These may not happen but they do bring up some good look ahead spots, etc that could aid in these teams at least covering the line as opposed to winning outright.
collegefootballnews
Pete Fiutak
If college football history has taught us anything, it's that there's no way there'll be more than two national title contending unbeaten teams at the end of the season. Somewhere along the way most of the unbeatens will lose and the national title picture will sort itself out. While there are some big games down the road that could weed out the undesirables, here are my four totally off-the-wall games that could, not will but could, be huge upsets to make everything very interesting. Did anyone see the Oklahoma State upset of Oklahoma last year? These are four possibilities to screw everything up.
1. Miami at Syracuse - November 30th
The Orangemen aren't very strong this year not winning a D-I game yet and losing to Temple last week. Funky things tend to happen in the Carrier Dome when Miami comes to town and if SU continues to be down, the Canes could look way past the Orangemen to what could be the game of the year against Virginia Tech the following week. Considering Miami should be coming off a hard-fought win over Pittsburgh the week before, this is a serious sandwich game.
2. Ohio State at Illinois - November 16th
Better Ohio State teams than this have screwed up on the way to the national title. Illinois has the talent, but it just wasn't making plays and wasn't winning. The Illini needed something positive to turn the season around and the overtime win against Purdue might be it. The Ohio State pass defense has been a tad soft and could have big problems with Brandon Lloyd and the Illini passing game if it gets rolling. The Buckeyes will be coming off a road game against Purdue and have a little end-of-the-year tussle the week after the Illinois game against some team that wears maize and blue.
3. Ole Miss at Georgia - November 9th
The Georgia program will be sky high if it comes out of the Cocktail Party with a win over the Gators. The following week Eli Manning and the Rebels come to Athens and could sour the party in a hurry. The Ole Miss D is getting better and better and if Manning gets hot, Georgia's dream season could be ruined.
4 Oklahoma at Oklahoma State - November 30th
OU almost blew the national title in 2000 with a tough dogfight against Oklahoma State. Last year the team was supposed to be well motivated knowing a win would put the Sooners in the Big XII title game and knowing how tough the previous year's game was. Oops. Who's to say the Cowboys can't do it again if the Sooners are looking ahead to the Big XII title game?
Richard Cirminiello
#1 Kentucky over Georgia (October 26)
The Cats have given the Dawgs fits in each of the last two seasons, nearly pulling off the upset in 2000 and 2001. This year?s rapidly maturing team under Guy Morriss has gone toe-to-toe with Florida and South Carolina in recent weeks so a 7-0 Georgia club coming to Lexington will not be overly intimidating. With Georgia potentially looking ahead to the Cocktail Party in Jacksonville, this game has all the makings of a major surprise.
#2 Virginia over Virginia Tech (November 30)
Any time a pair of long-time, in-state rivals hook up for bragging rights at the end of the season, you can throw out the records and the rankings. This November?s battle for the Commonwealth Cup will have some unique twists that?ll ratchet up the intensity. The young and improved Cavs?winners of five straight?could arrive in Blacksburg as one of the hottest teams in the country. Plus, it?ll be impossible for the Hokie players not to be thinking about the following week?s collision course with Miami that could be for the conference title and a berth in the Fiesta Bowl. There?s that look-ahead factor again.
#3 Texas A&M over Oklahoma (November 9)
Oklahoma will not finish the regular season with an unblemished record. Their remaining schedule is checkered with landmines that would range from a minor upset to a major story. Yes, a loss in College Station doesn?t qualify as one for the ages, but it?s always a big deal when one of the top two teams in the nation loses late in the year to an unranked program. The Sooners will have trouble with the team that can match them defensively and the Wrecking Crew is more than capable of harassing Nate Hybl into a few game-altering turnovers.
#4 Purdue over Ohio State (November 9)
For all of their schizophrenic play this season, the Boilermakers have performed pretty well at Ross-Ade Stadium (3-1) this fall and had shown a penchant for slowing down the opponents running game prior to last weekend?s debacle in Champaign. In three weeks, a 4-5 Purdue team could be looking at an undefeated Buckeye program as their bowl game. They?ve got a solid enough front seven to stack the line, slow down Maurice Clarett and force Craig Krenzel to win a game through the air.
Matthew Zemek
As a preface to this Tuesday Question, I must say that my selection of these four potential upsets must not be looked upon as negative commentaries on the teams who might be upset. In fact, they?re more indirect commentaries on the extent to which their opponents have underachieved so far this season. If one of these sleeping dogs (and I don?t mean underdog; I mean ?dog? in the more negative sense) wakes up, an ambush could be sprung.
A Wisconsin team that lost to Indiana could jump up and get Ohio State. A Tennessee team that has been brutal and banged-up this year could beat Miami if the stars all align themselves properly. Texas A&M, horrible though they?ve been, could sneak up on Oklahoma at Kyle Field. Kentucky, with its defense, could cause some jaws to drop in Jawja. These four games could be considered ?upsets from nowhere,? given the fact that the four would-be springers of these upsets have played so poorly this year, with the exception of Kentucky, whose defense has been outstanding. Kentucky would be an upset from nowhere in the sense that the Wildcats lack the cachet possessed by Wisconsin, Tennessee and A&M.
But if you want four cosmos-altering upset possibilities, ones from the absolute middle of nowhere, and not just the outer boundaries of nowhere near the border of ?somewhere,? I?ll offer up these four:
* Oklahoma State over Oklahoma. It happened last year, it almost happened in Stillwater two years ago. Why the heck couldn?t it happen again, precisely when tons of folks would say, ?Nah! OSU couldn?t play the Sooners tough THREE YEARS STRAIGHT!??
Ya nevuh know, do ya?
* West Virginia over Miami. Think the Mountaineers will try to run Mr. Cobourne at the Canes? What if they have any remote amount of success in Morgantown and keep this puppy close into the fourth quarter? A little doubt from the visitors, and who knows what could happen? Not logical at all?Miami should win this game by 40. That?s why it would sure as hell come from nowhere, folks.
* Syracuse over Virginia Tech. See above?it?s as logical as thinking the Angels will pitch to Barry Bonds with runners at 2nd and 3rd and one out in the ninth inning of a tied game. But it will make Syracuse?s season to win this game. And it will be in upstate New York.
* Army over Air Force. You do throw the records out the window when service academies play football, right? How about the Black Knights of the Hudson beating an unbeaten Air Force team? That would be from nowhere, wouldn?t it?
collegefootballnews
Pete Fiutak
If college football history has taught us anything, it's that there's no way there'll be more than two national title contending unbeaten teams at the end of the season. Somewhere along the way most of the unbeatens will lose and the national title picture will sort itself out. While there are some big games down the road that could weed out the undesirables, here are my four totally off-the-wall games that could, not will but could, be huge upsets to make everything very interesting. Did anyone see the Oklahoma State upset of Oklahoma last year? These are four possibilities to screw everything up.
1. Miami at Syracuse - November 30th
The Orangemen aren't very strong this year not winning a D-I game yet and losing to Temple last week. Funky things tend to happen in the Carrier Dome when Miami comes to town and if SU continues to be down, the Canes could look way past the Orangemen to what could be the game of the year against Virginia Tech the following week. Considering Miami should be coming off a hard-fought win over Pittsburgh the week before, this is a serious sandwich game.
2. Ohio State at Illinois - November 16th
Better Ohio State teams than this have screwed up on the way to the national title. Illinois has the talent, but it just wasn't making plays and wasn't winning. The Illini needed something positive to turn the season around and the overtime win against Purdue might be it. The Ohio State pass defense has been a tad soft and could have big problems with Brandon Lloyd and the Illini passing game if it gets rolling. The Buckeyes will be coming off a road game against Purdue and have a little end-of-the-year tussle the week after the Illinois game against some team that wears maize and blue.
3. Ole Miss at Georgia - November 9th
The Georgia program will be sky high if it comes out of the Cocktail Party with a win over the Gators. The following week Eli Manning and the Rebels come to Athens and could sour the party in a hurry. The Ole Miss D is getting better and better and if Manning gets hot, Georgia's dream season could be ruined.
4 Oklahoma at Oklahoma State - November 30th
OU almost blew the national title in 2000 with a tough dogfight against Oklahoma State. Last year the team was supposed to be well motivated knowing a win would put the Sooners in the Big XII title game and knowing how tough the previous year's game was. Oops. Who's to say the Cowboys can't do it again if the Sooners are looking ahead to the Big XII title game?
Richard Cirminiello
#1 Kentucky over Georgia (October 26)
The Cats have given the Dawgs fits in each of the last two seasons, nearly pulling off the upset in 2000 and 2001. This year?s rapidly maturing team under Guy Morriss has gone toe-to-toe with Florida and South Carolina in recent weeks so a 7-0 Georgia club coming to Lexington will not be overly intimidating. With Georgia potentially looking ahead to the Cocktail Party in Jacksonville, this game has all the makings of a major surprise.
#2 Virginia over Virginia Tech (November 30)
Any time a pair of long-time, in-state rivals hook up for bragging rights at the end of the season, you can throw out the records and the rankings. This November?s battle for the Commonwealth Cup will have some unique twists that?ll ratchet up the intensity. The young and improved Cavs?winners of five straight?could arrive in Blacksburg as one of the hottest teams in the country. Plus, it?ll be impossible for the Hokie players not to be thinking about the following week?s collision course with Miami that could be for the conference title and a berth in the Fiesta Bowl. There?s that look-ahead factor again.
#3 Texas A&M over Oklahoma (November 9)
Oklahoma will not finish the regular season with an unblemished record. Their remaining schedule is checkered with landmines that would range from a minor upset to a major story. Yes, a loss in College Station doesn?t qualify as one for the ages, but it?s always a big deal when one of the top two teams in the nation loses late in the year to an unranked program. The Sooners will have trouble with the team that can match them defensively and the Wrecking Crew is more than capable of harassing Nate Hybl into a few game-altering turnovers.
#4 Purdue over Ohio State (November 9)
For all of their schizophrenic play this season, the Boilermakers have performed pretty well at Ross-Ade Stadium (3-1) this fall and had shown a penchant for slowing down the opponents running game prior to last weekend?s debacle in Champaign. In three weeks, a 4-5 Purdue team could be looking at an undefeated Buckeye program as their bowl game. They?ve got a solid enough front seven to stack the line, slow down Maurice Clarett and force Craig Krenzel to win a game through the air.
Matthew Zemek
As a preface to this Tuesday Question, I must say that my selection of these four potential upsets must not be looked upon as negative commentaries on the teams who might be upset. In fact, they?re more indirect commentaries on the extent to which their opponents have underachieved so far this season. If one of these sleeping dogs (and I don?t mean underdog; I mean ?dog? in the more negative sense) wakes up, an ambush could be sprung.
A Wisconsin team that lost to Indiana could jump up and get Ohio State. A Tennessee team that has been brutal and banged-up this year could beat Miami if the stars all align themselves properly. Texas A&M, horrible though they?ve been, could sneak up on Oklahoma at Kyle Field. Kentucky, with its defense, could cause some jaws to drop in Jawja. These four games could be considered ?upsets from nowhere,? given the fact that the four would-be springers of these upsets have played so poorly this year, with the exception of Kentucky, whose defense has been outstanding. Kentucky would be an upset from nowhere in the sense that the Wildcats lack the cachet possessed by Wisconsin, Tennessee and A&M.
But if you want four cosmos-altering upset possibilities, ones from the absolute middle of nowhere, and not just the outer boundaries of nowhere near the border of ?somewhere,? I?ll offer up these four:
* Oklahoma State over Oklahoma. It happened last year, it almost happened in Stillwater two years ago. Why the heck couldn?t it happen again, precisely when tons of folks would say, ?Nah! OSU couldn?t play the Sooners tough THREE YEARS STRAIGHT!??
Ya nevuh know, do ya?
* West Virginia over Miami. Think the Mountaineers will try to run Mr. Cobourne at the Canes? What if they have any remote amount of success in Morgantown and keep this puppy close into the fourth quarter? A little doubt from the visitors, and who knows what could happen? Not logical at all?Miami should win this game by 40. That?s why it would sure as hell come from nowhere, folks.
* Syracuse over Virginia Tech. See above?it?s as logical as thinking the Angels will pitch to Barry Bonds with runners at 2nd and 3rd and one out in the ninth inning of a tied game. But it will make Syracuse?s season to win this game. And it will be in upstate New York.
* Army over Air Force. You do throw the records out the window when service academies play football, right? How about the Black Knights of the Hudson beating an unbeaten Air Force team? That would be from nowhere, wouldn?t it?
