Picks of the Week

[lower14]

Last Week: 5-0

Year to Date: 9-1



Utah -3 at Texas Christian

People are still high on TCU after their big upset over Oklahoma, but they won't have the luxury of stacking 8 or 9 people in the box against Utah's balanced offense. Urban Meyer is gone, but his recruits are still there and sophomore QB Brian Johnson is doing very well replacing Alex Smith. Utah is 7-0 in conference road games the last two years and TCU is coming off a horrible loss to SMU (SMU?!?!?). Utah in a surprisingly easy one.


Wisconsin -2.5 at North Carolina

Well, this line opened at 1.5, so a lot of other people have had the same idea here. UNC is a much tougher team than many people think, but their defense will have their work cut out for them in trying to stop Wisconsin's ground game, and if Carolina stacks the box like Temple did, John Stocco can take care of business with a short passing game. UNC QB Matt Baker looked impressive against Georgia Tech, but he lost his composure when the game was on the line. Moreover, UNC can't run the ball, so Wisconsin's defensive line won't be so much of a liability. Bowling Green lit up the Wisconsin secondary for two quarters and then Wisconsin shut them down for two. I see the second half secondary showing up against UNC.


Florida State -1.5 at Boston College

Don't be confused by FSU not showing up for the first half of the Citadel game last week; BC is a tough conference opponent and Bowden will have the troops ready to go from snap one. FSU's offense is in the middle of a complete makeover in scheme, which explains some of their problems against Miami and Citadel, but their defense may be the best in the nation, even if their top corner was declared ineligible. BC is tough, make no mistake, and they'll go after Drew Weatherford with a vengeance, but in the end, FSU's speed and defense proves too much.


Wyoming +3 at Air Force

The MWC's #1 rushing offense (Air Force) takes on the MWC's #1 rushing defense (Wyoming). In a case like this, I typically go with the defense, especially when one of Wyoming's games was at Florida. Unlike previous Air Force teams, this one can actually pass effectively, which will make things a bit more challenging for the Cowboys. But the Falcons defense is truly awful, and Wyoming QB Corey Bramlett and WR Jovon Bouknight should both have a big, big day.


Oklahoma +7 at UCLA

Well, we know what OU is going to do - give the ball to Adrian Peterson 40 times. And we know UCLA is going to put 8-9 men in the box to try to stop it. But, UCLA was near the bottom of the nation last year in rush defense (105th to be exact), and Oklahoma State went out there last year and ran for over 400 yards while only attempting 8 passes. UCLA is also missing their best defensive lineman, Kevin Brown, who is out with a bum ankle. Despite a poor showing in both opening games, OU is a tough, physical team, and Bob Stoops ain't the type of coach to let his team wallow in misery. Look for OU to overpower a much small Bruin team.

[webbmaster]

I like them all except that MWC game. I hate MWC games.

Good luck. I plan on taking them all again.

Wish I would have just used your picks instead of throwing in mine...instead of being 9-1 on college, I think I'm 12-7.

You got the right idea. Anymore than 5-6 games on saturday and your pissing in the wind.


I think I am also retiring from pros. If anything, 1-2 games per sunday is more than enough.

[lower14]

[quote="webbmaster"]You got the right idea. Anymore than 5-6 games on saturday and your pissing in the wind.[/quote]

I first realized this about 5 years ago - in a given week, there are about 50 or so college football games going on, and of those 50, it should be reasonable to find between 4-6 games that really look a lot better than the others, so I scaled back from 10-12 games a week to 4-6, and the results have been much, much better.

[the doctor]

you must be pretty confident in Stoops moral decision of whether to let AP play or not

It is likely he will...maybe miss the first series as a slap on the hand

"you know you are here to get an education...not practice for the pros" yeah, right

Stoops takes the low ground...AP plays

you know I am with you on the FSU and Wisconsin games, and I had just about talked myself out of that AFA game, so why not go the other way (defense)

some others I like are

KY on the road...KY always beats Indiana

Arkie @ USC...cant believe they would give any SEC 31 points to work with

Maryland...even though going against a tough WVA defense cant figure on them giving up two in a row at home and I think they proved last week they can move the ball when they need to

the doc

[lower14]

If OU hadn't lost to TCU and had dominated Tulsa, yeah, AP might not play, but Stoops needs this win and he can't get it without Peterson. And the word now is that Peterson will play, but "may not start."

[lower14]

Well, crapola - I never thought that some freshman who had never seen the field before would run for 170 yards. Dammit, this is a crappy start to the week.

[QUACKERS]

The first half saw some brillance from the Utes but then all hel broke loose, the horned frog freshman was UNREAL (Tomilson Jr). The second half what else can be said the Utes really SUCKED.

utah and Bought the half was going under but was confident in Utah so I held off and then to make matters worse my wife is cheering for the Dang Frogs so I pretended to be okay with the lose

[the doctor]

my teams didnt pull through

maryland...loser

ky...loser

arkie...big loser (thos guys at usc are perfect on both sides of the ball)

the doc