The Weekend Ahead — January 25–27

First things first. In case you haven't seen it, here is Mackenzie Caquatto's 10 from last weekend:

As with most 10s for gymnasts that have been knocking on the door of the 10 for a while, it is not categorically the best bars routine she has performed as a Gator. She's done the exact same thing several times for 9.950s. The position in the lineup is what changed.

Michigan comes into the weekend as #1, but it's a loose hold on the top spot. The Wolverines will require a 197 away score to improve at all on their current average. That's a feat that has not been accomplished yet this season, but I do expect at least one team to end that streak this weekend. I'm interested to see if any team can reach that 197 average mark, which is an accomplishment we almost never see in January (2013 is the new 2004). To reach a 197 average, Michigan would need 197.175, UCLA would need 197.425, Oklahoma would need 197.525, and Florida would need 197.550. Difficult, but I wouldn't say unlikely.

I'll be around on Friday for the usual busy meet business. Early in the day we'll see if Florida can improve on the 197.300 from last weekend and if Nebraska can improve on #7 in the country. Later, in a flurry of free streams for those of you who don't subscribe to anything, Alabama will host Kentucky (where it's time for Alabama to start scoring with Florida, UCLA, and Oklahoma, this being the third meet and at home), UCLA will visit Arizona State, and Utah will visit Arizona. 

The feature on Saturday is the Metroplex Challenge, and gymnastike will be providing coverage of the event that evening for their subscribers. I think we're going to see some absolute monster scores at Metroplex, so I'm going with Oklahoma as my pick for high score of the weekend.

Top 25 Schedule
Friday – 1/25/13
7:00 ET/4:00 PT – [18] Auburn @ [3] Florida
7:00 ET/4:00 PT – [6] Nebraska @ [19] Ohio State
7:00 ET/4:00 PT – West Virginia @ [24] NC State
7:00 ET/4:00 PT – Western Michigan, George Washington @ [23] Kent State
8:00 ET/5:00 PT – [11] Denver @ Arkansas
8:30 ET/5:30 PT – [15] Kentucky @ [5] Alabama
9:00 ET/6:00 PT – [4] UCLA @ Arizona State
9:00 ET/6:00 PT – [8] Utah @ [13] Arizona

Saturday – 1/26/13
7:00 ET/4:00 PT – [1] Michigan, [20] Central Michigan, Iowa State @ [12] Minnesota
7:00 ET/4:00 PT – North Carolina @ [14] Maryland
7:00 ET/4:00 PT – [22] Pittsburgh, Iowa, Rutgers @ Penn State
7:00 ET/4:00 PT – Bowling Green @ [25] Eastern Michigan
8:00 ET/5:00 PT – Metroplex Challenge - [2] Oklahoma, [7] LSU, [9] Georgia, [16] Oregon State, Washington
9:00 ET/6:00 PT – [17] Boise State @ BYU
10:00 ET/7:00 PT – [10] Stanford @ [21] California