Welcome to the deep
dive, the post I almost always do, unless the week is busy or the slate is
boring, or if I just don’t want to do it. This week we start, as always, with
the highest average rating games.
Alabama-Mississippi
is here in the vein of a good number of Bama games, in that, it’s propped up by
the great ranking of Alabama. That said, this game makes two appearances in this
deep dive and both boil down to Bama’s real good, and they’re gonna probably
beat ‘em down. Of the other four we’ll single out Washington-Oregon State as a
worse version of west coast Bama-Ole Miss. The other three though are some of
my most anticipated contests of the week. Let’s work from Friday forward.
Washington State-USC is full of conference, and national intrigue. Wazzu had
some issues at Boise State a couple weeks back, but they’re playing good
football on both sides of the ball. USC crushed Stanford, but has struggled for
three quarters vs WMU and had to go to extras with Texas. That’s not to say I think
USC bad, but a road game at Fireball Memorial Stadium (not it’s actual name,
see gif
for context) will be no small feat for Darnold and the Trojans. And yes, it’s
worth staying up for. Tennessee-Georgia will be another illuminating conference
game. Tennessee had trouble with Florida, and the offense has looked inept, but
this is going to be defensive slogfest that gets sloppy and weird and that
usually favors the underdog. That, and it’s Georgia and Mark Richt (Yes, I
know.) is going to lose control of a game sooner or later. UT-UGA is worth the
watch for the Dawgs defense alone. Lastly is Va Tech-Clemson, and man I just
want to see someone test Clemson before they get to the playoff and the Hokies
offense at least has a chance to test a top 2 defense. When VT is on defense
Bud Foster is going to test Kelly Bryant better than most and I think
ultimately that will be the way to beat Clemson.
Home
|
Away
|
Home
Rating
|
Away
Rating
|
My
Spread
|
Date
|
Ave
|
Alabama
|
Mississippi
|
29.5
|
3.962
|
31.01
|
30-Sep
|
16.731
|
Washington
State
|
USC
|
15.857
|
16.904
|
2.216
|
29-Sep
|
16.381
|
Virginia
Tech
|
Clemson
|
10.618
|
21.541
|
-6.782
|
30-Sep
|
16.08
|
Oregon
State
|
Washington
|
2.816
|
23.581
|
-17.674
|
30-Sep
|
13.199
|
Tennessee
|
Georgia
|
10.493
|
13.083
|
2.819
|
30-Sep
|
11.788
|
Home
|
Away
|
Home
Rating
|
Away
Rating
|
My
Spread
|
Date
|
Ave
|
UNLV
|
San
Jose State
|
-12.598
|
-11.631
|
0.514
|
30-Sep
|
-12.12
|
Bowling
Green
|
Akron
|
-13.565
|
-12.068
|
0.501
|
30-Sep
|
-12.82
|
Kent
State
|
Buffalo
|
-9.386
|
-17.408
|
9.181
|
30-Sep
|
-13.4
|
Fresno
State
|
Nevada
|
-14.692
|
-12.943
|
0.598
|
30-Sep
|
-13.82
|
FIU
|
Charlotte
|
-11.902
|
-17.788
|
8.027
|
30-Sep
|
-14.85
|
It’s always funny to
me how these bad games, team quality-wise, are the game that end up the closest
in the rankings system. This week that includes a MAC contest, and a couple of
MWC contests. These bad ones may be close late, but that’s the only reason to
watch. Which brings us to the other two. Both Temple and Houston are worse than
last season, but you should watch Ed Oliver every chance you get because it’s
just way too much fun. Lastly, is the game I might be most interested in this
week outside of WSU-USC and VT-Clem. Duke heads to Miami and I’m still
skeptical of Duke, but I think at this point it’s more likely that they’re good
than, I’m right. Miami has looked good this season, including a second half
drubbing of Toledo. I hoping this game starts to sort out an ACC hierarchy,
while also producing entertaining football.
Home
|
Away
|
Home
Rating
|
Away
Rating
|
My
Spread
|
Date
|
Duke
|
Miami
(FL)
|
3.596
|
6.433
|
-0.009
|
29-Sep
|
Bowling
Green
|
Akron
|
-13.565
|
-12.068
|
0.501
|
30-Sep
|
UNLV
|
San
Jose State
|
-12.598
|
-11.631
|
0.514
|
30-Sep
|
Fresno
State
|
Nevada
|
-14.692
|
-12.943
|
0.598
|
30-Sep
|
Temple
|
Houston
|
1.435
|
2.083
|
1.272
|
30-Sep
|
And
as usual the projected biggest blowouts are Alabama, Penn State, Arkansas?,
Wyoming??, WMU??? Yeah, sure, why not?
Home
|
Away
|
Home
Rating
|
Away
Rating
|
My
Spread
|
Date
|
Arkansas
|
New Mexico
State
|
5.272
|
-12.674
|
22.313
|
30-Sep
|
Western
Michigan
|
Ball
State
|
7.373
|
-13.534
|
23.099
|
30-Sep
|
Penn
State
|
Indiana
|
18.57
|
-0.417
|
24.286
|
30-Sep
|
Wyoming
|
Texas
State
|
1.559
|
-21.208
|
24.867
|
30-Sep
|
Alabama
|
Mississippi
|
29.5
|
3.962
|
31.01
|
30-Sep
|
So there’s a deeper
look at what to, and not to, watch this week. It’s a good week as highlighted
in the prediction post and goes much deeper than a handful of games.
