Week 5: SEC... and prove it, Indiana.

1. Maryland (+4) @ Indiana
Saturday 12:30pm CT  |  BTN
 
I think Maryland has a really good football team this year, and Indiana's coming off of their biggest win in years.  I want Indiana to prove it to me - I don't think they will.  I think Maryland wins this one straight up.


2. Arkansas (+10) vs Texas A&M
Saturday 2:30pm CT  |  CBS

Arkansas looks really good right now.  Texas A&M's defense has been known to be suspect, and Arkansas can exploit a weakness.  Arkansas's defense isn't exactly top notch, so I look for there to be a lot of points scored in this one.  Last year's game was a 41-31 game... and Arkansas is significantly better than that team.  I think this one is really close.

3. Missouri @ South Carolina (-5)
Saturday 6pm CT  |  ESPN

South Carolina looked terrible against Vanderbilt last week, and Missouri looked even worse at home losing to Indiana, so that took some luster off of this game.  South Carolina is a better team than Missouri, and with Gameday being in town for an ESPN night game, that team and stadium will be fired up.  I think it could be close... but no closer than a touchdown.

4. North Carolina @ Clemson (-15)
Saturday 6pm CT  |  ESPNU

Clemson looked ok against Florida St, even though they absolutely blew the game.  UNC can't stop anybody (gave up 70 to ECU last week), so I look for Clemson to roll these dudes.

5. Memphis (+21) at Ole Miss
Saturday 6:30pm CT  |  FSN

Ole Miss has Alabama coming to Oxford next week, and with a win over Memphis, they will have College Gameday in the Grove for the first time ever.  With a loss to Memphis, College Gameday will head to Starkville to see the Bulldogs and Texas A&M.  Lots of pressure here for the Rebels, and Memphis has looked really good so far this year.  I look for the Tigers to cover in a close game, but they won't pull the upset in Oxford.

Week 4: 2-3... boy, that was rough.

Overall record: 11-9 (.550)

This week was good to start with, but quickly turned sour.  North Carolina looked like garbage against East Carolina, Northern Illinois just didn't have the horses to keep up with Arkansas, and Missouri was trash vs Indiana.  Ugly.


1. Auburn @ Kansas St (+9)  |  WINNER  (Auburn 20 - Kansas St 14)
Thursday 6:30pm CT  |  ESPN  |  Manhattan, KS 
 
Kansas St had the gameplan, and executed wonderfully on defense... but missed multiple field goals and thew a pick in the endzone early.  They had their chances and still found a way to lose the game, but cover the number.


2. Indiana @ Missouri (-14)  |  LOSER  (Indiana 31 - Mizzou 27)
Saturday 3pm CT  |  SEC Network  |  Columbia, MO

Missouri looked absolutely awful.  This game had nothing to do with turnovers or anything flukey - Indiana just played straight up with them the entire ballgame.  Scary for the Tigers.

3. Northern Illinois (+14.5) @ Arkansas   |  LOSER (Arkansas 52 - Northern Illinois 14)
Saturday 6pm CT  |  ESPNU |  Fayetteville, AR

NIU was on a roll... and Arkansas demolished them.  This is a good Razorback team.  They know what they're doing, and they do it really well.  Texas A&M will have their hands full this week.

4. Tulane @ Duke (-17)  |  WINNER  (Duke 47 - Tulane 13)
Saturday 11:30am CT  |  FSN  |  Durham, NC

Duke smoked em.  It was close early... then they came out for the 2nd half and Duke finally got the ball rolling.

5. North Carolina (+3) @ East Carolina  |  LOSER  (ECU 70 - UNC 41)
Saturday 2:30pm CT  |  ESPNU  |  Greenville, NC

  East Carolina is legit this year.  Hangin 70 on North Carolina is impressive.  UNC should be better than this.

Week 4: Thurs night ESPN home underdog strikes again?!

Last week was one helluva week, with us hitting 4 out of 5 picks against the number.  And to help add to that... ESPN has given us the gift of the Thursday night home underdog.  And who are we to go against that trend?

1. Auburn @ Kansas St (+9)
Thursday 6:30pm CT  |  ESPN  |  Manhattan, KS 
Auburn appears to have everything rolling in their direction.  Kansas St has not looked like a world beater in their first two games.  There's literally nothing that's driving me towards this line... except it's the Thursday night ESPN home underdog.  And that gifthorse has been riding for YEARS now.  Every time you think a team is supposed to just demolish somebody else, even on the road... something funky happens on Thursday nights in an opponent's home stadium.  I look for this to be a lil bit of the same.  First road game for Auburn, both teams had last week off, Kansas St is used to facing spread offenses in the Big 12 (cause there's a billion of em), so Auburn's offense isn't so unfamiliar to them.  I think something fishy happens here, so even if K-State doesn't win straight up, I think they'll keep it within the number.  Look for this to be an awesome football game.

Week 3: 4-1... Tulsa, you suck.

Overall record: 9-6 (.600)

This week was good to us.  We took a bad loss with Tulsa, but 4 out of 5 is pretty good.  If we could do that every week... goodness gracious.  Now, with a 3-week sample size for most teams, the lines will get closer, so it may be kinda tough from here on out.  Luckily we got some wins in the first 3 weeks.  Currently, we're averaging 3-2 every week, and that's not too shabby.


1. Toledo @ Cincinnati (-10)  |  WINNER  (Cinci 58 - Toledo 34)
Friday 6pm CT  |  ESPNU  |  Cincinnati, OH 

Cinci took advantage of a depleted Toledo team, and a raucous opening home crowd, then rode QB Gunner Kiel and his 6 passing TDs to a big win.  We thought they'd come out and hammer the Rockets, and they proved us right.  Started out strong, then let Toledo get a lil closer... but ultimately rolled off with a 24 point win.

Week 3: Cinci, Arkansas, and more...

Well, we're currently at .500 on the year.  5 wins and 5 losses.  But I love some of these games this weekend, so lets see what we can do.

1. Toledo @ Cincinnati (-10)
Friday 6pm CT  |  ESPNU  |  Cincinnati, OH 

Amazingly, this is week 3 of the season, and Cinci hasn't played a game yet.  I'm sure Toledo wishes the same thing after losing 3 starters to injury last week against Missouri, including all-star QB Phillip Ely, who had 4 TDs and no picks along with a ton of yards in the first game of the year.  Toledo is starting a brand new QB along with a new cornerback in their first true road test of the year.  Not a good way to kick it off.  Tuberville's Bearcats should roll.

Week 2: 2-3

Overall record: 5-5 (.500)

Well, we didn't fare as well this week as last week.  Still, 2-3 keeps us even on the season, so we're not doing terribly.  We could really use a good week this weekend though to give us some breathing room.  Our goal for the season is 60%.  Here's how the games went...

Week 2 picks

Last week we went 3-2, so anything abover .500 this week would be a great start to the season for us.  I think we've got some good games to knock it out on.

1. Arizona (-7.5) @ UT-San Antonio
Thursday 7pm CT  |  FS1  |  San Antonio, TX 

Week 1: 3-2

 Overall record: 3-2 (.600)

So, here we are, after one week, and we've got a .600 winning percentage, sitting at 3-2 on the year.  We'd like to stay here, so that way we're making money at the end of the season.  Always a good thing.  Here's how we won last week...