Hey all and welcome to the weekend Pregame, championship week edition. I'll be giving you my thoughts on each conference's championship week matchups, and we'll even predict some winners. As always, feel free to tell me how incredibly amazing/stupid I am.
ACC:
Virginia Tech will play Clemson in Charlotte, North Carolina for the right to represent the ACC in a BCS game. Last year, the representative Hokies got bold italicized underlined CREAMED by at large Andrew Luck and company, and the conference is probably looking for a measure of redemption.
For these teams, it's really been a story of going in opposite directions. Clemson opened pretty hot, including this original romp of Virginia Tech as a part of their 8-0 start. But in the last four games, Clemson has gone 1-3 (including a rather embarassing rout at the hands of North Carolina State). Quarterback Tajh Boyd has thrown four touchdowns compared to seven interceptions, and his offensive line has allowed 11 sacks. Not to great.
Meanwhile, Virginia Tech... well, at least they haven't lost since the aforementioned Clemson game. Until last week's game in Charlottesville, I thought Tech looked incredibly unimpressive while running through their mindnumbingly easy schedule. Still, they turned it on against UVA last week that somehow appears to be the third best team in the ACC. It's hard to say for sure with a one-game sample size against your in-state rival, but the Hokies appear to be peaking at the right time.
Well, who cares. In a championship game, I'm not sure that really matters after the first quarter. Clemson is too good of a team AND matches up too well with Virginia Tech to get blown out by a team who is not outright athletically superior. Tajh Boyd needs to get his act together, and the offense as a hole needs to play better. If that happens, it'll be a good game. If not, then it'll be another early Christmas in Blacksburg.
Prediction: The media might be lined up to coddle Logan Thomas day in and day out, but I'm not. This kid is not the real deal, and lacks the experience to lead his team down the stretch. Virginia Tech will jump out to an early lead, but I expect Clemson to wake up some time late in the second quarter. The second half will be all defense, but I expect Clemson to score just enough points to eek out a small victory. Clemson 19, Virginia Tech 17
Big East:
If you haven't been following this conference race (and let's be honest, most of you probably haven't), it's an absolute mess. It's one of the only times I've ever seen where no one actually controls their own destiny. Here are the contenders and what's going on with them:
Louisville- Off this week, schedule is already completed with a conference record of 5-2. They own a h2h win over West Virginia, but lost at Cincinatti.
Cincinatti- Bearcats were undefeated in conference play and in the driver seat until their bigtime quarterback Zach Collaros was injured. Following that, Cincinatti lost to West Virginia and Rutgers, and now sit at 4-2. A win on Saturday at home against cellar dweller UConn keeps them in contention for a share of the Big East title and a possible BCS berth.
West Virginia- West Virginia easily boasts the most explosive offense and probably the most athletic team, but as always, they've got a couple losses that kind of just make you go... huh? WVU lost to Syracuse early on, and lost to Louisville at home in the beginning of November. They play tonight (Thursday night) against South Florida, and are currently 4-2.
SO. West Virginia beat Cincinatti, who beat Louisville, who beat West Virginia. Except Louisville is already done, and the other two aren't.
Louisville needs Cincinatti to lose on Saturday. Then they clinch the BCS berth with their head to head win over WVU.
Cincinatti needs to win on Saturday, but they also need a loss from WVU tonight. Then they would clench the BCS berth because of their head to head win over Louisville.
West Virginia needs to win Thursday night, and they need Cincinatti to win Saturday too. That keeps the 3-way tie with each team at 5-2. Each team's h2h record against the other two teams would be 1-1, which means you go to the next tiebreaker: BCS ranking. Right now, WVU is the only team ranked in the top 25 of the BCS rankings, and a Cincinatti win at home over UConn would not likely push them over WVU.
West Virginia certainly needs the most things, but...
Prediction: You say Rube Goldberg, I say common sense. Call me biased, but all those things happening is really not that unrealistic. South Florida has played WVU tough and even forced a little bit of a rivalry between the two schools, but the Bulls are pretty awful this year and have only managed one conference win. They haven't even qualified for bowl eligibility yet. Combine that with the liklihood of their backup quarterback Bobby Eveld starting with the poor quality of the USF secondary and I smell a rout. WVU 45, USF 10. Meanwhile, Cincinatti backup Munchie Legeaux is starting to figure things out, and though UConn has a surprisingly intimidating front 7, I don't think they will contain him or the outstanding runningback the Bearcats feature. They're gonna get Pead on (love saying that). Cincinatti 24, Connecticut 13
WVU finishes ranked 21st. Cincinatti remains unranked.
Big 10
This might be the best game all weekend. The Badgers get another shot to beat Michigan State after the Spartans' miraculous hail mary won the regular season meeting. MSU will have a couple defensive players back that weren't available in the regular season game, including one bigtime pass rusher, which is important to note because of the escapability of Russell Wilson. I love State's receiver Keshawn Martin too. He's a big time playmaker that steps up in big game situations, and I think he's got great reporte with Kirk Cousins too.
All of that pales in comparison, though, to Montee Ball. Ball has 1622 yards on the season and averages 6.5 yards a carry. He's got 34 TOUCHDOWNS this season. 34. Those numbers are pretty rediculous for a quarterback, but for a runningback? Absolutely rediculous. Even by his standards, he's been going off lately. If Montee Ball continues to play in his groove, I can't possibly see how Michigan State can do anything to stop him.
Prediction: Obviously I like Montee Ball and and Wisconsin, per mini-rant above. Michigan State's defense is underrated, but somehow so is Montee Ball. Despite the renewed blood on the defensive line, Wisconsin will dominate the line of scrimmage, pound the ball left and right, and go to their second straight BCS game to set up wonderful runningback and mobile quarterback duals. Wisconsin 35, Michigan State 24.
Tomorrow, I cover the remaining three conferences. Saturday/Sunday I'll be covering at large bids.
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