College Week 12 Picks

Since we are into the ridiculous "NFL on other days than Sunday and Monday" part of the season, I must remember the "showdown" tonight.

Dolphins over Panthers ... Yes, they are on the road. Yes, they have struggled to be 4-5. Yes, they are without their best player (Ronnie Brown). But I really think the Dolphins are better than 4-5 and the Panthers are worse than 4-5... you'll see. Pat White and Ricky Williams can run the wildcat without Brown.

Before I get to my college picks, I thought I'd run down my preseaon picks and "remodel" them for the final 3 weeks.

ACC - Georgia Tech over Clemson (Preseason Pick - Georgia Tech over Florida State) I was half right. I also got UNC's resurgence pretty close.

Big12 - Texas over Nebraska (Preseason Pick - Texas over Nebraska) Right on! Nebraska had some surprising losses, and I was too nice to OU. I can't be blamed for Baylor's injuries.

Big Ten - Ohio State (clinched) (Preseason Pick - Penn State) They surprised me by not winning at home and Illinois fell apart again.

Big East - Pittsburgh (Preseason Pick - Cincinnati) I had Pitt second and I'm changing my mind now because the Pitt offensive is surging and I think Cincinnati is one big mistake away from ruining the season.

C-USA - East Carolina over Houston (Preseason Pick - Houston over East Carolina) Changing my mind because Houston couldn't take care of business. I still think SMU will slip and let Houston off the hook and back in the game. I did underestimate SMU, and was close with Houston's BCS talk.

MAC - Central Michigan over Temple (Preseason Pick - Buffalo over Central Michigan) The Bulls let me down, they had so much potential. Temple came out of nowhere (read: easy schedule) but I was almost dead on with the Chips.

MWC - Texas Christian (clinched) (Preseason Pick - Texas Christian) NAILED IT!!

Pac-10 - Oregon (Preseason Pick - Southern Cal) Thanks a lot Trojans. I did have the Ducks second and the Wildcats fourth.

SEC - Florida over Alabama (Preseason Pick - Florida over Alabama) While the results are pending... NAILED IT! Florida will win the SEC Championship 3-0 on a Tim Tebow 55-yard field goal in triple OT... with the Gators having only 65 yards of offense and the Tide going 0-7 in the red zone, Tebow will come out to kick the winning field goal after his kicker misses one in each of the previous two OTs.

Sun Belt - Troy (Preseason Pick - Troy) Whiffed on Western Kentucky actually winning, but nailed Troy as well as I could.

WAC - Boise State (Preseason Pick - Boise State) Pending Boise surviving Nevada, I nailed the top three in this conference.

My BCS Top 10 predictions are 6 for 10. Swap Boise State with Houston and Alabama with Virginia Tech, and I only missed on USC and Penn State.

This week's Rankings:

1: Alabama (10-0)
2: Florida (10-0)
3: Cincinnati (10-0)
4: Texas (10-0)

5: Texas Christian (10-0)
6: Boise State (10-0)
7: Georgia Tech (10-1)
8: Pittsburgh (9-1)
9: Ohio State (9-2)
10: Iowa (9-2)
11: Penn State (9-2)
12: Oregon (8-2)
13: Louisiana State (8-2)
14: Oklahoma State (8-2)
15: Wisconsin (8-2)
16: Utah (8-2)
17: Brigham Young (8-2)
18: Houston (8-2)
19: Temple (8-2)
20: Rutgers (7-2)
21: Navy (8-3)
22: Virginia Tech (7-3)
23: Southern Cal (7-3)
24: Miami (FL) (7-3)
25: Stanford (7-3)
26: Oregon State (7-3)
27: Clemson (7-3)
28: North Carolina (7-3)
29: California (7-3)
30: West Virginia (7-3)
31: Nebraska (7-3)
32: Boston College (7-3)
33: Mississippi (7-3)
34: Nevada (7-3)
35: Arizona (6-3)
36: Auburn (7-4)
37: Georgia (6-4)
38: Oklahoma (6-4)
39: Texas Tech (6-4)

Honorable Mention: Central Michigan (8-2), Northern Illinois (7-3), Ohio (7-3), Troy (7-3), Middle Tennessee State (7-3), Idaho (7-4), Air Force (7-4), Northwestern (7-4).

This week's games:
Mississippi over #13 Louisiana State... going for the home team upset.

#35 Arizona over #12 Oregon... Oregon gets stuck looking ahead, but still wins the Pac-10.

#28 North Carolina over #32 Boston College... BC is one of the most erratic teams, and so is UNC, going with the Heels.

#17 Brigham Young over Air Force... The Cougars are getting ready for Utah, and might get trapped, but probably not.

#38 Oklahoma over #39 Texas Tech... OU has struggled against good defenses, guess what Tech doesn't have?

#29 California over #25 Stanford... it's time for a let down for Stanford.

Notre Dame over Connecticut... fighting for Charlie's job? It'll come down to Stanford.

#37 Georgia over Kentucky... Basketball season started, time for Kentucky to stop playing football.

#11 Penn State over Michigan State... Penn State might be the best third-place team since Texas Tech last year.

#9 Ohio State over Michigan... possibly a trap game for OSU, but I'm sure they won't let the Wolverines ruin their "Rose Run."

Last Week: 7-3 (38 pts.)
Season: 76-34 (446 pts., 96th percentile)