college football preview, week 13

(13) texas at texas a&m - friday, 3:30 pm
as correctly noted by fellow blogger limeade, this isn't as much of a rivalry for texas as their game with oklahoma is. but it's the only real rivalry for texas a&m, so i'll oblige them. texas has more physical talent on both sides of the ball. texas should be able to establish the ground game. while colt mccoy continues to make the occasional mistake, i think he'll be good in this game. meanwhile, texas a&m's players are probably counting the days until they no longer have to hear lame motivational speeches from franchione. EXCELSIOR!!!!!!!!
the pick: texas


(17) boise st at (14) hawaii - friday, 9:00 pm
boise state has been a better team than hawaii all year long, and tomorrow they're going to prove it on the field. hawaii's gotten lucky quite a few times versus inferior opponents like san jose state, while boise learned from an early loss and have improved greatly over the season. hopefully after this game we'll be able to stop hearing the inanity that is pro-BCS hawaii speech. then again, perhaps i should root for hawaii to win out and make the fiesta bowl so they can get a giant dump laid on their heads.
the pick: boise state


(8) va tech at (16) virginia - saturday, 12:00 pm
the battle for the commonwealth cup also decides one of the acc's two divisions (don't ask me which one, i don't care). so the winner will play boston college in the conference title game. virginia tech has been playing as well as anyone in the country right now, and as they say in vegas, don't bet against the streak. i think virginia will give them a tough game but beamerball wins out in the end, setting up what will be a much-anticipated rematch versus Mr. Overhyped.
the pick: va tech


(19) tennessee at kentucky - saturday, 1:30 pm
kentucky hasn't beaten tennessee in 23 years. so this is as important a game for the wildcats as their game against louisville was earlier in the season. with nothing else really to play for, i think kentucky will be very up for this game. however, i'm not sure how well they match up with tennessee, and also, they seem to be reeling the past few weeks. on the other hand, tennessee has a lot to play for, as a win will put them in the sec title game, to later receive 50 lashings from lsu.
the pick: tennessee


utah at (23) byu - saturday, 2:00 pm
byu wins the mountain west outright with a victory versus their rival in the battle for the beehive boot. the cougars will continue to play inspired football because john beck is the starter for the dolphins. one might think that since byu lost to ucla and ucla got beat down by utah, that utah will beat byu. no.
the pick: byu


oklahoma st. at (10) oklahoma - saturday, 3:30 pm
the big question will be how oklahoma bounces back after their humiliation versus texas tech. what was that anyway? i mean, oklahoma looked like they had never seen a forward pass before. anyway, oklahoma state has been one of those teams that has been close in games pretty much all year but finds ways to lose down the stretch. i don't expect them to reverse that trend versus their bedlam series brethren.
the pick: oklahoma


(6) georgia at georgia tech - saturday, 3:30 pm
georgia tech's chances of winning this game are significantly better now that reggie ball is no longer their quarterback. of course, chan gailey is still their head coach, so that evens things out. georgia is fully on a roll now, but will probably get shut out of the sec championship game, losing the east division to tennessee. this is actually a benefit to them though, as the loser of the title game always gets relegated to a lesser bowl, thus opening up the probability of a BCS bowl for georgia, much to UT's fans' sadness everywhere.
the pick: uga


florida st. at (12) florida - saturday, 5:00 pm
the once proud program of florida state has become something of a punchline lately. it's strange to say this, but the sooner bobby bowden retires, the sooner that program gets out of the dumper. the gators have better and faster athletes, and it helps their young team that they get this game at home. florida's pass defense has made less than adequate qb's look good, so drew weatherford could possibly have a decent game. this will be of no consequence.
the pick: florida


(3) missouri at (2) kansas - saturday, 8:00 pm
the game of the day features two of the most unlikely national championship contenders ever. the winner then has to get past the south division winner in the title game. ultimately, i think this will result in a knockout of both these teams from the national title race, opening the door for a west virginia team of questionable worthiness. i'll be pulling for kansas in this game, but i think chase daniel is the more complete quarterback, and missouri a slightly better team, and they'll get the win.
the pick: mizzou


alabama at (25) auburn - saturday, 8:00 pm
auburn has won five in a row in this suddenly lopsided series. this is largely what got mike shula fired. but what bama fans fail to realize is they simply don't get the same quality of recruits they used to get back in the days of bear bryant, or even gene stallings. this game is all alabama has left to salvage of a disappointing season. this season the crimson tide have actually stayed close in a lot of games versus superior opponents but can never seem to win them. saban will eventually get this program turned around, but right now, he just doesn't have the personnel.
the pick: auburn