College Football Week 10 Preview

Saturday will be one of the most intense, important, and influential days of this year’s college football season.  Two top 10 matchups, multiple other ranked matchups, and a milestone-seeking game for Joe Paterno and Penn State highlights the weekend.

The biggest matchup of the weekend will take place at Baton Rouge this weekend.  Alabama will travel to LSU for a top 10 matchup that will likely propel the winner to be the top ranked 1 loss team.  LSU is arguably the most underrated team in college football.  Analysts constantly knock their offensive capabilities and their coaching.  However, the Tigers are 7-1 in the toughest conference in football, have beaten Florida, Mississippi State, West Virginia, and North Carolina, have only lost to #1 Auburn on the road by 7 points.  Alabama remains the top ranked 1 loss team, and looks to further improve their already impressive resume by beating #10 LSU.

MY PREDICTION:  Gut feeling here, and maybe a pick from the heart, but no one is giving LSU a chance, and that is wrong.  Jordan Jefferson and Jarrett Lee will do just enough on offense, and the LSU defense will hold strong as it has all year.  Playing in Baton Rouge doesn’t hurt, either.          LSU 24—Alabama 20

Two top 5 teams and the two leaders in the Mountain West will play in Salt Lake City, as TCU travels to play Utah.  TCU recently jumped Boise State in the BCS rankings to climb to 3rd, and Utah jumped 3 spots to 5th last week for no apparent reason after skating by Air Force.  Utah is the most overrated team in college football.  Their notable wins are victories over Pitt (by 3 in overtime at home), Air Force by 5 (TCU beat Air Force 38-7), and a blowout win against Iowa State.  Utah has shown nothing to impress me this season, which is why I have the Utes ranked at #21.  That’s right, 16 spots behind the BCS.

MY PREDICTION:  Utah is exposed at home by a solid TCU team. TCU 34—Utah 20

In Happy Valley, Joe Paterno seeks his 400th victory against Northwestern.  Joe’s 399 wins leads all coaches who have ever coached at the FBS level.  Number 2 all-time, Bobby Bowden, trails him by 22 wins, a full 2 or more seasons of work.  Paterno will cement his resume as the best college football coach of all time with the victory, if he has not done so already.  Paterno will decide on Saturday whether to start sophomore Matt McGloin, who led the Nittany Lions to victory with an impressive performance against Michigan, or Rob Bolden, the freshman who started the season for the Lions and suffered a concussion in the Minnesota game 2 weeks ago.  To me, McGloin gives the Lions the best chance to win, and has been effective in limiting his mistakes in the 2 games he has played.

MY PREDICTION:  No matter the starting quarterback, Penn State will find a way to win on Saturday.  The atmosphere at Beaver Stadium will be electric, the running game will continue to improve, and the defense will play an inspired effort to give JoePa his 400th win and a slight upset against upstart, 6-2 Northwestern.  Penn State 27— Northwestern 23

Other Notable Games: (And my Predictions)

#1 Oregon (42)—Washington (17)

#2 Auburn (59)—Chattanooga (3)

#4 Boise State (42)—Hawaii (20)

#12 Stanford (31)–#15 Arizona (27)

#17 Oklahoma State (31)—#21 Baylor (28)

#18 Arkansas (38)—#19 South Carolina (24)

Illinois (30)—Michigan (28)

Miami (35)—Maryland (24)

Texas (19)—Kansas State (17)

Podcast: 11/2 Sports Blitz

Title: Sports Blitz

In this Bob Long’s Sports Podcast, Chris and I discuss the Penn State Michigan game, and analyze the 2010 World Series.

Link: http://bobsportsblog.podomatic.com/entry/2010-11-01T22_30_25-07_00

Player Profile: Robert Bolden

If he wasn’t a household name already, Penn State true freshman Robert Bolden became a household name yesterday after he was named starting quarterback for Penn State’s opener at home against Youngstown State.  An extremely highly touted recruit, and a recruit that the Penn State faithful was very excited to see on campus, Bolden sports a 6’4″, 220 LB frame and a cannon for an arm.  He attended St. Mary’s Prep in Michigan, and his impressive high school performance combined with his showcase efforts earned him the distinction as the 2nd best dual-threat quarterback recruit in the country according to Rivals.com.  He was also ranked the 3rd best recruit in Michigan, and 136th overall in the country.

Bolden beat out sophomores Matt McGloin and Kevin Newsome for the starting job, but the 2nd and 3rd string quarterbacks, respectively, will all see time on Saturday, according to Coach Paterno.  Bolden is the first true freshmen ever under Joe Paterno to be the opening day starting quarterback.  When Bolden takes the field on Saturday at Beaver Stadium, he will wear number 1.

Bolden is a player that will transition nicely into the starting job at Penn State.  At this point, the only knock on him is that he lacks touch at times on his passes, especially deep passes where he needs to put air under the ball.  However, he has had no problems with arm-strength, and has demonstrated intelligence and pocket presence on the field that will be very important, especially given the often uncertain play of the offensive line.  Bolden also has the ability to tuck the ball and gain some big yards on the ground, reminiscent of a Michael Robinson type quarterback.  The utilization of the running game will be important for Penn State this year, as the team starts Evan Royster at running back.  Royster has been a big part of the offense for his first 3 years, and has an opportunity to break Curt Warner’s all time school rushing record this season.  In addition, Stephfon Green has shown himself as a viable change-of-pace, dynamic back to take some pressure off Royster and to give the opposition a different look.  Bolden provides the ability to both contribute to the rushing game himself and use the power of the running game to open up the passing game to his strong arm and his veteran wide receivers Derek Moye and Graham Zug.  Bolden will debut on Saturday at 12PM at Beaver Stadium against Youngstown State.