This article is part of our College Football Picks series.
After going 4-3 last week, I'm now "up" to 9-14. That's right folks, the pride is back.
The people I'm most mad at this week are Baylor coach Jim Grobe, for cowardly refusing to kick a spread-covering field goal from the Rice five-yard line with two minutes left, and ostensible Baylor kicker Chris Callahan for missing two field goals prior to that. Their conspiracy denied me a 47-10 final in that game, and a 10-13 record on the season. This pretty much invalidates my record for the year if you ask me. That is, unless I get on a hot streak here and establish a winning record. Then my results will be legitimate, I think.
Also, that's definitely going to happen. This week is going to be fantastic. I've screened this week's selections for any Grobe-like traitors in waiting, ensuring that my otherwise inspiring clairvoyance shines through the fog cast by those looking to undermine my spread picks column. I know they're out there.
Picks are listed in chronological order, not necessarily order of preference.
Wyoming (-3) at Eastern Michigan
Eastern Michigan definitely looks much improved this year, and in general coach Chris Creighton is building something impressive. But the Eagles just lost running back Shaq Vann (shoulder) for the year, and he easily could be their best player. Wyoming, meanwhile, beat Northern Illinois in overtime in Week 1, and at the moment it's hard to imagine a line favoring Eastern Michigan over Northern Illinois. Eastern Michigan did beat Wyoming
After going 4-3 last week, I'm now "up" to 9-14. That's right folks, the pride is back.
The people I'm most mad at this week are Baylor coach Jim Grobe, for cowardly refusing to kick a spread-covering field goal from the Rice five-yard line with two minutes left, and ostensible Baylor kicker Chris Callahan for missing two field goals prior to that. Their conspiracy denied me a 47-10 final in that game, and a 10-13 record on the season. This pretty much invalidates my record for the year if you ask me. That is, unless I get on a hot streak here and establish a winning record. Then my results will be legitimate, I think.
Also, that's definitely going to happen. This week is going to be fantastic. I've screened this week's selections for any Grobe-like traitors in waiting, ensuring that my otherwise inspiring clairvoyance shines through the fog cast by those looking to undermine my spread picks column. I know they're out there.
Picks are listed in chronological order, not necessarily order of preference.
Wyoming (-3) at Eastern Michigan
Eastern Michigan definitely looks much improved this year, and in general coach Chris Creighton is building something impressive. But the Eagles just lost running back Shaq Vann (shoulder) for the year, and he easily could be their best player. Wyoming, meanwhile, beat Northern Illinois in overtime in Week 1, and at the moment it's hard to imagine a line favoring Eastern Michigan over Northern Illinois. Eastern Michigan did beat Wyoming 48-29 last year, but that was with Wyoming's top two quarterbacks out due to injury.
Michigan State (-5) vs. Wisconsin
Regardless of whether it's Alex Hornibrook or Bart Houston starting, the Badgers are unlikely to get good quarterback play in this road environment, and I don't think Mark Dantonio is the kind of coach to let his team fall into a trap game against a conference rival even after a huge upset like last week's victory over Notre Dame. The Wisconsin backfield is beat up, and while last week's close call against Georgia State was clearly an instance of looking ahead a week, I just don't see any non-liability for Wisconsin in this game other than a defense that figures to eventually break if left on the field too long.
Florida (+6.5) at Tennessee
Tennessee should be the favorite in this game, but I don't see the case for declaring it a clearly better team than Florida. I view the basic situation here as this: you have one mediocre offense (Tennessee) going against a great defense (Florida) and a bad offense (Florida) going against a very good defense (Tennessee). A mediocre offense is better than a bad one, but I think the formula previously laid out is a tie – Tennessee's offense isn't good enough relative to the Florida's defense to capitalize on whatever advantage the Tennessee defense has over the Florida offense. Meanwhile, I think Florida's coaching is clearly better than Tennessee's.
Northwestern (+7) vs. Nebraska
The current betting percentages say this pick is a long shot. I think the combination of home field and the potential for Nebraska to come into this game both exhausted and overconfident bodes well for Northwestern's chances of covering the spread, though. The Northwestern pass defense has been tough this year, and I don't think the Nebraska running game is good enough to get Nebraska a safe touchdown lead if the passing game isn't humming.
Louisiana-Lafayette (+5.5) at Tulane
Tulane has home field and probably the better coaching staff, but it's an option team favored by just under a touchdown against a team that's allowing just 2.8 yards per carry through three games, with 25 tackles for loss in the same span. Lafayette is a bad team, but I think it has enough talent between quarterback Anthony Jennings, running back Elijah McGuire and receiver and Al Riles to finish this game within five points of Tulane's total.
