Hard to believe that this upcoming weekend marks the end of the season for the arcane, idealistic, mock tradition laden, can’t give up the rotary phone and Dirndle, loving Big Ten. It’s freaking ridiculous that the conference as a whole refuse to play Thanksgiving weekend (even though they have before…several times). They then have the nerve to turn and bitch about the layoff between the regular season and the bowl games AND how they don’t get a bye week most years. IT’S EASY AS THIS…

Now, I’m no astronomer, and I sure as hell wouldn’t know the first thing about planet alignment and space time continuum, but I did graduate Kindergarten. I see…TWO…TWO weekends to finish your season on. Get this. If you feel that Thanksgiving might ruin or get in the way of your games…play them the first weekend in December. It’s not very fucking hard.

Some how Illinois and Wisconsin figured this out.

Missing the cut:

3)  #10 Ohio State @ Michigan - I begrudgedly put this because if I didn’t people would cry about me ignoring the “greatest rivalry in college football” and the Trey think’s there is no good football “above the Mason-Dixon Line” argument would come out. I definitely consider it one of the best (I attended the 2005 edition and had a blast), but the mere fact that Big 10 homers have to be coddled and told how great of a rivalry they have going for their conference annoys the shit out of me. Michigan will lose by 30+ and Rich Rodriguez firing rumors will circulate for about week before the administration announces his return in 2010 so they don’t destroy their recruiting class.

2)  #8 LSU @ Ole Miss - Quietly Ole Miss has put together a “solid” season after disappointing so many prognosticators (ahem…SI) with a couple early losses. LSU’s only losses have been to the #1 and #2 teams in the country (depending on what poll makes them look best). That being said, LSU’s offense is abslutely horrendous right now and even with Jordan Jefferson back, they might as well hand off to the ghost of Billy Canon, because they got NUTTIN at tailback. Ole Miss wins as Dexter McCluster yells “ANDALE” and blisters through their worn out defense.

2)  #25 California @ #17 Stanford - Attention Cardinal fans…Everyone knows you are good now…That means…You are officially on upset alert. I would have put this number one, but both teams are really playing for a shot in the Sun Bowl at this point and need the Earth axis to move about .000005 inches to sniff the Pac-10 title. Still..It’s called “The Big Game” for a reason. Stanford wins after 8 conversations/mentions and 1 replay of the band incident on ABC.

And the game of the WEAK (cause the schedule sucks…get it?)

#11 Oregon AND Arizona

The Players To Watch:

Oregon: LaMichael James. Surprisingly, when LaGarrette Blount went Street Fighter on that kid from Boise State he might have been doing more favors to the program than people thought at the time. The Ducks’ second half dominance has been saddled by the emergence of James at running back. His numbers have been some of the best in country and have allowed Jeremiah Masoli to not collapse under the immense pressure of being THE Jeremiah Masoli. With that in mind, I counted at least 10 mentions of Blount’s reinstatement during last weeks broadcast, followed by questions of when he’d get on the field. 

WHY WOULD HE TAKE THE FUCKING FIELD IF THE GUY WHO IS NOW STARTING IS CLEARLY BETTER THAN HIM?

Arizona: Nic Grisby and Keola Antolin. Grisby can’t seem to stay out of the trainers room and will be playing his first full game (at least the Wildcats hope) in some time. While he was out Antolin has filled in and been…ehhhhhh. He certainly hasn’t thrown up gaudy stats, but he’s getting the job done. These two are going to need to keep the chains moving to allow the Arizona defense as little face time with the potent duckfart offense the Quack will throw at you.

The Story:

The obvious: With USC going down last week Oregon leads the Pac 10 and now really controls their destiny for a trip to Pasadena on New Years Day. (Really it didn’t matter if USC won or lost…they still controlled their destiny. It’s just more fun to mention USC)

The not so obvious: An Arizona win will put them in the driver’s seat for a spot in the Rose Bowl. WTF? Yes…Mike Stoops…Arizona…Rose Bowl. They’ve never been…AND they still got USC in two weeks…but would you have thrown money on THIS Stoops being the closest to a BCS bowl this late in the fall?

Not So Fast My Friend:

Arizona has just seemed to pull out games you wouldn’t expect them to all season…Oregon State and Stanford being the big two. With the home field advantage, a night game on ABC, about 40 sorority girls passed out in the stands and a chance to win the Pac-10 this is probably the biggest home game they’ve had in quite some time. Plus…The last time Oregon went to Tuscon, it didn’t end so pretty.

The Prediction:

Oregon is on a mission. I’ve been down on these guys this year, but I think they pull these last two out and win the Pac-10. Oregon 40 – Arizona 21

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