Pregame rant: This is pretty simple. The Irish win, they’re playing for a national title.
Notre Dame hasn’t won it all since the 1988 season, but hasn’t really contended for one since 1989 when it lost to No. 1 Colorado in the 1990 Orange Bowl.
So for the Irish, this is a long time coming. For USC, this is a season it’d like to forget.
The Trojans have lost four games, their best player – quarterback Matt Barkley – is out with a shoulder injury and they’re coming off a 38-28 loss to in-town rival UCLA.
Beating the Irish would sure wipe the slate clean for USC.
Here are three college football games worth watching in Week 13.
Game of the week: No. 1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (11-0) at USC Trojans (7-4, 5-4 Pac-12), Saturday, 8 p.m., WJET (ABC).
Pregame rant: This is pretty simple. The Irish win, they’re playing for a national title.
Notre Dame hasn’t won it all since the 1988 season, but hasn’t really contended for one since 1989 when it lost to No. 1 Colorado in the 1990 Orange Bowl.
So for the Irish, this is a long time coming. For USC, this is a season it’d like to forget.
The Trojans have lost four games, their best player – quarterback Matt Barkley – is out with a shoulder injury and they’re coming off a 38-28 loss to in-town rival UCLA.
Beating the Irish would sure wipe the slate clean for USC.
Pregame rant: As good as this game will be, we don’t want to see the Tide and Tigers play in the national title game again.
Alabama hasn’t lost since it fell 9-6 in overtime at home to the Tigers. The Tide dominated LSU in the national title game, but the Tigers can avenge that loss and really put themselves in the national title picture.
The Tide are first in the nation in run defense. LSU is eighth. So the team that has the better quarterback should win Saturday.
Edge Alabama.
A.J. McCarron has thrown 18 touchdowns, no interceptions and can make all the throws. If Zach Mettenberger is called upon to beat the Tide, it’s not going down.
Post-game commentary: McCarron wasn’t his best until it matter most.
With that Death Valley crowd roaring and ready to pounce on him for predicting the Tide would win, McCarron was 4-of-5 for 72 yards and a game-winning touchdown pass with 51 seconds left to beat the rival Tigers.
Mettenberger actually played well. Was 24-of-35 for 298 yards and a touchdown.
Truth be told, the Tigers had this game won. They had more yards, won the turnover and time ouf possession battle and limited Alabama to 1-of-9 on third-down conversions.
So why did they lose? Penalties and bad play calling.
The Tigers had seven penalties for 51 yards and LSU coach Les Miles called a fake field goal on a 4th-and-12 play down 7-3 in the first half. It failed miserably.
Here are three college football games worth watching in Week 10.
Game of the week: No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide (8-0, 5-0 SEC) at No. 5 LSU Tigers (7-1, 3-1 SEC), Saturday, 8 p.m., WSEE (CBS).
Pregame rant: As good as this game will be, we don’t want to see the Tide and Tigers play in the national title game again.
Alabama hasn’t lost since it fell 9-6 in overtime at home to the Tigers. The Tide dominated LSU in the national title game, but the Tigers can avenge that loss and really put themselves in the national title picture.
The Tide are first in the nation in run defense. LSU is eighth. So the team that has the better quarterback should win Saturday.
Edge Alabama.
A.J. McCarron has thrown 18 touchdowns, no interceptions and can make all the throws. If Zach Mettenberger is called upon to beat the Tide, it’s not going down.
Game of the week: No. 5 Notre Dame at No. 8 Oklahoma
Final score: Irish 30, Sooners 13
Pregame rant: This is the Irish’s toughest test yet. Oklahoma’s lone loss was to No. 4 Kansas State, which has risen to the top of the Big 12.
It’s a classic match-up. Oklahoma is averaging 488.17 yards and 44.67 points a game. Notre Dame is allowing just 280.71 yards and 9.43 points a game.
Something has to give.
Post-game commentary: The Irish didn’t give.
Oklahoma rushed for just 15 yards on 24 rushing attempts in falling to Notre Dame at home. The Sooners may have given up on the run too early, but they couldn’t have expected the Irish’s offense to hit them so many big plays last week.
Before this game, I thought all the talk about Notre Dame senior linebacker Manti Te’o winning the Heisman Trophy was a bit much.
After seeing how he leads the best defense in the nation outside of Alabama’s, I’m rethinking my votes. He had 11 tackles, a sack and an interception last week. Great player.
Game of the week: No. 9 South Carolina at No. 3 Florida
Final score: Gators 44, Gamecocks 11
Pregame rant: Despite losing to LSU, South Carolina can still find itself in the SEC title game, but must beat the Gators to do so. To see Steve Spurrier go back to the place he starred as a player and as a coach and knock off Florida would be one his biggest wins ever.
However, South Carolina better shore up that run defense if it plans to upend the Gators. The Gamecocks allowed LSU to bang ‘em for 258 yards on the ground.
Florida is averaging 233.33 yards rushing and will be content to win a low-scoring affair, as it did against LSU, rather than play score for score.
Post-game commentary: The Gamecocks fumbled away this one.
Florida quarterback Jeff Driskel threw three of his four touchdowns off South Carolina turnovers as the Gators put South Carolina’s championship dreams on arctic freeze.
The Gamecocks had four total turnovers with three being fumbles. When the going got tough for them, they got ran out of stadium.
As for the Gators, a win this week against Georgia in Jacksonville all but seals up a spot in the SEC title game. Their final conference game is Nov. 3 at home against Missouri, which is 0-4 in SEC play.
Here are three college football games worth watching in Week 8.
Game of the week: No. 9 South Carolina Gamecocks (6-1, 4-1 SEC) at No. 3 Florida Gators, (6-0, 5-0 SEC), Saturday, 3:30 p.m., WSEE (CBS)
Pregame rant: Despite losing to LSU, South Carolina can still find itself in the SEC title game, but must beat the Gators to do so. To see Steve Spurrier go back to the place he starred as a player and as a coach and knock off Florida would be one his biggest wins ever.
However, South Carolina better shore up that run defense if it plans to upend the Gators. The Gamecocks allowed LSU to bang ‘em for 258 yards on the ground.
Florida is averaging 233.33 yards rushing and will be content to win a low-scoring affair, as it did against LSU, rather than play score for score.
Game of the week: No. 14 Ohio State at No. 20 Michigan State
Final score: Buckeyes 17, Spartans 16
Pregame rant: First road of the season won’t be an easy one for the Buckeyes in their Big Ten opener. How well sophomore quarterback Braxton Miller handles this will determine if Ohio State remains unbeaten.
Miller has seven rushing TDs, seven passing TDs, but more importantly, he’s completing 61.2 percent of his passes. Last season, he only completed 54.1 percent of his passes.
He may find it much tougher to execute against the Spartans, who have only given up two passing touchdowns. Ranked sixth in the nation in total defense, Michigan State is giving up just 3.94 yards a play.
Post-game commentary: Michigan State intercepted Miller once, forced two more turnovers, but didn’t corral the Ohio State quarterback when it mattered.
Miller rushed for a game-high 136 yards, threw a 63-yard touchdown pass to give Ohio State a 17-13 lead late in third, but more importantly, picked up a big first down to help the Buckeyes close out the game.
Game of the week: No. 14 Ohio State Buckeyes (4-0) at No. 20 Michigan State Spartans (3-1), Saturday, 3:30 p.m., WJET (ABC)
Pregame rant: First road of the season won’t be an easy one for the Buckeyes in their Big Ten opener. How well sophomore quarterback Braxton Miller handles this will determine if Ohio State remains unbeaten.
Miller has seven rushing TDs, seven passing TDs, but more importantly, he’s completing 61.2 percent of his passes. Last season, he only completed 54.1 percent of his passes.
He may find it much tougher to execute against the Spartans, who have only given up two passing touchdowns. Ranked sixth in the nation in total defense, Michigan State is giving up just 3.94 yards a play.
