JR: NCST, CAL, GEO, ECU, HAW, AF, ASU, UK, SDST, AZ!!!
JG: CAL, ILL, KST, VT, USC, NEB, ASU, AUB, ND, WHO HATES IOWA!?!
MR: TBD
AW: NCST, KAN, CAL, NC, MARY, VT, USC, NEB, OREST, WHO HATES IOWA?!?
GR: NCST, NC, PSU, OLE, USC, NEB, OREST, ND, TEX, WHO HATES IOWA!?!
MH: CAL, USC, NEB, TN, NAVY, LSU, ND, BOISE, UCLA, WHO HATES IOWA!?!
MC: NCST, CAL, UCONN, UAB, MARSH, UCF, MEM, TOL, ARKST, NMST
SS: WV, FSU, USC, OK, NEB, LSU, ND, TEX, UCLA, WHO HATES IOWA!!?!
RO: NCST, ARMY, COL, USC, ALA, OK, NEB, FLA, SDST, TEX
JR: PHI, ATL, OAK, JAC, NE
JG: PHI, BUF, TEN, JAC, NO
MR: TBD
AW: MIN, CLE, HOU, NE, NO
GR: BAL, PHI, HOU, NE, NO
MH: BAL, MIN, PHI, GB, NE....breaking news, I now have MR's picks in hand.
MC: CHI, PHI, ARI, CAR, JAC
SS: BAL, MIN, DAL, PHI, DEN
RO: CIN, PHI, KC, NE, IND
MR likes: GEO, USC, ALA, WASH, AUB, MISST, TT, UTAH, BOISE, WHO HATES IOWA!!!?
and in the NFL: MIN, CHI, GB, OAK, NE
There we go, locked an loaded for a 3rd week.
CONSENSUS PICKS
2-3 last week in these...not a sure sign of absolute failure this year, but it's early.
NCST - 5
CAL - 5
USC - 7
NEB - 6
IOWA - 6
PHI - 7
NE-6
7 consensus picks this week...I HATE 2 or 3 of them, but love the rest. Guess which ones I might disagree with.
HEAD SCRATCHER OF THE WEEK
Gave it to JG for his brutal KAN call LW...that proved to be brilliant! So who wants that kind of luck this week................RO for his COL -10 vs. HAW pick. The Buffs are without an offense playing against a Rainbow Warrior team that can score with the best of them. I'm not 100% convinced that HAW wins this game, but it's not a 10 pt spread....so I picked HAW.
THE BOTTOM LINE
I will be the voice of reason where we have disagreements on some of the big games. Trust me, here's how it's going to go.
ARK at GEO
GEO is in must win mode in game 3 of the season. ARK has one 1 road game in Petrino's tenure. The Dogs play decent defense, ARK is a little lacking in that dept. GEO has some offensive questions, but when your season and career (Richt) are on the line you seem to find a way to get it done. And that's what GEO will do this week...24-17.
MARY at WV
Both come in as suspect 2-0 teams. The lines started at 13.5 and has now dipped below 10. WV is coming off a huge scare against Marshall and MARY is still trying to figure out how to pass. I think it will be ugly, but I'll give the Terps a cover and loss...WV 28-20.
ECU at VT
2-0 vs. 0-2...who's who? I know, there's no way the Hokies come in and lose a 3rd game right now, but do they really win by 3 TD's? ECU has imported the old TT offense, so against the young suspect VT secondary they should be able to score some points. VT should come out swinging and run all over ECU, but they aren't the dominator that we've seen in the past. Hokies win their 1st but don't cover...31-21.
IOWA at AZ
I'm really disappointed in you guys. 6 takers on this suck-ass squad on the road in a hostile environment? AZ is primed for a big performance. They lost by 10 at Iowa last year with a shitty QB and without their top RB. Mix in a really nice QB and a really nice RB like they have this year, and then a much improved defense against an Iowa team coming off a big rivalry win last week over the pathetic Clones...then you have yourselves a nice little upset brewing. It's going to be a fun one to watch, but I'm in love with the Cats this week...AZ 23-14...who hates Iowa!?!!? I do.
USC at BREWSTER
While I have realized that I shouldn't have been surprised by last week, I am still having a hard time getting over it. There should be no chance that a program in it's 4th year of "building" should ever lose a game like that to a team like that. But we did, so it's time to move on. Clearly, all of you have jumped firmly off the bandwagon and are putting some heavy action on the Trojans this week. I am not. First, I can't bet against the Gophers no matter what. But the public betting world LOVES our chances this weekend! Can you believe that? The line is as low as 11.5 in some places now. The Bodog guy said they knew the line was a little high at 13.5, but they get so much USC money every week that they could afford to be a little high...unreal! 2 TD's it too high for the Trojans to give the Maroon and Gold. Why do I think we have a shot? Well, USC is not USC any more. They have an extremely questionable defense. I think the Gophs, yes with Adam Weber and company, will be able to throw the ball down the field against these guys and I hope they try to do it early. If we come out with the "Mason Big Game Strategy" of run, run, pass...then we'll get slaughtered. But if we treat this like CAL of 2009 and come out swinging for the fences, then I'm giving us a shot. Now the problem is when we don't have the ball...uh-oh. The Barkley lead offense hasn't looked great, or at least they didn't last week. But what a better time to get well than against a MN team that won the Heisman for a kid from USD last week? I'm scared on D...maybe we figured some things out, maybe we'll play with some attitude and emotion, but maybe we'll continue to look young and clueless. I'm totally confused by this whole situation, but I do know one thing. After the debacle of last week, if Timmy Ballgame can't get this club motivated enough to come out and play well and be in this thing the whole way...then he should be done. In fact, after the USD loss he only has about 1 nail left in his coffin, and a 63-10 game would be it. Not that he'll be fired immediately, but he would be before we ended our season. How does he save his job at this point? Well, you have 10 games left, 5 of them are chances for marquee wins. I think he needs to win the other 5 for sure and then at least 2 of the "big" games that are left to go 8-4. This is the only chance he has to erase the memory of last week, but the odds of this happening are slim. We'll find out Saturday if he's lost this team or not. Here's my bet: USC wins 34-27, just not enough to make the unthinkable happen but it will be better.
NFL
Well, if you're still reading at this point, here's some NFL thoughts on each game:
BAL-CIN: short week on the road against a desperate rival...bad combo CIN to win
CHI-DAL: 9.5 points for a team that struggles to score? CHI still plays D, give me the points.
PHI-DET: Ron Mexico runs the show and houses the still pouting Lions.
ARI-ATL: traveling across the country to play a really good team off a loss with Derek Anderson as your leader...I'll take ATL by 20.
KC-CLE: The great Seneca Wallace show, which might be better than Del Homme, against the fluky Chiefs off a big, late MNF win...give me Mangenius to win and cover.
BUF-GB: GB has no running game, but BUF has no team. GB wins by 24.
PIT-TEN: TEN defense matches PIT, PIT offense really struggles again and a couple Dixon TO's kill them. TEN wins and covers.
TB-CAR: most unlikely 2-0 team ever? Yep. I'll go TB to beat a concussed Matt Moore or a D-bag named Clausen...not sure which option is better.
STL-OAK: remember when everyone loved OAK as a sleeper, then they lost last week and now they are apparently only 1 pt. better than STL? Come on Vegas, stop oevrreacting. OAK crushes Mr. Bradford in his first road experience.
SEA-DEN: the least convincing 31-6 win ever? SEA still look like a very average to below average team and DEN is very good at home. Broncos win and cover.
HOU-WAS: I still can't believe in HOU. I know, they got over the hump of beating INDY, but they have sucked on the road for a long time. WAS didn't look good, but I'll take their D and McNabb's experience to win this one outright.
JAC-SD: SD looks like a bomb just waiting to explode. Rivers is angry and they will not do much this year. JAC is by no means a good club, but 9.5 points is insane. JAGS cover and lose by a FG.
NE-NYJ: Belichick vs. Rex, Brady or Sancheese...hmmm, in a pick 'em I think I'll go NE here.
NYG-IND: Peyton at home at night. No further explanation needed.
NO-SF: have a weird feeling that SF might play well here, but have to pick the Aints with a low line like that.
MIA-MIN
I'm still no convinced out offense is going to be functioning well this week. But we win this game with our defense. MIA doesn't throw it particularly well, and we will contain the run game...so I don't really see how they score points in this one. 5.5 might be a little high for me, but I'll go with it.
MIN 21 MIA 13 - love the UNDER 39 in this one.
In closing I have a couple of things. If you haven't heard about FLA WR Chris Rainey, you should. He's no longer on the team as of this week because he was stalking an ex-girlfriend and sent her a text that read "Time to Die *itch!" So that's cool. Urban has had 16.5% of his roster arrested this year, not a bad run. The Vols fans are all over this and already have their TIME TO DIE shirts printed up in bright Orange for Saturday. TN is a sneaky play if you simply must bet on something on Saturday morning.
The other thing I have is this from EDSBS, no matter how bad your week was for picking football games, at least you didn't do this and watch the Seminoles get dismantled early and often against the Sooners. Ouch.
I love the idea of taking pictures of tickets for Vegas this year. Maybe it will help remind us of all our stupidity once we get back.
Go Gophers! Good luck!
No comments:
Post a Comment