Please beware college footbal teams!

Teams in DANGER this weekend

I’ve been having a bit of fun with this, so I might as well do it again. This blog and a few like it, are my ways of just pointing out college games of great interest to the team in question. As the college football season continues to unfold, lots of things have floated up and sunk. This is my take on the teams and games that are extremely important for the entire season of that ball club.

So… let’s begin.

From the mountaintops I have called unto thee to listen to my voice, from even the valleys below I have begged for one ear to incline unto me, and yet, so few have taken heed. So again I make voice and beg for you to hear my words, and beware. There are many teams in college football that stare at their very demise of post season, or a winning season, or a chance at the BCS championship.

Why won’t they listen?

Take Duke Football (PLEASE). In their win over hapless Virginia in Durham, there was a play where one of the Duke players intercepted the football, ran and dove in the end zone. Two of the coaches on the Duke squad chewed this young man out, as if Duke football is USED to scoring. I criticized that because Duke isn’t that great to begin with, and the fans were just as excited as he was. I also pointed out the hypocrisy of what the NCAA tries to show, and what they actually do.

I told you that if Duke has a football game on the next week, I BET you that in the highlight package, they would show that very same dive by that Duke player…guess what…that is EXACTLY what they did.

So now it makes the Duke coaches and the NCAA look like hypocrites, as if Duke Football is used to scoring…well, we sure didn’t see any of that when they played Georgia Tech, did we. As Dennis Green once said, “they are who we THOUGHT they were!”

Duke Football. Hey, I warned you guys about that.

And the ACC has more warnings to take heed to. Thursday night has Clemson playing Wake Forest, in a game that Clemson needs like Al Davis needs a puppet coach. Both teams need to wake up (no pun intended) and start scrapping for that ACC Championship, because the BCS Championship is no longer in their reach…in fact, it never was, not with these two teams.

Clemson, at 3-2, need quality wins fast, because of those 3 wins, two of those don’t count (Citadel and South Carolina State). Can anybody see Clemson finishing 10-2...NOT. I’ll bank them 2 games, but that means they still need to win 3 more games to qualify for a bowl. It’s gonna be close folks, they might barely qualify for a bowl, but if they can’t beat division rival Wake Forest, it may be over for the Tigers.

And if so, what of Wake Forest? I just don’t see them running the tables in the ACC, they are not that good, and that loss to Navy really showed the underbelly of this team. You just can’t lose a game at home if you want to be in a BCS bowl. With home games against Clemson, Duke, Virginia, Boston College and Vanderbilt, this can give Wake Forest some high credibility in the polls. Can they win all 5? No, but a win against Clemson gets them on the road to hopefully cracking the top 10 if they are as good as they say they are.

Beware Louisville, many fear that the better days of the Cardinals have passed them by. Yet this team is hard to figure out. The last couple of years Louisville has started out like the favorites to win the Big East and possibly go undefeated on their way to a BCS Championship…then everything falls apart.

Take great care Louisville, that 2-2 record can get as high as 7 wins if you do what you are capable of doing, but games vs. South Florida, Pittsburgh and West Virginia could be tough matchups. You’re on pace to be guaranteed a bowl…but if you miss this game against Memphis…woe unto thee!

How the mighty have fallen Michigan…and yet, you still must be warned!

Instead of 2-3, your record should be 1-4 after Wisconsin stopped playing football and you realized that you could win that milestone game. So now you got a couple of wins under your belt and thought you were ready to make a run…until Illinois reminded you where you belong this year.

Before you can get to a bowl, you must win 6 games… that means you must win 4 more games. If the other Big 10 teams are as good as advertised, I don’t see you beating Penn State, Michigan State or Ohio State. And with away games at Purdue and Minnesota, this might be critical. This is a game you MUST have this weekend, playing Toledo in your house. Lose this, and your season is OVER.

Cautions go out to both teams of the Salvage Bowl…ECU and Virginia.

Two teams that had higher expectations must now salvage a season by trying to get to a bowl. ECU once drank champagne and caviar with the royalty of the top 25, now they are packing bologna sandwiches and drinking Kool-Aid. They need 3 more wins to qualify, and if they do, they will be picked up by a lower seeded bowl UNLESS they win the Conference USA title. It may be hard playing road games for the Pirates, and this will show when they travel to Virginia to play their third ACC team this year. National title hopes are long gone, as well as BCS bowl hopes, now they are hoping for the next best thing, which is a Liberty Bowl.

But Virginia needs this win BAD. If ECU is dining on bologna sandwiches and Kool-Aid, then Virginia has dined right next to them. This is NOT the Virginia team we are used to seeing, and losing to Duke is a very embarrassing slap in the face. But a shut out win over Maryland gives hope. Virginia isn’t going to a bowl this year because I cannot see them winning 5 out of 7 games. Not gonna happen, but they need to build confidence and salvage a season with a few more wins. ECU could deliver that…or break their backs.

Take heed South Carolina…your post season is on the line this weekend! A 4-2 record is nice, although one of those wins was against Wofford, so let’s call it 3-2 since we’re talking about winning 6 Division I games to qualify for a bowl. This means you need 3 more wins in the very tough SEC. You can split your final 6 games and still make it to a bowl, but that means you cannot afford to lose any more than 3 games. With LSU and Florida on the schedule, that won’t be easy at all. And with Tennessee and Clemson this could be a toss up. This means that the Arkansas game later this year and the Kentucky game this weekend could be the key games for your entire season. These are the games you gotta have.

And while I am at it, Kentucky must also be careful. A lot of people around the nation are saying of your football team those immortal words that Dennis Green said…

“They are who we THOUGHT they were”

When you lost to Alabama, but this was not such a disappointing loss. The jury is still out on how good you are, and this will be proven against South Carolina. But this will not be an easy road at all. Mississippi State and Arkansas MIGHT be your best chances for wins, which means you need to steal at least one more game from either South Carolina, Florida, Vanderbilt, Georgia and Tennessee…good luck with that.

And what of the Huskers? Who will warn them of the danger to come? Missouri dropped more points on Nebraska than Wall Street, and now here comes Texas Tech to continue the spanking. If ever there was a time to say that your program is back on the map, this is it. Sure, lots of people still think Texas Tech isn’t worth the top 10 billing, but that means if you beat them, you get the cred for crushing a top 10 team. I personally think your post season is in jeopardy, I think the Huskers are assured of at least 6 wins, maybe even 7, but that is based on a very soft schedule to start the season. But a win against #7 Texas Tech is a nice feather in your hat.

And finally, a red-light warning goes out to Notre Dame and UNC. I am very sure that the Irish are happy that UNC has a ranking number beside it, because it gives Notre Dame the idea that they are finally playing somebody other than the cupcakes they have been beating this year. Shame on this “football institution” for lowering their standards.

With Navy and Syracuse on the schedule, Notre Dame has virtually assured themselves of a bowl, but somehow they didn’t think that they’d have to actually PLAY UNC. I mean, the Tarheels are not a good football team, so this should have been an easy win…but this year might be a little different. And if they can beat UNC, there then would have to be some thought in Notre Dame being a top 25 team. The are, at this moment, possibly looking for a BCS bowl, but one more loss will crush those hopes…USC may end up doing that, but will they be 10-1 by then? Nah…not possible, right?

UNC has been smiling at the new life they have been given, and a pretty impressive 4-1 start. With a home game vs. Notre Dame, they have everything in place to make this a true battle. But are they REALLY top 25 caliber? A close win vs. McNeese State, a win over hapless Rutgers, a loss at home vs. Virginia Tech, a close and emotional win against Miami (where Butch Davis, current coach of UNC, used to coach), and a win over a UCONN team with key players out with broken bones.

I am a Tarheels fan…but this kinda looks suspect. The wins almost looked situational, but a win is a win. Now we will see if this team is REALLY good, or just visiting the top 25 like a vacationer to the beach.

We will learn so many things this weekend, won’t we?

Anyway, that’s some of the games of interest. I know there are bigger games, ones with National Championship implications on the line, I wanted to highlight some of these as well. Whoever your team is, I hope they win this weekend. Have fun!