Pigskin Prophet: Time for netting for those throwing water bottles |
If you wanna make some extra money around here, Columbia is the perfect place to do it.
NO!! I am not talking about THAT!! If you’ve ever been to Columbia and the area around Willy Brice, you know all of that stuff goes. But what I am talking about has a more legitimate ring to it and here’s the deal. During last week’s loss to Florida, the South Carolina student section (the same ones that went after a disabled Clemson student and drew the wrath of Ben Boulware, the same ones that flipped off the entire Clemson team en masse two years ago, the same one that….well, you get the drift) grew unhappy with the calls on the field and threw all kinds of debris on the field. This isn’t uncommon down there. Chances are most of them are unhappy because this wasn’t their first school choice, but Tri-County was full. They are also unhappy because, you know, Columbia. So, they throw things. Whatever they can get their hands on, and it’s usually water bottles, some of them filled with liquids we would rather not mention. A good friend of mine has a company that installs the netting that protects the fans from foul balls and bats at major league stadiums and he’s been hired to install the same kind of netting at Willy B. Except it isn’t to protect the fans, it’s to protect the officials and players from the fans, most of whom were already in a bad mood after losing a fight over chicken in the parking lot. The bad news – the new netting won’t go up until after the season because instead of using nylon, he is going to have to used netting made out of steel cables. The expectation is that many of them will try to climb once they figure out they can’t throw their mini bottles through it. Tough crowd. SATURDAY Wisconsin at Ohio State Don’t look now but the Buckeyes are once again a media darling. After dispatching Sister Mary Margaret’s School for Incorrigible Children last week, they jumped Clemson in the AP Poll. In the meantime, the other GREAT team in the Little 10 lost to a team coached by someone named Lovie. Heck, I didn’t know that Mr. Howell’s was still alive or that she had ever gotten off that island, but if you lose to Lovie you’re gonna lose to Ohio State Right? OHIO STATE 30, LOVIE LOSERS 17 MIAMI AT PITT I read in the Miami Herald that the Miami players are “steamed” after losing to hapless and hopeless Georgia Tech last week in front of all 548 of their rabid fans. They shouldn’t be steamed they lost, they should be steamed for taking scholarship money from the young strippers trying to put themselves through college down there. This week, they travel to colder climes and take on Pitt, who will leave the Hurricanes all dried up instead of steamed. PITT 28, MIAMI 20 AUBURN AT LSU See, this is where Auburn needs to get together and figure out which mascot they wanna use. They have the Tiger, the squirrel (which I think is supposed to be a Tiger but is, in reality, a squirrel) and the eagle. They need to be united when traveling to Baton Rouge to take on this fierce bunch of Cajuns under Ed “Cookie Monster” Orgeron. The Bayou Bengals are playing well on offense and getting by on defense, and while Kevin Steele will have a few answers for Joe Burrow, the Auburn offense won’t have enough juice, no matter which mascot is chosen. LSU 30, AUBURN 20 SYRACUSE AT FSU Ok, so they both have bad offensive lines. They both have offensive issues. One team has a good head coach and the other team has Willie Taggart, who doesn’t give his players anything to drink and ices his own kickers. If the talent were even, I might pick Syracuse, but they don’t know who is going to play quarterback (and get sacked 19 times) and they don’t have the running game to pick up the slack. Maybe old Willie gets a one-week reprieve. FSU 27, SYRACUSE 17 SOUTH CAROLINA AT TENNESSEE Honestly, this game scares me. I am not sure which team the SEC officials will choose to screw over. South Carolina has a chance at a bowl berth, but Tennessee has an actual football tradition and history. Both teams were hurt last week by SEC incompetence, and commish Greg Stankey issued the following statement: We are aware that there were officials at both of these games, and we at the Southeastern Conference feel like it just means more. With that in mind, we endeavored to use a special application of excellence over the proceedings and we feel like the fans and players and coaches appreciate the transparency of what happened and we will continue to be the conference that everybody else looks to for excellence across the board. As for the officials – Alabama doesn’t play in this game so I don’t have to be afraid of Nick Saban and wish both teams luck. So, without further ado…LUCK. SOUTH CAROLINA 24, TENNESSEE 13 ARKANSAS AT ALABAMA Hey Chad, sorry about this. ALABAMA 41, ARKANSAS 21 NOTRE DAME AT MICHIGAN The Fightin’ Irish take on the Fightin’ Khaki Pants in the renewal of one of college football’s best rivalries. The Harbaugh’s tried to come back last week at Penn State but fell short, and it just feels like something is wrong with this team. It feels like it is missing that special something, that IT factor. They are favored against the Irish and you can bet The Big House (no, not THAT big house Georgia players) will be rocking. I am picking the Irish here because what’s missing at Michigan is a head coach who’s somewhat normal. IRISH 24, KHAKIS 20 BOSTON COLLEGE AT CLEMSON Clemson has won eight in a row and has outscored BC 151-38 over the last four seasons. I expect this one to be much the same with the Tigers simply having too much talent and too much offense and too much defense and too much of everything. The Tigers will win by 41 and will drop 19 spots in the AP Poll. CLEMSON 51, BC 10
Upgrade Your Account
Unlock premium boards and exclusive features (e.g. ad-free) by upgrading your account today.
Upgrade Now
