Week 9; I'm feeling salty

How awesome was that World Series huh? Game six was just great from the 6th inning on and game seven was just tense the whole time. Congrats to St. Louis for winning their 11th World Series Title and I can’t wait for Spring Training just five months away. Ahhhh baseball, you’re my number one. But, we’re here for college football so let’s get to that.

So, I’ve got a little egg on my face this week and I don’t mind admitting that. I went 6-4 on my picks this week so that dropped me back down to 91.5% accuracy on the season. I’m ok with that, but not ok with some of the results this week as you will see. Hey college football teams in contention, if you win a big game, the season isn’t over. You still have to play the next week.

Glory Glory to ol’ Georgia! It’s always a good season when you beat Florida. I don’t care what the rankings are (Georgia back in the top 25 by the way). The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party is always an event and it’s ever so sweet when Georgia walks away with a win. And this 24-20 win, while not pretty, was beautiful.

Also, I need to congratulate QB Casey Keenum from Houston on breaking the all-time NCAA touchdown record for passing. Congrats Casey, you and your 139 TD passes can now go on to be a backup in the NFL just like the guys who occupy the two, three, four and five spots on that list; Graham Harrell, Colt Brennan, Kellen Moore, and Ty Detmer.

(I’ve had my Hater-Aid this morning fans, this could get ugly)

While we wait on the LSU vs. Alabama game next week, let’s get on with this week’s trick or treating…

GAMES OF THE WEEK:

#6 Stanford SURVIVES Unranked USC (the one from California) 56-48 in 3 OTs.
Um, hey, Cardinal fans; that wasn’t supposed to be that close was it? Didn’t think so. I do have to give Stanford a lot of credit here though because this was billed as a trap game and USC was/is slightly underrated this year. They aren’t great by any means, but USC does have a decent team. This may just add to the legend of Andrew Luck though since he and the Cardinal took the ball with about 3 minutes to go in the 4th down by 7 and ended up tying the game with only 38 seconds to go just to get the game to overtime(s). Once you get a game like this to the 3rd overtime it’s anybody’s contest to win. I hated seeing the USC back fumble and the game end like that, but this was an instant classic and a great game all around. And, it doesn’t matter how many times I see it, that Stanford Tree is just creepy.

#9 Oklahoma over #8 Kansas State 58-17
How could this be a game of the week? Well there are two teams ranked in the top 10 and the score was 23-17 and competitive at the end of the first half. Now, nobody was drinking the purple kool-aid coming out of Kansas State this year, but after Oklahoma got beaten at home last week, the potential was there. And, it was there… for the first half. Then, OU just blew the doors off K-State. Also, I’m only giving this game half of a game of the week since only one half was actually good. The other half goes to…

Unranked Iowa State over #20 Texas Tech 41-7
Are you fucking kidding me Texas Tech? Really? Was that win over OU soooooo great that you didn’t even bother showing up this week? This was pathetic and you should be in my Biggest Loser section this week. What a piss poor performance and you should be ASHAMED of yourselves.

Honorable Mention goes to: #10 Arkansas surviving Vanderbilt 31-28. Can Arkansas not win a game normally anymore? This is three weeks in a row that their game has come down to the last second. This week it took Vandy missing a short field-goal to sew up the win for the Razorbacks.

UPSETS OF THE WEEK:

Where do I even begin with this? Does anyone want to win the Big 10 Conference? But first…

Unranked Georgia Tech over #8 Clemson 31-17
There is always one game every year that just pisses me off. Generally that game doesn’t come from the ACC since, who cares right? But all year I’ve been (to my disgust) high on Clemson. And, I guess nobody there watches film on Tech and therefore doesn’t know how to stop the option. What the hell? If you thought the Texas Tech performance was poor; look no farther than Clemson for this week’s biggest lie-down. Excuse me; I need to go puke…

#14 Nebraska over #11 Michigan State 24-3
Speaking of hangovers… Sparty must have thought they were going to cruise to the Championship Game after beating Wisconsin last week. Um, remember Nebraska? Yeah, they play defense there. Michigan State managed just 187 total yards this week and had more penalty yards (90) than passing yards (86).

Unranked Ohio State over #15 Wisconsin 33-29
Ugh. I don’t know what makes me more nauseous, Georgia Tech’s big win or Ohio State’s. Wisconsin had a chance to stay alive and still make a run and they got help from Nebraska in their cause. But, this was just sad. Two weeks in a row now they’ve been beaten on long passes at the end of the game. This one a 40 yard TD pass with only 20 seconds left.

Is it the play of these teams or the fact that I care about how the ACC and Big-10 are shaping up this year? Whatever it is, I’m going to need some antacids.

PILLOW FIGHT OF THE WEEK:

Liberty over Presbyterian 27-20 in OT
We’re back in the BigSouth this week for another epic pillow fight. I’ve got to admit I have no idea what’s going on with this conference, but Liberty is now 4-0 in the conference and 6-3 overall. I think they may get my pillow fight powerhouse award this year. Liberty led 13-10 with 1:32 left in regulation. Presbyterian drove 50 yards on seven plays, capped by a 22-yard field goal to send it into overtime with 5 seconds left. Liberty scored, Presbyterian didn’t. Game over. Anyone have a guess on Presbyterian’s mascot? Hmm…? Yeah, the Blue Hose. I couldn’t make this shit up. Wow.

BEAT DOWN OF THE WEEK:

See Iowa State over Texas Tech from earlier 41-7.

Stats?
Total Yards: ISU 512; TT 290
Rushing Yards: ISU 368; TT 99
Turnovers: ISU 1; TT 3
Time of Possession: ISU 40:09; TT 19:51

Quote of the week: "Pretty obvious we got beat on both sides of the ball, in the kicking game," (Texas Tech Head Coach) Tommy Tuberville said. "They came in ready to play and they took advantage of us not really focused, coaching or playing the first or second half. I take total blame for that. I saw a lot of it coming during the week."

Really Tommy? And you didn’t feel the need to stop practice on maybe Wednesday or Thursday to address that? Wow.

BIGGEST LOSER: (Fan Edition)

Florida!

This week’s Biggest Loser is going to the University of Florida. Because, well… Fuck em’!
Every Georgia fan knows from the first time they yell ‘GO DAWGS!’ that each and every season has just one goal: Beat Florida!

After that, it’s: To Hell with Georgia Tech, Screw Tennessee, Beat Auburn and please don’t lose to either Vandy or Kentucky. (Each fan has their own order, that’s just mine).

The game was one that would warm the heart of any Georgia fan who longs for the days when Georgia had a dominant defense. The Dawgs held Florida to -19 yards on the ground. -19! Love it. The offense didn’t do much, and the kicker sucked, but the defense was just great. Florida has now lost 4 straight and it looks like Mark Richt may have just saved his job. Georgia is now 6-2 on the year after starting out 0-2 and if they can get by Auburn in a few weeks, they may just get a chance to lose the SEC title game in December.

Enough about Georgia being awesome though, let’s focus on Florida’s 4 game skid. It’s the first 4 game losing streak for Florida since 1988. They are now 100th in the nation in passing yards per game, only 41st in the nation in rushing yards per game and 72nd in the nation in points per game at 26.9. In the last 4 weeks they’ve been outscored 120-47. Will Muschamp said, "Obviously, I didn't do a very good job of getting our team ready.” Obviously. You went 2-13 on 3rd downs, had 14 penalties for 106 yards and 2 lost fumbles. Oh, and did I mention that you’re team was held to -19 rushing yards? I did? Good!

Florida had one kick return for 99 yards as the sole highlight. They relied on the kicker who made field goals of 43 and 40 yards and other than that there was only the first quarter drive that gave them any points. Oh, and John Brantley, Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson may want to double team you and lick the sweat off your ass, but nobody else cares. You suck!

I don’t care that this game was more about Florida’s ineptitude. GO DAWGS!!!