What a weekend ahead!

Hello all and welcome to my weekly recap, also going to be known as my weekend family pack!

If you had a pulse and didn’t enjoy this past weekend’s slate of games, you’re nuts. We had upsets, dominating performances, pathetic performances and even some sweeping.

Drum roll please…………………………………………………………………………

Family packs are meant to feed, well families. So here comes my package (yikes).
I usually like to start with some carrots before I dive into my chicken wings. Kicking things off for me will be Jalen Saunders of the Oklahoma Sooners. Saunders probably just caught another pass while I was writing this since he hauled in 15 in their game against Notre Dame Saturday. I realize that the Fighting Irish got the win, but it was nice as the son of a Sooner fan to see Saunders get into the mix and look very much like the Ryan Broyles we know and love.

Alright, I’m hungry now, so let’s dive into the meat of the family back and break down the first flavor:

We’ll start off with the hot wings. Alabama football once again rolled past its opponent, eleventh-ranked Mississippi State, and is cruising right into a heavy-weighted matchup with the mighty Louisiana State Tigers. This game has become the biggest game of the year in college football in the past couple of years as the last three meetings have decided different championship games, with the last one being the BCS National Championship. This game is heightened by a ton of outlying factors. You’ve got Nick Saban coming back to Baton Rouge, where he becomes the most hated person in the world. The Bayou Bengals are playing at night in Death Valley where they are 36-1 under Les Miles. There also may be a little bit of a personal pride thing going on as I, an Alabama fan, am friends with plenty of LSU Fans.
I’m sorry, but I will not be giving a prediction to this game, as I was a baseball player in high school and am very superstitious to certain things, like jinxing myself. But I can promise that it WILL be a great game and there will be some heavy hitting going on by the defenses.

Let’s move on to our sweet, Teriyaki wings. Notre Dame escaped Norman with a big road win for its still unblemished season. Winning the first eight games of your season is a great way to get noticed in the BCS polls (unless you’re Oregon) and the Fighting Irish are getting their recognition. However that vaunted schedule that Notre Dame plays every year has taken some major hits this year as it isn’t as tough as the fans and commenters believe. Purdue was supposed to be a pleasant surprise for the Big Ten this year, but have lost its last four games and have yet to win a conference game this year. Michigan was exposed on national television in the first week against Alabama, surrendering 41 points and only scoring 14. Stanford is in its post-Andrew Luck phase but have and explosive back in Stepfan Taylor, so they’re still solid. Miami and BYU are both down, while Oklahoma is the most impressive on the schedule. A road win in Norman is always good, so hats off to the Irish there, however I’m not willing to concede that this is the toughest schedule thus far in the season.

Now for the quick, Atomic wings, that could blow up on you any second. Like Alabama, Oregon has a lot of football left to play. The matchup with USC this weekend should show the true colors of the Ducks. Wins against Colorado, Arizona State and Washington don’t impress me as much as a win in Los Angeles would. I’m a supporter of offenses can win you a lot of games, but defenses win you championships. My thoughts are that USC, coming off its loss to Arizona, win this game. Matt Barkley throws for 300 yards and five touchdowns, beating the Ducks, 45-38, ending Oregon’s streak of 40+ points in each game this year.

Last flavor in my family pack this week is the thick but succulent, Barbeque. Marqise Lee absolutely tore up the playing field with 16 receptions for 345 yards and two touchdowns. Amassing all those yards is no easy feat, but and even tougher feat for USC was stopping the Arizona offense. Matt Scott threw for 369 yards and three touchdowns against a USC defense. Don’t expect that to happen this week against Oregon.

My French fries are nice and crispy, at least something is. My Friday night consisted of me traveling five miles down the road from my house to cover a high school football game between Fort Worth All Saints and Cistercian. To my delight there was no heater in the one room press box and the windows needed to be opened to see the field. However it was the most fun and the friendliest game I have covered in the two years working games. Thank you is definitely due to the wonderful people who made my Friday night as warm as they possibly could with their friendliness. Good luck in the playoffs!

My extra side-item this week is the beans. Everything stinks as Auburn, Kentucky and Tennessee have failed once again to pick up that vaunted SEC Victory this year. Kentucky fell to Missouri, who picked up its first SEC win ever, while Tennessee couldn’t hold on to a late lead to South Carolina and the Tigers just got pounded by the Aggies (Insert Aggie animal husbandry joke here). The Southeastern conference is tough and lots of people like to point out these teams as making the conference soft, but maybe take a look at how tough it is just to get a win. Granted Auburn doesn’t help by squeaking by UL-Monroe and Kentucky beat Kent State for their only win, Tennessee has won each of its non-conference games and competed while playing in conference, just can’t end up on the winning side.

As for my dips, I’d like to dissect the four players in who I believe should be in contention for the Heisman.

Collin Klein has to lead the way as he seems like a one-man-show for the Wildcats. Throwing for 1,630 yards and 12 touchdowns isn’t much, but rushing for 624 yards and 16 touchdowns is. He is the leader of the undefeated Kansas State team and sitting atop my Heisman list.

A.J. McCarron would be my number two, but quickly gaining on Klein. He has led the No.1 Crimson Tide and become much more than a game manager. Throwing for 1,684 yards and 18 touchdowns this year without an interception, knock on wood.

Kenjon Barner is leading the FBS in rushing with 974 yards and 14 touchdowns. Barner rushed for a mere 939 yards and 11 touchdowns last year while splitting carries with LaMichael James, but is not in the driver’s seat and cruising along with the Ducks.

Finally Manti Te’o. It seems that a defensive player always jumps up into the finalists over the past couple of years. Te’o holds the edge over Jarvis Jones mainly because he has played in two more games, but both make HUGE impacts when on the field for their teams. With 80 tackles and five interceptions Te’o cuts the cake for the Irish and its solid defense, so far.

That pretty much wraps up my first edition of the weekly family pack. It may be a little longer than I imagined or you would have liked but it’s a work in progress. I am working on a 10-piece combo for this weekend and will have that up by Friday. You can always tweet me @thewingexpert or email me at thewingexpert@gmail.com.

Until then, have a wonderful day and Roll Tide!

Wing Man Out!