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| Week Ten |
| posted October 31, 2003 11:54 PM EST With 10 of the top 16 teams going head-to-head, they�ve dubbed this weekend �Survival Saturday�. The PSU Preview Staff can�t help but think of this weekend of college football in terms our favorite reality show � Survivor. What if conferences became tribes who could vote off individual teams in their tribe? The staff can only imagine Jeff Probst�s concerned, if not constipated, look as the camera fades going to commercial. What are they feeding that guy? The Big East tribe and ACC tribe faced off recently on some immunity challenges and the ACC walked away the clear winner. That meant that the Big East was headed to a tribal council. Who would stay and who would be voted off? Tempers flared, feelings were hurt, and tears were shed. Miami, Boston College, and Syracuse formed a secret alliance. They agreed to vote off everyone else one by one and be the remaining 3 teams standing during the merging of the two tribes, bringing the ACC to a 12-team conference. Then came the ever-present reality show twist. The merger took place, but the ACC only extended an invitation to Miami and Virginia Tech, rather than Boston College or Syracuse, to join their tribe. This was the status of the tribes when college football kicked off this fall. Miami and Virginia Tech knew that there would be some fallout this season due to their apparent questionable integrity and two-faced, scandalous conduct, not to mention pending litigation brought on by the Big East tribe. In August, when discussing the dismantling of the tribe, Virginia Tech Head Coach Frank Beamer even said, �we better understand that when we go to West Virginia that it's going to be rowdy; it's going to be wild.� Too bad he forgot this in late October. It could have saved him a drop in the polls last week, not to mention the little slap incident he�d probably like to forget. As is the case with most reality shows these days, one shocking twist just isn�t enough. In September, an NCAA panel denied an ACC request to hold a lucrative football championship game. This renewed the push to add a 12th team to the ACC tribe. There were reports in September alleging that the ACC presidents had begun discussions with Notre Dame about becoming the conference's 12th football member. What? Notre Dame? That�s like asking The Bachelor to join a tribe. Where did that come from? The allegations regarding Notre Dame proved to be false, but it did turn out that the ACC was looking to add another team. A few weeks ago, the ACC extended an invitation to Boston College to join their tribe. That left Syracuse and the remaining Big East teams extinguishing their torches hoping that the next twist will include the formation of an Outcast Tribe. Speaking of outcasts, Virginia Tech quickly found themselves out of the BCS Top 5 when the lost to West Virginia last week. Perhaps the Hokies were looking past the Mountaineers to this week�s game against the Hurricanes. Let�s try to forget that over the past two years, the Hokies have lost the game immediately following their first loss of the season. So, that would obviously mean that they have to lose to Miami this week. Well, this Staff doesn't think so. With that out of the picture, the Hokies are primed to pull the upset, even though the Mountaineers exposed the soft underbelly that is the Hokie defense. Since day one of the season, seemingly all of the college football media gurus have been looking toward this game as being the Hurricane�s first loss. With Northern Illinois no longer causing problems for the BCS machine, having only one undefeated team and over a half dozen one-loss teams would certainly cause those BCS leaders to again shift in their seats. If the Hokies truly want to persuade the country that they are better than their one-loss record indicates, this is their opportunity. This Staff has spoken. PSU PREVIEW PREDICTION: Virginia Tech 27 � Miami 24 |
| Upset of the Week |
| Virginia Tech Hokies over Miami Hurricanes Saturday, November 1, 2003 Hokie Stadium - Blacksburg, VA 7:45 PM EST - ESPN |
| Photo � CBS Survivor |
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