ICH College Football Picks – Week 11

Iowa @ Ohio State, Saturday 3:30pm
Evan: I have twin girls in my class. They are huge Iowa fans. They assure me that last week was a hiccup. They are worried about the quarterback situation and agree that Ohio State is the favorite. They also believe it should be my upset special. Pick: Iowa
Ahad: Iowa’s luck finally ran out last week. They should have lost a few games this season. Without Stanzi, this team is in trouble. He is not a great qb, but seems to find a way to lead them to victory. Ohio State has the Big 10 title in its sights and will look to lock it up this week. Added bonus, I get to pick against Evan. Pick: OSU
Matt: If Ohio State plays like they did last week, this one should be a laugher. Iowa always gets behind early, no matter who is playing QB. They won’t be able to come from behind against OSU. I still don’t think Pryor is that great of a QB, but he made the big plays last week that won them the game, and that will certainly build his confidence. Winner goes to the Rose Bowl. Pick: Ohio State
Mike: Iowa isn’t just Stanzi. I think they were just lost without him and they get a whole week to prepare knowing he won’t be available. The still have a solid defense and o-line. Also, remember, Purdue was able to beat up on Ohio State. Purdue has a tad more offense than Iowa, but still. I just want to give you a thought that this game will be closer than everyone is expecting. Still, stupid Ohio State. Pick: Ohio State

Texas A&M @ Oklahoma, Saturday 7pm
Evan: If there were ever a time to pick the aggies in this matchup, this is the year. At the same time, I think there best game will be when they play Texas. Pick: Sooners
Ahad: Definitely a down year for the Sooners, I can’t remember the last time they weren’t ranked. Injuries have definitely hit this team hard. Look for a lot of the younger guys to step up in order to set the tone for next year. Pick: Sooners
Matt: I think this game will be closer than the 20 pt spread for the favored Sooners, but they are at home and should avoid the upset. Pick: Sooners
Mike: So somehow I completely missed the Oklahoma loss to Nebraska last week. That throws off my theory of the Sooners still winning the games they should. Nebraska does have a tough defense, so they only lose me half way. A&M I don’t trust and they only get any credit for their win over Texas Tech which lacks any explanation. Pick: Oklahoma

Auburn @ Georgia, Saturday 7pm
Evan: My string of dominance in picking evenly matched SEC battles continued with my Arkansas over S.C. last week. This is a pretty big rivalry despite being in separate divisions. Mark Richt is a good coach and he will have his team psyched up for this night game between the hedges. Pick: UGA
Ahad: Being this an SEC game, I must go along with Evan. Pick: UGA
Matt: I have to agree…I have no inkling either way. In my mind, I would think Auburn has outperformed Georgia this year, because I feel like the Bulldogs have underachieved. Georgia is at home, and they are favored, and Evan picked them, so I can’t go wrong, right? Pick: Bulldogs
Mike: Am I the only one suspicious that Evan picked first and everyone else followed his SEC lead? Call me crazy but I like Auburn this year. Sure hey had a rough patch, but really, you don’t just invite Furman over and expect to walk away with a win. Just like Georgia and Tennessee Tech. Auburn is getting back to where they belong with the 10th ranked rushing offense (and 12th ranked total offense). The D isn’t equally tough. Georgia just hasn’t been impressive. Their average game score is 27.1-26.1. I may be out of my mind going against our SECoracle, but I must. Pick: Auburn

Texas Tech @ Oklahoma St, Saturday 8pm
Evan: I haven’t paid a lot of attention to either of these teams this year. Pick: Oklahoma St?
Ahad: Mike Leach’s teams will always be able to put up points. The question normally is will the defense be able to stop anyone. In this case, I don’t think so. Pick: OK State
Matt: Oklahoma State dominated an improved Iowa State team last week. Texas Tech has played well at times this season, and other times not so well (Texas A&M). This will be high-scoring, as usual, and I think Tech will score just enough to win. Pick: Texas Tech
Mike: Ring the scoring alarm. This is the real who is OKSt test post-Dez. I think his loss evens up this matchup. If you take the A&M game off the board for Tech, they’ve had a nice year. When I flip my Big 12 coin this year, it always comes up Texas. Pick: Texas Tech

Notre Dame @ Pittsburgh, Saturday 8pm
Evan: Pitt only has one loss, making people think they are better than they are. Notre Dame would have been the easy pick in this game except for their perplexing display against Navy last week. Still, I’m going to go with the Irish to go into Pitt and win this one, though I have no logical reason to believe this will/should happen. Pick: Irish
Ahad: People have been calling for Charlie’s job, especially after last week. If he comes up on the wrong end of this game, it will be tough for the university to bring him back next year. For some reason I think ND comes up with a win in this one. (Plus, Pitt can’t be ranked higher than PSU). Pick: ND
Matt: Pitt has been playing really well and Notre Dame is coming off a loss at home to Navy. I agree with Ahad that Notre Dame will be playing for Charlie’s job for the rest of this season. I don’t think they will be able to save him. Pick: Pittsburgh
Mike: The ND loss helped make me feel better during the second have of the PSU game. I’m normally not a Pitt fan (which bothers my mom as she thinks I should support my sister’s school) but I like this team and I really have no ties to Big East football. I’ve happened to see a lot of ND this year. They are always on TV and this year most of those games have been close, to inferior opponents. I can’t say there have been many time this year that they have played decent all around football. Their offense has been good in some games but the poor defense has overshadowed it. Now I’ve seen very little Pitt but they look to be putting up more points than they need. They’ve been getting out to leads and holding them. Pick: Pittsburgh

Average Games
Syracuse @ Louisville – Both teams are winless in the Big East. I have to pull for Syracuse to turn things around.
Michigan St @ Purdue or Northwestern @ Illinois – Pick your region Big 10 matchup. What? MSU/Purdue is on ESPN? Northwestern/Illinois is on ESPN Classic? It’s ESPN’s week for Big 10 action, but these 2 define Big 10 Network overflow channels.
Tennessee @ Mississippi – Both 2-3 in conference. SEC doesn’t get picked for average games very often.
Western Michigan @ Eastern Michigan – Eastern Michigan may be winless but when directional Michigans get together you throw out the records.

Standings
Matt 33-17 (3-2)
Mike 29-21 (2-3)
Evan 28-22 (3-2)
Ahad 26-24 (2-3)