Well, not that top 10 list, yet. I’m talking about Stewart Mandel’s pre-season list of the top 10 games he foresees will have the most impact on the 2008 college football season.
Naturally I was interested in two teams: the Buckeyes and the Mountaineers. The Ohio State University makes Stewart’s list appearing in two of the top five games, while West Virginia University makes the list with one contest.
Obviously, as Matt and this other white Matt have testified to since the announcement last year that OSU plays at USC in ‘08, this non-conference monster of an early season matchup tops Stewart’s list of games to watch.
He points out the obvious: the Buckeyes need to win or at least have a close game against the Trojans in order to receive any respect in the minds of many national pollsters and fans. He also points out this will be Mark Sanchez’s USC squad as he will be leading them at QB without having to wait in the wings of John David Booty (graduated). Should be a great game to see via the Saturday night ABC primetime airwaves.
The Buckeyes also make the grade at number five, with a testy road game at Wisconsin on 10/4/08. OSU never, (and the Rock means eeeehhh-ver) plays well at Madison, so in one essence, I agree this will be a huge game, but my gut hates to think the Bucks have to travel up north for this game. Hopefully Tressel will have them ready to play and the weather will still be ok in October.
The ‘Eers make the list at number nine with its non-conference home game vs. against perennial SEC contender Auburn (10/23/08). Should WVU win this game, it could propel (I like Grape Propel by the way. It’s really the only way to go) WVU into a strong run towards yet another BCS bowl game and possibly the BCS national title game. I won’t get ahead of myself though. WVU has many questions on the defensive side of the ball to sort out and Auburn’s offense has some question marks as well, so we’ll have to see how this one turns out.
For those not wanting to switch over to Stewart’s column, here’s the other matchups in the top ten:
2. Florida at Georgia – 11/1/08
3. Georgia at Arizona St. – 9/20/08
4. Oklahoma at Texas – 10/11/08
6. LSU at Auburn – 9/20/08
7. Texas at Texas Tech – 11/1/08
8. Missouri at Kansas - 11/29/08
10. BYU at Utah – 11/22/08
For those of you paying attention, that means a few teams made the list twice: OSU, Texas, Auburn and Georgia. Should be a fun year. Is it August yet??
