College Football Week 14

[tapeANaspirin2it]

College Football Week 14

Posting this one early for the holiday.

Rivalry week - the final week of the regular season.

The biggest story is still all the coach vacancies. Reprts are than LSU offered Kiffin $90 Million and Ole Miss wants an answer after the Egg Bowl. Kiffin could knock over a bunch of dominoes.

What if Bama chokes against Auburn in the Iron Bowl? Now maybe they're all in on Kiffin. That would likely send DeBoer to Penn State. There were reports Sark might jump to the NFL.


Friday Games


7 Ole Miss at Miss State 12:00 ABC Miss -7.5
The Egg Bowl. All anybody cares about is the postgame press conference where we hopefully find out about Kiffin's future and set off the coaching moves.


Iowa at Nebraska 12:00 CBS Iowa -6.5
If you prefer corn to eggs, and running the ball, this could be a competitive game to


NFL
Bears at Eagles 3:00 Amazon Prime Phi -7
Figured I'd stick this one in here. Who decided on this game time? It's the only NFL game of the day and you play it at 3? Makes no sense.


4 Georgia at 23 Georgia Tech 3:30 ABC UGA -13.5
a loss does not impact UGA's SEC Champ chances, but it would drop their playoff seed. a TAM loss would likely mean a rematch with Bama in the SECC. Tech is on the outside in the ACC. The Pitt loss probably cost them a playoff shot. Ga Tech coach Brent Key reportedly interviewed for Penn State.


2 Indiana at Purdue 7:30 NBC IU -28.5
I don't feel like looking up Big 10 tiebreakers if Indiana were to somehow lose this because they won't lose this.


3 Texas A&M at 16 Texas 7:30 ABC TAM -2.5
Must win for Texas to make the playoffs. TAM is still in with a loss. TAM has had a really easy schedule. They played ND early in the year with their freshman QB and they were lucky to win that. They were outplayed. Aside from that, they've played the bottom half of the SEC. Texas is 5th place and the only team TAM will face in the top half of the SEC.


25 Arizona at 20 Arizona State 9:00 FOX Ariz -1.5
ASU may have a shot at making the Big 12 title game if Texas Tech loses to West Virginia. That doesn't seem likely. Word is that QB Sam Leavitt is already shopping himself for a new team next year.

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

Saturday


Penn State at Rutgers 3:30 BTN PSU -13.5
Penn State can go 6-6 and become bowl eligible. Interim coach Terry Smith stopped the nonsense on offense and the improvement has been huge. You can say it was only Michigan State or Nebraska, but the offense stunk early in the year vs Nevada and FIU.

I heard that Penn State could actually be forced to accept a bowl. The Big 10 has bowl obligations. They'll have 3 playoff teams at least. If there's an empty bowl slot, PSU could be forced to accept. The team seems to be having fun, so they probably would have voted to accept anyway.

Could Penn State keep terry Smith as Head Coach? Doubtful but they could certainly do worse.

Bob Chesney at James Madison is a hot name. Cignetti came from there. But Cignetti had experience at big programs. He was on Saban's staff. Chesney has never worked at a FBS school. JMU is the biggest school he's been. That's a concern.



1 Ohio State at 15 Michigan 12:00 FOX OSU -9.5
Like Indiana, OSU is already a playoff lock. This is just for seeding and pride. They choked last year vs Michigan. I doubt that happens this year. Michigan's freshman QB has had his struggles. The Ohio State defense is smothering. Michigan will have to get a playoff spot if they pull off this upset. But I think they're going to get blown out.


12 Miami at Pitt 12:00 ABC Mia -6.5
Pitt pulled off the upset vs GA Tech last week and now they can secure a spot in the ACC title game with a win here. Miami is on the playoff bubble. They need this win or they're out.


Clemson at South Carolina 12:00 SECN SC -2.5
Battle of 2 underachieving teams. Both have talent but you have no idea how they'll play week to week. Could be a good game though.


6 Oregon at Washington 3:30 CBS Ore -6.5
Oregon can get in the B10 title game with a win and an Ohio State loss. I don't think they want that though. They're a playoff lock as it is. What would they gain by a rematch with Indiana? They might get a higher seed and a bye but that didn't work out well for them last year. I bet they'd rather host a 1st round playoff game vs a low seed.


LSU at 8 Oklahoma 3:30 ABC OU -10.5
LSU is more worried about their coach search than this game. Oklahoma needs to win this to avoid a 3rd loss which would likely knock them out of the playoffs.


14 Vanderbilt at 19 Tennessee 3:30 ESPN Tenn -3.5
is this the biggest Vandy vs Tenn game ever? Probably. Both teams are currently out of the playoff and need the win for any shot. vandy QB Diego Pavia needs a big game for a shot at the Heisman.


Florida State at Florida 4:30 ESPN2 Fla -1.5
FSU announced that coach MIke Norvell will be back. I had a theory that teams will start retaining coaches now just because so many high profile jobs are open. This seems like proof of that. FSU fans have to want him gone but they're probably better off keeping him another year and going coach shopping next year when there will be less competition for top candidates.


10 Alabama at Auburn 7:30 ABC Ala -6.5
The Iron Bowl. Bama needs it to make the playoffs and Auburn can have a successful season by ruining it for Bama. If Bama loses this, I think DeBoer gets very interested in the Penn State job and Bama fans will pack his bags for him.


UCLA at 17 USC 7:30 NBC USC -21.5
The battle of LA where both teams wear home uniforms. Lincoln Riley says he's 100% staying at USC which these days makes you think he's 100% thinking about leaving USC. If he loses this one, it will be another disappointing season, so maybe USC will decide that for him.


9 Notre Dame at Stanford 10:30 ESPN ND -32.5
This game will be about seeing if ND tries to win the Heisman for Jeremiah Love by running it up on a bad Stanford team.

 

[topseed]

Penn State at Rutgers 3:30 BTN PSU -13.5
Penn State can go 6-6 and become bowl eligible. Interim coach Terry Smith stopped the nonsense on offense and the improvement has been huge. You can say it was only Michigan State or Nebraska, but the offense stunk early in the year vs Nevada and FIU.

It was only Michigan State and Nebraska, the #80 and #95 run defenses in the country.

This week the Lions face Rutgers, who is #127 in FBS in total rush defense, and dead last (#134) in yards per carry allowed, a completely laughable number of 6.6. Kent State went 0-12 last year and allowed 5.9 per carry. Look for another roughly 40 running plays and 12 pass attempts, so they can beat their sixth crappy opponent and have the opportunity to spend Christmas in Detroit at the GameAbove Sports Bowl. Huge.

 

[SteelerFan448]

Pitt is ranked 22nd.

Big game for Pitt, at home, back in the rankings with everything on the line. Prime for a huge letdown like always.