Showdown Saturday just a tease before big games

What happens when Showdown Saturday is just an appetizer?

The weekend that is hyped before the season starts as the bestof the year is only a setup for a bigger, more important weekendthe next.

Now don’t get me wrong — Showdown Saturday was greatwith Cal thoroughly outplaying the defending National Champion USCTrojans in a loss. Adrian Peterson and Oklahoma manhandling theLonghorns in Dallas was cool too, along with Minnesota finding away to lose a big game again, Wisconsin proving that Anthony Davisby himself might be good enough and Tennessee throwing a serieshitch into the national title picture by upsetting Georgia betweenthe Hedges.

But here’s the thing: this weekend is better.

Five match-ups between Top 25 teams (six if you take the coachespoll into account with No. 24 Missouri at Texas) give us the maincourse to last weeks’ appetizer.

Three games pit undefeated teams against each other asLouisville, Wisconsin and Virginia make trips to Miami, Purdue andFlorida State.

With all these games, Saturday will be an even bigger waste thannormal.

Call it Separation Saturday, call it the main course, I’llcall it time for some of the big boys to get beat.

Big Games

No. 18 Louisville at No. 3 Miami, 6:30 p.m., Thursday

One team brings itself to the table with everything to prove.The other is Louisville.

One can easily make the case that the Cardinals have been thesuperior team this season rolling up big wins against Kentucky,North Carolina, Army and East Carolina (not exactly a murderers rowbut the ease of victory has been Miami-esque).

The defense has been stout with two shutouts while allowingseven points a game on average.

The offense is explosive to say the least, averaging 43 points acontest behind Conference USA first-teamers Stefan LeFors and J.R.Russell.

Russell’s personal duel with the best defensive player inthe country, Antrel Rolle, should be interesting.

A Tampa native, Russell set Louisville records for yards andreceptions last season while Rolle is garnering Heisman hype forhis shut-down and blitzing abilities from the corner spot.

The Cardinals can also run the ball though, with the tandem ofEric Shelton and multi-talented Michael Bush.

The two have combined for 545 yards and 11 touchdowns on theground through four games.

They face the strength of the Hurricanes in the form of theirspeedy and dominant defensive front that leads the country inpoints allowed and is third in yards allowed.

Here is what this pick comes down to: the Cardinals and‘Canes both have great defenses, but unbelievably theCardinals have better skill position players.

Brock Berlin has been openly questioned by Coach Larry Coker,the receivers lack a consistent big play threat and the runninggame has talent in Tyrone Moss and Frank Gore but faces eight-manfronts on a consistent basis.

Miami found a way to win against Florida St. because Chris Rixhanded it to them; LeFors won’t do the same and Louisvilleovercomes the Orange Bowl crowd to pull the upset.

The Pick: Louisville 20-14

No. 15 Arizona St. at No. 1 USC, 2:30 p.m., Saturday

Is it just me or are the Trojans lucky to still beundefeated?

Honestly, if you watched the game last Saturday you had to beimpressed by the Cal Bears, and you must have genuinely felt thatthe superior team walked out of the Coliseum with a loss.

The yardage was 405-204 in Cal’s favor and Aaron Rodgerstied the NCAA record for completions in a row with a gagillion. Tothe point, USC found a way to win, and if they go undefeated no onein L.A. is going to care if Cal is better.

Problem is, the Sun Devils are coming to town with the “NoRespect” motivation tattooed all over them.

This team plays after most of America goes to sleep; two weeksago they were on TV but kickoff wasn’t until 10:30 p.m.eastern time, and the public evidently has missed their 5-0 startincluding a 43-7 thrashing of the then ranked Iowa Hawkeyes.

Andrew Walter is breaking a new Pac-10 passing record on aweekly basis and has 15 touchdowns compared to one interception onthe year (you may have heard of the former record holder whowasn’t too bad – John Elway).

The defense has been sensational due to a switch from a 4-2-5scheme to a 4-3 scheme over the summer, and the Sun Devils have theswagger of a team that always feels like someone will step up and amake a play to ensure a victory (see Ohio State 2002).

USC will have a hard time getting up for a second big game in arow.

Leading receiver Steve Smith is done for the year with a brokenleg and Matt Leinart can’t throw it to Reggie Bush every play(although I would try).

This ASU team is better than the experts think and the SunDevils know this is their one shot to prove it.

The Pick: Arizona St. 28-20

No. 10 Wisconsin at No. 5 Purdue, 4:30 p.m.

Wisconsin without Anthony Davis: Uninspired and close wins overCentral Florida, UNLV, Arizona and Penn State.

Wisconsin with Anthony Davis: Complete dominations againstIllinois and at Ohio St. with Davis rushing for 381 yards and fourtouchdowns.

Any questions?

As Anthony Davis goes, so go the Badgers, and the season restson his tender hamstrings and ankles if you’re a Badgerfan.

Every time Davis stays down for longer then a second the entirestate of Wisconsin holds their breaths, prays to their god, andstarts to cry. It’s Wisconsin; it’s not a school,it’s a way of life.

The Badgers travel to West Lafayette, Ind. to take on aBoilermaker squad that just keeps rolling along.

They played by far their worst game of the season last Saturdayagainst Penn St. and that poor performance will allow Coach JoeTiller to get his teams attention for Wisconsin.

I am the leader of the Kyle Orton for Heisman campaign that isgathering steam (although that horse gaining on him from behind isAdrian Peterson) and Orton allows his stable of receivers to makeplays for him.

The Badgers are good, but the Purdue defense is waiting to maketheir statement after being overshadowed nationally by their arenaball offense.

The Pick: Purdue 31-20

No. 23 Texas A&M at No. 16 Oklahoma State, 6 p.m.

Anyone notice what Coach Fran is doing down in CollegeStation?

It seems like everybody wrote the Aggies off as just a bad teamafter getting thrashed by Utah in the opening game of the season,but they have come back with a vengeance.

Since that Thursday night, Texas A&M has had four convincingvictories, including solid wins against Kansas St. and Clemson.

On Saturday, the Aggies travel to Stillwater to play OklahomaSt., who is riding high off a 42-14 drubbing of Colorado inBoulder.

Donovan Woods silenced his critics with 193 yards passing andthree touchdowns against the Buffaloes as he showcased an arm andpoise the college football world really didn’t think hehad.

Vernand Morency shook off his legal troubles as he ran for over100 yards for the seventh straight game and is quietly putting upan unbelievable individual season.

However, I’m still not sold on the Cowboys.

They just shouldn’t be this good and I think it has moreto do with their competition than them being able to play withanybody.

The Pick: Texas A&M 27-24

No. 6 Virginia at No. 7 Florida State, 6:45 p.m.

My editor is usually all over me for a lack of space so I willkeep this short and sweet.

Virginia has arguably the best linebacking crew, tight end, anduniforms in America. Florida St. has all the talent they need toplay with anybody but they have Wyatt Sexton or Chris Rix playingquarterback.

The one thing I am afraid of is Sexton struggling early and Rixcoming in and thriving in the underdog role.

Oh yeah, we are talking about Chris Rix.

The Pick: Virginia 31-22

(Season Record: 9-5, Last Week 2-1, thanks to my editor andUSC and Oklahoma’s wins.)

Trent Redden is a junior finance and public policy major. Hemay be reached at [email protected].