21.10.03
College Football: I'm unaccustomed to having to pick this early; of course, I wouldn't have to do so if there weren't midweek games. Tech travels to Morgantown to take on the Mountaineers of West Virginia. WVU isn't particularly good this year, but, that said, it's a dangerous game. Dangerous from the gameplay standpoint of Tech looking ahead ten days to the showdown in Blacksburg. Dangerous, also, because of the psycho out-of-control trash in Morgantown who call themselves fans. Even when they have no special reason, they'll throw anything not nailed down - such as batteries, trash, trash cans, whisky bottles to name but four - at the visitors, their band, their fans, whoever. They also riot. Last year, fans burned `"every couch they could get close enough to light a match to," according to a local reporter', so says Dennis Dodd of CBS Sportsline. Now, I won't make the typical stereotypes about West Virginia; indeed, one might wonder, considering that Blacksburg, too, is in Appalachia. But I will say that we fans here in Blacksburg have never rioted (the Saturday night "riot" before the LSU game last year consisted, I'm told, primarily of LSU fans and Tech fans screaming at each other on Main Street; regardless, the police weren't amused). The only things thrown are in celebration; fans (okay, students) have been known to throw empty plastic cups when Tech scores a touchdown in celebration. I have never seen one make it to the sideline. Tech fans have also thrown sugar packets (I spoke of this in an earlier column). Having said that, Tech fans have always (so far as I've seen) treated the visitors with respect and class. Unlike that trash we play tomorrow night. Enough on this.
The initial BCS rankings came out. The three major conference undefeateds led the way; Tech was third behind Oklahoma and Miami. Considering the writers' and coaches' polls have placed the three teams in the same order for much of the year, I'm unsurprised. Dodd also wrote a column on Sunday. This was more of a catch-all, but the thing I found most interesting was his little blurb about "If the polls debut today". The fact that there's a difference between that top 10 and the top 10 of his Top 25 at the beginning of the column implies one thing: that he is influenced by previous polls. Why is it that he can't vote solely on the merits of the teams? What validity do his polls have if he's voting on previous polls, rather than solely on teams' merits? Inquiring minds want to know.
My college picks: Almost seems like mini-rivalry week.
- Va Tech beats West Va. Tech's just too strong. Their run defence has improved from last year. Moreover, the defensive unit is at full strength. The biggest problem, as I chronicled above, will be the fans. The fact that Tech's leaving for the ACC after this season won't help matters.
- LSU beats Auburn. I know that Auburn is doing well, but night games at Death Valley are crazy, and LSU is just too good to lose a home game at night.
- Purdue beats Michigan. It may be close. But the fact of the matter is that John Navarre just isn't that great, and Chris Perry's early season dominance was the result of running against some horrible teams (Central Michigan, Houston).
- Northern Illinois wins at Bowling Green. If Urban Meyer were still in northwestern Ohio, the Falcons would almost certainly win this game. But BG is going against Michael "The Burner" Turner and MAC coach-of-the-year shoo-in Joe Novak. Not to mention that NIU was 10 in the first BCS ranking this season. If NIU can win at Ala-damn-bama, they can win at Bowling Green.
- Tennessee beats Alabama. Here we see how far Tennessee has come since they were routed at home by Georgia a week and a half ago. They had last week off, and presumably used it to recover. It also gave UT an extra week to plan for Alabama. That doesn't bode well for the Tide. And if the Tide can only beat Southern Miss by two touchdowns (USM has been atrocious this year; a down year for them, to give in to understatement) then that, too, may pose problems agasint the Vols.
- Kansas State beats Kansas. It's been a very good year for KU to this point, but now they travel to a Kansas State team which thrashed Colorado last week, ending a three game losing streak. KU has made a lot of progress, and one presumes that they'll progress further in the next couple of years, but they haven't come far enough to win at K-State.
- Boston College beats Notre Dame. Tom O'Brien was a player for George Welsh at Navy, where he learned discipline. He was an assistant coach for Welsh at Virginia. At this point I'll bet you, the reader, are saying "What the hell is this guy talking about?" Only this: BC got thrashed at Syracuse last week, and O'Brien almost certainly made life miserable for his players. It's a rivalry game, but one that's more important to BC, so BC will be doubly motivated to win.
Zuletzt: As an afterthought (on the last play of the entry, so to speak), Kansas City squeaked out another road win. Call me shocked.
Ryan.
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