BOSTON COLLEGE GETS ITS SHOT AT STRUGGLING POWERHOUSE USC IN THIS YEAR’S EMERALD BOWL-By William Queen for Football Reporters Online

(photo: © BrokenSphere / Wikimedia Commons) 
Where has the season gone? Looking at this bowl game, I feel like I’m stuck in a college football nightmare. It wasn’t long ago that USC seemed like they owned the Rose Bowl and Pete Carroll said that every year’s team was his “best ever”. The Emerald Bowl doesn’t exactly cut it. It’s really just a lame attempt of making it sound like it’s a relevant bowl, so you can bet that Trojan nation is not too happy about this one.
 
Yet, what a great opportunity for Boston College. For what has been a powerhouse of a football team, USC finally falls down to a December bowl game and the Eagles are faced with a chance at history.
 
Current Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez fled to the NFL following his junior season at USC and after some media attention between him and Pete Carroll, top high school prospect Matt Barkley was the one lining up under center. Despite all the hype, Barkley is still a freshman and led the Pac-10 with 12 interceptions. And though the Trojans 23rd in the nation defensively, the main problem has been consistency. Two of their four losses consisted of their opponent scoring 47+ points; not the defense we’re used too.
 
Boston College, on the other hand, has a forceful 18th ranked defense and looks to keep Barkley’s struggles at a high. And because of a 14th ranked rushing defense, I expect the Eagles to force the game out of the hands of USC’s talented backs and into Matt Barkley’s, a tough challenge for the freshman’s first bowl game. When it comes to defending the pass though, that’s where the Eagles fall through the cracks. Allowing 2,568 passing yards this season, this may be USC’s best shot at moving the ball. If they can do that, Boston College is in trouble.
 
Not exactly the most reliable offense, Boston College doesn’t have a consistent quarterback in Dave Shinskie and will have to rely heavily on running back Montel Harris to carry them through this game. With 13 touchdowns this season, Harris is most defiantly their best shot at outscoring Barkley and the USC offense. However, Harris can’t do it alone. As I mentioned earlier, Dave Shinskie is a concern and he’s going to have to step up it up through the air if they want to have a realistic shot at pulling off the upset.
 
History shows that since 2001, both teams win 82% of the time when scoring 20+ points and tend to struggle when it’s a low-scoring game. So expect this one to be a battle of field position; whoever can take advantage of end-of-half field goals and turnovers will have a definite edge. 
 
For a prediction, I think that Boston College will hang tough most the game, but will slip away as it gets late in the game. Barkley will have a solid performance with 3 touchdowns and an interception, two being to tight end Anthony McCoy and the other to receiver Damian Williams, and back Joe McKnight will score one on the ground, all leading to a 31-17 Trojan victory.

Week Eleven NCAA Predictions

By Max Baez
Reporter for Football Reporters Online

Ohio State @ Michigan

Yes, the great rivalry, Ohio State vs. Michigan……oh wait, one of these teams is pretty bad, the other is consistently overrated. Great. Okay, well it’s nice that these two still absolutely hate each other, making this game a whole lot more exciting. Michigan has been absolutely terrible the last month and a half, but they are at home, and the Big House is never easy to play in. However, Ohio State has pretty much owned Michigan over the last decade, and this will be Ohio State’s last opportunity to win a game this season, as they will get blown out by whoever they play in the Rose Bowl. Ohio State wins big, and Rich Rod gets to wonder if he keeps his job.

Ohio State 24, Michigan 7


LSU @ Ole Miss

The third and fourth. Ole Miss has been a disappointment, going from a top 10 team to unranked, with Jevan Snead being the biggest disappointment on the team. LSU has a good record, and wins the games its supposed to, although rarely looks that great doing it. I think this game has upset written all over it. Ole Miss looked pretty good last week in disposing Tennessee, and LSU’s penchant for being “just good enough” will cause them problems in this road game against a talented team. Look for Dexter McCluster to have another massive game in a big win for the Rebels.

Ole Miss 20, LSU 14


Cal @ Stanford

The Big Game! Cal looked good last week against Arizona, well, Arizona blew the game, but at least Cal showed some signs of life. Stanford though, damn! The way they beat USC, absolutely wrecking them and embarrassing them, was incredible. They are clearly a team that gets better every week, and at this point, I think a lot of people will vote for Toby Gerhart for Heisman. The Cardinal are one of the hottest teams in the country and are clicking at the right time, as they should be able to put up a lot of points and rule this rivalry for this season.

Stanford 38, Cal 20

UConn @ Notre Dame

I think at this point, the writing is on the wall for Charlie Weis. He simply hasn’t gotten the job done, and his recruiting victories haven’t meant a whole lot on the field. Notre Dame wants to be among the elite programs in America, and it simply isn’t going to happen under Weis. This is the type of game the Irish have lost under Weis too: home games against smaller programs with decent, but not great, teams. I can’t even count how many times the Irish have lost games like this the past few weeks. Look for a UConn win, and for Weis’ really hot seat to heat up more.

UConn 23, Notre Dame 20

Oregon @ Arizona

I was certainly very wrong about Arizona last week. When making my predictions, I forgot I was talking about Arizona, the team that shows life, but then chokes it away when it matters most. The bad news for Arizona is that they still control their own destiny to go to the Rose Bowl, which surely means that my alma mater will choke away the game this week against the high-octane Oregon offense. This should be an offensive shootout, but Arizona’s defense has struggled at times this year, and my gut instinct just tells me that Arizona will only start winning again when they don’t control their own destiny. After this week, they won’t (which, in turn, means they will beat ASU next week.)

Oregon 41, Arizona 34


Five other games to watch: UNC @ Boston College, Oklahoma @ Texas Tech, Air Force @ BYU, Penn State @ Michigan State, Kansas @ Texas