Weekly Picks

Thursday

San Diego State 23, Air Force 22 - Technically, this is an upset. The Falcons are favored by 6', but they got their wings clipped pretty bad by Notre Dame last week and the Aztecs are not the team to be careless against. Look for Air Force to come out angry, but the sunny style zen masters use it against them, judo-style.

USC 26, Cal 24 - Kiffin's getting ready to burn the redshirt off of George Farmer in hopes of finding an offensive spark of some sort. Cal's just hoping to find a way out of the downward spiral of the last two weeks. The Bears don't get it done this week.

Friday

Hawaii 41, San Jose State 19 - The Spartans don't have much going on. Not that Hawaii's much better, but the Warriors have enough to stuff SJSU.

Saturday

Michigan State 23, Michigan 21 - UPSET ALERT This isn't really an upset, though; Sparty's favored by 3 right now. I think they have the D to back it up. Denard and Co. think they've got the O to finally put State in their place. It's showdown time in the Pleasant Peninsula and, while I love Shoelace, I'm taking the Green and White to keep it real in East Lansing.

Texas A&M 31, Baylor 27 - A&M plays two full games in-a-row; Baylor loses two games in-a-row.

South Carolina 27, Mississippi State 17 - Connor Shaw was light's out last week and Spurrier showed no signs of letting up, calling for a deep passing TD in the last minute against hapless Kentucky. While the Bulldogs are better than the Wildcats, they're still susceptible enough to big plays for me to take the Gamecocks in this one. I've re-thought the margin of victory - 33 was a bit much - but still see it being decisive as SoCar tries to solidify their hold on the East race.

LSU 37, Tennessee 20 - Tennessee's going to have to pass to stand a chance here; their run game is non-existent. While Chris Simms is a backup, he's good enough to make some plays when necessary. None of that matters, though. The Vols are hosting a mystical voodoo tour, helmed by a mad-hatter petting a honey badger. Nothing you do against them is good enough and Tennessee will learn that the hard way.

Miami 31, North Carolina 24 - Does anyone care about this match-up? Wake up early, run some errands, eat lunch during Gameday, then switch to this for a nice mid-day nap.

Oklahoma State 30, Texas 20 - Texas showed no signs of life last week, rolling over like a prison bitch in Dallas last weekend. They'll show more signs of life Saturday, but they'll still be starting the same corners and neither of them will have an answer for Blackmon.

Ohio State 27, Illinois 26 - UPSET ALERT At some point, the Illini will get Zook'd. They have to! Scheelhaase cannot keep winning despite his coach's "coaching," eventually, things have to fall apart. While I don't like putting my faith in this particular Buckeye squad, fuck it. It's that kind of B1G this season, baby!

Alabama 34, Ole Miss 7 - THIS.

Clemson 24, Maryland 23 - UPSET ALERT I'm too scarred to call for the Terp win, but I will say the Tigers need to be careful. This trip to College Park is a trap game. it's trpp-y enough that normally I'd make this Admiral Akbar trap game of the week, but I just dropped a Star Wars reference in the last pick.

Texas Tech 31, Kansas State 30 - UPSET ALERT Kansas State feels a little like Illinois right now, in that a loss seems inevitable. Texas Tech, on the other hand, seems bound for a decent win. May as well be now.

Auburn 25, Florida 24 - I do not feel comfortable with this call. At all. Sure, it seems obvious enough. No Brantley and two ass-whippings in a row haven't made the Gators seem like a team bound for a win. But, this AUburn team hasn't shown me anything this year that makes me want to pick their games using any kind of 'trend' or 'facts.' It'll be ugly. And weird.

Oregon 41, Arizona State 29 - I hope LaMichael James is back. I also hope Vontaze Burfict slobber knocks Daron Thomas. I can't lose! The Skittles will be flowing on the Sun Devil sideline, but it won't be enough to slow the Ducks in Eugene.