I'm a little later in getting this column out than I would've liked to, but hey, real life, etc. decided to show up this week and drop some annoyance my way (thanks allegies!) that kept me from doing much else besides sleeping for a few days. It's clearly not a problem that I didn't have it posted on Wednesday or Thursday given what an exciting showdown Miami at Pitt turned out to be. That game wouldn't have made it anyway, so it doesn't matter.
While there are some big games this week, some of the "name vs. name" contests aren't terribly exciting (UCLA vs. Texas for instance) and I was really tempted to put Fresno State at Ole Miss on the list to see if Col. Reb could soil the bed three out of four weeks, but I don't think anybody really cares that much outside of potential meltdown material. Other potentially interesting contests have been sullied by early season losses (thanks Georgia Tech, Virgina Tech, Florida State, Notre Dame and Cal.)
That being said, here's four to watch this week that are of note on a national or conference level and one that I'm including for personal reasons (Todd's not the only one around that can impose his will around here, a'ight?) All times listed are central and rankings are taken from the USA Today Poll until the BCS rankings come out later in the year:
UAB at TENNESSEE
Saturday, September 25th - 11:21 am - SEC Network/ESPN Gameplan
Neyland Stadium
Knoxville, Tennessee
Todd & I have a soft spot for UAB...plus, this gives me an opportunity to post this...and I will NEVER pass that up.
KENTUCKY at FLORIDA (8)
Saturday, September 25th - 6:00 p.m. - ESPNU
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
Gainesville, Florida
Another week, another slip in the polls for Florida despite a double digit win. Here's hoping their middling play holds up for another 2-3 weeks. Kentucky's undefeated, but they've beat a whole lot of nobody (Louisville, Western Kentucky and Akron are a stellar 1-8 combined.) Probably won't be terribly exciting as Florida will likely blunder their way to a two or three score victory. Definitely wouldn't want this to be the first football game you take your newly arrived Cambodian immigrant neighbors to in order to welcome them to America and sell them on the game.
SOUTH CAROLINA (15) at AUBURN (14)
Saturday, September 25th - 6:45 - ESPN
Jordan-Hare Stadium
Auburn, Alabama
I think Stuck in the Plains summed this one up greatly last night in the comments thread for the Miami/Pitt game:
...and at the end of the the game we STILL won’t know if either, both or neither are worth a s***.
Obviously both teams have some dangerous players, but we still haven't seen any really good looking football out of either yet.
OREGON STATE at BOISE STATE (3)
Saturday, September 25th - 7:00 p.m. - ABC
Bronco Stadium
Boise, Idaho
Be prepared to have your retinas torched by the horrific display of ugly that will assault your senses and possibly ruin your television. Too much orange and blue. Yikes. Early in the year, this was pegged as one of two games that might end all of the Boise State hype (Virginia Tech being the other of course.) After a late, comeback win against the Hokies and Tech's subsequent falling apart in Blacksburg against James Madison shows that Boise State is possibly fallible after all. I expect them to roll Oregon State, but they have another potential challenger out there in Nevada who looked dangerous against Cal. I imagine most of y'all will be tuned into South Carolina at Auburn, but this will be a good one to flip over to during commercials.
WEST VIRGINIA (21) at LSU (12)
Saturday, September 25th - 8:00 p.m. - ESPN2
Tiger Stadium
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Can you imagine the alcohol consumption that's going to go down at this game? Dixie, Abita, etc. have probably had production in overdrive since the 4th of July in order to prepare for this weekend. I imagine the West Virginia folk staying in New Orleans will be keen to get their hands on some absinthe too if possible. Coach burners vs. Couch burners (NSFW). Wouldn't want to be in Red Stick this weekend if the game ends on a close call or something as these appear to be two of the most volatile fanbases in college football. Now that I put it that way, I think it would be kind of awesome to be down there this weekend. Oh yeah, they'll be playing some football too. I imagine LSU wins this one, but you never know when The Hat's in charge of the timeouts.