TWith a relatively dull week of college football behind us, we’re coming up to a huge Saturday here in SEC country. Yes, unbeaten Purdue rolls into South Bend to battle suddenly dangerous Notre Dame. And sure, Miami faces its first ACC road test vs. GA. Tech who has a knack of coming up big in unlikely spots. But, most eyes will be focused on the NCAA investigator’s favorite circuit, the Southeastern Conference. No less than a trio of monster tilts takes place that will not only shape the overall SEC picture, but will bring the national race into sharper focus as well. The SEC currently secures 5 of the spots in the top 15. That will likely change this week as Arkansas tackles #15 Florida at the Swamp, # 9 Auburn marches into the hills of Tennessee to take on the #8 Vols. In the real biggie defending champ LSU (# 13) invading Athens to battle 3rd ranked Georgia. That is one serious TV trifecta and should make for plenty of unhappy housewives across the country.

N.C. State’s sunglass-wearing Chuck Amato is a trip, with his red shoes that leave him looking like he should be following The Yellow Brick Road. Amato’s intensity has a way of getting the Wolfpack geared up in an underdog role. With Saturday’s 17-16 win over Va. Tech as a 7 point dog, the Pack has covered 7 straight as a road puppy and are 11-2 ATS (5 outright wins included) in that role since Amato took over in Raleigh in 2000. State looks to be extremely dangerous in a tightly bunched ACC field b/c they play GREAT defense. Not only did they record 10 sacks against the Hokies, but they are in the top 10 nationally in nearly every defense category, including pass defense where they allow less than 100 yards (97.3) per game. Amato’s years at Florida State are paying off, he’s got nearly 50% Sunshine Staters populating the NC State roster. This solid underdog now switches roles and lays 10 or so at home to Wake Forest.

Speaking of defense, it wins championships you know. Has any D been more statistically impressive that Wisconsin’s? The Badgers have kept 3 of 4 opponents from denting their end zone. The Badgers also have yet to yield double digits on the scoreboard in 4 straight games. The last time that happened in Madison, folks were driving around with “I Like Ike” bumper stickers on their Packards (1957/58). But it will be interesting to see how they do against some decent offenses. Alvarez’s crew has benefited from playing Central Florida, UNLV, Arizona, and Penn State, which is far from a Murderer’s Row of offenses. Speaking of Penn State, is Joe Paterno the Dan Rather of football?

Look, I don’t expect you to believe this, because you have every right to doubt such a ridiculous claim, but after a 6-0 weekend The Sports Monitor of Oklahoma City, OK has my selection service (Strategic Sports Publishing) documented with an 18-3-1 (85.7%) pointspread mark so far this football season, including 15-1 (93.7%) in college football. Check it out by visiting The Sports Monitor’s web site at www.thesportsmonitor.com/04collftb.html. The work and research I did in writing my new book is really paying off. If you’re interested in getting on board we’ve got a “price rollback special” this week for all monthly and seasonal packages. You can call 1-770-649-1078 to speak to me or keep up with our free hotline at 1-770-618-8700, which is a free 24-hour recorded message.

USC is known for their offensive firepower, but let’s remember that Pete Carroll makes his bones on the defensive side. That was never more evident than on Saturday with the top-ranked Trojans totally on the ropes against Stanford. Trailing at half 28-17 and getting torched for 291 yards, USC turned the screws on Stanford, shutting out the Cardinal over the final 30 minutes and allowing a measly 36 total yards en route to a 31-28 barn burner. Quite a turnaround, a combination of great adjustments and Stanford being coached by Buddy Teevens. Another solid halftime performance was turned in by Arkansas, who blanked Bama in the 2nd half, extending their streak of not allowing a single point in the 4th quarter all year. Houston Nutt improved to 18-7 (16-9 to the spread) in home conference games.

Here’s a couple of links. One informative, one amusing. You can get picks from a passel of five solid handicappers at www.vegas5.com. The lighthearted link focuses on my former next door neighbor (we’ll talk more about that soon) at www.footballfansfortruth.us . Oddly, this valuable site doesn't include my favorite John Kerry sports quote.

In the September GQ, in an article entitled “A Beer With John Kerry,” the Senator told Michael Hainey, “I love baseball. I love football. I love sports. French skiers. Franz Klammer…”

Ignoring the fact that Franz Klammer is actually Austrian, what in the name of Jean Claude Killy is going on here? French skiers? Franz Klammer? You’re from Boston and have Carl Yastremski, Ted Williams, Larry Bird, Bill Russell, Bobby Orr, Ray Borque, Tom Brady, Ty Law, etc. to choose from and you immediately start rhapsodizing about French skiers when you’re asked about sports? I don’t care if politicians are sports fans, I’d rather have them focused on the evils of terrorists rather than the evils of the New York Yankees. But don't insult our intelligence by so obviously faking it, please.

Virginia’s competition has been a tad suspect, but the Wahoo’s have scored 25 TD’s in just 4 games. Their dominant running attack is churning out 284 rush yards per game and has accounted for 16 of those TD’s. They had 17 rushing scores in all of 2003. Purdue’s Kyle Orton continued his leap to the top of Heisman hopeful lists with another monster effort on Saturday against Illinois. In just 3 games, Orton has racked up 982 yards and is hitting on nearly 70% of his throws. Most impressive is his touchdown to interception ratio, which currently stands at 13/0 on the year. No star earlier in his career, Orton has developed into the hottest QB in the nation.

Poor Chris Rix. Rix has been roundly booed at Doak Campbell Stadium for his “Cybil”-like QB play. Rix got KO’d early against Clemson and Wyatt Sexton promptly stepped in and delivered 165 yards on 17 of 26 passing in the Noles 41 – 22 win. He also threw a touchdown and more importantly, had no picks. Barring injury, there appears to be a new sheriff in Tallahassee. Just up the road in Knoxville, another young star is bursting under center for Tennessee. Freshman Eric Ainge (yes, Danny’s nephew) followed up his stellar comeback effort against Florida with a 10-15, 198 yard, 3TD barrage against La. Tech. Phillip Fulmer can give all the lip service he desires to his current 2-quarterback system, but Ainge is the engine that will pull the Vols train. He’ll get major tests against Auburn and Georgia over the next 2 weeks.

By now you’ve probably heard about South Carolina WR Tim “Pops” Frisby. The 39-year-old Frisby had his eligibility restored after spending the past 20 years in the U.S. Army. Lou Holtz found a way to get him in for 3 plays in a tight 17-7 win over Troy. I guess some guys still do play for the love of the game, although it is easier to justify spending the time to be a “practice-fodder” walk-on when you’re 18 and don’t have 6 kids.

How is a college coach vindicated by NFL results? Defensive coordinator of undefeated Texas, Greg Robinson was the villain in the same position for the Kansas City Chiefs last year. Widely touted as a favorite for the Super Bowl from the AFC, the Chiefs have been left at the starting gate – losing twice on home sod and finding themselves 0-3 for the first time since 1980. Since opening 2003 with 9 straight wins, the wheels have literally come flying off for KC. Why such a collapse? Simple --- their defense is atrocious. Over the past 11 games the Chiefs are surrendering 28 points and 380 yards per game. Even worse, their run defense is being dismantled at a clip of nearly 165 yards per game. The Chiefs changed leadership but not personnel, and new Chiefs DC Gunther Cunningham is the one taking the heat in Slaughter City, though their fans are likely sharp enough to sagely blame the player personnel process.

The pleasant surprise of the young season has to be Jacksonville. The unbeaten Jags hold an unlikely NFL record, 35 points is the fewest total points ever scored for a team starting 3-0. Jack Del Rio’s bunch gets it done with nasty defense. Although Tennessee RB Chris Brown was the first back to go over 100 yards in last 17 games against Jax, the kitties stuff the run in extraordinary fashion. They also have a young QB who keeps it together even when struggling in tight games against good teams. Byron Leftwich has already orchestrated a pair of late 4th quarter road comebacks this year, including Sunday in Music City, which is no small feat. Tom Brady comparisons may be appropriate. The Jags face their sternest test defensively Sunday when scorching Indy heads south with top spot in the division at stake. No secret that he’s good, but the Colts Peyton Manning was dissected the Packer D for 302 yards and 5 touchdowns. No, not for the game --- in the first half!!! With 9 TD passes in just 3 weeks, Manning and Indy (33.3 PPG / 424 YPG) are without question clicking on all cylinders offensively.

Week after week we continually talk about the importance of turnovers. Hapless Arizona finds itself winless this week instead of 1-2 for the simple fact that they coughed up the ball 4 times in a 6-3 loss to Atlanta. Three of those fumbles occurred inside the red zone including the game clincher with just over 2 minutes left. That keeps the heat off of Mike Vick, who had a truly dreadful game with the exception of his scintillating 58-yard run to “tilt the field” (cliché alert!!!) and seal the ballgame.

If you’re in Vegas this Friday (October 1st) why not come by the Stardust Sports Book to catch our appearance in the Stardust Invitational. It kicks off at 9PM Pacific, lasts for an hour, and is broadcast on KDWN radio. We’re matched up against Mike Orkin, and it is being billed as a battle of the only two Stardust contestants to ever go 7-0. Dumb move of the week goes to us mistakenly listing our office line as our free hotline last week in this space. The free hotline is 1-770-618-8700. Free analysis is available on that line every game day.

St. Louis also finds itself in a 1-2 hole because of turnovers – more precisely lack of the same. The Rams led the entire NFL in defensive takeaways last year with 46. Through 3 games this year St. Louis has produced a big fat bagel – zero turnovers forced. Couple that with the fact that they lead the league in offensive penalties and you have a recipe for a sputtering club.

While on the subject of the Rams, the bonehead move of the week gets thrown squarely on the dome of their coach Mike Martz. Supposedly the Einstein of football, Martz has a funny way of showing his “genius” with the type of decisions he made in Sundays 28-25 OT loss to New Orleans. After taking a 25-22 lead with just 24 seconds left, Martz decided to squib the ensuing kickoff. Two problems with that: 1. The receiving team almost always ends up with much better field position than if you just kick it deep. It’s not as if there was only 8 or 10 seconds left. 2. Martz must have forgotten that the Saints also had 2 timeouts left. Just like clockwork, NO started at their 40 and 2 pass plays later were well into FG range to tie. Perhaps Martz should worry less about his reputation as a mastermind and spend more time on crucial clock situations, as Rams fans remain up in arms about his brutal clock management in their home playoff loss to the Panthers in January.

From the all records/streaks were meant to be broken file, Seattle laid a 34-0 pasting on the reeling 49ers Sunday. It marked the first time San Fran had been shutout since a crippled Jim Plunkett was under center more than a quarter century ago (1977) ---- 421 games! Seattle has been dominant defensively thus far, surrendering a miniscule 13 total points and just over 220 yards a game. The Hawks have the look of a squad ready to run away early and hide from a hideous NFC West that resembles the Sun Belt Conference.

Want to see a player who salivates like one of Pavlov’s dogs at the mere thought of playing a certain team? Then take a long look at Jamal Lewis anytime the Ravens meet Cincinnati. Lewis tore through the Bengals for 230 combined yards Sunday including a powerful 186 on the ground. It marked the 7th consecutive game that Lewis hit triple figures vs. Cincy.

Let’s take a look at a NFL pick. It has now been over a calendar year since the Patriots lost a game. By now everyone is well aware that New England has won 17 consecutive games including the 2003 playoffs. Did you know however that the Pats were 13-3-1 against the number over that stretch? Even more impressive is their ATS mark over their last 17 regular season games. How does 14-1-2 grab ya? Yet the Pats are nobody’s bandwagon team and continue to get an odd lack of media attention considering they’ve won two of the last three Super Bowls. The Super Bowl champ is rarely a good play early in the season but Belichick has owned Bledsoe over the years. We’d have to look at laying points with the Pats.

In college action, this is only the third game time since the redesign of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Grant Field that the Yellow Jackets will draw the full capacity of 55,000 fans. Hurricane QB Brock Berlin continues to under perform, tossing for only 4.3 yards per attempt against a soft Houston defense in Miami’s yawner at Reliant Stadium. He lost a fumble and was sacked five times as well. Jon Tenuta of Georgia Tech is a very well regarded defensive coordinator and with a week off to prepare for this one the Jackets will be prepared for Miami’s overrated offense. Tech QB Reggie Ball is capable of horrendous performances (loss at UNC) and also of big games (comeback win at Clemson) and the well-balanced Tech offense could do some damage against the ‘Canes. Miami’s ability to create non-offensive TD’s always a concern when betting against them, as they’ve notched two each in their last two games. But the ability of the Canes to stretch out a lead in this one must be questioned. Despite their talent they have trouble moving the ball on offense and Georgia Tech could make this a ball game. Go with the rested home dog Jackets and take the points.

Thanks for taking the time to read S&G News this week. Good luck and be careful.
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