Worst NFL Game of the Week – Baltimore at Cincinnati is going to be an ugly blowout. Kansas City at Oakland features two teams playing together that nobody really wants to watch. There is some hope their, though – Oakland is coming off a win, and Kansas City at least has shown offensive potential. It won’t be a good game, but it at least has the potential to be interesting. The clear winner, though, is Miami at St. Louis. Miami is fine, but St. Louis is so indescribably bad that there can’t be one positive thing said about them, or one good reason to watch this one.
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1. It sucks to be Texas Tech. With one lousy performance they cost their school a shot at a national championship and probably a Heisman, and instead of a huge bowl in front of a massive national audience they will be stuck in something like the Cotton Bowl that no one really cares about. I don’t feel nearly as bad for them, though, as I do for those, like me, who thought that this team was for real. The Big 12 is now officially a confusing mess.
After a couple of weeks that haven’t exactly been soaked in excitement, on paper at least, we have another classic week of college football. Here are the games I will be paying attention to. My remote finger will be getting a workout:
Michigan State (+16) at Penn State – The Big Ten doesn’t have a conference championship, but this is a de facto one this year. If Penn State wins they are the champions and headed to the Rose Bowl. If Michigan State wins then Ohio State goes (unless, through some miracle, Michigan wins tomorrow, in which case the Spartans head to Pasadena). There is going to be some good running in this game that will be fun to watch. I can see this one going a lot of ways. My first sens when I saw the line, though, was that it didn’t give Michigan State very much respect considering they are 6-1 in the conference.
Michigan (+20.5) at Ohio State – This one won’t be pretty, but I have to be loyal and watch my boys mercifully end their season. And heck, maybe they can pull it off – we did beat UCLA yesterday, after all.
Texas Tech (+7) at Oklahoma – THE game. I am literally counting the minutes until this one kicks off. There are lots of things I think about this one, but not much that I know for sure. I think, for example, that the Red Raiders have a pretty big edge defensively. And that the Red Raiders should be able to protect Graham Harrell despite Oklahoma’s potent pass rush. In other words, I think I think that Texas Tech is the real deal. By about midnight eastern time we’ll know if I’m right, or if I’m deluded.
BYU (+7) at Utah – The Holy War is always fun to watch, but it’s been a while since we have seen one with stakes this high. Utah has a spot in the BCS all but locked up if they can win this one. And they can. But it won’t be easy. there is a very good chance that this one is going to be a thriller.
After taking a break of a few weeks, it is time to go back to my good old PlayStation 2. It hasn’t yet proven itself to be a brilliant handicapper, but it has had its moments. Again, I will have NCAA Football 09 simulate three games to see how it sees them play out:
Worst NFL Game of the Week – Given the way they are playing, Chicago and St. Louis are not destined to make a classic – the Rams are absolutely terrible, and the Bears are in a sudden and dire slump. This should get the Bears back on track, but it won’t be pretty. There is worse, though – Buffalo at Kansas City. The Bills showed the world new and creative ways to throw away a win on Monday night. The Chiefs have a few things going for them – in Tyler Thigpen they may have finally found the QB of the future – but there are so many holes with the team that it’s almost sad. Ugly.
Best NFL Game of the Week – Indianapolis at San Diego should be a great game, but the Chargers have ensured by their play that it won’t be. Carolina at Atlanta is a surprisingly good game with high stakes. The Jets at Tennessee pits two hot teams at the top of their games together. The winner, though, is one that would have been terrible last year. The Pats and the Dolphins meet in a game that could go a long way to determining a wild card spot. Both teams can look very good when they want to, and both obviously have flaws. This game could be awful, but there is a much better chance that it will be totally entertaining.
This is going to be a shorter than usual version of this feature. That’s not because I am feeling lazy. It’s just because we didn’t really learn anything on Saturday. Everyone who was supposed to win did their job. The BCS standings and the top of the polls are still intact and unchanged. Anything we did learn only confirmed things I already suspected – LSU and Alabama are frauds and the SEC isn’t the strongest conference, Miami is on the way back, and so on. All in all, it was the least educational week we have seen for a long time in college football. Next weekend will be much, much more interesting, though.
It’s a very strange week for college football. It seems like most of the action is next weekend, so this week teams just seem to be in a position to make sure that they don’t screw up by overlooking their current opponents. That makes this weekend very interesting, but not in such an obvious way as next weekend will be. Here are some of the games I’ll have my eye on:
As we get prepared for a busy weekend of sporting action, there are some injury notes that are worth a look:
Greg Oden – The big guy is supposed to return to action tonight for the Trail Blazers. That should be a boost for Portland, but I will hold judgment until I see two different things – how well he is physically, and whether he can last for more than a minute and a half this time. Oden is frustrating and hard to trust at this point, but I can’t wait to see what he can do if he can settle in and get comfortable. This team could use a boost.
Worst NFL Game of the Week – The Monday night game is certainly not going to be a gem – neither Cleveland nor Buffalo are in a particularly good place right now. It’s gets worse, though. Late Sunday afternoon the Niners will play in St. Louis. Two struggling offenses with all sorts of troubles. Ugly, ugly, ugly. Insomniacs rejoice – the cure has been found.
Best NFL Game of the Week – It should be Tennessee at Jacksonville, San Diego at Pittsburgh, or Dallas at Washington, but each of those games features one deeply flawed team that robs the game of some potential. The Jets at New England is a good old fashioned showdown for the division lead. It’s not all it could be, but it should still be compelling. My choice, though, is an unexpected one – Baltimore at the Giants. The Ravens are red hot, and the Giants are probably the best team in the league. It should be a battle of wills.
Game With Teams With The Most To Prove – Cleveland and Buffalo. The Bills need to end their ugly, ugly slide that threatens to rob them of the promise their early season showed. Cleveland lost ugly yet again on Thursday, and they desperately need to do something to get things off to a strong start in the Quinn era.
1. The Big Ten got lucky. Penn State put up a lousy effort and lost to a team that they never should have lost to. That’s a good thing. I love the Big Ten, but it has been a horrible year for my conference. By losing, Penn State has avoided a third straight ass-kicking for the conference in the national championship game. That will allow the conference to rebuild and strengthen with slightly less scrutiny than they would if they got crushed. The conference will rebuild. There are things to build on – Terrelle Pryor is finding his way, and two of the top three runners in the country are in the conference.
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