Week 4 College Football Motivational Spots
By: Speculating Sports
Listed below are motivational spots for the fourth week of college football. An important key to handicapping college football is knowing the motivational advantages or disadvantages entering the game. Here are some spots that I identified for Week 4.
TEXAS / TEXAS TECH - This game is usually a fairly big rivalry for both teams but much more so for Texas Tech. They didn’t suffer a heart breaking loss, but the Red Raiders weren’t happy about losing either.
ARIZONA - The Wildcats are coming off of a big revenge home win against Iowa, in a game that they controlled throughout before letting Iowa come back late. Arizona was very motivated for this game and it was televised making it an even bigger win. It would have been a great spot to fade them if they were a big favorite against a weaker school, but they have a rivalry and revenge game against California this week.
CLEMSON / AUBURN - One of the biggest and most entertaining games from last weekend was this one, where Auburn had a huge come back in the 2nd half. Clemson suffered a very tough defeat, losing in overtime in a game that they had chances to win. Clemson is likely to suffer more of a letdown because the SEC doesn’t really care about beating ACC teams, and they lost in a demoralizing way in overtime.
CALIFORNIA / NEVADA - This one is pretty easy. Cal was embarrassed by a WAC team in a primetime game. They will likely put extra effort into this week’s game, even though it might not matter. Nevada is coming off a big televised win against a BCS conference team, so there might be a letdown factor this week.
CONNECTICUT - They were absolutely handled by Temple last week, which is even more embarrassing because they are considered a much weaker opponent. They will be likely to be extra motivated this week, but it might not matter given the way they have looked against Michigan and Temple.
NOTRE DAME / MICHIGAN STATE - This game was another one of the biggest featured games of last week. Notre Dame has to feel awful over the way they lost the game, and Michigan State is likely still feeling the emotions of their win. It’s too bad that there aren’t better games to fade these two teams this week though. Notre Dame is a fairly high home underdog to Stanford and not an ideal situation to fade them, while Michigan State is playing a FCS team. The Spartans will be without their head coach because of a heart attack, so his assistants will likely want to crush their opponent this week to prove that they can handle things.
HOUSTON - Not only did Houston get blown out by UCLA in a game that they thought they could win, but they also lost their star quarterback Case Keenum. The Cougars also lost their second string quarterback as well. It will be interesting to see if Houston will have a lingering effect not just this week but in the weeks to come as well. The Cougars don’t have a strong defense, so they need to outscore opponents to win.
FLORIDA / ALABAMA - Both teams are facing each other in week five in what is expected to be one of the biggest college football games of the season. However, both of these teams are well coached and very talented, so if any teams could overcome a look ahead spot then it would be these two teams.
TEXAS / OKLAHOMA - The Red River Shootout goes on next week and is always the biggest game of the season between these two teams. However, both teams are facing weak opponents this week, teams that they could blowout easily, so it will be interesting to see just how much each coach has the offense going. Oklahoma’s game against Cincinnati has already seen the line drop dramatically, but the Sooners could easily blow them out if they put in effort, even with the game being on the road.