Buckeyes to Get Rude Reception

Two big conference battles Saturday: Ohio State will try to break Wisconsin's 16-game home winning streak, and Auburn travels to Vanderbilt with the SEC lead at stake.

For teams like Texas and Penn State, the pressure is there to win on the road in conference and to do it with some extra mustard. Both have a chance to face either Oklahoma or Alabama in the BCS title game if they can keep on winning with authority. Be careful. Laying double digits on the road against legitimate conference foes (like Penn State and Texas have this week) can be dangerous.

This week’s best stats:
(1)Wisconsin, a slight home dog to Ohio State, has won 27 of its last 28 home games.
(2) Missouri, a 10-point favorite, has lost its last 15 visits to Nebraska.

Best Bets to date: 9-6; Last Week: 1-2
This week’s Best Bets: Kansas State, Arizona and Wisconsin


Saturday
Auburn -4 at Vanderbilt--Vandy's never been in this situation, but they've had had two weeks to prepare for this, their biggest game in years. Auburn's coming off three straight mentally and physically exhausting games: their 3-2 dogfight at Miss. State, their last second loss to LSU and last week's 14-12 battle with Tennessee. Can't see the Tigers matching the fire and effort Vandy will have in this one.
The pick: Vanderbilt.

Texas Tech -7 at Kansas State—If you throw out games against Big 12 patsies SMU, Baylor and Rice, the Red Raiders have lost six outright and won a pair of close games. Besides those they lost at TCU and nearly lost at UTEP. Ron Prince is feeling the heat K-State, after nearly blowing last week’s game to La. Laff. But we suspect he’s been preparing an ambush for the Red Raiders all along. They’ll need to pull it off without top DB Gary Chandler, who is suspended. Chandler was arrested for driving without a valid license. Mayb he just didn’t want to face the Tech passing game.
The pick: Kansas State (best bet).

Ohio State -1 1/2 at Wisconsin—With Beanie back, so are the Buckeyes. But before you rush to the bank, consider that the Buckeyes are not murdering opponents yet and they do have a freshman QB going into Camp Randall for the first time. Wisconsin’s reeling from last week’s give away at Michigan, but the Badgers always get re-energized at home. In over the last four years they’ve won 27 of their last 28, losing only to Iowa in 2005.
The pick: Wisconsin (best bet).

Oregon +16 at USC—The Trojans have an amazing record of covering at home, but they rarely host a team that has the ability to keep pace with them, like this Oregon team can. Now, with the probability that Justin Roper is back at QB for the Ducks, this could be a lot closer than the experts think.
The pick: Oregon.

Missouri -10 at Nebraska—Can only think of one instance in the last five years when ‘Huskers were a double digit dog at home, and that was in loss to USC early last season.
This team is obviously a lot better defensively than that one. You can bet coach Pellini will have them ready for Mizzu team that might be starting to believe their headlines too soon.
The pick: Nebraska. Missouri has lost its last 15 trips into Lincoln.

Texas -12 at Colorado—Texas usually beats up the little guys on the road and plays the bigger guys close. This Texas team is coming around fast for Mack Brown, but they might be caught taking Colorado for granted this week. The Buffs are better than they looked at FSU and Texas hasn’t been challenged yet.
The pick: Colorado.

Kansas -11 at Iowa State—Despite last-second loss at South Florida, Kansas remains one of the most potent teams today. Week off gave Jayhawks chance to get healthy and QB Todd Reesing should be able to throw for 400 yards plus against the Cyclone secondary. Iowa State usually plays hard a couple times a year. This won’t be one of them.
The pick: Kansas.

Washington +23 at Arizona—With Jake Locker out Washington is short and its slow. Arizona has all of a sudden been revitalized and certainly has the kind of offense to make this one a laugher. If they can keep their eye on the ball.
The pick: Arizona (best bet).

Texas A&M +25 1/2 at Oklahoma State—The Aggies nearly lost to one of the worst teams in college football last week. And they were at home. Maybe they took Army for granted, or maybe they’re just awful. We vote for the latter, and on the road against a team that loves to run, this could be a ridiculous score.
The pick: Oklahoma State.

Navy +5 at Air Force—Navy’s on a roll after shocking Wake Forest and unless they’re still partying after that victory, his one should be close again. The Midshipmen have won their last four against the Falcons including their last two visits West. This one is a toss up at best.
The pick: Navy.

San Diego State +24 1/2 at TCU—We think San Digeo State is going to play more like the team that almost upset Notre Dame than the team that lost at San Jose State. TCU had its lunch handed to them last week by Oklahoma and might still be in a bit of a daze. Regardless, the Aztecs have a helluva shot here.
The pick: San Diego State.

Season: 36-33; Last Week: 3-11


Second Thoughts

Want to thank the reader last week who caught our error in Houston’s schedule. Wish he had gone further and convinced us to take the Cougars. It was a tough week for nearly everyone.

The last time Tulsa lost a conference game at home was two years ago in a 41-38 shootout to Rice. This could be a repeat….Both Miami and FSU need this game badly. FSU’s better defense should prevail…

Penn State may be catching Purdue at the right time while the Boilermakers are recovering from the beating they took at South Bend last week…Rutgers will have a difficult time staying with West Virginia, a much faster team…

Alabama may decide to take the week off as they did after their first big win at Clemson, and Kentucky’s stingy defense may make easy for them to do so….Expect Cal to bury Arizona State no matter who starts at QB….

Money poured in on Duke overnight Wednesday knocking the line from 14 down to 12 ½ against Georgia Tech. Makes some sense since Duke has experience defending the option.






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