Winners Of Ohio State-Michigan, Alabama-Auburn, Washington-Washington State, USC-Notre Dame And Other Top Games
So long Louisville, your flirtation with the College Football Playoffs featuring your eye-catching quarterback was merely a tease.
Are we saying hello to Clemson, finally awake after a season-long slumber? Alabama should wake up from last weekend’s sleepwalk in plenty of time for the Iron Bowl and Michigan and Ohio State finally – finally – play in “the” game that the media has been talking about since Week 1.
It’s also Rivalry Week and we’ve got the Apple Cup, the Civil War, the aforementioned Iron Bowl and what used to be called the Duel In The Desert but is now more like the Comedy Among The Cactus.
Thursday
LSU at TEXAS A&M (4:30 p.m., ESPN)
The Coach O show is over down on the bayou, drowned in a Louisiana swamp by a bunch of visiting Gators from Florida. So America’s Interim Coach is now simply keeping things warm until a new coach arrives. It could be Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher or perhaps North Carolina’s hat man, Larry Fedora, if Fisher stays in Tallahassee.
Then again, Fedora could also wind up at Texas A&M. As the Pigskin Prognosticator pointed out last week Kevin Sumlin is back on the hot seat and word out of Texas is that he’s a goner if the Cadets drop this one. The team can sack a quarterback but it can’t tackle running backs, which plays right into LSU’s Tiger paws. Winner: LSU
Friday
WASHINGTON at WASHINGTON STATE (12:30 p.m., FS1)
So much for the Fighting Leaches being the apple of everyone’s eye outside of the Pac-12, as their loss to Colorado has taken a bite of the Apple Cup. This is a chance for the U-Dub’ers to prove they indeed do belong in the College Football Playoffs but they had better watch their crabapples because they could get picked clean by their not-so-hospitable hosts. The felines will be feisty but this will be a day for the dogs. Winner: Washington
NEBRASKA at IOWA (12;30 p.m., ABC)
The Hawkeyes were last seen filling the field after plucking clean a bunch of visiting Wolverines. Now they invite a group of Shuckers into their den for a post-Thanksgiving feast. The original Hawkeye couldn’t fly – he was a character in a novel – and neither can these Hawkeyes; their leading receiver has caught just one pass each of the past two weeks. Yet the team has won both of those games. Winner: Iowa
ARIZONA STATE at ARIZONA (6:30 p.m., ESPN)
This may be entertaining to tune into just to see how bad two awful teams can be in a game. The Pitchforks are pathetic while the Zonies are in a zone once occupied by Colorado; they are coming into this game after having been blown out by Oregon State and that’s a level of ineptitude that’s hard to describe. Yet that’s an improvement from two weeks earlier when they lost 68-7 to Washington State. So no matter how run-of-the-mill the Sun Devils are, there will be celebrating afterward on Mill Ave by the ASU campus. Winner: Arizona State
Saturday
MICHIGAN at OHIO STATE (9 a.m. ABC)
When the posse from Ann Arbor gets to town and high noon arrives in Columbus, the season-long anticipation of this showdown will at long last turn into action. The invaders are led by a wild cowboy while the hosts are commanded by a calculating coach; this should be billed as the Harbaughs and McMeyers. At times, both teams have looked like the toughest dudes in the Midwest while at others they seem to shoot themselves in the foot. Michigan is going in without a fully-loaded pistol, as its quarterback is wounded, and will likely frequently apply the (Jabrill) Peppers spray to try and hold back the Buckeyes.
The Nuts nearly cracked last week against Michigan State but have just enough of a hard shell to survive what should be a low-scoring, close and intense game. Winner: Ohio State
VIRGINIA at VIRGINIA TECH (9 a.m., CBSSN)
Do they eat turkeys at Virginia Tech tailgate parties on Thanksgiving weekend? After all, the team’s mascot is a turkey. Perhaps they eat turkey sandwiches – out of a lunch pail. The team is certainly capable of playing like turkeys on occasion and the visiting Cavilers are not just hungry for a win but starving for one, as they are coming into Blacksburg all black and blue with six consecutive losses. They will put a scare into the hosts but by the end, will prove to be nothing more than a side dish to the main course as the one-time Gobblers gobble up their in-state rivals. Winner: Virginia Tech.
AUBURN at ALABAMA (12:30 p.m., CBS)
This rivalry has the name of Iron Bowl because it was once played in steel-mill town of Birmingham, and the Crimson Tide has a steely resolve to remain undefeated this season. The Pachyderms are stomping mad they didn’t play up to their level last week while the Tigers are still searching for first downs in Athens. Alabama has not allowed a touchdown since the PubClub.com Jimmy Buffett party bus (that was Oct. 22) and has an offense ready to explode hindered only by Lame Kiffin’s curious first-half play calling.
In a desperate move to be competitive Auburn will be rolling out a gimpy running back and a wounded quarterback who is going to get tossed around in the washing machine by a rush of water from the powerful Crimson Tide’s rush defenders. There will be no Kick Six in this one, only a Kick A. Winner: Alabama
NOTRE DAME at USC (12:30 p.m., ABC)
This game is played around Thanksgiving because when the series started, the wife of USC’s president said she did not want to go South Bend in November because it’s too cold. Well it’s been frigid all year for the Irish, who like to claim all their loses are by around just seven points while ignoring the fact three of their seven losses have been to doormats Michigan State, Duke and Navy. Troy, on the other hand, has lit the torch and is eager to apply it to the shorts of Irish Coach Brian Kelly to make his seat even hotter.
So the Trojans are hot and the Irish are not; this should be an easy Conquest for Troy. But keep in mind there’s always a little magic from the Leprechauns in this great rivalry. It will be raining – yes, in Los Angeles! – and that will favor the Domers. But not enough. Winner: USC
OREGON at OREGON STATE (1 p.m., Pac-12 Network)
Ahhh, the Civil War, the kind of game where you can throw out the records. Which, considering the teams are a combined 7-15, is something each would prefer to do this season. Fittingly, it’s raining all week and will be doing so during the game in Corvallis, ideal for a game in Oregon in which the Ducks and Beavers have both been sliding this season. Winner: Oregon
UCLA at CAL (4 p.m., ESPN2)
The Baby Bears go up to mama and papa’s place to take on the parent Bears but these are no ferocious beasts getting together in Berkley. This is it this season for UCLA, a season that started with promise in College Station but is finishing in futility. Fortunately for the Bruins, they play a team that gives up points the way their fans drink beer. Which is to say in volumes. Winner: UCLA
UTAH at COLORADO (4:30 p.m., Fox)
Whichever team wins, this will be a two-point game. That’s because all of Utah’s games seem to be decided by two points. Considering the Utes lost the last one, 30-28 to Oregon, they are in line to win this one. Colorado is not at Buff as its #9 rub-your-eyes-yes-it’s-true ranking indicates but it sure is much “Boulder” than it’s been in recent seasons. This game will open the door for USC to win the Pac-12 South. And who would have thought that back in September? Winner: Utah
SOUTH CAROLINA at CLEMSON (4:30 p.m., ESPN)
The Gamecocks have been game at times this year but will prove to be nothing more than plucked chickens by the time they emerge from the little town by Greenville. That is, of course, provided the felines have indeed used that Pitt loss to re-energize themselves. Otherwise, they will go streaking down the field only to be stopped by sloppy play and turnovers. That’s enough to get past the visitors from Columbia but this team had better go back on the hunt with the playoffs clearly in sight. Winner: Clemson
FLORIDA at FLORIDA STATE (5 p.m., ABC)
There was once a three-legged alligator on the Florida campus and sometimes that’s how this team’s offense seems to be playing – missing a limb. While it can be painful to watch, some relief comes in the form of the FSU doctors of defense, who have an amazing ability to patch up wounded offenses. The Spears could be distracted as LSU heavily pursues their head coach but they’ve got enough on offense to bite down hard on the Gators. Winner: Florida State
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