Texas Showdown

CINCINNATI -2.5 @ South Florida (Thursday)

I said after week 2 that Cincy looked like a top 10 team and the Bearcats have finally made it to the top 10 in the polls. The Bearcats have maybe the best offense in the country with QB Tony Pike running Brian Kelly’s system and throwing to WR Gilliard. Cincy’s quick pass game out of the spread should be able to neutralize South Florida’s team strength which is its D line and pass rush. Pike has only been sacked 3 times all year.

The Bulls are playing without team leader Sr. QB Groethe for the rest of the year. They have looked pretty good without Groethe but haven’t really played anyone. South Florida has built its 5-0 record against two 1-AA teams and three 1-A teams (W Kentucky, FSU and Syracuse) with a combined record of 4-13.

Cincy has won three straight against the Bulls including a win in Tampa in 2007 when the Bulls were ranked. I like the Bearcats to keep that streak and their bid for a second straight BCS appearance going.

TEXAS – 3.5 v. Oklahoma (at Dallas)

Oklahoma has lost both of its games away from home this season, losing to BYU in Dallas and at Miami. They have had trouble pass blocking with a new offensive line and QB Bradford suffered a much-publicized injury. There is no indication that the Sooner’s line can hold up against a Texas D coached by Will Muschamp that gets after the quarterback and has made a bunch of big plays this year.

Texas has the series momentum in this rivalry, winning three of the last four. WR/KR Jordan Shipley is an overlooked superstar. Texas still has a chip on its shoulder from somehow losing the tiebreaker to OU last year after beating them by 10. Colt McCoy is not going out with a loss to OU in his senior year. I expect the Longhorns to play their best game of the season and match or exceed their ten point margin of victory from last year.

SOUTH CAROLINA + 17.5 @ Alabama

I think Alabama is the best team in the country. They have played great in all six games so far and the Tide defense looks historically dominant. Still, no college team can play its best football every single week of a season. This looks to be a likely place for a Bama let-down coming off their win in a much hyped SEC West battle with Ole Miss last week and with their big rivalry game against trash-talking Tennessee coming up next week.

South Carolina has a really good defense themselves and is a goal line stand by Georgia away from being undefeated. The Cocks can keep this close with their defense and might even get a big play or two from explosive freshman WR Jeffery or RB Miles. If QB Garcia can avoid the huge mistake, I like the Cocks to take this right down to the wire but expect the Tide to pull it out at the end.