Countdown to College Football Saturday

Sam reporting for Saturday, October 11th, 2008:

Top 25 Teams:

#5 Texas at #1 Oklahoma
Prediction: Oklahoma
The title of the best conference in college football is slowly shifting to the Big 12, and the conference has a chance to flex its guns today with the cream of its crop going head to head. Oklahoma is the best team in the nation right now and they look unstoppable when they’re rolling on all cylinders. Look for Oklahoma’s offense to control the tempo of the game and keep Colt McCoy on the sidelines. Oklahoma is by far the more talented team in this match up, but if Texas can play lights out defense and have Colt McCoy do what he has been doing, they have a chance of winning this game.

#17 Oklahoma State at #3 Missouri
Prediction: Missouri
There will be a battle of two very talented offenses going head to head in this matchup. Chase Daniel and the Tigers will look to show they are a National Championship contender by playing a very good and overlooked Oklahoma State team. The Cowboys coach, Mike Gundy, has done a great job grooming his young quarterback Zac Robinson into the next great passer from the Big 12 and their offense is just as explosive as the other great offenses in that conference. This should be another Big 12 high scoring shootout.

#4 LSU at #11 Florida
Prediction: LSU
Tune into this game for the latest installment of the LSU- Florida, SEC powerhouse teams, rivalry. Although it is hard to believe the higher ranked LSU Tigers are the underdogs in this matchup. LSU has a very balanced offensive attack with redshirt freshman Jarrett Lee at quarterback and the talented tail back Charles Scott in the backfield. Oh, and did I mention their defense, led by Ricky Jean-Francois is, as my friend would say, is “sick nasty.” With all of that said, Florida still has the Heiman Trophy winner Tim Tebow at the helm of their offense, and they should keep this game close. I just can’t see Florida winning this game, with the uncertainty of Percy Harvins ankle and the “sick nastiness” of LSU’s defense.

#6 Penn State at Wisconsin
Prediction: Penn State
Watch out all of you Penn State fans, your Nittany Lions are on upset alert. Camp Randall Stadium is a very tough environment to play in and you better believe the Wisconsin fans and players are going to be bitter over their heart breaking loss to Ohio State last week. Look for Wisconsin to keep this game close, but with Evan Royster leading the charge, I believe that Penn State will prevail.

Nebraska at #7 Texas Tech
Prediction: Texas Tech
If you don’t know who Graham Harrell and Michael Crabtree are, I suggest you come out of your cave and just catch a glimpse of the magic these guys make on the football field. You can also go to their own personal website, passorcatch2008.com, to see their campaign videos for the Heisman Trophy this year. In all seriousness though, this is one of the best quarterback/wide receiver tandems to come through college football in a long time. The Red Raiders should be able to handily take care of a Nebraska team that is still trying to rebuild its program, under rookie head coach Bo Pelini, and return it to its former glory.

Arizona State at #8 USC
Prediction: USC
I, along with just about every other college football fan, was extremely shocked at USC’s loss to Oregon State two weeks ago. I don’t see how a team with that much talent could ever lose, especially after a strong win over Ohio State, but they did. They were able to redeem themselves last week with a win over Oregon, but they still have a lot of work to do if they plan on getting to the National Championship game, and this would be another step towards doing so. With guys like Maualuga, Cushing, and Mays on their defense, the Trojans should be able to contain Rudy Carpenter and the Sun Devils offense. The Trojan offense, led by Mark Sanchez and Joe McKnight, can hold its own against a mediocre Arizona State defense.

New Mexico at #9 BYU
Prediction: BYU
At #9 in the rankings you see BYU, one of the most underrated teams in the nation. Max Hall and the Cougars have been rolling on all cylinders since day one of the season. I really hope this team goes undefeated and gets to play in a BCS Bowl Game and show Amer ica how good this team really is. I really don’t see BYU having any problems handling this decent New Mexico team.

Tennessee at #10 Georgia
Prediction: Georgia
This should be a pretty interesting SEC East matchup, which could have conference championship implications. Look for this to be a matchup of the running backs, with Knowshon Moreno for the Bulldogs and Arian Foster for the Vols. Georgia will be looking to rebound after a tough loss to Alabama, and beat an underachieving Volunteer football team.

Purdue at #12 Ohio State
Prediction: Ohio State
I’m not sure which team is more disappointing, Purdue who has severely underachieved this year or Ohio State who has contin uously shown that they can’t keep up with the best teams from the power conferences. Either way, it should provide viewers with an interesting matchup, as well as getting to watch one of the best running backs in the nation in Chris “Beanie” Wells. Although, the two players I want to keep my eyes on the most in this game, are the quarterbacks for each team. Curtis Painter of Purdue is a great passer and is being looked at as one of the better college quarterback prospects, while the young Terrelle Pryor is still developing into an extraordinary talent who can beat you in the air or on the ground. Ohio State should win this game and maybe show that they deserve to get another shot at a National Championship.

#13 Vanderbilt at Mississippi State
Prediction: Vanderbilt

#14 Utah at Wyoming
Prediction: Utah
#15 Boise State at Southern Miss
Prediction: Boise State

Colorado at #16 Kansas
Prediction: Colorado

Arkansas at #20 Auburn
Prediction: Auburn

Notre Dame at #22 North Carolina
Prediction: North Carolina

#2320Michigan State at Northwestern
Prediction: Michigan State

#25 Ball State at Western Kentucky
Prediction: Ball State


Other Games to Watch:

Minnesota at Illinois
Prediction: Illinois

South Carolina at Kentucky
Prediction:20South Carolina

TCU at Colorado State
Prediction: TCU

Arizona at Stanford
Prediction: Stanford

Kansas State at Texas A&M
Prediction: Texas A&M

Tulsa at Southern Methodist
Prediction: Tulsa

UCLA at Oregon
Prediction: Oregon