Weekly Predictions: Cocktail Party Edition
#10 Clemson (-3.5) at Virginia Tech
The only thing standing between Clemson and another key conference victory is the short turnaround between their emotional win over Georgia Tech and this important showdown in Blacksburg. This game will be closer than many people think, as the Tigers are probably a little overvalued right now and the Hokie defense is still capable of keeping them in every game.
Clemson - 24, Virginia Tech - 20
Louisiana-Monroe (+35.5) at #13 Arkansas
The Razorbacks get a nice break in the SEC schedule before a stretch in the final month where they travel to South Carolina and host Tennessee and LSU in three of their final four games. The Hogs have covered versus vastly inferior opponents the last two weeks, so why not against the 1-6 War Hawks as well?
Arkansas - 48, Louisiana-Monroe - 7
Vanderbilt (-10.5) at Duke
The Commodores’ bowl hopes took a major hit after last week’s loss to South Carolina. Their only shot at avoiding a losing record will be to take care of business against Duke and Kentucky, and try to shock either Florida or Tennessee at home. While Bobby Johnson’s club will be at home come bowl season, they’ll keep their slim hopes alive for at least another week.
Vanderbilt - 24, Duke - 13
Cocktail parties are nothing out of the ordinary for diehard Vandy and Duke fans.
Kentucky (+1.5) at Mississippi State
Kentucky has bowl aspirations of their own at 3-4, with winnable games against the Bulldogs, Vandy, Louisiana-Monroe, and even Georgia remaining. The Wildcat offense comes alive again after getting shut down completely by LSU two weeks ago.
Kentucky - 31, Mississippi State - 24
Florida International (OFF) at Alabama
At least there’s no spread to trip me up in this game.
Alabama - 38, Florida International - 3
#7 Auburn (-17) at Mississippi
Both of these teams got pasted by Arkansas (who would’ve ever thought you’d see that sentence this year?), but only one of them remains a national title contender, thanks to a questionable BCS ranking. The Rebels were able to hang with their mediocre conference opponents, but then they met up with Arkansas. Auburn is closer to Arkansas than they are to Alabama and Vanderbilt, so they manage to get back on track with a road cover.
Auburn - 27, Mississippi - 7
#8 Tennessee (-5) at South Carolina
Gamecock fans are supposedly “blacking out” Williams-Brice Stadium Saturday night. So, since we know things like matchups, trends, and angles don’t win, we’ll be using a “blackout formula” to determine the winner of this game. Georgia only ended up blacking out half or so of Sanford Stadium for the Tennessee game, and they played well for a half and horrible for a half. But since USC are pros at this blackout thing, you can expect the whole place to look like Halloween (thanks to UT’s festive school colors). Judging by past history, a full blackout usually = a full badly played game. And the Volunteer offense is a lot closer to that of 2001 Florida than it is to 2004 Georgia. Uh-oh.
Tennessee - 38, South Carolina - 21
#11 Notre Dame (-14) at Navy
After apparently dislocating his knee and tearing his ACL, Navy quarterback Brian Hampton’s season has ended prematurely. Without Hampton, the Midshipman offense was completely shut down by Rutgers, which is bad news with the top ten Irish next on the schedule. Paul Johnson has had an extra week to get his new QB ready, but it won’t be enough for a Navy team that isn’t quite as strong as it has been the past few seasons.
Notre Dame - 42, Navy - 17
The Irish, now they know how to party.
#19 Oklahoma (+2.5) at #23 Missouri
While this is nowhere near the Oklahoma team the BCS rankings have come to know and love, they still hold enough clout to give Missouri the statement win they’ve been looking to get in order to legitimize themselves to the pollsters. But as talented as the OU defense is, they won’t be able to shut the Tigers down completely, which they’ll probably have to do if they want to give their now-pedestrian offense a chance to win this game.
Missouri - 24, Oklahoma - 17
Miami (+6) at #21 Georgia Tech
Just about everything is set up for Miami to silence many of their critics this week. The Yellow Jackets may have been exposed as another mediocre ACC team last week, and the Hurricanes, despite all their problems, still remember that embarrassing (their words, not mine) loss to Tech last year at the Orange Bowl. Unfortunately, the Jackets are no pushovers, and even worse, their defense has a chip on its shoulder as well. After no catches last week, Calvin Johnson comes back with a big game and the Tech defense completely baffles Kyle Wright.
Georgia Tech - 17, Miami - 10
#7 Mays at #5 St. Pius X
This brutal late season stretch just continues for St. Pius. After beating then-No. 5 Southwest DeKalb last week, No. 7 Mays awaits tomorrow. It doesn’t end there, though, because rival Marist comes two weeks later. But Paul Standard is able to get his troops up one more time, as he continues to be thankful that he’s not coaching against Richmond Hill this week.
St.Pius - 21, Mays - 17
#9 Warner Robins at #5 Tift County
The hundredth “biggest game of the year” in Region 1-AAAAA has huge region title implications. The Demons are in first place at 3-0, but Tift can take over with a win at home tomorrow night. Warner Robins is able to distance themselves a little bit with a win, but with Lowndes awaiting both teams, they still have little room to breathe.
Warner Robins - 24, Tift - 23
Effingham County at #3 Statesboro
This matchup takes me back to the good old days of the 1990s, when BC, Statesboro, and Effingham were contending for titles in Region 3 every year. Fast forward about a decade, and we all know where Benedictine is, but the Rebels are resurgent in AAAA under a certain new offensive coordinator. Oh yeah, the Blue Devils are pretty good now, too.
Statesboro - 17, Effingham - 7
Georgia (+14) at #9 Florida
This game reminds me of the good old days as well. Well, they weren’t so much the good old days as they were the old days. Georgia goes down to Jacksonville when no one, and I mean no one, is giving them a snowball’s chance in hell to win this game. Actually, it’s tough to find anyone picking them to cover the two touchdowns. Florida’s coming off a bye week. Georgia’s beat up. Florida’s really good. Georgia’s not. The Bulldogs will come out sky high, nothing to lose, and all that stuff, and they’ll keep it interesting for a while. But those playmakers in the secondary will make Stafford’s day miserable as the Gators pull away in the third.
Florida - 31, Georgia - 20
The only thing standing between Clemson and another key conference victory is the short turnaround between their emotional win over Georgia Tech and this important showdown in Blacksburg. This game will be closer than many people think, as the Tigers are probably a little overvalued right now and the Hokie defense is still capable of keeping them in every game.
Clemson - 24, Virginia Tech - 20
Louisiana-Monroe (+35.5) at #13 Arkansas
The Razorbacks get a nice break in the SEC schedule before a stretch in the final month where they travel to South Carolina and host Tennessee and LSU in three of their final four games. The Hogs have covered versus vastly inferior opponents the last two weeks, so why not against the 1-6 War Hawks as well?
Arkansas - 48, Louisiana-Monroe - 7
Vanderbilt (-10.5) at Duke
The Commodores’ bowl hopes took a major hit after last week’s loss to South Carolina. Their only shot at avoiding a losing record will be to take care of business against Duke and Kentucky, and try to shock either Florida or Tennessee at home. While Bobby Johnson’s club will be at home come bowl season, they’ll keep their slim hopes alive for at least another week.
Vanderbilt - 24, Duke - 13
Cocktail parties are nothing out of the ordinary for diehard Vandy and Duke fans.
Kentucky (+1.5) at Mississippi State
Kentucky has bowl aspirations of their own at 3-4, with winnable games against the Bulldogs, Vandy, Louisiana-Monroe, and even Georgia remaining. The Wildcat offense comes alive again after getting shut down completely by LSU two weeks ago.
Kentucky - 31, Mississippi State - 24
Florida International (OFF) at Alabama
At least there’s no spread to trip me up in this game.
Alabama - 38, Florida International - 3
#7 Auburn (-17) at Mississippi
Both of these teams got pasted by Arkansas (who would’ve ever thought you’d see that sentence this year?), but only one of them remains a national title contender, thanks to a questionable BCS ranking. The Rebels were able to hang with their mediocre conference opponents, but then they met up with Arkansas. Auburn is closer to Arkansas than they are to Alabama and Vanderbilt, so they manage to get back on track with a road cover.
Auburn - 27, Mississippi - 7
#8 Tennessee (-5) at South Carolina
Gamecock fans are supposedly “blacking out” Williams-Brice Stadium Saturday night. So, since we know things like matchups, trends, and angles don’t win, we’ll be using a “blackout formula” to determine the winner of this game. Georgia only ended up blacking out half or so of Sanford Stadium for the Tennessee game, and they played well for a half and horrible for a half. But since USC are pros at this blackout thing, you can expect the whole place to look like Halloween (thanks to UT’s festive school colors). Judging by past history, a full blackout usually = a full badly played game. And the Volunteer offense is a lot closer to that of 2001 Florida than it is to 2004 Georgia. Uh-oh.
Tennessee - 38, South Carolina - 21
#11 Notre Dame (-14) at Navy
After apparently dislocating his knee and tearing his ACL, Navy quarterback Brian Hampton’s season has ended prematurely. Without Hampton, the Midshipman offense was completely shut down by Rutgers, which is bad news with the top ten Irish next on the schedule. Paul Johnson has had an extra week to get his new QB ready, but it won’t be enough for a Navy team that isn’t quite as strong as it has been the past few seasons.
Notre Dame - 42, Navy - 17
The Irish, now they know how to party.
#19 Oklahoma (+2.5) at #23 Missouri
While this is nowhere near the Oklahoma team the BCS rankings have come to know and love, they still hold enough clout to give Missouri the statement win they’ve been looking to get in order to legitimize themselves to the pollsters. But as talented as the OU defense is, they won’t be able to shut the Tigers down completely, which they’ll probably have to do if they want to give their now-pedestrian offense a chance to win this game.
Missouri - 24, Oklahoma - 17
Miami (+6) at #21 Georgia Tech
Just about everything is set up for Miami to silence many of their critics this week. The Yellow Jackets may have been exposed as another mediocre ACC team last week, and the Hurricanes, despite all their problems, still remember that embarrassing (their words, not mine) loss to Tech last year at the Orange Bowl. Unfortunately, the Jackets are no pushovers, and even worse, their defense has a chip on its shoulder as well. After no catches last week, Calvin Johnson comes back with a big game and the Tech defense completely baffles Kyle Wright.
Georgia Tech - 17, Miami - 10
#7 Mays at #5 St. Pius X
This brutal late season stretch just continues for St. Pius. After beating then-No. 5 Southwest DeKalb last week, No. 7 Mays awaits tomorrow. It doesn’t end there, though, because rival Marist comes two weeks later. But Paul Standard is able to get his troops up one more time, as he continues to be thankful that he’s not coaching against Richmond Hill this week.
St.Pius - 21, Mays - 17
#9 Warner Robins at #5 Tift County
The hundredth “biggest game of the year” in Region 1-AAAAA has huge region title implications. The Demons are in first place at 3-0, but Tift can take over with a win at home tomorrow night. Warner Robins is able to distance themselves a little bit with a win, but with Lowndes awaiting both teams, they still have little room to breathe.
Warner Robins - 24, Tift - 23
Effingham County at #3 Statesboro
This matchup takes me back to the good old days of the 1990s, when BC, Statesboro, and Effingham were contending for titles in Region 3 every year. Fast forward about a decade, and we all know where Benedictine is, but the Rebels are resurgent in AAAA under a certain new offensive coordinator. Oh yeah, the Blue Devils are pretty good now, too.
Statesboro - 17, Effingham - 7
Georgia (+14) at #9 Florida
This game reminds me of the good old days as well. Well, they weren’t so much the good old days as they were the old days. Georgia goes down to Jacksonville when no one, and I mean no one, is giving them a snowball’s chance in hell to win this game. Actually, it’s tough to find anyone picking them to cover the two touchdowns. Florida’s coming off a bye week. Georgia’s beat up. Florida’s really good. Georgia’s not. The Bulldogs will come out sky high, nothing to lose, and all that stuff, and they’ll keep it interesting for a while. But those playmakers in the secondary will make Stafford’s day miserable as the Gators pull away in the third.
Florida - 31, Georgia - 20
posted by lconneff | 8:29 AM
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