The Kid eked out a win last week but still trails overall and is fighting to get above .500 and thus retain some level of respectability. Everyone else: currently over .500 and perfectly respectable.
Current Standings
- Chris: 18-12 (60%)
- KidB: 14-15-1 (48%)
- I_S: 16-13 (53%)
Chris's "The Defending Champions" Picks
Oregon (-23.5) vs. Arizona - coming off a bye week, Oregon should be healthy and ready to roll. Fun fact; Oregon's patchwork and scary offensive line is still way better than ours.
Oklahoma State (-17) vs. Iowa State - Iowa State only pulls the surprise maneuver at home, he said confidently and totally ignoring that this is an early kick and weird stuff happens in early kicks.
West Virginia (-26) vs. Kansas - first off, Holgo's still gotta be pissed. Second off, Kansas is still utterly terrible, even though this line lands in a weird spot.
Wisconsin (-8) @ Northwestern - are we sure Northwestern is good?
Baylor (-15) @ Texas - I like Charlie Strong, but there's an 80% chance this game is a neutral-site game. The Library prevails.
Alabama (-7) @ Ole Miss - everyone should go nuts and pick a SEC West game this week for fun. I'll back the most proven commodity against a team that's taken three weeks to get their act in order.
KidB's "Free Money" Picks
Arizona State+12 over SOUTHERN CAL: Arizona State had a rough game last Thursday but let's not pretend that they just completely suck or something. Moreover, let's also not pretend that USC -- who shouldn't have beaten Stanford at home but got lucky and did, and who lost outright to a below average ACC team -- is some kind of national juggernaut. Pete Carroll is not coming through that gate. Reggie Bush will not be doing any ridiculous double-spin-back moves. I expect this game to be reasonably tight.
NOTRE DAME+2 over Stanford: Mr. Golson has been good to me, and I have reason to believe that Stanford is not quite the proficient ground and pound attack that perhaps oddsmakers remember them as.
Baylor-15 over TEXAS: Just keep scoring, Baylor. Just keep on scoring.
South Carolina-5 over KENTUCKY: I set this line at Sakerlina-12. I realize they're struggling this year but they are playing Kentucky and they are playing them in football.
South Alabama-3.5 over APPALACHIAN STATE: Appalachian State is really really bad at football this year. That's all.
Wisconsin-8 over NORTHWESTERN: Melvin Gordon, baby.
I_S's "Milos Raonic Quality" Picks
Arizona St +12 over USC. Did the Sun Devils look like steaming garbage last week? Possibly. They did allow 60 points, after all. But they also picked up over 600 yards of offense, and they gave up four--FOUR--touchdowns of 80+ yards. Their big play defense can't be that bad again, can it?
Clemson -14 over NC State. I really don't believe that NC State is as feisty as they looked last week.
Georgia State +17 over Louisiana. Georgia State, on the other hand, has been surprisingly feisty as an underdog this year. The final score looked rough, but they were ahead of Washington at the half. The Cajuns haven't looked anything like what they were supposed to this year, so here's hoping they didn't figure things out during the bye week.
Virginia Tech -2 over North Carolina. Have the linesmakers actually watched UNC play defense this season?
Rutgers -2.5 over Michigan. This would be a very Rutgers game to lose, but I trust Brady Hoke's ability to lose even when the odds are for him. I think this is the point where you keep going against Michigan until he gets the can.
Tulsa +14.5 over Colorado State. The Rams are coming off an upset victory and a cross-country trip. Tulsa isn't good, but this is exactly the sort of game where not good teams are unreasonably competitive.
Your turn. Go!