Week 13 - Feeling Lucky?

Turkey Day has come and gone, and after a total of 10 hours of sitting on the runway in Newark, NJ, being served overpriced juice and muffins by a guy wearing body glitter, buying a pair of headphones from a girl with a hickey in Salt Lake City, and having the small child in the seat in front of me crap his pants as we began our descent to Los Angeles, it was a day I'll long remember. Please excuse my lack of coherence - I've been up for 21 hours straight, and between listening to my brother snoring and Pink Floyd's The Wall, I'm feeling a tad bit loopy . My eyes must be playing tricks on me, because I'm pretty sure I saw Tony Romo throw for 5 TDs tonight, AND Larry Coker was fired by Miami. Crazy. I promise I'll elaborate more next week, but for now here are the quick picks from Los Angeles. By the way - Dear Bearcats, thanks for ruining it for everyone in the Big East. Sincerely the collective populations of New Jersey and West Virginia.

Last Week: 2-2-1
This Season: 28-30-2

Florida -9.5 FSU

What a crappy season for the 'Noles. I think Bobby Bowden wishes he was the one who was asked to leave the program instead of his son. $537,000 doesn't sound so bad when your team is just barely bowl eligible and staring down the barrel of a hot Gator team who could be playing for the national championship. No need to analyze this one too deeply - I like Florida here, though the potential for an "ap-tray" game exists. Regardless, I see Florida covering the spead. Best of luck to Jeff Bowden after this weekend. Maybe $537,000 can buy a copy of Bill Belichek's playbook.

Boise State -3 NEVADA

With a healthy Ian Johnson out of the hospital and in the backfield for the Broncos, Nevada should have their hands full in the season finale. Plus, who doesn't want to see Boise State in a bowl game not played on Smurf Turf? Break out the salsa, Boise State is headed to the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl after they cover the spread against Nevada.

FLORIDA ATLANTIC -4.5 FIU

The only thing standing between the Golden Panthers and a perfect season is the train wreck that is Florida Atlantic. That and the fact that FIU reinstated 13 players suspended since the Miami brawl. Let's hope that coach Don Strock doesn't try to inspire his troops with one of those hokey "win one for the lame duck coach" speeches. That is so cliche, but not as cliche as FIU not covering the spread. I'll take Florida Atlantic to cover the spread.

Oklahoma -5.5 OK STATE

This week it was revealed that the replay official who botched the call on the fumble recover during the Sooners - Ducks game earlier this season had known the whole time that the call was wrong, but replay rules prevented him from correcting on-field officials who made the wrong call. As you remember, possession was awarded to Oregon, even though it was clear to the replay official (and most of America outside of Oregon) that Oklahoma's Allen Patrick had recovered the ball during an onside kick. Well thanks for speaking up about it two months after the fact. This really helps . . . no one. I will say that it does concern me that the replay official (whose name is Gordon Riese and is our Maurice Clarett nominee this week) is still dwelling on this two months later. He quit his job as an official, has no plans to return to the replay booth, and is showing up places with mysterious cuts and bruises all over his body. If he starts calling himself Tyler Durden and selling soap, don't say I didn't warn you. Oklahoma, on the other hand, is anticipating the return of Adrian Peterson sometime this season. That in itself should be a big boost for the Sooners, who go into the Bedlam game with a shot at the Big XII title game (if Texas A&M cooperates). With or without Peterson, I like Oklahoma to cover the spread, and I'm hoping that Texas $hits the bed this weekend, just to give Oklahoma the shot at the BCS game they deserve.

USC -7.5 Notre Dame

I was at LAX this morning/afternoon and saw a 10-year old kid with a $hit-eating grin on his face because he had tickets to this game. He then struck up a conversation with someone who had evidently played for the Trojans a few years ago and had sideline passes, but wasn't sure if he was going to make it to the game. How do these people get tickets to the biggest game of the week and I stuck with tickets to Disneyland (true story by the way)? Let's just hope for the sake of my family that Mickey and Friends have at least one TV tuned to the Los Angeles Coliseum. Either that or once 5:00 pm (PST) rolls around, a certain member of the Lubarsky family may take ill and have to wait in the car with the radio on. Yeah, the chances of either of those happening without incident are about the same as Notre Dame's defense stopping "the Booty" and USC. This is the team that let Michigan and Michigan State run wild on them, not to mention giving up 52 points over the past three games to Army, Air Force, and North Carolina. Unless Brady Quinn can force USC's defense to give up more than their usual 14 points per game, it will be a long flight back to South Bend. As much as I can't stand seeing USC go back to the national championship, all the green jerseys in the world won't help the Irish this week. HOWEVER just because the Jeweled Shillelagh may once again belong to the Trojans, I'll take Notre Dame with the points.

Unitl next week . . .