Week 11 finds teams scurrying to become “bowl eligible” as the pressure intensifies with conference rivals facing each other. Some teams are feverously working to get back in the picture. Others are playing for pride. Here are this week’s matchups.
Michigan at Wisconsin #21 (-8 ½)
Michigan started better than expected then fell to below expectations. One has to wonder how much ammunition they have left. Clearly, those old labels of “rebuilding” and “team in transition” apply. They need to show more results than shown so far but their effort won’t beat predictions for a Wisconsin win.
Virginia Tech #20 at Maryland
To think Virginia Tech was the ACC’s candidate for a possible championship at the start of the season, a loss to Georgia Tech showed who the commanding Tech team in the ACC was but then a loss to North Carolina rendered Virginia Tech just good enough to remain in the top 25. They’re playing to do better than a bid to the Kellogg’s Corn Flakes Bowl in Battle Creek. Maryland will provide a nice foil for them to crank out a big win that will inflate their stats.
Florida #1 (-14 ½) at South Carolina
Yip-yip, yap-yap, Steve Spurrier will be hosting his former team who will come in to the South Carolina campus eat all their food, drink all their beer, bust up all their furniture, and seduce all their co-eds. In other words, the mild-mannered South Carolina Gamecocks coach will have to wonder whatever tempted him to take that miserable job with the Redskins as he struggles to make South Carolina a winner again. His bank account with those Redskins’ millions might make the struggle not so bad except during game time.
Iowa #15 at Ohio State #10 (-16 ½)
Iowa has been at least the Big 10’s Cinderella team if not the whole nation’s. For the second year in a row, they ruined Penn State’s title bid and have masqueraded as a championship team themselves. In much the fashion they upset other bigger fellows, they suffered the same fate thanks to Northwestern dropping them out of the top 10 to 16th. Well, the eyes have it as the Buckeyes will defeat the Hawkeyes as Ohio State moves up to being the Big Ten’s toughest team.
Utah #16 at TCU #4 (-20)
The Mountain West conference gets little notice in the east but has much to be proud of as showcased by the matchup of these top 25 teams with TCU 4th nationwide a position coveted by many more renowned football conferences (Big 10, PAC 10, and ACC as examples). This is TCU’s sweetheart season. They should be almost three touchdowns stronger than a good Utah team.
Notre Dame #11 at Pittsburgh #13 (-7)
Notre Dame’s anticipated loss at Pitt this weekend will cinch the deal that will throw the Fighting Irish into the organizational chaos that dogged them through their miserable 2008 season. With such high expectations with a star quarterback leading the way, this was supposed to be the year Notre Dame returned to being a genuine BCS competitor. The mob will be demanding coach Weiss’s tale after this loss and the cacophony will continue as next year’s team will be more of a work in progress than the team that can’t close the deal this year.
Texas Tech at Oklahoma State #17 (-4)
Here’s a game showing just how strong the Big 12 is once again in 2009. While not nationally ranked, Texas Tech is a strong program facing a team that wants to stay in the spotlight despite the exploits of Texas, supposedly one of the two contestants for the BCS title. This should be a hard fought battle giving Oklahoma State the slight edge.
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