NCAA Predictions Week 8

By Max Baez
For Football Reporters Online


Arkansas @ Ole Miss

Ole Miss has to be feeling pressure at this point. They’ve gone from highly acclaimed, to a top 5 team, to unranked. Quite a whirlwind. Arkansas gained as much momentum as you can from a loss, barely losing on the road to Florida in a game where many felt Arkansas was slighted by the refs. The story for Ole Miss has been the struggles of Jevan Snead, and while the Arkansas defense is respectable, it isn’t dominant. I think Snead has a bit of a revitalization this week, and that Houston Nutt leads the Rebels to victory over his old team.

Ole Miss 31, Arkansas 21


Clemson @ Miami

For whatever reason, Miami is only a 5.5 point favorite in this game. I don’t really understand how, considering Miami has looked great all year (with one exception in Blacksburg) while has mired in their normal mediocrity. Sure, Clemson hasn’t lost a game by more than 4 points, but they are 3-3, and one of their losses is to Maryland: that’s inexcusable. Look for Jacoby Harris and the Miami offense to have a great day, and look for Clemson to lose by more than 4 points.

Miami 28, Clemson 13


Penn State @ Michigan

This is a really intriguing game. Penn State has a very strong defense, but the offense is definitely a bit lackluster. On Michigan’s side, the opposite is the case: offense looks really good (especially when you consider they are starting a true freshman quarterback), while the defense looks so-so. I think Rich Rodriguez is a jerk, but for whatever reason, I have more confidence in this Michigan team than most. It’s probably because I’m that impressed with Tate Forcier. Watching the Penn State defense play the Michigan offense will be extremely exciting, and its best that this game is in the Big House because Penn State is probably the better of these two teams. To me, this game could go either way, but I actually like Michigan to pull the big upset. I’m going with this because at crunch time, I think Michigan is more likely to make the big play, even if their quarterback is so young, and because the game isn’t at Beaver Stadium.

Michigan 20, Penn State 17


TCU @ BYU

This is probably the best mid major matchup of the season. BYU, and their dynamic offense, against the tough defense of TCU. Both have already beaten BCS conference schools, with BYU topping Oklahoma and TCU winning on the road against Clemson. This should be a great one, especially with such a dynamic BYU offense going up against the tough TCU defense. However, TCU seems a bit stronger against the run, and BYU is an especially strong passing team. I expect Max Hall to get it done in the end, and for the Cougars to get a huge home win.

BYU 24, TCU 20


Oregon State @ USC

The only reason why this game is in this article is because USC has lost two of three to Oregon State. I’ve got a ton of respect for Mike Riley and the Oregon State program, but I don’t think they are as good as they were last year. They do have a decent record, and some decent wins against Arizona State and Stanford, but they will be no match for USC this year. Besides, USC only gets caught off guard once in a season, and UDub took care of that. Big day for the USC offense, and while Oregon State will probably put some points up (especially on the ground), USC will put up more.

USC 45, Oregon State 24


Five other games to watch: South Florida @ Pitt, Boston College @ Notre Dame, Tennessee @ Alabama, Auburn @ LSU, Texas @ Missouri

SIX CAA FOOTBALL SQUADS AMONG NATION’S TOP-25
From: CAA Media Relations
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                                                                                                                 

 
RICHMOND, Va. (October 22, 2009) -- Six CAA Football squads appeared in each of this week’s two national Top-25 polls, while Villanova’s Fred Maldonado earned national defensive recognition by the College Sporting News.  Maldonado’s honor was the sixth such award handed out to a CAA Football athlete this season, and the second to a Wildcat player.  Richmond remained at the top of both polls, while Villanova, William and Mary and New Hampshire helped extend the league’s string of four teams among the Top-10 to eight-straight weeks.  Below are some notes on CAA Football among both of the nation’s Top-25 polls.
 
Maldonado earned the College Sporting News Defensive All-Star honor after helping lead Villanova to a 27-0 shutout-win on the road over defending league champion James Madison.  Maldonado, who was named the CAA Football Defensive Player of the Week Monday, was the leading tackler for the Villanova defense by racking up 11 total tackles, including six solo stops.  The West Chester, Pa., native also logged 1.5 tackles for a loss of seven yards and picked up one of James Madison’s two fumbles on the day.  The Wildcats’ defense recorded its first shutout since 2002, while the shutout at Bridgeforth Stadium was the first since Appalachian State blanked the Dukes at home in 1990.
 
Richmond’s No. 1 ranking, Villanova and William and Mary at No. 4 and 5, respectively, and New Hampshire’s spot in the Top-10 are among the nation’s longest active streaks for Top-10 rankings.  The Spiders have been part of the Sports Network’s Top-10 for 26-straight weeks which trails only Appalachian State’s 56 consecutive weeks and Northern Iowa’s mark of 37-straight weeks.  Villanova’s 17-straight weeks in the Top-10 is right behind Richmond, while New Hampshire’s string of 10 weeks and William and Mary’s mark of seven-straight ranks seventh and eighth-longest, respectively.
 
Richmond held the top-spot in this week’s Sports Network Top-25 after its second road-win in two weeks.  Villanova jumped two spots to No. 4 after a shutout win on the road over James Madison.  William and Mary also advanced two spots to No. 5 following its bye week.  New Hampshire fell to No. 9 after its loss at Massachusetts, while the Minutemen used the win to jump to No. 14.  Delaware, which won big at Towson, moved up to No. 19.  James Madison fell out of the Top-25 for the first time in 50 weeks, but still received votes as did both Hofstra and Maine.
 
The Sports Network Top-25 Notes...
-- CAA Football shows six ranked teams in this week’s poll.
 
-- Four of the eight editions of this year’s poll have included six league squads, including three-straight weeks from Sept. 21-Oct. 5.
 
-- The league’s six ranked teams are three more than any other league in the country has this week.
 
-- Richmond’s No. 1 ranking helps place the league atop the poll for the seventh-straight week in 2009.
 
-- CAA Football’s strength in this week’s poll continues to show by making up four of the Top-9 spots, two more than any other league has in the Top-10.
 
--  CAA Football also boasts three of the Top-5 in this week’s poll, while the remaining two teams are from the Big Sky (Montana) and Missouri Valley (Southern Illinois).
 
-- CAA Football has now had at least six teams ranked in 22 of the last 23 editions of the Sports Network poll.
 
-- The league has had at least three teams ranked every week since the poll’s inception and two teams among the poll’s Top-10 in 63-straight weeks and 89 of the last 93 editions.
 
Richmond again was the No. 1 team on this week’s FCS Coaches’ Poll, marking now seven-straight weeks at the top.  Villanova jumped up to No. 4 after its shutout of James Madison on the road.  William and Mary, which will welcome James Madison to Zable Stadium this weekend, jumped to No. 5 after having last weekend off.  New Hampshire dropped to No. 8 after suffering its first loss of the season, while Massachusetts moved up four spots to No. 16 with its win over New Hampshire.  Delaware, ranked at No. 23,  showed up in the Coaches’ poll for the first time this season.  James Madison fell out of the Coaches’ Top-25, but still received 31 points in the polling.
 
FCS Coaches’ Top-25 Notes...
-- CAA Football shows six in this week’s edition of the Top-25 for the fifth-straight week.
 
-- The league opened the 2009 campaign with eight among the Top-25, then had seven in the poll each of the first two regular season weeks (Sept. 7-14).
 
-- Richmond’s No. 1 ranking gives the league seven-straight weeks atop the 2009 rankings, after it owned No. 1 for 11-straight weeks in 2008.
 
-- The league holds four of the Top-8 spots in this week’s poll, marking eight-straight editions the league has had at least four in the Top-10.
 
-- Since the FCS Coaches Poll debuted in 2007 CAA Football has had at least four squads ranked in every edition (36 weeks).
 
Fans and members of the media can now follow CAA Football on Twitter:  twitter.com/The_CAAFootball.  Logon now and “follow” the league to get the latest news and notes from one of the top College Football Conferences in the country.  Fans and members of the media can also now see CAA Football’s new media efforts on YouTube: www.youtube.com/CAAFootball.  Logon now and subscribe to see the latest video productions from CAA Football.  Checkout The CAA Football Pressbox located as a button on CAASports.com as well as in the menus down the left-hand side of the football page, The CAA Football Pressbox is the official source for all CAA Football information.
 
Below is a comparison showing both National Polls released Oct. 19.
 
Sports Network Top 25           Ranking            FCS Coaches’ Top 25
Richmond (131)_____________ No. 1____________ Richmond (28)
Montana (5)________________ No. 2_________________ Montana
Southern Illinois (1)__________ No. 3___________ Southern Illinois
Villanova___________________ No. 4________________ Villanova
William and Mary___________ No. 5_________ William and Mary
Northern Iowa______________ No. 6____________ Northern Iowa
Elon_______________________ No. 7_____________________ Elon
Appalachian State___________ No. 8___________ New Hampshire
New Hampshire_____________ No. 9_________ Appalachian State
South Carolina State_________ No. 10______ South Carolina State
South Dakota State__________ No. 11___________ McNeese State
McNeese State_____________ No. 12_________ Jacksonville State
Jacksonville State___________ No. 13________ South Dakota State
Massachusetts_____________ No. 14_________ Central Arkansas
Stephen F. Austin___________ No. 15_____________ Weber State
Weber State_______________ No. 16___________ Massachusetts
Colgate____________________ No. 17__________________ Colgate
Central Arkansas____________ No. 18_________ Stephen F. Austin
Delaware__________________ No. 19_________________ Cal Poly
Cal Poly____________________ No. 20_________ Eastern Kentucky
Eastern Kentucky___________ No. 21_______ Eastern Washington
Holy Cross_________________ No. 22_______________ Holy Cross
Liberty____________________ No. 23________________ Delaware
Northern Arizona___________ No. 24____________ Eastern Illinois
Eastern Illinois______________ No. 25_________ Northern Arizona
 
The Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) has announced its second weekly ECAC® Lambert Meadowlands Football Poll presented by FieldTurf Tarkett of the 2009 season.  Defending national champion Richmond (6-0) grabs the top spot in the Championship Subdivision poll with Villanova (6-1) second and William and Mary (5-1) third.
 
The ECAC will release the weekly poll in each of the four divisions (Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), Division II and Division III) and the final poll in January will determine the trophy winners. The first place teams in the final poll will be presented with their Lambert Meadowlands Awards during the Eastern College Football Awards Banquet, held at the Meadowlands Sports Complex.
 
Established in 1936 as the Lambert Trophy to recognize supremacy in Eastern college football, the award has since grown to recognize the best team in the East in the Bowl Subdivision. In 1957, the Lambert Cup was created to recognize non-Division I-A teams, and in 1966 a Division III award was added. In 1983, the Lambert family decided the Meadowlands Sports Complex would be the best organization with a sincere and involved interest in college athletics to sponsor and manage the award, and since that time, the awards have been known as the Lambert Meadowlands Awards.
 
To be eligible for the Lambert Meadowlands Award, a school must be located in the East or play at least half of its schedule against eligible Lambert teams. The territory includes New York, New Jersey, New England and Pennsylvania, while teams in the bordering states of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia and the District of Columbia qualify if at least half of their schedule features eligible teams. Teams in Eastern-based football conferences, regardless of location, qualify if at least half their schedule is against Lambert eligible teams.
 
Below is the ECAC Lambert Cup Football Championship Subdivision Poll released Oct. 19.
 
Rank            Team                              Record       Points
No. 1           Richmond                             6-0           220
No. 2           Villanova                              6-1           196
No. 3           William and Mary              5-1           164
No. 4           New Hampshire                  5-1           136
No. 5            Colgate                                 7-0           122
No. 6           Massachusetts                    4-2           114
No. 7           Delaware                             5-2              98
No. 8            Holy Cross                            5-1              72
No. 9            Lafayette                              5-1              46
No. 10         Penn                                     3-2              14
 
 

The Northwest Report Week 8

By Nick Haswell For Football Reporters Online

So much for this past weekend being a non-descript one in the Northwest college football landscape. With several of the teams having the week off and not many enticing matchups, Week 7 looked like a weekend to be forgotten. Instead, it will be a weekend to be remembered in the Northwest by fans, and one to be forgotten by several Northwest teams.
Here are some short recaps from each game this past weekend:

Game of the Week #1-Eastern Washington at Montana: It was hard to find one Game of the Week, as there were three great games this weekend. The first one matched up the Eastern Washington Eagles (4-2) against the top team in the Big Sky Conference, the Montana Grizzlies (5-0). Eastern needed the win to keep pace at the top of the Big Sky standings and for any hope of a postseason berth (depending on their appeal to the NCAA on this season’s postseason ban). Eastern took an early 10-2 lead, but Montana took a 20-13 lead into the half. The Griz scored another TD half way through the 3rd quarter to go up by 14, but the Eagles ended up tying the score before the end of the quarter. An 82 yard punt return for a TD by Marc Mariani put Montana back on top before EWU tied the score at 34 with fewer than 5 minutes left. Facing a 4th and Goal at the Eagles 1 with a little over a minute left, Montana’s Bobby Hauck went for the TD rather than kicking a go-ahead field goal. Chase Reynolds bowled over a defender at the goal line for the TD and the Grizzlies held on for the 41-34 win.

Game of the Week #2-South Dakota at Montana State: Just 166 miles to the east of Missoula, another great game was taking place in Bozeman between the South Dakota Coyotes (3-3) and the Montana State Bobcats (3-2). The game winded up going to overtime with the teams tied at 24. The Bobcats scored on a 36 yard TD pass from Cody Kempt, starting his first game of 2009, to Elvis Akpla on the 2nd play of overtime. South Dakota drove to the 3 yard line on their possession in OT, but a pass on 4th and Goal bounced off a wide open receiver’s hands in the end zone, allowing MSU to escape with a 31-24 win.
Game of the Week #3-Washington at Arizona State: The Washington Huskies (3-3) looked to be headed to OT versus the Arizona State Sun Devils (3-2) as the score was tied at 17 with under a minute left. But a curious 3rd and 1 pass play on their own 19 that went to complete and subsequent punt gave Arizona State the ball at midfield with less than 15 seconds left in the game. Sun Devil QB then stunned everyone watching by throwing to a wide open Chris McGaha down the middle of the field for the winning TD. A coverage break down by Husky FS Nate Williams left McGaha wide open on the final play.

Boise State at Tulsa: The Boise State Broncos snuck out of Tulsa with a 28-21 victory over the Golden Hurricane(4-2) to remain unbeaten at 6-0. Sophomore QB Kellen Moore led the balanced Bronco attack by tossing 3 TDs. RB Doug Martin added 112 yards rushing, including 83 in the 3rd quarter alone in his second game back from moving from the defensive side of the ball following the injury of starting RB D.J. Harper.

Hawaii at Idaho: DeMaundray Woolridge rushed for 4 TDs and added 81 yards rushing in Idaho’s victory over the Hawaii Warriors (2-4). The Vandals (6-1) are bowl eligible for the first time in a decade after gaining 420 yards of total offense in the win. QB Nathan Enderle bounced back from an off game last weekend by completing 14 of 17 passes for 226 yards and a TD.

Northern Arizona at Portland State: The Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (4-2) blew out the Portland State Vikings 44-23 last Saturday. The Vikings (2-5) managed just 274 yards of total offense as starting QB Drew Hubel missed the game due to injury. Backup QB Connor Cavanaugh struggled in his place, completing just 11 of 23 passes and throwing 3 INTs. PSU also struggled on defense, allowing 458 yards of total offense.

Northern Colorado at Idaho State: Idaho State (0-7) missed perhaps their best opportunity for a victory in 2009 by losing to the Northern Colorado Bears (2-5) by the score of 30-7. UNC held ISU to negative 11 yards rushing and just 197 yards of total offense last Saturday. The Bengals now own the 4th worst offense in the FCS in total offense and have the worst rushing offense in the FCS at 26 yards per game. The previously dormant Bear offense came alive against the Bengal defense by gaining 435 yards of total offense.

This weekend’s games include all the Northwest teams in action this week. Let’s look ahead and preview each game and take a look at the keys to each game:

Game of the Week-Oregon State at USC: Oregon State (4-2) will have had two weeks preparation for this weekend’s game versus the USC Trojans. Is this another trap game for USC (5-1), after hanging on against Notre Dame and facing off against Oregon in Eugene next weekend? The Beavers will be looking to beat USC for the 2nd year in a row, and for the 3rd time in 4 years. The key to the game appears to be whether OSU will be able to slow down USC Freshman QB Matt Barkley enough to keep them in the game. OSU has had to break in 3 new starters in the secondary this season and the defense is currently 9th in the Pac 10 in pass defense.

Oregon at Washington: Will this weekend bring another down to the wire game for the Huskies? After 3 consecutive heart stopping finishes, UW (3-4) faces the top team in the Pac 10 standings, the Oregon Ducks (5-1). Oregon had an extra week to prepare for the Huskies after their win over UCLA 24-10 two weeks ago. The Ducks are still not certain that QB Jeremiah Masoli will be back to start against the Huskies. If he can’t start, Nate Costa will start his second consecutive game. UW’s defense has played better against the run the last few weeks, but they face the top rushing offense in the Pac 10 in the Oregon Ducks.
Washington State at California: California (4-2) got back on the winning track after a two game losing streak in defeating UCLA last weekend. Washington State (1-5) did not play last weekend. Wazzu ranks last in the Pac 10 in nearly every offensive and defensive category. Their best chance to keep it a close game is to throw the ball well against the susceptible Cal secondary.

Boise State at Hawaii: The Broncos (6-0) look to stay unbeaten on their visit off the mainland against the Warriors (2-4). Hawaii’s best bet to pull off the upset is to win the turnover battle and keep the nation’s most efficient passer, Kellen Moore, off the field.

Idaho at Nevada: Idaho (6-1) is on a 5 game winning streak and Nevada (3-3) has won their last 3 after losing their first 3 in 2009. Whoever wins the battle between Nevada’s rushing offense (#1 in the WAC) and Idaho’s rushing defense (#1 in the WAC) probably will win the game.

Montana State at Eastern Washington: A key game in the Big Sky Conference is this weekend between the Montana State Bobcats (4-2) and the Eastern Washington Eagles (4-3). A loss by either team would hurt their playoff chances, whereas a win would keep their hopes alive. EWU suffered a big loss last weekend when their top WR Aaron Boyce went out with a season ending injury. MSU’s defense boasts the best rushing defense in the Big Sky, but also is the worst against the pass, allowing more than 300 yards through the air per game. The Eagles top the Big Sky in rushing offense in the Big Sky at about 150 yards per game, but they also have an effective passing attack led by QB Matt Nichols.

Montana at Sacramento State: The #2 Montana Grizzlies (6-0) travel down to Sacramento to take on the 2-4 Hornets. The Griz have the top scoring offense in the Big Sky at 36.8 points per game, as well as the top scoring defense at 19.7 points per game. The Grizzlies appear to be a mismatch for the Hornets, as Sacramento State’s defense is 8th (out of 9) in total defense in the Big Sky in allowing almost 436 yards of offense per game.

UC-Davis at Portland State: The 2-5 Portland State Vikings face off against the 3-3 UC-Davis Mustangs in a non-conference matchup. Portland State faces a tough UC-Davis team who nearly defeated Montana earlier in the season and played Boise State tough into the 4th quarter. Portland State has to take advantage of a weak UC-Davis running game that averages only 55 yards per game to pull out a victory.