Week 4 picks

Average week 3 (3-3-1, 14-8-2 overall) was to be expected. Not great match ups, hadn't seen many of the teams in the marquee match ups play more than a half. But I do feel pretty good about this week's games. As always these picks are for fun.

Pitt to cover at home (getting 3.5, o/u 50) against the Canes

Home underdog on the Thursday nighter is a greater power than the fact that Pittsburgh is coached by Death Spiral Dave. Jonathan Baldwin will account for enough big plays and 3^rd down conversions to give Pitt a much needed W.

NC State to cover in the ATL (getting 8, o/u 58) against Ga Tech

I have a sneaking suspicion that the Wolfpack might actually be okay. I don’t think that any team that loses to Kansas can beat anybody by 8 points. If Nate Irving can play the entire game, the Pack will have the linebackers to stifle PJ’s triple option.

The Tide to cover in Arkansas (giving 7, o/u 55.5) against the Razorbacks

The Tide’s Offense, Defense, SP teams, and coaches are better than the Razorbacks’. Mallet was a 33% passer last year in Tuscaloosa and with Marcel Dareus back in the line up the will be able to get pressure without blitzing. Finally, the Tide seems to feed off big game hype and all the talk this week about Mallet makes Saban and his team smell blood in the water.

Oregon State to cover on the blue turf (getting 17, o/u 57) against the Broncos

The Beavers played the Horn Frogs tough in Texas, and should do the same against Boise State. I was shocked to see the line this high. Mike Riley is an excellent coach and I love the gimmicky move of having their practice field painted blue. The Beavers play hard.

Stanford to cover in South Bend (giving 5, o/u 59) against the Irish

Andrew Luck is awesome, Harbaugh is awesome, and Stanford is awesome. The Cardinal offense is going to waterboard the Irish D in front of their fans for 3 and half hours. Since AJ Green is still suspended, Andrew Luck is the best player in the nation going against a defense that can’t get pressure and can’t cover his receivers. Touchdown Jesus is going to witness a massacre on Saturday. Crist and the All American Rudolph might be able to score with them for awhile but the game should be over by the start of the fourth.

Last week’s game East Lansing was symbolic of an undereported trend in college football, Notre Dame plays the most exciting games every week. Since they can’t stop anybody, their games turn into heavyweight fights with each boxer trading haymakers until the final bell.

South Carolina to cover in Auburn (getting 3, o/u 46) against the Tigers/War Eagles

I thought AllBarn was going to be good this year, they are not. I thought the GameCocks would be good this year, they are. Cam Newton is not as good as advertised and the Lattimore kid is unreal. Saturday night games usually favor the home team, but I think South Carolina can dominate time of possession and make enough important stops to run the clock out on the Tigers. Auburn has not looked impressive against far inferior teams.

USC to cover in Pullman (giving 22, o/u 56.5) against Wash State

The Cougars are terrible, USC needs an impressive win. They are going to explode the scoreboard.

Week 3 (aka Ricky Proctor Week) Picks

After a monster week 2, we have a week devoid of marquee match ups. I don’t have a great feel for most of these games, and expect to come down after a monster week 2 (6-1, 11-5-1 overall). Ricky Proctor has to be the only person superjacked for this week because the Gators and Clemson are involved in the biggest games. I will be in Clearwater Beach for a wedding so I won’t be putting up my notes from Saturday. On to the picks…..

NC State to Cover (getting 1, o/u 55.5) at home against Cincy
Home underdog on Thursday night. Carter Finley will be rocking and the Bearcats have not enjoyed a smooth transition to Butch from BK. More importantly, Forky is doing a seafood tailgate with salmon, shrimp, bacon wrapped scallops, steamed oysters, and catfish.

Arkansas to Cover (getting 2.5, o/u 54) between the Hedges against Georgia
AJ Green’s ridiculous suspension continues…..Dawgs lose. I would feel better about this pick if I could name a Razorback RB, but Mallet should be able to engineer enough scoring drives.

BYU to Cover (getting 10, o/u 60) in Tallahassee against the Noles
I love the Mountain West and hate the ACC. BYU, even without an experienced QB, should be able to throw down the field. Landry Jones showed the nation that is how to beat the Noles.

Florida to Cover (giving 14, o/u 46) in Knoxville against the Vols
The Vols are very bad and have a lot of quit in them. Even without notorious stalker Chris Rainey the Gators should be able to break enough big plays to make this one a laugher by the middle of the 3rd quarter.

ALLBarn to Cover (giving 7.5, o/u 55) at home against Clemson
The ACC is terrible and the crowd in Auburn should be insane. I think the line is a little high, but Cam Newton should give the Tiger D fits and Gus Malzahn and the ALLBarn O will want to improve on their 17 point output against Miss State.

Sparty to Cover (giving 3.5, o/u 51.5) at home against the Irish
Sparty always beats the Irish and Dayne Crist’s blurry vision isn’t instilling much confidence in the Irish’s chances.

Arizona to Cover (getting 1.5, o/u 42.5) at home against Iowa
Iowa always blows an early season game and in Tuscon against Nick Foles is a good of an opportunity as any.

Weekend Bull Riding

Bull Riding is back on Versus this fall.

There was an event this weekend in Greenville, SC and Moorseville, NC native JB Mauney won the bonus round. JB is my favorite bull rider, my support for him is equal to Phil, Roddick and Smoke.

Do yourself a favor and set aside 30 minutes to watch the event next weekend in Springfield, MO (starts Saturday at 8/7c after the Baylor TCU game in FT Worth). Bull Riding is the best produced sport on TV, they have riders ready every minute and there exists an inherent rivarly between the American riders and the Brazilians. Let yourself fall in love with a tremendous sport and a phenomenal TV experience.

An added bonus is that Versus is the home of Mountain West Football and the NHL.

Quick TV thought

I am super pumped for the Gossip Girl season 4 premiere on Monday night, but right now I am watching Sunday night's Mad Men episode.

Matthew Weiner has an unbelievable gift for displaying the human condition in 42 minutes every week. Mad Men's excellence shocks me, that dude needs to write philosophy books after he finishes with this show

Week 2 Notes

I watched 12 hours of college football yesterday and made some notes about the things that I saw. By the end of the day I was flipping to reruns of the League on FX (second season premieres on Thursday) whenever UCLA was on offense.

Week 1 record against the spread 5-4-1

Week 2 record against the spread 6-1-0

Overall 11-5-1

Marcus Lattimore, South Carolina’s Frosh RB, is the real deal. His balance and strength overwhelmed the Georgia Defense. If the Ole Ball Coach can continue to feed him the ball and then use play action to get Jefferies one on one down the field they are going to be a nightmare to deal with.

Without AJ Green, Georgia lacks an explosive playmaker. I told Big Game that the 4 game Green suspension will cost them two Ls. South Carolina was the first, Arkansas will be the second.

Wisconsin’s ability to run the football will give their opponents fits. But I wonder when they come up against Iowa and Wisconsin if their QB and WRs will be able to convert enough of the handful of 3^rd and longs that they will face. Wisconsin is a ten win team but if they can handle the talented back 7s of the Buckeyes and Hawkeyes, they might be talking a national championship run in Madison.

Notre Dame tight end, Kyle Rudolph, is the best player at his position in the nation. Unfortunately with Brian Kelly’s offense we are rarely going to see him go twenty yards down the field against a safety. Rudolph will forgo his senior year and will be a first round pick in next years draft. That 95 yarder was awesome. Send him down the f’ing fiels instead of these stupid 5 yard crossing routes.

Time to put Frank Beamer out to pasture. Poor special teams play against Boise, unacceptable loss to James Madison.

Has throwing down the field been outlawed in college football? All of these 7 yard passes to the sidelines makes me puke. The Buckeyes went downfield on their first touchdown drive and Oklahoma has been doing it the entire first half against FSU. Getting the ball to WRs going towards the endzone is not rocket science.

Colorado’s Athletic Department needs to be gutted. This Dan Hawkins experience has murdered their football program and because the AD department is too stupid to generate revenue and their university is full of worthless stoners, they can’t eat his salary. Can him and bring back Barnett.

I would be shocked if Denard Robinson can continue dominate against Big Ten defenses. Gardner and Forcier will see time this year, but he has been unbelievable to watch. But it will be even more fun to watch them struggle against varsity defenses.

If an NFL GM picks Jake Locker over Andrew Luck, he will be fired and burned in effigy within 3 years. Andrew Luck is a legit #1 pick.

What is happening in Pasadena? I love Ricky, but God Almighty.

NCAA Week 2

Auburn at Mississippi State (+1.5, 56.5)
Shocked to see that line was so low, I love taking a home underdog in the Thursday nighter but can’t do it in this case. It is too early in the season for the Thursday night home team to get the normal ten point bump. AllBarn will be able to cover the spread against the “more balanced” (code word for “lacking playmakers”) bulldog offense.

Georgia at South Carolina (-3, 49) Again confused that the Dawgs are getting a field goal, but I love the Gamecocks early in the season. The ridiculous and absurd AJ Green suspension might cost Richt and the Dawgs two Ls (this game and the Razorbacks). The Gamecock D will shut down the Dawg offense and score enough to cover the spread.

Florida State at Oklahoma (-7.5, 58.5)
I hate taking Florida teams when the travel out of the state for non-conference match ups. But that spread combined with the terrible effort on week 1 from the Sooners, gives me some pause. I think Ponder can take advantage of the Sooner D and the FSU D will make enough stops to pull a significant upset. The Big 12 looks crappy so far this year.

Michigan at Notre Dame (-3.5, 52)
Weis/Clausen were much more fun to watch then Kelly/Christ after week 1. I would rather chew glass then watch a team throw 40 short passes a game. Makes my eyes bleed. The Michigan Oline is going to dominate the Irish D and the Wolverines will run wild. The Irish offense doesn’t not have the ability to play strong North/South football, which is required to beat the Wolverine D. Michigan to win outright and the under.

Miami FL at Ohio State (-8, 46)
Got to take the Bucks. They look like a team possessed. Pryor is getting handcuffs taken off like Troy Smith in his senior year. The defense is getting pressure with four and Jacory Harris doesn’t handle pressure as well as most people think. The Bucks are versatile and can play any way they need to get a W. They are running the table and will be in Glendale in January. They will handle the Canes by double digits.

Penn State at Alabama (-12, 44)
The Nicktator against a freshmen QB. Bolden will have nightmares about his trip into Bryant-Denny for the rest of his life.

Stanford at UCLA (+6, 52)
Love Jimmy Harbaugh and Ricky Neuheisel. Like Jimmy’s players, don’t like Ricky’s players.

College Football Week 1

Back for the 2010 season. As always these picks are just for fun and always will suck.

Southern Miss at South Carolina (-14, 45.5)

The Gamecocks are one of my sleepers this year and they have played well early in the season under the OBC. Garcia should be able to throw for a few touchdowns and the SC D will hold Fedora’s bunch under 17. Tempted to go with the Under but I will take the Cocks and the over

Pittsburgh at Utah (-3, 49)

Death Spiral Dave loses this type of game all the time. Whittingham will scheme up Dion Lewis and the Pitt O, and Ute QB Jordan Wynn will build off a monster bowl performance. Taking the Utes and the under, giving the points

USC at Hawaii (+21, 54)

My boy Lane Kiffin got sexually assaulted by the NCAA with this absurd Reggie Bush probation. Now Barkley and the Trojan Dline is going to do the same to the Rainbow Warriors. Look for 60 from SoCal covering the over by themselves.

Arizona at Toledo (+15.5, 60)

Special teams will make the difference. Taking the Rockets to cover the spread in a high scoring game

Missouri against Illinois in St. Louis (Illini favored by 11.5, 54)

Illinois never wins this game in football or basketball. I have no freaking idea how the Illini could be favored. Take the Tigers and the over.

Northwestern at Vanderbilt (+5, 44)

Vandy lost their HBC a couple of months before the season, and they are going to have to deal with a wildcat team with the best coach in the nation. There has been a lot of positive chatter in Evanston about their new QB (Persa). The Cats play hard and will send the Dores back to their dorms in a music city funk. Cats cover the 5 and the over.

Purdue at Notre Dame (-11, 54.5)

New QB, new HBC, a D that has stopped anybody in years…..11 seems extremely high. But the Boilermakers are awful. Taking the Irish to cover and the over.

UCONN at Michigan (-3, 54)

Randy Edsall’s team is good. RichRod’s team is bad. UConn and the under.

Washington at BYU (-2, 56.5)

Excited to see Locker in his second year under Sark and the Trufant kid playing CB will be a 2012 first round pick, but BYU in Provo and with an experience D will be too much for the Huskies. A new BYU QB will keep the score low and so I am taking the Cougars and the under.

Oregon State at TCU in Arlington, TX(-13.5, 50.5)

I think the Beavers will ultimately be fighting it out with Stanford for the PAC10 championship, but I don’t think they have enough to win in Texas Stadium against the Frogs. But the Rodgers brothers will have some highlight plays that will help the Beavers cover the spread. Take the over.

LSU against UNC in the Georgia Dome (Game OFF the BOARD)

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Boise State against Va Tech in DC (Hokies getting 2, 50)

So excited for this Monday Nighter. Love the Hokies backfield but don’t trust them to keep the ball out of tyrod taylor’s hands against a Bronco D that returns 10 starters. Basically, I can’t go against Chris Petersen with 9 months to prepare for a team. Can’t do it. Taking the over and buying low on Kellen Moore’s Heisman campaign.