October 22nd Games of Interest

Big 12: Oklahoma State @ Missouri Upset alert! The Tigers and Cowboys were in the Big 12 North and South Divisions respectively in the old conference alignment (last year) and thus, did not play every year. As a result of conference / divisional scheduling, these teams did not meet a year ago, however, they did play in 08, an Oklahoma State victory, 28-23 and laced them up again, in 09, with similar results, Cowboys 33 Tigers 17.

The Tigers are 3-3, with wins over Miami of Ohio, 17-6, Western Illinois 69-0, & Iowa State, 52-17, all three of their wins have come at home. Away from Columbia’s Memorial Stadium, Missouri has struggled, losing at Arizona State, 37-30, At Norman, to Oklahoma, 38-28 & in Mini-Manhattan, to Kansas State, 24-17. All of the these contests were close and Missouri had chances to win each of these road contests. One could easily argue that Missouri could/should be 5-1, as the only game that did not go down to the final seconds was against Oklahoma. The Missouri/Oklahoma State tussle is in Columbia, a venue where the Tigers have not lost this season. Meanwhile, State is coming off two emotional games in the past three weeks, a 30-29 miracle comeback win over Texas A.M & a huge win (given their difficult history with the Longhorns in Austin) last week, against Texas, 38-26. Missouri 31 Oklahoma State 28

ACC: Georgia Tech @ Miami (Florida) These clubs have met in each of the past 5 years, with Georgia Tech holding a 3 to 2 edge in wins. In 06, Tech won 30-23, in 08, The Rambling Wreck survived, 17-14, and in 09, Tech hammered Miami, 41-23. The past two years have had a much different outcome – in 010, the Hurricanes handled Tech, 33-17 and last year, the Canes pounded the Yellow Jackets, 35-10.

Miami comes into the game @ 3-3, with a season opening road lost to conference foe Maryland, 32-24, an impressive win @ home against Ohio State, 24-6 and then a disappointing (at the time) loss at home to Kansas State 28-24 – the Wildcats are currently a surprising 6-0. Miami then beat an FCS team, Bethune-Cookman 45-14, lost a heart stopper to /at Virginia Tech, 38-35, and last week found a way in Chapel Hill against North Carolina, 30-24.

Georgia Tech is 5-1 on the season, their lone loss was last week in Charlottesville to Virginia, 24-21. The Wreck have beaten both North Carolina on the road, 35-28 and Maryland at home, 21-16. Therefore, these teams, Miami & Georgia Tech, have faced two common opponents this season; Tech is 2-0 against them while Miami has won one and lost one..

The Canes has been surprisingly disciplined in defending Georgia Tech’s triple option the past two seasons and Mr. Turnover, Jacory Harris, has not treated the ball as if it were radioactive the past couple of weeks, no interceptions in the last two games. That said, Miami ranks 94 of 120 against the run, giving up 187.0 yards per game and Georgia Tech is throwing the ball more effectively this year. The game is at Miami and the Hurricanes have beaten Tech two in a row… but they will not make it three in row! Paul Johnson, G-Tech’s Coach, will have his players total attention this week coming off their first loss of the season. Georgia Tech 35 Miami 24