Friday and Saturday morning feature thoroughly uninteresting games, even with the trans-Michigan match-up between the Wolverines and Spartans in East Lansing. On that note, I think that will be a very unimpressive game, and look for Michigan to put it away mid 4th quarter. I am not sold on Michigan State being in the top tier of the Big 10 this year, and see them more as a spoiler team for good, but not great teams like Minnesota, and yes, my Hawkeyes.
As a side note, I think my Hawkeyes are a little overrated at 13 in the polls, but fortunately they face Arkansas State on Saturday morning, which should keep us even in the polls for at least a week (Anymore, it seems like keeping the same ranking for two weeks is harder than the Chiefs making a Super Bowl run this season).
In the mid-afternoon games, things begin to get more exciting, highlighted by the LSU-Georgia game which should be the showcase game for 2nd place in the SEC East. On a surprising note, Indiana may be more competitive with Ohio State than many people might think,I still give them no shot at winning the game though.
In the evening Ole Miss will kick things off against Vandy as they look to put that embarassing loss at South Carolina behind them. Even though the Bears got pounded last week in Oregon, I will stand by them as my Pac-10 pick, as they will win a nail-biter to USC with a strong rushing attack from Best, who wants to get back into Heisman talk. A key thing to watch in that game is the rush defense of USC as the departure of the entire starting linebacking corps (3 of whom were 1st round picks by the way) will prove to be the team's achilles heel.
Finally, Oklahoma-Miami will be the best game of the week. With Sam Bradford officially not starting, the Hurricanes might look to jump on the Sooners early. That could lead to some mistakes though. The loss to Virginia Tech will serve as fuel for the fire rather than a demoralizing force for an improving Miami team. I put that squarely on the shoulders of Randy Shannon, who is my early Coach of the Year. His ability to turn the Miami program around from field goal melees could be the greatest coaching story in the last 3 years aside from Urban Meyer's 2 championships at Florida.
Hope you enjoy the games guys, and be on the lookout for guys that display great sportsmanship. It's always good to see what people do right.
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