Well, last week turned out to have some pretty good football, even though the matchups didn't look wonderful at first. Here's to hoping the big name matchups turn out to actually be entertaining games. Some of the traditional rivalries aren't quite as exciting this year (ND - Michigan), while other non-conference matchups are taking top billing (USC - Ohio St.). Without further ado, on to the picks.
Kansas (+3.5) over USF - The victors of the Orange Bowl appear to be close to full strength, and are on the road against a strong Big East team. Even with the loss of Talib, I think KU is the better team, and the emotional letdown after USF's huge rivalry game (and OT victory) vs. UCF should help also. As long as KU's defense can keep Grothe contained, chalk one up for the Jayhawks. Hope you don't have Friday night plans.
Georgia (-7) over SOUTH CAROLINA - SC looks impressive in bursts but just can't seem to capitalize on it. The loss at Vandy was pretty poor, and their best WR McKinley is questionable to play this week. Without him, UGA can really focus on the run. Look for the better team to win this one. Smelley's not good enough to beat Georgia in the air.
Michigan (-1) over NOTRE DAME - It warms my heart to see these two teams struggling this much. I used to like Michigan, but the whole Carr-Miles-RichRod thing didn't sit right with me. Anyway, neither of these teams is good at all, but Michigan's actually played decent teams and competed with them. SDSU lost to Cal Poly and then had a lead at ND in the 4th. I think ND might be as bad as they were last year (fingers crossed). We'll see.
Georgia Tech (+7.5) over VIRGINIA TECH - Honestly, this one seems too easy to pick, and I'm getting worried about it and maybe being biased. GT won on the road against what I thought was a solid BC team, while VT was up 3-0 at the half on Furman. GT's defense looks really sturdy, and I think they will shut down the struggling VT offense and give the triple-option time to have a few productive possessions. If VT wins this game, I think special teams will be a big part of it. This is definitely my upset pick of the week.
California (-14) over MARYLAND - Only 2 TD's? Really? Vegas must be putting a lot of stock in the Terps' claims that they overlooked MTSU. That's not what I saw. I hope I'm wrong.
Big game of the week!
USC (-10) over Ohio State - USC's better at almost every position on the field, and OSU has really struggled in games against the top teams lately (look at their BCS record over the past few years). Also, USC had a bye week and is at home, while OSU struggled with Ohio and has a dinged RB. I honestly thought this spread would be over 20. Look for USC to pull away in the 2nd half, if it takes that long.
Last Week: 2-1-0
Season: 6-3-0
8 Responses:
Just come out and say it: You don't like RichRod because he beat Maryland like a drum.
The line on the UM-ND game has a history, I learned on a blog somewhere.
Over the summer, you could get ND at -3.5.
After Michigan lost to Utah, it jumped to ND -8.5.
The very next week, once Notre Dame actually played a game, it swung back the other way to Michigan -1.
This game is going to be a classic, I can feel it.
That Mark Mangino is one handsome man.
A classic how? Doesn't a game have to matter to be classic?
J-Red, I think your sarcasm detector is broken.
Sometimes that half a point makes all the difference.
Wow. Kansas/USF looked better than expected. I had to switch just after half because two things were recording on the DVR.
Terps looked really good against Cal. What a different team this week.
GT loses three fumbles today. Already saw one but I think three is the magic number.
Yeah, 3 fumbles, only lost 2, but the INT made up for it. The turnovers and the cheap penalties in the 4th were the difference.
Miss St could be a surprisingly tough matchup for GT next week.
Penalties are irrelevant and still appeared to be legit calls (not that having HD seemed to matter since ABC didn't show it in HD). 3 turnovers make winning games hard. Two turnovers with good field position make it even harder.
The fact that we were competitive even with those mistakes is exciting. And that is with Dwyer only putting up 28 yards and our best receiver out (Thomas).
A tough matchup against Miss St? Are you drunk, medically ill, or some weird combo of both? 116 total yards, 6 first downs, 10-25 thru the air, 0-14 on 3rd down. In a terrible game against an embarrassingly bad looking Auburn team. Auburn even had over 300 yards of offense and mooked two kicks to make it interesting.
This shouldn't even be close. Granted I say this knowing I have an exciting ability to often eat my words. And Tech showed me for six years why I shouldn't have faith in the easy ones. But I stand by "This shouldn't even be close."
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