The "rankings" will get shuffled after this week whether the coaches watch the games or not. There are too many "ranked" teams facing each other for the Sports Information Directors, Graduate Assistants, or whomever actually votes in the coaches' stead to ignore. Most "ranked" teams who aren't playing another "ranked" team are playing teams that could upset them. Northwestern is a team that no one is talking about but a win over Penn State this weekend would make them bowl eligible already. They have a real shot at winning the Legends Division of the Big Ten as they don't have Ohio State or Wisconsin on the schedule this season and they get Iowa, Minnesota, and Illinois which should all be wins. If Auburn's Keihl Frazier ever had a chance to have a productive game it's this week's match-up against Arkansas' defense that is allowing an astonishing 510.2 yards per game (only four teams allow more). Tyler Wilson is playing well for the Razorbacks but there's only so much he can do and his team is simply not playing for lame duck coach John L. Smith (who recently raised his bankruptcy claim to 40.7 million!). TCU will likely lose to 3-1 Iowa State this weekend after quarterback Casey Pachall was suspended indefinitely for his DWI arrest this week. It really poses a problem because the guy who will step in his place, freshman Trevone Boykin, was likely going to take snaps at running back this week because the starter is nursing an ankle injury. Pachall's arrest really hurts two positions. Another position change took place at Miami and Nebraska after Miami's Athletic Director, Shawn Eichorst, abruptly left to accept a 5-year contract to assume the same position at Nebraska once legend Tom Osborne leaves (he announced he's retiring after January 1st. I realize it's a prestigious position at Nebraska, but it looks to me that Eichorst is fleeing so that he doesn't have to deal with the strong sanctions that everyone knows are coming Miami's way soon. Watch out for a possible Boise State upset this week after they nearly squandered a 25-0 halftime lead to the triple-option running New Mexico Lobos, I don't have a lot of faith in them. The triple-option is not conducive to comebacks, generally speaking. All that being said, let's dive into what should be an exciting Week 6!
1. #4 LSU at #10 Florida: I can't say that the last two weeks of awful play on the Tigers' part hasn't swayed me a little. I've documented how badly they've performed against Auburn and Towson, so there's no need to list all the ways in which they did so. I think this game will come down to the play of Zach Mettenberger and Jeff Driskell which is a little weird to say as neither of them have played particularly well so far. Both teams' strength is the running game (LSU and Florida are ranked 18th and 20th respectively in rushing offense) and they are stronger defending the run than they are the pass. Despite the Tigers' awful displays, they're defending quite well ranking 9th nationally against the run and 6th against the pass. Florida is 37th against the run and 25th against the pass. LSU's depth at running back (four rushers that could start on many other teams), I think will wear Florida's defensive front and linebackers down a bit which will open the play action game. The question is ... can Mettenberger finally realize the potential that everyone, including, has been lauding for three years since his brief stint at Georgia? Will Jeff Driskell's mobility give LSU's defense any trouble? I doubt it given they have two potential first-round draft picks on the front line and one at safety. Florida doesn't have anyone in their defensive backfield who can stay with receiver Odell Beckham, Jr (who is also a big threat in the return game) so will Muschamp play some bump and run with a zone behind it? I would because Mettenberger hasn't given us any indication that he can exploit it and I wouldn't chance playing Beckham one-on-one because he could very likely get so open a time or two that Mettenberger couldn't mess it up. I don't like to use the word guarantee, but with Les Miles I don't think I'm taking a huge chance by using it here. I guarantee Miles will pull out one of his trick plays on Saturday. I don't know whether it will be on a special teams play or just on a random offensive play, but watch out for it because it's coming. I think this will be a fairly low-scoring game; it's possible neither team breaks twenty points. LSU squeaks out a win ... and unfortunately ... revives the hype that surrounded them to start the year.
2. #8 West Virginia at #11 Texas: For the second straight week Mack Brown's squad will be facing a Dana Holgerson offense (he ran it for years as OK State's offensive coordinator) only this week he'll be facing Holgerson himself when he the Mountaineers come to town. The Longhorns squeaked out a win on a controversial touchdown call against Oklahoma State last week. Can they slow down the Geno Smith train which is coming off a record-breaking performance? They had several broken tackles against the Cowboys and they won't be able to do that this week. The Mountaineer wide receiver tandem of Austin and Bailey are much better than any two Cowboy receivers and they are both outstanding after the catch. Texas will reportedly be without running back Malcolm Brown so Bergeron and freshman Jonathan Gray will have to carry the load which shouldn't be terribly difficult a West Virginia rushing defense that misleadingly ranks 39th in that nation. I say it's misleading because they've played two spread offenses (Marshall and Baylor) and one FCS team (James Madison), so they haven't really faced a lot of rushing. Longhorn quarterback David Ash has seemingly come into his own this year and he did a good job on their game-winning drive last week; he looked poised and in control of his team. He'll need to be that way this week too because if he feels any pressure to play up to the standard Geno Smith is likely to exhibit, Ash could take himself out of the game mentally. This is Smith's first test against a strong defense and it could actually help validate this early Heisman hype he's been generating. The thing about this offense that combination of routes the receivers and running backs run. They're designed to create "pockets" in the defense caused by momentary indecision on the defenders' part. It's Geno's job to recognize where those "pockets" should be pre-snap and then recognize where they actually are within a few seconds after the snap. The nature of this offense makes his having thrown zero interceptions thus far and his freakish 84% completion rate so impressive; it really isn't those numbers alone it's that this offense is susceptible to interceptions and incompletions because often the quarterback is throwing to a spot before that spot the "pocket" actually opens up. What separates Geno and West Virginia's twist on this offense is the deep ball. They go deep much more than this offense typically did and Smith throws a much better deep ball than most quarterbacks who run it. This game could have title contending implication for both teams. Texas will try to run the ball and eat up clock to keep Geno off the field, but can Ash convert those third downs to keep the drive going consistently? I don't know if I have that kind of faith in him just yet. I think Texas plays another close, fairly high-scoring, game again this week but comes up just a little bit short. The Mountaineers win the game on the final drive on a score by Tavon Austin in a town with which he shares a name!
3. #5 Georgia at #6 South Carolina: The Gamecocks struggled coming out of gates this season with a very underwhelming performance against Vanderbilt, but they seem to be gaining confidence every week. Steve Spurrier learned something last week that will be very valuable this week against the Bulldog defense: give Marcus Lattimore the ball. Lattimore was only handed the ball five times in the first half against Kentucky which led to the Wildcats leading at halftime 17-7. Lattimore ran it 18 times in the second half and called some design runs with Connor Shaw and the Gamecocks out rushed Kentucky 174-7 in the second half on their way to a 38-17 win. I know it kills the Ol' Ball Coach because everyone knows he desperately want to air it out but he hasn't that kind of personnel at South Carolina and with a talent like Lattimore in the backfield he'd be an idiot not to maximize its impact. Connor Shaw is the ideal play-action quarterback because he can also tuck it and run for big gains so when those linebackers freeze momentarily thinking Lattimore has the ball, there goes Shaw down the hashes! Also, they have no tall receivers, so there is no more jump balls which takes some routes way (like the fade and intermediate posts); play action opens lanes for slant routes and quick outs. Georgia has the advantage at quarterback though, with Aaron Murray being one of the elite passers in the nation. The Bulldog offense has been carried (pardon the pun) by the run game so far this season with freshmen Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall (who the media have dubbed "Gurshall" -- paying homage to former star Bulldog running back Hershel Walker) who have run for a combined 964 yards! They haven't faced a defensive line that includes JaDaveon Clowney and Devin Taylor though (Clowney had 5.5 sacks and 9.5 tackles for loss already this season). Where the Gamecocks' defense is vulnerable is the secondary, but they haven't faced a quarterback who was able to exploit it yet ... until now. For Georgia to win, Murray will have to exploit that young secondary, but he'll have to upright to do that. The Bulldog offensive line will have to play out of their mind this week because Clowney and Taylor, especially Clowney, are freaks of nature. I really like Murray's game, but after that shootout against Tennessee last week, I don't know how much he'll have in him to carry his team this week, especially since he hasn't had to do it yet this year. Spurrier takes the lead in the SEC East after Saturday with a win of about 6 or 7 points.
4. Miami (FL) at #9 Notre Dame: Duke Johnson, remember the name because you'll likely get to know him as the year progresses and over the next three years. Johnson is Miami's freshman running back and while his numbers aren't explosive right now, he's due for a breakout game and I think this might be the week for it. 'Cane quarterback Stephen Morris is playing very well and Notre Dame's defense has to respect the speed on the outside which I think will open up the middle for Johnson and the running game because I don't think the Irish will be able to play with 8 in the box as they love to do. I think they'll be forced to play a lot of nickel and dime coverage because of Miami's speed and affinity for three and four wide receiver sets. Miami's only loss was a 52-17 beatdown at the hands of Collin Klein and the Kansas State Wildcats. Klein's squad kept the ball for an amazing 37 minutes which limited Miami's scoring chances. I don't have that kind of faith in Everett Golson and/or the Irish running game. I also think this is the week that Brian Kelly's turnstile quarterback play will come back to bite him. Kelly boasts to the media about his faith in Golson but continuously pulls him out of the game when any kind of pressure situation arises. I don't think the Irish has the athleticism in their secondary to defend the 'Canes passing game and their star linebacker, Téo, can only do so much. Furthermore, the Fighting Irish barely beat a Michigan team that committed 6 turnovers. With 6 turnovers, a team isn't supposed to have a chance to win, folks, and the Wolverines only lost 13-6! There hasn't been anything that has impressed me about Notre Dame this season and I've picked them to lose twice this season already and they've won both times. One would think that would make me gun shy; one would be wrong about that. Miami wins and it's Duke Johnson's introduction to the country.
5. #21 Nebraska at #12 Ohio State: If you look at rankings, you'd think Ohio State is a drastically better team. That's just not the case. If the Buckeyes have a chance to win this game, they're going to outrush the Huskers. Starting tailback, Jordan Hall, is out but the back, Carlos Hyde, who played in his place the first two games this season, is back so that's a little bit of good news for Buckeyes' fans. Their leading rusher, however, is quarterback Braxton Miller (9th most rushing yards in the country), but I think they may too dependent on Miller's rushing ability. I know Nebraska coach Bo Pelini will try to contain him with a spy and telling his defensive ends not to overextend, but every team has tried that and no one's been able to pull it off yet. UCLA beat Nebraska because running back Johnathon Franklin rushed for over 200 yards which opened up the passing lanes for redshirt freshman Brett Hundley to torch that secondary for 305 yards and 4 touchdowns. The problem is, Braxton Miller hasn't played a game in his career in which he beat a team with a passing yards explosion. If it's a close game at the end, Miller has proven he can throw game-winning touchdown passes as he threw several last year; but can he carry the team via the passing game? We've not seen that yet. I do think Urban Meyer will be more aggressive in the passing game this week letting Miller take some shots down the field and probably on downs that aren't traditional passing downs. I wouldn't be surprised if their first play from scrimmage is a deep post to Devin Smith or Philly Brown. Bottom line is that unless that very very good Buckeye secondary intercepts Martinez a couple of times, I don't know that Buckeyes can match the Huskers score for score if they get down early (OSU has started every game slowly). I know Buckeye Nation will be upset with me for picking against my favorite team, but I'm trying to be objective here. Nebraska wins but the Buckeyes make a late-game push to try and pull off the comeback to tie or win, but fall just short.
Bonus: I realize this isn't related to college football, but I don't think it's getting enough attention. Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers became the 15th player to earn the Triple Crown (it's happened 17 times now with Rogers Hornsby and Ted Williams achieving the feat twice) by leading the American League in batting average (.330), home runs (44), and RBI (139). It's one of two batting-related feats that I wasn't sure would happen in my lifetime, the other being batting .400. What's crazy about that is 5 of the 17 times the Triple Crown has been won, the player also batted .400 (Hornsby did it both times). It hasn't happened since 1967 when Carl Yastrzemski did it for the Boston Red Sox. Congrats Miguel Cabrera!
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