Prepare to feast after the weakest of weeks in college football
BY STEVE GREENBERG Staff Reporter September 22, 2013 7:54PM
Johnny Manziel,Kenneth Acker
Updated: September 22, 2013 8:50PM
No offense to Week 4, but good riddance. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Please lose our number.
College football’s junkiest junkies would argue there’s no such thing as a bad week of games, but these are the types of people who live in their parents’ basements, stalk high school recruits on Twitter and think nothing of shooting their TVs. Maybe they were OK with ABC giving them a prime-time game featuring a team with a losing record (Connecticut or Texas, depending on where they live), but the rest of us weren’t.
The daytime pickings were just as slim. Simply put, it was the worst Saturday of the season schedule-wise, and there won’t be a close second.
Which brings us to Week 5. Lookin’ good, Week 5. Lookin’ real good. Have you been working out?
Is the best week of the regular season upon us? Maybe, maybe not, but it sure feels like it.
An evening to remember?
Alabama is one of four top-10 teams that could go down Saturday night. The No. 1 Crimson Tide hosts No. 21 Mississippi (5:30 p.m., ESPN), a team too talented and confident not to shake things up in the Southeastern Conference West. The 3-0 Rebels already have road wins at Vanderbilt and Texas and had a bye week to help with Alabama prep. Remember, the champs were beaten at home once in each of the last two seasons.
No. 10 Texas A&M gets the SEC’s first crack at fresh-meat coach Bret Bielema and Arkansas (6, ESPN2). Watch Bielema’s offense attempt to pound the rock Wisconsin-style in an effort to keep Johnny Manziel off the field.
No one does Wisconsin better than No. 23 Wisconsin, which visits No. 4 Ohio State (7, Ch. 7) in the biggest game yet for Urban Meyer in Columbus. Buckeyes fans want a perfect season without an asterisk, but the division rival Badgers never are an easy out for OSU.
Remember all that giant-killing Mike Leach did at Texas Tech? He’s becoming dangerous again at his new place, Washington State. The Cougars (3-1) won at USC and nearly won at Auburn. Now they get No. 5 Stanford (9 p.m., ESPN) on the Palouse.
Notre Dame unranked?
That’ll be the case if the No. 22 Irish lose at home to No. 14 Oklahoma (2:30, Ch. 5). Which, let’s face it, easily could happen.
Big cats and Dawgs
With another win Saturday, LSU will start stealing No. 1 votes from Alabama, and quarterback Zach Mettenberger could move to the front of the Heisman race. With their young defense, the sixth-ranked Tigers must do some extremely heavy lifting to get the job done at No. 9 Georgia (2:30, Ch. 2).
More Lane Kiffin love
USC is an early seven-point underdog at unranked Arizona State (9:30 p.m., ESPN2). Let that one marinate awhile.
