College Football, Week 4

What a great weekend. The Hokies won another nail-biter and have a great lead in the ACC Coastal; The Sox won 2 out of 3 and are on their way to the playoffs again; Arsenal won and is top of the table; Tottenham still haven’t won a game and are bottom of the table; and I made some great Triple Chocolate cookies. Gold star weekend.

My prognostication isn’t what it used to be. (Okay, I’ve never been that good at picking games.) I only went 4-5 in my picks last week, but I’m now 2 for 2 in upset specials.

Virginia Tech. As I said last week, I don’t expect any easy games this season, and the win at Chapel Hill was no exception. People will say VT got lucky to win the game, as UNC had 4 turnovers and committed over 120 yards worth of penalties. I would say that the champion makes ones own luck. And luck is when preparation meets opportunity. And that diligence is the mother of good luck. And that fortune favors the bold. And that I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the more I work, the more I have of it. And I also believe that those who rely on clichés are usually very annoying. (And yes, I admit, VT was lucky to win.) This week should be another stern test, with a visit to Lincoln to take on the Cornhuskers of Nebraska. The Huskers have been down the past few years, and while they’re 3-0 this year, they haven’t played anyone of note. Should be a good game, and one I’m a little upset will be carried at 8 pm. It’s not that it’s too late for me, but I’m going to drive myself crazy waiting all day for the game to begin. Maybe I should find a mountain to climb or something.

Pittsburg St. Just call the Gorillas the Cardiac Kids. A 46-40 win against Missouri Western sees them 3-0 heading into this weekend’s big game against Central Missouri. They're now ranked #10, and it could be a dream season for the Apes from Kansas.

Ithaca. Wow. The Bombers from Ithaca scored 10 touchdowns in beating Hartwick 69-42. No word on if either defense showed up for the Homecoming game at Butterfield Stadium. The #16 ranked undefeated Bombers face a tough game next week against #11 St. John Fisher.

I-AA. I was informed last week that I wasn’t giving I-AA (now known as the Football Championship Subdivision, but really, who likes saying that?) any respect, specifically the Dukes from James Madison. After JMU came from 10 points down to beat 3-time I-AA defending champions Appalachian St., I’d say JMU now deserves all the respect in the world. The latest polls have JMU at #2, right behind their big rivals Richmond. The 2 will be meeting in Richmond on October 11, and could be the game of the season. In other I-AA news, the Wildcats of New Hampshire are undefeated and ranked #7 in the latest poll. Considering they beat the I-A opponent they played (Army), while JMU (Duke) and Richmond (UVa) lost to the I-A teams they played, I'd say UNH has a much better claim at #1 than either of those southern pretenders. And lucky for the Commonwealth teams, they don't have to play New Hampshire at all this season. I smell a conspiracy.

ACC Update. It took a few weeks, but the ACC has started to win some out of conference games. The big surprise was NC State taking out East Carolina in OT, especially considering that NC State seems to be the worst team in the ACC Atlantic. Also, Georgia Tech ripped Mississippi St., Boston College came on from a sluggish start to beat Central Florida by 27, and Miami beat up on Texas A&M. The best news for out of conference games was that neither UVA nor Duke were playing, keeping the perfect record intact. Wake Forest keeps proving me wrong by beating up Florida St., and right now they look to be the team to beat in the Atlantic.

National Update. Eh…not up for it today.

Jumping On the Bandwagon: Alabama; Wake Forest; Vanderbilt; Colorado; Boise St.
Jumping Off the Bandwagon: Oregon; East Carolina; Iowa; Florida St.; Tennessee (again)

Games to watch in Week 5
Virginia @ Duke. Kind of like a train wreck, you just can’t look away. Duke 31, Virginia 30.
Minnesota @ Ohio St. The Buckeyes bring the 4-0 Gophers back down to earth. OSU 45, Minnesota 7.
Colorado @ Florida St. With apologies to Jay-Z: “You’re having QB problems, I feel bad for you son. I’ve got 99 players but the QB’s ain’t one”. (Wow…that was horrible.) Colorado by 13.
TCU @ Oklahoma. The Horned Frogs look good this year, but they have no chance in Norman. OU 45, TCU 17.
Alabama @ Georgia. Is this the week that Saban and the Tide come crashing back to earth? Both teams love to run the ball, and both defenses are top 10 against the run. I say the Dawgs pull it all together and get the win. UGA by 4.
Virginia Tech @ Nebraska. There’s this guy on the TechSideline.com’s message board who, before every game, posts a prediction that VT will lose that week, and lists the reasons why. It doesn’t matter if we’re playing LSU or William and Mary, he picks the other team to win. He calls it “reverse mojo”, seemingly to bring down those expectations from fans who think we’ll win every game. It gets really annoying, but after 3 years he keeps doing it, thinking it’s “good luck” or something. (Even though we have lost plenty of times that he’s picked us to lose.) You’d never catch me doing something stupid like that. Nebraska 14, VT 13.
Illinois @ Penn St. I think the Nittany Lions are for real this year, and their game against Ohio St. later in the season will probably decide the Rose Bowl. Penn St. by 10.
Upset Special #1: Troy over Oklahoma St. The Cowboys are always good for a couple of bad games a year.
Upset Special #2: Western Kentucky over Kentucky. Big Red takes down Ashley Judd.