1/2 the teams ranked between 10-20 in the AP poll lost in Week 4. Taking a line from the movie Wild Hogs ” these guys ain’t real, they’re posers” would apply best to UCF. Good news for the college football world that UCF will NOT be National Champions this year. Note the Orlando Sentinel is rumored to be establishing the Orlando City NCAA Championship and UCF could win the inaugural honor if they can manage to beat Rasmussen College in Orlando ( Rassy the Moose is the mascot ) and Valencia College ( Mascot is Toredo the Matador ). Neither have football teams so looks like UCF is on its way to another “made-to-order” championship. ZT has a source who sent a picture of the trophy……
In other news, the Punk-12 is now on the outside looking in…….only Cal is left in the ranks of the unbeaten and that likely won’t last long. ZT believes they may have 3 losses by Halloween. Hate it for 1 reason only: REALLY wanted to see a bunch of Mike Leach interviews in December!!
ZT been on the road in the Midwest and had to dial it back late week after knocking out some green curry at a local Thai place. Made the mistake of indicating “they couldn’t make it too hot for me”…..4 hours late the only song I could recall was “Ring of Fire”. ZT also is challenging the validity of the Mediterranean Diet. Had several plates of marinated olives while drinking a 12-Pack of Yeast Coast Brew from Monaco and didn’t even lose a pound!!!
Friday Night Appetizer
#12 Penn State Nittany Lions 31 Maryland Terrapins 24
Big 10 Opener for both teams and a pretty good match up on High School Football Night. Nittany Lions will look for QB Sean Clifford ( no relation to the Big Red Dog ) to step it up a notch, although he has not thrown an INT in his first 3 games. Ground game is by committee and that will be a challenge against a stingy Terrapin run defense ranked #10 in the Nation. MD will look to RB Anthony McFarland to carry the load and a “Blackout” was set to hype up the home crowd……………..NOT a fan of gimmicks like this as you know…….ZT sees the difference being a banged up Maryland O-Line and the only thing the “Blackout” will do is keep the fans from showing tear stains on their clothes at the end of this one……..
ZT off to eat some turnip greens and collard greens for health purposes….back with Saturday action later…..
The Padre is out helping a neighbor that has goats, which got out of their fence. Neighbor said “Of course you are supposed to help since you are my shepherd!”
ZT back as he ran out of cornbread and hard to eat greens without it..
Full Portion Prognostications
#5 Ohio State Buckeyes 38 Nebraska Cornhuskers 24
Interesting game as we see a couple of Chip Kelly disciples ( OSU’s Ryan and NEB’s Frost) trying to change the style of play in the Big 10…….problem this week is the Buckeyes are way ahead of the Corn Shuckers at this time. This will be OSU QB Justin Fields 1st real road start and it will be hostile in Lincoln. Neb QB Martinez was not offered a scholarship by OSU so a little extra motivation in that regard. Look to see the Big Red Thrashing Machine pull out all the stops but in the end, Buckeyes remain unblemished and undefeated. In an effort to motivate the fans, Nebraska brings out the 1950’s mascot Corncob Man for a pre-game crowd participation contest. Unfortunately, he misunderstands when the stadium announcer says ” We are about to play Corn Hole at midfield with Corncob Man” and runs out of the stadium…….. Buckeyes win this one without issue.
#18 Virginia Cavaliers 20 #10 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 35
Speaking of Posers, what do we have here………ND played the Georgia Bulldogs better than most expected and showed a lot of toughness on the road in Athens. This is a MUST WIN if ND is to maintain any chance for the playoffs. Virginia on the other hand is off to a solid 4-0 start with 2 ACC wins but got sloppy ( looking ahead? ) against Old Dominion last week and had to rally from 17 down to get the win. Cavs have a solid defense and do like QB Bryce “my uncle ain’t Marlin” Perkins ability to run against an Irish defense that is better against the pass. VA HC Bronco Mendenhall ( ZT just likes that name as you know since I mention it about every week ) will have the Cavs ready to play in a tough environment where even Jesus is pulling against you……ZT calling for a tight one but sees the Irish pulling away late in the game.
Mississippi State Bulldogs 21 Auburn Tigers 34
Key match up is the Auburn Run defense vs. the ground attack of MSU. 2018 was a true “pit experience” for the Tigers as they gave up over 340 yards on the ground ( including 195 to former MSU QB Nick Fitzgerald ) in a 23-9 loss. Tigers showed the world they can stop the run this year by holding A & M under 75 yards last week. Bulldogs have plenty to test the AU Defense. RB Kylin Hill ( 6+ yds per carry ) and Dual-threat Freshman QB Schrader are formidable challenges for any defense. Note MSU has another QB in Tommy “Boy” Stevens who was the starter but has been nursing an injury. Some question as to who may start and believe this is not a good thing when traveling to Jordan-Hare Stadium. ZT looks for Auburn to take care of business and be in little stress near the end of the 4th quarter. At the post game presser, it was noted AU returning to play some solid offense with QB Nix reminiscent of the 2011 BCS winning offense when Gus was OC. Reporter said he heard Gus had even gone to visit Cam Newton. Malzahn responded that in fact he had watched Return of the Jedi on AMC and was inspired to go see Cam like Luke Skywalker did with Yoda for some final wisdom. When asked if it helped, Gus said “One look at Cam ( noted in picture below ) and all it reminded me to do was to have my dog neutered”………..
ZT’s Quick Snack Selections
NC State Wolfpack 28 FSU Seminoles 31
FSU HC Willie Taggart did not realize the Seminoles beat Louisville last week until Tuesday. Said ” I didn’t hydrate well and was a little loopy” Game has QB’s named Hornibrook and Hockman……….pretty sure the 3rd tier announcers on the ACC network will butcher those names more than once Saturday Night.
Rutgers Scarlet Knights 10 #20 Michigan Wolverines 42
This will be a typical Harbaugh rebound…..Will beat the crap out of one of the worst teams in Division 1 football ( they let UMass score 21 on them ) that is already looking forward to basketball season.
Washington State Cougars 35 #19 Utah Utes 34 Upset Special
What a difference a week makes!!!……this game should have been for the lead in the Punk-12 North and South Divisions. BUT Utah ( Corso’s Playoff Pick ) gets popped in the mouth by USC while Pirate Mike Leach left in the 3rd Quarter ( up by 32 points ) to go to a Cheech and Chong binge watch party only to find out his cougars gave up 50 points in the 2nd half and lost to UCLA. ZT going with the Road Upset because Utah’s mascot is named Swoop and don’t think Leach loses to anything named Swoop.
Arkansas Razorbacks 12 Texas A & M Aggies 42
The Baconators head down to play a frustrated group of soldiers ready for a BBQ. The Swine will be gigged before halftime and smoked by the 4th quarter.
Ole Miss Rebels/Bears/Landsharks/Admiral Ackbars 13 BAMA 58 UPSET ALERT… ok…just letting you know Nick will be upset about something….
Bama has been ranked 200 weeks straight with Saban being mad for 197 of those…..last time Ole Miss favored against Bama was 2003 but have lost by 55 & 63 in the last 2 years after beating Bama consecutively in 2014/15……Key Stat for 2019? Ole Miss is #113 vs. the Pass and Bama Passing Offense is #3 so look for a lot of Rock/Paper/Scissors by the BAMA WR’s deciding who gets the TD this week as well. Gary Danielson is suspended by CBS as he was silently reading co-announcer Brad Nessler’s Bucket List noting #8 was Brad wanted to own a BIG SUV and Gary blurted out ” Brad, If I could, I would love to give you a Hummer!”…..The list was made public and the #1 item for Brad was a new co-announcer.
#21 USC Trojans 24 #17 Washington Huskies 38
The Clay Helton Survival Tour is off to its next stop…….OK, ZT was dead wrong last week when USC beat Utah. Huskies still can’t believe they lost to Cal at HOME ( but they did ) so they are ready for a win over the Trojans in Seattle. UW QB Eason is solid and so is the UW pass defense. Tough assignment for USC QB Matt “I’m not a” Fink who replaces the injured Slovis. After the game, Church & Dwight Company (who makes Trojan Condoms and products) ask USC to consider changing their name as their defense is so porous it is beginning to affect sales…..
Texas Tech Red Raiders 21 #6 Oklahoma Sooners 52
Can Texas Tech and their revamped defense ( yep, get the smelling salts for mentioning Defense and Texas Tech in the same sentence! ) contain the Boomer Sooner offense? Even if they do slowdown OU QB Jalen “Saying Roll Tide NOW” Hurts, the Red Raider offense apparently left when Kliff Kingsbury did!! OU looking for style points this week to crack the Top 5 and ZT believes they get them!!!
ZT just got a call the “HOT NOW” light just illuminated at Krispy Kreme so……..
Pigskin Prognostications by the Piedmont Padre and Zimmern's Twin 