Despite the tipoff of college basketball last night, I’m still in football mode (Duke’s first game isn’t until Sunday, so it really hasn’t started for me anyway.) And, I’m looking forward to this weekend. But first, there was a game last night.

I posted earlier about Bob Knight. Now, another Knight’s tale - actually, a team full of them - the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers.

A lot has been made in the last couple of weeks about the Big East and the potential that one of their teams may finish the season undefeated, and if so, whether or not that team should be in the BCS championship game (with, presumably, the winner of the Ohio State/Michigan game.)

Just last week, three Big East teams were undefeated - West Virginia, Louisville and Rutgers. Last Thursday night, Louisville beat West Virginia, and then last night, Rutgers beat Louisville. Prior to last week’s game, West Virginia and Louisville were in the top 5, while Rutgers was ranked around 15th or so. Now, Rutgers is the lone undefeated Big East team. Rutgers will travel to West Virginia on December 2 and we’ll see if they can pull off an undefeated season (assuming they win the 2 games prior to WVU.)

My feeling is that it’s harder to believe Rutgers deserves a shot than it is for WVU and Louisville, but that’s simply due to the name. WVU has had a good program for a while, and Louisville has as well in recent years. But you just don’t expect Rutgers to have a ranked football team, much less an undefeated one. However, if they win out, who’s to say they deserve it less than, say, a 1-loss Florida or Texas (or the OSU/Michigan loser)? They would have beaten 2 top 10 teams in WVU and Louisville. That should count for something. And, the other teams would have had their shot (Texas lost to OSU, Florida beat themselves at Auburn, and of course, OSU and Michigan will have just played, so why do that again?)

There are other top 10 teams who could move up, too, and would probably be more attractive than Rutgers as well. I understand the arguments against Rutgers, and I’m inclined to believe that it might be a better game if one of these other teams is playing. But everyone remembers George Mason’s run in the NCAA tournament last spring. Everyone not from Florida, UCLA and LSU wanted to see those guys win it all. That’s almost impossible to do in college football, because of the way the polls are involved in who gets to play at the end. For a team like Rutgers, they have a much longer road to travel than most of the teams that end up there.

I know many (most?) would disagree, but my opinion is that, if Rutgers can travel that road unscathed, give them a shot. I think they will have earned it as much as anyone else.

Weekend games

The most important game on the schedule here is, of course, the Arkansas/Tennessee game. During Arkansas’ 15 years of SEC football games, many of it’s most memorable games have been against the Volunteers. Consider:

• 1992 - Arkansas’ first season in the SEC, and the Razorbacks defeat the 4th ranked Vols in Knoxville on a Todd Wright field goal as time expires (one of only 3 wins that season for the Hogs.)
• 1998 - The Hogs and Vols, both undefeated at 8-0, meet in Knoxville again. Tennessee is attempting to come back, down 24-21 in the closing minutes, and Arkansas stops the Vols on fourth down. Arkansas attempts to run out the clock, but Clint Stoerner trips over a lineman and fumbles, giving the Vols new life. Tennessee scores, and the Vols win 28-24 on their way to a national championship.
• 1999 - The Hogs seek redemption from 1998 in Little Rock. Late in the game, Clint Stoerner indeed redeems himself and hits Anthony Lucas for the winning touchdown as the Hogs beat the #3 ranked Vols by the same score as the previous year, 28-24.
• 2002 - The last game that these two teams played against each other was another classic. Again in Knoxville, Arkansas forces the Vols to 6 overtimes before the Vols finally win the game. The yearly series ended with new SEC scheduling.

So, the teams meet again for the first time in 4 years tomorrow in Fayetteville. For Arkansas, it’s pretty simple: if they can win this game, they are practically in the SEC championship game. They’ll need 1 more win, but a trip to Mississippi State next week should provide that win. If Arkansas loses to Tennessee, they will need to win the LSU game at season’s end as well, which may be a tall order, despite being in Little Rock, as LSU looked very good against Tennessee last week.

Last week I was anxious about the South Caronlina game all week, and then by Friday I had this feeling the Hogs were going to win, and they did. Same thing this week. I’ve wondered how they’d fare in this game, but I now feel they’ll pull it out. I rarely do this, and perhaps I shouldn’t, but here’s my prediction:

Arkansas 27 Tennessee 17

Now, a few other predictions for the weekend, mostly from the SEC:

• Auburn vs Georgia - of course, I’d love to see Auburn lose this game (any game, for that matter), but I just don’t see Georgia doing it at Auburn considering the type of year the Bulldogs have had thus far. Auburn by 13.
• South Carolina at Florida - Spurrier returns to The Swamp and … loses. SC has had some near misses at home - Auburn, Tenneseee, Arkansas - and I just don’t see them doing any better on the road. Florida by 14.
• LSU vs Alabama - I don’t think LSU is completely out of the picture in the West yet - there’s still a possibility for a 3-way tie - but a win by Alabama would make it so. Unfortunately, I just can’t see them doing it on the road, even though they’ve played much better against good teams (Florida, Tennesee) than bad ones (Duke, MSU). Still, LSU by 10.
• Wake Forest at Florida State - Wake has been a huge surprise both in the ACC and nationally, and a win at FSU would probably have even more FSU fans joining the “please retire, Bobby” chorus that grows louder each week in Tallahassee. Not to mention it’s always good when FSU loses. Wake by 3.
• Boston College vs Duke - I know. I just put it in for fun. BC by 31.
• USC vs Oregon - USC is starting a tough stretch to end the season beginning with this game (followed by home games with Cal & Notre Dame, and then “on the road” against UCLA.) I think USC will lose at least one more game, maybe two. But not this one. USC by 7.

That’s it. Go Hogs, beat Tennessee!