We’ve crossed the midway mark and our sliding ever so subtly to the end of the regular season.
Yeah, we're that excited about this weekend too...
On a whole, last weekend left us unfulfilled. The one marquee match-up (TCU v. BYU) was a complete beat down and the multiple upset bids fell frustratingly short (Tennessee, Michigan State, Oregon State). Where does that leave us? The most natural inclination would be to think the national title picture will be much clearer after this weekend. Not so, dear friends. We can’t speak for everyone, but we’re certainly expecting a chaotic weekend of football.
Two Cents
Peter: With the advent of the twelfth game on most teams schedules there has been a lot of interesting mid-season match-ups. Two weekends ago Michigan beat down Delaware State. This week Arkansas plays Eastern Michigan while Ohio State plays New Mexico. While the extra game brings more revenue to athletic departments, these mid-season beat downs against lowly opponents function as nothing more than a pseudo-bye week. I don’t like it.
Bjorn: Texas played their best football of the year last week, Alabama and Florida, some of their worst. What do we have to show for it? Gator crap, roll tide. Love that BCS.
Five Games
West Virginia v. USF
Peter: Even after last weekend’s debacle against Pitt, I’m not giving up on the Bulls just yet. Rather, I don’t put much stock in the Mountaineers this year, so I am once again going with South Florida. Their D-line is one of the most athletic in the nation, they have a great young coach, and should be able to easily establish the running game against WVU. Giving up 500+ yards to UCONN is never a good sign…I’ll ride the bull one more week.
Bjorn: In honor of the fact that the UPA National Championships are being held in nearby Sarasota, I’m going to go with the Tampa Based USF.
Spurrier & Co. will have to maintain focus to escape Knoxville with a win
South Carolina v. Tennessee
Peter: Anyone want to take an over/under bet on this game? This should be some serious smash-mouth football, so I would posit that you won’t see more than 45 combined points in this one. Since this is shaping up as a low-scoring affair, the team that wins will most likely be the team that makes the fewest mistakes. When it comes to turnovers, Spurrier’s boys have only had nine all year (19th best) while Kiffin’s crew has fourteen (65th). The Gamecocks also have the edge when it comes to turnover margin, but they are one of the most penalized teams in DI this year, so this sort of comparison would seem to be a wash…What I’m really doing is searching for something/someone to latch onto so I can make a call on the game. When in doubt, always roll the dice: South Carolina steals one at Neyland.
Bjorn: If you want to talk smash mouth, you gotta look at the game between these same Vols and Bama last week. I’m thinking the vols harness that violence and disappointment and fuck some cocks….up. Just hope it doesn’t come down to a field goal.
UGA v. Florida
Peter: The world’s largest cocktail party? No, sir. I’ll take a nice Derby party any day of the week. As for the game itself, I’ll take the Gators here. It won’t be a beat down like last year, but there shouldn’t be anyone in Gator country sweating over this one. Dogs are weak this year, no matter what this lunatic thinks. I’ll take the Gators, please. It won’t be pretty offensively for either team, but expect to see Joe Cox on the turf a lot.
Bjorn: Man, I want to pick Georgia so bad here, but I just can’t do it. They really have nothing going for them. My thoughts: Green is going to the NFL after this awful year anyway, you may as well squeeze every drop out of him. Put him on every kick return, run some wild cat (meow) to him, throw it to him twice a series. Without a Larry Fitz against aTm performance, the bull dogs are sunk.
A rowdy Autzen can go a long way...
USC. v. Oregon
Peter: Upsets for one-thousand, Alec (Sure, it might not be much of an upset, but that’s more a commentary on USC program status than anything else). Oregon has looked strong since the Boise debacle, it’s in Eugene, and the Trojans haven’t been wowing anyone offensively yet. Autzen should be rockin’ strong. I think Barkley buckles and Oregon’s running game knocks USC flat.
Bjorn: GD it, I just noticed that this game is on the same time as the Texas game, If I had to choose between watching USC lose and seeing UT win, it’s a tough choice. That’s why the 2005 national championship was so great. oh well. If that RB cold cocks a USC Song Girl, I will be really sad I missed it. As Peter mentioned, Oregon by virtue of the running game and USC’s little weiner of a Qb.
The Tables Have Turned: NCAA stiff arms Dez
Texas v. OSU
Peter: Over the past few years, the Longhorns have often struggled out the gates against the Cowboys. Focus is tough to hold onto during a long season like this. Fortunately, those early games have never really cost us in the end. There are two big factors to key on here: 1) the Dez Bryant fiasco and 2) Texas’ defense. The suspension of Bryant has to be an unbearable distraction for Mike Gundy, his staff, and his players. His absence plays into the second point, which is that the ferocious Texas D has one less thing to worry about. I’ll be disappointed if the Cowboys hang more than 17 on the scoreboard against Muschamp & Co. On the flip side, I think that Colt will make a series statement for the Heisman on Saturday night in Stillwater.
Bjorn: I will be holding my breath for next 30 hours. The games that Texas Tech and OU should have been are now going to be made up by this brawl in the middle of nowhere injun country. Not that I think it will be that close, but this is about as marquee a match up as there is left in the frazzled Big 12. As peter mentioned in the past against OSU and this entire year, our offense has been slow to roll. Luckily we have the best stop gap possible: A mean, fast defense. Without big bad receivers to bail out the Q, I forsee sacks and picks, allowing Colt a comfortable cushion with which to be pushin’….the score up.
Upset Specials
How 'bout a round of boilermakers for me and my friends?
Peter: I don’t know where to go here. Initially, I was intrigued by Southern Miss possibly knocking off Houston. Sure, they’ve been knocked off once already, so I’m not certain how much of an upset it would be. In my opinion there aren’t a lot of great possibilities out there, so I’m digging deep. I’m going to go with Purdue over Wisconsin. A stretch, sure, but this is a pretty good team that couldn’t seem to get a break early on (their losses–save one–have all been by a few points). After knocking off Ohio State, they certainly flying under the radar, but I think the stars may align for them again this Saturday morning at Camp Randall.
Bjorn: North Carolina over Virginia Tech. count it. give me a million dollars. BC of my lack of insight (this week, not in general, you a-holes), I will reward you with plenty of extra computer based brain candies……
Two of my favorite humans who I will never be friends with, but would like to be were on the Colbert Report, in a row!
1. Brian Cox, smooth stuttering charmer of a physicist.
The interviews are about 2/3 of the way through the episodes, after the 3rd commercial break.
My former team and many of my friends’ current team, Doublewide, is playing at the aforementioned UPA Club Championships. Their game against Seattle Sockeye will be viewable live, tomorrow morning at 8:30am cst. I give myself a 50/50 shot of making it up for this, but if you have any interest in ultimate, this will be a great game. Watch it here.
Back about 10 years ago a rap album came out called “Even in Darkness” by the Dungeon Family. If you enjoy Outkast or Cee-Lo (of Gnarls Barkley fame recently) be sure to check this out. Tracks 3, 4, 7, 8, 9 are must hears.
Finally something soothing. My favorite Built to Spill song, “Car”, accompanied by homemade 50s footage.
The Tilted Pylon: Eyes on the Prize
We’ve crossed the midway mark and our sliding ever so subtly to the end of the regular season.
Yeah, we're that excited about this weekend too...
On a whole, last weekend left us unfulfilled. The one marquee match-up (TCU v. BYU) was a complete beat down and the multiple upset bids fell frustratingly short (Tennessee, Michigan State, Oregon State). Where does that leave us? The most natural inclination would be to think the national title picture will be much clearer after this weekend. Not so, dear friends. We can’t speak for everyone, but we’re certainly expecting a chaotic weekend of football.
Two Cents
Peter: With the advent of the twelfth game on most teams schedules there has been a lot of interesting mid-season match-ups. Two weekends ago Michigan beat down Delaware State. This week Arkansas plays Eastern Michigan while Ohio State plays New Mexico. While the extra game brings more revenue to athletic departments, these mid-season beat downs against lowly opponents function as nothing more than a pseudo-bye week. I don’t like it.
Bjorn: Texas played their best football of the year last week, Alabama and Florida, some of their worst. What do we have to show for it? Gator crap, roll tide. Love that BCS.
Five Games
West Virginia v. USF
Peter: Even after last weekend’s debacle against Pitt, I’m not giving up on the Bulls just yet. Rather, I don’t put much stock in the Mountaineers this year, so I am once again going with South Florida. Their D-line is one of the most athletic in the nation, they have a great young coach, and should be able to easily establish the running game against WVU. Giving up 500+ yards to UCONN is never a good sign…I’ll ride the bull one more week.
Bjorn: In honor of the fact that the UPA National Championships are being held in nearby Sarasota, I’m going to go with the Tampa Based USF.
Spurrier & Co. will have to maintain focus to escape Knoxville with a win
South Carolina v. Tennessee
Peter: Anyone want to take an over/under bet on this game? This should be some serious smash-mouth football, so I would posit that you won’t see more than 45 combined points in this one. Since this is shaping up as a low-scoring affair, the team that wins will most likely be the team that makes the fewest mistakes. When it comes to turnovers, Spurrier’s boys have only had nine all year (19th best) while Kiffin’s crew has fourteen (65th). The Gamecocks also have the edge when it comes to turnover margin, but they are one of the most penalized teams in DI this year, so this sort of comparison would seem to be a wash…What I’m really doing is searching for something/someone to latch onto so I can make a call on the game. When in doubt, always roll the dice: South Carolina steals one at Neyland.
Bjorn: If you want to talk smash mouth, you gotta look at the game between these same Vols and Bama last week. I’m thinking the vols harness that violence and disappointment and fuck some cocks….up. Just hope it doesn’t come down to a field goal.
UGA v. Florida
Peter: The world’s largest cocktail party? No, sir. I’ll take a nice Derby party any day of the week. As for the game itself, I’ll take the Gators here. It won’t be a beat down like last year, but there shouldn’t be anyone in Gator country sweating over this one. Dogs are weak this year, no matter what this lunatic thinks. I’ll take the Gators, please. It won’t be pretty offensively for either team, but expect to see Joe Cox on the turf a lot.
Bjorn: Man, I want to pick Georgia so bad here, but I just can’t do it. They really have nothing going for them. My thoughts: Green is going to the NFL after this awful year anyway, you may as well squeeze every drop out of him. Put him on every kick return, run some wild cat (meow) to him, throw it to him twice a series. Without a Larry Fitz against aTm performance, the bull dogs are sunk.
A rowdy Autzen can go a long way...
USC. v. Oregon
Peter: Upsets for one-thousand, Alec (Sure, it might not be much of an upset, but that’s more a commentary on USC program status than anything else). Oregon has looked strong since the Boise debacle, it’s in Eugene, and the Trojans haven’t been wowing anyone offensively yet. Autzen should be rockin’ strong. I think Barkley buckles and Oregon’s running game knocks USC flat.
Bjorn: GD it, I just noticed that this game is on the same time as the Texas game, If I had to choose between watching USC lose and seeing UT win, it’s a tough choice. That’s why the 2005 national championship was so great. oh well. If that RB cold cocks a USC Song Girl, I will be really sad I missed it. As Peter mentioned, Oregon by virtue of the running game and USC’s little weiner of a Qb.
The Tables Have Turned: NCAA stiff arms Dez
Texas v. OSU
Peter: Over the past few years, the Longhorns have often struggled out the gates against the Cowboys. Focus is tough to hold onto during a long season like this. Fortunately, those early games have never really cost us in the end. There are two big factors to key on here: 1) the Dez Bryant fiasco and 2) Texas’ defense. The suspension of Bryant has to be an unbearable distraction for Mike Gundy, his staff, and his players. His absence plays into the second point, which is that the ferocious Texas D has one less thing to worry about. I’ll be disappointed if the Cowboys hang more than 17 on the scoreboard against Muschamp & Co. On the flip side, I think that Colt will make a series statement for the Heisman on Saturday night in Stillwater.
Bjorn: I will be holding my breath for next 30 hours. The games that Texas Tech and OU should have been are now going to be made up by this brawl in the middle of nowhere injun country. Not that I think it will be that close, but this is about as marquee a match up as there is left in the frazzled Big 12. As peter mentioned in the past against OSU and this entire year, our offense has been slow to roll. Luckily we have the best stop gap possible: A mean, fast defense. Without big bad receivers to bail out the Q, I forsee sacks and picks, allowing Colt a comfortable cushion with which to be pushin’….the score up.
Upset Specials
How 'bout a round of boilermakers for me and my friends?
Peter: I don’t know where to go here. Initially, I was intrigued by Southern Miss possibly knocking off Houston. Sure, they’ve been knocked off once already, so I’m not certain how much of an upset it would be. In my opinion there aren’t a lot of great possibilities out there, so I’m digging deep. I’m going to go with Purdue over Wisconsin. A stretch, sure, but this is a pretty good team that couldn’t seem to get a break early on (their losses–save one–have all been by a few points). After knocking off Ohio State, they certainly flying under the radar, but I think the stars may align for them again this Saturday morning at Camp Randall.
Bjorn: North Carolina over Virginia Tech. count it. give me a million dollars. BC of my lack of insight (this week, not in general, you a-holes), I will reward you with plenty of extra computer based brain candies……
Two of my favorite humans who I will never be friends with, but would like to be were on the Colbert Report, in a row!
1. Brian Cox, smooth stuttering charmer of a physicist.
2. Bill Simmons, aka the Sports Guy. Book Signing in Austin NBA all star weekend.
The interviews are about 2/3 of the way through the episodes, after the 3rd commercial break.
My former team and many of my friends’ current team, Doublewide, is playing at the aforementioned UPA Club Championships. Their game against Seattle Sockeye will be viewable live, tomorrow morning at 8:30am cst. I give myself a 50/50 shot of making it up for this, but if you have any interest in ultimate, this will be a great game. Watch it here.
Back about 10 years ago a rap album came out called “Even in Darkness” by the Dungeon Family. If you enjoy Outkast or Cee-Lo (of Gnarls Barkley fame recently) be sure to check this out. Tracks 3, 4, 7, 8, 9 are must hears.
Finally something soothing. My favorite Built to Spill song, “Car”, accompanied by homemade 50s footage.