Week 5 Key Games and Picks
There are some really good games this weekend, and some of them should shake up the rankings a little bit. Many teams are finally starting their conference schedules. The SEC has a couple of key match-ups which will help separate the men from the boys in that conference race.
I am 22-7 on picks thus far. Last week was a terrible weekend for my picks as both my upset picks were busts, so lets see what I can do this weekend.....
Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech
While the Hokies' defense has been very good, their offense has been very bad. How long can the Hokies' defense hold up? Sure, it got them through a couple games against inferior opponents, but I think Georgia Tech may wear the Hokies down. It should be a close game for 2 1/2 to 3 quarters, but the Yellow Jackets will pull away and win by a couple scores. (Obviously) My pick: Georgia Tech
Stanford made a pretty good statement last week, and I think that will continue this week. While Washington State will be pretty pumped for this game, Stanford will control this game. As long as the Cardinal doesn't overlook this team, they should dominate.
My Pick: Stanford
USC at Arizona State
Lane Kiffin's days are numbered.... Unless he turns this season around. And it has to start this weekend. They don't have much momentum heading into this game but they there is still a good fight left in this team. Whether they are saving it for this game or a bigger game down the road, remains to be seen. Arizona State, on the other hand, has some frustrations built up after last week's poor showing against Stanford. I think the Sun Devils come out a little upset and get things done. My Pick: Arizona State
Oklahoma at Notre Dame
Surely Bob Stoops has his guys ready for this game, right? He shouldn't have to remind anybody about last year's blunder against the Irish. The Sooners aren't the same animal they were last year.... Neither is Notre Dame for that matter. Stoops may not seem like he is on the 'hot seat', but if losses stack up this season he will certainly start to feel the heat by season's end. For Notre Dame? Defense will be key in this game, and controlling field position will be as important as scoring points. This should be a pretty good grudge match. My Pick: Oklahoma
Ole Miss at Alabama
Whew, I look at this game and think 'oh this should be a blowout'.... But something about the Crimson Tide just isn't right thus far. They don't look like a championship team..... Hear me out, before you get too upset at that statement. I'm not saying they don't win this game.... But I look at what they did against A&M and I think my expectations for BAMA's defense were much higher. I get that Manziel is a great player... better yet, a MAJOR GAME CHANGER. He is crazy good, but I expect a championship caliber team to be able to control, or at least contain ONE player. So if there is something I think Saban has challenged his team to do over the next couple games, it has to be that his defense steps up. Okay, back to this match-up.... If this was at Ole Miss, I would love the upset alert here....but it's not at Ole Miss. The Rebels will play the Tide really tough for maybe a half, but I think the Tide pull away on costly mistakes by Ole Miss. My Pick: Alabama
Wisconsin at Ohio State
Braxton Miller should be back for this game, however I don't think Buckeye fans would complain if he wasn't. His backup has been brilliant. Wisconsin is looking to turn some heads this weekend. And of course, finally, this will be an okay measuring stick to see just where Ohio State might be as far as Championship material is concerned. So far, they have done what we've expected, obviously against over-matched opponents....so I am interested in seeing them against their conference foes. My Pick: Ohio State
Florida State at Boston College
Yep, this game shouldn't even be on the list, but it's my Noles and it's a conference road game. Oh, and it Jameis Winston. The Noles haven't really been tested yet, and it won't be a fair test this weekend either, however....... for Winston, it's another chance for him to grow and get better. The biggest question mark thus far for the Noles has been their defense which has started slow in each of their 3 games this season. Now this might be nitpicking, but the first drive in all 3 games, the Noles have given up way too much ground against very inferior teams. Is it because they are still playing a very vanilla type defense and they are saving the good stuff for Oct. 19? Well, I think part of is that. They certainly aren't showing all their cards yet. But now the Noles are getting the bulk of their conference schedule rolling, starting with Boston College. Each game will be tougher leading up to the game against Clemson. And each week the Noles need to be getting better.... I'll be fair and leave this out of my picks for this weekend; I don't want to pad the stats TOO much.
LSU at Georgia
By far, this is the biggest game of the weekend. A chance for Georgia to put themselves right back in the middle of the BCS Title race..... Then there is LSU looking to take the next step in proving they deserve some spotlight as well. I like this match-up even more so than the BAMA vs Texas A&M. In a year where Alabama escapes playing tougher teams from the eastern division, LSU steps up and says "we will do it, we will play any team from the eastern division". Okay, to be fair, these schedules are set in place a year or two in advance, or in some cases 3 or 4 years in advance. But still, it is refreshing to see a couple of heavyweights from different divisions collide during the regular season. In my opinion, at this point, I think LSU looks like the better team. Not because of their unbeaten record (it's clear that LSU hasn't played anybody as good as Clemson yet), but I mean from a total package standpoint. LSU's defense has looked the part, and their offense has improved greatly from last season. On the other side of the ball, Georgia seems to be more battle tested, but I still wonder about Aaron Murray. He put some of the criticism down after a solid win over South Carolina, but then again, South Carolina looks a little lost this year. Which QB would you take? Mettenberger and his great TD to INT ratio (10 to 1) or Murray, who struggles against top ranked opponents? Is it possible that Murray has turned over a new leaf and he is ready for the big stage? Only time will tell. Georgia's run game will be key in helping Murray, and Georgia has the running-backs to give LSU problems. I'll be honest, it's hard to pick against the home team but then it seems as though Murray is still the big question mark.
My Pick: Georgia
Honorable mentions to some match-ups that didn't make the cut, but you might keep your eyes on this Saturday.
Florida at Kentucky. Regardless of how bad Florida has looked thus far, Kentucky is not a real threat either.
California at Oregon. We saw what Ohio State did to California a couple weeks ago.... now it's time to compare that game with how Oregon handles Cal.
South Carolina at UCF. Really? How did South Carolina get roped into this game? Oddly enough, I think South Carolina is on upset alert this weekend.
That's it for today. Watch Virginia Tech take on Georgia Tech tonight. Friday is Reader Question Segment. Send in your questions, comments, predictions, or anything college football and CollegeFootball2Day will tackle your questions here. Send to Jeremy.cf2d@yahoo.com , or post to our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/collegefootball2day
Don't forget to check out our friends over at www.fans25.com and join the discussion.
Oklahoma at Notre Dame
Surely Bob Stoops has his guys ready for this game, right? He shouldn't have to remind anybody about last year's blunder against the Irish. The Sooners aren't the same animal they were last year.... Neither is Notre Dame for that matter. Stoops may not seem like he is on the 'hot seat', but if losses stack up this season he will certainly start to feel the heat by season's end. For Notre Dame? Defense will be key in this game, and controlling field position will be as important as scoring points. This should be a pretty good grudge match. My Pick: Oklahoma
Whew, I look at this game and think 'oh this should be a blowout'.... But something about the Crimson Tide just isn't right thus far. They don't look like a championship team..... Hear me out, before you get too upset at that statement. I'm not saying they don't win this game.... But I look at what they did against A&M and I think my expectations for BAMA's defense were much higher. I get that Manziel is a great player... better yet, a MAJOR GAME CHANGER. He is crazy good, but I expect a championship caliber team to be able to control, or at least contain ONE player. So if there is something I think Saban has challenged his team to do over the next couple games, it has to be that his defense steps up. Okay, back to this match-up.... If this was at Ole Miss, I would love the upset alert here....but it's not at Ole Miss. The Rebels will play the Tide really tough for maybe a half, but I think the Tide pull away on costly mistakes by Ole Miss. My Pick: Alabama
Braxton Miller should be back for this game, however I don't think Buckeye fans would complain if he wasn't. His backup has been brilliant. Wisconsin is looking to turn some heads this weekend. And of course, finally, this will be an okay measuring stick to see just where Ohio State might be as far as Championship material is concerned. So far, they have done what we've expected, obviously against over-matched opponents....so I am interested in seeing them against their conference foes. My Pick: Ohio State
Florida State at Boston College
Yep, this game shouldn't even be on the list, but it's my Noles and it's a conference road game. Oh, and it Jameis Winston. The Noles haven't really been tested yet, and it won't be a fair test this weekend either, however....... for Winston, it's another chance for him to grow and get better. The biggest question mark thus far for the Noles has been their defense which has started slow in each of their 3 games this season. Now this might be nitpicking, but the first drive in all 3 games, the Noles have given up way too much ground against very inferior teams. Is it because they are still playing a very vanilla type defense and they are saving the good stuff for Oct. 19? Well, I think part of is that. They certainly aren't showing all their cards yet. But now the Noles are getting the bulk of their conference schedule rolling, starting with Boston College. Each game will be tougher leading up to the game against Clemson. And each week the Noles need to be getting better.... I'll be fair and leave this out of my picks for this weekend; I don't want to pad the stats TOO much.
By far, this is the biggest game of the weekend. A chance for Georgia to put themselves right back in the middle of the BCS Title race..... Then there is LSU looking to take the next step in proving they deserve some spotlight as well. I like this match-up even more so than the BAMA vs Texas A&M. In a year where Alabama escapes playing tougher teams from the eastern division, LSU steps up and says "we will do it, we will play any team from the eastern division". Okay, to be fair, these schedules are set in place a year or two in advance, or in some cases 3 or 4 years in advance. But still, it is refreshing to see a couple of heavyweights from different divisions collide during the regular season. In my opinion, at this point, I think LSU looks like the better team. Not because of their unbeaten record (it's clear that LSU hasn't played anybody as good as Clemson yet), but I mean from a total package standpoint. LSU's defense has looked the part, and their offense has improved greatly from last season. On the other side of the ball, Georgia seems to be more battle tested, but I still wonder about Aaron Murray. He put some of the criticism down after a solid win over South Carolina, but then again, South Carolina looks a little lost this year. Which QB would you take? Mettenberger and his great TD to INT ratio (10 to 1) or Murray, who struggles against top ranked opponents? Is it possible that Murray has turned over a new leaf and he is ready for the big stage? Only time will tell. Georgia's run game will be key in helping Murray, and Georgia has the running-backs to give LSU problems. I'll be honest, it's hard to pick against the home team but then it seems as though Murray is still the big question mark.
My Pick: Georgia
Honorable mentions to some match-ups that didn't make the cut, but you might keep your eyes on this Saturday.
Florida at Kentucky. Regardless of how bad Florida has looked thus far, Kentucky is not a real threat either.
California at Oregon. We saw what Ohio State did to California a couple weeks ago.... now it's time to compare that game with how Oregon handles Cal.
South Carolina at UCF. Really? How did South Carolina get roped into this game? Oddly enough, I think South Carolina is on upset alert this weekend.
That's it for today. Watch Virginia Tech take on Georgia Tech tonight. Friday is Reader Question Segment. Send in your questions, comments, predictions, or anything college football and CollegeFootball2Day will tackle your questions here. Send to Jeremy.cf2d@yahoo.com , or post to our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/collegefootball2day
Don't forget to check out our friends over at www.fans25.com and join the discussion.
You blew it big time on the Georgia Tech pick! The ACC is weak again this year.. Florida State and Clemson seems to be the cream of the crop. Florida State has yet to be tested. Clemson? Well they played a Georgia team thats good offensively. Georgia has a very young and undisciplined defense and probably makes them a bit overrated .I think Maryland will upset Clemson and Clemson will beat Florida State.
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