40 Acres Sports

It’s time to get this started! Can’t wait!

Man, and I thought getting down there late Thursday afternoon would be good.

The biggest game of the regular season goes down this Saturday when Texas hosts Ohio State. And since the AP moved Texas up to #2 today, this is the first meeting between the #1 and #2 teams during the regular season in 10 years. The only other big game of note this week is #19 Penn State taking on #4 Notre Dame. Let’s see if Notre Dame can play a little closer to their expectations.

And just to remind everyone, I was undefeated last weekend with my picks and I expect this weekend to be no different.

Here’s this week’s picks:

Related Links

• Last week’s winners
• SI.com Top 25 Scoreboard
• SI.com Big 12 Scoreboard

Want to check out what simulations and data think of this weekends matchup of #1 versus #2? Well then this if for you. Below we have a game forecast from Statshark.com. Everything from the simulation looks pretty tight and has the average score at Texas 27.0 and Ohio State 25.9.

It also looks like Jamaal Charles has the edge in the running back spot, but Troy Smith has the edge at quarterback. I guess if you are a gambling man it is telling you take Ohio State. Personally, I think it is too close to call.

Thanks to Ryan Jackson from Orion Data Analysis for the hook-up.

At the Ohio State press luncheon yesterday, head coach Jim Tressel revealed that he voted Texas #1 in the USA Today Coaches Poll. This week Ohio State received 41 first place votes while Texas received 14.

This is probably just one of those typical coaches’ tactics where they try to make you think they actually think the other team is better. Plus, he knows it will all be settled this week.

Here is some audio as well as his quote about ranking Texas #1.

“They are very good and everyone knows it,� Tressel said of Texas. “They are the defending national champions and I’ve got them ranked No. 1 on our ballot because I think they deserve that. I think they deserve that from top to bottom. I think they deserve that from a program standpoint, they deserve that from a special teams standpoint, from an offensive and defensive standpoint. They have excellent speed which is what we all seek. They demonstrate great toughness, which is what we try and teach and try and recruit. And you can tell that they understand the game.�

Update: It looks like Tressel didn’t vote Texas #1. And what, he has the Director of Player Development making his selections? What kind of integrity can a coaches poll have if the coach isn’t even selecting the teams?

Source

Our Thoughts

Matt – Man, those guys from ESPN still haven’t got on the ball and updated their Heisman picks for this year. Slackers.

My number one spot stays the same this week with Adrian Peterson, mainly because he is the only reason they won this past weekend and he scored the winning touchdown on a 70+ yard reception (did you see that block on that play? wow).

Based on Brady Quinn’s sub-par performance against Georgia Tech, I have dropped him down to the #4 spot and moved Troy Smith and Chris Leak up one spot each. Troy Smith was very impressive this weekend, throwing for 3 touchdowns and 297 yards. Most of his deep balls were a little under-thrown, but with the speed he has at receiver it really didn’t matter too much.

I still have Kenny Irons at #5 but was very tempted to move him to the #4 and move Quinn all the way down to #5. Irons’ performance was pretty impressive, almost rushing for 10 yards per carry. I am going to wait though on moving him up until I see how he performs against LSU in two weeks. If he has a big game there I will probably move him into my top 3.

ESPN.com is reporting that [tag]Mack Brown[/tag] has decided to sit out both [tag]Tarell Brown[/tag] and [tag]Tyrell Gatewood[/tag] for Saturday’s matchup against Ohio State. As devastating as this news is, it is probably the right thing for Mack Brown to do. With all the looking-the-other-way that goes on in college football these days, I applaud Mack for making the tough decision. Even though legally Brown may have been able to play, there is just too much uncertainty around the whole situation.

“As a head coach, No. 1 you have to look at the legal system and cooperate with the authorities completely,” Brown said. “No. 2, you must go through the university because that’s who we work for. No. 3, you are concerned about distractions for your football team. We want to move forward because it’s No. 1 playing No. 2 and it’s such an exciting game for all of us.

“No. 4, you care about the three young men involved and their families. We will try to help the families individually and move forward with our team for the ballgame on Saturday.”

Mack did not say whether or not the suspensions would last past Saturday’s game, but if they are going to miss one game we can probably stand for them to miss a few more.

Hopefully now we can all put this situation behind us and start focusing on the game.

Source

A loss of over 18 plays per game? Wow!

If the stakes weren’t high enough already, the Ohio State at Texas matchup this Saturday is officially a #1 versus #2 battle. The Texas Longhorns were already #2 in the USA Today Coaches poll, but now they are also #2 in the AP poll as Notre Dame slides down to #4.

This will mark the first time in 10 years that the #1 and #2 teams in the AP poll have met during the regular season. That year #2 Florida State edged out #1 Florida 24-21.

The Longhorns are 4-0 in #1 versus #2 battles, the most recent one taking place when Texas beat USC in the Rose Bowl to win the BCS National Championship. The Ohio State Buckeyes are 2-0 in these games, their latest coming when they beat Miami in the 2002 Fiesta Bowl.

This really comes as a shock to me though. With all the love Notre Dame gets from the media who would have thought they would dare move Notre Dame down in the polls after a victory. I didn’t think they were that level-headed.

So get ready. Saturday is only 4 days away!

Our Thoughts

Matt – Well I ended up shuffling around my Top 25 quite a bit this week after finally getting to see the teams play. I only had one team drop out, Alabama, mainly because I felt South Carolina had a better showing than them. Obviously I was most impressed with Tennessee, as I jump them from #24 into my top 10. As a result of their drubbing of Cal, I am now moving Cal to the #25 spot and may drop them out completely if they don’t step up their game. Texas, Ohio State, and USC held true to form and dominated their respective opponents. As good as Ohio State looked early, they might be the most suspect out of the top 3 mainly because of their poor defense.

I also dropped Notre Dame down quite a few spots with their sub-par performance against Georgia Tech. And if it weren’t for a questionable personal foul call (Reggie Ball wouldn’t have gotten that call) and a 3rd down CATCH by Calvin Johnson that was overturned that in the game, Notre Dame might sitting down out the bottom of the poll with Cal right now.

Texas gets their toughest test of the season this week against Ohio State and with all of the controversy right now with Tarell Brown who knows what is going to happen. I definitely feel nervous going into this game, but I feel a lot better after seeing what NIU’s Garrett Wolfe did to their defense.

Other Big XII teams I have in the top 25 include Nebraska at 17, Oklahoma at 21, and Texas Tech at 22.

Related Links

• Last week’s rankings
• AP Top 25
• USA Today Coaches Top 25