Thursday, September 25

Big 12 Week 5 Preview

Army @ Texas Agriculture & Mining
I refuse to use the abbreviated version because that's what you do for good teams like USC or LSU. There is no reason why everyone should use "A&M", so I'm going to write the whole thing out to avoid confusion. (and yes, I know that officially the A&M stands for A&M... whatever) Losing to Arkansas State was embarassing, but losing to Miami? An ACC school? This is truly a low point for the Aggies, and that's saying a lot because they've been bad for a long time now. It'll be a battle of real soldiers vs rotc, and as usual real soldiers aren't recruited for their ability to run a skinny post.

Arkansas @ Texas
When this game was scheduled, it had some real potential. Too bad Arkansas lost the two players responsible for 130% of their offense (the passing game counts against them), and now struggle to beat the likes Western Illinois and LA-Monroe. Texas is averaging over 500 ypg against inferior opposition, which means they should get about that many against the Razorbacks en route to a comfortable win.

Colorado @ Florida State
If they're going to rank Vanderbilt for beating South Carolina and Ole Miss, then dammit CU needs to be ranked for beating West Virginia. This is a huge game for both teams, as FSU looks to prove that their 2-1 record isn't just the result of playing two FCS schools. Meanwhile CU is looking for respect as it is easy to get overlooked when you play in the same division as Missouri and Kansas. This should be an ugly but possibly entertaining game.

LA Lafayette @ Kansas St
Apparently Louisville was too much, so the Snydercats are back to playing another creampuff.

Texas Christian @ Oklahoma
As for why it's not written "TCU," see the first game preview. Gary Patterson annoys the piss out of me, and it'll be great to see Oklahoma come out fully pissed off about their loss to TCU a few years ago and win this one by 40.

Troy @ Oklahoma State
If Troy thought their game against the Buckeyes was tough, wait till they face the real OSU. (Buckeye.) Both offenses have been performing well against weak opposition, and this could actually be a decent game - recall that Troy won this one handily just last season. Ultimately, Zac Robinson is a better decision-maker than he was a year ago, and Kendall Hunter is showing the signs of being a real quality tailback. Also recall that the Cowboys played last season's game against Troy without Savage in, so they were not a team at full strength. This time around, I expect OSU to win a high-scoring game.

Virginia Tech @ Nebraska
Here are two programs who were both very strong when the BCS started and have since declined a bit. Perhaps unfortunately for VT, playing in a weak conference has allowed them to still rack up 8-10 victories a season, lose a BCs game, and say "hey, we still won the conference." Nebraska, on the other hand, has been routed by the Missouri's and Oklahoma's and were forced to abandon what wasn't working and bring in Pelini. The results have been good so far as the defense improved dramatically. With Nebraska having a passable defense and VT still having no offense to speak of, the Huskers have an edge here.