team they have faced. I don’t see how the Irish can measure up. This could be the end of yet another Heisman campaign – Jimmy Clausen’s.

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I didn’t watch much of the Florida game today because Michigan was playing at the same time, but what I did see was less than thrilling. It was a typical SEC defensive battle. Maybe it’s a personal fault, but that style of football generally bores the hell out of me. TimTebow didn’t look particularly good in his return to action after his concussion, but he was far better than his counterpart and he got the win. Florida finally proved themselves against their best opponent yet, but I still don’t believe that this is the best team that there is.

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Here are the storylines that stand out for me this week in college football action:

Michigan (+2) at Michigan State – The Spartans have been terrible so far this year. The Wolverines have yet to play on the road, and have gotten worse defensively as the season has progressed. This is a big rivalry game, and one team is going to wind up very disappointed.

South Florida (-6.5) at Syracuse – Was last week’s stunning upset a fluke, or is B.J. Daniels ready to do big things at South Florida. And will GregPaulus continue to take strides forward?

Alabama (-16.5) at Kentucky – We saw what the Gators did against Kentucky last week, so this is a way to get a very rough estimate of how the top two teams in the SEC measure up.

Penn State (-7) at Illinois – Both teams need to bounce back from embarrassing performances last week. Illinois really needs to find a way to pull off a win this week in an attempt to get a once promising season back on track.

UCLA(+6) at Stanford – One of these teams has a good chance of being a factor in the Pac-10 race. This game will give us a good sense of which one.

LSU (+3) at Georgia – I really don’t believe in either of these teams. A decisive win by one of them would be a sign that they achieve their rankings. For now, I think both are badly overrated.

Washington (+13.5) at Notre Dame - The Irish need a convincing win over someone to prove themselves. Washington needs to bounce back from last week and prove that their USC performance was no fluke.

Oklahoma (-7.5) at Miami – Will Sam Bradford play? How well? Can Miami bounce back from last week’s humiliation, or are they exhausted from their ridiculously tough opening string of games?

USC (-5) at Cal – Two weeks ago you could have argued convincingly that this game was for a spot in the BCS championship. Now it’s next to impossible to know what we have from either team. This could be a great game, or it could be a train wreck, but it will be interesting either way.

Houston (-16) at UTEP – I will be watching Houston closely all the way through this season. They have a couple of impressive wins already, so if they could remain undefeated they could create a real headache for the BCS. Besides that, they are just so much fun to watch.

I know that it is Sunday morning and this is clearly NFL time and all, but yesterday’s college football action was so bizarrely interesting that I can’t help but touch on it one more time before we move on. We’ll still have plenty of time to talk NFL – I promise.

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Here are the storylines that stand out for me this week in college football action:

North Carolina (+2.5) at Georgia Tech – This is a good test to see if North Carolina is worthy of their 18th rank (I have doubts), and we’ll get to see how Georgia Tech bounces back from Miami.

Fresno State (+17) at Cincinnati - The Bearcats have been impressive this year, but this could be a letdown game for them if they aren’t prepared and focused. Fresno State isn’t great this year, but they will be up for this one.

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Here are the storylines that stand out for me this week in college football action:

Eastern Michigan (+24) at Michigan – Isn’t everyone always endlessly fascinated every time Michigan plays? I know I am. If this one is even close I am going to be less than thrilled.

Cal (-13.5) at Minnesota – Cal seems to be for real. The pollsters sure think so. This game won’t prove that they really are, but it’s a chance for a misstep if they aren’t focused.

Ohio State (-21) at Toledo – The Buckeyes were brutal offensively the Trojans. This will be a good chance for them to start to work out the kinks before they begin their next shot at redemption when their Big Ten season starts.

Tennessee (+29.5) at Florida – Urban Meyer is really, really, really going to try to pound the life out of Lane Kiffin and the Vols. This one won’t be even close, but it will certainly be entertaining. The Gators could win by 50.

Nebraska (+5) at Virginia Tech – Both of these teams are well regarded in the polls, but both of them could use a big win here to define their season and prove that they are legitimate. This would be one heck of a momentum win for the Pelini era.

Tulsa (+18) at Oklahoma – Is Landry Jones any good. How about Tulsa. This one probably won’t be very interesting, but there is a chance that it could be.

Michigan State (+10) at Notre Dame – Can Charlie Weis bounce back from a tough loss last week, or can this season degenerate into a total disaster?

USC (-19) at Washington – There are some prominent people out there who are predicting an upset here. I’m not sure that I see that, but I would love to see the Huskies finally make some real progress. It will also be interesting to see how the Trojans’ offense looks under the control of Aaron Corp. It can’t look much worse than it did under Matt Barkley for most of the Ohio State game.

Utah (+4.5) at Oregon – The Ducks need nothing more than a huge win here to prove that the Boise State debacle was just a blip in the road. A team like Utah can always use a win over a major conference opponent.

Cincinnati (-1.5) at Oregon State – This game fascinates me. The Bearcats have been almost flawless so far this year, but they take a step up in class. The Beavers have one of the most exciting young players in the country. Either tea could win this one, and it will be a big win for whoever does.

Rice (+33.5) at Oklahoma State – The Cowboys totally and utterly outclass Rice. They need to have a massive game here – if they don’t bounce back strong from the embarrassment of last weekend then there are serious questions to be answered.

Florida State (+8) at BYU – A second win over a legitimate major conference team would help BYU’s cause. An overwhelming win would keep alive their slim chance of making the national championship game.

Texas Tech (+18.5) at Texas – Am I the only one that is still uneasy about Texas? They have ridiculous amounts of talent, but they haven’t had to prove anything yet, and I can’t shake the feeling that they have looked a bit lethargic so far. This will be the biggest test they have had yet. A big win here would prove a lot to me.