College Football Week 4

Another weekend of football is upon us! My beloved Longhorns are 3-0 after a great win in Lubbock.

Speaking of winning on the road in Lubbock, at what point did that not get as much respect as a win at Washington? Nebraska jumped Texas in the AP poll because they won at Washington. Washington is terrible. Yeah, NU had 3 guys with over 100 yards rushing each. If Washington had a defense that probably doesn't happen and they might have to complete more than 7 passes. At least Texas will get it's opportunity to silence the Nebraska pumping clowns at ESPN in a few weeks. The same can't be said about TCU who the Dallas Morning News has claimed as the best team in Texas. You know, because it beat Oregon State and Baylor. This Texas secondary and front seven would destroy Andy Dalton. Whatever, moving on...

#1 Alabama @ #10 Arkansas (aka the 2010 Mobile home convention):
This should be a very good game. Bama's running game and defense are firing on all cylinders, but Arkansas' Offense has been impressive so far with Ryan Mallett at the helm. I think Arkansas keeps it close, but Bama wins it on the road.

#16 Stanford @ Notre Dame:
This will be an interesting test for coach Kelly and the domers. I think they will respond well and beat an over inflated Stanford team.

Oregon State @ Boise State:
This game will be hyped by ESPN all day on Saturday as the last true test for Boise to impress the voters against a ranked BCS conference opponent. Shut. Up. Oregon State ranks 98th in passing, 89th in rushing, 64th in points scored, and 88th in points allowed. They lost to TCU (30-21) and beat an unranked Louisville team at home (35-28). They stink. Boise will win big.

OU vs Cincinnati:
At the beginning of the year I thought that Cincinnati or FSU would beat ou. Not gonna happen. ou will win this one pretty easily. They shouldn't have to show too much in this one with the big showdown in Dallas the next week.

South Dakota State @ Nebraska:
Well Nebraska steps up it's competition this week with South Dakota State coming to town. After high-profile wins against Western Kentucky, the always tough Idaho (no, you da ho!), and Wazzu, they turn their sights to the Jackrabbits. ESPN thinks this game is worthy to be broadcast on their station. really? yes, really. Expect and old-school Nebraska blowout, somewhere around 69-7.

UCLA @ #7 Texas:
UCLA brings some decent talent to town with the reigning Lou Groza award winner, the Ray Guy award finalist, as well as safety Raheem Morris. One of my most painful memories while in school at Texas was the 1997 match-up where UCLA destroyed Texas 66-3. Texas was missing it's star QB, James Brown, and it fell apart quickly. I have never seen DKR as empty as it was that day.

I am looking forward to a much different outcome this week. Texas will no doubt start off in the hurry up offense early to try and establish a good rhythm on offense. I believe Gilbert and the offense will continue to improve and have some explosive plays early and lead around 17-7 at the half. The second half Will Muschamp's crew will completely shut down UCLA, holding them to under 200 yards for the game and no second half points. The offense (and maybe the defense even) will add a few scores to get it to 41-7 and then hand the keys over Case McCoy so he can practice handing the ball off to Cody Johnson or Jeremy Hills.

I will savor this win with a nice Oktoberfest bier. or three.

Quick thoughts on the NFL:
Texans hosting the Cowgirls: Dallas will continue to struggle on offense as they keep trying to throw it 50 times. You supposedly have a 3-headed monster at the running back position. Use it. That's why I drafted Felix Jones for my fantasy team. (luckily, I also drafted Miles Austin) Right now the only 3-headed monster consists of Jerry, Wade, and Jason Garret. Matt Schaub will pick apart the Cowboys secondary and the Texans will win this one 24-14.

Tennessee Titans @ NY Giants:
Dear Jeff Fisher, don't take Vince Young out of the game for the 4th Quarter. In Texas we have changed the name of the 4th Quarter to VY Time. That's when he does his thang. Don't try to stop it just because of a few turnovers. I don't know that he would have led the Titans to a comeback win over the Steelers last week, but I would have enjoyed watching him try. As for the Giants game, this will be a tough one as both teams are looking to come back from disappointing losses. I think the Titans will bounce back against the Giants and bring home a road W.

Happy football watching!

Hook'em!