Who You Are Rooting For: Week 5

Mark BlankenbakerSeptember 26, 2013

Thursday Night

Virginia Tech @ Georgia Tech: This game is something to watch. Neither team really threatens the national scene, BUT, they are both receiving votes. Which is the same category that UCF & Rutgers both currently find themselves in. One of these teams must lose, freeing up votes for other teams currently outside of the polls.

Saturday

UCF vs. #12 South Carolina: Easily the most important game of the week for the Louisville Cardinals. Central Florida comes to Louisville 3 weeks after this game and currently sits just outside the polls at 3-0. The Knights took down Penn State in State College and had a week to prepare for the Steve Spurrier led Gamecocks. UCF gets South Carolina at home, and if there are any Card fans in the area I encourage them to bring their LOUD voices. A win here would give the Cards a ranked opponent on their schedule and give UofL a legitimate contender in mid-October. Would be huge……..I do expect South Carolina to win this game rather easily, but that won’t stop me from watching.

#23 Wisconsin @ #4 Ohio State: The Badgers were ROBBED at Arizona State two weeks ago, but have a chance to redeem themselves against a beatable Buckeye team. I’m not sure Wisconsin is the team to knock off Ohio State at home in a night game, but it is certainly possible. I’m not a believer in either one of these two teams to be honest. But if the Buckeyes win it will validate them in the minds of many pollsters.

#9 Georgia vs. #6 LSU: Georgia gets this game at home and sports an opening week loss to #3/#4 Clemson. LSU is 4-0 and I have to be honest………I’m not impressed other than their own opening week win over TCU. The Tigers have jumped the Cards in both the AP & Coaches Polls despite strong evidence against that happening. But on Saturday I think the Georgia Bulldogs beat the LSU Tigers. UGA probably jumps IDLE Louisville after the win, but there is still a lot of time left in the season for LSU & UGA to find another loss. Even if LSU does win the game it puts Georgia behind Louisville permanently. But I do think the interest is for Georgia to win. We’re thinking long-haul, but there is good news either way.

Arkansas vs. #10 Texas A&M: The Razorbacks are fresh off a defeat of fellow AAC Rutgers. Arkansas may have been looking ahead to this week’s match-up against the Aggies and Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel. Many voters still have A&M ahead of the Cards in the polls, and Arkansas winning would help Rutgers get into the polls prior to the October 10th match-up with the Cards. Not to mention making it even harder for Johnny Manziel to win the Heisman.

South Florida vs. #15 Miami (FL): The Bulls couldn’t be more disappointing under first-year head coach Willie Taggart. USF is 0-3 with losses to McNeese St, Florida Atlantic, and Michigan State. They are coming off of a BYE, but that doesn’t figure to help them much. The Hurricanes are 3-0 with a win over Florida, getting them a loss here will help the Cards in the future and also in the computers. At some point Taggart will get some progress.

Kentucky vs. #20 FloridaWhat am I writing? Who am I kidding? Kentucky hasn’t beaten Florida in 26 consecutive meetings. Expect that to extend Saturday, but it would be a great time to break the streak. Although keeping Muschamp at Florida is a priority for Card fans. Nevermind, Go GATORS!

#1 Alabama vs. #21 Ole Miss: I will actually present two separate thought processes here. Alabama losing would help Louisville by the fact that it would be one less undefeated team, create a vacuum at the #1 position (and chaos). Also the Bama loss would hurt Texas A&M indirectly. The Crimson Tide going down to an undefeated Ole Miss team would vault the Rebels WAY up the polls. I could honestly go either way. In the end, Ole Miss has a lot of potential losses left but it is hard to see a scenario where Bama will lose to anyone……even with 9 additional games after they play the Rebels. I’m indifferent.

West Virginia vs. #11 Oklahoma State: The Mountaineers are coming off of a brutal 37-0 loss to Maryland, a week after hanging with the Oklahoma Sooners. Who would have ever thought that offense would be the problem at WVU under Dana Holgerson? At this point West Virginia is 2-2 with wins over William & Mary and Georgia State. The Cowboys, are #11 in the nation and creeping up on Louisville in the polls having beaten Mississippi State, UT-San Antonio, and Lamar. Don’t expect for WVU to pull the upset, but it would certainly help.

Wake Forest @ #3 Clemson: It is highly unlikely that the Tigers will pull a “Clemson” but this is exactly the type of game that Clemson has historically lost to ruin a great season.

Boston College vs. #8 Florida State: Hope for the most BOSTON conditions imaginable Saturday. I don’t give the Eagles much of a chance, but, being at home and an inter-division game. I’ve got to put it in for something to scoreboard watch.

#22 Notre Dame vs. #14 Oklahoma: The Sooners being undefeated is bad news for Louisville. OU is a traditional program and a win over ND would be big in the mind of most mindless pollsters. Notre Dame is likely set to be blown out in this game. I don’t think the Irish are very good, and honestly I don’t think Oklahoma is very good either. One eliminates the other, but neither of these teams truly will factor come November.

Houston @ UTSA: This one is important for Louisville because the Cougars are still undefeated. UTSA, despite their name, is actually an emerging football program. Keeping UH clean as a long as possible will be huge for the Cards. Plus Houston is led by former Louisville assistant Tony Levine and we are all rooting for them…..until November 16th.

UConn @ Buffalo: We all had our hopes up when the Huskies (0-3) had Michigan down 2 TDs in the 2nd half last week. At this point, we’ll settle for a win for our AAC brethren.

Arizona vs. #16 Washington: Both are undefeated. One has to lose. Might as well be the one that is ranked.

Washington State vs. #5 Stanford: I’m not giving the Cougars much of a chance to beat the Cardinal, but crazy things can happen when a top ranked team travels for a night game out west.