Pigskin Prophet: Parity rules and everybody stinks |
So, is anybody any good?
Some of the top teams have struggled against inferior competition, the picks for the College Football Playoff are staggering around like a middle-aged accountant at the company Christmas party, and parity seems to be the name of the game. Oklahoma? Still undefeated but they don’t look good. Ohio St.? Issues everywhere. North Carolina? Yikes, that was a bad loss last week. Florida St.? Winless. The Palmetto St.? Clemson and South Carolina are in a race (can we call it that) to see who has the worst offense. Things are different this season, and now things are beginning to ramp up as we get into conference schedules. If parity rules, we might see even more upsets across the board. Heck, can the Gamecocks beat Troy? Can the Tigers beat Boston College? This should be another fun week. Until it isn’t. SATURDAY ARKANSAS AT GEORGIA This one is tricky. A former Georgia assistant coach, who seems to understand what it means to be a game coach, goes up against Kirby, who along with the helicopter and the bagman is one heck of a recruiter but sometimes falls a little short in games. If this one was in Wal Mart, I might give the feral pigs a shot. But it’s in Georgia, land of zombies and bagmen and a big old defensive line. GEORGIA 34, WAL MART 17 PITT AT GEORGIA TECH Maybe Tech is better than we thought? Ole King Waffle House has his Jackets playing fairly well, scaring the stripes off the Tigers and beating the horns off UNC last week. This week they get a Pitt team that is a little bipolar at times. One thing is for sure, the Panthers can make life hard for opposing backfields and they will limit the Jacket running game. The Pitt offense will also score. But this is one of those games where the bipolar Panthers show up, and the defense lets Tech win through the air. In a shootout, the Bees sting that Cats. GEORGIA TECH 34, PITT 31 LOUISVILLE AT WAKE FOREST Is Wake Forest the class of the ACC? Right now they are, even though it’s been done against lesser competition like Florida St. The competition takes a step forward this week as the Gamecocks of the ACC – otherwise known as Louisville – travel down to Winston-Salem for a chance to knock the Deacons out of the ranks of the unbeaten. But here’s the thing, Wake Forest doesn’t have a ton of talent, but they are well-coached. And Louisville has, well, Scott Satterfield, who will apply at ten different companies and programs before he boards the bus Friday. This one will be fun. For a while. WAKE FOREST 33, LOUISVILLE 24 OLE MISS AT ALABAMA Don’t look now, but the Rebs have a chance to knock King Nick and the Crimson Tide. Lane Kiffin’s bunch has proven they score, even on Bama, and they will have their chance to dethrone the King with several big plays. But while some see Nick as rigid and stubborn, he changes with the times, and he has allowed his assistants to fine-tune this offense to fit the skills of Bryce Young. Matt Corral will make some big plays and help his Heisman chances, but Young will make a few more plays and that Ole Mess defense, which is better, will wilt late. BAMMER 44, OLE MISS 30 BOSTON COLLEGE AT CLEMSON The point spread is big, more points than Clemson has scored in regulation in a few weeks, and you have to wonder how big it would be if Phil Jurkovec was healthy. However, the bean eaters have an experienced quarterback and a good running back, and some quality lines of scrimmage, and this one will be a tough out. Clemson’s defense is injured, but Brent Venables is still lurking on the sidelines, and they will get pressure from the ends and the linebackers and force BC into a few turnovers. And the offense, we hope, finally finds some rhythm. CLEMSON 23, BOSTON COLLEGE 16 TROY AT SOUTH CAROLINA Ah, the other scoring-challenged team from South Carolina. The Gamecocks don’t have many playmakers, or much of an offensive line, but they play hard and that’s all you can ask for at this point, at least until Red Bull Beamer can recruit some more talent to Five Points. Troy isn’t exactly scoring in bunches, so in this one, you gotta go with the best defense. Which is South Carolina. I think. Gamecocks 6, TROY 5 SYRACUSE AT FSU Oh, those Seminoles. They are inventing new ways to lose football games. But this week they get a break because The Cuse Orange come to town. How bad are things in Cuse? The students stormed the field last week because they kicked a last-play field goal to defeat the Fightin Freezes of Liberty. And while Liberty would probably beat FSU by a score or five, this game is in Tallahassee. If the ‘Noles can stop the Cuse rushing attack, they can score enough to win. FSU 27, CUSE 24
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