My Pig-spittin' picks

Well clearly Georgia is going to lose this weekend, so I was debating whether or not to even do picks, but you know, I owe it to everyone out there that reads these blogs (all 3 of you) so the picks must go on! PS, tonight's Friday night GA HS Game of the week between Marist and Southwest DeKalb will begin at 8 with coverage to start at 7:30. That's a backup of 30 minutes. I hope you can deal. Thanks!

ON TO THE PICKS!

Ohio @ #2 the Ohio State. Here we go. I was wondering when Tressel was going to play one of the small instate schools that he typically does to run his record out to 12-0 before he loses to an SEC school in the BCS. Gotcha. Sorry Bobcats, the alma mater of Gary Trent. I'm going with Brutus.

UMass @ #20 Michigan. Watch out RichRod-haters, he's ranked. It is pretty hard to fire a coach that is ranked. I guess you'll just have to settle for him being a preseason Top 5 pick next year. Denard Robinson....wow. I was saying last week how Georgia could have used him against South Carolina. But then I remembered Bobo would have had him running the bubble-screen. I'm going with the Hugh Jackmans! (though isn't this the type of game that Michigan loses in recent years? Nah, not this year.)

Maryland @ #21 West Va. Without Steve Slaton there to be motivated over an invented-slight by the Terps, how will the Hillbillies get fired up? Wait, they won't need to. They are facing maryland. Yes, the lowercase was intentional.

Kent State @ #22 Penn State. Man, that is harsh to drop Penn State all the way down to No.22 after they go TO Bama and avoid a 60-point beat down that Saban surely would have dropped (and might just still) on Ohio State. But then again, the voters dropped GT out of the rankings after they lost to Kansas. Wait for it.....

Iowa State @ K-State. the battle of the two "State" schools that are clearly little brothers to Iowa and Kansas, respectively. Imagine being second-class citizens in Iowa and Kansas. That would REALLY suck. Ummm, let's go with K-State. Logan Gray wanted to potentially transfer there. it must have SOMETHING going for it...

Ball State @ Purdue. I am pretty sure I drove by both of these schools on last year's road trip to Chicago. I want those 13 hours back. Purdue has a former Miami QB. I'm going with them.

Vandy @ Ole Miss. Masoli for Heisman. Wait, nevermind. For more on Ole Miss, go to http://chuckoliver.net and read Paul Mac's work. Do it! The Rebels win. Clearly.

ECU @ VT. I wrote about it on chuckoliver.net but I will semi-repeat myself. According to Bill Parcells, you are what your record says you are. The record says VaTech is 0-2. That is not good. Virginia Tech isn't a BAD team, but right now, they are not good. That changes against a Skip Holtz-less Pirates squad. Hokies, hopefully so people will continue to read my stuff on co.net, win.

#1 Bama @ Duke. Hey Duke, way to NOT beat Wake Forest and making me look dumb last week! Well, actually no one really cares. Of the 34,000 people that can fit into Duke's Wallace Wade stadium, I would imagine 33,800 of them will be Tide fans. The other 200 will be the Duke band and a few parents. All of the students are already camping out for BBall tickets and buying face paint. And Those people will be congressmen one day..... In case you couldn't figure out my pick, the Tide.

Air Force @ #7 OU. I passed by the AFA last Thanksgiving in Colorado and the chapel is awesome out there. Too bad they are playing in Norman. They will clearly lose to the Sooners who BOOMED FSU. Wow. not even a game last week. Landry Jones is a player, ready for his closeup. Wow. Heisman, maybe even.

#8 Nebraska @ U-Dub. I thought it was interesting the writer I read that said, "I have been around football enough to recognize a No.1 overall pick and Jake Locker is NOT a No.1." Interesting. I am thinking that this would be close, but I am going with Nebraska. Actually, I am a tad disappointed in Locker as well, same with Mallet (hopefully he doesn't change my opinion of him this Saturday), but you might just see the No.1 pick in this game....the Nebraska DLineman Crick.

Arizona State @ #11 Wisco. Last season the Sun Devils got to go to Athens and it really was hot chicks v hot chicks. (Two years ago, i was impressed with the ASU female talent at the Georgia/ASU game in Tempe). This season they go to the land of cheese and fat women. Sorry Sun Devils. About the women and the game. Wisco runs all over ya

#18 USC @ Minn. I will say this about Kiffin, at least his teams are playing actually out-of-conference games. Well sort of. Hawaii, Virginia and now Minnesota. he's SORT of playing out of conference toughies. Hawaii scored 90 points on him in a Trojan win; UVA outcoached him according to Kiffin and now Minnesota, the bottom-feeder of the Big11. Kind of..... Kiffin wins this one. and please get Matt Barkley some more time back there.

Hawaii @ Colorado. Two of the hottest vacation spots in America. Do we think the Buffs fire Dan Hawkins IMMEDIATELY after Hawaii beats them or after Georgia pulls their pants down in two weeks. ok, i'll be nice. Colorado wins this game. And then loses in two weeks when Georgia pulls their pants down.

BYU @ FSU. I remember when the Noles went out to Provo and beat BYU a season or two ago and everyone said, "FSU IS BACK!" This game doesn't quite have that hype. But watch out for Jake Heaps, BYU's QB. He may be the better QB in this game. That's right Ponder. I've turned on you. FSU wins though thanks to Greg Reid.

Baylor @ #4 TCU. HEY TCU, THIS SHOULD BE A CONFERENCE GAME FOR YOU! PLEASE AT LEAST CALL THE BIGXII ABOUT JOINING. Especially after you beat Baylor. Or maybe you do like in the WWF and make Baylor put their membership on the line. That would be sweet.

Louisville @ #25 Oregon State. I read where BJ Butler is doing really well at Louisville. Butler was committed to the Dawgs until exCWM was not re-signed and he left to go join Chaz Strong in Louisville. So he's doing well. Well, that's relative I guess. You're talking Louisville football. I'm all for the Beavers in this one. Beaver one, beaver all, let's all do our beaver call!

Furman @ #13 SoCar. PLEASE South Carolina, do NOT do what Okie State did last season after beating a ranked Georgia team: please do NOT follow up the win with a home loss to a crap team. Please go on to do really well (but not too well. When Georgia runs the table I want to still be in the SEC CG) so that loss doesn't look too bad.

Miss State @ #15 LSU. I am really starting to get scared that Miss State will only beat one "good" team this season in Mullen's second year and that win is coming next week. PLEASE say it ain't so Miss State. LSU wins this one. Hey Miss State, have your "good" win come against Arkansas later this season.

Clemson @ #16 Auburn. People are giving me crap for saying that Auburn is going to take a step backwards this season. That Cam Newton is the real deal and he hasn't thrown this well since a laptop was in his hands. Well, honestly, Auburn has played a directional school and Miss State. SUCH DOMINANT COMPETITION. We'll see how good Aubie is after this game. PREDICTION: Clemson wins in an upset, but I'd love NOTHING MORE than for Auburn to be undefeated when Georgia comes to town to crush that season.

#3 Boise State @ Wyoming. I am not kidding: this is HONESTLY one of Boise State's toughest road games of the year. That is sad. Broncos.

#6 Texas @ Texas Tech. I want to take Tubs, I really do. But I like the idea that Texas is going back to running the football. And the Red Raiders don't quite throw it like they did under Leach. Horns Hook 'em.

#14 Utah @ New Mexico. One of Utah's toughest road games. Hey Pitt, thanks for not taking out Utah at Utah, so now I have to hear about them for another few weeks. GREAT! Thanks a lot Pitt, Oregon State (though you can redeem yourself against BSU) and VaTech for not giving me a BCS-Crasher-free season.

#9 Iowa @ #24 Arizona. I wanted to pick this as my UPSET of the week, but then I remembered Mike Stoops is still the HC and Iowa is pretty good. My Big11 sources tell me (and I agree with them) that Iowa is the team to beat in the Big11 this season. SUCK IT Ohio State. Therefore I'm going with the Hawkeyes.

Wake @ #19 Stanford. This is the second straight late start for the Cardinal. No one is watching you Jimmy H, but you keep putting up big scores and you'll get an ABC 3:30 start in NO TIME. Beat Wake for me too after they knocked off Duke last week.

ProGame
Atlanta v Arizona. So the Falcons lost to Pittsburgh in Week One. it is OK. Except that The Body Paul Mac said he was burning his Matt Ryan jersey. I tried to talk him back from the ledge, but he seems to think the Falcons suck. Maybe he gets back on the bandwagon after this game. Falcons win at home. (They had better otherwise Paul may no longer be writing for us here at SBF)

Specialties of the house
Lock of the week
#10 Florida @ Tennessee. Is Chris Rainey still on the team after his text message? Probably just suspended for a half and then he volunteered to kick himself off the team. That would be par for the course. If Florida can figure out how to snap the ball, the Gators should roll.

Upset of the week
UConn @ Temple. Al Golden wins this one and then calls JoePa and says, "I'm ready. Retire already otherwise I'm headed to Miami after they fire Shannon!" Actually Al Golden could go to Alabama after Saban leaves for the Cowboys after this season. Or maybe Georgia calls him.....JUST KIDDING!

Local flavor.
GT @ UNC. I must say that in one of my anti-GT rants over the summer I had Tech going 6-6 with a loss to KU, but I didn't have the guts to say it last week in the picks blog. I CERTAINLY have them losing to UNC mainly because about 8 of those 229 suspended players will return this week. I like the Heels at home, coming off of a bye week. remember the last time UNC came off of a bye at home against Tech? A beatdown. History repeats itself. Hey CPJ, I thought you were a genius?

#12Arkansas @ Georgia. I LIKE that Arkie is ranked #12. I LIKE that Georgia has a ranked team coming between the hedges, I just wish Georgia didn't lose last week. But since the Dawgs did, they should CERTAINLY be too fired up to lose this one. The next big game Mallet has on the road will be his first; it WON'T come here. Dawgs win by 4. I'm such a homer.

Enjoy the weekend. Suwanee Day is tomorrow, hopefully I'll be enjoying it after a Georgia win. listen to me tomorrow morning at 9:25am on 790 and then Sunday from 1-4pm on the ZONE. Tonight, coverage on gpb.org starts at 7:30.