Football for Breakfast

Mmm. Football for Breakfast. Here's some last minute picks before the games start this morning.

West Virginia 27, Connecticut 20
Somebody has to win the Big East, right? At the moment I think West Virginia is the strongest team in the weakest of all BCS conferences. UConn is without the services of their top two quarterbacks, and running back Donald Brown (aka Javon Ringer-East) can only do so much. Meanwhile the West Virginia backfield duo of Pat White and Noel Devine are just starting to hit their stride. UConn will put up a fight, but they won’t be able to contain Devine’s speed for 60 minutes.

Central Michigan 32, Indiana 23
Indiana got their upset win a week ago against an injury plagued Northwestern team missing their top quarterback and running back. This week they’ll return to earth when one of the top non-BCS teams you know nothing about comes to town.

Virginia 25, Miami 17
Virginia continues their winning ways by beating a talented, but young and inconsistent Miami team. Look out for the 'Canes in 2009.

Notre Dame 34, Pittsburgh 27
Who knows what Pittsburgh team is going to show up? The Big East Conference has some of the most inconsistent programs in the nation. Notre Dame will beat Pitt the same way Rutgers did: with the passing game. Jimmy “the Ostrich” Clausen throws a nice deep ball and Golden Tate and true freshman Michael Floyd are more than capable of cashing in on the big play opportunities sure to come their way.

Mississippi State 24, Kentucky 21
Rich Brooks made a smart move by designating Randall Cobb the starting quarterback. The wide receiver-turned-signal caller has excellent athleticism and looks natural throwing the football. The problem is Kentucky has been bitten hard by the injury bug. Not only are receiver Dicky Lyons and running back Derrick Locke out for the season, but three offensive linemen and up to five defensive starters may miss this game against the Croomdawgs as well. You aren’t going to win many games missing that many key players no matter who you are.

Boston College 27, Clemson 17
Clemson is done. There isn’t a single player on the roster capable of blocking anybody, so BC’s defense should have no problem shutting the inept Tigers down.

Iowa 20, Illinois 16
Iowa running back Shonn Green will chew up yards and clock against the underachieving Illini defense, which will keep Juice Williams and Arrelious Benn on the sidelines.

Louisville 34, Syracuse 15
I’m going to go ahead and start hyping up the Cardinals. The rest of the Big East is clearly incapable of shooting themselves in the foot, so why can’t Steve Kragthorpe’s gang crash the party a year early?

South Carolina 24, Tennessee 16
Could this be the last meeting between Phil Fulmer and Steve Spurrier? This head coaching rivalry has brought us some great moments – such as the famous “you can’t spell ‘Citrus’ without ‘UT’” blast. I’m picking Spurrier for old time’s sake.

Oregon State 33, Arizona State 27
The honeymoon is over for Dennis Erickson in Tempe. After a successful first season (that happened to coincide with an easy schedule), the Sun Devils are crashing and burning in year two.

Football for Breakfast

It might be Week Eight of the college football season, but it’s Week One in J.Pike’s new Saturday headquarters. As I mentioned in a previous post, I recently bought a house. Well, we got the cable and internet set up, so this will be the first of what will surely be many football watching Saturdays in the new place. There are still several items left out of the equation, such as a place to sit and a grill to make my own brisket, but these two issues should be remedied in the very near future.

While I get comfortable in my spot on the floor, here’s a few more picks:

Wake Forest 24, Maryland 17
As my partner said, take the fundamentally sound Demon Decons over the wildly inconsistent Terrapins.

Purdue 30, Northwestern 27
Joe Tiller’s needling of Curtis Painter in the media will finally pay off. No, Painter won’t play any better, but the offensive coordinator will decide to give the ball to his talented tailback Kory Sheets more than usual. That plus a surprisingly decent defense will get the Boilers a much needed win.

Connecticut 27, Rutgers 20
Rutgers has a good chance to pick up their first win over a Division 1-A opponent this season since UConn QB Tyler Lorenzen is sitting out due to injury. But Husky running back Dennis Brown will be too much for the stunting Scarlet Knights. He might be held to no gain several times, but when Rutgers blitzes the wrong hole Brown will make them pay.

Wisconsin 29, Iowa 15
Wisconsin’s schedule played a big part of their recent “struggles”, but Iowa has been struggling for years now. I expect the Wisconsin defense to set the tone early by exposing the Hawkeyes’ average-at-best quarterback play. That will allow P.J. Hill and John Clay to run the Iowa defense ragged, control the clock, and put Wisconsin back on the right track.

Nebraska 32, Iowa State 23
Nebraska’s woes in the secondary will be evident early in this game, but the Husker offense will take control in the second half and Bo Pelini will make the necessary adjustments to get Nebraska back on the plus side of .500.

Navy 23, Pittsburgh 21
These are exactly the kind of ballgames Dave Wannstedt’s Panthers have lost the past couple seasons. Just when they are starting to pick up momentum, they’ll catch a solid fundamental football team like Navy and lay an egg. The Navy backfield of quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada Nahasapeemapetilon and running back Shun White don’t have the talent of their counterparts, but they’ll outshine them today with their deadly efficient triple option attack.

Stanford 29, UCLA 26
I’m hesitant to pick this game because it seems like every time I pick either one of these teams to win, they end up losing. UCLA is once again suffering through an injury plagued season, so I think the feisty Stanford bunch will be able to pick up the road win.

Colorado 36, Kansas State 23
Colorado has another year to go before they are a player in the North, but at least the Buffs are headed in the right direction. Kansas State fans can tell you they’re due for another lifeless performance.

Washington 26, Oregon State 24
This is a total hunch pick. Everything in my head says Oregon State wins handily. But I have a feeling Ty Willingham’s squad will find a way to get their first win of the season.

Tennessee 26, Mississippi State 12
Check it out Brent – I’m picking against My Bulldogs! Tennessee quarterback Nick Stephens is starting to get comfortable in his role as the starting quarterback, so the Vols will score a bit more than the pathetic 11.3 points they have averaged the last four weeks. Eric Berry and company shouldn’t have any troubles shutting down the anemic Croomdawg offense.

Football for Breakfast

After ACL Fest last weekend, I’m ready to get back to watching some football. I plan on giving more gameday commentary today, but we’ll see if that actually happens. In the mean time, here’s some last minute picks:

Georgia Tech 28, Duke 24
If Duke is going to be a real live player in the watered down ACC this year, they’ll need to at least compete in this game. Paul Johnson is a good enough coach that it won’t matter if Josh Nesbitt plays or not.

Michigan State 20, Iowa 17
Iowa is good enough up the middle to slow down Javon Ringer. But offensively Iowa isn’t good enough to capitalize.

Boston College 23, N.C. State 13
Welcome to Interception Fest 2008. Chris Crane and Harrison Beck tend to find wide open linebackers and safeties more frequently than they find players wearing their own colors, so you can expect there to be at least five or six picks thrown in this game. N.C. State will probably be without their best offensive and defensive players yet again (QB Russell Wilson and LB Nate Irving), so BC’s defense will pace another victory.

Ole Miss 26, South Carolina 18
South Carolina is going with Chris Smelley at quarterback, which means the Gamecocks still don’t have a quarterback. The defense is good, but they can’t compensate for that sorry offense and not wear down as the year goes along.

Western Michigan 34, Ohio 21
The Joel Cooper Special! Western will get revenge on Nebraska (sort of) by beating one of its former coaches. Frank Solich can’t catch a break with this schedule.

Notre Dame 28, Stanford 27
Stanford will give the Golden Domers all they can handle, but Golden Tate will come up with a long touchdown reception late to propel Notre Dame to a very misleading 4-1 record.

Miami 21, Florida State 13
This game used to be one you would circle on the calendar every year. Now it’s just another game between two unranked opponents. Miami is on the way up, but Florida State’s defense still has some fight left in them.

Oklahoma State 34, Texas A&M 28
This won’t be the easy game the Pokes were expecting. A&M is hampered with Dennis Franchione’s thin roster, but I’ll take Mike Goodson against Oklahoma State’s defense any day of the week.

UL-Lafayette 16, UL-Monroe 10
It’s the battle for Louisiana. Monroe plays solid defense, but the two-headed rushing attack of Lafayette quarterback Michael Desormeaux and running back Tyrell Fenroy will wear them down in the end.

Tennessee 27, Northern Illinois 12
The Tennessee quarterback job is finally up for grabs. The coaching staff’s commitment to Jonathan Crompton despite his horrendous start could have led to a team mutiny had they not given Nick Stephens a chance.

Arizona 31, Washington 17
Washington quarterback Jake Locker won’t play due to a broken right thumb, but don’t count winlesss Washington out of this game. Arizona hasn’t been a beacon of consistency under Mike Stoops and I’ve seen enough from Washington to think they’ve got an upset or two in them.

Fresno State 38, Hawaii 21
A loss for Hawaii here would drop them to 1-4 on the season. It was nice knowing ye, Rainbowed Warriors.

Football for Breakfast

It’s ACL Fest weekend, so unfortunately I won’t be watching any games this afternoon. I will however be checking out several bands I haven’t seen live before, such as Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes, the Mars Volta, and festival headliner Foo Fighters. There might even be a festival recap next week if you’re lucky.

I’m going to try to sneak out early tonight (sorry Beck) to watch Alabama/Georgia and Virginia Tech/Nebraska, but that will be the extent of my football viewing this weekend. Before I apply the sun block and head out to Zilker Park, here’s a few more picks:

Michigan State 36, Indiana 20
Javon Ringer is too much for the Indiana defense and Kellen Lewis is rusty after missing the whole offseason.

Duke 34, Virginia 14
Duke is a favorite in an ACC game for the first time in what must be a decade at least. And they should be because Virginia is bad. Side note: It looks like former Virginia quarterback Peter Lalich is transferring to Oregon State.

Pittsburgh 27, Syracuse 14
Speaking of bad teams, is there anybody playing worse than Syracuse right now?

Northwestern 27, Iowa 17
This is one of my locks of the week, as well as one of my upset picks of the week. Iowa isn’t anything special and C.J. Bacher and Tyrell Sutton will show the Hawkeyes a thing or two about how to score points.

Arkansas State 35, Memphis 32
Arkie State seems to be scoring a ton of points this year. Memphis seems stuck in neutral. This should be a shootout though.

Fresno State 28, UCLA 24
Your guess is as good as mine. Was Tennessee that bad? Or is UCLA just suffering from all the injuries? I’ll go with Fresno because it’s the safer pick, but you never know when UCLA’s defense is going to rise to the occasion.

Purdue 31, Notre Dame 20
Purdue running back Kory Sheets has been awesome so far this year. That’s way more than I can say for anybody on the Notre Dame offense. The Domers’ offensive line still needs a lot of work, and Purdue’s defense is sneaky-good at times. That’s why I think Purdue rolls in South Bend.

Oregon 46, Washington State 13
Both teams are down to their third string quarterbacks already. The difference is Oregon has a lot more depth all around than Wazzu does. It’s going to be a long first year for Paul Wulff. Jeremiah Johnson and LeGarrette Blount run wild.

Oklahoma State 37, Troy 24
The Cowboys won’t get blown out in this game again … will they?

New Mexico 27, New Mexico State 21
Even without quarterback Donovan Porterie, the Lobos are better than their in-state rivals. The Aggies fired Tony Samuel for a joke of a coach in Hal Mumme, and this is what they get.

UTEP 27, Central Florida 20
UTEP will finally get their first win of the season. UCF is struggling, especially offensively where George O’Leary needs to settle on one of his two average young quarterbacks.

Stanford 30, Washington 27
The difficult season for Washington will continue. I like the overall scrappiness of Jim Harbaugh’s squad, and I think the Stanford defense will get the best of Jake Locker in the fourth quarter.

Football for Breakfast

Breakfast seems to be getting later and later every week. Now I'm barely getting up in time for the 11 o'clock games! Oh well. Here's some quick picks for breakfast:

Georgia Tech 13, Mississippi St. 9
Can you say defensive battle? I don't see Wesley Carroll and the Mississippi State offense having much success against the Michael Johnson and company. Paul Johnson has the coaching edge here, so I think the Yellow Jackets hang around all day and bust one late for the win.

Iowa 20, Pittsburgh 17
This is a measuring stick game for both programs and both coaches. Even though I think Pitt has the better team, I have more faith in Kirk Ferentz than Dave Wannstedt right now.

Boston College 17, Central Florida 13
BC hasn't been very good offensively so far this year. UCF has been good defensively. That spells close, low scoring game.

UCLA 31, Arizona 20
After last week's embarrassing loss to BYU, the Bruins will be more than happy to face one of the most poorly coached teams in the Pac-10. Norm Chow and company will make Mike Stoops look silly - again.

Miami 30, Texas A&M 17
How good is Miami? We'll find out a little bit about them today. Watch out for Mike Goodson though - he can make things happen.

Virginia Tech 23, North Carolina 17
Seems to me everyone is a bit quick to jump on the Tar Heel bandwagon. I'm not sure Rutgers was all that great. The Hokies will get back on track.

Rutgers 34, Navy 30
Speaking of Rutgers not being that good, I'm still sort of drinking the Kool-Aid anyway. Kenny Britt just oozes with talent so I think the Scarlet Knight offense explodes today.

Florida State 24, Wake Forest 20
This should be an interesting matchup. Wake Forest comes in with the hype of preseason expectations, while Florida State has been flying under the radar. I still think Wake is overrated, so give me FSU.

Ole Miss 29, Vanderbilt 23
I actually like both of these teams. Vandy is undefeated and actually getting top 25 attention from us here at Pikes Picks thanks to their solid play so far this season. Unfortunately I think Ole Miss has a little bit more talent - and Houston Nutt. Ole Miss pulls out the win late.

TCU 32, SMU 13
TCU rolls in this rivalry game. I'm not sure June Jones is worth the $2 mil he's making.

Purdue 41, Central Michigan 28
These two teams met twice last year and there was very little defense played in either matchup. Purdue looks improved on that side of the ball so far this year, so I think Kory Sheets will outscore Dan LeFevour.

Fresno State 31, Toledo 29
Fresno had better not be suffering from a hangover after their loss to Wisconsin last week because Toledo can beat 'em. I'll give Fresno the nod though despite their recent history of letdowns following big games.

Football for Breakfast

It’s week three and it looks like most of the cupcakes are finally gone. Weird – for some reason I just had a flashback to food days at work. Anyway, there are three top 25 matchups this week, which is one more than the first two weeks combined. There’s also the first BIG game of the year between Ohio State and USC tonight. Overall there should be quite a few more entertaining games this week.

At the risk of sounding like a paid advertisement, I’d like to relay to you one of the great discoveries I’ve made in quite some time: ESPN60.com. I was able to tune it to way more games last weekend than I ever imagined possible. The video quality is great and it’s quite amazing being able to flip back and forth between several games so quickly. Check it out sometime if you have the chance.

I watched the Washington State/Baylor game that was moved to Friday night due to Hurricane Ike. Those two teams are awful. Washington State in particular might be the worst team in the nation. There’s only one reason I bring this game up and his name is Robert Griffin. Griffin was by far the best athlete on the field, running for 217 yards and 2 touchdowns on only 11 carries. He also displayed a strong arm and nice touch on the deep ball as well. He’s already probably the best player Baylor has had in years and will be a factor in the Big XII for the next couple years.

Before the games kick off, here’s a few more picks:
Michigan State 34, Florida Atlantic 21
Duke 34, Navy 27
Buffalo 25, Temple 18
Ball State 36, Akron 30
Michigan 16, Notre Dame 13
Virginia Tech 13, Georgia Tech 10
Oregon State 34, Hawaii 24
Nebraska 40, New Mexico State 21
Connecticut 20, Virginia 10
Arizona 27, New Mexico 20

Football for Breakfast

It’s Saturday and I’m ready to go. This will be my first home weekend of the year after making the road trip to Lincoln last weekend. I have chosen to honor the occasion by donning my Jammal Lord #10 road jersey.

Who knows what’s in store here at Pikes Picks today. There might be game writeups, opinions, predictions, or nothing at all. Cedric Benson might even stop by – I heard he has some free time on his hands now. All I can tell you for sure is that some Hoegaarden will be consumed and I will be in front of my two TVs all day.

Before the games kick off, here’s a few more picks:

Boston College 20, Georgia Tech 13
The BC front seven is good enough to slow down Tech's running game. Quarterback Chris Crane could have his breakout game.

Michigan 27, Miami(OH) 9
The Michigan secondary will have a field day against Miami QB Daniel Raudabaugh.

Nebraska 52, San Jose State 20
The Spartans needed a last minute touchdown to beat 1-AA Cal-Davis last week. The Nebraska offense will roll and the defense will play even better against the hapless SJSU offense.

Notre Dame 34, San Diego State 13
There's no better cure for the stink bomb the Irish laid last season than opening up against an Aztec team that lost to 1-AA Cal Poly SLO last week.

Texas A&M 23, New Mexico 18
After losing to Arkansas State last week the Aggies get back on track. But they'll have to play well because New Mexico is a stronger opponent than Arkie State was.

Florida State 34, Western Carolina 10
Christian Ponder wrestled the starting quarterback job away from Drew Weatherford. Thank goodness - after suffering through Chris Rix for four years it's unfair to make 'Nole fans watch Drew Weatherford for four years too. Ugh.

Northwestern 30, Duke 27
This might actually be a decent game. Northwestern is never as bad as you think they are and David Cutcliffe lends some legitimacy to the Duke offense.

Oklahoma State 41, Houston 30
Watch out Cowboys, this could be a trap much like the Troy game last season. Luckily it's in Stillwater.

Bowling Green 34, Minnesota 31
Yep, it's going to happen again. The Gopher administration deserve another 1-11 season for firing Glen Mason - and they just might get it.

Rice 33, Memphis 27
Chase Clement to Jarrett Dillard will be good for at least one score (as usual). Memphis is solid but Rice seems to be on a roll.