Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

11/11/2011 at 9:27am

For the first time this season, I’m giving away one of my picks in the column's headline. It feels appropriate. It’s not so much that we want to talk about this game, but frankly, it’s difficult to think about much else in college football. If you’re surprised this game is available for betting, much less being played at all, you’re not alone. Let’s get this disaster out of the way, then we’ll move on to the interesting and fun news in college football this week, including another well-known coach getting fired, and Derek Dooley pulling a guy off the couch at a Tennessee fraternity house less than an hour before kickoff, putting him in uniform and making him the new kicker. 

Is it unfair to the Penn State players, on their Senior Day, who as far as we know had nothing to do with this mess, to cheer for their defeat simply because they will wear the blue and white Penn State uniforms? Yes, but such is sports. Fans cheer for and against teams every day mostly for no other reason than because of the school, city, state or country they represent, and rarely does the person wearing the uniform factor into the equation. 

It would be easier to support the university as a whole if its community had been as vigilant in the removal of those responsible for this fiasco as the rest of the nation has been. Although many were, video of the Wednesday night press conference and subsequent riots in State College make it pretty easy to dislike many things associated with the school, especially the football program. So this week, because they are insisting on playing a game that seems irrelevant, we will bet on the Huskers (-3), and it feels like a game the Nittany Lions can, should and deserve to lose.

That’s enough of that. Let’s have some fun. Saturday Roulette was an even 4-4 last week to bring the season total to 43-28-1 on the year. Here are this week’s winners:

Tennessee (+14) @ Arkansas: You might be familiar with Texas A&M’s famous “12^th Man” tradition of the fans in the stadium being ready to step in and help the team at a moment’s notice. Apparently, Tennessee’s 12^th man likes to just chill on the fraternity couch. Derek Dooley brings his Volunteers and an assortment of Tennessee fraternity brothers to Fayetteville this week for only the second time since the SEC killed the annual game and budding rivalry between the two schools after 2002. The Vols are still searching for their first SEC win and have yet to score more than 13 points against an SEC team since the third week of the year. 

Remember at the beginning of the season when the Arkansas defense was shooting for a shutout and barely missed it? Look at this perfect storm: it’s Senior Day, Tenarius Wright is expected to play, it will be the first road start for a true freshman quarterback and Derek Dooley admits the Vols “can’t throw and catch.” I’m calling for a shutout. The Razorbacks will cover easily if they play like it’s their last time to play in Fayetteville. The Vols did manage to stay close to Alabama and LSU in the first half of those games, but if Arkansas is playing with full focus, it should have no trouble.

Also, Razorback fans, this is Senior Day, and this isn’t just any senior class. As Jim Harris wrote earlier this week, these are the guys that were forced into playing as freshmen when the previous coach left little for Bobby Petrino to work with. Not only were they forced to play early, but when many of them were unsigned recruits, several in the national media vilified Petrino for the way he left Atlanta, told Arkansans that Petrino was unlikely to stick around longer than a couple of years, and some even directly told Arkansas recruits not to trust him and not to come to Arkansas. The Razorbacks earned their first trip to a BCS bowl last year and are in the BCS top 10 again this year and it’s because these players didn’t listen to those people. That takes an amazing amount of courage for anyone, much less an impressionable 17-18-year-old kids. Razorback fans, if you have a ticket to the game, get there early and show your appreciation for these players.

Oregon (+3) @ Stanford: It would be fun if ESPN started acting like they were promoting monster truck shows and each GameDay game was the Biggest, Greatest Game of the Century! After similar promotions for a 9-6 game featuring four missed field goals and four interceptions, why not? I’ll help them start. Saturday, Saturday, Saturday! Cardinal and Ducks take flight! Thunderously clashing in mid-air! Only one claims victory, only one continues to soar! Saturday night, amidst the hazardous hills of Palo Alto, No. 4 Stanford, No. 7 Oregon, The Game of Eternity! Only on ABC!

Stanford has been good to me so far this season, so I’ll continue to pick Stanford.

Auburn (+12.5) @ Georgia: This is sort of a hard game to pick because every time Auburn has lost this year, it has been by more than 14 points, yet every time Georgia has won an SEC game this year, not a single victory has come by more than 14 points. The highlight of the season for both teams was barely defeating an inept Florida team. Georgia beat them when John Brantley was playing with one leg and Auburn beat the Gators when Florida muffed four punts. After failing to catch the four kicks, Auburn Coach Gene Chizik memorably quipped, “The kicking game was off the charts.” Clearly, the Tigers feel they have a great chance to beat Georgia if the Bulldogs muff between three and seven punts. Unlikely, but I do think 12.5 is too many points to give Auburn here. I’m taking Auburn and the points.

Louisiana Tech (-2) @ Ole Miss: So this is what it has come to in Oxford. Ole Miss is a two-point underdog at home to Louisiana Tech. Ole Miss fans are infamous for leaving losing games early to return to the parties in the Grove. This week, Houston Nutt may leave for the Grove in the third quarter. It’s not like he has much to work for. With all the interviews he’s given this week, it’s possible he’s not even trying. It should be noted Louisiana Tech took Mississippi State to overtime, only lost to Houston by one point and beat Fresno State by twice as many points as Ole Miss did. Louisiana Tech could very well pull this out. Unless Derek Dooley finds the Rebels a quarterback tailgating in the Grove. All bets are off at that point.

USC (-11.5) over Washington, Texas (-1.5) over Missouri, Baylor (-20) over Kansas.

As always, put your picks in a comment below and, remember, on-field wins and losses can be vacated, but your picks will live forever.

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Doc Harper is a contributor to ArkansasSports360.com and a semi-professional handicapper. And by semi-professional we mean complete amateur. If you have any thoughts, questions, tips, a game you want to have picked, etc., please comment below. You can also follow his weekly fits of despair and/or triumph on Twitter @doc_harper.

Tagged: Arkansas Razorbacks, Bobby Petrino, Joe Paterno, Derek Dooley, Penn State Nittany Lions, Tennessee Vols