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Week 7 Preview

Preview of Week 7

 

This week has started off with three losses, two are significant, one was expected. The Ole Ball Coach, Steve Spurrier has stepped down at South Carolina. He excelled at Duke when no one else could, he then took over at Florida and changed the face of the SEC with his “Fun and Gun” type of offense. After trying his hand in the pros with the Washington Redskins, he returned to the college ranks at South Carolina. He’ll be remembered for his fast style of offense and for getting under the skin of everyone that he coached against, mainly Tennessee. “You can’t spell Citrus without UT”, and “I know why Peyton Manning came back for his senior year, he wanted to be the first three time MVP of the Citrus Bowl.” UT fans might be the only ones glad to see him go. At Florida QB Will Grier has been suspended for a year for using PED’s. Why is a QB using PED’s? It just doesn’t make any sense. With UF going up against LSU this is going to cause Coach McElwain to stay up at nights. The other loss is USC-W has let Coach Sarkisian go because of his drinking problem. Things are going wrong in Southern California and all the indications point to Pat Hayden. He’s trying to hire someone who can capture the magic of the Coach Carrol days, he is swinging for the fences and he’s missing every time. His handling of Sarkisian is a classic case of what not to do. Whatever he does next is going to be wrong, but it will be entertaining, at least for us here at CigarSmokinFootball.com. Why is Pat Hayden still on the selection committee? The third loss was Maryland firing Randy Edsall as football coach. Somebody out there cares.

017(10) Alabama vs. (9) Texas A&M– The daughter is hyped up for this game. Last year, when Alabama stomped the Aggies 59-0, she promptly switched sides and donned her Crimson Tide Sweatshirt. She is hoping this year will allow her to wear the Maroon and White all game long. Texas A&M is currently undefeated and tied for the SEC West lead with LSU. They’ve ridden this season on the arm of QB Allen and his 169.0 passer rating. A&M is a pass happy team, running the ball has been a bit of a042 challenge but passing the ball is a different story. This will be the first time the Aggies will be challenged by a dominant defense, but it’s a defense that is subject to giving up pass plays. After dropping two straight to the Tide, the Corps is looking for a win. Alabama, on the other hand, has struggled to hold on to the football. Against Ole Miss, they gave the game away with five turnovers, then against Arkansas they turned it over three times, but still won. Should the Crimson Tide players heed the wise words of John Heisman, “Its better to have died a young boy than to fumble this ball”, then the outcome of this game will go their way. Bama has a dominant running game and the weakness of the Aggies is their ability to stop the run. So, if St. Saban is looking for advice, here it is;- Run Derrick Henry until his legs cramp up so bad that he can’t stand up. Keep that A&M offense off the field, and, under no circumstances, allow this game to become a shootout. If this becomes a high flying circus, Alabama will see its dreams of winning the SEC West go down the tubes and I will not be enjoying my after game cigar. I will have to endure a year of heckling by The Daughter and she is very good and laying it on me. Granddaddy is very proud of teaching her to be a great smart aleck. CSF is picking Alabama, no matter how bleak it’s looking.

139(12) Michigan vs. (7) Michigan State– Michigan State in the past has been called Michigan’s little231 brother. That did not sit well with the Spartans, so for the past six years or so, they have dominated the Wolverines. At the start of the season there was no reason to think Big Green wouldn’t walk all over the Maize and Blue. Then the UM players started believing what Coach Harbaugh was teaching. Since that moment the Wolverines have pitched three straight shut outs, run the ball all over the field, and they actually started completing passes. Now the most dangerous team coming into the game are the Wolverines. This was not supposed to happen. Michigan State figured all they had to do was beat Oregon in the second game of the season and they’d be able to coast until they met up with Ohio State. Judging by their recent performances, playing down to the competition, it has become obvious that they are coasting. They had to suffer through injuries on both sides of the ball and that has resulted in their struggles against bottom dwellers Purdue and Rutgers. Things are not looking good for Sparta. The defense of the Spartans has got to recapture their dominant form, stopping the run must be the number one priority, make Michigan pass. Michigan needs to keep doing what they’re doing. The heart says to pick the Spartans, but the head is going with the Wolverines.

431USC vs. (14) Notre Dame– Some might say that USC losing Sarkisian before playing the Golden Domers is the definition of bad timing. CSF says the opposite, this might be the best thing that could have happened to the Trojans. It was obvious that Sarkisian was being out-coached. Washington, who’s coached by Peterson, who interviewed for the USC job but was turned down (way to go Pat Hayden), out-played and out-schemed the Trojans all game long. Stanford pretty much walked all over USC. Sarkisian has not been completely involved with the program for a while. Now they get the chance to start over and show the world what they’re made of. What better way to make a statement than to beat Notre Dame? USC-W has a QB in Cody Kessler who had people talking Heisman, but he has not lived up to the hype. The team has talent galore, but they’ve got to get it together. The time for coming together is now. Remember, it worked last time their coach was fired mid-season. Notre Dame lost to their stiffest competition at Clemson, and they’ve struggled with Virginia and Georgia Tech. They did well playing Navy and UMass. Some say ND is a championship caliber team, but have yet to show it. They lost their starting Running Back in week one, and then starting QB Zaire went down with a broken ankle. The question the Irish have to answer is, are they living on the glory days of the past, or are they really a high caliber team? So far this year it appears they are floating on the days of yore. CSF is picking USC and it has little to do with the fact that we never pick Notre Dame.

310UCLA vs. (15) Stanford– UCLA has a Stanford problem. Since 2008 the Bruins have found the Cardinal 055standing in their way of achieving the PAC-12 crown. In the 2012 Conference Championship game, Stanford beat them. Last year the PAC-12 South crown was theirs to lose, and Stanford beat them, 31-10. The last time UCLA beat Stanford? 2007, in Coach Harbaugh’s first game at Stanford’s helm. Saturday they’ll meet again on the farm. UCLA has dealt with quite a few injuries and switching players around to different positions. This does not bode well for the Bruins for their undoing in the past has been stopping the power running game, which is what the Tree Team does. Stanford is not going to hide anything that they’re doing. It’s straight up football, they try to establish the running game, which sets up the pass. Nothing fancy, no tricks, just run the ball. Stanford was mistake prone against Northwestern and it cost them. Since that time they have cleaned up their act and excelled. UCLA started off the season with their Freshman QB being called “Chosen Rosen”. Then the pressure hit and he slipped until he found himself against Arizona. If UCLA is going to beat their nemesis, “Chosen Rosen” has to be mistake free. Stanford has been on a mission since their opening loss. CSF doesn’t see any reason to not pick them Saturday, so we are. Stanford continues their mastery of UCLA.

Short Smokes:

Ole Miss is going to be tested by Memphis, but should still win. Hotty Toddy!

Baylor is going to run up the score against West “By Golly” Virginia

Louisville just might upset Florida State….might. Might not.

Iowa looks to stay undefeated against Northwestern.

Oklahoma is looking at their second loss against K-State.

TCU will score a lot in rolling over Iowa State.

Let’s see if Clemson can keep from “Clemsonizing” against Boston College

Florida will be without their starting QB against LSU, shouldn’t matter. All they have to do is stop Fournette, no on has done it yet, but it’s all they have to do.

Penn State will take a crack at Ohio State

Arizona State does not have a good record playing Utah in Salt Lake City. Doubt it’ll improve.

Auburn, after defeating their Bye Week, will play Kentucky. Notice, I didn’t pick a winner.

Wisconsin and Purdue both need a win, Badgers will get it

Pitt is in the perfect situation to defeat Georgia Tech

Will Nebraska give up a fourth quarter lead against Minnesota? Yes, they will.

Oregon State takes on a resurgent Washington State

North Alabama, who is now ranked 17th, will be looking to take down UNC- Pembroke. Roar Lions!

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