THE WORLD OF BAX: WHO SAYS THAT THE GAME’S LUSTER IS LOST?

I’m really confused. We’re rapidly approaching the 106 th meeting of the country’s most bitter rivals and all I’ve read all week is that this game is meaningless. What? Look, I get that Michigan isn’t very good in Rich Rodriguez’s second season but isn’t this game the definition of a ‘throw the records out’ rivalry? At an absolute minimum, the memories of the Wolverines’ perpetual ruinations of potential Buckeye National Championship seasons in the 1990s should be more than enough to simultaneously make this game terrifying for Buckeyes fans while giving beaten-down Wolverine fans a sliver of hope.

On top of that, this is the 40th anniversary of Bo Schembechler famously kicking off the Ten Years’ War with Woody Hayes by beating the defending national champion and heavily favored Buckeyes in 1969. In Bo’s first year, he beat the team that Woody Hayes always said was the best team that he ever had! While Rich Rodriguez is often accused of not understanding the momentousness of the rivalry, he’s been smart enough to inundate his players with reminders from perhaps Michigan’s most famous win over their hated rivals.

Plus, the newspaper chatter coming out of Ann Arbor has been particularly juicy this week! Facing the imminent return of Benedict Justin Boren, Michigan players have been vocal in their criticism of the former Wolverine legacy turned Buckeye starter. One of his former teammates on the offensive line actually said the he wished he could play defense so that he could go up against Boren! While heated, the rivalry usually has avoided quote-worthy comments leading up to the game in the past decade, so this is new. On top of the vitriol being spewed in Boren’s direction, freshman starting quarterback Tate Forcier all but guaranteed victory by declaring that the seniors on his 5-6 team would play in a bowl game this season. In short, if Michigan was 7-4 or 8-3, the combination of the game’s history and the newfound verbiage would make it the top story heading into the weekend. Even with Michigan’s poor record, this is a must-see affair.

In short, if you’re not taking the Ohio State-Michigan game seriously or are expecting a walkover for the Buckeyes, you simply don’t know your history and aren’t paying attention. I get it: Michigan is struggling and Ohio State supposedly doesn’t have anything left to play for after sealing up the conference and Rose Bowl. However, Ohio State has NEVER been unprepared or emotionally lagging for The Game under Jim Tressel’s watch and I fully expect a hard-hitting football game that will likely go down as another great installment in the rivalry that was named the best in all of sports by ESPN.

And if you miss out it, then shame on you.

THIS WEEK’S PICKS

I finally improved after posting consecutive 5-5 marks, knocking out a 7-3 record last week that was highlighted by my upset special of Stanford over USC! Thus, my season record is now a stellar 70-44 overall! With a record like that, I might have a future in professional gambling! Regardless of my impending career change in lovely Las Vegas, there are still plenty of games left to go and I’m going to do my utmost to continue my strong performance.

#8 Ohio State at Michigan

Saturday, Noon EST

While this is always an emotionally charged game, I need to clear up one myth going in: Michigan’s offense isn’t very good. Statistically, they’re the highest scoring team in the Big Ten but if you take away their non-conference games, which resulted in an average of 44 points per game against such luminaries as Eastern/Western Michigan, Notre Dame and D-1AA Delaware State, their purported high-powered offense is rather toothless. The Wolverines are scoring a paltry 23.8 points per game in Big Ten play and they’ve lost six of their last seven games! Their defense has been even worse all season, allowing an average of 29.6 points per game against conference opponents.

That bodes well for Ohio State, who is surprisingly among the Big Ten leaders in offense in conference play, posting 28.7 points per game! Meanwhile, Michigan’s sputtering offense has to get healthy against one of the country’s best defenses, which has held opponents to an average of 12.4 points per game while pitching three shutouts! In short, Michigan is going to need some help from the mystical rivalry forces to have a chance in this game and I don’t think that they’ll get it. Expect the Buckeyes to move to 7-1 against That School Up North under Tressel and clinch the outright Big Ten Championship for the 3 rd time in four years.

Ohio State 27, Michigan 13

#20 Boston College at #22 North Carolina

Saturday, Noon EST

This is another game that I don’t think has gotten enough credit nationally. Both teams are 7-3 and have ridden strong defenses to their current success. Boston College still holds out hope for a 3 rd consecutive Atlantic Division Title while North Carolina might be one of the hottest teams in college football. Both teams also have legitimate hopes for a high-profile postseason destination, so this should be a very tightly contested affair. In short, expect a game dominated by defense but I think that North Carolina is simply more talented and playing at home, leading me to pick a Tar Heel victory.

North Carolina 17, Boston College 13

Oklahoma at Texas Tech

Saturday, 12:30 PM EST

When these two met a year ago, both were ranked in the top five in the country and nothing less than a shot at the BCS National Championship was on the line. How things can change in a year…….While both teams enter with 6-4 records, there is still meaning to this game, particularly involving bowl selection standings. In the end, I think that Oklahoma has been playing better of late and they definitely boast the stronger defense. Thus I’m picking the Sooners to head into their season-ending rivalry showdown with Oklahoma State with a victory.

Oklahoma 38, Texas Tech 21

Connecticut at Notre Dame

Saturday, 2:30 PM EST

This might as well be called the Car Crash Bowl: Connecticut is a tough and scrappy team that treats every play like a head-on collision while Charlie Weis’ career is a wreck: You don’t want to watch but you can’t look away. If Weis has any delusions whatsoever about retaining his job in South Bend, he absolutely, positively has to win this game because he can’t afford another season meltdown against a Big East team after last season’s Syracuse disaster. I think that the Irish have the superior offense by a wide margin and that should be enough to earn a shootout victory in Notre Dame Stadium.

Notre Dame 37, Connecticut 28

#12 Wisconsin at Northwestern

Saturday, 3:30 PM EST

The build up to this game has been more ‘Jerry Springer’ than ‘Season-Ending Big Ten Clash’. That’s because Northwestern defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz served in the same capacity for the Badgers until his somewhat surprising dismissal two years ago. The Wildcats quickly snapped him up and one of the first things out of his mouth at his introductory press conference referenced this game. As the Badgers and Wildcats didn’t play each other last season, this will be the first chance that he has for revenge. Wisconsin boss Brett Bielema acknowledged as much, saying that he probably wasn’t too popular in the Hankwitz household. Northwestern, however, is more than pleased to have him as he’s molded excellent defenses in back to back seasons. However, I don’t think that the Wildcats have the athletes to slow down Wisconsin’s indomitable running game and I expect a close Badger victory.

Wisconsin 27, Northwestern 24

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#15 Louisiana State at Ole Miss

Saturday, 3:30 PM EST

Remember how the NCAA Basketball Tournament used to have a 3 rd place game? Well, this is the SEC’s equivalent. The winner of this game will claim a berth in the Capital One Bowl and 2 nd place in the SEC West. After watching both teams leading up to the game, it has become clear that LSU isn’t significantly better than last year’s 7-5 edition thanks to injuries and ineffectiveness on offense. Meanwhile, Ole Miss might not have reached the same lofty levels that many pundits were predicting (yours truly included) in August, but they’re playing much better than The Mad Hatter’s team on both sides of the football. Couple that with home field advantage and I’m feeling quite comfortable picking the Rebels to defeat the Tigers.

Ole Miss 31, LSU 17

#9 Stanford at #24 California

Saturday, 7:00 PM EST

This is really a season-defining game for Stanford. After knocking off two consecutive top ten teams, the only team standing in the way of their (admittedly long shot) chance at the Rose Bowl is archrival Cal. If Stanford falls in an upset, it will undermine some of the success that they’ve had in taking a giant step forward this season and would make Cal’s tough year significantly more palatable. Unfortunately for the Berkeley bunch, the Golden Bears’ defense has underperformed this season and I just don’t see them having an answer for bruising tailback Toby Gerhart. I think Stanford finishes up Pac Ten play with an emphatic win against their hated nemesis.

Stanford 45, California 28

Kansas State at Nebraska

Saturday, 7:45 PM EST

Why is this game being previewed? As crazy as it seems, the winner between a 6-5 KSU and a 7-3 Nebraska is going to win the Big XII North! To make things even more intriguing, a Kansas State loss actually puts them out of postseason play, so this is the definition of a season-defining game! Unfortunately for the upstart Wildcats, I just can’t see them scoring many points against Nebraska’s dominating defense and I’m picking the Cornhuskers to win the game and the division and send the Wildcats home for the holidays.

Nebraska 20, Kansas State 10

Kansas at #3 Texas

Saturday, 8:00 PM EST

I would have given the Jayhawks a much better chance in this game had allegations not emerged this week that slovenly head coach Mark Mangino has been using personal insults as a motivational tactic towards his players. While I initially shrugged off the allegations as whining surrounding a disappointing season following Kansas’ last two strong years, some of Mangino’s reported comments strike this avowed hater of political correctness as racially insensitive and downright mean. Look, anyone who has played sports at a high level understands the concept of discipline and molding athletes to achieve their best, but when supposed ‘motivation’ includes telling players that they can try harder or ‘go back to the hood’, then that’s taking it a step too far.

With that in mind, the Jayhawks are either going to rally this weekend or check out entirely. As a ton of former and current players are weighing in on the story, I really doubt that they’re going to rally around a man that more and more Jayhawks seem to simply dislike. Add in the fact that Texas will be playing their final home game of the season and are a significantly more talented team and this game smells like a blowout.

Texas 48, Kansas 21

#10 Oregon at Arizona

Saturday, 8:00 PM EST

Tucson, Arizona, is the site of the most important Pac Ten game of the weekend. In short, the winner of this game will eliminate the loser from the extremely gripping Pac Ten conference title chase. That makes this perhaps the most important game in the country this weekend and ESPN’s College Gameday will make their first visit to Arizona as part of the festivities. Arizona is coming off of a heartbreaking loss at Cal last week and are probably discounted by most fans simply because of the logo on their helmet. That’s a bad mistake to make as the Wildcats are potentially two fluke plays away from being unbeaten in the Pac Ten this year! Furthermore, they’re undefeated at home. However, I think that Oregon has been the stronger team in recent weeks and I think that the Ducks will take the victory in an old-school Pac Ten barnburner and once more break the Wildcat faithful’s hearts.

Oregon 41, Arizona 35

By: Matt Baxendell
Matt Baxendell is collegesports-fans.com’s football writer. Keep an eye out all fall for his multiple weekly articles discussing everything college football. If you want to get in touch with him, email him at Matt.Baxendell@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @MattBaxendell