Top 10 Preview: Week 9

You rooted for this guy?

The above picture is of Boise State "legend" Jared Zabransky on his wedding day. Let's count the mistakes, shall we?

• douchebag white suit? check!
• douchebag stud earring? check!
• douchebag goatee? check!
• douchebag sneaky sideburns? check!
• douchebag Backstreet Boy haircut? check!
• wife that he only conquered because he plays professional football? well, don't they all have one of those?

The point here being, if you were a Boise fan, would you worship a guy who looked like this? YES! BECAUSE THIS IS WHAT ALL OF THEIR FANS LOOK LIKE! Just a friendly reminder from your friends at SpitBloodTCU that you should hate hate HATE Boise with all your might.

And now, the preview..

It seems strange to say it, but this is the most excited I’ve been for a TCU game ever in my life. Now, truth be told, I’m going to say this every single weekend until the end of the season, but when you cheer for the 6^th ranked team in the country and don’t get fired up week in and week out, then you probably don’t have a pulse or are a USC fan or something. Anyway, not a great slate of games in the top 10 this weekend, but there are still a couple of possible upsets, although one of them you probably don’t want. Let’s have a looksie.

#1 Florida vs. Georgia. In what was once deemed the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, this version of the World’s Largest Outdoor Soda Party doesn’t hold the luster that it would in a normal year. Tim Tebow is more banged up than anyone cares to admit, Georgia can’t play defense, and Georgia QB Joe Cox can’t win games in the sunlight. This is typically a hard fought game, but Florida has owned it in recent years. The only way we’re getting an upset out of this one is if Andy teaches Joe how to eschew his Ginger tendencies, give a big middle finger to UV rays, and steal one in Jacksonville. Probably not going to happen.

#2 Alabama. Idle.

#3 Texas at #14 Oklahoma State. Upset alert! Upset alert! Dammit! For those of you familiar with the annual Cowboys/Longhorns matchup… well, let’s just say there isn’t a whole lot of roping or nut chopping going on, as the bovines typically have their revenge against the man. In fact, in all the times they’ve played, only twice has Oklahoma State won, and not once since 1997. For whatever reason, in recent years Texas has let the Pokes have their fun in the first half before doomhammering them in the second half and I figure this one will arrive at the same conclusion one way or another. It’s unfortunate, but UTs defense is just too strong for the Okies to put up enough points to outduel even Colt McCoy.

#4 Iowa vs. Indiana. Pretty much a placeholder game for the Hawkeyes until the November 14^th showdown at Ohio State where a win will pretty much solidify a Big Televen Championship and perhaps a National Championship berth. It won’t be easy as Iowa is down to their third string RB for this one, but Indiana just lost to Northwestern after holding a 28-3 lead… so pretty sure that qualifies as one of those “season crushing” losses. Iowa can’t score many points, but fortunately they don’t give up many either, ranking 8^th in the country in scoring defense. Indiana’s season can be calculated with the following formula: Defense that gives up lots of points + Offense that doesn’t score many points = 1-3 conference record… and a big loss in Iowa City.

#5 USC at #10 Oregon. That sound you hear? It’s Boise State snatching up all the green and yellow garb available in the greater Boise area. Although both of these teams have outside national title hopes, this game is infinitely more important to the Boise faithful as their entire season rests on the win against Oregon on opening night. USC has looked very shaky in recent weeks on defense, especially against teams that can pass. Oregon can’t pass, but they have the 13^th ranked rushing attack in the country. USC? The 4^th best run defense. Regardless of this fact, Oregon has the 13^th highest scoring offense in the country vs. USC at 31. Oregon leads the Pac 10 in takeaways – Matt Barkley has thrown 5 INTs on the year, including one in each of his last 3 games. Really, I could keep looking at stats, but I’d never come to anything conclusive. Oregon has a great offense and a fair defense, although it has really come together the last few games. USC has a great defense and a good offense, but the defense has fallen off the past couple of games. This should be a really, really exciting game to watch and it’s a bummer it runs counter to UT/OSU because there’s no way any bar is going to give preference to the west coast-which, in a regular week, they definitely should not.

The biggest debate about this game, from a Frogs perspective, is who do we pull for? On one hand, if Oregon beats USC, it likely moves us up a spot in the rankings, although there is an outside chance that Oregon moves up considerably for beating a top 5 team. On the other hand, a USC win severely damages Boise’s strength of schedule and likely removes them from the BCS picture as long as we take care of our business. The negative outcome of this is that USC probably wouldn’t lose another game on the season as they already have their requisite “what the F?” loss on the year, and the rest of their games fall into that category. Still, with the likelihood that Boise would jump us in the rankings with an SOS boosting Oregon win, I think we have to go against everything we believe in and pull for the Trojans. I don’t want those blue turfed bastards hanging around any longer than necessary.

Speaking of…

#7 Boise State vs. San Jose State. San Jose State ruined a perfect TCU season once before… think they could repay the favor? Probably not – this team is 1-5 and nearly dead last in the major offensive categories. However, their defense is surprisingly passable, as they give up only 21 points a contest. Too bad that’s 5 less than what they average on offense. This game shouldn’t be much of a contest, but it also hurts Boise's SOS, so it’ll basically be like the win never really happened.

#8 Cincinnati at Syracuse. Tony Pike will possibly be healthy enough to return for this game, but why risk it? Duke boy may no longer be under center, but Syracuse is still a pretty dismal football team. I think the general rule of thumb here is that if a team is in bad enough shape at the QB position to allow a former basketball player who hasn’t played football since high school to start, they're probably not going to score enough points to beat the 2^nd ranked scoring offense in the country. Cincy may be playing with a backup, but said backup is quite capable and has led the team to two straight wins while tossing five TDs. Cincy also boasts a pretty stout defense to counter the 90^th ranked offense of the ‘Cuse. That big ole Orange bastard they try and pass off as a mascot won’t be smiling too long this weekend. Interesting trivia: The Syracuse stadium is called the “Carrier Dome.” Carrier is a brand of air conditioner. The carrier dome does not have air conditioning. The more you know.

#9 LSU vs Tulane. On ESPN, the average pick has 98% going to the Tigers vs 1% for the Wave, with a 1% margin of error. LSU has beaten Tulane 18 times in a row, but with the Tigers opting out of this yearly rivalry soon, could Tulane rise to the occasion and knock off their in-state rival to hold eternal bragging rights? Nah. LSU has toyed with lesser teams all year, but this one shouldn’t be close.

This is one of those Saturday’s when you’re glad to play a day game at home, because there’s not much of interest to watch until the night cap. It’d be a beautiful thing to see UT’s national title and Boise’s BCS hopes and dreams die simultaneously, but I’m not counting on it. In all honesty, I’d rather see Boise crumble. Viva la Frog