My Crystal Ball Says...

...that I know what will happen in this week's key games. Always remember that I'm right, and your team sucks.

#24 South Carolina @ Vanderbilt
Does South Carolina have a genuinely good defense? Or is NC State just that bad? It’s hard to tell after last Thursday’s game. But I think Bobby Johnson is a good coach, and has the Commodores playing as well as they can be expected to play.

Georgia Tech @ Boston College
These are two teams that are shells of their former selves, and both are coming off lackluster victories over outmanned opponents in their season opener. All other things being equal, I’ll take the home-standing Eagles.

Cincinnati @ #4 Oklahoma
Oklahoma is 27-2 in non-conference home games since Bob Stoops took over in 1999. But Cincinnati has become the type of scrappy team that makes these games a bit more interesting. I’d love to see an upset here. I’ve never found a reason to like Oklahoma. But I think they have too many horses for the Bearcats.

Oregon State @ #22 Penn State
If I’m reading this crap right, it looks like Penn State is a 2 touchdown favorite in this game. I know they scored 66 points in this first game, but… it was Coastal Carolina for Christ’s sake. Any team called the Chanticleers shouldn’t even be allowed to play football. The Beavers led the nation in rushing defense last year, but has only three starters returning to that unit. After a disappointing road loss to Stanford in their opener (a game in which the mighty Cardinal rushed for 210 yards), this appears to be the recipe for Oregon State to start the season 0-2.

Mississippi @ #23 Wake Forest
It’s hard not to like Wake Forest. After years of being everybody’s Homecoming opponent, Jim Grobe has the Demon Deacons playing efficient offense and tough defense. Mississippi performed well in their first game under coach Houston Nutt – a 41-24 win over a scrappy Memphis team. I’ll go with the home team.

#19 South Florida @ Central Florida
I’ve never liked UCF. Their fans have all the attitude of Miami fans, and none of the history. They built a nice, new on-campus stadium which turns out to be just another place for them to lose. South Florida has had some big wins in the last few years – key triumphs that kept us from being saddled with an unbeaten Big East team pretending to be a BCS championship contender. I’ll always love them for that.

Miami @ #5 Florida
This is Florida’s chance to show that they have addressed the defensive woes that occasionally plagued them in 2007. These are two teams that don’t like each other, and the Gators feel like they have something to prove. Miami is still in re-building mode under 2nd year coach Randy Shannon. Or maybe they are in holy-God-I-hope-we’re-not-sliding-backward-mode. This game will tell us which team is moving up, and which team isn’t.