College Football Week 11

Week 11 on the field does not have any must see or DVR matchups, another problem of the BCS system whereas as playoff would allow teams to gain momentum after early season losses and make these later weeks important. Thanks to the charade of "amateur" athletics Week 11 has brought some great off the field stories, so this week along with picking the bigger games as always against the spread we will recap and offer some observations and thoughts from the main players in these stories. Georgia @ Auburn (-7.5): The story on and off the field this season has been Auburn QB Cam Newton and the off the field story exploded this week with allegations that his father demanded between $100,000 and $180,000 for his son's services last year when he was being recruited out of junior college. This pay for play allegation comes on the heels of Newton's former school, Florida, leaking information of cheating allegations made against Newton while attending that school. The pay for play allegations made by a former Miss. St. player who worked with agents is specific and the NCAA immediately launched an investigation. Weekly in this post I have expressed my feelings on the NCAA and major universities using these players to make millions while they hide behind the fraudulent "amateur" athletics defense, so I won't repeat myself. As for Auburn, a team in recent seasons that has not contended nationally, recently hired a coach who was under .500 at his last job, and needed a major talent upgrade at QB. Let's go out on a very sturdy limp and say they did pay for Newton's services and let's say they paid $200,000, they are well on their way to a return on investment only a subprime mortgage broker could appreciate. The low end amount on a trip to the SEC title game and the BCS title game with a Heisman winning QB is about 20 million making that initial $200,000 the best money Auburn has spent in the last ten years. As for Newton or more specifically his father, he used the only leverage he had to extract a figure that multiple universities were willing to pay, would it be more acceptable if he called it a loan against future earnings? Since Cam Newton pay for play allegations are about as ground breaking and unexpected as DMX getting arrested let's move on to the bigger story, the power of Twitter. On Wednesday afternoon an unsubstantiated tweet that Cam Newton would be suspended for the Georgia game gained so much momentum that enough money began to pour into Vegas on Georgia that the game was taken off the board. The MGM Grand and Hilton removed that game that started Auburn (-9.5) from the board for about 15 hours while they reviewed all the available information. After confirming that Newton was still eligible to play Saturday the game was put back on the board as Auburn (-7.5). Las Vegas having to remove this game from the board because so many people relied on this Tweet to make substantial bets shows the power of Twitter much more accurately than Ashton Kutcher getting 1 million followers in a weekend. As for the game, I wouldn't take the under if the total was 100 with these two pass defenses and doesn't Cam Newton have to come out in totally "Eff You" mode. Auburn seems to have that little something that Georgia is missing; maybe that something is QB play. The play is to lay the favorite and the two free points from the Wednesday tweet. Miss. St. @ Alabama: The Cam Newton allegations are easiest to understand from the Miss. St. perspective, Newton played under current Miss. St. coach Dan Mullen when he was offensive coordinator at Florida. Cam Newton was supposed to come and play for Mullen in Starkville after his year in junior college. Miss. St. feels that the only reason Newton is not a bulldog is due to their unwillingness to pay for him, they also feel sick when they see their SEC West rival riding what should have been their QB to an undefeated season and BCS game. Miss. St. has quietly won 6 in a row and should be emotionally ready to play after a bye week and the funeral of current player Nick Bell, who died tragically last week from cancer. As for Alabama this is the first time since 07' that they have played a November game without national title implications and their pride will be tested. I think Bama has been given way too much respect from Vegas this year especially in SEC play and this line is no different. I like Miss. St. to make this game interesting and I will take them and the points. South Carolina @ Florida (-6.5): Florida leaking Cam Newton cheating allegations while he was student two years ago is the most disturbing off field incident revealed this week and brings a new low to a program that routinely is featured in the police blotter. The only reason for leaking this information is to embarrass Newton and the university must be forced to answer for this leak by all former Florida students. The fact that most big time Division 1 athletes are not interested in the education that comes with playing their sport is also a story along the breaking news ticker with "Dina Lohan admits she could have been a slightly better mother to Lindsay" (actual headline). The SEC East has been down all year and nothing highlights this fact more than the winner of this game will be the first team with 3 losses to represent the division in the title game since divisional play began in 1992. South Carolina's season has not been the same since halftime of the Kentucky game, while Florida and their three QB system have made their offense frisky with 89 points in their last two games. South Carolina has never won in the Swamp and I don't think Spurrier and a defense that ranks last in the conference vs. the pass and on third down will change that this year so laying the points with Florida is the play. Oregon (-20) @ California: Cal QB Brock Mansion will need a good start in his second game as a starter Saturday or this game could get ugly quickly. Even an early lead is no guarantee as Oregon is outscoring opponents 215 to 48 after halftime, a testament to the conditioning a defense needs to play against this offense. Twenty points is a lot to lay on the road in a conference game vs. a team that has played well at home, but Oregon and the fast break quick strike offense is the play. Stanford (-5.5) @ Arizona State: I went against my cardinal rule last week when I bet against Jim Harbaugh, Andrew Luck, and the Cardinal. Last week proved what I should have known; Stanford is the best one loss team in the country, so I am not expecting a letdown this week in the desert against a team that has lost 3 of 4 by three points or less. Any win in the desert is a good win but 5.5 is too many. Just to show Jim Harbaugh how sorry I am I am going to take his brother's Ravens in a super bowl future even after that stomach punch last night. Oklahoma State (-5.5) @ Texas: Brandon Weeden is efficient, Kendall Hunter is relentless, Justin Blackmon is explosive, Mike Gundy is a man, and Texas is in disarray. Another poor game by Texas QB Garrett Gilbert should lead to the first Case McCoy sighting and future hope for Texas fans. I hope Nebraska has sleepless nights thinking about the Texas game like Kenny and Laurel thinking about the final challenge in Fresh Meat II and Camille Grammar thinking about agreeing to appear on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Last week (3-4) Season (42-33-1)