Friday, September 5, 2008

On Campus 9/6

We are back with our weekly viewers guide to college football. Last week the season snuck up on me so I forgot about my On Campus segment. Speaking of things happening on campus, let us never speak of last nights college football game ever again.

5 Games to Watch

Miami (Fl) vs. Florida- It is always a big match-up when the Florida schools butt heads but this year the game is intriguing for a different reason. Usually this game has significant National Championship implications, but the Gators are a 3 touchdown favorite. The Gators do have their sights set on the Orange Bowl in January while the Hurricanes are trying to discover themselves under Randy Shannon. We will see how close the Canes are to regaining their form in this one.


#8 West Virginia vs. East Carolina- Skip Holtz and the Pirates pulled off a shocker last week beating V-Tech. This just in, Holtz can coach (he won at UConn and is now winning at ECU) and it makes you wonder had his father let him coach a little more while they were at South Carolina if things may have worked out differently. West Virginia comes into the game with a new coach, butt he same old Pat White at QB whom they say will throw the ball more this year. The Pirate defense has good speed, but we will see if they have BCS conference speed trying to track down White in this one.


Louisiana Tech vs. #14 Kansas- La Tech also pulled off a stunner last week beating Mississippi State ate home. Kansas is coming off their best years since Gale Sayers played for them, and now it is time to see if that was a fluke or if Mark Mangino is building something there. The Jayhawks big playmaker is their crafty Junior QB Todd Reesing, he is not the biggest or fastest or strongest he simply gets the job done. He threw for 3 TD’s in their opening game victory against FIU. If Reesing can continue to be on target the Jayhawks should roll. (Get it, Jayhawks roll, like roll a doobie, like Mario Chalmers and Darrell Arthur, they know how to roll).


Ole Miss vs. #20 Wake Forest- The ACC has not faired so well this season, especially against the SEC were NC State and Clemson took pounding at the hands of Alabama and South Carolina respectively. The Rebels are under new coach Houston Nutt who is a proven winner and he takes his team on an early road test to Winston-Salem(jeez those words have seldom been uttered about football in Winston-Salem). Coach Grobe has the Deacons well prepared for every game and he has a veteran leader in Riley Skinner. If the Deacs can get a big win here they could roll in the ACC.


Buffalo vs. Pittsburgh- Coach Wannstedt’s Panthers took a tough loss at home to Bowling Green in week 1. Buffalo is lead by one of the best young coach’s in the game, former Nebraska QB Turner Gill. The Buffs racked up almost 500 yards of total offense including 2 separate 100 yard rushers in their week 1 victory against UTEP. The Panthers better not take this game lightly or they could be staring an 0-2 record in the face.



4 Players to See

Chase Daniel, QB Missouri- A Heisman finalist last year, Daniel picked up where he left off. In the season opener against a good Illinois team Daniel made it look like a video game. He was slinging the ball around the field for over 300 yards and 3 TD’s and ran for over 50 yards. Daniel has a chance to rack up huge numbers against SE Missouri State this weekend and will be in the Heisman race all year long.


Sam Bradford, QB Oklahoma- Last season Bradford was a question mark for the Sooners starting as a true freshman. This season Bradford is being relied upon as the unquestioned leader of the Sooner offense. Bradford threw 36 TD’s and only 8 picks last season and with an improved Sooner running game he should put up similar numbers. And this week Cincinnati Coach Brain Kelley has been running his mouth so look for the Sooners to try and put up big numbers.


Mark Ingram, RB Alabama- Ingram is the Freshman phenom at running back for the Tide. In his first game against Clemson he averaged almost 6 yards per carry going for almost 100 yards. He has the break away ability and the hard hitting between the tackles running style. Ingram can easily rack up over a 1,000 yards in his freshman campaign.


Arrelious Benn, WR Illinois- The super-Soph Benn caught 54 balls last year as a Frosh. This season and improved Juice Williams at QB could lead to 70+ catches. Benn started off last week against Missouri in fine fashion catching 7 balls for 93 yards. The one thing Benn needs to improve upon is his consistency in the red zone. He is a big strong target and can really be a weapon in the end zone for Coach Zook’s offense.

1 comment:

The Bopper said...

Ughhh...Mark Ingrahm, Jr. should have been a Spartan!!