Every Wednesday my LWOS mentor and current Marketing Director Donald King graces his Facebook friends with some of what he calls Humpday music. It’s usually some solid R&B anywhere from the ‘60’s to the ‘80’s. I have added many of those songs to my collection. As I was scanning through my library, I was wondering if I had any music that tied into what we do here with the national weekly preview. Anyone who really knows me knows that my music collection is very random, from Sinatra to R&B, to The Doors, to Bob Marley, to any significant rock of the ‘70’s, to some urban, to plenty of alternative rock of the last 25 years. But the one thing there will be plenty of in my music library from any decade is Springsteen. So in honor of Bruce Springsteen’s recent 66th birthday, he/we bring you, (by title), this week’s national college football preview:
Let The Music Be Your Guide; College Football Preview Week 7
UCLA @ Stanford; Thurs 10:30pm EDT ESPN; This one gets Bruce’s song, Prove It All Night. UCLA has had good runs under Jim Mora, but Stanford has been an annual stumbling block. In fact the Bruins have lost seven in a row to the Cardinal and have been outscored 221-96 during that stretch. Stanford meanwhile has an offense that has found its stride, averaging 46 points per game the last three games and rolling up 570 yards in a route of Arizona. Both teams had a bye week last week. The good news for UCLA is they have never lost coming off a bye week under Jim Mora. The Cardinal have no conference losses yet and the Bruins already have one so if UCLA wants to stay viable in the Pac 12 South they will have to Prove It All Night Thursday.
Iowa @ Northwestern; Sat 12noon EDT ABC/ESPN; We Are Alive; While Michigan State, Ohio State and Michigan grab the conference headlines right now, these two teams are very alive and this game will either give Iowa a commanding lead Big 10 West or give Northwestern a tie for the division lead as the Wildcats lick their wounds after being shut out by Michigan last week. Expect both teams to exist mainly in the ground game; Northwestern because it doesn’t have a viable passing attack and Iowa because they have running back Jordan Canzeri who rushed for 256 yards on 43 carries last week.
West Virginia @ Baylor; Sat 12noon EDT Fox; The Promised Land; Baylor is #2 in some polls, (tied for #2 in this week’s LWOS poll), and it is the Bears’ highest ranking ever. Baylor had its share of off the field issues during the offseason, but now the Bears are a real high wire act as the only team in the country to be in the Top 10 in both rushing and passing offense. They also lead the country in yards per play and points per game. WVA gave Baylor its only loss last season keeping the Bears from the playoff promised land. But the Mountaineers are now coming off back to back losses and quarterback Skyler Howard has turned the ball over eight times in the last two games. Could be an entertaining day…for Bears fans.
Alabama @ Texas A&M; Sat 3:30pm EDT CBS; Long Walk Home; Texas A&M is undefeated and has an offense that is humming right now. Quarterback Kyle Allen leads the SEC in passing efficiency and has 14 touchdowns to only two interceptions. The Aggies have two of the best receivers in the conference and they are going to challenge Bama by spreading the defense wide. Meanwhile it’s been a chippy few weeks in Tuscaloosa. An early conference loss, Nick Saban has been lashing out at the media and even with back to back conference wins the Tide are still sitting in the middle of SEC West pack. Bama has the #2 passing defense in the SEC so the Tide will be leaning heavily on that. A second conference loss would mean a long walk home.
Michigan State @ Michigan; Sat 3:30pm EDT ESPN; The Rising; No one saw this coming in the preseason. Michigan State has struggled against lesser opponents this season but is still sitting at 6-0 and hey, winning is winning right? Like his team, quarterback Connor Cook has been steady if not spectacular, with 12 touchdowns and only two interceptions while pacing well behind last year’s yardage stats. And here come the Wolverines. Most of us thought Jim Harbaugh could turn the program around at some point, but holy cow. In half a season he has the program rising into conference title contention with one of the best defenses in recent memory in Ann Arbor. He’s still “quirky,” quoting Simba the lion in press conferences and talking about the need to have calloused feet to be a good player. But when your defense has come up with three straight shutout wins and your program is rising way ahead of schedule, weird becomes colorful. The offense needs to improve to have a chance, but this is a highlight game again.
Florida @ LSU; Sat 3:30pm EDT ESPN; Land of Hopes and Dreams; Two undefeated conference opponents going head to head should be enough of a story line, but oh what a week it has been in Gainesville. Gators starting quarterback Will Grier is out for 12 months following a NCAA suspension for a failed PED test and now defensive back Deiondre Porter has been arrested on charges he fired a gun at his pregnant girlfriend. Oh, and by the way Gators, you have to face the top running back in the country this weekend in LSU’s Leonard Fournette. He would be the one that has more rushing yards himself than 70 other FBS teams so far this season. Florida’s defense will be the best LSU has faced all season. The Gators have improved in every defensive category over last year and are giving up only 14 points per game. Still, with a slim lead in the SEC East, if Florida wants to continue its path to the Land of Hopes and Dreams, it is going to need a big performance out of untested quarterback Treon Harris.
USC @ Notre Dame; Sat 7:30pm EDT NBC; Darkness on the Edge of Town; One of the greatest football rivalries in the land is having its storyline consumed by the chaos at Southern Cal. The Trojans were all but knocked out of the Pac 12 race with a stunning upset at the hands of Washington last week, followed by the disarray in the program with the firing of head coach Steve Sarkisian. To make matters more awkward, an NBC cameraman showed up at SC’s practice Wednesday wearing a Notre Dame shirt. One thing SC does not lack is talent. One thing they do miss is cohesion from one game to the next. That falls upon Clay Helton to fix as he enters his second stint as interim head coach in just under two years. Notre Dame rebounded well from the loss at Clemson with a decisive win over Navy last week. The growth of C.J. Prosise as a running back means young quarterback DeShone Kizer does not have to put the team on his shoulders. Here is a stat for the Trojan faithful to try to find their way out of the darkness. Notre Dame has lost the week after the Navy game five of the last seven years.
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