Saturday, November 19, 2005
The Wizard and Week 12
The man is usually bowl eligible by this time, but his record stands at a pedestrian 39-36-2 (52%). The critics are many. Just this week, the local columnist who covers the Wiz home and away came out with a front-page piece that blamed the man's decline on this very website. He even went as far as to call for the site to be deleted. Another fan has taken matters into his own hands, starting a firethewiz.com site. Now the Wiz has yet to make any public comment after all of this and is sticking to his gameplan, but it can be pointed out that he is 10-4 the past two weeks. For this week's selections, click on comments.
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The Magnificent 7
Iowa (minus 4) -- Minnesota's running game can be downright scary, but so can its defense. Iowa's defensive line played its best game last week against Wisconsin and will be put to the test against the Gophers, but it's difficult to imagine Iowa losing two home games in one season. In the past 25 games at Kinnick, Iowa is a terrific 22-3. We will spot the number here and take our chances with the Hawkeyes.
Clemson (minus 2) -- Clemson QB Whitehurst seems to have South Carolina's number. He's 3-0 against the Gamecocks. This is a hunch more than anything. Yes, South Carolina has been surging, but a lot has gone into keeping this push going and it has to be difficult to sustain. Add in that the Gamecocks doused Spurrier with ice water after last week's win over the Gators and it seems the team may have hit an emotional peak and is due to come tumbling back to orbit.
Oklahoma (plus 7.5) -- Win or lose, the belief here is that Texas Tech's Hodges is not up to par with the past QBs to come through the system. Oklahoma's pass defense has looked shaky at times, but the fact remains the Sooners have lost three games to teams with a combined 29-2 record. Maybe old habits die hard and Tech wins easily, but the Sooners are getting a fair amount of points and Tech's rushing defense is pretty pedestrian. Look for the Sooners to give the ball to the man, Peterson, and try to keep it from the Tech offense.
USC (minus 23.5) -- Fresno beat Hawaii, 27-13. USC beat Hawaii, 63-17. Fresno lost to Oregon, 37-34. USC beat Oregon, 45-13. This might be a game of the century for the Bulldogs, but really, are they of the same ilk as USC, especially at the Coliseum, which will be rocking with 92,000. If the Trojans are into it -- and we have a sneaking suspicion they will be -- they will clock the Bulldogs, just as they have everybody else. And it doesn't seem the mercy rule is in USC's playbook. Carroll just keeps pouring it on.
Stanford (plus 4) -- Never a good sign when you change QBs this late in the season, but that is what Cal is doing. Ayoob, which spelled backward is Boo-ya, is replaced by another Sportscenter anchor, Steve Levy. Stanford needs to win one of its last two to go bowling. Unless Cal is preparing that old run-through-the-Stanford-band play, we advise taking the points in this rivalry game.
Eastern Michigan (minus 6.5) -- Buffalo is just flat-out awful. It won last week for the departing coach Hofner. Now that nonsense is out of the way and we will take the Eagles to pound the Bulls.
Penn State (minus 7.5) -- The Nittany Lions have had two weeks to prepare for this one and plenty is on the line. Maybe the Spartans play like they did early in the season and spring the surprise, but the belief here is that Penn State has the character to overcome any challenge Michigan State puts forth.
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