S26 Spoonful

Here's a taste of prep match-ups tonight and my takes on how they'll finish up: Garden Plain at Cheney The Owls are rolling people like it's 2007, but part of this is due to the fact that the Central Plains League is very weak this season. Cheney is their first challenging opponent, and their only challenging opponent of the season until Conway Springs on October 17. Tanner Hageman has returned this fall at Cheney at quarterback, and it will be enough to make the game close. Garden Plain by 14. Maize at Salina South If Maize High wins this game, which they should, they will end the regular season with two losses (Hutch, Derby later) and win their district. This could be one of the surprise teams this fall for the regular season. They should lose in the first round of the playoffs, however. Salina Central-Goddard Goddard has turned out to be woeful. After a landmark season in 2007, they could finish at the bottom of their league. Salina Central will win by at least two touchdowns, and Goddard will go to win one game this season, maybe two (Dodge City and Salina South). They could go winless, a year after being outstanding. Southeast-Kapaun Southeast is very talented and undefeated at 3-0. Kapaun is 0-3 but have yet to get run off the field in any of their losses. I've got Southeast by a TD, but Kapaun could win this game with a solid fourth quarter. Andale-Wellington In another season, this is a big game. This season, it's an average game. Wellington by 10. Mulvane-Andover This is a huge game. Is Mulvane for real, even without Huldon Tharp. They very well could be, with their only loss coming at Great Bend in the season opener by a field goal. And can Andover High back up their inspirational performance against Andover Central last week? Intriguing. Mulvane by a field goal. Derby-Hutch Derby is for real, and I still think they'll win their district. But Hutch will wear them out and beat them badly on the line of scrimmage. Hutch by 21, but I could be way wrong if Derby exploits Hutch's one weakness, the defensive secondary. Jake Snodgrass is very capable of doing so. But if Hutch busts through the line and gets to Snodgrass like they should, it could get ugly, because the Salthawks are more physical. McPherson-Newton Mac by 14, even though Newton is one of the surprises of the season. They opened the season with a 37-24 win at Liberal. But I think Mac is really, really good, which is incredible after all the losses they experienced from graduation. Tom Young is just that good a coach. Claflin-Goessel Enormous game in 8-man Division I District 4, a seven-team district (which is how all Kansas prep football should be structured). Claflin won the title five times in the 1990s and spanked Norwich in the playoffs last year, but lost to eventual state champ Macksville twice. Senior QB Austin Unruh (6-3, 190, 1,597 total yards, 29 TDs) leads Goessel, a program which could shake things up this year. College Picks: North Carolina at Miami (Fla.) Butch Davis never should have left Miami. He would have been one of the greatest college football coaches ever. He'd probably still be winning national titles, in the midst of a run not unlike Bowden's at Florida State from the '90s through the early 2000s and Spurrier's at Florida over the same time period. Davis will have great success of North Carolina, but nothing like what he could have had at Miami. Arkansas at Texas Arkansas looked really bad last week, and Bobby Petrino, who shirked the Atlanta Falcons last year, deserves it. Another guy who never should have left his first successful job at Louisville. They were rising to the elite, and now look at them. Wisconsin at Michigan Michigan will win, illustrating how atrocious and disgusting Big 10 football has become. Fresno State at UCLA I love college football out west. It's completely unpredictable, and any given team can get up for a game or not show up, shown last night by USC and Oregon State. I'm convinced that a Pac-10 team would win the national title every season if there was a playoff. One of their teams is bound to show up big for a big game. Despite getting stomped by BYU, I've got UCLA. Colorado at Florida State Why doesn't this game matter? It pains me that these programs aren't elite anymore. Check out Colorado's schedule over the next four weeks after Florida State: Texas, Kansas, K-State, Missouri. Jeez. Purdue at Notre Dame Irish by a TD. The freshmen and sophomores crawling all over the field will continue to mature. (Am I the most pathetic, shameless ND fan ever? You know what? I don't care. Love thee, Notre Dame.) TCU at Oklahoma Picked TCU over OU would be like picking Derby over Hutch. TCU and Derby are good, but OU and Hutch are really, really good. Troy at Oklahoma State I'm a man! He was not against Troy the last time they played. Troy, I guess. Alabama at Georgia Enormous game. Got to go 'Bama after the stompings they've been dealing out. Nick Saban must be one of the best communicators and organizers in the game to still get players to play for him after how he's left so many hanging in the past.