Stanford at Oregon
Last week, Oregon put up 42 points on the road against the best defense in the Pac-10 (ASU). As good of a story as Stanford is this year, they just don’t have the athletes to keep up with Oregon. The Cardinal will score, but the Ducks will score more. Only two things can tilt things in Stanford’s favor: Chip Kelly’s coaching ineptness or some Cardinal fans making a sacrifice to Autzen.
Oregon 51, Stanford 34
The Red River Shootout — one of the best-known rivalries in college sports. Unfortunately for Texas, the only thing that can make this game a shootout might be Oklahoma’s first team offense against its second team offense. Garrett Gilbert could only put together one touchdown drive against UCLA, and the Bruins are a second-tier Pac-10 team. We saw last January what happens when Gilbert faces a BCS level defense — turnovers, and a lot of them.
Oklahoma 31, Texas 10
Apparently, the pollsters who voted Florida the No. 7 team in the country still think Tim Tebow is quarterbacking the Gators. With John Brantley at the helm, Florida mustered one scoring drive that took more than five plays and covered more than 20 yards against Miami — the one from Oxford, Ohio, not the one from southern Florida. Couple that with a much-improved Alabama passing attack — not to mention the reigning Heisman trophy winner — and the Tide roll.
Alabama 27, Florida 14
– Alex Williams
The Cardinal is tough, disciplined and well-coached. They’re also going to lose. Their only legitimate win was against a bi-polar UCLA squad while the other three wins came against Sacramento State, NBC’s blow-up doll Notre Dame and a bad Wake Forest team. The Ducks’ athleticism will feast on the trees like, uh, duckweed, which is “”an important high-protein food source for waterfowl”” according to Wikipedia.
Oregon 42, Stanford 30
Texas has some motivation to win after losing to the UCLA Bruins last weekend. However, Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops won’t let his team come out flat after SI.com’s Andy Staples placed Arizona and brother Mike Stoops No. 9 on this week’s Power Rankings, one place ahead of the Sooners. I mean, Bob is probably pretty broken up about that one. Not since the 1978 Stoops’ family Thanksgiving wiffle-ball game has Mike beat Bob at anything — I made that up. Seriously though, Texas is too young to win on the road.
Oklahoma 24, Texas 13
Coming off a narrow escape against the Razorbacks of Arkansas last week, the word “”mortal”” would describe No. 1 Alabama. And with the likelihood that the Gators will try to get back at Alabama for making former Gator Tim Tebow (that’s their quarterback man) cry in last year’s Southeastern Conference Championship Game, you can be sure they’ll be ready to go. Finally, as a connoisseur of hip-hop, why would I root for Alabama? Do you know of any artists from Tuscaloosa? For goodness sake, Florida has a rapper named after the state: Flo Rida.
Florida 21, Alabama 20
– Kevin Zimmerman
The game has no barring on Arizona’s Rose Bowl shot. Somebody has to win, somebody has to lose. Oregon wins and it could make the BCS Title Game, giving Arizona a free pass in Eugene to lose however they want. Instead, they’ll have to win in the quaint town of Palo Alto. Speaking of, today debuts “”The Social Network”” — a movie about Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg. Haven’t been this excited for a movie since “”Teeth.””
Oregon 24, Stanford 17
Austin is awesome. Imagine a college town version of Vegas, and you’ve got an evening on Sixth Street, frolicking up and down a street closed off for the sole sake of overspill partygoers on a street with 60-something bars. Imagine Fourth Avenue, minus the hipsters, plus a thousand more students, plus it being closed for traffic, minus the locals, plus more live music. Any town with a Coyote Ugly is a town in my book — keep Austin weird! Wait, the game isn’t in Austin? That sucks.
Texas 27, Oklahoma 17
If you haven’t seen the viral video posted on Deadspin this week, stop reading and go watch it. It’s a tall dude dressed in a suit wearing sunglasses standing next to an “”off-the-charts 10″” model of a girlfriend. His monologue is so arrogant and demeaning to rednecks from Alabama that I’m actually pulling for Florida, just to see another installment of his videos. That is, if he’s still alive. The guy challenged anyone who wants to take him on by giving away his seat location: Gate 42, Section U-1, Row 1, Seats 3-8. Florida, a bunch of winners. Alabama? Inbred redneck fans.
Florida 32, Alabama 0
– Bryan Roy