Football Wednesdays Week 2

Well my first 4-day, 4-sport weekend extravaganza did not go well. Thursday night softball team lost 14-13 after beginning the bottom of the 7th up 13-8 (I also struck out, which always sucks). Friday night kickball got rained out. The Tigers lost to Georgia and then the Chiefs lost to the Falcons.

College Week 2 Wrap-Up
The Unexpected:
The Pac12 (excluding Colorado) - Oregon State over Wisconsin, UCLA over Nebraska, Arizona State over Illinois, Arizona over Oklahoma State... now if only they won't beat up on each other and end up with like seven solid 7-5 teams.
Louisiana - LSU dominated Washington, UL-Lafayette is 2-0, and UL-Monroe pulled off the upset of the year (so far) by beating Arkansas. The Warhawks are going to be the team to beat in the Sun Belt.

The Expected:
Rice over Kansas - If ESPN had given me the chance to pick this game I would have called it. Sure, it's Kansas and I'll always pick against them... but Rice scored a bunch in a loss to UCLA in Week 1 and Kansas was (as I said) unimpressive against South Dakota State.
Mizzou - Yes, I picked them, but that was to show them some confidence. Would I have rather watched Georgia control the game, lead by 7+ the whole way, and never give the crowd any hope? NO. But it was quite predictable (and frustrating) to watch the Tigers lose because they didn't execute, got tired, and stopped playing with urgency. Also, as usual, Pinkel and Yost got out-coached in the second half when their players were ready to pull off the upset (see every loss to a top-10 team over the last 5 years).

The Picks:
Alabama over Arkansas - worst case scenario for a team that is reeling from a huge upset: playing the defending champs who appear to have a chip on their shoulder.
Ohio State over California - we'll have to see how BigTen play goes, but pretty strong offensive start for the Buckeyes, now they play a team with very low expectations after two weeks.
Florida over Tennessee - not buying the hype, while Florida's win was over a team making a career out of blowing 2nd-half leads, they are the better team.
Missouri over Arizona State - this is a must win, rebound from a deflating loss and get some momentum for the most important game of the season (at South Carolina).
Texas over Mississippi - not too sure if Texas has rebounded yet, if they beat Oklahoma, then we'll talk.
Michigan State over Notre Dame - dominant defense will win this game, the over/under has to be less than 25.
BYU over Utah - the Holy War is always a great game.
USC over Stanford - not going to pick against the Trojans for a long time.
Louisville over North Carolina - Teddy Bridgewater could be just like Brad Smith.
Navy over Penn State - not going to pick Penn State for along time.

Last Week: 4-6 (28 pts.)
Season: 10-10 (62 pts.)

NFL Picks: (It's too early and I saw exactly 1 minute of NFL games this weekend)
Packers over Bears - Rodgers will draw Cutler into a gunslinger battle and guess who's winning that one.
Bills over Chiefs - I might not pick the Chiefs again this year.
Bengals over Browns - the Browns need to stop trying to draft a quarterback and get one in free agency, forget spending the money, use it on the role players.
Vikings over Colts - we are not far from the Colts becoming a dangerous team.
Raiders over Dolphins - we are quite far from Tannehill becoming a dangerous quarterback.
Patriots over Cardinals - could there be a match up of teams with a bigger desparity between convincing-ness of wins?
Giants over Buccaneers - my Eliminator pick of the week.
Ravens over Eagles - you beat the Browns by 1??
Saints over Panthers - which is worse, being upset by Tampa or Washington?
Texans over Jaguars - I predict Blaine Gabbert will be out of Jacksonville by season's end.
Redskins over Rams - RG3 is two more games like last week away from drawing me into the hype.
Cowboys over Seahawks - could there be a match up of teams with a bigger desparity between how their fanbases are feeling right now?
Steelers over Jets - were the Jets playing rope-a-dope during the preseason? NAH.
Chargers over Titans - we are still four months away from the Chargers letting their fans down by exiting the playoffs early.
49ers over Lions - recognize: one team was well prepared and beat a strong opponent convincingly, the other needed a late drive to survive one of the league's weakest teams.
Falcons over Broncos - still not picking Manning for a few more weeks.

Last Week: 8-8