College Picks
We had a decent week last week in college going 3-2 while nailing our mortal lock as the Superfans demolished Virginia Tech just like we said they would. The good news is that BC won the game and the Stool won some money. The bad news is that now we have to listen to all the Superfans talk about the BCS and how great they are. And while BC may be the best team in the ACC, that sounds a lot like our claim that we’re the best free bi-weekly sports and entertainment newspaper with scantily clad chicks on the front in Metro Boston. What I’m saying is there isn’t much competition for them or us. Anyway, I like a million games this week so I’m going to stop rambling along and start picking games.
Season Record – 13-15-1
Last Week 3-2
Mortal Lock Record 3-3
Texas at Nebraska -6.5
Nobody has talked more trash about Texas over the past few seasons than me. I’ve called them cowards, pussies and everything else in the book. But that all changed when they beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl two years ago and followed it up by going undefeated and winning a National Championship. It changed the entire demeanor of their football team. Sure they got crushed by Ohio State, but that’s just because they aren’t as good as OSU. It wasn’t because they were frightened or played scared. Now Texas will beat all the teams that they should and they should crush Nebraska. Nebraska just ain’t that good. They lost to the only good team they played all season- USC- and they lost big.
The Pick – Texas
Iowa at Michigan -13
The Wolverines are on a crash course with the Buckeyes for the biggest game in the history of planet earth when they square off as the #1 vs. #2 teams in the country. No, I don’t think Iowa can spring an upset here. In fact, I don’t think they can come vaguely close. In case you weren’t paying attention Iowa lost to Indiana last week. And earlier in the season they needed a goal line stand to knock off Syracuse. Ouch. We’re not talking college hoops here. Iowa clearly isn’t very good this year. They have no chance of hanging around in this one as Michigan will roll to another convincing victory and a step closer to the epic battle to end all battles.
The Pick – Michigan
Rutgers at Pitt -6.5
If these two teams were in the ACC this may be a preview of the conference championship game. How scary is that? I’m serious. These two teams may be better than anything the ACC has to offer this year. Anyway, Vegas keeps slapping the State College of New Jersey in the face with the point spreads for their games. Last week they installed Marco Battaglia U as a 3 pt underdog against Navy. Rutgers manhandled the Midshipmen in one of the biggest blowouts of the week. Now they are catching almost a TD against Pittsburgh. Now I think Pittsburgh is pretty good, but sometimes you just can’t bet against a hot team and Rutgers is hot. I’m going to ride them as far as they can go.
The Pick – State College of NJ
Fresno State at LSU -32.5
This is one of those times when Pat Hill’s motto of “Anybody Anywhere” kind of catches up with him. I’m betting that he wishes he could take that back this week. I don’t know what happened to the Bulldogs this year, but they’ve totally fallen off the map. They are horrible. Fresno gave up like 200 pts to Hawaii last week off island and it’s only going to get worse this week LSU has become one of the best big spread cover teams in the nation. They may struggle in close games, but they lay the hammer to the weaklings and they’ll do it again this week. I’d be shocked if LSU isn’t covering this game by half time and doesn’t end up winning by 50. Literally.
Mortal Lock – LSU
Washington at Cal -22.5
Last week I picked Washington -10 against Oregon State. Washington not only failed to cover but they got outrighted making it one of my worst picks of the season. And it was no fluke job either. They pretty much got dominated the entire game and were lucky to be winning at halftime. Meanwhile, Cal has played great football ever since their opener when they were totally unprepared to play Tennessee. Cal has pretty much steam rolled everybody they have played since then including crushing Oregon at home. There is no doubt in my mind that Cal is the best team in the Pac 10 and they’ll prove it when they beat USC in a couple weeks. So this pick is an easy one for me. I have Cal who I think is the class of the Pac 10 playing Washington who I hate because of last week. Needless to say the pick is Cal.
The Pick - Cal