Week 4 Predictions

The only prediction I know is 100% guaranteed is my newborn son will make me severely sleep deprived and I'll be changing at least 8 diapers per day.  You can take that prediction to the bank. And due to that sleep deprivation, this week's predictions will be abbreviated.

As for college football, Week 3 is done and just as games are played every week, it seems as though a new scandal is brewing every week as well.  Last week Okie State was the focus of an SI investigation going back a decade.

This week, Yahoo broke a story about SEC players receiving improper benefits.  Those players include former Tide tackle and current Bears tackle DJ Fluker. The allegations include former Tide DE Luther Davis as a go between for agents. Some agents allegedly provided Davis with money, who then provided that money to the players.  The agents have denied knowing what Davis was doing with the money, and the players have denied taking it, and Davis had declined comment, and Sgt. Schultz claims to know nothing about any of it.

Meanwhile SI continues to their assault on the Oklahoma State programming, most recently releasing a story alleging wide spread drug use in the program. Former Okie State and current LSU HC Les Miles has denied any wrong doing, claiming "We have always done things right."  Which, in the SEC, translates to, "We have always cheated.  If you ain't cheatin' you ain't tryin'."

We can be certain of one thing, nothing will come of this.  Why? Because of this quote from 1999 by former LSU Chancellor Mark Emmert, "Simply put, succes in LSU football is essential for the success of Louisiana State University."

And the revolving door of allegations and the NCAA doing nothing continues.

Nothing to see here folks, move along.

Let's talk some football! Week 4 appears to be the college football equivalent of bye weeks.  We have six FCS schools playing ranked teams.

Top 25 Action

Colorado State @ #1 Alabama - The Tide exacted some revenge on Johnny Football winning at A&M 49-42.  The game was a barn burner.  The Tide went down 14-0 before reeling off 35 unanswered.  A&M came back, and Manziel made another ridiculous scramble play...

but it wasn't enough.  The Tide D gave up some big points and big yardage and was exposed a bit but the Aggies have the best offense the Tide will face all year.

The Rams are not a good team. The only question is can they cover the 39.5 point spread.

Roll Tide! 49-6

#3 Clemson @ NC State - An intriguing Thursday night game for both squads.  It already seems like forever ago that Clemson knocked off Georgia to open the season.  Coming off a bye week after playing an FCS school, the Tigers will be a bit rusty.

On the other side of the field, the Wolfpack are coming off a bye week as well, and have beaten two cupcakes so far.  NC State runs a balanced offense with JR QB Pete Thomas as the trigger man.

This is the type of game Clemson is notorious for losing in the past.  With QB Tajh Boyd firmly entrenched as a Heisman contender and WR Sammy Watkins capable of scoring on any play, there is no excuse for the Tigers to lose games like this anymore.

35-14 Clemson

Florida A&M @ #4 Ohio State - Backup QB Kenny Guiton lead the Buckeyes to an easy win over Cal. Guiton tossed 4 TD's and the Buckeye's put up 52 points without Braxton Miller.  It's not the offense the Buckeye fans should be concerned with.  The OSU D gave up 34 points, including 371 yards and 3 TD's passing by freshman QB Jared Goff.  Even in a watered down Big Ten the Buckeyes D will have to play better if they expect to contend for a BCS Championship.

Florida A&M is more famous for it's band than it's football team.  And that band is back after a two year suspension related to a hazing death. The Marching 100's will be jumping for joy at half time...

but not at the end of the game.

52-3 Buckeyes

#23 Sun Devils @ #5 Stanford - Arizona State knocked of Wisconsin in the desert last week in one of the most bizarre endings of the young season...

A complete run down of the sequence can be found here, but a summary is Wisconsin attempted to center the ball for a game winning FG.  Badgers QB Stave appeared to kneel down on the hash, but ASU's bench started yelling that it was a fumble as Stave left the ball on the ground.  A Sun Devil player then jumped on the ball and laid on it for 9 seconds until a ref pulled him off.  At that point there were about 5 second left in the game and Wisky couldn't line up in time to spike the ball and attempt the FG.  Sun Devil fans celebrated the bizarre win...

Stanford has dispatched with Army and San Jose State thus far but this is by far their toughest challenge of the young season.  Are the Cardinal really the 5th best team in the nation?  It's difficult to tell.  ASU will air it out and it will be up to Stanford's D to stop them.  Don't be surprised to see the Sun Devils make this a much closer game than anyone expects or even pull off the upset.

34-30 Stanford

Auburn @ #6 LSU - Auburn has already won more SEC game than they won all of last season and matched their win total from 2012.  At 3-0, the Tigers are already WAY better than they were in last season under HC Gene Chizik.  I'd also like to nominate Chizik as the worst coach to ever win a national title. I'm guessing the guy on the left in this pic had something to do with it.

Cam Newton & Gene Chizik

LSU rolled Kent State last week and has not been seriously challenged all season.  Yes, they beat a ranked TCU team, but TCU doesn't seem to be as good as advertised this year.  LSU will have to find a way to stop Tigers RB Tre Mason

So is Auburn back to contending in the SEC or is LSU worthy of their #6 ranking?  If this game were at Auburn, I'd pick the upset, but LSU's home field advantage will be tough to overcome.

35-28 LSU

Florida International @ #7 Louisville - The Teddy Bridgewater Heisman train keeps on rolling along against a Charmin soft schedule.  But even if Teddy Football doesn't win the Heisman, he may have already won at life. Check out the pic of Bridgewater in the Louisville game program...

Good for you Teddy.  Good for you.

Louisville won the Governor's Cup last week even though the game was much closer than expected.  The Cardinals only lead 10-7 at the half before pulling away for a 27-13 victory.  T-B H2O only put up 250 yards and 1 TD.  He should have an easier time this week against an FIU squad that lost to FCS Bethune Cookman last week.

52-7 Louisville

Bethune-Cookman @ #8 FSU - The aforementioned Bethune Cookman Wildcats are now 3-0, including trouncing FBS Florida International last week.  Florida State is not Florida International.  The "Noles have not played anyone of consequence so we really have no idea how good they and freshman QB Jameis Winston really are.  We still won't find out this week. We'll have to wait until an Oct 19th match up with #3 Clemson to find out of FSU for real.  Until then, we'll all be watching and judging.

63-7 FSU

North Texas @ #9 Georgia - Much like the Green Lantern is one of the worst super heroes, the Mean Green are one of the worst FBS programs.  The Bulldogs get to fine tune their game before a date with #6 LSU next weekend.

45-10 Bulldogs

SMU @ #10 Texas A&M - Johnny Football put up another Heisman worthy performance against the Tide last week but this time it was in a losing effort.  Manziel put up 464 yards and 5 TD's through the air to go along with 98 yards rushing.  It was the Aggie D that couldn't contain the Crimson Tide, allowing 49 points and 628 total yards.  SMU needed a TD with 12 seconds remaining to knock off FCS Montana State.  Look for the Aggies to take out some frustration on the Mustangs after a sluggish start due to the big game hangover.

48-21 Aggies

New Mexico State @ #13 UCLA - The Other Aggies may have the worst D in football, giving up and average of 47.3 per game, including 56 to offensively challenged Texas. NMSU's offense isn't much better, averaging only 16.3 points per game en route to an 0-3 start.

The Bruins scored a huge win against Nebraska last weekend, rallying from 18 points down for a 41-21 win which included 31 unanswered points in the second half.  Dual threat QB Brett Hundley lead the way 294 yards, 3 TD's passing and 61 more on the ground.  But it was the Bruins D that really stepped up, limiting dual threat QB Taylor Martinez to -13 yards rushing for the game.

The Bruins will have a field day with the Aggies D before opening their PAC 12 schedule against Utah next weekend.

52-13 UCLA

#15 Michigan @ UConn - Michigan nursed a GIGANTIC big game hangover...

and nearly blew it against Akron last weekend.  The Wolverines needed a goal line stand in the closing seconds to hold on to a 28-24 win.  In today's college football, it's all about surviving and advancing.  It was ugly, but a win is a win.

The Wolverines will have no such hangover this weekend as they head to Storrs to take on the Huskies.

Did you know UConn has other sports besides women's basketball?  Neither did I.

38-17 Michigan

Savannah State @ #16 Miami - The 'Canes scored a huge win against in state rival Florida 21-16 last weekend.  It was arguably the biggest win of HC Al Golden's tenure in Coral Gables.  The story of this game was turnovers. The Gators turned the ball over 5 times and did so at the most inopportune times.  The 'Canes turned it over once and despite being outgained on offense 413 to 212 yards still won the game.  It wasn't so much that Miami played a great game as Florida played a sloppy one.  But hey, a win is a win.

Savannah state has given up 77 and 66 points in their two losses, and their lone win was a 7 point victory over division II Fort Valley State.  This one could get ugly early.

59-3 Miami

Idaho State @ #17 Washington - The Huskies marched into Soldier Field and flew back home to Seattle with a 34-24 win over Illinois last weekend.  QB Keith Price threw for 342 yards and 2 TD's and RB Bishop Sankey had a career high 208 yards rushing. UW's D held the Illini to 9/25 passing and only 156 yards.

The Idaho State Bengals are another FCS sacrificial lamb.

45-0 UW

Maine @ #18 Northwestern - ANOTHER FCS team against a ranked opponent.  With all these mismatches this week, is it any wonder ESPN College Gameday decided to broadcast live from Fargo, ND.  The NDSU Bison will take on Delaware State as the Gameday crew looks on.

As for this game, Northwestern is averaging 43.3 points per game.  The Wildcats D is good but not great.  This a tune up game for Northwestern before taking on #3 Ohio State next weekend.

54-17 Northwestern

Tennessee @ #19 Florida - Former Volunteer Arian Foster claims he took money and ripped the NCAA this week.  As expected, the NCAA has no response.

So a former star player took money while he was in college?  And that's a story?  The real story is Foster is actually talking about it.  It used to be this stuff like this was on the down low, only whispered about ever since the death penalty was leveled on SMU in the 80's.  Now it seems that NCAA President Mark Emmert is so weak and running such an inept organization that it's no longer taboo to talk about.  It's actually kind of trendy to talk about it because nobody is afraid of the NCAA anymore.  So if there are any former college players reading this, share your story, the NCAA won't and can't do anything.  Let's hear all the juicy details and make Mark Emmert squirm like the little worm he is!

Florida's offense is stil inept.  Not NCAA inept, nobody is that bad, but inept nonetheless.  Their D is still stout though.  And they'll need that D to continue to play well as they open their SEC slate.

Tennessee got crushed by #2 Oregon last weekend 59-14 and have one of the worst passing attacks in college football.  The Vols are a running team taking on a Gators D that is at it's best against the run.  Sorry Vols, but this game isn't looking good for you.  Gators HC Will Muschamp gets a one week reprieve from the coaching hot seat.

27-7 Florida

LA-Monroe @ #20 Baylor - The Bears O is downright filthy, averaging a ridiculous 69.5 points per game and ranking in the top 10 in passing and rushing.  Their D is only giving up 8 points per game as well. So why isn't Baylor ranked in the top 5?  Because they've only beaten Wofford and Buffalo.

The Warhawks shouldn't pose any threat this week.

66-13 Baylor

Sparty @ #22 Notre Dame - A moment of silence please.  It was one year ago from September 12th that Lennay Kekua passed away.  Luckily her spirit lives on in the form of Roniah Tuiasosopo...

I'll never forget poor Manti's face when he found out Lennay wasn't real...

The Irish needed a 21 point rally in the 4th quarter to put away Purdue 31-24 last weekend. QB Tommy Rees threw for 309 yards and 2 TD's but the Irish ground game continued to struggle.

Sparty has beaten up on smaller kids thus far and yet still has a terrible aerial attack.  MSU plays old school Big Ten football, running the ball and playing lights out D.  If it's offense you like, this game is not for you.

23-16 Notre Dame

Purdue @  #24 Wisconsin - The Boilers blew it last weekend surrendering 21 points to Notre Dame in the 4th quarter in their 31-24 loss.  Purdue's offense played well for the first time this season but it's still a work in progress.

The Badgers lost on one of the weirdest sequences to end a game against Arizona State last weekend.  A 33-32 win turned into a 32-30 loss as Wisky failed to stop the clock to get off a game winning FG try.  After shutting out their first two opponents, the Badger D surrendered 32 points to the first team with an offensive pulse they faced all season.

I still think the Badgers are over rated.

29-24 Purdue

Texas State @ #25 Texas Tech - Walk-on freshman QB Baker Mayfield has set Lubbock ablaze while leading the Red Raiders to a 3-0 start.

The Red Raiders arial assault is averaging 400 yards per game.  TX Tech knocked off TCU 20-10 last weekend to open their Big XII conference schedule.  The Red Raiders should be able to start at least 6-0 and possibly 7-0 if they can beat WVU.  If Tech can manage to knock off the Mountaineers their Oct 26 date against Oklahoma could be for first place in the Big XII.

Texas State is only giving up 9 points per game, but again, they've played virtually nobody. Despite playing nobody, the Bobcats offense is still bad.

49-6 Red Raiders.

Games of Note 

Kent State @ Penn State - PSU couldn't stop UCF when they needed to last weekend and lost a tough game 34-31.  Penn State had absolutely no pass rush and allowed UCF QB Bortles to have all day in the pocket and he picked them apart consistently.

The Nittany Lion offense was ok but stalled on some drives through their own mistakes.  A fumble by RB Zach Zwinak while PSU was driving in the 4th quarter was the nail in the coffin.

Kent State's only win is against FCS Liberty and they're giving up 43 points per game in their two losses.

This type of game is exactly what PSU needs to get back on track before entering Big Ten play.

45-21 Penn State