WEEK 1 - Picks are in!

Before we get into it - we're down to 7 guys. I've heard nothing from Bomb as far as picks or $$$, so he's out. If you have an 8th man for us let me know and I can send him over everything. Worst case - the mystery partner misses out on this week and we give him an average win total and he starts next week. If you have someone who is interested, get the word out. If not - we're 7 deep, which is better than nothing.

3 hours from kick-off...here's who we're all watching this weekend.

JR: NCST, BOISE, MN, OHIOST, TOL, WF, NEV, UAB, OHIO, A&M, NILL, UTEP, CMU, OLE, RUT
JG: BOISE, MN, AKR, USC, WMU, GEO, ND, ILL, BYU, TEX, NILL, UCLA, ALA, WASH, FSU
MR: BALLST, UTAH, BOISE, MN, OHIOST, PUR, TN, USC, MICH, GEO, CLEM, TEX, ALA, CMU, WASH
MK: NCST, BOISE, MN, OHIOST, WMU, BAY, OKST, UCONN, BYU, NM, TEX, EMU, WASU, WASH, MIA
GR: NCST, BOISE, MN, PSU, OKST, MIZZ, NEB, OK, UCLA, ALA, MARY, LSU, OLE, RUT, FSU
MH: SC, BOISE, MN, UK, NAVY, WMU, GEO, ND, MIZZ, BYU, WIS, ALA, LSU, OLE, MIA
MC: NTEX, UTST, ORE, UK, TOL, MDTN, NEB, TEX, WIS, EMU, UCLA, IDAHO, UTEP, LSU, FSU

Now - for the fun part...my predictions and harrassment. Please feel free to add your own commentary, it's worth more before the games start than after you've already watched someone go down in flames.

THURSDAY NIGHT
5 big ones tonight - plus a couple games without spreads like the much anticipated Cyclone-Bison battle tonight.

- 3 of us went NCST tonight, clearly following my THUR Night rule right off the bat. MH likes Spurrier and the Cocks tonight...I'm a little scared of this pick, but I can't break tradition.

- nobody bet on TROY-BGU game, one of only 3 games on the slate without any action. I had TROY marked on my card, but didn't include it in the final 15.

- MR vs. MC in an under the radar battle tonight - Roe has BALLST, Corcoran has NTEX. I side with MC on this one. BALLST lost pretty much everything from LY, NTEX has sucked for quite a while but they have a stud new Fr QB 9coaches kid) who should keep them within 3 TD's tonight.

- Game 2 of the MR vs. MC showdown: ROE has UTAH vs. CORCORAN's UTST team. This time I side with ROE...UTAH will be looking to make a statement and show the world that they can do it again in 2009.

- The final game of the evening features MC vs. the WORLD...6 of us are on BOISE on the smurf turf, which is always the correct bet. MC jumped on the DUCKS who lost to BOISE last year in Eugene and are breaking in a new coach tonight...

Nobody bet on the FRI game of Tulsa at Tulane...so we can all lick our wounds on FRI night and mentally prepare for the first Saturday of the season.

SATURDAY

- MH and MC love Kentucky as a road fav...I don't think highly enough of the Wildcats to bet on them against anyone on the road.

- MR is drinking the Lane Kiffin Kool-aid and took the Vols to cover 28 in week 1.Is this the same TN team that averaged 17 ppg last year...we'll see

- JG and MR are buying on Matt Barkley and loving the Trojans -35...it should be pretty close to that, I just am reserving my USC vibe until after I see how the kid does in week 1.

- JG, MK, MH all jumped on the "DickRod Cheater-gate" scandal and took WMU to cover the 11 at the Big House. MR shockingly continues to pick DD Fav's and went with MICH and all 3 of their QB's.

- 5 people are playing in one of the biggest games of the week - GEO at OKST. OKST is MK's lock of the week...so we know what that means...bet GEO big! GR joins MK's optimism with Team Gundy - I lean GEO. I didn't bet on it, but this is a very good Bulldog team and they play defense, which OKST is still trying to figure out.

- I know a lot of you wanted to take it, but I was the only one that actually did take it...NEV over ND. Yeah, ND is better but you forget that they still have Chuck running the show. The talent was great last year too, and we saw what that produced...SYR beat this team! NEV runs a weird offense and will score some points - they stop nobody, but I think they cover.

- Battle of STL: JG likes the over-hyped Illini and GR and MH like Mizzou. This club lost a lot, but they have kind of reloaded. Points should be coming all night, so I'll lean to ILL and Juicy.

- 4 jumped into the BYU at OK pool: 3 on the side of the Mormons. I saw a stat last night that BYU has 36 married guys on their team. That's probably more than most NFL squads! Sooners are loaded again, but I don't think they score like they did in 2008 - give me the Mormons in a cover.

- 4 also took the Horns to cover the largest posted spread of the week (-39.5). They shouldn't have a problem scoring, but will they run it up enough to cover this? Yes.

- A couple of the newbies don't know the rules...if you're not betting against WIS/IOWA, then pick a different game. J/K, but how can you put yourself into the position where you have to pull for these god awful teams. MH and MC took the Beckys, JR and JG took NILL. Becky is down, not because I hate them but because they really are not going to be good this year.

- 4 picks in the game of the week: all went for ALA over VT. My numbers are telling me to pick ALA, but my gut leans toward VT. I just have a hard time betting against this team in situations like this. Should be a great watch.

- I was the only one passing on the LSU-WASH game this week. We have 3 for LSU and 3 for WASH - this is what a good point spread is supposed to look like! I think WASH is much better than 2008 (0-12), and in a shocker they cover the 15 at home against the Tigers.

- Finally, we have 5 players in the Labor Day game of MIA-FSU. 3 for the Noles, 2 for MIA. This line is right on the money and this game always seems to come down to a FG. I'll go with FSU at home, but the hook scares me on this one.

DOG OF THE WEEK
TOLEDO +12 at PUR - I've said it before, but I think PUR is worse than IND this year and will be in the basement. TOL should be on the up and up and will cover this week and might just win outright.

WEEK 1 HEISMAN PICK(s)
I thought about this one last night. I think the easy and standard answer is Colt McCoy, but that's no fun. So here's a guy I think might be sneaky Heisman Guy this year:

Julio Jones. I know it's tought for a WR to be the man, and his QB is questionable, but his team should be a good and he is impossible to stop.

NATIONAL TITLE PICK
FLA is the obvious choice here - but I really have gone sour on them. They will likely get there, but it feels too much like USC 2005 to me. So I had to come up with a new pick to beat FLA in the title game. So here it is...TEXAS. Yeah, big flip-flop, huh? I kept the same 2 teams, but I'll give a 1 loss TEX team the W over an undefeated FLA team in 2010.

Finally - the moment you've all been waiting for...GOPHERS vs. SYR Official Prediction!

GOPHERS at SYR
Homersota optimism is almost running through all of us (MC, WTF?) The other 6 all took the GOPHERS this week making them our lock of the week overall...scary, yes...fun, yes.

As I've mentioned about 60 times on this blog, SYR is terrible. The have a PG playing QB, a brand new coach with new schemes, a ton of new players who are playing prominent roles, lack of size on both lines. There really isn't anything that this club has on their side besides being at home. Gophers come in hoping to just avoid over-looking the Orange and not getting caught thinking about the big one on Sept. 12th. Yet they come in as only a 6 point fav, which is pretty close to what I expected - however, I don't think this one will be close.

The defense will control this game. Yes, these are the same Gophers, but our defense should actually be better than 2008. Why? Because we have mostly everyone back and we should have at least a competant offense, which was lacking last year. I think we blitz Paulus early and often - maybe enought to get him out of the game. We have size up front to stop their running game cold, then it becomes tee-off time on the old PG. This is going to lead to very bad things for the 'Cuse - minimum of 3 TO by the bad guys will lead to a nice lead and victory for the Gophs. The offense should work the ground game in, but still be primarily a passing attack and taking advantage of the lack of defense for SYR. Decker gets a coupld TD's and the GOPHERS win in a laugher...38-13. rah-rah-rah for ski-u-mah!

1-0 let's do it. Enjoy the evening, and the weekend. I'll be posting updates now and then - I haven't really decided what game days/night will be like yet.

And most importantly - don't forget your Gopher Kool-Aid for Saturday morning...I'd recommend starting by at least 10 am so you can be properly prepared for the start to the best 3 months of the year. Go Gophs!