Sox and Weekend CFB Preview

Well Sox fans, I can’t say I’m shocked, but this was not how things were supposed to go. The Sox bats vs. the Yankee pitching staff was supposed to be a big plus in the corner for the Sox. But then again, we figured Curt Schilling’s ankle wasn’t that bad either…and I figured the Dawg’s offense had gotten it together too.

The upside to the crappiness that’s been this past week so far in sports is that I did figure a way to salvage the nonfiction book I was working on. The original plan was to do a chronicling of UGA’s run to the national championship. Now, I’m not saying it’s impossible for UGA to make the Orange Bowl now, but that’s also a lot like me saying “it’s not impossible for Jessica Alba to be my bride-to-be”—sure, it could happen, but odds are, it won’t.

But now the book’s got the working title of “Seeing Red” and it can look at the similarities in mentality of both Red Sox fans and UGA fans, and if can follow both the tail end of the season for the Sox, and the entire UGA football season. That’s what we writerly folks call “padding”.

In College Football news, Saturday we get to see if my crazy prediction that UVA may be the ACC’s best holds any water when they play FSU. A few weeks ago this would’ve been an easy game for UVA. But then Chris Rix got hurt and FSU discovered what life was like with a QB that had two brain cells to rub together was like. While Wyatt Sexton isn’t going to be mistaken for Chris Weinke anytime soon (for starters, he’s about two decades younger), he’s not going to get mistaken for Chris Rix either (Note: whether or not he will park in handicapped spaces remains to be seen) and for FSU fans, that’s very good news. UVA will counter FSU’s newfound decency at QB (yes, you read that right, “decency” and “FSU” in not only the same sentence, but the same clause) with a very solid defense led by some badass linebackers (advantage of a blog, you can use words like “badass” in your analysis) and running back Wali Lundy who started of the season on a scoring spree that would make Hugh Hefner jealous. It’s gonna be a good game (in theory…but remember, Communism works…in theory) and, even better for me, it’s gonna be a game where I don’t care who wins or loses.

The big game this weekend is going to be out west, where the suddenly decent Arizona State Sun Devils play the they’re-not-that-good-but-they’re-still-ranked #1 USC Trojans. Cal’s QB completed 23 straight passes against USC’s D but they didn’t get the W. Either USC has some of that 2002 Ohio State luck mojo, or Arizona State is about to pull off a big, big upset.

The only other big-time matchups are tonight’s game between Louisville and Miami and a Big 10 showdown between Wisconsin and Purdue. Louisville has some good coaching and plays hard, but I think Miami’s D will be too much for them. Unless Brock Berlin does his best Rix impersonation, Miami should win that one easily. The Big 10 title may be on the line in the Badgers-Boilermakers game. Wisconsin brings a very stout defense and RB Anthony Davis against a possibly suspect Purdue defense and Heisman candidate QB Kyle Orton. If Orton can shred the Badger defense, you may as well reserve him a seat in New York.
Finally, there are a couple of intriguing games in the SEC. The #1 question (of course, I’m biased) is whether or not the good UGA offense (the one from the LSU and Georgia Southern games) will show up vs. Vandy or not. And the #2 question (again, biased) is whether or not the fact that Ole Miss head coach David Cutcliffe was a longtime UT assistant will give the Rebs a snowball’s chance in hell against the Vols or not. Beyond that, I am curious to see if my crazy prediction of Arkansas beating Auburn holds water or not.

Until next time, Go Dawgs, Go Sox, and to hell with the Yankees (and, let’s say, Purgatory with the Commodores—the Vanderbilt ones, not the guys who sang “Easy”)