Games of the Week
#20 Louisville Cardinals (9-2) at Rutgers Scarlett Knights (9-2)
Even though the Big East doesn't have a conference championship game, this is their de facto game. Right now Rutgers leads the Big East and a win would give them the title. But if Louisville wins that forces a 4 way tie and the team with the higher BCS ranking will get the title. That team is likely Louisville. Both teams come into this game with strong defenses, so expect this game to be low scoring. The Cardinals do have the advantage on offense. QB Teddy Bridgewater has slowed down, but he is still a dynamic player. His play will be the difference in the game.
Prediction: Louisville 14 Rutgers 13
#19 UCLA Bruins (9-3) at #9 Stanford Cardinal (10-2)
If you feel like this game is deja vu, your not alone. Because we just saw it last weekend. In that game Stanford laid the wood to UCLA with their power run game and physical defense to win the game 35-17. They basically beat down the Bruins. But there are some that felt UCLA didn't give it their all because they were holding back for this game. Bruin fans better hope that was true, because last weeks game wasn't pretty.
Prediction: UCLA 24 Stanford 31
#17 Northern Illinois Huskies (11-1) vs #16 Kent State Golden Flashes (11-1)
Can you remember the last time that the MAC Title Game had both teams ranked? Let alone both teams being in the top 20. Maybe one of the teams, but not both. But with the Huskies and Flashes enjoying record breaking years, it's only fitting that they face off against each other for the Conference Championship. Both teams come into this game with high powered offenses and like to score points. So you may want to take the overs in this one. Kent State features a pair of 1,000 yard rushers, while Northern Illinois QB Jordan Lynch was putting up numbers that had some thinking of putting him on their Heisman ballot. The difference will be the defense and that favors the Huskies who are only giving up 17 points per game. But they haven't faced a running attack like this one.
Prediction: Northern Illinois 38 Kent State 31
#2 Alabama Crimson Tide (11-1) vs #3 Georgia Bulldogs (11-1)
Who says that college football doesn't have playoffs? The SEC Championship game between the #2 and #3 ranked teams will have the winner go face off against Notre Dame in the BCS Championship. Sounds like a semi final round if you ask me. Much like every other SEC game, this is a match up of elite defenses. If Georgia wants to win this game they'll need QB Aaron Murray to have a flawless game and not throw any INTs that has hurt him in previous games. If Alabama wants to win this game they'll have to find running holes against a very stout Georgia run defense.
Prediction: Alabama 14 Georgia 10
#15 Nebraska Cornhuskers (10-2) vs Wisconsin Badgers (7-5)
A tale of two teams in this Big 10 Title Game. This is Wisconsin's second straight Conference Championship game and they're looking to get back to their 3rd straight Rose Bowl. Nebraska is in their first Big 10 Title Game and looking to win the Big 10 for the first time in school history. The Huskers also haven't won a conference championship since 1999. In their previous meeting this year the Huskers killed themselves with early turnovers, but fought back to win 30-27. Nebraska is clearly the better team, but Wisconsin has the experience.
Prediction: Nebraska 27 Wisconsin 24
Coaches Corner
Gary Pinkel
Record at Missouri: 90-61
Bowl Appearances: 8
Record at Missouri: 90-61
Bowl Appearances: 8
Gary Pinkel is no stranger to the coaching hot seat. Pinkel's first four years at Missouri were pretty uneventful. They never finished over 3rd in their division, despite having some talented teams. The term "Pinkeled" was coined from the fact that he seemed to lose games because of bad coaching. Pinkel's seat started to become warm and there were thoughts that another bad season could cause him to be fired.
2006 is when things started to change. Pinkel was able to bring in a lot of talented players that would later go on to the NFL. Guys like Jeremy Maclin, Chase Daniel, Chase Coffman, Martin Rucker, William Moore, Evander Hood, Blaine Gabbert and Sean Weatherspoon all were a part of the program at this time. And because of all this talent, the Tigers were annual contenders to win the conference. Missouri won the North Division of the Big 12 three of the next four years and were even ranked #4 in the final AP Standings.
So why would somebody like this now be on the hot seat? In 2011 most of that talent was gone from the program and Pinkel wasn't getting the same impact players in. They finished the season 8-5. This was Missouri's last year in the Big 12 and were moving to the SEC.
This past season was the Tigers first in the toughest conference in college football. There wasn't a whole lot of expectations, but nobody thought the Tigers would be this bad. Winning only 5 games all season and having their high powered offense sputter. They finished 81st overall in passing.
Don't expect Pinkel to lose his job this year. But word out of Columbia is that they aren't too pleased with the teams performance and Pinkel was out coached on a week end and week out basis. If the administration wants to be a player in the SEC, they could make a move if it doesn't look like Pinkel will get the job done.
What happened to....
Big East ContendersDoes anybody want to win the Big East this year? I know teams are leaving left and right for better conferences, but that doesn't mean that they shouldn't want to win the Big East Title.
For a better part of the season the Big East was a three team race. Cincinnati, Rutgers, and Louisville were all in the running for the title and a birth in a BCS Bowl. With the three teams playing each other in the final weeks of the season we would be treated to some good fought games. Instead each teams has dropped games to inferior competition. Louisville lost consecutive games to Syracuse and UConn. Rutgers lost to Kent State and Pittsburgh. And Cincinnati lost to Toledo. Now with Rutgers and Louisville playing, if Louisville wins we would have a 4 way tie. They would have to look at BCS rankings to determine the winner.
Doesn't sound like anybody wants this title. But nobody wants to be in this conference anymore, so I don't blame them.
How about....
But lucky for them they were able to hire Kevin Sumlin from Houston to replace Mike Sherman. They were also lucky that Sherman was able to get Johnny Manziel to come to A&M. Under Kevin Sumlin's tutelage Manziel has been the talk of college football and is the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy. The Aggies finished the regular season with a 10-2 record and a signature win over then #1 Alabama. The Aggies weren't thought to be able to content in the SEC West, but this year they look like they can contend for years to come.
Maybe the Aggies were just a bad fit in the Big 12. Maybe they needed to get out of Texas' shadow. But anyway you slice it. It's hard to ignore the season they are having.
Player Spotlight
Tavon Austin
Height: 5'9Weight: 172
School: West Virginia
Year: Senior
Position: Wide Receiver
When West Virginia was enjoying a ton of attention for their early season success, it was QB Geno Smith getting most of the talk. But one player that can't be ignored is Austin.
Austin is a jack of all trades. He does most of his work out of the slot. Austin uses his quickness to get of the line and in and out of cuts. He has good hands and catches the ball cleanly. He is also a force in the return game. He gets to his top speed in a hurry and that allows him to break away from defenders. Austin is at his best in the open field where his shiftiness and ability to change directions makes it impossible to take him down. Surprisingly another strong suit we've seen is his ability to run the ball. West Virginia has also used him as a running back and he even had 344 yards rushing against Oklahoma. That's one game.
It's hard to compare Austin to another player because there really isn't anybody like him. Easy comparisons would be Dexter McCluster or Percy Harvin. But both of those players are a lot thicker than he is. I don't see Austin holding up much in the NFL if he is going to be taking multiple hand offs. Austin is starting to get some attention as a possible late 1st round pick, but it will be interesting to see how a team will use him.
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