Thank you Baby Jesus that we made it to Week 5 of the College Football Season! With no major match-ups and with the best game of the weekend over with on Friday night between Fresno State and Boise State, we have made it back to a weekend of real games, most importantly, Conference Games! For the most part this weekend marks the beginning of Conference play, which marks the beginning of “who’s real and who’s faking it!”
As we found out last week, Arizona State is questionable Top 30 material, while Stanford proved they are Top 5 material. Look Wisconsin the week before, while the ran for 200+ yards on the Devils, if you subtract one home-run run of 70, ASU held Wisconsin to 130ish yards, statistically they are the best rushing team in the whole country. Stanford had no problems running, passing or causing disruption all over the field, this brings us to Week 5, so who this week will prove to be the Stanford and who will be the Sun Devils?
First, one note on the Fresno State vs Boise State Match-up: These two teams are Top 25 teams, no questions asked, Boise State might be the best two loss team in the Country, right in-front of Utah State. Derek Carr is a legit Heisman Candidate, he has proven himself as an NFL passer and clutch in two prime time games on ESPN. Fresno and Colorado have to make up their missed game and let’s hope the two (Boise, Fresno) teams win out the season and play for the Mountain West Title and a possible BCS birth. Think of it, Fresno State could finish with a better strength of schedule over Louisville, one big problem, they don’t have the ranking yet but we’ll see. Anyways, on to week 5 games!
We stay in the Mountain West!
Utah State at San Jose State
Normally we like home dogs on Thursday or Friday nights, something about the upset and national tv just works! Look up the numbers! This time, we think Utah State is finally licking their chops after losing very close games to Utah and USC, we think that the Aggies are going to come into Spartan Stadium ready to unload what some are calling, “The Poor Man’s Manziel” in QB Chuckie Keeton all over the field on an over-matched Spartans Defense. In a rare one, we are taking Utah State to Cover on a Friday Night!
Moving East
East Carolina at North Carolina
This is a must win for the North Carolina Tar Heels. After losing by 8 to a very tricking and tough to read Georgia Tech team, North Carolina enters this match-up at 1-2 and still the Tar Heels have to get through the heart of their ACC schedule before things get easier. For East Carolina, it’s not a must win as they still have to get into the depth of conference play but we like the Pirates to keep things close. Let’s take East Carolina and the points. Also the over deserves a second look.
Now for some Big Boys!
LSU at Georgia
These two teams are National Champions in the waiting, the stakes couldn’t be higher, blah blah, yada yada yada. Look, we know what’s going on here, this game is to take claim for a solid top 5 spot and for Georgia, it’s a must win to keep their outside shot of being the only one loss team with National Championship hopes alive. The main factors that we are all going to be watching fall to Georgia’s defense and LSU’s offense. The major difference we feel is that Georgia’s defense has been tested and has gained quick and important experience by already playing two top ten teams. They have the help of playing at home, which strengthens the defense and they have an offense that can keep up with anyone in the country. For LSU this is their first major test, yes we all felt going into the TCU game that that would provide the test but comparing TCU and Georgia isn’t fair, TCU has fallen short of our preseason hype, while Georgia is fitting into the mold we expected. We’re not buying the Tigers yet over the Bulldogs so we’re taking Georgia to cover.
And our Final Game:
Ball State vs Toledo
Bet you didn’t see that one coming! Look there are great games this weekend, Wisconsin vs Ohio State, Oklahoma vs Notre Dame and Ole Miss vs Alabama but everyone is talking about those. We want to talk about a game between two rising programs in the MAC that need some love. The importance of this game? The winner has a fast-tracked chance at competing against Northern Illinois for the MAC West Title. The key is that both of these teams can do it! We recommend that if you want to watch two teams put everything on the line in week 5, check this one out. We like Ball State in this one!
Side notes:
We like Alabama, Oklahoma and Ohio State. We think that all three teams are going to come out with something to prove, all for different reasons. Look for Ohio State to expose the weak secondary of Wisconsin with a balanced run, option, throw attack. Look for Oklahoma to do the same actually to Notre Dame. Alabama and Ole Miss might be close at halftime but we see the Tide pulling away in the 4th Quarter.
Final Note-
Because we were late with this post, we had a chance to watch the Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech game. Virginia Tech’s defense is getting better every week and is going to give this Hokies team a chance in every football game from here til the end of the season. We’re standing by our prediction for Virginia Tech, for now, although we need that QB to step up the way that he should be in this season.
RIVALS RUNDOWN 