NCAA Football Week 13 Primer (With Picks)

Jerry Kill eating ice cream in a snow storm is now the most Big Ten thing ever. But, can his Gophers break through this week against Nebraska?

 By Andy Dougherty (@AndyDougherty10) with a cameo by Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

As the regular season nears its end, the pressure builds for the nation’s top teams to keep their playoff hopes alive. Overall, the contenders face easier opposition in Week 13 than they have in months, but this year’s many surprises have shown that no team can afford to take any opponent for granted.

Game of the Week

No. 8 Ole Miss at Arkansas

Arkansas will provide the first legitimate test for Ole Miss since a crushing loss to Auburn on November 1st. Ole Miss had what Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly would call a “glorified bye” on November 8th, beating the Presbyterian Blue Hose 48-0 at home (yes, there is a real football team called the Blue Hose). The Rebels then had an actual bye last week. Their October win over Alabama has kept them in playoff contention despite their two losses, and they have another shot at a big win when Mississippi State comes to town next week.

NCAA Weekend Primer: "Fear the Spear" and "Swag" Return

Can Miami and Florida State rule the college football world again?

By Joe Parello  @HerewegoJoe

Don't look now, but the Miami-Florida State game actually matters to people outside the state of Florida!

How long has it been since that happened? Well, every season from 1998 to 2005 these two teams finished the year ranked in the Top-25, and the game was considered a national title "knock out game" of sorts. Since 2005, both those things have happened zero times.

Even in 2005, Miami was on the way down, and FSU was about to begin the "Bobby Bowden needs to retire" period in its history. Neither was a national title contender, FSU lost five games (But upset Virginia Tech to sneak into the Orange Bowl, where it lost to Penn State) and Miami was annihilated by LSU in the Peach Bowl, 40-3.

It was the end of a period in college football dominated by the Noles and Canes (Along with Oklahoma and USC), and the beginning of the SEC era.

Really, you have to go back to the 2004 Orange Bowl, or 2002's "Wide Left" game to find a meaningful FSU-Miami slug fest. This week's game between the Seminoles and the Hurricanes, however, promises to be a vintage Sunshine State Showdown.