College Football ToughCalls Week 8

[TimeForGuinness]

Notre Dame @ Navy EDIT @ East Rutherford, NJ
Oklahoma @ Mizzou
Nebraska @ Oklahoma State
Wisconsin @ Iowa
LSU @ Auburn
North Carolina @ Miami Fl

[TheoSqua]

Notre Dame @ Navy EDIT @ East Rutherford, NJ
Oklahoma @ Mizzou
Nebraska @ Oklahoma State
Wisconsin @ Iowa
LSU @ Auburn
North Carolina @ Miami Fl

[Transmogrified Tiger]

a lot more people taking mizzou in this thread than I thought would. Are we all just blind homers or does Mizzou actually have a chance?

Things that could give Mizzou a chance:

1) Their defense is as real as they've seemed. They're playing so differently schematically than they have in the past(in addition to having the fastest D of Pinkel's tenure) that comparisons to previous OU/Mizzou games aren't really valid

2) Externalities. Unexpected turnovers or penalties, anything arising from the insane atmosphere, etc. could give Mizzou an edge.


I picked Oklahoma.

[InvincibleCakeEater]

a lot more people taking mizzou in this thread than I thought would. Are we all just blind homers or does Mizzou actually have a chance?

It's really not much of a homer pick. A tad wishful, but not that homerish. Vegas has the line at OU -3/3.5. It's the closest line of all of this week's ToughCalls.

[Hungary Jack]

a lot more people taking mizzou in this thread than I thought would. Are we all just blind homers or does Mizzou actually have a chance?

It's really not much of a homer pick. A tad wishful, but not that homerish. Vegas has the line at OU -3/3.5. It's the closest line of all of this week's ToughCalls.

Sagarin has OU at #3 and MU at #6, so picking MU isn't so far-fetched. But MU hasn't played a top 30 team yet, while OU is 3-0 vs. top 30 teams. OU is definitely the safe pick.

[Lesson]

a lot more people taking mizzou in this thread than I thought would. Are we all just blind homers or does Mizzou actually have a chance?

It's really not much of a homer pick. A tad wishful, but not that homerish. Vegas has the line at OU -3/3.5. It's the closest line of all of this week's ToughCalls.

Sagarin has OU at #3 and MU at #6, so picking MU isn't so far-fetched. But MU hasn't played a top 30 team yet, while OU is 3-0 vs. top 30 teams. OU is definitely the safe pick.

They haven't played any of those teams on the road(except Texas, but it was at a neutral site) and Cincy isn't that good.

[Hungary Jack]

a lot more people taking mizzou in this thread than I thought would. Are we all just blind homers or does Mizzou actually have a chance?

It's really not much of a homer pick. A tad wishful, but not that homerish. Vegas has the line at OU -3/3.5. It's the closest line of all of this week's ToughCalls.

Sagarin has OU at #3 and MU at #6, so picking MU isn't so far-fetched. But MU hasn't played a top 30 team yet, while OU is 3-0 vs. top 30 teams. OU is definitely the safe pick.

They haven't played any of those teams on the road(except Texas, but it was at a neutral site) and Cincy isn't that good.

Is Columbia really that tough of a place to play? I don't know much about Faurot Field, but it doesn't strike me as striking fear into the hearts of other teams.

[Lesson]

a lot more people taking mizzou in this thread than I thought would. Are we all just blind homers or does Mizzou actually have a chance?

It's really not much of a homer pick. A tad wishful, but not that homerish. Vegas has the line at OU -3/3.5. It's the closest line of all of this week's ToughCalls.

Sagarin has OU at #3 and MU at #6, so picking MU isn't so far-fetched. But MU hasn't played a top 30 team yet, while OU is 3-0 vs. top 30 teams. OU is definitely the safe pick.

They haven't played any of those teams on the road(except Texas, but it was at a neutral site) and Cincy isn't that good.

Is Columbia really that tough of a place to play? I don't know much about Faurot Field, but it doesn't strike me as striking fear into the hearts of other teams.

I wouldn't say it's tough to play at but considering this is one of Mizzou's biggest games ever, I'm guessing it will be louder than usual.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Is Columbia really that tough of a place to play? I don't know much about Faurot Field, but it doesn't strike me as striking fear into the hearts of other teams.

Considering the rarity of the situation(undefeated start, facing #1, Gameday in town, homecoming at the school that invented it), the crowd will be as intense as it gets.

As for how Faurot plays normally, I saw something before last year that had Faurot opponents as one of the "most rattled" in the country based on some objective measures like false starts, delay of games, etc. They were like #2 in the country behind Texas or something like that.

[JL21]

Notre Dame @ Navy
Oklahoma @ Mizzou
Nebraska @ Oklahoma State
Wisconsin @ Iowa
LSU @ Auburn
North Carolina @ Miami Fl

I'd say there's a 50/50 chance I'll change one of these in the next 48 hours.