I may have discovered the next Beano Cook....and a I don't like it.

Week 4 September 23rd

“Herschel Walker is Gay” this is the t-shirt I saw a coed wearing on Thursday night in the upper level of Bobby Dodd Stadium during the Georgia Tech – Virginia game. I have been to two Tech games and have seen students wearing “Rudy Swallows” and "Herschel Walker is Gay”. What’s next? “Bobby Bowden takes it in the Ass” (I have actually known this for years.)

Well we all knew week 4 was going to be a big let down after week 3 gave us 7 games involving match-ups of top 25 teams. Yes it lacked the marquee match-ups but it did not lack a few near upsets and some wacky finishes.

Let’s take a look: First a note from the SEC….outside of a few conference games they might as well scheduled Helen Keller school for the blind. Let’s look their out of conference schedule this week:

Buffalo (1-3) Colorado (0-4) Tulane (1-2) Marshall (1-3) UAB (1-3) Tennessee State (2-2, even Vanderbilt is in on the act.....PS: they have Temple next week) Florida Atlantic (0-4) Good God, men. 6-21. That’s embarrassing.

- Continuing with the SEC #9 Georgia needed a last minute TD to come from 13 points down to beat Colorado who happens to be winless and lost their opener to Montana St. So you may ask is Montana St. any good? Since the Colorado win they have lost to Chadron St. 35-24, UC Davis 45-0 (yes 45-0) and Eastern Washington 19-10. Ouch….Clearly Georgia has some work to do before the Vols come calling on October 7th.

- Two overtime games ended because of missed extra points. (Navy blocked and Bama shanked)

- Speaking of an untested team….Virginia Tech trailed Cincinnati by a point when the 4th quarter began

- Ohio St. only led Penn State 7-3 in the 4th quarter before pulling away

- Boston College, who had won consecutive double OT games, ran out of luck in Raleigh as the Wolfpack completed a hail mary with 8.5 seconds left in the game. BC might not have lost if they had any faith in their kicker. He missed an extra point and BC passed up a 45 yard field goal and failed on 4th down to set-up NC State’s miracle finish.

- Michigan St. imploded once again, losing leads of 31- 14 at the half and 37 – 21 at the start of the 4th quarter in their 40 – 37 loss to Notre Dame. Is there a worse head coach of a major program in college football? Kirk Herbstreit was right on as repeated over and over this game is not over. This is the same coach who blamed his own special teams coach on National TV last year after a bungled field goal attempt that led to an Ohio State touchdown.

- Several games including Texas, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Wake were delayed or interrupted by storms in Texas and the rest of the South. Whitey hopefully you got Smokey deflated before the lightning came.

As I mentioned last week I would be spending much of week 4 in the Turner College Football Studio logging highlights from games around the country.

I showed up at 3pm and looked to see what games I was assigned to watch. I come to find out I would be watching Rice at FSU, Iowa St. at Texas and West Virginia at ECU. Now if that doesn’t get you excited I don’t what would….actually I do. It would be seeing the promo for next week: Tune in next Saturday for the ACC game of the week: Duke vs. Virginia. Now that is some exciting stuff, I might sign-up to log again next week so I can catch this can’t miss rivalry.

Back to the studio:

Game 1 Rice at FSU – First of all I hate FSU and Bobby Bowden (see earlier comments) second of all they are playing Rice, which I know is in Texas and covered against UCLA 2 weeks ago. Someone in the LYA TWO took them so this game might be worth watching. Honestly I watched about 7 minutes and then just scanned back to see who scored for FSU in case a highlight was needed for some unknown reason.

After the game Bobby wasn’t impressed with his team’s offensive performance….."It's not like it was Notre Dame out there," the Seminoles coach said. Bobby it may be late when you get home at night after games but if you haven’t noticed ND has given up 37, 47, and 34 points in 3 of their last 5 games. You may want to reference someone else.

Iowa St. at Texas

Texas was minus 14 in the first half and we all know Texas is a great first half bet. After Texas immediately went ahead 16-0 ISU cut the lead to 16-14 and the first half bet was in big trouble. Whoops 2 more Td’s before the half and Texas covers the 14 with 2 points to spare. Is there any team that can score faster against mediocre to poor talent?

WVU at ECU

This game f*cked me last year and I never forget when a team f*cks me. So what do I do…I again pick against ECU and take WVU -14 in the first half. With less than 3 minutes in the half it is looking like a push. WVU is up 7 and inside the Pirates 10 yard line. Second and 2 with the best rushing team in the country, so what do they do……play action pass into the end zone….picked off! That’s why Pat White should never pass. Run, run and run….maybe you throw a screen to shake things up. WVU won by 17 but I will say this East Carolina is not a bad team, they hung in there until the bitter end.

One last comment from the Saturday games: First let me say that I love Lou Holtz, he brought ND back from the dead and gave me 8 solid years of entertainment, (not counting South Carolina) that is why what he is becoming is so bothersome. Is it me or is he slowly turning into the next Beano Cook? Instead of having a neck injected with turkey fat he has a horrible lisp…..sometimes he is really funny, most of the time he plays favorites and picks with his heart not his head. Either way he is becoming a cartoon character like Beano and a part of me is sad about it. I mean it’s not like college football fans need another reason to hate Notre Dame. In all seriousness I hate that Beano is only given cameo appearances on TV these days. There is nothing better than the live video feed from Pittsburgh as ESPN tries to get Beano’s enormous head and neck on the screen.

Next week’s games:

BYU at TCU on Thursday. TCU has the nation’s longest winning streak it won’t end here.

GA Tech at Virginia Tech – What kind of a schedule forces the Jackets to Blacksburg two years in a row? Ga Tech plays better but I just don’t have faith in Reggie Ball.

Ohio State at Iowa – The Hawkeyes have been waiting for this primetime game since last year’s beat down in Columbus. We will know if Iowa has a chance 5 minutes into this one.

USC at Washington St. – Another dangerous road test for the Trojans…..not!

Purdue at Notre Dame – Purdue is 4-0 and a 14 point dog, this could be a shoot-out.

Rutgers at South Florida – Rutgers tries to go 5-0 as they are in the top 25 for the first time since 1976.

Houston at Miami – Don’t laugh Houston is 4-0.

Oregon at ASU – ASU tries to rebound against the unbeaten Ducks.

Alabama at Florida – Is revenge on the Gators mind? Fans in Gainesville actually booed Chris Leak when he came back in the Kentucky game after a Tim Tebow series.

Texas Tech at Texas A&M – A&M is 4-0 and no one knows what that means? Maybe this game will help.

Michigan at Minnesota – Strange things happen in the dome.

Boise St. at Utah – Another classic that very few people will actually see.

Lastly my second favorite team in the country: Nevada at UNLV. Nevada saved me from a bagel last week by picking a pass off and returning it for a TD to cover the spread against Northwestern in the last 2 minutes. They have provided me with some of the most memorable gambling moments in my life. Go Wolfpack!