Ten to Win: Looking for upsets to shake things up

Pittsburgh quarterback Bill Stull will have his sights set on shooting down the Irish this weekend. (photo by Dennis Hubbard)

 

“Ten to Win” was hit hard by the weekend of upsets last week and finished with a disappointing record of 5-5 for a season record of 67-33, a .670 winning percentage. But we’ll try to pick a few upsets this weekend, but this being Friday the 13^th, who knows what will happen.

 

Notre Dame at Pittsburgh: The Panthers are hot on the trail of a BCS berth and are off to their best start since 1982 when Dan Marino was their quarterback. Notre Dame has kissed its BCS dreams good-bye and may be playing for Charlie Weis’ job. Notre Dame brings the Jimmy Clausen-to-Golden Tate passing combo into the game as its main weapon while Bill Stull quarterbacks the Panthers and spreads the football around, but he gets plenty of help from Dion Lewis, a freshman tailback who runs bigger than that. Pitt is 16^th in the country in scoring while Notre Dame is 36^th while the Panthers are 19^th in defense against scoring and Notre Dame is 49^th. Looks like a no-brainer.

 

Utah at TCU:Since a close call against Air Force on Oct. 10, TCU has been rolling over everybody. The Horned Frogs have outscored their past four opponents by a 178-25 score and remain one of six undefeated teams in the country. They haven’t allowed a touchdown in their past two home games. The Horned Frogs currently have a 12-game home winning streak since their last loss at Amon G. Carter Stadium in 2007 to this Saturday’s opponent — Utah. Andy Dalton is at the top of his game and will have a nice matchup with his counterpart at Utah, Jordan Wynn. Wynnmade the best starting debut ever by a Utah true freshman, passing for 297 yards and two touchdowns last week. But Wynn will have to contend with Jerry Hughes, TCU’s pass-rushing machine. The Utes bring a six-game winning streak into the game, but have won their last 13 Mountain West conference games, but all good things must come to an end.

 

Iowa at Ohio State: Ohio State is on track for a trip to the Rose Bowl as the Big Ten champion, again. Iowa comes in without its leading weapon in quarterback Ricky Stanzi, who was lost for the season with an injury last week. Terrelle Pryor seems to have the Buckeyes’ offense running smoothly. A week ago this looked like it might be a good matchup. Now, it looks like another comfortable win for Ohio State.

 

Stanford at USC: The Cardinal and the Trojans, at the beginning of the season this looked to be a lopsided win by USC in the Coliseum, avenging the amazing Stanford upset of two years ago. But now this looks to be interesting. Stanford brings some real weapons into this fight in quarterback Andrew Luck, who has thrown 11 touchdowns against three interceptions this season, and Toby Gerhart, who had scored 16 touchdowns himself. Stanford’s problem has been stopping anybody on defense, the Cardinal just hasn’t done it and although USC has looked pretty ordinary a few times, they are still bigger and more experienced in these situations than Stanford. Stanford is on a roll and has dreams of making a Rose Bowl trip. A few things would have to happen, but unless Luck actually starts to play like a freshman quarterback, which he has not done lately, all things are possible. So, how about calling an upset here,

 

West Virginia at Cincinnati: The Mountaineers of West Virginia get a chance to puncture the Bearcats’ dreams of an undefeated season and a BCS bowl. Cincinnati will have Zach Collarus start again at quarterback even though Tony Pike is available. Collarus picked up the reins when Pike went down with an injury and the Cincinnati offense has not missed a step, maybe even picking up a few. West Virginia will have to try and contain the BIG EAST’s most potent passing offense, and that will likely be too much for Bill Lewis’ team to do.

 

Auburn at Georgia: This is a big game for Georgia since the Bulldogs are still one win away from being bowl eligible. And with Kentucky and Georgia Tech remaining on the schedule, nothing is a sure thing for Mark Richt’s team. Auburn, on the other hand, appears to have righted its ship offensively and are now playing for bowl positioning with the Cotton Bowl and the Outback Bowl as two possibilities mentioned for Gene Chizik’s team, either would be a nice way to cap the season. The Auburn offense should be too much for Georgia as Ben Tate and company chew up yardage in big chunks and leave the Bulldogs still needing one win to cinch a bowl trip.

 

Alabama at Mississippi State: This is a trap game for the No. 2-ranked Crimson Tide. After beating LSU and clinching the SEC West, Nick Saban has to be careful his team doesn’t relax or start looking toward the Florida rematch in the SEC Championship Game. Mississippi State is a tough, physical football team with Anthony Dixon providing a strong ground game, but that goes right into the teeth of the Alabama defense. Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy needs to continue to manage the game and hand the ball to Mark Ingram … a lot. With Ingram pounding the football and the defense pounding on Dixon, Alabama should win this one, but probably by not as much as you might think.

 

Tennessee at Ole Miss: In winning three of its last four games, Tennessee finds itself needing only a win against either Ole Miss, Vanderbilt or Kentucky to be bowl eligible. But Lane Kiffin’s team doesn’t just want to get eligible, the Vols want to finish 8-4 and secure a nice bowl bid. They took a hit this week when three players were arrested for armed robbery and it will be interesting to see how they react. The thing is, the Vols have been played pretty good lately and come into Oxford brimming with confidence. Defensively Tennessee has forced seven turnovers in its past two games and has scored 15 touchdowns and three field goals off 19 turnovers this season. Ole Miss, on the other hand, has had a roller coaster of a season and has to be considered one of the top disappointments in the SEC and possibly the nation. Who would have thought at the opening of the season that Tennessee’s Jonathan Crompton would come into this meeting with the hot hand over his Ole Miss counterpart Jevan Snead? Not many.

 

Georgia Tech at Duke: The Yellow Jackets are on top of the Coastal Division and right in the BCS mix while the Blue Devils are in rare territory— above .500 and needing just one more win to become bowl eligible. That is a tall order for David Cutcliffe’s team with Tech, Miami and Wake Forest remaining. Georgia Tech is on a roll and Josh Nesbitt and Jonathan Dwyer are hard to stop. Duke’s offense struggled last week against North Carolina and although Tech’s defense is not quite as stingy as the Tar Heels, it still could be a long afternoon for Duke unless Duke Thaddeus Lewis has a big day. I still like the Tech offense, though, to carry the day.

 

Texas Tech at Oklahoma State: This game has the ingredients of a good old-fashioned Big 12 shootout—tons of offense and little to no defense. Texas Tech is second in the conference in scoring with a 40.2 ppg average while Oklahoma State is fourth at 34.1. Oklahoma State is fourth in scoring defense giving up 21 points a game while Texas Tech is seventh at 23.4 points per game. Texas Tech is a passing machine while Oklahoma State is merely good at it. Tech throws it at a 400.4 yard per game clip while the Cowboys just 212.1. Rushing is an afterthought for the Red Raiders, although Baron Batch had a four-touchdown day and 123 yards rushing against Kansas two weeks ago. Seth Doege is the latest Texas Tech quarterback to start this season following Taylor Potts and Steven Sheffield. But it doesn’t matter who starts, the Red Raiders will put it up often. They are trying to beat their second ranked team in that team’s home stadium this season, which would be a first. Oklahoma State has won six of its last seven and Texas Tech four of their last five, so both teams are hot.
Texas Tech 48, Oklahoma State 45