Friday, October 17, 2014

Week 9 Picks

A week off last week, 3-2-1, the week before, moving the season record to 12-10-2. This weekend should knock a few more teams out of the running for one of the playoff spots. On to the picks.

Clemson at Boston College Over 45 - The Tigers can score a few points. The Eagles can score a few as well. Neither team has been awe-inspiring on defense. Combined, they should be able to score/give up three touchdowns each and someone will have to get one more.

Marshall -22 at Florida International - Marshall is still rolling and moved up to #25 this past week and knows they have to keep it going if they want to be the representative from the Other 5 conference in the New Year's games. The Thundering Herd has been deadly in the first half and should get up big on the Golden Panthers. Marshall moves to 7-0, and if you can get them in the first half at -14 or less, jump on it as well.

UCLA -7 at Cal - The Bruins have not looked good the last two weeks, losing to Utah and Oregon at home. Now they go on the road to a place they haven't won at since 1998 and the last five games in Berkeley have been double-digit losses. UCLA has to be ornery after the last couple games and the sideline spat between their head coach and defensive coordinator last weekend. While the Bears are 4-2 right now, they haven't beaten anyone with a winning record. The Bruins take out the frustrations of the last couple weeks on Cal and have this one locked up by the third quarter.

at Northern Illinois -13.5 Miami (OH) - Another team coming off a rough weekend, losing to Central Michigan at home and ending a number of winning streaks that they had going on (home field, MAC, etc.). Expect the Huskies to be locked in and to rip the 1-6 Redhawks apart.

Missouri +5.5 at Florida - The Gators are a mess and are looking at a two quarterback system this Saturday. The Tigers were awful last week, getting shutout by Georgia 34-0 at home and Maty Mauk being a turnover machine. He can't be that bad two weeks in a row and Florida will be pushed to win this game by more than a touchdown. Missouri covers and might even sprinkle a little on the money line for the Tigers to win outright.

Western Kentucky -4.5 at Florida Atlantic - The Hilltoppers have been putting points on everyone this season...unfortunately for them, they've been giving up even more. Meanwhile, the Owls have only gotten past 21 points once this season. Western Kentucky should be able to lay it on FAU and still think about making a bowl game.

Michigan State -16.5 at Indiana - The Spartans allowed a late cover two weeks ago against Nebraska and were less than impressive against Purdue last week. The door has been opened for them to get back into the playoffs and smoking the Hoosiers this weekend will help keep them in the Playoff Committee's minds (though they should still be ranked lower than Oregon...when you lose head-to-head, you should be lower). Sparty rolls.

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