Gameday - Week #9

For the fifth consecutive year, ESPN's College Gameday is broadcasting live from Eugene, Oregon, where the #3 Ducks are getting ready to play the #12 UCLA Bruins in an inter-divisional match-up that may impact Oregon's chances of getting into the National Championship.  But even if Oregon does beat UCLA, the question of whether they advance to #1 or #2 in the BCS standings all depends on how #1 Alabama and #2 Florida State play in their games against Tennessee and North Carolina State, respectively.  Today, Alabama plays an unranked Tennessee team that has been improving over the last couple of weeks.  However, the Tide will be without their junior starting safety, Vinnie Sunseri, who had season-ending knee surgery last week.  I don't foresee an upset in Tuscaloosa this afternoon.  But if Tennessee plays anything like the way they played against South Carolina today, they may give the current #1 team some trouble.  Kickoff time is 3:30 pm Eastern on CBS.

Meanwhile, #2 Florida State is hosting an unranked North Carolina State this afternoon at 3:30 PM Eastern on either ABC or ESPN2.  Though NC State has yet to win a game in the ACC this season, Florida State is looking to avoid a repeat of what happened last year, when the Seminoles lost to the Wolfpack, 17-16.  As for the rest of this week's top 5 teams, #4 Ohio State hosts Penn State in a Big Ten border rivalry tonight at 8:00 PM on ABC and #5 Missouri will host #21 South Carolina.  Today's game in Columbia, Missouri, features the top 2 teams in the SEC East division.  Should the Tigers win today, they will be three games ahead of every team in their conference division.

The rest of today's slate features plenty of exciting games from all over the country.  The Big XII features #10 Texas Tech against #15 Oklahoma in a game that could put either team closer to a Fiesta Bowl bid.  However, Texas Tech is tied for first in the Big XII with #8 Baylor and an unranked Texas team.  Baylor plays Kansas this evening in Lawrence tonight at 7:00PM on ESPU while Texas plays an unranked TCU team (7:30 PM Fox Sports 1) that has the 30th best defense in the country in terms of allowed points-per-game (21.7).  

The PAC-12 today also has one other game between ranked opponents.  At 10:30 PM Eastern on ESPN, the #25 Oregon State Beavers will host the #6 Stanford Cardinals.  This game, as they say, is a "must-win" for Stanford if it wants to remain in consideration for a Rose Bowl bid, since it is likely that Oregon will represent the PAC-12 North in the conference championship game later this year.  Speaking of the PAC-12 North division, Washington will host California at 11:00PM this evening on FOX Sports 1, while in the South division, Rich Rod's Arizona Wildcats visit the Colorado Buffaloes in a game that will kickoff at 8:00PM Eastern on the PAC-12 Network.  In the same division, USC will host Utah this afternoon at 4:00PM Eastern on the same channel.

In the Big Ten all the teams in the Legends division, except for Michigan, are playing today starting with Northwestern at Iowa at Noon on the Big Ten Network.  Northwestern, which lost its last three games against conference opponents, may feature Kain Colter back as QB since his current status is "day-to-day."  At the same time, #24 Nebraska will play Minnesota that will feature the return of starting QB Taylor Martinez for the Huskers.  Like last week, Minnesota's head coach Jerry Kill will not coach the Golden Gophers today because of health issues.  Indiana has a bye this week while Michigan State (still unranked even though the Spartans feature one of the top defenses in the country) will play Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.  Illinois hopes to break a sixteen-game conference losing streak.  Kickoff for MSU-Illinois will be at 3:30 PM on either ABC or ESPN2.  Check Local listings.

Upset warnings:

In the SEC, #16 Texas A&M hosts a Vanderbilt team that defeated a ranked Georgia team last week.  Can Vanderbilt do the same thing today?

The answer is no.  Texas A&M routed Vanderbilt. 

In the ACC, Duke plays #15 Virginia Tech.  Virginia Tech's offense has struggled this year while Duke has won their last three games by scoring 35 or more points.

Duke Wins!!  Final Score Duke 13, #14 Virginia Tech 10. 

In the Big XII, #19 Oklahoma State visits Iowa State.  The last time OSU came to Ames, the Cyclones spoiled the Cowboys' bid for a BCS National Championship appearance.  OSU had to settle for a Fiesta Bowl invitation instead.  I would not dismiss the possibility of Iowa State defeating Oklahoma State this year.

Oklahoma State ended up embarrassing Iowa State in Ames this year. 

Enjoy the Day, Everybody!!