By: Ben Malley
Ohio St. (-4) v Penn St. 5:00 p.m. abc - Under the lights in Happy Valley, this is being billed as Ohio St's toughest test of the year and while that is true, that doesn't mean it's a tough test. The problem here is that Ohio St's defense is really good, shutting down much better offenses than Penn St's in Purdue and Michigan State. Morelli is just the kind of QB to have an above average game against a mediocre Indiana team and get everyone thinking he is actually good. The final score just might be 3-0 OSU.
Boston College v Virginia Tech (-3.5) Thursday 4.30 p.m. ESPN - I remember when VT wasn't even good, but then they took Sean Glennon out of the QB spot and inserted Tyrod Taylor. Now Taylor is hurt and nobody knows who is going to go on Thursday. I'm going to profess my complete ignorance to everything BC, except for the unimpressive Notre Dame performance. Let's just say that I think people are forgetting how poor VT was. They have one convincing win over an average Clemson, as well as squeakers against North Carolina and Eastern Carolina. If Glennon plays I'm very worried.
California v Arizona St. (-3) 7.00 p.m. - If Cal had gotten UCLA on one of their down days they would probably be a favorite in this game, and a Top 10 team. The defense is a huge concern. Patrick Cowan is not that good, and this is a UCLA fan speaking to you now. I had to go look to the Arizona St message boards to find any decent analysis of the team. All the national media gave me is that Dennis Erickson is a good coach, and Rudy Carpenter is the QB. Thanks guys. Apparently the O-Line has been shaky thus far and starting RB Ryan Torain is out for the year. With the 7.00 start the country still won't have seen Arizona St. after this week, but I think they won't need to, Cal pulls this one out.
USC v Oregon (-3) 12.30 p.m. abc - Gameday may be taking another trip to Eugene. This is that game where Oregon has everything going for them, USC has looked shaky (Notre Dame doesn't count as a real game). Is Oregon going to fold up their tents again after 7 games when the nation least expects it? The injuries are a concern for both teams. No word on whether standout O-lineman Sam Baker and the heart of USC's defense Rey Maualuga will be healthy. Oregon looked good without Cameron Colvin and Jeremiah Johnson, but that was Washington. I think this game will come down to the USC QB. Whether or not it's Sanchez or Booty (and USC fans seem to be favoring Sanchez) that individual will decide the game, because I don't see the USC defense completely shutting down Dixon & Co.
West Virginia (-6.5) v Rutgers 9.00 a.m. ESPN - This is better than the usual Iowa v Purdue 9am fare (don't get me wrong though, I love that shit). It's looking more and more like West Virginia is the class of this division and South Florida just seems to have their number recently. The problem at Rutgers is Mike Teel who is fine as the quarterback of an average team, but isn't the guy to take a team to that next level, which is a victory over stacked West Virginia. He was 11 for 29 with 179 yards against South Florida. They won because he didn't throw any picks, which you can usually count on him to do in big games, 3 in the loss to Cincy. West Virginia Coach Rich Rodriguez said of Teel, "Teel is a veteran guy who has won a lot of games..." If that doesn't prove my point, what does? Nobody ever focuses on the defensive side of the ball in Big East matchups and neither will I. West Virginia will get ahead early and Rutgers will be forced to abandon the Mike Hart game in the second half (just so you know I call the running game the Mike Hart game) and they will turn things over to Teel, who will then turn things over to West Virginia, in the form of interceptions.
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