Picks for Week 5

Went 2-2 last week as Baylor and Maryland blew out their opponents while Kansas State and Florida failed to cover.  The season record fell to 9-4.  After last weeks conglomerate of absolute crap games, we get a bunch of great games this weekend, so, on with the picks.

Stanford -8.5 at Washington State - The Cougars are playing better this year, but people are over-rating the victory against a not great USC team.  Stanford is a great team and they will hammer Washington State.  The Cardinal took their foot off the gas pedal last weekend against Arizona State and ended up with a score that was closer than the game really was.  That won't be the case this weekend as Stanford blasts Washington State.

Miami -16.5 at South Florida - I was just wondering this week "what happened to Jim Leavitt, the former head coach of USF?"  Turns out he's the linebackers coach for the San Francisco 49ers.  Think the Bulls maybe would like to have him back on the sidelines?  They are horrible right now and the Hurricanes are coming in on fire.  Miami will be up 20 by halftime and cruise to victory.

Oklahoma -3.5 at Notre Dame - The Sooners are stunningly only 1-9 against the Fighting Irish all-time.  They got blown out last year on their own field by Notre Dame. Notre Dame's defense is still decent but the offense seems sluggish.  It probably won't be high scoring, but the Sooners get the win in South Bend.

South Carolina -6.5 at Central Florida - UCF has played well this year as they've gone 3-0.  But the Gamecocks and the SEC are a different level of competition.  They've had a week off and Jadeveon Clowney should have a big game as South Carolina rolls.

Oklahoma State -18.5 at West Virginia - Oklahoma State is the bonus pick this week and once again I'm taking the road favorite.  The Mountaineers have been a disaster this year, culminating in a 37-0 blowout to Maryland last week.  Their offense is still clueless and the defense isn't much better.  The Cowboys roll into Morgantown and keep the couches from being set on fire.

Week 4 Picks

The season mark moved to 7-2 by going 4-1 last week, with only a backdoor cover by Texas A&M spoiling the perfect record.  This is another week of dog games (Savannah State vs Miami, Florida A&M vs Ohio State, etc.), but conference play kicks in next week.  Still, it's college football and we'll still watch.

at Baylor -30 UL Monroe - In their green and gold uniforms, their fast-paced offense and their point a minute scoring, Baylor is becoming Oregon Southwest.  ULM got blown out by another Big 12 team, Oklahoma, the opening weekend, 34-0.  Baylor's offense is better than the Sooners and they'll overwhelm the Warhawks as they push towards 60 again.

Kansas State +6.5 Texas - Texas' rush defense is a dumpster fire right now.  They're stopping no one and giving up yards in huge chunks.  Kansas State isn't as good as they were last year, but they should be good enough to keep this within a score and I'm predicting the Wildcats will beat the Longhorns again and turn the heat up some more on Mack Brown.

at Florida -16 Tennessee - Remember when this game was a big game every year?  When Spurrier would lob barbs at Fulmer and Manning and how the Volunteers couldn't beat them.  The luster has come off this for national interest but it's still big for the SEC East standings.  The Gators didn't look good against Miami in their last game and the turnovers in the red zone killed them.  But...they did move the ball up and down the field against the Hurricanes, and against the Volunteers, they'll finish them off in the end zone.  The Gators defense will be too much and Florida wins easily.

at Maryland -3.5 West Virginia - The Terrapins have greatly improved since last season.  The same can't be said for the Mountaineers.  Maryland's offense has been rolling and they've even played some decent defense.  West Virginia struggle to beat William & Mary, looked inept against Oklahoma and then rolled up 41 on Georgia State.  Maryland wins to go to 4-0 on the season and maybe throw themselves into the discussion for ACC championship.

Picks for week 3

Time for the picks section.  3-1 last week with Baylor, Oregon and Bowling Green all winning easily and only Cincinnati going down.  Four more this week and a bonus one for this week's Game of the Century.

Georgia Tech -8 at Duke - The Yellow Jackets put 70 up on Elon in their first game this year.  The Blue Devils have started 2-0, but lost their starting quarterback to injury in last week's win over Memphis.  Georgia Tech has run for big yards against Duke the last few years and I expect them to continue that trend in a big victory as they roll up over 350 yards on the ground.

at Oregon -27.5 Tennessee - Living on the west coast, we hear all the time that Pac 12 schools can't play with SEC schools.  And Oregon hears it all the time as well.  Today, the Ducks get an opportunity against an SEC school (who actually traveled more than 500 miles to play a quality opponent in a non-bowl game).  The Ducks aren't going to turn the ball over 5 times in 6 plays like Western Kentucky did last week against the Volunteers.  Five touchdowns in six drives will be the more likely result and the Ducks solidify their hold on the number two spot in the polls.

 Maryland -6.5 at Connecticut - Maryland has looked good so far in two convincing wins over lesser opponents and C.J. Brown has five touchdowns and no interceptions so far.  Connecticut looked abysmal getting soundly beaten by Towson in their only game so far.  Coach Edsall returns to Connecticut today and can call his number against the Huskies.  Fear the Turtle (and their hideous uniforms).

at Arizona -24.5 Texas San Antonio - The Wildcats ran wild last week against UNLV and don't expect that to stop against the Roadrunners.  UTSA was down 42-7 against Oklahoma State going into the fourth quarter last week before putting up four touchdowns in the fourth to make it closer than it looked.  Arizona will keep running and make UTSA look like Wiley E. Coyote trying to stop them.

Nick Saban breaks out his biggest smile

Alabama -8.5 at Texas A&M - Another season, another Game of the Century.  This week, it's Alabama vs. Texas A&M.  Last year, the Aggies went to Tuscaloosa and shocked the Tide, jumping out to a 20-0 lead in the first quarter and propelling Johnny Manziel to a Heisman Trophy.  While those first ten minutes were stunning, what's forgotten is that after that start, Alabama outscored A&M 24-9 and had a chance to take the lead before an interception in the end zone put an end to the comeback.

Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide have see the highlights from that game for the past year and their not happy about it.  Though to be fair, Nick Saban is never happy, even when winning a National Title.  While Nick might not crack a smile Saturday, his players will, as they somewhat contain Johnny Football and run through a porous Aggie defense.

Week 2

Week 1 started with a number of Division I-A teams going down to Division I-AA teams and as a college football fan, you should love that and root for the Division I-AA team to win every time.  We want better games on Saturdays, not a BCS conference team going up against a lesser directional school.  Losing to a good team is far better than beating Lehigh or Robert Morris.  And is far, far better than losing to them.  There's more of these match-ups this week and hopefully we'll get a few more big boys knocked off again.

Love him or hate him, the most entertaining player in college football right now is Johnny Manziel.  The first half of the Rice vs Texas A&M game was close and the Aggies went to the half up 28-21, with Manziel serving a joke of a supsension.  But the 2nd half...A&M took on the persona of their quarterback.  They were cocky, brash, arrogant, up-tempo and very good.  And Johnny was more than willing to mix it up with the Owls, showing the money, signing "air autographs" and capping it off with an unsportsmanlike penalty after his third touchdown pass of the game.  He's going to be the focus every week and he's must watch tv to see what he does next (or to see if one of those SEC defenses is going to lay him out).

Picks for week two:

at Baylor -27 Buffalo - Buffalo hung around against Ohio State last week in the Horseshoe and lost by 20.  Baylor blasted Wofford and the Bears high-powered offense shows no signs of letting up this week.  Baylor rolls early and the Bulls wear out in the second half as Lache Seastrunk keeps working towards his Heisman candidacy.

Cincinnati -8 at Illinois - The Bearcats looked impressive last Saturday against Purdue on both offense and defense.  Illinois' offense put up 42, but their defense gave up 24 to Southern Illinois and that's a concern.  Cincinnati's offense is better than the Salukis and so is their defense.  Tommy Tuberville gets Cincy 2-0.

Oregon -23.5 at Virginia - Virginia got a nice win last week against a good BYU defense.  Unfortunately for BYU, the Cougars had very little offense and made a few mistakes that could have made that game a blowout.  The Ducks are a far better offense than what the Cavaliers faced last week.  They don't make those mistakes, don't take their foot off the gas pedal and they destroy Virginia.

Bowling Green -7 at Kent State - With my soft spot for the MAC, have to make one pick on a MAC conference game.  The Falcons looked great in holding Tulsa to only 7 points last week while the Golden Flashes looked terrible against Liberty.  Bowling Green gets this one done by at least two touchdowns.