Week 5 Preview

Week 5 in College Football puts old rivals against each other. Some face off in old conference battles, future conference battles, and new conference battles. Let’s preview the marquee match-ups for the weekend.

1. #14 Texas A&M will be travelling to Fayetteville to take on #18 Arkansas. Next year, this will be a conference game and it will matter a lot more than it will this year. I think Arkansas showed who they really were last week against a stingy defense in Alabama. I don’ think Petrino really understands just how bad his offensive line is at this point. Do not get me wrong, Alabama created pressure against the line and confused blocking assignments. They routinely make offensive lines look bad. But Arkansas cannot let Tyler Wilson ever get beat up again like he was against Alabama. They were cleaning his clock each time he stepped back there to deliver a pass. Arkansas lost a lot when Knile Davis was injured at the beginning of the season. But Wingo is going to have to step up as Davis did last year. They have to have some offensive balance. Without it, teams are just going to send the horses after Wilson and he is going to be knocked out for the season. Texas A&M is coming off a disappointing loss to now #5 Oklahoma State. They were up 20-3 and dominating every aspect of the game. The Aggie defense got no pressure on Weeden. I don’t will be a problem this week. Texas A&M has to display the balance that they were exhibiting earlier this year. Running and passing the ball. Tannehill has to step up and protect the ball. Some of the throws last week were bad reads, and some were not his fault. He is an exceptional athlete that can pull the ball down and be a nightmare matchup for defenses. He cannot turn the ball over against a good team and think that his team can come out with a win. A&M also has a great backfield that can garner the defense to focus on it before they focus on the connection that Tannehill has with Fuller and Swope. I think that Texas A&M can pull this game out if they get back to their fundamentals. Defense and running the ball. I think Texas A&M bounces back 35-21.

2. #13 Clemson travels to Blacksburg, VA to take on #11 Virginia Tech. Everyone thought coming in that Virginia Tech had a very easy road to the ACC championship game. No one expected Clemson to come out and beat an SEC opponent & the favorite to come out of the ACC, Florida State. Well this is why we play the game and love the game of college football. Logan Thomas hasn’t awed you with his numbers, but he is solid at QB and can make a big play at any point in the game with his legs or with his feet. But he does have an injured shoulder and is listed as probable in this game. Virginia Tech plays smash mouth football for about 65% of the game. They are going to play a physical game in which they are going to try to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Look for them to come out early and try to push that game plan on Clemson. David Wilson will have more responsibility this weekend against Clemson and will see more carries with his QB being injured. Virginia Tech always shows off a defense that can play with any team in the land, they are fast and they are aggressive. Clemson has been running a fast paced offense. They put up Xbox numbers against Auburn and Florida State. They are one of the hottest teams in the country right now. They have converted 23-35 third downs over the past 2 weeks. They can’t be put off the field. Whenever a team dominates time of possession, they are not going to lose too many games. Tajh Boyd and Sammy Watkins are exciting to watch. Watkins is an explosive player and anytime he touches the ball, he is a threat to go the distance. I am picking Clemson to pull this one off. I have been picking against them the past two weeks. I am going to take them 35-24

3. In one of the two night games, #3 Alabama heads to The Swamp to take on the #12Florida Gators. Muschamp has his boys playing well. They are flying around on defense and their offense is getting better every week. This will be the most talented defensive units that Alabama has seen all year. Chris Rainey has been nothing short of amazing this season. He has been leading the way for the Gators all season long and is definitely in the running for the Heisman. A big game against Bama and he could have his Heisman moment, just as Cam Newton had against a top tier LSU defense. Brantley is going to have to play well and Thompson is going to have to put some stick ‘em on his hand or something before he goes out there. He can’t catch a cold this year, and the Gators need him to step up; if not for anything, this game. Florida’s secondary had a few bad plays against TN. But I think that Muschamp got that problem under control and they played better against Kentucky. Demps & Rainey are very small backs, and running between the tackles isn’t something that Florida would want to do against this Defense. They are aggressive and tackle VERY well. The key to this game will be Brantley. Will he make mistakes? Can he read what he sees and make an educated pass and not force a ball? I don’t know if he can. Alabama has been trucking along. And even though they have played the Saudia Arabian Desert Knights and the Poland School of the Shoulderless, they are looked VERY well against their divisional foe Arkansas. Many people, including myself, picked Arkansas as a dark horse to win the SEC West. Well Alabama destroyed any thoughts of that happening last week. Dre’ Kirkpatrick has stepped his game up tremendously and is now the lockdown CB that everyone projected him to be. Saban has really coached him up. Alabama’s secondary alone has 3 potential All-American candidates in it with Barron, Lester, and Kirkpatrick. And the guy on the other side Menzie just maybe as good if not better than Kirkpatrick. They are as physical, instinctive and hard hitting as in secondary in the country. Trent Richardson is just that, Heisman candidate. But that Lacy kid behind him is SOLID. And he looks like a racehorse out there running the ball. It seems that he has gotten over that case of the fumbles that he had. He runs VERY hard and is a load to bring home. Maze on special teams is a breaker. I wouldn’t kick the ball to him unless it was absolutely unavoidable. Alabama is a solid team. It is hard to pick against. There are two blaring questions that are screaming out at Bama. Will AJ McCarron take care of the ball and avoid mistakes. And will the best cover LB for Bama, CJ Mosley play for Alabama and if he does play, will he be effective? Without anyone to cover the speedsters, this may prove to be a problem for Alabama. I think Alabama takes this game, 28-20.


4. The game of the weekend will be #8 Nebraska travelling to #7 Wisconsin. The atmosphere will be electric as Nebraska plays its first ever conference game in the Big Ten. And what a game it will be. Nebraska and Martinez will run the football. So you don’t have to wonder how Nebraska will attempt to run the ball. They don’t throw the ball much. Martinez goes from 0 to full speed faster than most RBs in the country. If he catches a seam he is gone! But Nebraska’s staple is the black shirt defense. They have been giving up the points, but Nebraska’s offense has been scoring them too. Nebraska lost some talent to the NFL last year including the second CB taken in the draft, Amukamara. So look for Wisconsin to attempt to exploit the new faces on defense often and early. The defense isn’t very black shirt like. And Bo Pellini has to know that they are ranked 52nd nationally as far as total defense. This number will have to improve this weekend against a very balanced Wisconsin team. They come in averaging 246 yards rushing and 287 yards passing a game. Now that is balance. They have a big physical offensive line (as always) and they have a solid running back in Montee Ball. Now insert Russell Wilson into the mix and you have a very solid team. Look for Nick Toon to exploit matchups against the Nebraska secondary. But the player to keep your eye on will be Sr. Jake Byrne. He is a great TE that can stretch the field vertically and is a big target. Look for Wilson to hit him early. He is a great blocker as well. Wisconsin is ranked 7th overall in total defense and 3rd in scoring defense. They haven’t really played anyone so I think those numbers are a little inflated. If Cromartie and Fenelus don’t keep their head on a swivel for the pass, they can get easily burned for a TD. I think Wisconsin wins this game 20-14 as the fans in Madison will be going crazy.