The Final Three Weeks

And so, it has come down to this. Over the next three weekends, an estimated seven BCS slots will be determined with both entrants into the BCS Title game on the line, presented by Tostitos. By the time midnight rolls around the first Sunday of December, all will be revealed, but if weekends like last weekend happen again, who we think is going to go, may not be who actually goes. By supper time Saturday, we will know one of the BCS finalists, by bedtime, we should know who will represent the Pac-10. I did Mich-OSU, and I stand by my non-pick. Read it below, you'll know why. Cal at Southern Cal- This is for a BCS. If, Southern Cal wins this AND next week against Notre Dame, they might be able to claim a trip to the Title game, if they can beat UCLA. A fantastic prize package that can be theirs, if the price is right. You gotta think that their loss to Oregon State woke this team from it's slumber it had en on for a full season and three quarters. Sure they lost the Rose Bowl on some bad plays, but they kind of went into an "Auburn" type of passionless football and sleptwalk like they were bored after stomping Oklahoma two seasons ago at the Orange Bowl. No more. They have rebounded by bearing embarrassed by the Beavers by stomping Stanford and Oregon. With so much at stake, and so much of it at home, you would think that the edge would ride with the Trojans. Yet, we've counted this Cal team out before. Tennessee walloped them, and I mean walloped them. I know I left them as Bear stew, and I, and so many others, were proved so, so wrong. Oregon is still looking for feathers on the turf at Berkley. It all seemed to be heading into Cal's favor, and then USC ges upset. Cal, loking at a Rose Bowl, now sees Glendale and..... Well, it wasn't pretty. Both teams have taken shots on the chin they shouldn't. They have Pac-10 rivals waiting after this week, but this is the game. Two things will decide this. Which defense sttles in first, and how does this crop of USC players handle mega-pressure. With Cal's second loss, and the quality of USC's loss, there will be no second BCS bid out of the Pac-10. Ted Tedford or Pete Carroll. Pick on Pete all you want, his NFL years were not special. But, remember the shape of the Southern Cal program before he got there, and now look at where the conference has come as a whole. No one thought they'd survive Carson Palmer's graduation either. Southern Cal by 4. Virginia Tech at Wake Forest- Flip a coin? I know it's a down year at Florida State, but Wake Forest pitched a 31-0 shut out down there. 31-0. It's a 10 win season for Wake with a win. They get it, 21-9. The Jel-o conference lives up to it's name by jiggling out another maybe power team this year. Maryland at BC- Maryland is another team that has confounded experts and silly bloggers like myself. We called them a nobody when West Virginia beat them, but yet here they are. Still a chance for the ACC title game with a Wake Forest loss. Don't count out how well Boston College has played as a whole. They've stumbled a couple times, but so has the conference. They are a gritty team that plays with a bigger heart than 98% of the country from a hurt quarterback to a never say die attitude. Plus it's November on New England. Always fun for warm weather teams, but Maryland isn't a warm weather team. The handicapping of the Atlantic Coast Conference could have put Ms. Cleo out of business. What should happen, often doesn't. Parity sux. BC should win by a FG, but Maryland has more to play for, which is why BC wins by a FG. Confused? So am I. South Florida at Louisville- Louisville needs to forget about Rutgers. They played 30 minutes, unfortunately, it was the first 30 that they played and not the last. One must get the sense that South Florida and punching bag were used in the same sentence this week as Louisville, espite what happened, has a ton to playfor and to impress. Unlike most of the big games this weekend, Louisville can, and probably has to, make a huge statement here to have any chance to impress the humans that decide the BCS and have become very huge West Virginia fans. South Florida is not a great road team. Thy might be scary in a couple years on the road, or if they joined the ACC, but they shouldn't be too much of a obstacle here. If they are, Louisville is in ig, big rouble. Cards by 10. Auburn at Alabama- The Iron Bowl. You can wake up Auburn now, their season is over. So is Alabama's. A season that some saw as a chance to run the table for the Tigers has been destroyed by non-inspiring efforts, puzzling losses, and a one dimensional offense. Alabama just seems to be on the down side of a cycle. A loss to 'Bama will make things very hard for the Tigers, but Tommy Tuberville has a lot to account for on this season, because frankly they were that good and his teams were flat out unprepared at least three times this season. The losses to Arkansas and Georgia, and the near loss to LSU. They didn't play Florida that well either, taking advantage of a botched punt. They should bat Alabama, a team that really has shown little this season. But, it is a rivalry game and all sanity bets are off, especially since it is in Tuscaloosa. As much as I'd like the Tide, Auburn is the better team by a decent margin. If they play like it, they win by 10.