Gobble Gobble - Post Turkey Day Picks

First off, congrats to the Peabody Veterans Memorial High School Tanner football team, who took Thanksgiving rival Saugus behind the woodshed for the twenty-somethingth time in a row. Nothing says successful season like beating a 1-8 team 28-0. Good times. From my remote location today, here are the picks:

Last Week - 3-2
Season - 13-6-1

Tennessee -8.5 @Kentucky

SPOILER ALERT! Tennessee will win this week, and cover the spread. I'm not sure if Casey Clausen is subbing in for Rick Clausen, or maybe over Thanksgiving dinner Rick's parents took out old newspaper clippings about how good Casey was when he was the Vol's quarteback, but this week it will happen. I'll be honest, I've bashed Tennessee a lot this year, but this is the same quarterback that threw for 5 TDs in the first half of the 2005 Cotton Bowl. I'm going out on a limb and taking the Vols to cover.

@ Miami -17.5 UVA

The U has had a season full of Ups (a 27-7 win over VA Tech), Downs (last week's loss to GA Tech) and "Thug U" moments (mad props to the 7th floor crew, whatever that means). I see them ending the regular season with a big win over Virginia. Remember, this is the same Miami team that beat potential Big East champion South Florida. I'm taking the Canes to cover 17.5 against UVA, with or without those awful orange sleeved uniforms.

@ Florida -3.5 FSU

I must have some sort of obsession with ACC and SEC football. Yes, I'm perfectly aware that college football is played in places other than the southeast United States, thank you very much. Florida has a shot to improve to 8-3, one more win than they had last season, a nice gift for new coach Urban "Legend" Meyer. By the way, I can't stand Bobby Bowden. Even his stupid Burger King commercial from a few years ago made me stop eating there until they stopped running the promo. Either way, to say FSU has been struggling during the second half of the season would be like saying that the French government has been struggling against rioters lately. I'll take the Gators over the Noles by a touchdown.

ND -15.5 @Stanford

Rumor has it that Charlie Weis has this awful phobia of trees. Ok, I made that up, but I really couldn't find any reason for Weis and the Irish to unload on Stanford this weekend. Well, almost no reason. Notre Dame is 8-2, and with a win, could become BCS bowl eligible for the first time since 2000. The Irish roll over Stanford, Brady Quinn throws for at least 3 TD's on his way to locking up the Davey O'Brien award (Vince who?), and Penn State and Notre Dame move one step closer to meeting in the Orange Bowl.

I really should pick the Georgia/GA Tech game here, but it wouldn't be like me to do that. instead . . .

@UL Monroe -2 UL Lafayette

Yes, the yearly battle of University of Louisiana teams. This year, though both teams are 5-5, and the winner will likely move to play in the New Orleans/Lafayette Bowl. A nice reward for two teams who have had to endure some serious off-field distractions this year. I'm going with ULM here for two reasons. a) They've got some of the best names in college football (Kinsmon Lancaster, RoShon Jacobs, DeMarcus Carmouche, LaGregory Sapp, and my favorite, Chance Payne. Seriously, how cool is that? And, he's a quarterback. I don't care if he rides the bench all year. You know any opposing coach takes one look at the depth chart and gets nervous when he sees the name Chance Payne. "Well guys, we match up well against their secondary, our defense should be able to hold their running backs, but Lord help us if Chance Payne comes into the game. I hear he's 7 feet tall, weighs 300 pounds, runs the 40 in four point two, and can throw the football over a quarter mile." Sorry, I think I've lost my train of thought), and b) the NCAA is striking down against teams with Indian-related mascots. I'm all for un-PC mascots. I mean, who wouldn't like to see Brandeis University rename their team the Fighting Jews, or BYU be called the Polygamers, or West Virginia the Cousin **ckers? Am I alone on this one? Um, yeah, I'll take UL Monroe to win this one by at least three.

Anyhow, enjoy the games - next week we have such gems as Army-Navy, USC-UCLA, and the ever popular Akron-Northern Illinois MAC matchup. Whoooo! Until then . . .