Every single predictor in The Reflector’s weekly football forecast this past week can thank Michigan kicker Phillip Brabbs for nailing a 44-yard game-winning field goal to beat Washington last Saturday. If not for the kicking exploits of Brabbs, who by the way had already missed two chip shots in the game, last week’s predictors would have been flirting with mediocrity. Alas, Michigan won, and all but one predictor are over .500.
Last week’s student predictor, Reveille associate editor Patti Reiss tied Reflector sports writers Craig Peters and Jon Hillard for the best record of the week with a 5-1 mark. Reflector sports writers Ross Dellenger, R.J. Morgan, Hank Allen and I followed with a close second at 4-2. Our teacher guest of the week, Dr. Jay Kunz, also finished with a solid 4-2 record.
Coming in at 3-3 last week was Reflector sports writer Grant Alford. There is a lot of football left to be played though, so don’t count Alford out just yet.
As mentioned earlier, everyone picked Michigan to beat Washington last week, just as everyone took USC over Auburn and Georiga over Clemson. There were split decisions on Colorado State’s upset victory over Colorado, Notre Dame’s win over Maryland, and Oregon’s win over our beloved Bulldogs.
I feel it might be necessary to clear the air of a subject. Don’t blame the ones who did go ahead and pick and Oregon last week. I think I speak for the group when I say “We would have loved to have been wrong.”
This week’s slate of games is the hardest so far, and could shape up to be one of the toughest all season.
The game of the week takes place in Gainesville, Florida this weekend, and pits the top-ranked defending national champion Miami Hurricanes against the Florida Gators.
The ‘Canes come in winning 23-straight games, but the Gators have not lost a home game since a loss to in-state rival Florida State in the final game of the 1999 season–a season in which the Gators lost two home games.
Our other featured games pit the second-ranked Oklahoma Sooners against the Alabama Crimson Tide in a matchup between two of the three biggest traditions in college football.
Colorado State and UCLA face off at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena and Notre Dame will open their home season against Purdue.
The final two games of the week feature unranked teams, but should turn out to be great games nevertheless. The Southern Miss Golden Eagles host defending Big 10 Champion Illinois. The Illini are down this year however, with a loss to unranked Missouri in week one.
Texas A&M will travel to Pittsburgh for a battle of 1-0 teams.