On Campus 10/13/07

5 Games to Watch

#11 Missouri vs. #6 Oklahoma- North versus South here in the Big 12, where Gary Pinkle’s Missouri Tigers coming in undefeated and 2-0 in the Big 12 and still high after last weeks win against Nebraska. The Mizzou offense is ranked 4th in the country but more of load will be on QB Chase Daniels shoulders as leading rusher Tony Temple will be out. The Sooners are 1-1 in conference after that bad loss at Colorado a few weeks ago, falling a second time may hurt their chances at the title game. Bob Stoops team has all the numbers going for them; the game is in Norman, they have won 16 of the last 17 versus Mizzou, and Gary Pinkle’s 2-15 record against ranked opponents, but I don’t think the Sooners will role in this one.



Louisville vs. #15 Cincinnati- Coming into the season the Cardinals were still the darlings of the Big East, but under new head coach Steve Kragthorpe they have stumbled to a 3-3 record. Meanwhile first year head coach Brian Kelly has his Bearcats off to a blazing 6-0 start including a win last week at Rutgers. The Bearcats should be able to put up points against one of the worst defenses in the country, but the key could be the Bearcats defense. The Cardinals are hard to slow down and the ball hawking Bearcats will have to take advantage of every opportunity to add to their nations best 25 takeways.




#19 Wisconsin vs. Penn State- The Badgers took a major blow last week losing on the road the Illinois, and now they had back out on the road to Happy Valley. Things haven’t been so happy recently for Coach Paterno, after consecutive road losses the team came home to a slew of player arrests and a traffic incident on campus involving the legendary coach. All those distractions need to be set aside because Wisconsin’s high octane offense is looking for a rebound performance from last week. Badger RB PJ Hill figures to get a bigger load last week for two reasons; one the loss of big play receiver Luke Swann and two last week he rushed for a season low 83 yards in their only loss. Penn State needs a win here or it could be bye bye to the Big 10 title.



Connecticut vs. Virginia- If I had told anyone in the country that when UConn and Virginia locked horns their combined record would be 10-1 I would have been put in an asylum. The Wahoo’s are out to a quick 3-0 start in ACC play behind the strong running of Cedric Peerman and Andrew Pearmen (obviously not related). UConn has a steady scoring offense lead by Junior QB Tyler Lorenzon who is completing 65% of his passes. If the UConn offense gets off to an early lead the Wahoo’s may have trouble coming back even though they are at the friendly confines of Scott Stadium



Texas A&M vs. Texas Tech- Embattled A&M Coach Dennis Franchione hs his team on the cusp of the top 25 with a 5-1 record and 2-0 in the Big 12. This week the Aggies travel to Lubbock for a showdown of 5-1 teams. The Red Raiders are ridiculously efficient, scoring 52 ppg and gaining 600 yards, while QB Graham Harrell is completing 74% of his passes. The Aggie defense will have a tough time slowing down Tech so it will be up to QB Stephen McGee to put up some points if he wants to lead his Aggies to victory.



4 Players to See


Matt Ryan, QB Boston College- Ryan may be the best QB in the country and is starting to garner some true Heisman hype. He has his team off to a 6-0 start for the first time since 1942 and their highest ranking since Doug Flutie’s Eagles in 1984. Ryan is a machine completing 63% of his passes for over 300 yards per game. He marches his Eagles into South Bend this week and tries to keep them perfect as the Irish look for their second win of the season. If he has another big game he can move his way up to the top of many voters Heisman lists.



Victor “Macho” Harris, CB Virginia Tech- This young man certainly doesn’t lack an y confidence, as you can tell by his own nickname. Harris has two TD’s already this season, an INT return against East Carolina on opening day and a 100 yard kickoff return versus Clemson last weekend. Duke QB Thaddeus Lewis has thrown 23 INT’s in only 18 games as a starter so look for Harris to try and read some passes and try and score another TD in this blowout.



Arian Foster, RB Tennessee- Foster has emerged as the go to back for the Vols this season, and wouldn’t you know it, like most years for the Vols, he has a nose for the end zone. Last week on only 17 carries he scored 3 times against Georgia. Mississippi States defense has surrender a slew of rushing TD’s lately so look for Foster to pick up his second 100 yard game of the season and have another 2 or 3 TD performance.



Chris Smelley, QB South Carolina- It looks as if Spurrier is going to ride the season out on the redshirt freshman’s shoulders, rather than the experienced Senior (only the Ole Ball Coach can get away with this stuff). Smelley has started the last two games and lead the Gamecocks to home wins against Miss. State and Kentucky. Smelley will get his first road test in Chapel Hill this week and the Ole Ball Coach would like to see his signal caller be a little more accurate and raise his completion percentage from 54% to around 60% to help keep some drives alive. This could be time for Smelley to help break the South Carolina offense out of its shell against a battered Tar Heel defense.