Heated southern rivalries resume this weekend
This is the Saturday that college football enthusiasts have beenlooking forward to all season: three huge rivalry games withnational title implications.
Texas takes on Oklahoma right here in Dallas; Florida Statehosts Miami; and Georgia travels to Tennessee.
Texas vs. Oklahoma
Texas’ Keys to Victory:
The Longhorns will have to get a well-coached game from MackBrown more than anything if they are to have a chance at knockingthe No. 1-ranked Sooners.
First and foremost, Brown must select one quarterback to playthe entire game; he can’t employ an alternating seriespolicy.
The one quarterback should be Houston native Vince Young.
Last week with the ‘Horns trailing late against KansasState, the redshirt freshman took Texas on a long drive to win thegame. Young also has an element of mobility that senior Chance Mockdoesn’t possess.
The Longhorns will also have to get big games from receiver RoyWilliams and running back Cedric Benson if they are to have anychance of pulling the upset.
Benson will be huge because in past meetings between these twoteams, the Sooners have been able to take the run away early andforce Texas into becoming a one dimensional passing team.
However, if Texas can establish the run, it would not allow theOklahoma defense to blitz six and seven guys on every play likethey have the past.
It has been Texas’ inability to run the ball that haspreviously caused them such problems in this game for Big 12 Southsupremacy.
If they do establish the run, that will open things up forWilliams in the passing game, who is virtually uncoverableone-on-one.
Getting a good balance of run and pass is the only chance theLonghorns have of pulling the upset.
Oklahoma’s Keys to Victory:
Don’t be fooled by the gaudy numbers quarterback JasonWhite has posted so far this year. This team starts and ends withdefense.
Tommie Harris, Teddy Lehman, Lance Mitchell and Brandon Everageare the heart and soul of this team.
But they haven’t been challenged yet this year.
The Sooners are ranked No. 1 in the country not for what theyhave accomplished on the field, but for the hype the have receivedoff of it.
Texas will pose OU’s first and only threat of the regularseason; the ‘Horns are the only ranked team they play allyear.
In the past, the Sooners strategy has been simple: Get pressureon the Texas quarterback and make him make mistakes.
The only problem with that philosophy this year is that theTexas quarterback isn’t Chris Simms.
Simms had all the physical attributes a great quarterback shouldhave, but he also had a soft head and no mobility, whereas VinceYoung has already proved he is a winner with great mobility.
The Sooners have historically had problems with mobilequarterbacks.
Missouri’s Brad Smith torched their defense last year withhis arm and his feet, nearly pulling off an upset of epicproportion. Texas A&M’s Reggie McNeal did the same thing;however, he actually got the win.
Shutting down McNeal will be Oklahoma’s first and foremostpriority.
Bob Stoops is a great coach and Mack Brown is a terrible one.Big games are too much about coaching for Texas to overcome thishuge disadvantage.
Prediction: Oklahoma wins 23-10.
Miami at Florida State
Miami’s Keys to Victory:
The Hurricanes have looked impressive only once all year andthat was in their 33-14 drubbing of Boston College. In every othergame, they have played uninspiring football, leaving little reasonto believe they can beat Florida State, the best team in collegefootball right now.
Last week, they almost fell victim to a West Virginia team thatis currently 1-4. They had to have a huge comeback on Florida, wholooks to be the doormat of the SEC this year, and they even letwinless East Carolina stick around until the fourth quarter.
With all that in mind, the ‘Canes still have a chance towin because of their ridiculous talent and team speed.
They will have to get a big game from quarterback Brock Berlin;running back Frank Gore is out for the season with a torn ACL.
Look for Berlin to get the ball to preseason Heisman candidatetight end Kellen Winslow as much as possible.
When the ‘Canes want to get the big play, Berlin will tryand hook up with deep threats Kevin Beard, Roscoe Parrish and RyanMoore.
Gore’s replacement, Jarrett Payton — son of hall offame running back Walter Payton — will have to perform muchbetter than he did last week against West Virginia.
Florida State’s Keys to Victory:
There is little doubt that FSU is the best college football teamon the planet right now.
Their offense can run and pass and their defense is nearlyimpenetrable.
Their Achilles heel is their quarterback Chris Rix.
He, like Chris Simms, is an incredibly gifted quarterback who isterrible under pressure and also disliked by his teammates.
The ‘Noles must let Rix get his confidence going early bysetting him up with easy, short passes. This will ensure that hedoesn’t implode mentally early in the game.
If Rix plays well, this game could get ugly.
The ‘Noles are deep, fast and physical on defense led bydefensive end Kamerion Wimbley, linebacker Kendall Pope andcornerback Rufus Brown.
On offense, their running game is matched by no one; they have a1-2 punch of size and speed in running backs Greg Jones and LorenzoBooker.
When they look to pass, Rix’s favorite target is CraphonsoThorpe who is tall, skinny and fast at 6 feet 2 inches tall, 175pounds and runs a 4.4 40-yard dash.
FSU controls their own destiny in this game, if they play wellthey will win and win big.
The combination of Miami playing lackadaisically and FloridaState playing to prove that they are back as a national powerdoesn’t bode well for the ‘Canes
Prediction: Florida State wins 38-6.
Georgia at Tennessee
Georgia’s Keys to Victory:
It looks as if head coach Mark Richt has decided on David Greeneas his quarterback, and that is probably a good thing.
Greene has completed 90 of 154 passes for 1,244 yards and fivetouchdowns in only five games. However, he will be without leadingreceiver Reggie Brown, so look for the Bulldogs to try to exploit aTennessee run defense that allowed 264 yards rushing to Auburn lastweek.
The ‘Dawgs will try to run with freshman Michael Cooper,who is averaging over five yards per carry this season.
On defense, they are led by defensive end David Pollack who willbe a thorn in the side of Vol quarterback Casey Clausen all daylong.
If Georgia is going to win, they will have to be more efficienton offense than they were in their only loss of the season to LSU,where they only scored 10 points.
Tennessee’s Key to Victory:
The Vols will look to rebound from last week’s 28-21 lossto Auburn by finding solace in front of their home crowd.
However, it will take more than just crowd noise for the Vols toemerge victorious; they will have to get a big day from the runninggame.
The tandem of Jabari Davis and Cedric Houston have been toutedby many as the best in the nation. They haven’t played thatway lately. Last week against Auburn, the Vols’ ground attackproduced only two yards.
That is unacceptable.
To get a win, they will have to rush for at least 150 yards as ateam.
This will allow Clausen to get more time in the pocket and findstar wideout James Banks.
If the running game proves to be ineffective, Clausen will haveto win the game all by himself, something he has proven he isincapable of in his four years at UT.
Tennessee is grossly overrated as is evident by their near homeloss to South Carolina two weeks ago. For the second straight year,Georgia will prove they are the class of the SEC East.
Prediction: Georgia Wins 17-3.
