Campus Confidential

By Adam Abramson

The location of my desk makes a lot of sense. I’m smack dab in the middle of the newsroom. Late night, I have to keep tabs on the whole site, so my location allows me to be between the news desk and sports desk so I am easily accessible.

The only problem with my locale was that I never had a clear view of any of the 954 TVs in the newsroom. I was always straining to look around some column, looking over my shoulder or getting up to catch something on the tube.

To remedy this, I put in a request for a small TV for the desk and they came through for me, except it had no cable. So my TV projected nothing but snow…until last night. Just in time for the Auburn-South Carolina game. Talk about being just in time.

Considering everyone (including me) thought it would be a blowout at the hands of the Tigers, Spurrier’s team overcame some monster hurdles to put up one hell of a fight. Has anyone ever seen a team have the ball for an ENTIRE quarter? I thought this was an amazing stat—South Carolina’s offense didn’t step foot on the field for the entire third quarter, after controlling the ball over 18 minutes in the first half.

Take away the dropped touchdown with two minutes left and we could have been looking at overtime (though Auburn driving the field to win the game at the end wouldn’t have shocked me). I am thanking the TV and cable gods that I was able to watch.

Oh, and send my regards to Fort Worth. Texas Christian forfeited the nation’s longest winning streak with a loss to BYU on Thursday night.

Moving on.

If last weekend was Sleepwalk Saturday, I’m jumping the gun and calling this Surprise Saturday…I’d call it Cardiac Saturday, but cardiac doesn’t start with an S and everyone loves alliteration.

This weekend’s potential marquee close calls:

• No. 1 Ohio State at No. 13 Iowa, 8
  
• No. 3 USC at Washington State, 7
  
• Alabama at No. 5 Florida, 3:30
  
• No. 6 Michigan at Minnesota, 8
  
• No. 24 Georgia Tech at No. 11 Virginia Tech, 3:30
  
• Purdue at No. 12 Notre Dame, 2:30
  
• No. 14 Oregon at Arizona State, 3:30
  
• Colorado at No. 25 Missouri, 12:30
  

• Can the Hawkeyes beat a No. 1 team? You know they’re going to be jacked up out in Iowa. I heard a story on the radio about the 12-10 Iowa win over Michigan in 1985 where it was so loud, the TV cameras where shaking. The crowd will probably be that insane tomorrow, but Ohio State looked pretty mean against Penn State. I’m not going against my national title favorite, but I think they’ll get a scare.

• I said in the office on Thursday that USC would lose to Washington State and I’ll stick to it or La Monica won’t let me live it down. I know WSU was crushed by Auburn in the opener 40-14, but that game was in Alabama and opening games are never a good benchmark. If the Cougars can use the tandem DeMaundray Woolridge (great name) and Dwight Tardy to control the clock and keep the Trojans off the field, anything is possible. Quarterback Alex on the Brink of an upset (that was bad, sorry) has a pair of legs himself which always makes it tough for defenses (see Auburn-South Carolina). I’m taking the Cougars here as long as they don’t turn over the ball.

• I thought a lot about Florida this week. I think they are overlooked. I know their ranking is impressive, but they’re not talked about with the Auburns, Southern Californias and Ohio States of the world. A few lucky breaks and I can see this team undefeated come year’s end. They might get a scare this weekend though.

• I have Michigan and Minnesota on the list, but I don’t think it’ll be that big of a deal. Although…the Wolverines are always good for the perennial let down game…why not on Cardi…err I mean Surprise Saturday.

• I haven’t faltered on this pick…Georgia Tech to beat Virginia Tech. I will give props to Hokie wide receiver David Clowney though. The man had an emergency appendectomy last week, but has been cleared to play just seven days after surgery. I’d still be in bed being spoon fed apple sauce.

• I want to figure out this Notre Dame team already, it’s driving me crazy. They look horrible, they look amazing, horrible, amazing. I am starting to think this could be because of a lack of depth. If they can get by Mike Alstott’s alma mater, they should be in good shape the next few weeks as they gear up for Southern Cal.

• Oregon beat Oklahoma in a kooky finish and now they’re a top 15 team. I’m not buying it. If Arizona State can get 11 guys to play defense at the same time, they’ll win this game.

• Yeah, I know I added Colorado/Missouri to the list. What I don’t know is how many people outside of these states care, but I put it because of the ranking. I’m going to take Colorado, they’ve gotta win a ball game at some point.
  

Well…I’m going to Manhattan to watch the Tech bowl. I’ll return home in time to watch the Big 10 games.

Enjoy.