CFB 2010 Week 9 Preview: Be very afraid! Edition

Oct 29, 2010

The calendar may still read October, but with all the upsets and surprises that have occurred in college football lately, it might as well be April 1^st.

But as the top-ranked teams fell like autumn leaves on three consecutive weeks, each successive loss was a little easier to believe than one previous, leading us to a point where no upset will be unexpected, no victory by an unranked underdog considered a “world shocker”.

First no one, not even Steve Spurrier’s family, believed South Carolina would, could or should beat mighty Alabama, especially so soundly. But then one week later many people, not just the Badger fanatics in Madtown, thought Wisconsin could knock off archenemy Ohio State, and three early touchdowns helped make that potential scenario a reality. And since no one outside of Norman really believed Oklahoma was a worthy number one team anyway, it was entirely believable that the hungry Mizzou Tigers could topple the Sooners on a wild Saturday night in Columbia.

Which brings us to this week and the latest team to wear the Number One bull’s-eye, Auburn. The Tigers travel to Oxford to take on up & down Ole Miss, where Houston Nutt’s rebuilding Rebels have been good (a 55-38 pounding of Fresno St), bad ( a 24-18 loss at home to Vandy), and just plan ugly (a 49048 OT loss to Jacksonville State at home) at different points this season.

Despite all that, would anyone be surprised if the high-scoring Rebs went toe-to-toe with the awesome Auburn offense and pulled off a shootout win? You don’t have to answer that, it’s rhetorical.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at a few of the more important & interesting matchups we should keep an eye on as we gorge ourselves on the Halloween candy supply.

-1 Auburn @ Ole Miss, 6PM ESPN2 not sure how the number one team gets relegated to The Deuce at dinner time, but Auburn won’t care as long as it comes out of Oxford with a ‘W’. With Boise State already winning, albeit unimpressively, on Tuesday night, and Oregon aching to jump to the top spot, the Tigers need to win, and look good doing so, in order to retain the title of top team for another week

-2 Oregon @ USC, 8PM ABC the Ducks may be playing second fiddle in the polls, but they get the primetime billing tonight as they travel to L.A. to take on the surging Trojans. Popular belief is that Tosh Kiffin’s team has the momentum and the, ahh, horses, to run with the Ducks, and that an upset is likely. But I call boo on that. I think Oregon runs all over the Coliseum, lighting up the scoreboard, and we get numerous sideline shots of Tosh in his crisp visor looking like his car has been vandalized and his wife dressed as a Volunteer cheerleader for Halloween.

-5 Michigan State @ 18 Iowa, 3:30 ABC/ESPN this could be the game of the day, and it certainly the biggest game of the Spartan’s season. With no more ranked opponents left on the schedule, this is MSU’s last chance to prove it is a worthy championship contender. But the Hawkeyes will be locked & loaded to drop Sparty, coming off a last-second home loss to Wisconsin that all but ended their BCS bowl hopes. Look for the “upset” here for sure.

-6 Missouri @ 14 Nebraska, 3:30 ABC/ESPN look up ‘letdown loss’ in the dictionary Sunday and Mizzou should replace South Carolina after this one is over. The Tigers are coming off that emotional upset of the Sooners, while Nebraska bounced back from the loss to Texas by hanging a double nickel on previously undefeated Oklahoma State. I think Taylor Martinez jumps right back in the Heisman raced, and the Huskers upend Mizzou’s magical season with a convincing victory in Lincoln.

-Florida vs. Georgia, 3:30 CBS they may be unranked and unimpressive, but this game means so much to so many people here in the South that I have to give the clash formerly known as The World’s Largest Cocktail party a shoutout. The fact that the fate of each head coach could ride on the outcome gives this intense rivalry a little more spice this season. A Gator loss might send Urban back into retirement, and another Bulldog beatdown could surely mark the end of mark Richt’s tenure in Athens. Cheers!

As I said, plenty of intrigue and drama to be had on this final weekend of October. And who knows, we might even have a new number one team by the time the calendar reads November.

(Quack quack.)