The Sports Truth

[Cue The Pundit’s Patented Loud Booming Voice & Pulsing Intro Music and Pyrotechnics]

This week, 4-1! For the year, 22-8! As Mike Wilbon would say, “who’s your boy?!” Except for the Florida Gators punking out against Auburn, the Pundit’s college football prognostication genius is evident again. Is any more bragging about the sheer magnificence of the pundit necessary? Bow down, freshman football waterboys!

[Cue the Drum Roll]

THE PUNDIT’S POWER FIVE

1. Ohio State. Hmmm… the Pundit calls a win by 3-4 TDs and gets it. Damn, is the Pundit good or what?!?!
Next week’s opponent: Indiana
Prediction: The Hoosiers made Iowa look stupid this past week but won’t do it again Troy Smith & Co. The Buckeyes will win by 28 or more. The only concern for them at this point is getting bored before the Michigan game.

2. USC. The Sun Devils were quite a bit sharper (haha) than the Pundit thought they would be, and the Trojans struggled… but still won.
Next week’s Opponent: Bye
Prediction: N/A

3. West Virginia. Syracuse looked scrappy in the first half, but the Mountaineers pulled away in the second half, as predicted. Who is your daddy? The Pundit… that’s right.
Next week’s opponent: UConn
Prediction: The Huskies are a I-AA team trying like hell to get people to believe they are a I-A squad. WVU won’t struggle in this one and will win by 35 in a rout.

4. Michigan. Even without Mario “Mr. TD” Manningham (pictured), the Wolverines topped Penn State in a close one. Again, the Pundit was only off by three points. The Pundit is even better than HE thought!
Next week’s opponent: Iowa
Prediction: The Hawkeyes will rebound from their unexplainable loss to Indiana and give Michigan a good game. However, the Pundit sees the Wolverines taking this one by 10 with their solid all around attack.

5. Louisville. The Cards struggled a bit with Cincinatti, but their stud QB Brian Brohm came back in two weeks from thumb surgery! Wrap your brain about that one, people.
Next week’s opponent: Syracuse
Prediction: The Orangemen are fighters, but they won’t be able to stop the Cardinals’ aerial assault. Petrino & Co are impressive when clicking on all cylinders. Look for Brohm to do better this week and scorch ‘em — bad. Cardinals by 35 in a rout.

Team Most Likely to Break Into the Top Five With One Loss: Texas, Auburn, and Florida, in that order.

NOTE: The Pundit is not considering any non-undefeated teams for his Power Five. Realistically, undefeated teams are the only ones that matter in the hunt for the national title in the current BCS system, so the Pundit will continue to ignore one-loss teams as long as he can. If you are a fan of one of those teams, tough sh!t!

GAME BALLS

Wake Forest. Even though they aren’t undefeated anymore, the Deacons get some love for being 6-1 in the ACC with three very winnable games left on the schedule. Could the Deacons be in the ACC title game? It’s still a long shot, but very possible.

James Madison. The Dukes blasted the previously unbeaten offensive steamroller known as #1 New Hamsphire. JMU, which started off slowly, now has the inside track for the A-10 title and a national title run.

MOST RIDICULOUS STAT LINE OF THE WEEK

The Pundit is going back to high school football for this one. Here is an amazing set of stats put up by a running back and a quarterback from a high school game in Arkansas. Running Back Kendric Smith scored 10 touchdowns for Hughes High school on Friday night… and lost! Brett Hardin from East Poinsett County High had 835 all purpose yards from the quarterback spot to lead his team to victory. The final score? 79-72!

COACHES ASKING TO GET FIRED: UPDATE

1. Larry Coker, Miami. if you saw the brawl, you saw the end coming for Mr. Coker. Did anyone notice that he won his title with Dennis Erickson’s players and hasn’t done anything since?

2. Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech. The Hokies lose… again… in embarrassing fashion… again. Believe the Pundit when he says the back stabbers and boosters (okay, they’re the same thing basically) will get bolder.

3. Al Groh, Virginia. If he loses to UNC this coming weekend, the pink slip might be coming faster than even the Pundit thought.

MORE TEAMS THAT NEED TO CHANGE THE SHEETS

Florida. Auburn got their revenge on Florida when the Gators bumbled this one away. National title hopes… flushed!

Virginia Tech. They got handled by Boston College in all aspects of the game!

Iowa. Just when you start to get national respect you get beat by… Indiana? Are you kidding the Pundit?

Georgia. Vanderbilt. The Pundit repeats this with as much scorn as he can muster. Vandy?

Missouri. Like Iowa, you are building national momentum and you lose to… Texas A&M! Dennis Franchione should give you all hummers for helping to save his job.

GAMES OF THE WEEK

Texas-Nebraska. Texas has the fast track on the Big 12 title now that Oklahoma is without Adrian Peterson. Their likely opponent in the title game: Nebraska. Take Texas by 21 points. Ever since Nebraska stopped running the option under Bill Callahan, they get no love from the Pundit.

Michigan-Iowa. Can Michigan run the Big 10 schedule? Iowa will be a good test now that the Wolverines don’t have Manningham. However, the Pundit still like the Wolverines by 10.

AND THE WHAT THE F*#@?!?! AWARD GOES TO…

… The NCAA and the Bowl Championship Series!

The first BCS rankings have come out and this has spurred the Pundit into action. Anyone who knows the Pundit knows that he thinks the BCS is a crock and that the NCAA is screwing up a great opportunity to build the college game. The NCAA should create a playoff system!

Instead of playing BCS bowls in January and forcing teams to practice a full extra month for one game, why not create a national playoff system that culminates with the National title game in January? The Pundit has followed I-AA football and its playoffs for years, and it is incredibly more exciting and interesting to watch your team play in three potential barn burners just to get to the title game!

In the Pundit’s mind, the national title should be settled on the field and not on the computer screen! The sponsors could even sponsor all the playoff games so they can get their greedy little hands on the pot. Who wouldn’t love to see all the league champions from the big conferences go at it over the course of a month in a battle for true supremacy?

You could even throw in four at large bids to make the system even better. The pundit asks the NCAA and BCS… what the f*#@?!?!”

Posted in College Football