1. Alabama (13-0)
2. Texas Christian (12-0)
3. Cincinnati (12-0)
4. Texas (13-0)
5. Florida (12-1)
6. Boise State (13-0)
7. Oregon (10-2)
8. Georgia Tech (10-2)
9. Virginia Tech (9-3)
10. Ohio State (10-2)
11. Iowa (10-2)
12. Louisiana State (9-3)

Alabama is the clear-cut top team in America after throttling defending national champion Florida in the SEC title game.  The Crimson Tide came out with a focus unmatched by any college team we've seen in a while.  They looked more prepared and hungrier, they outplayed Florida in every facet of the game.  Here's where it gets interesting...

What exactly has Texas done to merit the other spot in the BCS title game?  The Horned Frogs have been better than the Longhorns on the field all year.  TCU has been totally dominant from start to finish, something that Texas hasn't been in weeks.  They looked vulnerable in a ten point win over a mediocre Texas A&M team on Thanksgiving and then needed the officials to put a second back on the clock in order to attempt a game winning 46-yard field goal against Nebraska.  The Horns' signature wins are over unranked Oklahoma, at 19th ranked Oklahoma State and over 22nd ranked Nebraska.  Compare that to TCU's signature wins at Clemson, at 14th ranked BYU and over 23rd ranked Utah.  Call us crazy, but TCU has played tougher competition and has still been more dominant.  Unfortunately, the voters have decided that they don't want to look at the facts or watch the film.  If they did either they would see that the second most deserving team in the country has been left out of the big game.  We also have Cincinnati ranked ahead of Texas upon the strength of wins at Oregon State, over West Virginia and at Pittsburgh.  Texas simply has not been impressive.

Boise State hasn't been challenged since they beat Oregon in Week 1.  It's not too difficult to go undefeated if you only play one tough game a year.  If Boise State wants to be in a BCS title game they need to schedule a few tough out of conference games to make up for their weak conference schedule.  Scheduling Miami (OH), Bowling Green and UC-Davis (an FCS school) won't cut it.  By running the table in the SEC regular season, Florida deserves the 5th spot ahead of the Broncos.

It gets really messy after the top six.  Oregon is the best of the two loss teams and probably have the "best" losses to Boise State and Stanford.  Georgia Tech has good wins over Clemson (twice) and Virginia Tech.  Speaking of Virginia Tech, they have three losses but two of them are to Alabama and Georgia Tech, while they've got nice wins over Nebraska and Miami and got back to dominance at the end of the year.  Ohio State beat Iowa and Penn State, but had bad losses to USC, who we discovered wasn't all that good, and Purdue.  Iowa slides into the 11 spot despite only having one good win, over Penn State.  LSU rounds out the top 12 with two really tough losses at the hands of Florida and Alabama.

Two weeks ago we went a sub-par 2-3.  After passing on championship week, we only have the Army-Navy game left before bowl season.  Following Weekly tradition we'll pick the Army-Navy winner, do a final regular season poll and Heisman ballot.  Enjoy.

Army vs. Navy (-16), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2:30pm
     Army seems to be much improved, just one win away from being bowl eligible.  But a closer look at their five wins and you realize that they aren't exactly world-beaters.  Here are the five teams they beat: Eastern Michigan (went 0-12), Ball State (2-10), Vanderbilt (2-10), Virginia Military Institute (2-9 playing in the FCS subdivision) and North Texas (2-10).  Now we're not ripping on the Black Knights, as they're trying to get the program back on its feet, but they just aren't in the same league as Navy.  The Middies have beaten Army in ten of the past 12 meetings, including the past seven in a row.  They've won six of those past seven by 19 or more points.  Look for the Midshipmen to leave no stone unturned, as they pummel the Black Knights for the eighth straight year.

As always...

Many Hundos.

"What happened? Oh, Rutgers stinks!" 

Those are The Weekly's famous last words during Rutgers' 45-40 defeat at the hands of Arizona State in the 2005 Insight Bowl.  It serves us right.  They were dismantled by Syracuse, 31-13.  What can we say?  We deserve that one for taking Rutgers, a mistake we won't make again.  It wasn't all bad though.  In the other afternoon affair, Northwestern brought their hot streak home beating Wisconsin outright.  Pat Fitzgerald is looking more and more like a good fit to take over the impending opening at Notre Dame.  The nightcap saw Kansas' long week got longer as Texas pushed the Jayhawks around.  A Jayhawk kick return touchdown in the 4th quarter put them in position to cover, but the Longhorns responded and ended up winning 51-20.  This may be the best college football weekend of the year.  For us, there's nothing better than a college rivalry.  It takes over a whole community of people, starting with the students and moving through the faculty and alumni.  Few things compare to the on-campus anticipation for a real rivalry game.  Since we don't have the pleasure of spending our time on campus anymore, we're living out our rivalry anticipation vicariously through our picks.  Looking for our fourth straight winning week, here come your Rivalry Week picks...

Friday, November 27, 2009

Nevada (+14) at Boise State, 10pm
     We've had this game circled for a little while now.  You all probably know a lot about how good Boise State is, but Nevada has flown under the radar for weeks.  They have won eight straight games following an 0-3 start, averaging over 51 points per game during that stretch.  The Pack has averaged 445 yards per game on their 8 game win streak -- actually make that 445 rushing yards per game.  Their run game has been as dominant as any run game college football has seen in a while.  They've put up three different 500+ yard games, which is more than impressive.  Junior QB Colin Kaepernick is the key to the Nevada offense.  Kaepernick, along with RBs Vai Taua and Luke Lippincott, are each 1,000 yard rushers already.  When looking at game scores from each team's common opponents, they've pretty much beaten up on the same teams in the same fashion.  Remember last time the Pack traveled to Boise they lost 69-67 in a four-overtime classic.  Look for Nevada to have success on the ground and put a major scare into Boise on the SmurfTurf.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Missouri (-3.5) vs. Kansas, Kansas City, Missouri, 3:30pm
     The Border War means significantly less this year than in the past few years, but we're going to keep riding the anti-Mangino train until they show any signs of decency.  The Jayhawks are 2-8 ATS this season, including seven straight losses ATS.  This program is like a ship in the midst of a mutiny.  Everyone around Lawrence -- including student parking lot attendants -- is coming out to tell stories about his abusive behavior.  It's bad enough that these stories are floating around, but what makes it even worse is that former players have been more than willing to go on the record to reporters to verify these stories or to tell new ones.  It's been an up and down year for the Tigers, going 3-4 in conference play, but they've won three of their past four and have some weapons on the offensive side of the ball.  This pick isn't about the Tigers, but any team playing decent ball should be able to handle a program in crisis.  Missouri avenges last year's loss to the Jayhawks, 41-27.

Oklahoma State (+9.5) at Oklahoma, 12:30pm     For the first time in a long time, this Bedlam game means more to the Cowboys' BCS hopes than it does the Sooners.  It looks like Oklahoma State QB Zac Robinson will start, which is huge for the Cowboys cause.  They've won eight of the past nine games and a win here will almost assure them of a BCS bowl game.  Despite having troubles in Norman in the recent past, they won't be playing the same caliber Oklahoma team that they usually see.  Last week's whipping in Lubbock must be humbling for Bob Stoops' team.  Texas Tech embarrassed Oklahoma in a way that Oklahoma usually embarrasses other teams.  The Sooners won't be embarrassed on their home field, but nine and a half points is way too many.  Don't be surprised to see the Pokes pull off the upset.

Georgia at Georgia Tech (-7.5), 8pm
     The Yellow Jackets are playing tremendous football, while the Dawgs are the epitome of inconsistency.  Weekly Favorite Paul Johnson's offense has found a seamless transition into big-time college football.  The potent backfield combination of QB Josh Nesbitt and RB Matt Dwyer has been pounding away at their opponents recently.  When Tech has the ball it'll be interesting to see what Johnson wants to do.  We all know about how well they run the ball, but the Georgia defense has been pretty vulnerable against the pass this season.  The Yellow Jackets will get their yards on the ground, but don't be shocked to see Nesbitt swing for the fences a few times.  As always, buy the hook.  Hopefully it won't matter though, as Tech will make it seven wins ATS in their past eight games.  Ramblin' Wreck 35 - Dawgs 16.

Rice at Houston (-29.5), 8pm
     Here we go again.  After swearing off games like this, now it's two weeks in a row we're taking a four touchdown favorite.  We honestly thought this line would be in the low 40s.  Yes, Rice has won its past two games after starting the year 0-9, but they have given up 44 points per game on the road and are 119th in the nation in points allowed.  Houston's record setting passing game, headed up by QB Case Keenum, should have a field day.  Less than 60 points would be a disappointment, as the Cougars capture the Conference USA West Division crown and the Bayou Bucket.

Our favorite week of the year deserved five picks.  We're one big week away from getting in position to have another great season.  No better week to do it than Rivalry Week.  Here are a few random newspaper articles that I haven't passed along yet...

Football state playoffs: Bogota beats Westwood and Wayne Hills beats Old Tappan... Girls' Volleyball state playoffs: Demarest beats Paramus and Tenafly beats Mahwah... There are some others but the site is kind of tough to navigate since not all of my articles actually have my name on them.  My name is on them in the paper but not on the site, I don't know how it works. 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Till next week, as always...

Many Hundos.

They say it's better late than never so even though it was Week 11 getting back to our winning ways over the past few weeks has been a good feeling.  It was a much more relaxing week as we had three fairly easy winners and one blowout loser.  The three noon games were all winners, our best three and a half hour stretch of the year.  Mississippi took Tennessee out behind the woodshed and gave the Vols a beating.  We've been saying it all year -- Dexter McCluster may be the best player in the country.  He finished with 282 yards rushing, setting an Ole Miss record, and four touchdowns.  Standing at 5-foot-8 and weighing just 170 pounds, he is a special, special player.  Speaking of beatings, Texas led Baylor 40-0 at halftime and cruised to a 47-14 win (just barely missing our 49-10 prediction).  The old Colt McCoy is back and they're going to be very difficult to beat down the stretch.  Capping off the noon masterpiece was Wisconsin, who helped continue Michigan's sloppy freefall.  The Badgers punishing ground game took the ball 52 times for 229 yards in the 45-24 win.  The lone loss was Mississippi State's brutal offensive effort against Alabama.  The Bulldogs just looked over matched.  A 3-1 week is a great success, but let's go to The Weekly's vault of quotes for some wisdom on what to do after a 3-1 week... LET'S BUILD ON THAT!!!

Rutgers (-8.5) at Syracuse, 3:30pm
     After what looked like an embarrassing opening season loss to Cincinnati, the Scarlet Knights rolled over four straight cupcakes (yes, Maryland is a cupcake).  Even though their 7-2 record is a bit suspicious thanks to those cupcakes, they've been playing good football of late.  They put together their most complete game of the season last week, beating South Florida 31-0.  The Knights seem to be peaking at the right time, and more specifically the defense is lights out right now.  None of this bodes well for an Orange team who is improved from their dismal teams of the recent past, but really hurting right now.  Since the departure of Mike Williams, who quit three weeks ago, 'Cuse has only scored 19 points in two games.  Duke point guard turned quarterback Greg Paulus is a decent stop-gap for a hurting program like Syracuse, but he has been way too interception prone.  The Rutgers defense is tremendous at causing turnovers, forcing over three per game.  Look for Paulus to have a tough day, as Rutgers wins by a couple of touchdowns.

Kansas at Texas (-27), 8pm
     So many factors at play here.  First of all, as we touched on before, Colt McCoy is back.  Last weekend we had the pleasure of watching McCoy at work first hand.  Apparently early in the season he was pressing, perhaps trying to impress NFL scouts (that's pure speculation on our part, but an educated guess).  Now he seems completely relaxed, letting the game come to him, taking whatever the defense is giving him.  It doesn't hurt to have his buddy Jordan Shipley out there making plays for him.  On the other side, you have a program in utter turmoil.  Kansas head coach Mark Mangino is on a hot seat that Charlie Weis wouldn't envy.  Mangino's coaching practices and tactics have been questioned.  Frankly, the allegations against him seem pretty weak.  If yelling and putting his finger in the chest of a player is "physical and verbal abuse" we'd love to see how these guys would have liked playing for Woody Hayes, Bear Bryant or Bo Schembechler.  For our purposes the allegations themselves don't matter as much as the fact there are allegations.  As Tennessee found out last week, issues like these are tough for teams to overcome.  Texas has been held to less than 34 points just once this season and the Jayhawks have given up an average of 32 points per game during their 5-game losing streak.  Longhorns win big.

Wisconsin at Northwestern (+7), 3:30pm
     Despite coming off a nice win for The Weekly last week, the Badgers haven't played well away from Camp Randall.  In their three road trips this year, they got pummeled by Ohio State, squeaked away wins at both Minnesota and Indiana and are just 1-2 ATS.  Much like Rutgers, Northwestern is playing their best football of the season a the right time.  After two solid wins on the road in back-to-back weeks, including an upset of an undefeated Iowa team, the Wildcats should be feeling pretty good about themselves coming back to Evanston.  You should never bet on an underdog who you think has no chance to win.  The Wildcats can win this game, but we'll say that a late Badger touchdown wins it for Wisconsin 28-27.  Northwestern is the pick.

Of course this is Lehigh-Lafayette weekend, so we would be remiss if we didn't pick a winner.  The 145th edition of the most played rivalry in college football, a series that Lafayette leads 76-63-5, features a Lafayette team who is coming off a loss in the de facto league championship game.  The Leopards are ranked 22nd in the country, they've become a mainstay in the FCS Top 25.  Lehigh, on the other hand, is floundering through their third straight losing season despite playing some Top 25 teams tough.  Unfortunately, we can't find a line on this game, but we can tell you that Lafayette still has an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament to worry about so don't look for a let-down in this one.  Lafayette wins the game but it won't be easy.  Leopards 31- Engineers 20.

As always 'till next week...

Many Hundos.

As close as we were to 4-0 in Week 9, we were just as close to 5-0 in Week 10.  It's just been that kind of season for us.  Miami and Pitt rolled to big victories, while Oregon State keeps improving as they went to Cal and won outright, which is another really nice win for the Beavers.  Maybe we're taking a slanted look at our losses (feel free to call us out if you think we are) but that's now four really tough ones over the past two weeks.  Duke was heading into the 4th quarter with the ball in the midst of a 9-6 slugfest.  Somehow this guy Ryan Houston decides to completely take over the 4th quarter for Carolina, and propels them to a long touchdown drive.  Then Duke, still unable to move the ball, punts and forgets to get downfield and cover the punt. They force a 3-and-out but the Heels are able to kick a cover-busting field goal.  Unreal.  As for Houston... Wow.  Case Keenum has to be worthy of at least a Heisman invite right?  The guy is making Harry Houdini look lame.  Anyway, by game time the Cougars were -1, and as we all know a push is a win.  So hopefully you guys got the game at -1 but unfortunately for The Weekly record keeping purposes, it's a big fat loser.  We're making good plays, so one of these weeks we're going to hit a home run.  We sit at .500 right now, which is nothing to brag about but at the same time we're not getting smoked.  We're two good weeks away from being right on pace to do what we want.  Week 11 winners on the way..

Tennessee at Mississippi (-6), noon
     The Vols have improved throughout the year following an early season loss to UCLA, but Rocky Top has had a pretty tough week.  Three Tennessee freshman will be sitting this game out because they allegedly robbed a convenience store Wednesday night.  You stay classy Tennessee!  Two of the players are top recruits and the latest news suggests that coach Lane Kiffin will kick them all out of the program.  When a team faces obstacles like this, they're difficult to overcome, especially when they're on the road playing a team that's better than them.  The Rebels have underachieved this season, but that's all a matter of perspective.  The top 10 pre-season ranking and thoughts of competing for an SEC title were way too high for this team.  They aren't an SEC contender, but they're a solid SEC team.  Translation: they''re a contender in every other conference in America.  Their front four can really put pressure on a quarterback, and as you all know we think that Tennessee QB Jonathan Crompton is pretty much useless.  Scratch that, he stinks.  An interesting sub-plot to this one is that former Ole Miss head coach Ed Orgeron is the Tennessee defensive line coach.  Orgeron is known as one of those coaches who is constantly yelling and screaming at his players.  As you can imagine, those types of guys aren't exactly popular among player.  Look for an inspired effort from the Rebels, as the Vols aren't going to find much opportunity to move the football.  Ole Miss is the play.

Alabama at Mississippi State (+12), 7pm
     Moving just down the road from Oxford to Starkville, we'll go with the Bulldogs here.  At 3-4 Mississippi State doesn't look too impressive, but after taking a closer look 3-4 isn't too bad.  The three wins aren't particularly impressive but there probably isn't a team in America with "better" losses.  All four losses came against teams who currently reside in the top 15 in the BCS standings: #1 Florida (29-19), #7 Georgia Tech (42-31), #8 LSU (30-26) and #15 Houston (31-24).  Not a bad loss in there.  Now they're coming off a bye week and facing an Alabama team which might be slowly wearing down as the season moves along.  They have played progressively closer games each week and the burden of staying unbeaten can sometimes weigh heavily on a team.  'Bama has had trouble in the recent past with the Bulldogs as they've lost two of the past three meetings.  The Tide is on upset alert.

Michigan at Wisconsin (-8.5), noon
     Simply put, the Wolverines have fallen apart at the seams.  Early in the season we rode them to a few nice covers for us, but the last five weeks have been nothing short of a nightmare.  Blowout losses to Penn State and Illinois and a loss to Purdue has actually sparked talk that freshman sensation, and newest Weekly Favorite, Tate Forcier may transfer out of the school.  Camp Randall is a notoriously tough place to play and for a team in a free fall it's not what the doctor ordered.  Wisconsin is the Boston College of the Big Ten.  They're never National Championship quality, but you know that you're going to get a team who can run the football, stop the run, rarely beat themselves and most importantly they're always good for eight or nine wins.  And what do you know, the Badgers 2nd in rushing offense and 4th in rushing defense in the Big Ten, while holding a +5 in turnover margin.  Wisconsin is 8-3 ATS in their past 11 games against the Wolverines.  Look for Michigan to fall apart in front of your typical raucous Madison crowd.

Texas (-24) at Baylor, noon
     We keep saying we're going to avoid these kind of games, but sometimes they just look like layups.  Mack Brown says that Colt McCoy is playing the best ball of his career right now.  That means extreme pain for the Bears.  Baylor ranks 82nd nationally in passing defense and with McCoy being one of the most accurate passers in the history of college football, we're pretty sure the Horns are going to score plenty.  On the other side of the nut, Baylor has had some trouble scoring at home.  They scored just 17 points total against Oklahoma State and Nebraska in Waco, and it would be unfair to compare those defenses to the one they'll be seeing Saturday.  No looking past the Bears for Mack Brown's team -- Texas 49 - Baylor 10.

Not really liking that three of the games are at noon, but hey we're picking winners not looking at times.

A few more articles that I wrote for the paper:  Englewood Little League fall championship. Tenafly volleyball state quarterfinal game.  For some reason I can't find the article I wrote on the football game I covered last week, which is annoying.  Assuming I can find that one, I should have six more stories to pass along for next week.

As always, until next week...

Many Hundos.

We were thisclose to the 4-0 we desperately needed last week.  Duke won outright as we expected and Georgia Tech ran all over Vandy.  A slow start in the Kansas-Texas Tech game eventually hurt us as we missed the over by less than a touchdown.  Washington State's backdoor cover against Notre Dame was just a microcosm of our season so far.  Fortunately the 2-2 week still keeps us afloat.  This is a dangerous week for us, but the 2-2 is an improvement from the previous two weeks so we're feeling a little better going into Week 10.  And this week's winners..

Syracuse at Pittsburgh (-21.5), noon
     Not a good spot for the Orange at all.  After opening the season on the road at Penn State, Syracuse has played six straight home games.  This is just their second road trip and it's coming of the heels of their best wide receiver quitting the team.  Put all that together, plus they have to play arguably the best team in the Big East right now.  Since losing to NC State five weeks ago, Pitt has been rolling.  They've ran for over 200 yards in each of their past three contests, but look for them to allow QB Bill Stull to go to the air more this week as they're facing the nation's 117th ranked pass defense.  We would recommend buying the hook for protection, but we still feel like this is a thirty point game.

Virginia at Miami, FL (-14) , noon
     As long as the Cavs keep playing we're going to keep betting that they won't win.  The Hurricanes have had something of an up-and-down season but have continued to impress in one way or another.  Despite a sub-par performance last week at Wake Forest, they showed some moxie and came back late in the game to beat a scrappy Demon Deacon squad.  We all know what happened two years ago when Virginia handed Miami the program's most embarrassing loss, a 48-0 shellacking in the final game at the Orange Bowl.  We're looking for Miami to get some revenge for that game as they're going to be able to keep the Zimas' inept offense to single digits.

Duke (+10) at North Carolina, 3:30pm     This is a hoops rivalry, but the football teams have no love lost for each other either.  You always hear that "you can throw the records out" when rivals meet, and we don't totally buy into that here, but this line seems a bit too high.  The Blue Devils have played the Heels within a touchdown each of the past two years and we think this is Duke's best team yet.  Admittedly, Carolina has been a bit tough to figure out.  They've lost to Virginia but beat Virginia Tech last week.  We'll ride the hot hand in Duke QB Thad Lews, who has now thrown for 300 yards in four straight games.  Duke is the play.

Oregon State (+7) at California, 7pm     The Beavers are the one team in college football that you know will get better and better as the season moves along, this year is no different.  After back-to-back early season losses to Cincinnati and Arizona, Oregon State has reeled off three of four with the lone loss being a close one at Southern Cal, nothing to be ashamed of.  Cal has been a major disappointment, again.  They were trounced in consecutive weeks by Oregon and USC by a combined score of 72-6.  Since then they beat up on UCLA and Washington State, a pair of Pac-10 pansies, and squeaked one out against Arizona State.  The Beavers have won each of the past two match ups with the Golden Bears and we're looking to make that three in a row this year.  Oregon State 31 - Cal 24.

Houston (-1.5) at Tulsa, 7:30pm     Are we missing something here?  Is this actually a tricky spot for Houston?  Perhaps it is, the oddsmakers certainly seem to think it is, but we don't see Tulsa pulling this one off.  Tulsa has lost three games in row, including a terrible home loss to SMU last week, and now they get to face Houston QB Case Keenum and his air attack.  Not a recipe for success.  It's not all bad for the Golden Hurricane though.  They lost to Boise State close and they lost to UTEP close (the same UTEP who handed Houston its only loss).  Tulsa will probably be able to score some points, but they won't be able to reel in Keenum and his record setting passing numbers.  The Houston offense will just be too much in the end.  

If you've gotten to this part of the article you probably fit in one of two categories.  (1) You're a college football junkie or (2) you actually enjoy my writing, maybe it's some of both.  Well either way, those of you who are still reading are my true audience so I'd like to thank you guys for actually reading this thing because it's helped me become a half-way decent writer which has gotten me here.  It's my first published article, it might be a somewhat boring topic but it's a real article in a real newspaper so it's still kind of exciting.  Again, thank you guys for reading.

As always, until next week...

Many Hundos.

Matt R. :  I'd love to know why the 6-2 Idaho Vandals are only a 3 point favorite at home against 3-4 Louisiana Tech.  I know you're probably on the internet all morning on Saturday Beans, so some on demand analysis would be appreciated.  I'm all over this game on Streak for the Cash and I don't want to break my 2 gamer.
Weekly for life!!

The Weekly :  You're not gonna find too many people who like Idaho more than I do but their 6-2 record may be a bit deceiving.  They haven't had any real impressive wins in terms of opponent or margin of victory.  They're also coming off an embarrassing performance against Nevada where they lost 70-45.  Take what you want from this but ScoresAndOdds.com's "power rating" says that Louisiana Tech should be a 7 point favorite.  When Louisiana Tech has been successful they've done it on the ground, they've had two games of 300+ yards rushing.  Nevada ran for 484 yards last week.  I think we can all figure out what Tech is going to try to do today.  Both teams have played common opponents fairly similarly.  They both beat New Mexico State and Hawaii, and they both got killed by Nevada.  That being said, it seems like they might have something kinda special going on up there at Idaho, they keep finding ways to win games and they are 7-1 ATS.  

After looking at all the facts I think this is a line that makes sense -- there's no evidence telling me that Idaho is significantly better than Louisiana Tech, so give Idaho the home field 3 points and there's your line.

Good luck, Matt.  Go Vandals!

PS -- I'm usually up at 10am every Saturday morning to watch Gameday, but last night was particularly long so I slept in a little bit... Okay, I slept in a lot.

"Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain -- and most fools do."  We could have just taken Ben Franklin's word for it, but it's always more powerful when the fools rear their ugly faces.  We find it really sad that people don't actually follow the games we pick.  People check out the point spread, check out the final score and make judgments.  Sure, the goal is to win games but anyone who has bet on a game knows that sometimes you make a good pick, your team dominates or simply hangs around the way you expected but somehow they don't cover.  Conversely, there are times when you make a terrible pick, the team doesn't play as well as you expected them to but somehow manages to cover.  If you can't understand that concept you probably haven't bet on football before.  If anyone was paying attention, which we all know that not everybody was, they would have seen that Connecticut had no business covering.  They hit one play in the second half, on a 3rd and long from their own 12 nonetheless, and it went for an 88-yard touchdown.  That play is a cover killer.  If anyone watched the Arkansas-Ole Miss game you would have seen that despite not playing well at all the Razorbacks had opportunity after opportunity to win the game.  If Arkansas had any answer for Dexter McCluster they might have won the game, but Ole Miss' Mr. Everything killed the Hogs.  He lined up at three different positions on Saturday (QB, RB and WR) and torched the Hogs for 137 yards receiving and a touchdown on 7 catches and 123 yards rushing on 19 carries.  If you haven't seen McCluster play yet do yourself a favor and make a point of watching an Ole Miss game.  He is certainly the most exciting and, perhaps, best offensive weapon in America.  Georgia Tech ran all over Virginia for an easy win, and Oklahoma smoked Kansas for an easy loss.  The long time Weekly followers know that historically we turn it on during the second half of the season.  We're a paltry 4-7-1 in our last three weeks but now is not the time to bail on us.  You don't want to be like the guy who got out of the stock market when the Dow Jones hit 6,500.  You better get on the train before we leave the station without you.  Here are your winners for Week 9...  Let's go!!

Duke (+7) at Virginia, 3:30pm
     The Blue Devils are the perennial ACC doormat.  But following a really ugly opening day loss to 1-AA Richmond they've had a pretty good year.  They played Virginia Tech pretty tough on the road and they've taken care of NC State and Maryland the past two weeks.  Virginia showed their true colors last week after winning three straight games by not being competitive with Georgia Tech.  No matter how well either team is playing, one player in this game really looks like he's going to be the difference.  Duke QB Thaddeus Lewis is the game changer in this one.  He has been Superman in the past three games, all conference games.  Against Virginia Tech, NC State and Maryland he has thrown for 359, 459 and 371 yards respectively, while throwing nine touchdowns and just one pick.  The Virginia pass defense has been good and should slow down Lewis' fairly remarkable pace, but they won't slow him down enough to win the game.  Duke has realistic bowl aspirations, but if they lose this one the road gets rocky as they still have Georgia Tech and Miami on the schedule.  They know what's on the line here so look for Lewis to throw three touchdowns as Duke wins 27-13.

Kansas at Texas Tech - Over 68.5, 3:30pm
     As long as the Red Raiders stop listening to their fat little girlfriends this is a layup.  Mike Leach is clearly a maniac, but the guy can put points up on the board.  It doesn't matter who the pieces are, Texas Tech scores points.  It still boggles our mind that the NFL doesn't invest more in coaches who have these kinds of systems.  There is no salary cap on coaching and you have examples of coaches who can implement systems where the players seem to be interchangeable.  But that's another column for another day.  Let's make this really simple.  Kansas and Texas Tech both have explosive offenses.  Kansas averages 35 points per game and Tech averages 40 per game.  Luckily for us neither team plays much defense either.  Texas A&M just hung 52 on Tech and Kansas has given up 34, 35 and 36 points in their three conference games.  First to 50 points wins.  The over is the play.

Georgia Tech (-11.5) at Vanderbilt, 7:30pm
     The Yellow Jackets still aren't getting the national respect that they deserve.  They're 7-1 and rolling right now coming off an easy win at Virginia.  Compared to Vanderbilt, Virginia's paltry offense looks like a powerhouse.  The poor Commodores haven't been able to score since Jay Cutler left.  They're 2-6 overall, beating only Western Carolina and Rice.  Here are their point totals in their six losses: 9, 3, 7, 13, 10 and 10.  You get the idea.  Georgia Tech is going to be able to control the ball and the clock with their bruising running game.  As we discussed last week, the Nesbitt-Dwyer-Allen combination is killing people on the ground.  Dwyer and Allen each went for 100 yards last week and Nesbitt was right there with 82.  They'll each notch 100 this week.  Vandy will be lucky to put ten points on the board, which means the Yellow Jackets should have no problem covering.

Washington State vs. Notre Dame (-27.5), San Antonio, Texas, 7:30pm
     Whether we like it or not Notre Dame QB Jimmy Claussen is a legitimate Heisman contender.  Notre Dame has lost two games, but neither because of his efforts.  He's thrown 16 touchdown passes and just two interceptions for the 23rd ranked Irish.  Claussen should be able to do what he wants against the worst program of any that reside in BCS conferences.  It's really staggering to see how far this program has fallen.  They haven't had a good team since the 2003 team who finished 10-3 and beat Texas in the Holiday Bowl.  From '04-'07 they had some teams who hovered around .500, which is at least somewhat competitive.   Last year they won only two times, once against 1-AA Portland State and another against winless cross state rival Washington.  This year they have just one win, an overtime win against SMU.  Notre Dame hasn't scored 40 points since 2006.  There is no way that a Cougar team who allowed 52 points to Oregon and 49 to Cal is going to be able to stop Claussen, WR Golden Tate or RB Armando Allen.  It's just not happening.  The Golden Domers will score 40, possibly in the first half alone, on their way to a huge win.

Four picks for you to enjoy.  This is the week where we're going this really rolling.  Despite how bad some people may think our picks have been we're only one game under .500 for the season.  We still have the 60% mark in our sights.

Good luck, and as always until next week...

Many Hundos.

We're not going to sugar coat it.  We got brutalized in Week 6.  You can sit there and say that a 1-2 week isn't that terrible and you'd be right in one respect.  A 1-2 week means a decent sized loss, 1.1 units.  In the big scheme of things, it's not too serious of a hit.  But when you look at how we lost those games it was pretty ugly.  We had two favorites of ten or more points lose outright.  From a prognosticating standpoint saying that we had a slightly below average week last week because we were 1-2 would be comparable to the '07 Mets saying they had a decent year because they won 88 games.  Thankfully Houston had an outstanding second half, blowing Tulane out of the Superdome, so we avoided an inconceivable second winless week.  We're swinging for the fences this week.  It's about time for us to make a big move and this is the week to do it.  Let's get to the Week 7 winners..

Georgia Tech (-5) at Virginia, noon
     The more we read about how Virginia is a great upset pick the more we like Georgia Tech.  People will say that the Ramblin' Wreck haven't won in Charlottesville since 1990, and they're right.  Unfortunately for those people, Georgia Tech's coach has only been with the program for one season and has yet to coach a game at Virginia.  Some Tech players were born in 1990, so if they're aware of this streak (that's a big if) we're sure they could care less about it.  Georgia Tech has been one of the best teams in America this year and would be in the top 5 if it weren't for the off day at Miami, who we know is also pretty damn good.  Virginia is in their yearly "Save Al Groh's Job" mode.  They lose to teams who they should beat in September.  Actually that's too much of an understatement -- they lose to cupcakes.  We love William & Mary here at The Weekly, but Virginia shouldn't be losing to the Tribe by twelve points at home.  Then they decide to play inspired ball during the month of October and somehow manage to save Groh's job.  Well it seems like they may have gotten a nice recipe for October success when they got to play North Carolina, who has been exposed as a fraud, Indiana, the doormat of the Big Ten, and Maryland, the doormat of the ACC.  The Virginia defense has been great, but they haven't seen an attack like this.  The Nesbitt-Dwyer combination will rack up yards on the ground and if Nesbitt can limit his mistakes in the option pitch, and we think he will, this one won't be close.

Connecticut at West Virginia (-7.5), noon
     Most would stay away from this game, but this is a gambling column and you need to take advantage of a line if you see something you like.  For those of you who may have missed it, UConn CB Jasper Howard died after being stabbed outside of an on-campus dance on Saturday night.  You can read more about it here.  Coping with a tragedy of this magnitude can lead to two different vastly results.  They can play inspired football or they can be so exhausted from the emotion of losing a teammate that they have nothing left to give on the field.  There's no doubt in our mind that they're going to play inspired football, but unfortunately for them this is simply the wrong opponent.  They've had lots of trouble staying with the Mountaineers over the past two seasons because of West Virginia's explosive offense.  Don't be surprised if the Huskies can stick around during what's going to be an emotional first half, but they just won't have enough in the tank to focus for 60 minutes.  Losing concentration for just one play against this type of team and they'll hang six on you.  Too much West Virginia speed in this one.

Arkansas (+6.5) at Mississippi, 12:21pm
     Despite being just 3-3 on the season, Arkansas has gotten better every week and been thoroughly impressive.  Conversely, despite being 4-2 on the season, Ole Miss has melted under the pressures of a top 10 pre-season ranking and delusions of winning an SEC West title.  Since getting beaten up by Alabama in Tuscaloosa four weeks ago, the Razorbacks have been excellent.  They hammered Texas A&M, handed Auburn its first loss and came oh-so-close to handing the defending national champions their first loss.  A pair of transfer quarterbacks, Arkansas' Ryan Mallett (formerly of Michigan) and Ole Miss' Jevon Snead (formerly of Texas) have been on diverging paths over the past eight weeks.  Mallett is flourishing in Bobby Petrino's high octane offense, while Snead is looking to rediscover the confidence that he played with during the 2008 campaign.  The Rebels have played a relatively soft schedule to this point.  The only two tough games on their docket thus far have been losses to Alabama and South Carolina.   Wins over Memphis, Southeast Louisiana, Vanderbilt and UAB aren't particularly impressive no matter what the score.  Arkansas is battle tested and can't be happy about the way they lost at Florida last week.  If the Hogs' defense can play like they did last week they'll pull off the mild upset, but even if they don't play that well the offense will score enough to keep them right in the game.  Arkansas wins on a late field goal.

Oklahoma at Kansas (+7.5) , 3:30pm
     Oklahoma limps in at a very pedestrian 3-3 without starting QB Sam Bradford.  This is a very dangerous spot for the Sooners.  Kansas has the most underrated offense in America.  QB Todd Reesing has been lighting up the scoreboard for a few years now, but there's still very little fanfare for the senior QB.  Perhaps that's because the Jayhawk defense doesn't stop enough teams to make Reesing's teams excellent.  It'll be interesting to see how the Sooners are able to recover after losing to Texas again, but we think that the Kansas offense is capable of hanging enough points on the board to make this one exciting to the end.  Interesting fact:  Oklahoma is 15-15 in their last 30 games played outside the state of Oklahoma.  If Big Mark Mangino is ever going to beat his mentor Bob Stoops this is the year to do it.  Look for Kansas to try to get the ball to converted quarterback, now wide receiver Kerry Meier early and often.  Oklahoma probably outlasts Kansas here, but it'll be closer than the wise guys think.

That was a long one this week.  We really needed to get that out after last week's debacle.  We even added a new member to The Weekly family in Tom Soldan, hopefully he brings us some better results this week.  Welcome Tom.

As always, until next week...

Many Hundos.

College football is a crazy sport.  A team can go from scoring no offensive touchdowns while only passing for 44 yards and rushing for 9 yards one week to scoring 58 points and amassing over 300 yards rushing the following week -- both against ranked teams [that would be UTEP against Texas then Houston].  The point is that in a sport that's wildly volatile going 2-2-1 in any given week can been seen as a success, since we all know a push is a win.  The first of our two losers was Georgia.  We thought the Bulldogs would win easily, "by double digits", and they got smoked in Knoxville.  For some odd reason we received more flak for this loss than any loss in recent memory.  Was the Georgia write-up that compelling?  We're going to assume it was because there is no other valid explanation.  Our other loss was in South Carolina's squeaker win over Kentucky in a game where the 'Cats actually led at halftime.  The Gamecocks weren't particularly impressive, but no win in the SEC should be discounted.  Texas A&M missed a 2 point conversion late in the 4th quarter giving us a push instead of a win.  We'll take it.  Our winners were Ohio State and Georgia Tech.  The Yellow Jackets were seemingly scoring at will in Tallahassee, while Ohio State was powered by two defensive touchdowns and a special teams touchdown.  Enough about last week, let's get to this week's winners...

Ohio State (-13.5) at Purdue, noon
     Going right back to the well with the Buckeyes.  It seems like they suffer that early season, big game loss and then they get into Big Ten play and they are undervalued every week.  They're 13-6 against the spread in Big Ten games over the past three seasons.  Even more impressive is their 9-1 record against the spread as a road favorite in that same period.  The Buckeye defense has been scorching hot since their setback to USC and the Boilermakers have only scored 10 points in the past two games against this unit.  The Purdue run defense is shaky at best and QB Joey Elliot is careless with the ball.  Jim Tressel has made a name for himself at OSU by running the ball and creating turnovers.  It's going to be a long day for the home team in West Lafayette.

Kentucky at Auburn (-13.5), 7:30pm
     For the third consecutive week The Weekly will be taking whichever SEC team is playing Kentucky.  Auburn suffered the first loss of the Gene Chizik era last week at Arkansas by scoring only 23 points, their lowest total of the season.  They get to recover from that loss by playing a Wildcat defense which is softer than Jeff Butler at a SAAC meeting.  The Kentucky defense has been banged up for weeks and now QB Mike Hartline is not expected to play this Saturday after spraining his knee in the game last weekend.  Every game is a must win for the Tigers after last week's loss.  This is the last easy game on the schedule as they have LSU, Ole Miss and, of course the Iron Bowl with Alabama at season's end.  Although unlikely, if they win out they would earn a spot in the SEC championship game, so every game counts.  Auburn QB Chris Todd is going to keep running the spread efficiently, but look for RB Ben Tate, who's averaging over 6 yards per carry, to be doing most of the damage in the ground game.  Auburn wins big.

Houston (-17) at Tulane, 3:30pm
     This is just a bad match up.  Tulane is ranked at the bottom of Division 1 FBS in most defensive categories, especially passing categories.  Houston comes into the game as one of the most dangerous passing teams in all of America.  The Cougars are averaging over 40 points and 440 yards passing per game; they will light up the scoreboard in this one.  It doesn't help the Tulane defense that they are coming off a game with a Marshall offense that likes to play a punishing, hard-nosed style.  The only reasonably comparable test that Tulane has seen this year was BYU and that game was pretty ugly, 54-3.  Frankly this line looks so low that it's kinda scary.  Nonetheless the Cougars are the play, it would be shocking, perhaps even stunning if we don't see 50 points from them tomorrow.

Only three games this week after the big five-gamer last week.  Nothing really jumped off our sheet this week like Georgia Tech did last week.  Just not a great week for games outside of the Red River or Southern Cal-Notre Dame.  Speaking of Notre Dame...  Keeley, Foley and Billy, three of The Weekly's faithful readers, are out in South Bend this weekend so we'll apologize for not picking that game this week.  We'd be pretty surprised if the Irish won, but ten points is just too many points to give to a Notre Dame offense which is pretty good.  Unfortunately for Irish fans, Charlie Weis is still the coach, and he has yet to have a single big win in his head coaching career.  Go ahead, try to name one.  The closest thing to a big win was the loss against USC in the "Bush Push" game in '05.  Not much to hang your hat on there.  Anyway, enjoy the game fellas.

As always, until next week...

Many Hundos.

After having back-to-back down weeks, we came back strong in Week 5 with three wins and a single loss.  The Weekly has officially sworn off lines of four or more touchdowns as Cincinnati came oh so close to covering, but only ended up winning by a measly 24.  Our three SEC teams all beat the number.  Alabama beat up a on continually sloppy Kentucky squad, racking up 204 yards on the ground.  Arkansas mauled Texas A&M with 23 2nd quarter points.  The Hogs did damage on the ground, averaging 5.3 yards per carry, while QB Ryan Mallett was accurate through the air.  In our night cap Auburn sent Tennessee to its third early season loss.  The Tigers jumped out to a 23-6 lead and there's no way the Volunteer offense can recover from that kind of hole, especially in the Southeastern Conference.  Okay, let's get to the Week 6 winners..

Georgia Tech (+3) at Florida State, 8pm
     There has been a ton of turmoil in Tallahassee over the past week.  One booster called for Bobby Bowden to step down at year's end, followed by the university's president issuing what seemed to be a vote of confidence for the legendary head coach.  Georgia Tech's Paul Johnson has been a Weekly Favorite since the early days of the newsletter when he was the head man at the Naval Academy.  His teams are extremely difficult to prepare for in just one week so the craziness surrounding the Seminole program couldn't have happened at a worse time.  Other than their win at BYU, the 'Noles have been less than impressive this year and last week's loss at Boston College was especially disappointing.  The Ramblin' Wreck's lone loss this season came at the hands of the Miami Hurricanes who are apparently pretty damn good.  Look for Tech not only to win this game outright, but fairly handily.  Tech 31 - 'Noles 16.

Georgia (+1.5) at Tennessee, 12:21pm (another weird SEC start time)
     We'll just continue with what we talked about last week in this space.  It's pretty simple.  As long as the wise guys in Vegas keep making Tennessee a favorite against good SEC programs, we're going to keep picking against them.  Admittedly the Vols showed some signs of life last week, but certainly not enough life to win this game.  Georgia coach Mark Richt is an extremely impressive figure in this league.  He seems to always have teams that are greater than the sum of their parts, which is always the mark of great coaching (at least at the college level).  Despite some serious turnover problems early on, the Dawgs only had one turnover in last week's loss to LSU.  If the Dawgs can keep the turnovers to a minimum they will walk out of Knoxville victorious.  We think they will, and we think they'll do it pretty easily.  Georgia by double digits.

Oklahoma State at Texas A&M (+5), 12:30pm
     This is another dangerous spot for the Cowboys.  Kyle Field is one of the toughest places to play in all of American sports.  As we found out in the Houston game, this Oklahoma State team, much like the ones who preceded them, is very susceptible to teams with big offenses.  The Cougars exposed the Okie State defense in their 45-35 upset earlier in the season.  The Aggies, even in a losing effort, outgained Arkansas last week 458-434.  A&M QB Jerrod Johnson has already thrown for 1300 yards in just four games and he's more than capable making plays with his legs.  On the Cowboy side of the football, star WR Dez Bryant has been declared ineligible which is a critical blow.  Without Bryant's dynamic playmaking and ability to stretch the field, the Oklahoma State offense begins to look very ordinary.  Usually the Cowboys are more than happy to get into shootouts, but if they decide to get into a shootout this weekend they'll end up on the short end.  Look for the Aggies' famed "12th Man" to become a huge factor if A&M can jump out to an early lead.  Texas A&M won't run away with it, but they'll win a game played in the high 30's.

Wisconsin at Ohio State (-16), 3:30pm
     Did you really think we weren't going to take any favorites?  Since the loss to USC, Ohio State has been on a tear.  You might say that they didn't beat anyone of significance, which would be fair, but it looks like Terrelle Pryor and the offense has really hit its stride.  There have been few, if any, questions about the OSU defense, so if the offense isn't just a mirage the Buckeyes might just have something.  Wisconsin is probably the least talked about 5-0 team in America.  They're definitely underrated, but at the same time we're not sure that we're impressed with anything they've done yet.  This ought to be a big wake up call for a Badger team who has been hanging points up left and right on some lesser opponents.  Forget about the offense though, what's more worrisome about Wisconsin is that they've been allowing lots and lots of points recently.  We don't think that this Buckeye offense is a mirage; Pryor is ultra-talented and just starting to really figure out how to be a great college quarterback (remember how long it took Vince Young?).  Buckeyes win big.

Kentucky at South Carolina (-10), 12:30pm
     The Gamecocks have owned this series of late, winning nine in a row and 11 of the past 13 games.  Not only have they dominated the series, they're catching Kentucky coming off a back-to-back with Florida and Alabama.  The Wildcats lost both of those games big, but even more importantly the 'Cats came out of those two games banged up.  They'll be missing both starting cornerbacks, including All-American Trevard Lindley.  South Carolina QB Stephen Garcia has finally emerged as a solid guy under center for the Ol' Ball Coach and should be able to take advantage of the mismatches on the outside.  Steve Spurrier is 16-0 in his career against Kentucky and we don't think he's going to be losing to Kentucky any time soon.  Stick with Spurrier tomorrow.

Gave you an extra play this week as we're trying to gain a little momentum through the middle weeks. 

As always, 'till next week...

Many Hundos.

Finally! After two long weeks the waiting ended on Saturday evening as TCU finalized their 14-10 win over Clemson in Death Valley, giving us 100 career wins.  As expected the TCU defense contained CJ Spiller just enough to squeak out a nice road win.  Purdue gave us win number 101 later in the evening as they almost pulled off the upset against the Golden Domers.  On the strength of a 3rd quarter pick-six, Arizona State overcame a 14-3 halftime deficit to take a 17-14 lead before losing but covering against Georgia.  Our other Week 4 loser was Michigan, whose defense decided to take a week off.  Freshman QB Tate Forcier, the newest Weekly Favorite, might be something special as he keeps the Wolverines undefeated going into their big rivalry game with Michigan State.  Let's get to another quartet of picks.  The march to 200 begins with the week 5 winners...

Cincinnati (-29) at Miami, OH, 1pm
     This is now two out of three weeks where we're taking a four touchdown or more favorite, something The Weekly doesn't like doing.  Miami is one of the worst, if not the worst, team in college football.  When it comes to defending the pass it doesn't get much worse than what the Redhawk defense has done this year as they're the 113th ranked defense in pass efficiency.  So how are they possibly going to stop the explosive, potent and high-flying Bearcat offense?  They're not.  Cincy QB Tony Pike is on fire right now and WR Mardy Gilyard scores in every game.  Everyone forgets that this Cincy team won the Big East last year and played Virginia Tech really tough in the Orange Bowl.  This team is not some soft Big East school, they can hang points on the board and they can do it in droves.  The Bearcats might as well just keep the Victory Bell back on their campus because this is a 40-plus point win as they hang at least eight TDers on the board.  

Arkansas (-1.5) vs. Texas A&M, Arlington, Texas, 7:30pm
     This is a nice match-up between old time Southwest Conference rivals.  Arkansas comes off back to back disappointing losses to Alabama and Georgia, while A&M has beat up on three semi-cupcakes in New Mexico, Utah State and UAB.  The key to this game is going to be Arkansas' ability to run the football and the Aggies' inability to stop the run.  By running the ball effectively on first and second downs, it'll put Arkansas in lots of "third-and-manageable" situations.  This will create throws designed to get the ball out of the Razorbacks' talented QB Ryan Mallett quickly, thus neutralizing the Aggies' greatest asset -- their pass rush.  Aggie QB Jerrod Johnson is a magical athlete who blends tough running ability with an accurate arm.  This game is going to be a lot of fun to watch, and we recommend watching it because these are two teams in major conferences who don't get a whole lot of national exposure.  There are going to be a lot of points scored in this one, but the Hogs' ability to move the chains by keeping the rock on the ground will be too much for the Aggies to overcome.

Auburn (+3) at Tennessee, 7:45pm
     This line seems kind of absurd.  What has Tennessee done to prove they can win in this league this season?  Let's see... They lost a very mediocre UCLA team at home.  Then when they went to Gainesville to play their arch-rival they played to cover the spread.  They didn't play to win that game for one minute.  So now an insanely confident Auburn team rolls into Knoxville and Tennessee is favored to win?  Someone explain this, please.  After having no offense whatsoever in 2008, the Tigers brought in a new head coach in Gene Chizik who in turn brought in Gus Malzahn to be the offensive coordinator.  Malzahn is a master of the spread offense and it's shown in his first four games at Auburn.  The Tigers have scored at least 37 points in every game.  Based on what we've seen so far of the Vols, they're going to have a really hard time scoring 20 points on anyone in the SEC.  Money line special here, Auburn 28 - Tennessee 13.

Alabama (-16) at Kentucky, 12:21pm (no, that's not a typo. 12:21pm kickoff)
     The Wildcats got hammered last week against the nation's best team and it doesn't get much easier as the nation's second best team rolls into town.  Kentucky isn't a very disciplined team right now, they committed three straight turnovers in a win against Louisville and got off to a dismal start against Florida last week.  The Alabama defense is so good that we'd be surprised if the 'Cats sniff the scoreboard in this one.  Look for the Tide's bruising running game to ware down an already worn out and banged up Kentucky defense as 'Bama rolls to a twenty point win.

A triumvirate of SEC "A" schools and zero home teams makes it another interesting week of picks.  We're looking for four wins this week as we're still hovering right at the .500 mark for the season. 

Of course till next week...

Many Hundos.

After an exciting first two weeks of the '09 season, we came crashing back to earth by striking out in Week 3.  Our first win-less week in over two years (maybe ever, we didn't check the entire archive).  Florida didn't hang a hundo on Tennessee, they didn't even hang a quarter-hundo.  Early in the 4th quarter with the Gators up 23-6 Superman fumbled on the Vols' two yard line.  Without a fumble there we could be in line for a cover, up 30-6 with a quarter left to play.  If The Weekly knew that Lane Kiffin placed an $8 million wager on the Vols to cover the 30 point spread we wouldn't have bet against him.  In our other afternoon game, Oregon finally snapped Utah's winning streak, downing the Utes 31-24.  After falling behind 28-10 early in the 3rd quarter, the Utes put two quick scores on the board to cut the deficit to 28-24.  Utah had five 4th quarter possessions to try to put another score on the board but were unsuccessful in each try.  Ducks QB Jeremiah Masoli was just 4-16 passing in the game, and they still pulled off the win -- a microcosm of our week.  In the nightcap, the team who we belittled in this space last week, umm, proved us wrong.  So much for FSU not having the athletes anymore as they simply pounded, and we mean pounded, BYU on the road.  This one was ugly right from the get-go.  We don't particularly want to look up the final score so we'll just leave it at: FSU a lot, BYU not so much.  Our only bright spot was that six of the seven trip tease suggestions hit.  Hopefully someone took advantage of that.  Well, that champagne has been kept cold all week and we're not keeping it cold for another week.  Today has to be the day.  The march to 100 wins continues with the Week 4 winners... 

TCU (+3) at Clemson, 3:30pm
     At first glance we couldn't figure out why TCU was even a dog in this spot.  But Clemson is still pretty talented and Death Valley is always a tough place to play; this is probably a pick 'em on a neutral field.  The best player on the field will determine the outcome of this one.  Clemson RB CJ Spiller is perhaps the most versatile offensive player in America.  He is a punishing downhill runner who cannot be caught in a footrace, can catch the ball out of the back field and make an impact returning kicks on special teams.  The TCU defense is extremely fast, faster than any defense Clemson has seen, and will need to contain Spiller to win this one.  The Horned Frogs lead the nation in sacks with eleven, which is bad news for the Tigers.  Clemson QB Kyle Parker hasn't been accurate throwing the ball and forces too many balls into coverage.  With Clemson's starting LT Chris Hairston questionable, look for All-American DE Jerry Hughes to be living in the Clemson backfield.  Poised quarterback play, solid offensive line play and a couple of receivers who can challenge the Clemson corners with their speed will be enough offense for the Horned Frogs to win this one on the road.  First to 17 points wins, it'll be TCU.

Arizona State at Georgia (-12.5), 7pm
     Something that sometimes goes overlooked early in a college football season is how many times has a team played 60 minutes.  The Bulldogs have three real games under their belts.  In fact they were hard fought battles.  A tough opening night loss in a highly anticipated match-up at Oklahoma State, then two shootout wins at home against South Carolina [41-37] and at Arkansas [52-41].  Then you have Arizona State.  Like many schools they started their season with a few cupcakes, beating Idaho State and Louisiana-Monroe both at home.  So you have zero games where the Arizona State starters have played a full 60 minutes, and you have three games where the Georgia starters have been tested.  Under the lights in Athens we cannot envision a scenario where the Sun Devils can stay in this one.  ASU QB Danny Sullivan is making his first road start, ever.  This is not an ideal place to be doing that.  Meanwhile, Georgia QB Joe Cox has is a poised veteran who has stepped in nicely for the departed Matthew Stafford.  They might not hang 40 or 50 again, since the ASU defense is decent, but look for Georgia to win this game handily.

Notre Dame at Purdue (+7), 8pm
     Kind of going on a hunch here.  Notre Dame is banged up with standout WR Michael Floyd out and RB Armando Allen a game time decision with an ankle injury.  If Allen plays he clearly won't be at full strength and if he can't go sophomore Jonas Grey would have to step in and that would be a major downgrade.  Grey has had issues with holding onto the ball during his brief career in South Bend.  Purdue is coming off back-to-back losses at Oregon and to Northern Illinois at home after beating Toledo impressively in the opener.  Despite losing to Oregon, the Boilermakers opened our eyes.  They look like they could be sneaky good.  Then last week they throw out a stinker against Northern Illinois and everyone forgets about them.  But upon further inspection, Northern Illinois isn't all that bad.  They almost pulled off an upset at Wisconsin earlier in the year.  So, we have a sneaky good team coming off a lackluster performance playing against a banged up and, as they always are, over-hyped Notre Dame team.  Throw in the fact that this only the sixth night game in the 86 year history of Purdue's Ross-Ade Stadium and we smell upset.  Purdue 31 - Notre Dame 27. Indiana at Michigan (-20.5), noon     We've been on the Wolverines' bandwagon all year and we're not getting off just yet.  We said at the beginning of the year that they'd be the nation's most improved team and we're sticking with that.  The Hoosiers come into the game 3-0, but they've been squeaking games out against MAC teams.  Beating the Directional Michigan schools 19-13 and 23-19 points to a long day against the real Michigan football school.  The Wolverines' offensive attack has been stellar, led by freshman sensation QB Tate Forcier.  Michigan has put 114 points on the board in their first three games and may have a little trouble with Indiana's athletic defensive ends, but that's not enough to stop this attack.  Indiana hasn't won in The Big House in 42 years, that's not going to change today.  Look for Michigan to hang another 40 on the board and send Indiana home packing for the 17th straight time. Sorry for the tardiness of this edition. 

Last night we were busy watching my little brother's Don Bosco Prep team beat Prattville, Alabama on ESPNU.  Everyone still has 90 minutes before the noon starts, so you have plenty of time.

As always, till next time...

Many Hundos.

We said that Week 1 couldn't be called a resounding success, but Week 2 certainly can be called just that.  Winning all three of our 3:30 games put us on the doorstep of the century mark, but in the nightcap the Ohio State defense did just enough to ensure a cover.  TCU started us off with a whipping of Virginia.  Is Al Groh really in his 9th season as UVa head coach?  Wow, that seems almost impossible.  Apparently he's the Matt Millen of college football.  Navy continued to be a cover machine as they waltzed by a less than mediocre Louisiana Tech team.  The Weekly's gem of the day was Houston's ten point win at Oklahoma State.  The Okie State schedule-maker should be shot.  Of course they're going to be hungover after winning a game which was hyped up as the biggest home game in Cowboy history.  How did that decision process go?  "Hmm, who should we schedule after the big Georgia game?  Oh how about that sneaky good mid-major with a potent offense and excellent quarterback?" Brilliant.  Well, big thanks to the Oklahoma State Athletic Department for giving us that treat.  On to the Week 3 winners, The Weekly headquarters has the champagne on ice..

Utah (+5) at Oregon, 3:30pm
     Utah brings the nation's longest winning streak to the boisterous Autzen Stadium.  Oregon has looked very pedestrian at the start of the season.  After losing at Boise State week 1, and losing potential All-American RB LeGarrette Blount for the entire season along the way, they semi-rebounded last week.  They squeaked out a 38-36 win against Purdue at home, only clinching the win after stopping a two-point conversion with under two minutes to go.  The way that Oregon lost Blount has been highly publicized, for obvious reasons.  Because of the fashion in which he went out, we feel the media has missed the on-the-field impact of the suspension.  Blount was looking at being one of the top two or three running backs picked in the upcoming NFL Draft.  Losing him for the year is a tremendous blow to a team who had one of the nation's most prolific offenses in 2008.  Despite the hostile environment, we see the Utes being able to keep the streak alive, much in part to the fact that Oregon won't be able to control the ball the way they'd like to without the ground game at 100%.  Utah in a close one.

Florida State at BYU (-8), 7pm
     We'll stay in the Mountain West for our second winner.  The Cougars have looked great in their first two games.  Really great.  They're in a position that no other non-Notre Dame, non-BCS conference team has been in since the inception of the BCS -- they have a shot at the national title game.  Of course it's early, but it's worth mentioning.  BYU is experienced with QB Max Hall leading an offense full of talented, yet underrated, skill players.  RB Harvey Unga is a game changer and even though he'll be coming off a hamstring injury he should be affective against a very green Florida State defense.  The 'Noles just aren't the same program they used to be.  They don't have the athletes in the secondary to play the style of man-to-man defense they want to play, a problem that will get exposed against elite offenses like BYU's.  Look for the Cougars to hang five or six scores on the board and walk to a relatively easy win.

Tennessee at Florida (-30), 3:30pm
     We had to do it.  Just had to.  Lane Kiffin can backtrack all he wants.  The damage has been done.  This game will get ugly.  History has proven that Urban Meyer has an uncanny capacity to harbor a grudge.  He punishes, perhaps in a childish fashion, those who do or say things that he takes exception to.  Just ask Mark Richt about those two timeouts Meyer called in the waning seconds of their game last year.  Tennessee QB Jonathan Crompton is simply not very good.  He makes poor decisions and he's not very accurate.  Although the Vols have some talented backs, their offensive line is just hurting right now.  The combination of a shaky offensive line and a downright bad quarterback going up against an experienced defense in the Swamp is not a recipe for success.  The Gator offense is a bit thin at wide reciever, but only by Gator standards.  You probably couldn't find a person in Lane Kiffin's family who thinks they have a shot tomorrow.  If Meyer has the shot to hang a hundo on them, we'd be willing to bet he goes for it.  It might not be out of the question.

Only three games for this week.  It's a really tough week straight up, but lots of trip teaser potential out there -- Notre Dame, Baylor, Michigan, Penn State, Western Michigan, Kansas and Ohio State.  Maybe a bottle of champagne can be taken out of The Weekly Headquarters' Century Stash for Reese's party tomorrow night.  We'll have to see...

As always until next week...

Many Hundos.

We can't call Week 1 a resounding success, but it was certainly a success.  We picked up right where we left off by winning two out of three games.  An undervalued Michigan team took care of business against a youthful, undermanned and overwhelmed Western Michigan team.  The quarterback play from the Wolverines was exponentially better than at any point last season.  It took a year, but that offense finally resembled the one where Pat White thrived under Rich Rodriguez at West Virginia.  Look for Michigan to have a really nice year.  Our other win came from our underdog, Baylor.  Led by sophomore QB and Weekly Favorite Robert Griffin's stellar day, the Bears avenged last year's season opening loss to Wake.  The 24-21 win was fueled by Griffin's accurate passing, connecting on his first eight pass attempts while going 15-24 for the game with a touchdown and no picks.  Our lone loser wasn't just a loser, it was a debacle.  The so-called "Fightin'" Illini placed Ron Zook's ass firmly on the hot seat (again) by getting whooped by their Mississippi River rival Missouri (again).  The only "fightin'" it looks like they'll be doing is for bowl eligibility, and good luck with that.  Thanks for comin' Illini.  You guys suck.  On to the Week 2 winners; only four wins away from the century mark...   

TCU (-11) at Virginia, 3:30pm
     At first we were mildly worried that this is TCU's first game.  But then we remembered that Virginia lost to William & Mary last week.  TCU coach Gary Patterson has built a stellar program build on defense.  The Horned Frogs return their best defensive player, All-American defensive lineman Jerry Hughes, as a part of a defense which allowed just 18 touchdowns last year, third best in all of major college football.  On the other hand, the Cavaliers played three different quarterbacks last week in a futile effort against 1-AA William & Mary.  In 2008 Virginia only scrapped together 16.1 points per game so they decided to go to the spread offense in the off season.  As Michigan can tell you this is not an easy transition.  The ferocious TCU defense will lock down that lackluster Virginia offense all day long.  It would be a moral victory if the Zimas reach double digits.  TCU is 11-3 in their last 14 against BCS conference schools.  They'll improve to 12-3 and it won't be difficult.

Houston (+15) at Oklahoma State, 3:30pm
     This will be the most fun game of the weekend.  The first team to 40 will probably win it.  Oklahoma State was certainly impressive in their victory over Georgia last week, but we're looking for the Cowboys to have a little hangover from their big win.  Houston brings talented QB Case Keenum with them to Stillwater.  Keenum is an excellent passer and has great pocket presence, able to consistently avoid the rush.  There is a lot of offensive firepower on the Cougar side of the football, enough to make this a contest.  In the end, Houston doesn't have an answer for Okie State WR Dez Bryant and they're probably a little too young to pull off this kind of upset.  Look for Oklahoma State to sweat out a high scoring, but close win.

Louisiana Tech at Navy (-7.5), 3:30pm
     Navy playing tough at Ohio State was no fluke.  The Buckeyes had an entire summer to prepare for that game and still struggled.  The difficulty of playing against an offense like the Naval Academy is exacerbated when you only have one week to prepare for it.  Louisiana Tech is coming off of getting beaten pretty bad by an Auburn team who many expected they could compete with.  Navy looked exceptional against an immensely more talented, Top 10 team.  We can't find a reason NOT to like Navy.  As always with a number like this, buy the hook.  It shouldn't matter though, Navy should methodically take care of business like they seem to do every year.

Southern Cal (-7) at Ohio State, 8pm
     Ah yes, the game everyone is talking about.  Everyone is focusing on the fact that the Trojans are bringing a true freshman quarterback to The Horseshoe for his first collegiate road game.  Ohio State is certainly a tough place for a grizzled veteran to play, forget about a true freshman.  Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, it seems that Southern Cal wins a game like this every year regardless of how old their quarterback is.  They have won seven straight road openers against the likes of Colorado, Auburn, Virginia Tech, Hawaii, Arkansas, Nebraska, Virginia -- six BCS conference opponents.  Matt Leinart's coming out party as a sophomore was at Auburn, a tough place to play in its own right.  Ohio State QB Terrelle Pryor is a special talent.  He is the only thing keeping this otherwise sluggish offense afloat.  The Ohio State offensive line was unable to overpower the Navy defensive line, making it difficult to believe they'll be able to handle the Trojan front.  On the other hand, the Trojan offensive line is superb and will give Barkley all the time he needs to throw.  Eventually that line will wear down the OSU defense which will result into big play after big play in the second half.  Ohio State won't get blown out like last year, but Pete Carroll's squad should eventually take this one by double digits.

Here's to hoping those four games will get us to the century mark this week....

As always, until next week...

Many Hundos.

-Nick