Week 10 - Recovering from Halloween

Happy November, everybody. I'm still feeling a bit sick from trick-or-treating this year. Maybe it was too much candy, maybe it was the stop at Andy Reid's house. I thought his kids were handing out bags of Pop Rocks. I guess they weren't. My bad. On a side note, thank you all for your kind words about the Red Sox and their win over "the best that the National League had to offer." Yes, Mets fans, we know your team was better, but in order for you to win in the playoffs, you must first make the playoffs. Also, a hearty congrats to the Yankees for finally getting rid of that sack of uselessness Donny Baseball. Now that the curse of Mattingly is over, you have no excuse when the Yankees don't win the World Series. Maybe you can just be like Scott Boras and blame the whole thing on Mariano Rivera. Well, at least you guys still have Power and Pinstripes.

This week's Maurice Clarett award goes to University of Washington RB J.R. Hasty. Hasty quit the Huskies' football team on Thursday of last week due to a lack of playing time. However, J.R. met with coach Ty Willingham on Monday and rejoined his team at practice this week. The coaching staff has been mum on most of the details surrounding the reinstatement, but the RB will be available to play tomorrow against Stanford. I guess we can chalk this one up to a (say it with me) Hasty decision on J.R.'s part. On to the picks.

Home team in BOLD

THE Ohio State University -15.5 Wisconsin

In the first game involving an unbeaten team this week, the Buckeyes take on a rejuvenated Wisconsin team, thanks in large part to RB P.J. Hill being able to run the ball. In the Badgers' two losses this season, Hill has been held to under 90 yards. In games when Hill has 100+ yards, Wisconsin is 5-0. Unfortunately for the Badgers, OSU has given up more than 100 yards rushing to an entire team only three times this season. Fortunately for the Badgers, one of those times was last week against Penn State. Reports out of Madison are that Hill will play despite a foot injury he suffered last week against Indiana. The bottom line is this - even with a healthy Hill, Wisconsin is going to have to do a lot better than they did against Penn State (38-7, L) if they want to have a chance against the Buckeyes and their 25.7 point margin of victory this season. Maybe coach Bret Bielemea should consider donning a sweater vest for this one. It seems to work for Jim Tressel. I'm taking the Buckeyes giving the points this week.

Notre Dame -3.5 Navy

I know I'm not the only one who has been waiting for this game. There must be 4300 Middies at the Naval Academy, plus another few hundred thousand graduates who have been waiting 43 years for the losing streak to end. I think they can stop waiting this week. We all know that Notre Dame is bad this year, but how good is Navy? They are a ho-hum 4-4 on the year, with a good win against Air Force but not much else. However, their offensive package is about as balanced as my checkbook. Let's just say I've been known to overdraw. The Midshipmen, specifically QB Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada are a very run heavy team (averaging 343 yards on the ground per game). To say that the Irish are having trouble against the run this year would be like saying that the US is having trouble with insurgents in Iraq. Notre Dame has held an opponent to under 160 yards rushing only twice this year, winning only one of those two games. Considering that only 14% of Navy's scoring has come through the air this year, I'd say that Notre Dame should have their hands full. I'm taking Navy with the points.

Oregon -7 Arizona State

Yes, the game that everyone says they've been waiting for, but since it involves two West Coast teams, no one will watch. We know that Dennis Dixon has made quite a name for himself as a Heisman candidate, and the comparisons to Vince Young are accurate, but does anyone know the real Dennis Dixon? Like that he drives a green four-door sedan? Or that his friends call him droop? Did you know that, Lee Corso? How about the fact that Ducks' running back Jonathan Stweart hasn't updated his MySpace page? Are you one of his friends, Kirk Herbstreit? Tom is. Tom also thinks that the Sun Devils are no match for Oregon on the road. And since Tom has over 207 million friends on Facebook, I'm going to go with him and take the Ducks giving seven. Sorry, coach Erickson - there's only room for one Dennis to win this week, and it isn't you.

Kansas -16.5 Nebraska

Somehow I've managed to ignore the fact that Kansas has gone undefeated this season. I'm sorry Kansas, I really am. How could I overlook the beating you gave (2-6, I-AA) SE Louisiana (led by QB Brian "Babaian" Babin), or the spanking of (0-8) Florida International (who hasn't won a game since 2005), or even the home opener against MAC powerhouse Central Michigan. I'm sorry I haven't been paying closer attention to the Jayhawks with that difficult out of conference schedule. What was I thinking? Nebraska, on the other hand, has lost 4 straight games (2 to ranked opponents), is under .500 for the first time since 2004, and with QB Sam Keller out for the season, the Huskers are going to need a few "Lucky" games from their star running back Marion to get bowl eligible. I'm going to take the home favorite Jayhawks this week, just because Nebraska's starting QB has completed fewer passes in his college career (10) than interceptions the Kansas defense has forced over the last five weeks ( 11). I'm taking Kansas giving the points.


Arkansas State -17.5 Florida International

This could be the anti-Colts/Patriots game. As I mentioned above, FIU is awful. They are on a frigid 20 game losing streak, 4-44 when scoring fewer than 30 points since 2001 (Arkansas State is allowing just above 28 per game this season), and they have scored an astounding seven TDs in 8 games this year. Even Notre Dame isn't that bad. Arkansas State is no top 25 team either. In addition to their 3-5 record, QB Corey Leonard has a TD:INT ratio of 13:11, and they lost to Middle Tennessee State by 17 (after MTSU was scorched by Louisville for 58 points this year). The saving grace for FIU could be that despite QB Wayne Younger's passer rating of 38.89 last week, he did rush for 124 yards. Now if he could just work on his 5:15 TD:INT ratio, FIU might be in business. I'm going to take the home favorite Indians over the Golden Panthers.


Until next week . . .