UNC vs. LSU (Atlanta, GA)

LJ: The weekend is finally here. In July, it couldn't come fast enough. A top rated defense, a more experienced offense, and numerous NFL prospects lead many (including myself) to believe this could be the most exciting football season since Mack Brown's last appearance in Chapel Hill around 1997.

Then, Marvin Austin's decision to show the world he's an idiot started a rapid decline in football season enthusiasm. Seriously, was Honest Abe any more correct when he said, "Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt." This moron's twitter account isn't his only problem, so Mr. Austin will be spending this weekend in Chapel Hill indefinitely suspended from the team.

I guess stupidity like misery loves company because Greg Little, he of the first down erasing unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, decided to follow MA off the cliff. The offense will miss Little's athleticism but his attitude and "leadership" might define the term "addition by subtraction."

Then, after the NCAA/UNC internal investigation was sorting out "agentgate", they uncovered an academic scandal involving the majority of the starting defense. A scandal so deeply intertwined that one of the major suspects actually worked directly for the coach. Awesome! Nice knowing you Kendrick Burney and Charles Brown.

Now it's rumored up to 16 players are questionable for Saturday's game, so there's a big turd in the middle of your tailgate. With all the legitimate academic support staff, required study halls, and resources at these players' fingertips, I have no sympathy for the guilty parties. What is their excuse? They had to practice Tweeting? What were they doing?

So how do we predict this game without knowing who is playing? Simple. LSU's preparation was solely on the Tar Heels. The Tar Heels' preparation is fragmented between agentgate, alleged cheating scandals, and an ever-evolving depth chart. Advantage LSU. LSU will win and possibly win big. Where do you think MA and company will watch the game?