Real Kato Blog: College Football 2013: Week 13 Recap and Week 14 Preview

This will probably be the last football post of the season. Go Blue.

Michigan
Last week Michigan jumped to a 21-7 lead over Iowa thanks mostly to turnovers, but then fizzled away with a collection of mind-numbing errors by the offense: dropped passes, missed blocks, and as always, poor play-calling. Michigan ended up fumbling on its last possession and lost 24-21. I was angry at myself for letting myself be hopeful about the game.

This week Michigan takes on #3 Ohio State and it will likely be an embarrassing blowout. Michigan might do a few good things here and there, and Ohio State certainly isn't a perfect team. But Michigan does almost nothing well on offense, and that's a recipe for disaster. I will watch and I will root, but only because I'll be looking for any embers of hope for next season in the ashes of this one.

Prediction: Michigan 9, Ohio State 42.

N.C. State
Yeah, N.C. State lost again, this time to East Carolina, 42-28. Growing up in Michigan I always thought, "there's no state called East Carolina... they're just making that up." N.C. State's season has been a disaster, but we'll give a little slack to a first-year coach who's had to deal with an injury-plagued roster. There's a lot of youth on the team and there's reason to be hopeful that, with some good recruiting, State can be competitive in a couple of years.

State wraps up the season at home against Maryland, who has only had a slightly better season. I'm going to go out on a limb and predict the upset... there's no bowl game for State, so they'll be playing for pride.

Prediction: N.C. State 31, Maryland 28.

Week 13 Games
#4 Baylor lost to #10 Oklahoma State 49-17; that's the end of Baylor's Cinderella long-shot title hopes. But Baylor still has a shot at the Big-12 title if they beat Texas and Oklahoma State loses to Oklahoma.

Arizona ripped #5 Oregon 42-16. I'm glad for Rich Rodriguez... this is the kind of thing that was always possible with his offense. But it made me feel bad to watch all of Michigan's 2-yard running plays while seeing what Arizona was capable of with a coherent offensive game plan.

#22 LSU beat #12 Texas A&M 34-10. This was a surprise to me, but I should have given LSU's defense more credit. LSU will be a formidable bowl opponent somewhere, as they'll likely face a much weaker team from another conference.

#13 Michigan State clinched the division title and a spot in the Big Ten Championship with a win over Northwestern, 30-6. Northwestern now has once chance to get a conference win, playing Illinois this week.

#17 Arizona State beat #14 UCLA 38-33. Arizona State wins the Pac-12 South and will face Stanford in the Pac-12 title game.

#19 Wisconsin shut down #25 Minnesota 20-7. I think Wisconsin deserves a BCS bowl.

Nebraska beat Penn State 23-20 in overtime.

Week 14 Games
#13 Oregon narrowly defeated Oregon State 36-35, on Friday.

LSU lost quarterback Zack Mettenberger to an injury but still rallied to beat Arkansas 31-27.

Iowa beat Nebraska 38-17. There's some hand-wringing in Nebraska and some talk about Bo Pelini's job security.

Michigan plays #3 Ohio State at noon on ABC. Meanwhile Florida plays #2 Florida State on ESPN. Michigan and Florida are both at home and both heavy underdogs... I wonder which team and fan base will feel worse at the end of the day. Michigan State plays Minnesota on BTN, and #24 Duke plays UNC on ESPN2. N.C State plays Maryland at 12:30; that game is on WRAL locally.

At 3:30 is the obvious Game of the Week as #1 Alabama plays #4 Auburn on CBS. Penn State plays Wisconsin on ESPN.

At 7:00 #6 Clemson plays #10 South Carolina on ESPN2. #25 Notre Dame plays #8 Stanford on NBC. At 7:45 #5 Missouri plays #21 Texas A&M on ESPN. At 8:00 #22 UCLA plays #23 USC on ABC, and Arizona plays #12 Arizona State on the Pac-12 Network.

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