Wannstache alert!

Everyone’s favorite coach (unless he’s coaching your team), Dave Wannstedt, has led his team into Syracuse today. You may know the Orange as quite possibly the worst BCS school in the country this year. Wannstache knows them as the team leading his team by 8 points midway through the third quarter.

I’ll keep you posted on these startling developments ...

UPDATE: The game is now tied. I guess the Pitt players remembered that remarkable motivational ploy their fearless leader used this week.

UPDATE II: Pitt has taken the lead, but take heart! Wannstache knows how to blow games like this.

UPDATE III: The Panthers have gone up 10 with under 4 minutes to play, so it looks like they’re safe.

Reunited ... and it feels so good

Yes. I’m back in Seat 80 in the David E. Housel Press Box at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Last week’s seating glitch couldn’t slow me down, and now I’m back to claim my rightful spot on the South Side of the 50-yard line.

Today’s game?
Oh yeah, so what can we expect?
Glad you asked. Auburn’s offense comes out with some wrinkles, moves the football, scores some points, you know, nothing they’ve done the first four games. Auburn’s defense plays well, again. And the Tigers cruise to an SEC win over Tennessee.

Tennessee’s not that good. And this Auburn team has something to prove. But, there’s always the “letdown” factor, which Auburn has to guard against. But after a week of hearing how they need to turn it on, the Tigers do today.

Of course, that’s just one man’s opinion. You’ve got 2 1/2 hours until kickoff. What do you think?

Belated extra USC-OSU thoughts

ESPN may have loved having the No. 1 team in the country getting beat on their air last night, but it just might become increasingly difficult to get highly-ranked teams to appear on Thursday night football.

I’m not sure where to find exact numbers, but there is a strong history of home teams getting big upsets on Thursday night on ESPN.

Something about those nights just really gets teams and crowds fired up, and I think I and high school reporter Tom Peavy may have noticed it as the Oregon State fans rushed the field at the end of the gae last night.

When you’re playing on a Thursday night, it reduces the amount of Average Joes from around the state who might come to the game, and even some big-money folks who would normally sit in the good seats. Why? Because they have to go to work the next day.

So who does that leave? Students.

Students who have had all day to sit around and get - ahem - ready for the game while on campus, so by the time game time rolls around they’re pretty rowdy.

The atmosphere in Corvallis, Ore., was electric last night, and it was really no different than a lot of the time when an underdog hosts a big boy on Thursday night.

I tried to think of some big Thursday night upsets since ESPN started doing these, and while my memory isn’t quite what it used to be I did manage to think of a few.

Mississippi State beating Florida, 30-6, in 1992

Virginia beating Florida State, 33-28, in 1995

Vanderbilt nearly beating Notre Dame in 1996

Pittsburgh beating Miami, 21-17, in 1997

N.C. State beating Syracuse, 38-17, in 1998

Louisville beating Florida State, 26-20, in 2002

Southern Miss beating TCU, 40-28, in 2003

Troy beating Missouri, 24-14, in 2004

N.C. State beating Florida State, 24-20, in 2006

Arizona beating Oregon, 34-24, in 2007

And you’ve already had three this year with Vanderbilt beating South Carolina, Colorado beating West Virginia and, of course, last night’s game.

And I’m sure I’m missing a few.

But, just in case you were wondering, in every one of these games the underdog was the home team.

Why I changed my mind about Bama-UGA

As promised yesterday, I will now explain my thoughts on why I now think Alabama will win in Athens, Ga., tomorrow.

On one level, it really comes down to five words:

Terrance Cody vs. Ben Jones

The Bulldogs will be putting a true freshman center on Alabama’s gravity-affecting defensive tackle.

Now, sure, they will probably be double- and triple-teaming him, but this offensive line has not been particularly impressive thus far with all the injuries and shuffling around. And if Bama’s defensive line can disrupt the running game just enough to make Georgia have to throw the ball a lot, they’re going to have a very good chance to win this game.

Why? Because as good of an arm as Matthew Stafford may have, he’s still pretty mistake-prone.

If Bama can just contain Knowshon Moreno, which is possible, and get pressure on Stafford, they will force a few turnovers. Now Georgia’s going to get a few points here and there and one or two good drives, at least, but as long as they can hold them to under 24 points they’re going to have a chance to win.

And that brings us to Alabama.

Georgia’s defense is pretty good. There’s no denying that. But Alabama’s offensive line is among the best in the country and they should be able to move the ball effectively. As long as they can run the ball with some success, which I think they can, they can take the pressure off John Parker Wilson and allow him to make a few timely throws. But if Georgia makes Bama one-dimensional all bets are off.

But there’s one other factor to consider in this, and one I’ve touched on in other outlets but never here.

Prior to last year’s Florida game,Georgia had never played with a great deal of intensity under Richt. They had been at or near the top of the SEC in talent for the better part of the decade, but always seemed to get caught napping in games they should win, especially at home.

Tennessee in 2004 and 2006, Auburn in 2001 and 2005, Vanderbilt in 2006, plus a road loss to LSU in 2003 and losses in Jacksonville, Fla., to Florida in 2002 and 2003. Georgia should’ve won all these games. (Well, maybe not the 2006 Tennessee game)

Now it would seem Georgia has fixed the intensity problem, but you never know. And coming off two tough road games, this team should be at least a little emotionally drained, blackout or not.

Regardless of how this goes I see a physical, in the trenches game that will come down to the wire. But I’m calling for Bama to win on a late Leigh Tiffin field goal.

Oh, Beavers

Now, I wasn’t entirely sold on USC heading into the season (I have proof here), but was becoming somewhat convinced after they dismantled Ohio State two weeks ago.

But I think we learned all we need to know about the Trojans and about Pete Carroll tonight.

Since Carroll’s third year there, the Trojans have been lightyears ahead of all but three or four teams each year in talent, but they’re well behind in things like mental preparation.

Since their loss to Texas in the Rose Bowl three years ago, USC has lost on the road to Oregon State (twice) and UCLA and lost at home to Stanford, all games in which they were the vastly superior team.

As my dad said during our trip to New York, when USC brings its A-game barely anyone can compete with them. But when they don’t, you’d better watch out.

And really, this should just go to show how amazingly good their 2004 and 2005 teams were. They had several games in which they got in trouble early and were able to rebound. Carroll’s teams of the last three seasons haven’t been quite good enough to do it.

But, on another note, how about that little running back Jacquizz Rodgers? 186 yards on 37 carries against the USC defense for that guy? Get that man a steak.

QUICK UPDATE: And just to reiterate something I implied but never actually said, this was not a good football team that USC lost to tonight. They could not be ashamed enough of themselves over this. Just terrible.