Walters Football Site: NCAA Football Tournament: Elite Eight

Elite Eight - West

What is this?
Since NCAA Football desperately needs a playoff, why not create one? 16 teams were chosen (11 conference winners and five at-large bids) and placed into brackets. Dan Biggio, Chad McCleary and I will take a look at each game and decide who we think will win the game. The team that moves on to the next round will be the team that gets two votes to win out of the three predictions. The predictions for each game will be posted during the time listed for each contest (i.e. USC-Louisville will be posted 10:30 Friday).

#1 USC (13-0) vs. #4 Louisville (11-1).
Friday, 10:30 ET

Walt's Take:
Pete Carroll, Matt Lienart and the rest of the Trojans are furious that they have to play on just five days rest. "I'm really angry that we had to play our Sweet Sixteen game Saturday night and now we have to play Louisville on Friday," Carroll never said. "Who made up this schedule anyway?" Oops.

All kidding aside, Louisville should be undefeated right now. They blew a huge lead at the Orange Bowl following an injury to their quarterback, Stefan LeFors. The Cardinals have averaged more than 50 points per game this season. That's not a typo. 50 points. If LeFors were playing in a BCS conference, he would have received more Heisman consideration. The senior signal caller has thrown for 2,403 yards, 18 touchdowns and just two interceptions this season. USC may have an outstanding defense, but UCLA was able to expose some cracks when Benji Olson threw for 278 yards in the regular season finale. LeFors will do the same.

Lousville has surrendered 41 points to Miami, 49 to Memphis, 28 to TCU and 27 to Houston. That's simply not good. USC will be able to match the Cardinals stride for stride Friday night. Neither team may punt in this game.

This game could go either way, but think about this. Louisville outplayed their toughest opponent-Miami-but lost. USC was outplayed by their toughest opponent-California-but still won. That has to be factored into who wins this outstanding elite eight game.

USC 52, Louisville 49

NCAA Dan's Take:
This game is very nearly a match-up between two undefeated teams. The Cardinals were a late game collapse against the Miami Hurricanes away coming into postseason undefeated. The Trojans, of course, did run the table. Unlike the games in the East bracket, this game figures to be a shootout. We know Louisville can flat out score-they put up points against everyone. Louisville's lowest output of the season was 28 points, against in-state rival Kentucky of the SEC. Even Miami gave up 38 points to Louisville. The Cardinals will be able to score points against USC's defense.

However, I do not believe the Cardinals defense is up to the challenge of stopping the Trojans dynamic offense. Matt Leinart will look like a Heisman winner in this contest, throwing for a lot of yardage and a few touchdown passes adding to his 28 that he threw during the regular season. The Cardinals will have trouble containing Reggie Bush as well, a dangerous running back, receiver, and Heisman hopeful himself.

Good game if you like points. Not a total blowout either; Louisville keeps this game fairly close for most of it.

USC 44, Louisville 31

Chad's Take:
Louisville has turned into a pretty strong program over the last several years and their quarterback, Stefan LeFors is dynamite. They have 3 backs who have gained a combined 1,900 yards and rushed for 33 touchdowns. They also have 4 wide receivers who have totaled a combined 2,300 yards and caught 13 touchdowns. The weapons are there offensively. The real difference between Louisville now and of recent years is that they have a lot of athletes on defense.

However, USC has NFL talent. There is an unbelievable amount of speed on this team-from front to back and back to front-it is everywhere. USC is somewhat of an anomaly on defense-playing alternately good and bad-sometimes in the same game (see Notre Dame), but they have enough to close this game down. Leinhart, White, and Bush will do their thing but the D shows up big.

Louisville will score 14 early points and maybe even lead at the turn but it will be a landslide in the second half. The Cardinals had a great season, but now it is done.

USC 31, Louisville 14

Winner: #1 USC

#2 California (11-1) vs. #3 Utah (12-0).
Saturday, 4:30 ET

Walt's Take:
The fact that California was left out of a BCS bowl is a joke and a disgrace. The Golden Bears could very well be the best team in the country. They outplayed the Trojans at USC and have been replaced by Texas, who struggled to beat Kansas. The voters who placed the Longhorns ahead of Cal in the final poll should lose their ability to vote. They lost any credibility they have and should be fired from their job.

This is the best game in the Elite Eight, because these two teams are the best that college football has to offer, excluding Auburn. Both squads feature quarterbacks that were snubbed in the Heisman voting and two unstoppable rushing attacks.

California's Aaron Rodgers has thrown for 2,320 yards, 23 touchdowns and seven interceptions this season. Utah's defense isn't anything special, so Rodgers will be able to shred the Utes' secondary after J.J. Arrington is established as a potent threat. Utah will not be able to stop the Golden Bears.

The Utes will also have no trouble scoring. California suffocates opposing runners to 2.6 yards per carry, but their secondary is very questionable; they permitted 304 passing yards to Southern Miss and 328 to Washington late this season. Alex Smith, who should have won the Heisman, accumulated 2,624 passing yards, 28 touchdowns and only four interceptions this season. He is also a threat as a runner, tallying 563 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns.

Neither team will punt in a game that will never take place. Blame the BCS.

Utah 45, California 42

NCAA Dan's Take:
Speaking of teams that can score, this just in, the Utah Utes score a lot of points. Not surprisingly, Utah quarterback Alex Smith was a Heisman hopeful as well. Smith threw for 28 touchdowns this season and Utah was not particularly challenged in any game they played this season. This includes opponents throughout the Mountain West, as well as non conferences foes such as Texas A&M, North Carolina, and Arizona. The Utes will be able to score points against California. The only real question mark is if head coach Urban Meyer will have his team completely focused on this game, and his future departure to the University of Florida will not serve as a distraction for the Utes.

Cal, on the other hand, was also close to having an undefeated season. The lone blemish on their record is a hard fought 23-17 defeat at the Los Angeles Memorial Colleseum which came at the hands of the USC Trojans in a game that came down to the final play. Jeff Tedford's team has been widely criticized for a make-up game played a couple of weeks ago in early December in which the Golden Bears only beat Southern Miss by 10. Cal was in control of that game however, and the Golden Bears are for real. However, I think Cal meets their match here against the Utes. Alex Smith and company will prove too much for the Golden Bears D to handle, and I like Utah to remain undefeated, winning in a pretty high-scoring affair.

Utah 38, California 27

Chad's Take:
This is a great match up. In fact, I am not sure there could be a more evenly matched pair.

California has a three headed monster in the form of Aaron Rodgers, J.J. Arrington, and Geoff McArthur. But I�m not sure those three equal one Alex Smith. I�m not certain whether Smith will be an All-Pro or not, but he is an All-American.

Cal has held a very explosive UCLA to 28, USC to 23 and Andrew Walter and Arizona State to a big fat zero. Utah has restricted a bowl-bound North Carolina to 16 and very sound Texas A&M to 21. More than anything, they have probably played to their level of competition and because of their explosive offense, others have had a lot of chances to score themselves. Offensively they score in bunches: 41, 48, 49, 46, 63, 51, 63, 45 and 52. Holy snikes.

Cal is a little better on defense and I think Utah is a little better on offense. Defense usually wins but not today.

Utah 31, California 24

Winner: #3 Utah

NCAA Football Tournament 2007
Brackets:
Championship / Final Four
Elite Eight - East / Elite Eight - West
Sweet Sixteen - East / Sweet Sixteen - West

NCAA Football Tournament 2006
Brackets:
Championship / Final Four
Elite Eight - East / Elite Eight - West
Sweet Sixteen - East / Sweet Sixteen - West

NCAA Football Tournament 2005
Brackets:
Championship / Final Four
Elite Eight - East / Elite Eight - West
Sweet Sixteen - East / Sweet Sixteen - West

NCAA Football Tournament 2004
Brackets:
Championship / Final Four
Elite Eight - East / Elite Eight - West
Sweet Sixteen - East / Sweet Sixteen - West