Curator & Coach - Week 12

Curator Sam Burnham
​Game of the Week

This is a tough category this week. With the leaders all filling their schedules with cupcakes for a preparation for Rivalry Week, it's hard to hype up games featuring The Citadel or UMass. It's embarrassing and the teams should be ashamed of themselves. You want to start a season with some small school that's fine. But your fans, the pollsters, the Playoff Committee, the TV networks, the players, and, most of all, the dignity of the sport deserve better. Quit being cowards and make a real schedule. 
That being said:
West Virginia @ Oklahoma State
The Mountaineers have a few big weeks ahead of them. If they can finish strong and get a little help, they'll be playoff bound. But that means going to Stillwater and taking care of business. Mike Gundy is going to have his Cowpokes and his disdain for Twitter and over 40 years of manliness ready. I like defense, so this is a tough choice but I also like no-nonsense coaches and good teams that can throw a monkey wrench in the plans of powerhouses. This should be a fin game to watch. 


Upset Alert
Syracuse vs Notre Dame @ Yankee Stadium
The Orangemen (quit being silly) are the surprise of the season. At 8-2 this is a team that has done more than change the culture, they've been reborn. They gave both Clemson and Pitt all they wanted. With only those two losses, they head to New York City to play Notre Dame in the "Shamrock Series" which is a bit of a gimmick and y'all know I hate gimmicks. History tells us that Notre Dame throws one at the end of the season - Boston College, etc. Let's face it, they aren't going to be throwing anything except touchdowns against Southern Cal. So it is this week or never. Add to all that a questionable Ian Book - the Irish need a healthy field general in this one - and the pieces are in place. This is a very good Syracuse team. I don't think they know they're supposed to be intimidated by Notre Dame and, therefore, won't be. This should be a great one. I'm not making any guarantees but the Irish are officially on watch.
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Coach Drew Burnham
Game of the Week

Syracuse vs Notre Dame @ Yankee Stadium
It’s the yearly “Shamrock Series” game for the Irish. One neutral site game a year to show their national fan base some love. There are a lot of distractions present this week: the baseball stadium, embarrassingly bad uniforms and overall unpleasantness from the people of NYC. There is a lot that could distract the Irish from truly acknowledging the job that Dino Babers and Syracuse have done this year. They played Clemson to 4 points in Death Valley after beating them a year ago (eliminating all element of surprise). They lost to what I believe is a very under rated Pitt team. They beat NC State. Dino Babers is an absolute Mega Star. I have had the, sometimes unfortunate, ability to keep up with Babers career since his time at Eastern Illinois. That was a few jobs ago now but all the man does is turn bad programs into champions. For the Irish faithful this game should be absolutely terrifying. A slip at this point in the year would be likely fatal to their playoff hopes. With all that doom and gloom I still think the Irish pull off the win, but what a game it could be! Go Irish! Beat Orange!

Upset Alert
​At the time I’m writing this, it is 26 degrees in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is 61 in Orlando, Florida. You can argue that the weather could have more effect if it were played in Ohio, but when you’ve been cold for as long as those boys have been cold, it is going to be an absolute JOY to play in sunny Central Florida Saturday night. As bad as I hate to see it end, and I hope I’m wrong, I just have a ton of respect for this Cincy team and I think they can get it done. The curator will have a party and a Churchill at the thought of the Knights meeting their demise. I love the storyline. I love the push for an expanded playoff to include the little guy. I think it should happen. Why do we all suddenly become basketball fans every March? You’ll fill out that bracket at the office knowing well and good that you haven’t seen a single dribble of Northeastern University this year but I’m picking them for the upset! Give them their shot. See what happens. We can watch Alabama beat anyone by 50…might as well find out. My playoff gripe is a tale for another day. On this day I put the Knights on watch.

Northwestern @ Minnesota
NC State @ Louisville
Syracuse @ Notre Dame
Missouri @ Tennessee
Southern Cal @ UCLA
West Virginia @ Oklahoma State
Wisconsin @ Purdue
UAB @ Texas A&M
Duke @ Clemson
Arizona @ Washington State

Northwestern @ Minnesota
NC State @ Louisville
Syracuse @ Notre Dame
Missouri @ Tennessee
Southern Cal @ UCLA
West Virginia @ Oklahoma State
Wisconsin @ Purdue
UAB @ Texas A&M
Duke @ Clemson
Arizona @ Washington State