Dr. Saturday - NCAAF

In honor of the dark holiday, the four scariest scenarios of the day, from an opponents' perspective.

Florida scores a non-offensive touchdown. There are enough reasons Georgia has no chance to upset the Gators already: UGA can't run, can't defend the pass and consistently shoots itself in the foot with turnovers and penalties. The margin of error against the Gators' top-ranked defense is already hovering around zero. The one chance the Bulldogs have is to continue the trend of SEC defenses pressuring Tim Tebow and forcing the Florida offense to settle for field goals, but if the Gators' penchant for finding alternate routes to the end zone -- they have three non-offensive touchdowns this year after scoring six last year -- makes an appearance,

Jeremiah Masoli forces USC to respect his arm. The Trojans are just "scary" as a corollary to their existence at this point, but the one way Oregon can match the increasingly explosive SC offense is to get Masoli and emerging running back LaMichael James rolling in the read option game, and that can't happen unless Masoli finds a way to keep Taylor Mays away from the line of scrimmage by threatening the Trojans downfield with tight end Ed Dickson or -- in a truly horrifying turn -- USC transfer Jamere Holland, the only true field-stretcher in the Duck receiving corps.

Seth Doege is "generic Texas Tech quarterback." The last Raider quarterback who made his first career start against a visiting team from the Sunflower State, Steven Sheffield, lit up the Lubbock skies for 490 yards and seven touchdowns in a 66-14 rout over Kansas State on Oct. 10. Doege didn't throw a touchdown off the bench in place of starter Taylor Potts in last week's shocking collapse against Texas A&M, but he's the first QB Mike Leach has ever voluntarily installed in search of a better performance from the position and gets one of the most forgiving defenses in the Big 12 in Kansas, which has allowed at least 34 points in each of their first three Big 12 games -- against Iowa State, Colorado and Sam Bradford-less Oklahoma. If Doege is even in the vicinity of his Air Raid predecessors, the shadow of the Jayhawks secondary will be the latest to be burned into Sam Jones Stadium's FieldTurf.

Russell Okung keeps Sergio Kindle off Zac Robinson. Texas has been impenetrable against the run and continued to earn its bread defensively by pressuring the quarterback: The Longhorns have multiple sacks in six straight games, including game-changing hits on Taylor Potts and Sam Bradford in their wins over Texas Tech and Oklahoma. But Oklahoma State's pass protection has been exceptional, anchored by Okung, and if the Cowboys keep their quarterback clean against Kindle and Sam Acho, Robinson is good enough to keep them on pace with Colt McCoy.

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Matt Hinton

Dr. Saturday is a college football blog edited by Matt Hinton. Email him tips and feedback.

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