With no further ado, here are my picks for week 2.
My picks in Bold. Home team in CAPS.
NCAA Football
Thursday, Sept. 4
South Carolina 10 VANDERBILT 'Cocks shocked in Nashville
Friday, Sept. 5
BALL STATE 7½ Navy Cards in ball-deep with Navy, can't cover
Saturday, Sept. 6
MICHIGAN STATE 21½ E Michigan Sparty stops sucking, starts playing
SYRACUSE 4½ Akron Come on, they gotta beat the Zips.....Right??
MICHIGAN 14½ Miami OH Mich will get their pts since it is Miami OH
Northwestern 7 DUKE Bacher avenges last year's eyesore, wins big
BOSTON COLLEGE 7 Georgia Tech Always a tight matchup, Jackets cover
WVU 8½ ECU 1st the Chokies; and WVU has a way of losing these games
BOWLING GREEN 5½ Minn Gophers dig a hole early, can't get out
AUBURN 18½ Southern Miss Too many points to give the Eagles
ALABAMA 30 Tulane 'Bama too much for hard-luck Tulane
NEBRASKA 25½ San Jose State Neb pounds 2nd lightweight
OREGON 35½ Utah State Ducks too fast for Aggies
OKLAHOMA 20½ Cincinnati Prepared 'Cats cover in Norman
OHIO STATE 34 Ohio Tressel learns, rests starters earlier
WISCONSIN 21 Marshall Badgers sabotage Marshall plan
FLORIDA 21 Miami Fl Former rivalry now another UF 'W'
Texas Tech 9½ NEVADA Wild Westshootout overheats scoreboard
GEORGIA 23½ Cent Mich Lefevour has game effort vs Dawgs
PENN ST 16 Oregon St Beav not sold on Beavs in Beaver
WYOMING 3 Air Force Cowboys' offense redeems itself
NOTRE DAME 21½ San Diego St Cal Poly? Irish will roll
Texas A&m 2½ NEW MEXICO Aggies survive 0-2 start
PITTSBURGH 13 Buffalo McCoy leads the way for Panthers
OKLA STATE 16 Houston Gotta love Cougars
IOWA STATE 7½ Kent Your unsexy matchup award. No homo
WAKE FOREST 7½ Mississippi Wake overpowers Rebels
California 13½ WASHINGTON ST Already took the Cougs once
WESTERN MICH 6 NO Illinois Broncos by 3
USF 14 UCF Best football game in FL this week
Connecticut 7 TEMPLE Owls not ready till proven otherwise
KANSAS 20½ Louisiana Tech Hawk offense smoother this wk
MEMPHIS 4 Rice http://www.freerice.com/
UTAH 21½ Unlv Utes on everyone's radar, impress again
ARIZONA 22½ Toledo Rockets shitting their pants after UA 70 pt win
ARIZONA STATE 14 Stanford Devils have to play D; barely cover
Texas 26 UTEP Rowdy confines of the Sun Bowl don't mess w/Texas
IOWA 27 FIU Even Iowa can dunk if you give them a breakaway
ARKANSAS 12 UL Monroe Unfortunately Petrino gets his shit together
Tulsa 21 NORTH TEXAS This ain't your daddy's UNT
FLORIDA ATLANTIC 14 UAB Owls take flight after shaky week 1
Maryland 13½ MIDDLE TENN ST ACC continues to get bent over
LSU 24½ Troy State game ppd
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Its good to be back
Well, this year's opening weekend may not have been as exciting as last year's, but it is still nice to have the season finally underway. It was also good to see some teams from non-BCS conferences flex their muscles (read East Carolina, Arkansas State). Congratulations to the Campbell University football team who played their first game since my father was born. The Camels lost 12-6 to Birmingham Southern in front of a sold-out crowd.
VEGAS, BABY:
On the handicapping front, my weekend was pretty similar to the ho-hum games that were played on the field. I finished up 42-39 overall- 1 game over .500 ATS and 2 games over for Totals. We'll look to improve on that mark this coming week now that we've had a look at most of the teams. One other note on the handicapping, if I may- I get so sick of all of these handicapping services that brag non-stop about their records in Thursday night non-conference games played on the East Coast in September. Do they honestly think they have a gift for picking these games more accurately than other games?? Like its as if they factor in that the game is being played on a Thursday night? Or was it the fact that the game is in September that swayed their pick from one team to another? All I can picture is some asshole sitting at a desk trying to pick a winner for the NC State/South Carolina game, when all of a sudden a lightbulb goes off and he remembers that this game is a non-conference matchup on the East Coast, so surely the Gamecocks will cover. And that's why you should use his services. Gimme a fuckin' break asshole. Just man-up and tell us that you called that game correctly, but also tell us that you blew the Stanford/Oregon State game the same night (for the record I did not hit on either of these games- just an example). There, I had to get that off my chest before we get into a season's worth of handicapping and you guys think I'm going to give you the ol' "I was 10-0 ATS in Saturday games involving teams using a 4-3 defense" routine.
ORANGE UPDATE:
Syracuse opened their season with another hope-stealing defeat, this time at the hands of Northwestern. The Orange are now 0-4 in openers under Greg Robinson, and have been offensively inept thus far. Unfortunately I was only able to watch the last quarter of the game as the Wilcats put the game away, but by looking at the box score it did not sound like a fun game to watch if you are an Orange fan.
Next up is Akron at 3:30 Saturday. The Orange are 4 point favorites.
LOCAL FORECAST:
The Ivy League teams remained idle this week, as did UNH, Holy Cross, and Sacred Heart.
The Northeastern Huskies took a beating during their road trip to Muncie to take on Ball State. They have a week off before back-to-back away games at Georgia Southern and Syracuse.
This week's Nut Kick Game (NKG) featured a close win from Rhode Island over Jersey-based Monmouth, 27-24. This one burned particularly bad because I was unable to attend due to work, but was within a few miles, or a drunken walk of the stadium. Burn #2 came when my colleague Ray showed up for a day at the beach wearing a shirt that just said "Jersey," which stung on its own, but then it reminded me of the Monmouth game I had missed, so it peppered me again.
Central Connecticut State topped Bryant, who is transitioning to FCS level football. I have yet to take in a game at Bryant but you can consider it on my to-do list. Rounding out the local action was UMASS, who started their season strong with a 28-16 win over Albany. Look for the Minutemen to win the A-10 this year and make another playoff appearance.
WEEKNIGHT PICKS:
I like Vanderbilt as 10-point home 'dogs against South Carolina. The 'Cocks put up some late scores against NC State that made the game look like more of a blowout than it really was, and Vanderbilt will not let SC come to Nashville and dominate on both sides of the ball. The Commodores won last year's meeting, so look for a motivated SC team seeking revenge. Should be a close game- I like Vandy to win outright by a field goal or less.
With no offense to Towson, Navy will have its first real test under first year Head Coach Ken Niumatalolo on Friday night as they travel to Muncie (2 Muncie mentions in the same blog?) to face a Ball State team that is coming off of a bowl season. Uncle Sam wants YOU to take Navy +7.5.
That's all for now.
Beav
VEGAS, BABY:
On the handicapping front, my weekend was pretty similar to the ho-hum games that were played on the field. I finished up 42-39 overall- 1 game over .500 ATS and 2 games over for Totals. We'll look to improve on that mark this coming week now that we've had a look at most of the teams. One other note on the handicapping, if I may- I get so sick of all of these handicapping services that brag non-stop about their records in Thursday night non-conference games played on the East Coast in September. Do they honestly think they have a gift for picking these games more accurately than other games?? Like its as if they factor in that the game is being played on a Thursday night? Or was it the fact that the game is in September that swayed their pick from one team to another? All I can picture is some asshole sitting at a desk trying to pick a winner for the NC State/South Carolina game, when all of a sudden a lightbulb goes off and he remembers that this game is a non-conference matchup on the East Coast, so surely the Gamecocks will cover. And that's why you should use his services. Gimme a fuckin' break asshole. Just man-up and tell us that you called that game correctly, but also tell us that you blew the Stanford/Oregon State game the same night (for the record I did not hit on either of these games- just an example). There, I had to get that off my chest before we get into a season's worth of handicapping and you guys think I'm going to give you the ol' "I was 10-0 ATS in Saturday games involving teams using a 4-3 defense" routine.
ORANGE UPDATE:
Syracuse opened their season with another hope-stealing defeat, this time at the hands of Northwestern. The Orange are now 0-4 in openers under Greg Robinson, and have been offensively inept thus far. Unfortunately I was only able to watch the last quarter of the game as the Wilcats put the game away, but by looking at the box score it did not sound like a fun game to watch if you are an Orange fan.
Next up is Akron at 3:30 Saturday. The Orange are 4 point favorites.
LOCAL FORECAST:
The Ivy League teams remained idle this week, as did UNH, Holy Cross, and Sacred Heart.
The Northeastern Huskies took a beating during their road trip to Muncie to take on Ball State. They have a week off before back-to-back away games at Georgia Southern and Syracuse.
This week's Nut Kick Game (NKG) featured a close win from Rhode Island over Jersey-based Monmouth, 27-24. This one burned particularly bad because I was unable to attend due to work, but was within a few miles, or a drunken walk of the stadium. Burn #2 came when my colleague Ray showed up for a day at the beach wearing a shirt that just said "Jersey," which stung on its own, but then it reminded me of the Monmouth game I had missed, so it peppered me again.
Central Connecticut State topped Bryant, who is transitioning to FCS level football. I have yet to take in a game at Bryant but you can consider it on my to-do list. Rounding out the local action was UMASS, who started their season strong with a 28-16 win over Albany. Look for the Minutemen to win the A-10 this year and make another playoff appearance.
WEEKNIGHT PICKS:
I like Vanderbilt as 10-point home 'dogs against South Carolina. The 'Cocks put up some late scores against NC State that made the game look like more of a blowout than it really was, and Vanderbilt will not let SC come to Nashville and dominate on both sides of the ball. The Commodores won last year's meeting, so look for a motivated SC team seeking revenge. Should be a close game- I like Vandy to win outright by a field goal or less.
With no offense to Towson, Navy will have its first real test under first year Head Coach Ken Niumatalolo on Friday night as they travel to Muncie (2 Muncie mentions in the same blog?) to face a Ball State team that is coming off of a bowl season. Uncle Sam wants YOU to take Navy +7.5.
That's all for now.
Beav
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