Week 8 NFL Picks

Last Week – 57-37-8

Cleveland (-3) @ St Louis – I really don't understand why this spread is so close.

Detroit @ Chicago (-5 ½) – It's true, I am biased.

Indianapolis (-7) @ Carolina – Classic look ahead game for almost every other team in the league. I just think that Peyton Manning and the rest of the leaders on the Colts don't let the rest of the team look ahead to big games like the one against New England next week.

New York Giants (-10) @ Miami – London's Calling.

Oakland @ Tennessee (-7) – An extremely tricky game to pick, but with Vince Young back in Nashville, I'll roll with the Titans.

Philadelphia (-1) @ Minnesota – The Vikings offensive line makes all the difference.

Pittsburgh (-4) @ Cincinnati – The easiest game of the week to pick.

Buffalo @ New York Jets (-3) – The Jets are awful, and the Bills are dramatically improving week by week.

Houston @ San Diego (NL) – The Charger's success in this game depends on their ability to focus all week.

Jacksonville @ Tampa Bay (-4) – The Jaguars only have had five days to prepare, and their starting quarterback is out a month. You have to go with the Bucs here.

New Orleans (-3) @ San Francisco – I don't think that Trent Dilfer can score nearly enough points to keep the 49ers in the game, and he definitely can't win.

Washington @ New England (-17) – The Patriots are just too good to take the points.

Green Bay @ Denver (-3) – The Packers demise begins.

Week 9 College Picks

Record to Date: 38-26

Michigan State @ Iowa – The debate is - do I watch?

Ohio State @ Penn State – This is the best ABC could do for their primetime game? Look at the two pac-10 matchups, and tell me that you wouldn't rather see USC Oregon than Ohio State knock the tar out of JoePa.

Florida @ Georgia – The biggest cocktail party this side of Christiano Ronadlo's pool house goes to the Gators this year.

West Virginia @ Rutgers – This is where the games become very tough to pick.

Cal @ Arizona State – The first of two big questions in this matchup is how will California respond after their two straight losses? The second – is Arizona State good enough to win a national championship?

USC @ Oregon – This game is nearly impossible for me to pick, and I have already started praying to God that the fourth level Iowa City penthouse receives this game.

Kansas @ Texas A&M – Texas A&M is the worst 6-2 division I-A team in the country right now.

South Carolina @ Tennessee – Tennessee let me down last week, and they'll probably repeat that accomplishment this week too.

Bonus: This doesn't count towards my overall record, but I'll be pulling for Virginia Tech in tonight's game, and I fully expect them to come out with the victory.

Also, the World Series is over.

Week 7 NFL Picks

Do I love this time of year or what? You have the baseball playoffs, probably the best playoffs of any sport. There's the NFL and College seasons both in full swing, even though this college season has been rather boring for me (I'm a traditional kind of a guy). There's the soccer season, even though Chelsea is falling apart, especially with their best player Didier Drogba wanting out of Stamford Bridge. The end of the NASCAR season's ending, and the NBA is starting back up.

Not to mention, the leaves are changing. And the best thing of all about the fall season is the weather changing, which means that all the guys walking around in sandals have to put them in the back of the closet and switch to tennis shoes. Love it, and what I love more is if I had the gull to drop down some money on my football picks. And without further ado, here are the picks…

 

Record to Date – 49 – 31 – 8

 

Arizona @ Washington (-8 ½) – I've been reading things from the Redskins fans and players saying that they should be 5-1 or 6-0 to this point. I think that they'll start closing teams out late in games with Clinton Portis and Ladell Betts. With that being said, I look for the Redskins to blowout the Cardinals this week with Tim Rataay just signing with the team last week.

Atlanta @ New Orleans (-8) – One win over a marginal team, and everyone's ready to crown the Saints. Not so fast our friends at bodog, take Atlanta, new quarterback Byron Leftwich, and the points.

Baltimore (-3) @ Buffalo – This line is surprisingly low, and I think that the bye week will help the Bills significantly, especially fixing their mangled defense.

New England (-17) @ Miami – Seventeen point underdogs at home? I don't believe I've ever seen that, and on a related note I saw on PTI today that they were arguing whether or not the Dolphins could pull the upset. I didn't listen for the answer because I am quite sick of sports talk television and radio right now, but the question that determines whether or not the Dolphins have a chance is – get ready for it – who is Miami's quarterback? Cleo Lemon, and when facing a team of the magnitude of the Patriots you're going to have to score quite a few points (See AFC playoffs last year), and I don't think Cleo Lemon will do this for the Dolphins Sunday.

San Francisco @ New York Giants (-9) – I think the Giants have a shot at winning the NFC East title.

Tampa Bay @ Detriot (-2 ½) – Does somebody know something I don't? Detroit's hyped WAY too much.

Tennessee (NL) @ Houston – For Tennessee to have any chance, Vince Young must play. So, I'm picking the Texans because I think if Young does play he's going to be significantly limited, and the Texans will just tee off on him in the pocket.

Kansas City @ Oakland (-3) – Yeesh. There are about four games this week I don't really have any idea of who to pick. So I'll go with the team in this game with the best player on the field.

New York Jets @ Cincinnati (-6 ½) – I'm picking against the Bengals until they prove me wrong, and against the Jets there's a distinct possibility that this is that week.

Minnesota @ Dallas (-10) - The Bears are going to really look terrible after the Viking's christening against the Cowboys offense.

Chicago @ Philadelphia (-6) – I think the Eagles win, but the Bears keep it close (I hope).

St Louis @ Seattle (-8 ½) – A game like the Raiders-Chiefs where I really don't have any idea. But I think that the homefield advantage will play a factor before this game is over. With that being said though, I'm changing my mind and taking the points.

Pittsburgh (-4) @ Denver – If I could put money down on a game, it'd most likely be this one. I think the Steelers will use the Sunday night stage to announce themselves.

Indianapolis (-3 ½) @ Jacksonville – The Jaguars are on the cusp of being considered by the talking heads of ESPN to be a Super Bowl team, but I think that they'll have to wait a few weeks because Indianapolis will play exceptional coming off their bye week, which is huge for a finesse team like the Colts.

Week 8 College Picks

Record to Date – (33-23) – We're falling off the wagon as teams go deeper into conference play, but we'll try to correct the problem this week with some relatively easy games.

Iowa @ Purdue – Purdue will score 28 points, a feat which Iowa hasn't come close to on Saturday.

Florida @ Kentucky – I think Kentucky will suffer a let down after their gigantic win last week against LSU.

Michigan @ Illinois – Michigan continues their resurgence against a distraught Illini team.

Auburn @ LSU – LSU gets its act together, and makes its push for the national championship in an extremely physical game against Auburn.

Michigan State @ Ohio State – How is Ohio State the top ranked BCS team? The best two teams they've beaten are Purdue and Washington.

Miami @ Florida State – Two lackluster teams where the homefield advantage will make all the difference.

Tennessee @ Alabama – Two incredibly inconsistent SEC teams, and I'll just go with the hotter of the two teams.

California @ UCLA – UCLA really isn't that good, but with that being said I'm sure they'll beat Cal.

Week 6 NFL Picks

Record to Date – 42-27-5 – An ever improving record after an excellent Week 5.

Remember that we are using the lines provided by the great folks at bodog.com, and without further ado, here are the picks for this week.

Cincinnati (+3) @ Kansas City – I thought about going with the majority and picking the Bengals, but I don't have much confidence in a team with their best running back banged up and a terrible defense. On a related note, isn't Marvin Lewis supposed to be a defensive genius?

Houston @ Jacksonville (-7) – With Andre Johnson out, I have to pick the Jaguars – who are without a doubt the most underrated team right now in the entire league (Which may change after their game in two weeks against the Colts).

Miami @ Cleveland (-4 ½) – The Dolphins are going to break their winless streak one of these weeks, and I'm anticipating this week as being the time that the accomplish this.

Minnesota @ Chicago (-5 ½) – With the Packers back in their sights, the Bears will not squander their chance to run them down by losing against the Vikings (at least I hope not).

Philadelphia (-3 ½) @ New York Jets - Brian Westbrook is the engine in the Eagles offense, and it's a good thing for Philadelphia that their engine returns healthy after their bye week.

St Louis @ Baltimore (-10) – This is a difficult line to pick. On one hand you have the Ravens who are terrible on offense, and on the other you have the Rams who are also horrible on offense. So it's really a toss up.

Tennessee @ Tampa Bay (-3) – This line puzzles me a great deal because I think that the Titans are the better team, especially considering that Cadillac Williams is out for the year. So I'll go with the Titans in this game, even though something seems suspicious.

Washington @ Green Bay (-3) – The Redskins, along with the Jaguars, are vastly underrated. And this week I look for Jason Campbell to play very well against the Packers stout defense.

Carolina @ Arizona (-4 ½) – It's a bad sign when I don't even know who is starting for the Panthers, thus I'm going with Kurt Warner and the Cardinals.

New England (-6 ½) @ Dallas – This is must see television. For about 1 ½ quarters.

Oakland @ San Diego (-10) – Note to Norv Turner – run Tomlinson and Turner 35+ times and you win the ballgame.

New Orleans
@ Seattle (-7) – The Saints are really, really bad. But Shaun Alexander looks old a decrepit, and I think Seattle will win, but only by about ten.

New York Giants (-3 ½) @ Atlanta – Another puzzling line, but I'll go with the Giants until Joey Harrington shows consistency or is pulled.

 

Week 7 NCAA Picks

Record to Date – (30-18)

I'm starting to cut back the content for this blog because as I have previously said, I've started to develop ideas for a new website which I hope to launch in the near future. So, in the attempt to avoid significant burn out, I'm limiting myself in the length and content of my entries. With that said, here are my picks…

Illinois @ Iowa – With Dace Richardson's addition to the Hawkeyes list of injured players, I look for Illinois to stay on their current role.

Purdue @ Michigan – Ohio State mapped out how to beat the Boilermakers, and all Michigan has to do is follow their archrival's direction.

LSU @ Kentucky – Kentucky was ranked in the top 8 last week, which would lead most to believe that Kentucky and LSU (ranked #1) are rather evenly matched. This week, LSU illustrates the gigantic separation between the number one team and the field.

Missouri @ Oklahoma – The difference here is simply homefield advantage, but Missouri is an excellent team and will be very good for years to come (Also, they are the only team that has beaten Illinois this year too).

Auburn @ Arkansas – I don't have any idea who will win this game, but I'll go with the better offense and Arkansas.

Wisconsin @ Penn State – Both teams were vastly overrated at the beginning of the season, as was the Big 10 overall. And I don't really know who's a better team at this point, so I'll go with Penn State and the better defense.

Indiana @ Michigan State – Is Indiana for real?

Texas A&M @ Texas Tech – Texas A&M rides their strong running game to triumph over the pass happy Red Raiders.

Week 6 NCAA Picks

Quick and to the point today.

Record to Date: 26-14 (Tied with one, trailing one, and leading five Daily Iowan writers)

The winners are in bold.

Iowa @ Penn State

Florida @ LSU

Ohio State @ Purdue

Oklahoma @ Texas

Nebraska @ Missouri

Virginia Tech @ Clemson

Georgia @ Tennessee

Wisconsin @ Illinois

Week 5 NFL Picks

I'm currently in the process of completing a lot of school work and watching the MLB playoffs right now, so I'm just going to run down the picks without very much analysis. More detail will follow in the next few days about the state of the Cubs and all the teams in the baseball playoffs.

Here are my picks:

Record to Date – 32-25-4 (Good, but not spectacular)

Panthers @ Saints (-3 1/2) - The Saints simply are not a very good team, and even without Jake Delhomme, the Panthers defense should be stout enough to shut down the Saints offense.

Jaguars (-2) @ Chiefs – This is the game that I believe is an absolute lock. With that being said, I'm sure Kansas City will come out and beat the Jaguars by 27.

Lions @ Redskins (-3 ½) – Jason Campbell's improving, and the Redskins offense should have their way against a weak Detroit defense.

Falcons @ Titans (-8 ½) – Joey Harrington finds a way to keep this game within a touchdown throughout, but throws a late interception that allows the Titans to squeeze it out.

Dolphins @ Texans (-6) – No Andre Johnson, the Texans are no good.

Seahawks @ Steelers (-6) – I seriously thought about picking the Seahawks for this game, but I kept thinking back to the Steelers v. Bears game two years ago where the Steelers just kept running right at the Bears undersized defense. I foresee the same thing happening to the Seahawk's undersized defense.

Browns @
Patriots (-17) – This is an absolutely huge spread, and I think the Patriots end up only winning by 14 against an improving Browns team that I almost picked as my sleeper team in front of the Bills.

Cardinals (-3 ½) @ Rams – The Cardinals defense is probably the most underrated defense in the entire league.

Jets @ Giants (-3 ½) – Brandon Jacobs comes back and the Giants continue their upswing in the NFC East standings.

Buccaneers @ Colts (-10) – The loss of Cadillac Williams is absolutely huge for the Bucs. I sincerely hope that he does indeed get better after suffering an injury that for some reason reminded me a lot of Shaun Livingston's devastating injury last season. But, getting back to this game, I just think that the Bucs will be overmatched on the Indy turf against a team whose defense is improving every week.

Chargers @ Broncos (-1 ½) – I'm making the proposal that if Norv Turner does not run the combination of LaDainian Tomlinson and Michael Turner 35 times, he should be fired on the spot.

Ravens (-3 ½) @ 49ers – The big question from this game is: are the 49ers a better team without Alex Smith playing quarterback? There's a likely possibility that the answer to that question is yes.

Bears @ Packers (-3 ½) – This is the Bears last stand. If they lose this game to the Packers, they can kiss the division championship goodbye and probably the wildcard too. I have a feeling that the Packers will end up winning, but I think it will be close. On a perpendicular subject, how is Chicago's quarterbacking messiah working out so far?

Cowboys (-11) @ Bills – I picked a lot of road teams this week, and the trend will continue here. If Dallas focuses throughout the week and Wade Philips can properly prepare them for the Bills, then the Cowboys will win big.