Son of Motherless goat! I can't believe Clemson is so bad that they can't put up a defensive stop against a Wake Forest team that has seen the endzone fewer times than Lindsay Lohan has seen a psychologist. Not only can they not hold them to a FG, but they instead allow them to score a TD and don't cover the spread. For now on, Clemson is going to go down as the most overrated team of all time to start a season. Anyways, what a weekend we have in store this week with OU vs UT and LSU vs. UF! Onto the picks!
Let's not waste your time and let's get ready to roll as the Red River shootout is going to kickoff at 9am for those of us on the West Coast, so you need to get your picks in early. OU and UT come in ranked in the top 5, and both have been lethal on the offensive side of the ball. OU is scoring just under 50 points per game, whereas UT is at 47.2. I'm not saying either one has played a stellar team as of yet, but those numbers are impressive. The key factor in this game won't be the offensives though, it will be the defenses. Texas has been huge against the run this year allowing less than 52 ypg on the ground, and not allowing a single rushing TD (OU has 16 Rushing TDs thus far). The bigger problem for UT though is going to be stopping the passing of Sam Bradford, as they are already allowing 244ypg in the air, and Bradford is better than anyone they've faced. This game is a tough call though, as I can either see an OU blowout, or a tight UT win, but with 7 points staring me in the face, I've got to go with the underdog. Take UT.
The other big game on the dockett is LSU at UF. UF shocked the world by losing to Ole Miss, and probably shouldn't have covered the spread last week against Arkansas, but thanks to some late 4th quarter heroics, they managed it. If you analyzed each player on their own merit and compared them to the corresponding player on the other side of the ball, UF would come out ahead. Somehow though, LSU has managed to win 3 of the last 4, all by 4 points or less. This one is in the swamp though, and for those who have been there, it is one of the loudest stadiums around. The last time LSU went to the swamp they were beaten down by 13 points, and I see more of the same in this one. Florida is playing from behind now as they already have a SEC loss, so they understand if they want a shot at a National Title, or even to play in the SEC title game, they will need to have this one. Take the Gators.
Michigan State -2 at Northwestern
I'm not sure what it is, but this game just seems to easy to me. Michigan State is a good football team that could easily be undefeated going into this weekend. Cal got them in the opening week, but that is all. Northwestern on the other hand is living off of cream puffs. Their most dangerous foe so far according to records has been Duke who is only 3-2. The rest of the garbage includes names like Ohio, So. Illinois, Syracuse, and most recently Iowa. Are you kidding me? MSU's schedule hasn't been overly daunting, but more so than Northwesterns. I see MSU in a blowout in this one.
Central Florida at Miami (Florida) -17
Finally, we are going to give the much need Miami Hurricanes some love this weekend. They are 17 point favorites against Central Florida, who got blown out by Boston College in their only true test. UM has a good team, but have just faced the wrong teams. First was UF, then an upstart UNC team, that they almost beat, and finally by FSU last week. FSU ran up and down the field on them, but that is FSU, and not UCF. UCF has become the 4th stepchild in Florida, so they are basically playing with the leftovers from the other schools in the great state of Florida. As long as Miami hasn't packed it in for the season, they should be fine in this one.
