Picks of the Week: No. 6

Mixing it up a little again this week. In hopes of improving his record the ’Eer is adding a mid-major game and getting away from all of the ranked teams. He believes this is the week he turns the corner and proves his supernatural abilities at picking games against the spread.

Michigan State (-4.0) over Illinois
It just seems like the Spartans should be much bigger favorites in this one. The Spartans have won five consecutive games at Illinois' Memorial Stadium (Illinois' last home win in the series came in 1992) and they could easily be 4-1 instead of 2-3. Despite the early missteps, Mark Dantonio will have MSU ready for the Illini and keep the Spartans in the Big Ten race.
Pick: Michigan State 33, Illinois 20

Alabama (-5.0) over Mississippi
This game scares me a bit because Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt always does his best work when his team is overlooked or counted out. But Alabama’s coaches, players and fans just seethed during the offseason when everyone was picking the Rebs to win the SEC West (of couse we didn’t). QB Greg McElroy is 5-0 as the ‘Bama starter and he won’t be nearly as harassed as his counterpart Jevan Snead.
Pick: Alabama 28, Mississippi 17

Wisconsin (+16.0) over Ohio State
Can you believe Wisconsin has the best red zone offense in the nation? It’s true. The Badgers have converted 20-of-20 attempts in the red zone. Wisky hasn’t faced a defense quite as good as the Buckeyes so getting into the red zone may be tough. However, 16 points is too much to give UW and not take it. Plus, the Badgers defense isn’t too bad and they might keep Terrelle Pryor in check enough to keep this much closer than the odds makers think.
Pick: Ohio State 27, Wisconsin 17

Ohio (-3.0) over Akron
The Bobcats are the surprise of the Mid-American Conference and at 3-2 overall and 1-0 in the conference they are primed to win the East Division. An easy four-week run begins at Akron this weekend. Ohio QB Theo Scott has been efficient this season, including a 11-of-19 for 203-yard performance in a win against Bowling Green. The Bobcats also have a solid running game led by Chris Garrett.
Pick: Ohio 29, Akron 17

Upset of the Week
Connecticut (+7.0) over Pittsburgh
This is a nice Big East match up that’s receiving regional ABC coverage. UConn is one stupid penalty away from being undefeated, but instead the Huskies are 3-1 and boast the conference’s best defense. Pitt gets the home-field advantage (if there is such a thing at Heinz Field for Pitt) and a stronger offense. But UConn has something to prove and the Huskies don’t want another mid-season meltdown. That starts with a win on the road at Pitt.
Pick: Connecticut 24, Pittsburgh 14

Last Week: 3-2
Season Record: 13-12

Late-Night bowl links

While watching Utah shock 'Bama, thought I'd do some random scanning of blogs around the nation. Here are some interesting posts that I have found this evening.

• Tom Kirkendall at Houston's Clear Thinkers hits on something that both Phil and I have been saying all season about Texas Tech's Mike Leach. Kirkendall says Leach is more PR genius than coaching savant.
• Is Houston Nutt a better coach than everyone has given him credit for? That's the question Matt Hinton at Dr. Saturday asks after watching Ole Miss take down Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl. He also has a very funny post about Pat Summerall broadcasting the Cotton Bowl.
• Larry Brown Sports stops just short of calling LSU's Les Miles a douchebag for running a fake punt in the fourth quarter of the Tigers blowout win over Georgia Tech in the Chick-fil-a Bowl. I've been looking for video of this since I saw it, but haven't had any luck.
• Tony Barnhart at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says Matt Stafford will probably leave for the NFL and Knowshon Moreno will return to Athens for another year with Georgia.
• Iowa could have easily fallen apart this year, but according to Mike Hlas over at The Hlog Coach Kirk Ferentz stuck to his "old-school" values and that's why Iowa rebounded after a 3-3 start. In case you missed it, the Hawkeyes totally schooled South Carolina and Steve Spurrier
• It appears Randy Shannon has a heart after all. According to the Miami Herald's Manny Navarro, the U has partially lifted the SEC ban on former quarterback Robert Marve.

Good night.

Congrats Ole Miss, you just got Nutted

I can't believe Ole Miss fell for oldest trick in Houston Nutt's book.

"Houston Nutt and Mississippi agreed to a contract extension Friday that will keep the football coach in Oxford following a report he was a target for the Auburn opening."

does anyone at Ole Miss even pay attention to SEC football? Every year Nutt would magically "withdraw his name from consideration" from some job he wasn't being considered for. You really think Auburn was going to hire an Arkansas retread?

Now, it may not seem that big a deal because Nutt just led the Rebels to an 8-4 season and looks like he has Ole Miss headed in the right direction. But why extend a contract after a year? Worked out pretty well for Notre Dame.

Observations from Saturday's Games (Nov. 22)

This was a great day for 'Eer. West Virginia won, Michigan, Notre Dame and Marshall all lost. Now if Pitt and Oklahoma could win tonight it would be a near perfect day (damn Penn State). Here are some observations from Saturday:

1. Charlie Weis is a genius. This was his week. He was taking over the offensive play calling and he was going to show us his coaching brilliance. Wait. No one told Syracuse. Yeah, that Syracuse. The Big East dwelling Orange mounted a great comeback and won in South Bend 24-23. With this loss Notre Dame is 0-2 in Big East play (0-3 if you count old Big East member Boston College). Can we just revoke Notre Dame's bowl eligibility? May be time to rethink that lifetime contract with Weis.

2. Rich Rodriguez is a bigger genius. If Rich-Rod could have just kept his ego in check a little he'd still be in Morgantown and considered a coaching guru who drew coaches from around the nation to see if his magic rubs off. Instead, he's now the worst coach in Michigan football history following a 42-7 loss at Ohio State and finishing 3-9. Great move Rich.

3. Showing some respect. It's obvious Urban Meyer wants Tim Tebow to win the Heisman again this year. He keeps him in games late when the outcome is decided. But even the arrogant Meyer showed a little class in Saturday's 70-19 victory over The Citadel. He pulled Tebow for the second half, instead of padding his stats for a run at another Heisman.

4. Poor State of football. Washington and Ty Willingham are probably going to go winless this year. The best shot came Saturday against what many thought was the worst BCS team in the country -- Washington State. However, the Cougars upset the rival Huskies (if you can upset a winless team) thanks to a last-second FG and another kick on double OT. Willingham would have liked the one win before leaving Seattle. Wazzu's Paul Wulff needed this win in his first season.

5. SEC bashing. During this past week's podcast I defended the SEC as still being the best conference in college football. After watching LSU get pushed around by Ole Miss and bowl-bound Vanderbilt's collapse against Tennessee. The SEC is two-deep this year. No Georgia, you aren't in the mix either. It's just Florida and Alabama (arguably the two best teams in the nation). But the SEC usually stakes claim to best conference because of depth. There's more depth in the Big East and Big 10 this year.

6. Sigh of relief. So how nervous must the folks have been at Camp Randall with Cal Poly almost pulling off the huge upset over Wisconsin? If not for three missed PATs, the Badgers would have lost. I would have loved to have been in those stands to hear what was being said about Bret Bielema.

7. Fighting words. It seems teams didn't want to get along today. There were at least three reported pre-game scuffles with Ohio State-Michigan, West Virginia-Louisville and BYU-Utah. Can't we all just get along.

8. BCS shakeup. It's still the second quarter (as I write this), but it looks like Oklahoma is going to cruise past No. 2 Texas Tech. So who's the best in the Big 12 now?

9. One smart Nutt. Ole Miss' Houston Nutt can coach football. His two stops in the SEC (Arkansas and Ole Miss) are not juggernaut programs. But Nutt always seems to put good teams on the field and they are always well prepared. His Rebels proved it again today by whipping LSU 31-13 at Tiger Stadium. According to ESPN, Ole Miss may get a Cotton Bowl invite.

10. Tip of the cap. To Florida State safety Myron Rolle for arriving in College Park, Md., as a Rhodes Scholar. What an impressive accomplishment for someone who faces many obstacles as a Division I athlete.