Everyone enters the season with an inflated view of their talent and a deflated view of their opponents' players. The Visine Games are those early season encounters that wipe away the goo, gunk and blinders. They let you know what sort of hand you've really been dealt. With that in mind:
- Alabama vs. Clemson - Tide fans have the shortest wait of anyone to gauge their progress against The Saban Process(tm). A Bama victory could set them up nicely for 4-0 start heading into Athens. A loss and they don't get another "peer" match-up (meaning a program not noticeably better or worse than them) until Tennessee in late October.
- Arkansas vs. Alabama - The Razorbacks host the Tide in Week 4. A Hawg fan may argue that their Week 3 game at Texas is the true measuring stick. To that I say, keep dreaming. The gutted Hawg roster will head into Austin for a likely thrashing. If they can topple Bama at home in Week 4, they have a shot a bowling and respectability. A loss against the Tide will leave the Hawg fans wondering where the wins on the schedule come from.
- LSU at Auburn - The big boys of the SEC West tangle in Week 4, and this is the eye opener for both programs. Winner controls their destiny in the West. The loser of this game has never represented the SEC West in the Title game. The winner has repped the West six of the last eight years, and seven of the last 10 years.
- Mississippi State at Georgia Tech - You could argue that their Week 3 match-up against Auburn will be a wake up call. But losing it wouldn't really change the expectations for the season among most reasonable Starkvegas residents. The Tech game on the other hand is more of a peer match-up. Beat Tech and they've got some wiggle room on the schedule as they look towards back to back bowls for only the third time in school history ('98-'00 and '80-'81).
- Ole Miss at Wake Forest - Houston Nutt can't ask for more than a regionally televised ABC game against a beatable yet respectable opponent in Week 2. Take this one, and the Rebels should be 4-0 when they go into the Swamp for a thrashing. Games against South Carolina, Arkansas and MSU look a lot more winnable when you've got a televised, respectable win under your belt. Lose to Wake and the win opportunities start to look bleak.
PWD
(Note: Visine is not an official sponsor of the blog. Unless they want to be. lol.)
5 comments:
I like the choices and agree with most of what you say, but I will take nothing from Alabama-Clemson. I'll watch and it should be entertaining, but the winner will be outrageously overhyped and go on to lose to some bollocks team like Duke or Arkansas State. All we'll know after this game is who has a ranking they probably don't deserve.
Ole Miss is going bowling this year. Mark it!
Bammers visiting Starkvegas is a huge game for both teams. Should be interesting to see what happens to the Hoddy-Toddy's this year. Nutt has some talent to play with. I might actually be interested in the Ole Miss/MSU game this year.
I'm not trying to belittle your work, PWD. In fact, I agree with your choices.
But I just want to point out that the Visine games can be misleading. Last year, the Dawgs lost a close game to a not-very-good SC team. And then they got thrashed by a pretty good UT team. After the UT and Vandy games, I was thoroughly convinced the Dawgs were gonna get thrashed by the Gators.
Thank goodness the Dawgs' early Visine games last year ended up being unreliable yardsticks...
Love your call about the MSU/Yech game. All the Nerds I know think that is a guaranteed W for them and they are going to be IMHO sadly disappointed.
Croom 27 / Nerds 19
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