Reverse Barometer takes its weekly stab at the college games. More biggies this weekend. Let’s get right to it.
No. 2 Auburn at No. 3 Mississippi State: There are some good teams in the SEC West, and these two might be the best (right now). They’re certainly playing the best at the moment. Both beat the pants off LSU recently and MSU is coming off an impressive win over A&M. Auburn’s pretty good but the Bulldogs have two big advantages – they’re at home and they have the better quarterback in Dak Prescott. Believe it or not, I like the MSU defense to win this game with a play in the fourth quarter. Mississippi State 27, Auburn 24
No. 9 TCU at No. 5 Baylor: Don’t look now, but if TCU wins this game, the Big 12 race might be over. Seriously. A victory by the Horned Frogs would give them wins over the two overwhelming favorites to win the Big 12. Gary Patterson has his D playing well again and overall is hitting its stride at the right time. Baylor is at home though and has that explosive offense. This will mark the first game the Bears have played a team worth a darn. And they’ll come through. Everything still points to the Baylor-OU game to decide the conference in November. Baylor 42, TCU 28
No. 3 Ole Miss at No. 14 Texas A&M: The good news for Ole Miss – they earned their biggest win in quite some time last week vs. Alabama. The bad news – they’re still celebrating. Word out of Oxford is that the pats on the back have continued deep into the week. Ole Miss has a great defense, especially in the secondary. The Aggies are back at home and will be playing in front of the biggest crowd to ever witness a football game in the state of Texas. A&M’s offense vs. the Ole Miss defense will be a fascinating match-up (as long as the Aggies don’t commit 86 drops like they did last week). Bo Wallace will have to score some points to win this one. I have a weird feeling he will. Ole Miss 36, Texas A&M 31
Texas vs. No. 11 OU (Cotton Bowl): Good news for Texas fans – I don’t think you have a chance in hell of winning this game. Usually that means a win for you, being that I am the Reverse Barometer and all. Too bad Bob Stoops doesn’t lose two games in a row very often. Texas will not be able to outscore OU and probably won’t be able to slow down Trevor Knight either. That spells doom for the Horns. At least we can all have Fletcher’s Corny Dogs after the game. Cheers. Sooners 41, Texas 20
No. 12 Oregon at No. 18 UCLA: The Pac-12 is a mess. The conference may not have a representative in the playoff because of it. These two teams are a big reason why. Inconsistency and mediocre (sometimes at best) offensive line play plague these teams. Arizona has the inside track in the conference; the team that defeated Texas-San Antonio by only 3 and needed a Hail Mary to beat Cal. Yeah. Oregon looked pretty bad last week vs. Arizona and now have to go on the road vs. the Bruins. UCLA is coming off a loss vs. Utah. Anyone want this game? I’ll take the Ducks. Someone give UCLA an eight-clap and wake them up. Oregon 27, UCLA 19
No. 13 Georgia at No. 23 Missouri: You can thank Todd Gurley for completely spoiling what would have been a fun game to watch. Honestly, take him off UGA’s offensive attack and they simply aren’t that good. The winner of this game has the inside track to the SEC East title. Mizzou has been up and down this season but I believe in Maty Mauk at QB. I think the Tigers will score points and Georgia will struggle. Without Gurley, Georgia’s simply not a factor this year. Mizzou 29, UGA 17
Puck Barometer
Since the NHL season has started, we’ll get right to the guts of it – how will the Stars do this season?
This team will be fun to watch; I can assure you of that. The addition of Jason Spezza and Ales Hemsky gives the Stars a dangerous punch in their top-two lines that can match up with anyone in the NHL. Throw in the third line of Garbutt-Eakin-Roussel and now you’re cooking with gas.
The defense is coming along and should have a little more consistency though out the full compliment of seven blue-liners. The biggest question – can Kari Lehtonen show more consistency. He can be great but this team needs him to step up this season and play well every night. If he does, the Stars could challenge for the Central Division. Really.
But it’s a tough division and I like the Blues and Blackhawks to finish in front of them. But the Stars will be in the playoffs again as the 7-seed.
Stanley Cup Finals: Blues over Canadiens. Yeah, I know. Where did those picks come from? But who had the Kings over the Rangers at this time last year? Huh? Yeah? I thought so. Apologies to Blues GM and good friend Doug Armstrong. The Barometer has spoken. Carry on with your Friday night party.
