Borderline Fantastic

Justin: since there’s not a whole lot else interesting, lets change this up. And do a rapid fire?

Daron: okay. Rapidfire…Orrrr, RAPIDFYYYRE!

Justin: works for me. back and forth, 3 each

Daron: Um, ok

Justin: OK. PSU-MSU

Daron: PSU, but not pretty, or by much…28-24….ooooookkkkkk….any questions? or just games?

Justin: i would go with games, but it’s up to you…go nuts

Daron: ok: Worse fall – Mizzou or KU?

Justin: oh Kansas for sure. You ruined Todd REEEEEEESING’s senior year, there’s a Mangino disaster, and they get Texas this week. Mizzou has at least Gabbert (though some don’t like him) and weren’t supposed to be awesome anyway.

Daron: good answer

Justin: Word up. OK: more hilarious: Syracuse football or Louisville football?

Daron: Oh God. Probably the VILLE, because, well, look at that steep fall. Also, Cuse knew they were gonna be bad. UL’s HAPPENED…immediemente, and well, they’re both just horrible now. UL has fewer excuses, too. it’s at least near decent recruiting turf…Cuse is less so

Justin: I like Syracuse’s assumption: “You know? .500 ball isn’t for us, so let’s bring in GERG”

Daron: hahahaha…ohhhh, Paul Pasqualoni, where art thou

Justin: laughing, somewhere. Laughing hysterically.

Daron: yeah, saying, “Shoulda let me run the freeze option”

Justin: haha word. Ok next topic.

Daron: Oregon State: How?! HOW?!?! HOW?!?!?!?! (do they manage to win 9-10 games a year)

Justin: I think Mike Reilly is pretty excellent at getting the most out of his talent and its pretty damn good at bringing in skill guys and some defense (though less this year since they managed to give up 42 to USC). I’m gonna ask you the easiest question ever to close this week: Name the five greatest tacklers in the history of college football

Daron: please: It’s DIZON, DIZON, DIZON, DIZON, AND DI-ZON! Because he spits hot fire

BOOM

Justin: BOOM Ok last question, go!

Daron: Ul-Mon vs. UL Laf GO!

Justin: A true clash of the heavyweights!

Daron: Hell to the yes! 7 pm!

Justin: These teams are easily in the top 6 schools in Louisiana. Only LSU, Tulane, La Tech and the Lake Charles School for the Deaf can claim to be as good as these squads

Daron: So very true!

Justin: So my guess is that they will play a triple OT game and decide that their football is too evenly matched and that the world isn’t ready for someone to win this game. And it will be declared a Tie!

Daron: it’s an intriguing notion! I like that!

Daron: Oregon Zona?

Justin: okay…The Nick Foles-Mike Stoops Experience!

Daron: Masoli Ravioli E. Coli vs. Sunshine! (Justin Note DAMN YOU LACK OF EMBED)

Justin: its beautiful. They smell roses! I smell Luke Ridnour? +2 for the rhymes , -1 for the .300 average line…But overall, its some good fan work…Which is good, because I don’t really have a lot to say about this game. And this helps

Daron: hahahaha

Justin: +25 for Eggos reference

Daron: Nick Foles has been good

Justin: better than Kirk Cousins for sure (ohhhhh here’s to the 0 people who will get that reference outside of this conversation)

Daron: Except for when he played last week…And well played, but yeah

Justin: i mean

Daron: Oregon can be gashed

Justin: I miss Willie Tuitama?

Daron: their D is not impervious

Justin: of course

Daron: but, ya know, Arizona has gotten by on not having to do much and I don’t see that happening here

Justin: I don’t either

Daron: well, at least not having to FACE much

Justin: I’m thinking something in the neighborhood of 31-17

Daron: I have a problem with that…In that when Oregon gets it going, of late, they tend to not take their foot off of the gas. If O wins

Justin: hmm, true

Daron: and I think they win, it’s more like 45-24

Justin: okay, fair enough

Daron: I’d like otherwise

Justin: oh i know

Daron: but won’t happen, I don’t think. I want Chaos

Justin: chaosititude!

Daron: and I want it bad…baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad

Justin: that’s cute of you

I’m away this week, so just our picks.

Connecticut @ Notre Dame, Saturday 2:30pm
Matt: I expect this game to be high scoring with little defense. Could this be Charlie’s last home game? Connecticut can’t seem to get over the hump. They play a lot of close games against the tougher competition but can’t seem to end up on the winning side. Again, they keep this one close but fall short again. Pick: Notre Dame
Mike: It’s like Matt and I are roommates again. Thinking the same things. I can’t say I’ve been surprised by the ND reaction, but out of their final 3 games of the season it was pretty clear that this was the only one they should expect to win, but that it would be close. Connecticut just can quite get there, but their game against Cincy last week should have every ND fan very concerned. Here’s my question. Do the fans want to lose this game to guarantee the end of Weis? And, what about the players? Do they like Weis? I think they must. I even have a small sense that ND could come out quick and get ahead. Pick: Notre Dame
Ahad: I think the players like Weis. It doesn’t appear that the team has quit, which happens when a team gives up on a coach. I agree with Matt in that this game will not feature a lot of defense. The AD claims to have not decided the fate of Weis yet and if that is true, Weis will look to pull out all the stops. Pick: ND
Evan: ND

LSU @ Mississippi, Saturday 3:30pm
Matt: LSU had a tough go of it last week versus Louisiana Tech while Mississippi had a big win against Tennessee. I don’t have a strong feeling either way, but I think with Ole Miss playing better and being at home, they win it here. Pick: Ole Miss
Mike: Ole Miss has come up short every time I thought they were about to turn it on. I was shocked to see that in the mighty SEC, this is only the 2nd ranked team Ole Miss will be playing. LSU has done what they’ve needed to this year. How much can you fault them for both their losses being to the top 2 teams in the country? They haven’t played anyone else, but details … Pick: LSU
Ahad: LSU keeps beating the teams they are supposed to beat. The streak continues. Pick: LSU
Evan: Right now Ole Miss is the second best team in Mississippi, a far fall from being number 4 in the country. Pick: LSU

Purdue @ Indiana, Saturday 3:30pm
Matt: This one ought to be a shootout. With bowl games out of the picture for these two, they are not only just playing out the schedule and for some pride, but for the Old Oaken Bucket. Purdue has dominated this matchup of late. I would like to see Indiana win one, because they have been playing everyone tough but not able to win. Last team with the ball wins. I am going with the home team. Pick: Indiana
Mike: Does any coach get more air time than Bill Lynch? It’s all well deserved. He cares about EVERY call on the field. And he’s been screwed by quite a few. In the Indiana/PSU game I didn’t know what was going to happen. The refs weren’t sure who to give their favoritism to. You could tell they were lost out there. I too would like to see Indiana win but I think Purdue has had a good year. If college football had an NIT for teams that didn’t make bowls, I think Purdue might be my pick to win it all. Pick: Purdue
Ahad: Both teams are playing for pride at this point and I am going with my gut. Pick: Purdue
Evan: Battle of the Hoosier state! I hate Purdue. Pick: Indiana

Arizona State @ UCLA, Saturday 4pm
Matt: I haven’t really followed either of these teams this year. I just know that they haven’t been very good. I have always had an affinity for UCLA, and they are favored and at home, so I will go with them. Pick: UCLA
Mike: What happened to UCLA being back? The most news I’ve heard from them in the past few years is what uniforms they were going to wear in the USC game. Arizona St has lost 4 straight playing the toughest of the Pac 10 (well, 4 of the 5). This is a toss-up to me but I am leaning heavily. Pick: Arizona State
Ahad: Both teams have had disappointing seasons; I am going with the home team in this one. Pick: UCLA
Evan: UCLA

Oregon @ Arizona, Saturday 8pm
Matt: The oddsmakers have this one being close, so I am little nervous about picking Oregon, especially because their defense can give up some points. They just need to win out to secure the Pac 10 Championship. If Arizona can keep it low scoring, I like their chances. I just don’t see them doing it. Pick: Oregon
Mike: Ducks, Ducks, Ducks. Little known fact, cause I think I just made it up. The Arizona schools are right behind the Oregon schools for my Pac 10 favoritism (see: me picking Arizona St, who I like more than Arizona, probably because of their colors). Arizona had a backloaded schedule so they have climbed in the rankings and are an attractive pick. Of course, I get every Oregon pick wrong. Pick: Oregon
Ahad: Oregon picks worry me, but I don’t think Mike Stoops’ boys will get it done. The Oregon offense is just too much for them. Pick: Oregon
Evan: Ducks!

Daron: Sooooo, Ole Miss – LSU

Justin: OKay

Daron: Ya know, we’re almost done with the season, I have no idea what the hell Ole Miss is

Justin: yeah

Daron: Or I know exactly what it is… a moderately talented team that plays hard at times

Justin: Jevan Snead, you know, less than consistent

Daron: but whatevs

Justin: the running backs continue to be pretty impressive, what with their dismantling of UT, or I suppose their RB-like people

Daron: yeah, McCluster defies position. I hear it’s the same when he has sex.  It’s just an odd jumble of body parts

Justin: heyo!

Daron: Jevan Snead isn’t great, and his line isn’t either

Justin: the consistency of the two losses seems to be a defense

Daron: LSU plays defense, most of the time

Justin: as nobody they’ve beaten stands out in that regard, which is rough. But at the same time, LSU has no offense, hence 24 points against LT

Daron: yeah…the Jarrett Lee… experience?

Justin: turns out, no addition by subtraction here from Scott and Jefferson

Daron: Otherwise known as “Misery”

Justin: Yeah. It’s NAG1. Incidentally, it probably says something about Russell Shepard that he has 250 yards rushing, yet hasn’t thrown a pass. I would fully expect for him to change that this weekend

Daron: You know. I’d agree with you, except that it should have changed about two weeks ago

Justin: saving it for the big game?

Daron: when Mr. Jefferson went down. Dunno…P’raps not really that great a QB? <shudders with blasphemous implications>

Justin: I don’t think he’ll throw more than a few passes. And no, I saw, he was a good recruit. And no recruit has ever been misevaluated

Daron: Truth

Justin: Anyway, at the end of the day, I don’t think that LSU has the offense to win the game

Daron: Really? I don’t think Ole Miss does either. I am so thoroughly unimpressed with the Ole Miss squad at this point. There is a ridiculous amount of talent scattered around that squad. It’s a shame more of it isn’t concentrated on the O-Line

Justin: true. But i think it’s more of a case that its really not going to take a lot of offense to win this game, and I like the options on the Ole Miss side more than Jarrett Lee.

Daron: I can see that

Justin: i think we an NFL game here and Ole Miss wins it 17-10

Daron: ugh. 24-21 LSU. it’s a rivalry game, must be close. that’s how rivalries work

Justin: surely!

Current Pick Distribution

Justin: NEXT! That other ranked game. Utah-TCU You know, the best kind of ranked game. The kind with a 20 points spread

Daron: To be fair, the Iowa spread is horrible as well

Justin: oh i know

Daron: I saw 13.5-17.5

Justin: this is a shitty week

Daron: yeah. Utah, an effective team, that has done little yet, very little.

Justin: well they have a win over Louisville!!!

Daron: other than lose to Oregon

Daron: w00t

Justin: And a win at the unfriendly confines of CSU AND UNLV! Yeeeeeee!!!

Daron: Don’t go into Ft. Collins expecting a win! Well, at least that was true 8 or so years ago.

ANYWAYS, TCU is the new flavor of the week

Justin: TCU, on the other hand has the ever more valuable win at Clemson, a win at UVA, and their closest game, a tangle with AF

Daron: yeah. their defense has the fast and a lot of it. And can tackle

Justin: yeah, Utah’s offense is meh. With not much goin’ on through the air, but a decent running attack

Daron: eh, the norm for them

Justin: yeah

Daron: TCU by 10

Justin: sure

Daron: defense makes eat of them, not a pretty game, though

Justin: TCU also, by 17. No Cover.  27-10 or so

Daron: 20-10, maybe 27-10.  Real mehness

Also see: MWC looking to MAKE MOVES?

Justin: Iowa-fOSU

Daron: ohhh, bastards. Well

Justin: Yeah

Daron: Rittenberg calls it the Vandenberg vs. Silver Bullets game

Justin: There’s that whole no offense thing, on both sides

Daron: which is his cute name for the OSU defense

Justin: adorables!

Daron: yeah

Justin: Well the truth of the matter is, the offense who wins this game only needs to score maybe 10-13 points

Daron: yeah. I mean, I guess there’s a chance for some big plays

Justin: Sure

Daron: what with that being how both teams score

Justin: Pryor is the biggest big-play runner in the big 11 at this point

Daron: Yeah, I saw that. Disappointing

Justin: right?

Daron: he and Ralph Bolden

Justin: Yeah. 18 points against the Purdue defense in their loss, is uninspiring

Daron: truth. Granted, they’ve been different, since then

Justin: True

Daron: ie. Winning and less giving of possession to others

Justin: yeah, but, even with a 17 point win over PSU, just 8-17 for 125 and 2 TDs and he threw in 50 on the ground (on only 5 carries)

Daron: yeah

Justin: Meanwhile, Saine and Harron combined for 36 carries for 126 yards.

Daron: that’s really all it takes, because let’s look at what Iowa’s offense is going to do:

Very little

Justin: yes. Yeah so this game plays way to into Tressel’s wheelhouse

Daron: their ground game has slowed down some, and you figure that’ll continue against the bullets of silverness

Justin: He needs to do absolutely nothing to win this game. so, I think they succeed with it

Daron: same with a QB who looks talented, but not quite on the same page as the receivers

Justin: Sure, i.e. 62 yards and a score for Posey, but nothing else for any of the WRs. Anyway, I think this game is just about 13-7, fOSU

Daron: I could see 20-14, something like that tOSU

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)

Current Pick Distribution

I skipped last week’s look at the standings. UF clinched their division last week and Alabama did this week. So we’re done with the SEC after this week except for who will wind up in each bowl.

ACC Atlantic
Clemson and BC both have 2 losses with Clemson holding the tiebreaker, winning the matchup back in September. Clemson only has NC State and UVA remaining in conference play. BC still has UVA, UNC, and Maryland. Further down in the miracle section I think NC State and Maryland still have a chance.

ACC Coastal
GT only has one conference game remaining, against Duke. Losing that could lead to a confusing logjam at 2 losses. So we’ll worry about that if Duke wins on Saturday.

Big 12 North
Kansas State leads the division!? Nebraska also has 2 losses. These two play each other 11/21. K-State has Missouri before that and Nebraska gets Kansas.

Big 12 South
Texas hasn’t clinched yet but there isn’t much drama. The could clinch this week with a win and Ok State losing to Texas Tech.

Big East
Could be the most intriguing major conference going down the stretch. Cincy and Pitt are both at 5-0. They both play WVU before their end of the year matchup on 12/5. That means WVU just needs to beat them both and finish with a win at Rutgers to take the conference.

Big 10
This is all Ohio State now. Sadly Iowa lost their QB and fell apart. The Ohio St/Iowa game could still be interesting. Remember, OSU lost to Purdue.

Pac 10
Oregon, what have you done? My first concern was that USC might be able to jump back to the top. There are still at lot of teams at the top. Plus, after USC barely took out ASU they could potentially lost to any of Stanford, UCLA, or Arizona. At the top, it should still come down to the Oregon/Arizona game on 11/21. Although Arizona St has yet to play either of those teams, so they could cause all sorts of confusion.

SEC
Booooring. UF vs Bama. SEC Championship.

Conference USA East
East Carolina leads but there are still a lot of games to be played. Everyone still has 3 games left and 4 teams trail by just 1 game. Check back in 2 weeks.

Conference USA West
Houston and SMU with 1 loss each, but Houston beat SMU on 10/24. Houston’s last test should be this week at UCF. After that they get Memphis (2-7) and Rice (0-9)

MAC East
Temple held on against Miami on Thursday but got a bigger boost rankings wise (if your rankings go deep enough) when Navy beat ND. Temple still has Ohio and Kent State left and they are likely the only teams that can catch them.

MAC West
Central Michigan leads at 5-0. A win against Toledo this week will only leave Northern Illinois with a chance to catch them. NIU will get that chance 11/27.

Mountain West
TCU and Utah both at 5-0. That big matchup goes down on Saturday.

Sun Belt
Troy leads it at 6-0. MTSU and L-Monroe (I’m not sure how they prefer to abbreviate) are 1 game back in the loss column. Troy has wins over both of them so a Troy win in 2 weeks against Florida Atlantic will send them to the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl.

WAC
Nevada still has to play this week, but let’s say they beat San Jose St. That means Nevada and Boise St will still be the unbeatens. That game isn’t until 11/27. Still some potential excitement. Fresno State (5-1) faces Nevada this week.

Independents
These don’t really matter, but I thought it was interesting that Navy’s win put them in front of ND on the season. All of a sudden ND finishing with Pitt, UConn, and Stanford looks pretty daunting. A 6-6 season is a possibility, but I’m pretty sure they’ll win at least one of those.

Even after East Carolina giving everyone picking against the spread a loss there are still some unanimous picks for Saturday. Although tonight’s Boise St/LA Tech game is now only 86% in favor of Boise St. The Saturday 100% picks: Miami (-13.5) over UVA, GT (-15.5) over Wake, Houston (-1.5) over Tulsa, USC (-11.5) over Arizona St, and Cincy (-12.5) over UConn. That Houston game is the one that jumps out, but I don’t trust them. I went with Cincy, although UConn has lost their last two games by the exact same 28-24 score.

Current Pick Distribution