Week 1 Preview

17 men are entered, only one will leave with the cash for Week 1:


PICK SUMMARY
JR: FIU WF UTST NW WMU HOU ND BYU ARMY NMST BOISE ORE HAW WV MARY
JG: ND MARY UNLV IDAHO TCU KENT MICH ARKST MN FSU CLEM SJST RICE OK GEO
MR: OK GEO MISST WIS AUB OHIOST ALA USC STAN PITT FLA OKST TEX SC LSU
AW: WIS TEX ND TCU MICH MN FSU FIU HOU BYU ORE SYR MIZZ FRES A&M
GR: WIS ORE OK GEO MISST ALA USC OKST SC MARY NW BAY PUR ILL USF
MH: WIS ORE ALA SC MARY NW ND TCU MN AUB BOISE HAW UCLA OLE CAL
MC: WIS ORE ALA MARY NW UCLA MISST FIU BYU UTST NMST BGU COLST SOMISS COL
SS: WIS ORE ALA NW BYU COLST SC ND CAL OK USC TEX STAN PITT WV
RO: ALA ND CAL TEX WV UCLA SOMISS TCU MN AUB OLE GEO ILL MICH A&M
TN: WV MN WIS ORE NW SC OK MARY MISST BOISE BAY FSU MIZZ OHIOST BALLST
MT: OK ALA ND CAL TCU MICH USC STAN HAW PUR SYR LSU BC IND MIA
GT: ALA TCU USC STAN SYR ORE FSU TEX BGU OKST HOU WMU UK ECU LT
MS: TCU SYR OKST CAL MICH LSU MIA MN WIS BOISE MIZZ UCLA BYU FLA AKR
CP: CAL WIS UCLA BYU AKR USC STAN ORE BC WV BAY A&M UTST USF MIAOH
LW: USC STAN OKST MICH FLA ALA FSU ECU OK ND PUR OHIOST NMST ARKST RICE
JH: USC MICH ND UCLA BYU AKR A&M TCU SYR LSU MIA IND COLST CLEM MEM
MO: UNLV TCU NW OHIOST PUR KENT MICH ILL MN OLE STAN ECU ORE HAW MARY

Besides this each preview week, I like to throw in a few opinions and fun facts to keep it interesting.

CLEAN OUT THE SAVINGS
This is my guarantee lock of the century of the week pick for Week 1....

Week 1 is tricky for this, but I'm going with OREGON +3 over LSU. I still think the Duck offense is too much for most everyone to handle, even if you have 10 future NFL guys on your defense. Early in the season on a neutral field...I really don't like the Tigers chances Saturday night. The Jefferson suspension doesn't help them, but I don't think it necessarily hurts them either. The guy does just as much harm as he does good for the Grass Eater. Prediction...DUCKS 31 GRASS EATER 17.

HEAD SCRATCHER OF THE WEEK
I started calling these out last year, and pretty much every time I called you out for making what appears to be a questionable pick in my mind, it would work well for you. So despite me calling out a questionable pick in this section - it tends to work in your advantage and you will likely win. Let's see if the trend continues this year...

This week the lucky winner is HAMMER and his pick of MEM over MISST (-24). 4 other guys are on MISST, and Hammer is alone on his Tiger love. MEM has been worse than bad the last couple of years, and MISST beat them last year in the opener 49-7. MISST has basically the same team back from last year and I don't see any reason that they won't house MEM again.

GOOD LUCK ON THAT ACE...
With 17 guys each picking 15 games this week it's a rare occasion that only 1 guy would be on a team by himself...but we have a few. These could actually make or break the week for these guys, it's a win that you can add that nobody else will have, but it could also work against you...time will tell.

JH - MEM
JR - WF
JG - IDAHO
GT- UK
CP - MIAOH
JG - SJST
AW - FRES
TN - BALLST
JR - ARMY
GT - LT
MC - COL

GOPHERS at USC
I have a Gopher addiction, so each week I will throw out my opinion on their game, the Purple game, and anything else that might be relevant that week. For this week, I have an opinion on every game but I've only got the time to tell you about this one. The Jerry Kill era kicks off at USC at 2:30 Saturday and the line has grown from 18 to 23.5. Not a lot of love from the public for the Maroon and Gold. However, Colin Cowherd has MN +23.5 as one of his top 2 best bets for the week, and Pat Forde straight up called for the upset W for Kill and company on Saturday. I think a line right around 3 TD's is accurate, but I have a hard time putting a team with a coach in his first game on my list this week. I think the offense will be working the kinks out, the D will look okay but it's still USC and they'll score some points. I like a cover on the 23.5 number so I'll say USC wins 28-10.

My official season call on the Gophs is 6-6 with wins coming in the next 3 non-conf games, and then going 3-5 in the B10 with wins over PUR, ILL, and IOWA. I also don't hate our odds against MICH, NW, and Sparty. NEB and WIS are the "class" of the conference...or at least that's what all the experts keep telling me. NEB I agree with, even though they might have the toughest B10 schedule of them all. WIS looks to be in-line to be elite again, but I'm not 100% sold on Wilson as their QB. He's was solid at NCST, but this is a totally different animal. He's not exactly accurate and he has had INT issues in his past...let's hope both of those show up once again and he bombs for the Beckys. I'll call NEB over PENNST in the innaugural B10 Title game.

I'll send out a recap of the action on Monday (maybe Tuesday this week because of the Holiday).

Enjoy the games!! Good Luck!!