The Four To Score: Week Six

Win or Lose, This is a Drool-Worthy Saturday

Oh yeah, Charlie….It's THAT good. 

Gals live for Pumpkin Spiced Lattes this time of year. Men, on the other hand, dream about Saturdays like the one we have this week. There are many superlatives you could probably use to discuss this week's card, but it probably wouldn't do it justice. It's so good that the majority of college football fans will probably be in a zombie-like state for extended periods of time on Saturday, becoming cognizant only to change the channel, grab another brewsky, or ingest more artery-clogging gameday treats. Hopefully our picks will do this week justice, as we look to improve on an average Week 5. Chad West, CPA finally got the better of me by the smallest of margins (3-2 to 2-2-1). Is this merely a case of a blind raccoon eventually finding a garbage can, or is the start of a Bill Snyder-esque wizardly comeback tour? Keep reading to find out, as we provide you with our far-less-than-scintillating thoughts on this week's incredible tilts.

First Down: Mississippi State -2 vs. Texas A&M, 12:00 PM EST (Garrett)

The Fightin' Aggies were lucky to escape JerryWorld with a win last week, needing a fourth quarter comeback to force overtime. Despite the win, Sumlin's crew still gave up just under 500 yards of offense to a very simple offense, 285 of which were on the ground. Obviously, the Aggies defense fooled me, and still leaves much to be desired. Now that same defense will have to take on a very dynamic offense featuring the best dual-threat QB in the SEC, Dak Prescott. Think back to two weeks ago, when the DAK ATTACK ran wild in Baton Rouge, racking up all kinds of points and yards. Yes, that offense had its way with the Tigers in Death Valley, at night. That game was merely a sign of things to come, as Dan Mullen's boys will get their second signature win in a three week span this Saturday. Back the DAK ATTACK in Starkville. 

Texas A&M +2 @ Mississippi State, 12:00 PM EST (Chad)

We got some insight this week on where all that Aggyland swag has been coming from the past few years. Kevin Sumlin parties with Rick Ross, and makes others feel the need to get turnt? #YESSIR. After last weeks near miracle comeback against a good Arkansas team, I'm not counting out the Aggies for the rest of the year. Sure, a road test against a much improved and en vogue Mississippi State team is cause for concern. Dak Prescott can flat out play, as evidenced my Garrett's newly acquired man crush. But, let's not go overboard here. This team beat a wobbly LSU team my Louisiana buddies predicted to win 8 games. Given A&M's wins against Sakerlina and Arky, they have the better resume, and wayyyy more swag. This one is probably close, but Aggy wins outright.

Second Down: Stanford -2.5 vs. Notre Dame, 3:30 PM EST (Garrett)

I must admit, I have loved what I have seen from the Everett Golson Comeback Tour. That being said, Notre Dame hasn't played anyone noteworthy so far, defeating a bunch of sub-optimal opponents including the dumpster-fire started by Brady Hoke. Perhaps the most damning evidence of Notre Dame's inflated value was it's unimpressive 16 point win over Purdue, one of the absolute worst teams in the land. Contrast that with a battle-tested Stanford Cardinal, who last week went into a very tough environment in Washington and left with a conference W. The Huskies are a far better unit than anything that Notre Dame has gone up against, and if not for some red zone hijinks against USC, this Stanford team would be undefeated with arguably the two best wins in the country to date. This game should be the low-scoring slugfest Vegas expects, but the more proven commodity will leave South Bend with a win on Saturday. 

Notre Dame +2.5 @ Stanford, 3:30 PM EST (Chad)

God, I hate this. I'm no fan of the Golden Domers, and I have been a huge fan of what Stanford has done the past six years or so. But, this is a different Stanford team. They struggle to run the ball at times, mostly because they don't have a front line back a la Toby Gerhart, Stephon Taylor, or Tyler Gaffney. Notre Dame, on the other hand is really catching on with Brian Kelly's system, as evidenced by Everett Golson teaching a masters class in dink and dunk last week. This is 2014, and offense is king. The defenses duel to a relative draw, but Notre Dame executes better on offense. Golson is the difference in a close game, in which the public will see Brian Kelly turn purple 3 times.

Third Down: USC -12 vs. Arizona State, 7:30 PM EST (Garrett)

Remember earlier this season, when we said the Sun Devils were the most likely team in the country to take a big step back from last season? Last week validated that thought process, as the ASU defense showed its true colors to the country, giving up 580 yards of offense in an absolute shellacking. Keep in mind that was against a UCLA team that had been very underwhelming in its early season performances. On the other side of the ball, USC bounced back in pretty impressive fashion last Saturday, getting a 25 point win and a cover against Oregon State at home. Don't forget that this is a massive revenge spot of the Trojans, as USC was blown out last year in Tempe in a performance so bad that it saw Lane Kiffin lose his job upon hitting the runway in Los Angeles. For those worried about how USC's rush defense (Trojans were absolutely mauled on the ground in Boston) will fare against the 17th ranked rushing attack in the country, keep in mind that ASU's rushing statistics are a bit inflated after games against Weber State and New Mexico (they came back down to earth against UCLA, rushing for only 138 yards). Finally, the home team has covered the spread in four of the last five in this series, and the home team has also won outright seven of the last ten times. Sark's squad gets their vengeance in Los Angeles, as the Trojans win by more than two touchdowns. 

Those thighs, doe.

Oklahoma -5 @ TCU, 3:30 PM EST (Chad)

This is a trap game, right? TCU has a new shiny offense, complete with track stars on the outside (Colby Listenbee) and former five star recruits (running back Aaron Green), Pair that up with Gary Patterson's infamously stingy defense, and the Sooners aren't gonna escape Fort Worth without suffering a loss. Right? Right? Not happening. Boykin doesn't throw a pretty enough deep ball to get it to the TCU speedsters and take advantage of the relative weakness in the OU secondary. Boykin is mobile enough to cause some teams fits, but Erik Striker and his gang of SEC-sized brutes will make things tough for the Frogs up front.  OU is fairly talented and balanced on offense, especially with the emergence of Freshman Phenom Samaje Perine. That will be enough to tame the Frogs. TCU is about to play their first game of the season, and they're gonna lose it handily. OU in a rout. 

Fourth Down: Nebraska +7 at Michigan State, 8 PM EST (Garrett)

But if you don't cover….

I can't believe it's happening, but I'm putting my faith in Bo Pelini. The man who cursed his own fans is 7-11 ATS as a road dog in his tenure at Nebraska, but I think Nebraska can do just enough to keep this one tight in East Lansing. In their one game against formidable opposition, Michigan State's stout defense yielded 4.3 yards per carry to the Oregon Ducks offense. If there is one thing you can bank on the Cornhuskers doing, it's running the ball. Nebraska has the third best rushing attack in the country, led by the country's #1 RB Ameer Abdullah. Despite losing this contest last year, Nebraska was able to move the ball with some success against the Spartans, putting up 392 yards against arguably the best defense in the country last season. In fact, if it wasn't for the five turnovers, Nebraska probably would've gotten the win. As hard as it may be….BELIEVE IN PELINI! 

East Carolina -41 vs. SMU, 12:00 PM EST (Chad)

45-0
43-6
58-6
56-0

Extra Point: Oklahoma vs. TCU UNDER 57.5, 3:30 PM EST (Garrett)

Both games between these teams the past two years have come nowhere near going over the total, and I think that trend will continue in Fort Worth on Saturday. Though OU has looked to be one of the best teams in the country, Gary Patterson is one of the best defensive minds in the game, and he finally has some depth this year. Oklahoma also has a phenomenal defense, and you have to think they'll have the edge against TCU QB Trevone Boykin. With both squads being run-first teams, this should probably be a tight affair dominated by the defenses. 

Alabama @ Ole Miss OVER 52.5, 3:30 PM EST  (Chad)

I see this game going an awful lot like the Alabama opener against West Virginia, when the Tide won a close game 33-23. Both these teams can score, and Lord Saban has been seeing a psychologist about his relationship with points ( I would to if I had Amari Cooper). Dr. Bo will score enough for both Ole Miss and Alabama to get this one over 50 total points, plus some change.

Garrett's Record: 14-8-3

Chad's Record: 10-14-1

Overall Record: 24-22-4

The Realm of Football: Part Two

And the Lord Jameis hath said: "Thou shall plow thine's woman right in her nether reigons." 

Ah, yes...Who would have thought a mere string of words could bring down the playoff hopes and dreams of an entire university? Unbelievably so, the sentence so aptly translated by David Tenenbaum (Twitter: @DTenenbaum) nearly did just that. If it wasn't for the heroics of trusty Squire Maguire and Clemson being Clemson, the mighty Seminoles would find themselves eliminated from playoff contention before the arrival of October. Instead, we will now more than likely be forced to see the realm's least liked player playing for it all in January, leaving us to forever curse the name "Dabo" for not doing the deed. Beyond the shenanigans of Lord Jameis (probably more apt to call him Jameis the Jester), there were plenty of other intriguing happenings in the realm, leaving us with a quite a bit to decipher and discuss. Here are just a few of the things on our feeble minds after four weeks of football.

1. The tide is rising in Mississippi, not Alabama.

Dak The Destroyer eviscerated The Mad Hatter's defense.

Before Paul Finebaum callers start harassing us, Alabama did some really impressive things this week against Florida. We all knew that Amari Cooper isn't from this planet, instead hailing from the some other land in our galaxy that gave birth to Julio Jones. Additionally, Blake Sims looked like a damn good quarterback, making us eat our words for ever doubting a Nick Saban QB (Greg McElroy excluded). That being said, this is what the realm is supposed to expect of Alabama: they have the best recruiting haul year in and year out, have phenomenal facilities, and the Dark Lord of Defense running their ship. Contrast that with the Ole Miss Rebels and the Mississippi State Bulldogs. No one expects anything from these units. Since the earliest days of the realm, these programs have been seen as the Hodors of college football…and now the Hodors just might be contenders for the championship. Though there are still a ton of conference tilts left to be played, both have shown themselves to be capable of going toe to toe with Alabama and Auburn. Nkemdiche's unit in Oxford looked nasty against Boise, laying hard hit after hard hit against the Broncos in the season opener. Combine that with a Bo Wallace that merely distributes and avoids the big mistakes (pray to the CFB Gods for this), and Rebels fans have many reasons to believe they could be playing for it all in Atlanta in December. However, the more impressive team from The Magnolia State is unquestionably Mississippi State. Dan Mullen's group, led by the fearsome DAK THE DESTROYER went into Death Valley, at night, and whipped the Mad Hatter and his crew into submission. Most ardent followers of the game have known about Dak for some time, making the defense's performance the most unbelievable of the night. The Bulldogs went into Baton Rouge, and didn't concede a touchdown to LSU's offense (which has two very good RBs in Hilliard and Fournette) until the fourth quarter. These Mississippi teams are for real, citizens of the realm. Do we dare say that the Egg Bowl will decide the winner of the SEC West? Hard as that may be to fathom, this could be the year that winter indeed comes. 

2. The PAC 12 has challenged the SEC to a trial by combat to decide the best conference race of the season.

Making the winning catch while apparently taking a shot to the jewels? LEGENDARY.

We're not backtracking from what we said about the SEC West a few weeks ago in the first edition of The Realm of Football. Furthermore, the SEC East looks to be wide open given the unpredictability of Spurrier's squad, and the fact that Mark Richt and Gary Pinkel are still in control of Georgia and Mizzou. Yet despite how great these races should be, if this past weekend was any indication, the PAC 12 race will give the SEC all it can handle. The final hours of Saturday night were full of west coast mayhem, as there were two fantastic contests finishing within minutes of each other. First, Pullman began to look like Lubbock, as the Ducks were able to hold off Mike Leach's pesky offense despite giving up seven sacks. Only minutes later, the Cardiac Cats from Tucson completed an unbelievable comeback that included 36 fourth quarter points, and the Hill Mary. Much like the SEC, this conference has shown us that even the bottom feeders can give the top dogs a run, which should lead to an incredible race. Just think about it: USC looked promising after beating Stanford, then fell to lowly BC; UCLA was a popular playoff pick, but has looked unimpressive, and Hundley's status is up in the air; ASU has lost Taylor Kelly for a few weeks, so who knows what the Sun Devils will look like; Utah just went to Ann Arbor and beat the snot out of Michigan in the Big House; Stanford is still a pretty good squad that should get close to 10 wins. There are a ton of unknowns right now in the PAC 12 outside of a certain dude up in Eugene, and it will be fun to watch those questions get answered over the coming weeks.

3. Speaking of that dude in Eugene…

ALL HAIL THE ONE TRUE KING, KING MARIOTA. We can't hide our Marcus Mariota bromance here at Rushing The Field. Even if Lord Jameis wasn't engaging in hijinks, he'd still be second best to the man at the helm of the dystopian duck cyborg blood machine. Despite his offensive line not showing up last week in Pullman, Mariota still went 21-25 for 329 yards and 5 TDs, which also included a key 28 yard scamper on 4th and 10 late in the third quarter when the game was tied. And his yearly stats, you ask? A mere 71 of 96 for 1135 yards and 13 TDs, plus three more scores and 214 yards on the ground. If he can continue at this pace over the next 8 games, he'll finish with over 3,000 yards passing, close to 1,000 on the ground, and roughly 48 combined TDs. Let's hope the Ducks' O-Line can shape up and keep the king upright, as we might be witnessing one of the greatest individual seasons ever. 

4. Marcus is The King, but Optimus Perine may be the baddest man in the land.

CFB's Greg Oden…Someone check this guy's birth certificate!

As West Virginia learned this past week, Samaje Perine is not to be messed with, and is not easy to bring down. College football's version of Greg Oden had his coming out party this weekend, and what a scene it was. 34 carries, 242 yards, 4 TDs. I can't even begin to tell you how many of those yards were after first contact, as the 5'11" true freshman made countless WVU defenders regret taking the field Saturday night. He may not be as dynamic as a certain former Sooner currently in trouble with the law, but he's a bowling ball of a bruiser that is going to wear down Big XII teams left and right in the weeks to come. Either way, the RB by committee experiment at Oklahoma has ended, as Optimus Perine has taken the reigns.

5. Charlie Strong inherited a sacked and smoldering House Longhorn. 

At least they gave Charlie a sweet cowboy hat. 

You know it's bad when you see Twitter debates among respected sports writers and CFB analysts about whether Mack left the program in better shape than Mackovic. Yes, John Freaking Mackovic. Mackovic certainly didn't win a national championship, and the program certainly wasn't the behemoth in terms of national attention it is now thanks to Grandaddy Mack, but when you look at the talent on this squad, you start to wonder what in the world Mack was doing in his last four years on The Forty. If you check NFL DraftScout, you'll find that only six Longhorns are projected to be drafted this season, and while it's still early and much better than last year's donut in the draft, none are projected higher than the 3rd round. It must be said that this website somehow has not included DT Malcom Brown in its rankings, and the one shining star of the Longhorns could be a first or second round pick after this season should he come out. Still, when you're the University of Texas, and you have only one guy who MIGHT be a first round draft pick, someone wasn't doing their job in both recruiting and developing talent. Keep in mind, Mackovic won three conference championships in his last four seasons on The Forty, and left Mack Brown some serious talent in Ricky Williams, Casey Hampton, Shaun Rogers, Leonard Davis, Mike Williams, and Quentin Jammer. There is nothing anywhere close to that on this year's roster. Barring the NCAA allowing Vince Young to suit up again for the Horns, it's going to take a few years for Charlie to get this program back to where it was from 2004-2009 in terms of talent. Let's just hope the burnt orange fanatics can keep that in mind while Charlie rebuilds the house.

Anyone see some Mack and DeLoss in here?

That's all for this week in The Realm of Football! We hope you are enjoying our sub-optimal blogging, and please feel free to share it with other citizens of the realm.

The Four To Score: Week Four

A Tale of Two Bloggers 

"This is how I kick some Richt……"

We're roughly a fifth of the way through the season, and already the cream is rising to the top. Last week proved to be very rough for Chad West, CPA, as he dug himself a hole that he may not be able to get out of. Granted, that's what he deserves for taking Mark Richt against our beloved Steve Spurrier. Once again, the Head Ball Coach proved he completely owns Richt's poor soul, and has buried it somewhere so deep in SEC land that Captain Jack Sparrow wouldn't be able to find it. Thankfully there  is another blogger on this site, who has able to carry Chad's dead weight up a hill in two feet of snow. Hackenberg and Co. could have made it a 5-0 week for the site's blogger above .500, but something tells me he'll settle for a 4-0-1 mark any day of the week. Beyond the triumphs and tragedies of last week, we can't tell you how excited we are that Week Four has finally arrived. Conference races are set to begin, bringing smaller lines and better matchups into play. That also means SEC teams will begin playing each other on a weekly basis, meaning Paul Finebaum's callers will only get more animated and make his show can't-miss radio/television. Before Chad kicks the stool out from beneath his feet, lets get into this week's picks. 

First Down: Florida +14.5 @ Alabama, 3:30 PM EST (Garrett)

"I'm telling you Nick, college football NEEDS us."

Florida can't hide from its record ATS in recent years…It's been horrible. Since Muschamp arrived in Gainesville, the Gators are a very underwhelming 15-22-1 against the number. That being said, I think there's a lot to like about Florida in this spot. Many will look at least week's game and see it as an embarrassing close win over Kentucky, but I think the Wildcats are a lot better than people give them credit for, and surviving that close of a battle should help a team who struggled to win games last season. Matchup wise, you have to like this Florida defense that returns 7 starters against Alabama's duo of unproven QBs. Coker and Sims have yet to play a real defense, and you can bank on Muschamp getting his defensive unit in the best positions possible. Muschamp probably won't be able to pull off the upset in Tuscaloosa, but this game should be a low-scoring, ugly affair leading to a Florida cover. Give me Coach Boom, two touchdowns, and the hook.

Nebraska - 7.5 vs. Miami, 8:00 PM EST (Chad)
From any point from the mid 80's to when these teams met for the 2001 National Championship, the public would be drooling over this matchup. Boy, awful coaches sure can wreck a program (Hi Bill Callahan! And you too, Al Golden). Nebraska looked BAD against McNeese State a few weeks ago, and if not for some late game heroics from Ameer Abdullah they would've suffered a humiliating loss. But, they survived to beat the doors off of Fresno State last week, the same Fresno State team USC beat less soundly to somehow become a playoff front runner (Bahahaha). Arkansas State ran the ball on Miami last week, after Louisville did the same in Week 1. Bo Pelini won't over think this one. He'll let Miami true freshman QB Brad Kaaya make mistakes, and absolutely pound Ameer Abdullah and Imani Cross all day. Only an awful choke job by Nebraska could screw this one up. No way that happens with this man at the helm, right?

Pictured provided without commentary.

Second Down: Mississippi State +9.5 @ LSU, 7:00 PM EST (Garrett)

Dak The Destroyer

As tough as it is to play a night game in Death Valley, I'm not sold on the LSU Tigers this year. They struggled mightily against Wisconsin, as the Badgers were able to pound the rock against the Tigers (39 attempts for 268 yards, 6.9 ypc). Much like Alabama, I'm also not sold on LSU at the QB position, as Anthony Jennings has been unimpressive (9-21 against Wisconsin, only a 52% completion rate on the season). Conversely, I'm a big fan of Mississippi State QB Dak Prescott, and think that Dan Mullen's offense should be able to put up some points against the Tigers. The Bulldogs defense did look shaky against UAB, but if they can get some stops here and there, Mullen will have a shot at a signature upset win. Expect the Bulldogs to stack the box and force Jennings to beat them with his arm, which should lead to a very close game. (Wait as long as you can if you're playing this game, and hopefully some +10's will show up on the board).

Ask Texas about facing Taysom--the bionic knee'd Alpha Mormon.

BYU -14 vs. Virginia, 3:30 PM EST (Chad)

Despite what the scoreboard said two weeks ago, UVA's win against Richmond left something to be desired. The Spiders gained nearly 100 more yards than the Cavaliers, and if not for 3 costly Richmond turnovers it would have been a very different game (obviously). All told, Virginia has been abysmal on offense all season, barely eclipsing 300 yards a game. BYU got into a dog fight with a pretty bad Houston squad last Friday, but pulled off a win thanks to a 16 point first quarter lead and Taysom Hill's ability to move the chains. Honestly, the Cougars got bored and a last second Houston Hail Mary to end the half made for a deceivingly close margin at half time. BYU's defense has been stout all year. Though the Cougars haven't played anything that resembles a competent offense, the hapless Cavialers are more akin to UConn than they are Oregon, and won't be able to move the ball in any meaningful way. UVA settles for a couple field goals and maybe a score, while BYU and Mormon Tebow move the chains all day in a comfortable win.

Third Down: Oklahoma -7.5 @ West Virginia, 7:30 PM EST (Garrett)

I loved watching the Mountaineers get a cover (and outright win) for me last week, and it seems everyone in the country is in love with Holgo's boys now too. The line for this one opened up around -12.5, but has plummeted over the week down to Oklahoma -7.5. While West Virginia is much better than we expected them to be at the beginning of the season, I just can't see this game being decided by less than double digits. Clint Trickett has looked impressive, and crazy things can happen in Morgantown, but it appears that Good Old Bobby Stoops has his early 2000's swagger back. The Sooners defense has been as good as advertised, and Trevor Knight looked like he was playing Alabama all over again last weekend (20-33, 308 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT). You also can't overlook how WVU performed against Bama's rushing attack (288 yds), as the Sooners bring a damn good running game to the table. Oklahoma experienced a scare in Morgantown two years ago, eliminating the chance of Bobby's crew overlooking this game on the schedule. Though I will be praying for this to get down to a flat -7, the Sooners should win comfortably, as the defense finds a way to slow down Holgo Magic. (There's no slowing down Switzer drinking Sooner Magic, though.)

Here at Rushing the Field, we are completely shocked Iowa sucks...

Pitt -6 vs. Iowa 11:00 PM EST (Chad)
The public perception of these teams couldn't get further apart. Iowa is a part of the floundering B1G, and has had a massive part of the whole country souring on the conference.  Unconvincing victories against Northern Iowa and Ball State were followed up by a loss to in-state rival Iowa State. The perception is right--Iowa sucks, and Kirk Ferentz has been stealing money for the better part of a decade. Pitt is only two weeks off of beating Boston College, who downed the mighty Men of Troy last week. Pitt is running the ball at will and if James Conner stays healthy he'll probably lead the ACC in rushing. As I noted a few weeks ago, the Panthers are becoming a team that matches the personality of their coach, famed ground and pound guru Paul Chryst. Pitt continues their march towards eventually becoming overrated and covers.

Fourth Down: New Mexico -3 @ New Mexico State, 8:00 PM EST (Garrett)

Ah yes, the Rio Grande Rivalry. Much like green chile and methamphetamine, this rivalry is held dearly in the hearts of New Mexicans. The games are often closely contested, with animosity abound throughout the stadiums, as members of the state cheer on their respective storied programs. Sadly, I'm speaking about the basketball version of this rivalry. Yes, it's football season, which means we have to endure another one of these meaningless affairs, as the two programs of New Mexico wander aimlessly through the land of college football's favelas. Yes, my friends….Games like these are the reason point spreads were invented. For some reason, the Lobos of Walter White-ville are only favored by a field goal. If you remember earlier this season, UNM was favored by 8 against UTEP at home, meaning the Lobos would be roughly 4-5 points better than the Miners on a neutral field in Vegas' eyes. New Mexico State was a 10.5 point underdog in El Paso last week, making the Aggies about 5.5 to 7 points worse than the Miners on a neutral field. From a line-making perspective, this line doesn't make much sense to me, as the Lobos should be a minimum of a 9 point favorite on a neutral field based on the previous games involving the three border area teams (even with some adjustment from preseason ratings). New Mexico State hasn't beaten anyone noteworthy. They also couldn't stop the run against UTEP last week (Aggies gave up 334 yards), and that's just what the Lobos will do with their option attack. New Mexico gets the W and the cover in The City of Crosses this weekend.

Georgia Tech +8 @ Virginia Tech, 12:00 PM EST (Chad)
The triple option is an absolute pain in the ass to prepare for. If you don't have a bye week to prepare for this attack, you just might be in for a long day. Georgia Tech is infamously helmed by triple option virtuoso Paul Johnson, and his Yellow Jackets have lost 6 of the last 7 they've played against Virginia Tech. However, none of those loses have been by double digits, and four of those loses have been by 7 points or less. Some of the shine has come off of Frank Beamer's squad after an upset loss to East Carolina last week, and I think it's become clear the Hokies aren't exactly world beaters. Virginia Tech has been great against the run thus far, but this isn't just any running team. This is 60 runs right at you,with your defensive lineman and linebackers getting cut, trapped and countered for 4 quarters. It's no fun to defend, especially without a comfortable lead.  Virginia Tech isn't good enough to get out to a big lead, and will have to defend this cloud of dust all game. Virginia Tech probably wins, but it's not by more than a score. 

Extra Point: Florida vs. Alabama UNDER 51.5, 3:30 PM EST (Garrett)

If these guys could win games by scoring zero points, they would. 

As I stated earlier, this game should be UGLY. The Dark Lords of Defense shall square off, with the Apprentice looking to get a signature win over the Master. There will be hard hits, plenty of Verne Lundquist "OH MY GOODNESS" calls, and a pretty good chance of seeing Angry Muschamp on camera multiple times. Just be thankful you aren't playing in this game, as the players on Sunday will probably look something like Chad did last Sunday. This one should stay well under the total, with the first team to 20 winning the contest.

Washington State vs. Oregon OVER 75, 10:30 PM EST (Chad)

ALL the points. Okay, some real analysis, I guess. 75 is a ton of points, but these two teams are no stranger to pushing games over this point total. Over the past two seasons, Washington State has been involved in 7 games that went over 75 points (including last year's tilt with Oregon). Oregon has only played in two, partly because they speak a language foreign to Mike Leach--Defense. Oregon is gonna score plenty in this one, and while Wazzu may struggle, neither one of these teams are gonna pull of the gas.

Garrett's Record: 10-4-1 (71.4%)

Chad's Record: 5-9-1 (35.7%)

Overall Record: 15-13-1 (53.6%)