Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Games to Watch: Week 9

While it's still too early for teams to clinch championship berths, we're entering the time where the bottom dwellers can get officially eliminated.

Saturday
12:00 PM
Wake Forest at Miami, ESPNU.  In the two weeks following this one, Miami faces Florida State and Virginia Tech in two games that will quite possibly seal the ACC championship races.  Wake Forest is sitting near the bottom.  Could this be a trap game?

3:30 PM
Tennessee at Alabama, CBS.  Tennessee just upset South Carolina, could they be thinking they have a shot at greatness?  Or, we could just have Alabama completely dominate.  Either way, it's the late afternoon game on CBS, so it can't be ignored.

Duke at Virginia Tech, ESPNU.  What's this, a VT game not at noon?  Anyway, look for the Hokies to make it ten straight against Duke.  That's right, as VT wraps up their first decade in the ACC, they are looking to make it a decade of dominance.

NC State at Florida State, ABC/ESPN2.  FSU is coming off of a big win, Bowden's coming back for a visit, and they're ranking #2 in the BCS.  But....they're playing NC State, who is notorious for never playing like they are supposed to; a team that will lose to an FCS one week, and then beat a single digit ranked team the next.   Meanwhile, a loss by NC State would make them the first team to be officially disqualified from ACC Championship contention.
7:00 PM
UCLA at Oregon, ESPN.  I'm learning not to sleep on the Pac-12 (not literally, though, since a lot of their games are coming on after primetime and I can't quite handle the all-nighters like I used to).  UCLA can look to upset the BCS and conference standings if they beat Oregon.

South Carolina at Missouri, ESPN2.  If Mizzou wins this one, they clearly pull away in the SEC East race.  While SC is going to be angry after losing last week, a win for them won't seal anything.  Either way, Mizzou will stay at the top of their division after this week, but SC could make it interesting for all of the teams sitting behind them.

8 PM
Penn State at Ohio State, ABC.  PSU has nothing to lose, as we saw when they played their butts off against Michigan.  Meanwhile, Ohio State has been looking shaky the last few weeks, despite having the longest winning streak in the country.  They have been quietly slipping down the rankings.  I see upset potential here.

No comments:

Post a Comment