THE WORLD OF BAX: Cocktail Payback in the SEC

Well, the game that many SEC fans have been waiting for is finally here: The Game Formerly Known As The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. Now, many fans of both Georgia and Florida probably expected both teams to come into this game undefeated, but they both are still playing in the definition of an elimination game: Winner takes a nearly insurmountable lead in the SEC East and retains a decent shot at the National Title Game; Loser is out of both races.

But wait, there’s more! As if a matchup between two top eight teams isn’t enough intrigue, there is the small matter of EndzoneGate. If you’re even a tiny bit interested in college football, you remember Georgia’ entire team charging onto the field after scoring an early touchdown in last season’s game, highlighted by tackle Trindan Sturdivant doing a ridiculous dance in front of his jumping teammates. This brazen act was the highlight of Georgia’s upset victory last year. You think that the Gators don’t want payback?

Now, the SEC isn’t the only place this weekend for big games: The Big XII seems to continually churn out top 10 matchups and this week features Texas visiting Texas Tech, which is another huge game. If the Horns win, then they’re the odds-on favorite to win the Big XII and go undefeated. Lose and Texas Tech has to run the Big XII South gauntlet and there will be chaos if they lose afterwards.

That all said, this will be quite the intriguing weekend. Last week was a bad week for me, as I went 3-5 to knock my season record back to 47-29. This week, I will try to get myself back up to par with this excellent list of games:

Northwestern @ #14 Minnesota

Saturday, 12:00 PM EST

This game has lost a lot of its luster with the injuries that the Wildcats suffered last week. Senior quarterback C.J. Bacher suffered a severe hamstring pull and will probably miss this weekend and senior tailback Tyrelle Sutton broke his wrist and is out the rest of the regular season. Now, Northwestern has a solid defense and is a pretty tough team regardless but without their starting backfield they won’t be able to hang with a surprisingly good Minnesota team on the road. The Golden Gophers should win this game but it won’t be easy.

Minnesota 24, Northwestern 20

Wisconsin @ #16 Michigan State

Saturday, 12:00 PM EST

This is a very interesting game: Wisconsin sits at 5-4 and got off the schneid last week when they upset Illinois to end a four game losing streak. Meanwhile, Michigan State is coming off of an emotional weekend where they defeated archrival Michigan for the first time in six seasons. Emotionally, Wisconsin should have the upper hand, but they’re not the better team on the field. I expect Wisconsin to start playing back up to their potential which makes this game a very good watch. I think Michigan State is going to have a war on their hands but I have to pick the Spartans and Javon Ringer to pull out a very close game at home.

Michigan State 27, Wisconsin 24

#25 West Virginia @ Connecticut

Saturday, 12:00 PM EST

Both teams are coming off of big wins last week. West Virginia finally looked like the team that their fans expected in August in defeating Auburn while UConn blew out Cincinnati. The last time these two played, WVU won 66-12. I don’t expect a similar blowout but I still think that WVU won’t lose in Hartford with their improving offensive attack.

West Virginia 34, UConn 24

Pitt @ Notre Dame

Saturday, 2:30 PM EST

Pitt suffered an awful loss last week as they were completely unable to stop Rutgers’ passing attack. They also had no pass rush and generally didn’t look at all like the Pitt team that I thought was the Big East’s most physical. Well, I’m expecting the Panthers to rebound against a Notre Dame team that has struggled with their only decent opposition all season. I’m going to pick Pitt to knock off the Irish in a close game where the deciding player will be Pitt’s tailback Shady McCoy.

Pitt 34, Notre Dame 27

#13 Florida State @ Georgia Tech

Saturday 3:30 PM EST

Florida State has a very solid defense and has built up some serious momentum in winning their last four games. Meanwhile, Georgia Tech seems to have gotten fat off of some weak early season opposition and was knocked around by Virginia at home last week. We’re seeing a matchup between two teams moving in opposite directions here and I think that the Seminoles will play a complete game and beat Georgia Tech soundly.

Florida State 31, Georgia Tech 17

#23 Oregon @ California

Saturday 3:30 PM EST

This is one of the defining games of the 2008 Pac Ten season. Both teams are part of a four way jumble at the top of the Pac Ten with one loss. Essentially, the loser will be eliminated in this game. Oregon has struggled this season with quarterback injuries but has a strong and explosive offense. Meanwhile, Cal has been inconsistent all season. This should be a very good game but I’m going to have to pick the home team in this game in what should be a high scoring affair.

 

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#4 Florida versus #8 Georgia

Saturday 3:30 PM EST

This is one of the co-headlining games on the weekend. The Gators will bring their strong offensive attack to Jacksonville while Georgia is flying high off of a huge win at LSU last weekend. As I said above, this is your classic ‘winner take all’ game. Both teams are playing great going into the weekend. At this point in time, I think that Florida is going to continue scoring a lot of points while their defense is going to get after Matthew Stafford. I think that the Gators are simply the better team and that they might be one of the hottest teams in America right now. Finally, the Gators have all of the emotion from last year’s team stomping in their end zone and I think that will give them the edge against the Bulldogs. Florida wins this game empathically.

Florida 41, Georgia 27

#1 Texas @ #5 Texas Tech

Saturday 8:00 PM EST

The Longhorns finish off one of the most grueling stretches I can remember in the last five years by playing their 4 th consecutive team ranked in the top 11. That’s crazy. The Longhorns feature a strong offensive attack which can hurt you on the ground and in the air. Meanwhile, Texas Tech is one of the most consistently explosive offenses in the country and this game will be billed as the biggest in school history. However, I have to go with the proven team against top opponents. Texas Tech historically falls apart at this point in the season and though I’ve had them in my top 10 all year, Texas has played too well for me to pick against them. I think that Tech will be so hyped up for the game that they’ll get frustrated if things don’t go their way and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Texas jump out to a lead early and hold on to win and affirm their status as the nation’s top team.

By Matt Baxendell
CollegeSports-fans.com Staff Writer

Matt Baxendell is collegesports-fans.com’s newest staff writer. If you’d like to join his college football therapy group, email him at matt.baxendell @ gmail.com with all your questions, comments, and anything else you would like to share. Also be sure to check out Matt's 2008 conference previews and college football Top 25 rankings here at CollegeSports-fans.com!

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