Rambling's Week 7 CFB Picks

For the first time this year I'm actually less than enthused for this weeks slate. That being said this week should go a long way in answering some questions in the SEC, Big Ten, Big XII, ACC and Pac-12 through some very good conference games. (All times Central Standard and let me know what you think)

Saturday, October 14th, 2011:

#15 South Carolina at Mississippi State, 11:00 am, with the dismissal of embattled QB Stephen Garcia, current  Gamecocks QB Connor Shaw no longer has to look over his shoulder while preparing and playing in games. Mississippi State has it's own quarterback controversy with as Chris Relf  has really struggled to find his stride at the helm of the Bulldogs offense. I think this comes down to the more stable QB situation which, and this is hard to believe, is the Steve Spurrier led team. Winner: South Carolina 24-20 ATS: South Carolina -2.5

#11 Michigan at #23 Michigan State, 11:00 am ESPN, the battle for Michigan football supremacy and the Paul Bunyan trophy is an intriguing match-up from all sides. Michigan's offense is averaging 491.4 yards a game with 270 coming on the ground good for 14th and 7th respectively in the nation. Michigan State's defense ranks 3rd nationally against the run allowing 64 yards a game and 1st in total defense at 173.4 yards a game. Something has to give, but the biggest match-up may be the abilities of the Wolverine D vs. the Spartans O and which unit has shown the most improvement so far this season. Winner: Michigan 27-20 ATS: Michigan +2

#20 Baylor at #21 Texas A&M, 11:00 FX, is RG3 talented enough to lead this team to a top five team in  a top heavy Big XII, is Texas A&M gonna finally fulfill the promise that we all saw in the preseason? This game will continue to clear the picture of these two teams and the season that await them. Winner: Texas A&M 38-27 ATS: Texas A&M -9

Indiana at #4 Wisconsin, 11:00 am ESPN2, last year the Badgers put up 80 on the Hoosiers, this year should be much of the same in Madison. Winner: 62-17 ATS: Wisconsin -40

#12 Georgia Tech at Virginia, 2:30 pm ESPNU, Virginia is a team climbing it's way back out of oblivion under the tutelage Mike London. Paul Johnson's Yellow Jacket team is one of the surprise teams out of the ACC this year. With Miami and Clemson coming up on the schedule I think this is a definite trap game for Georgia Tech on the road. Winner: Georgia Tech 27-24 ATS: Virginia +7.5

#6 Oklahoma State at #22 Texas, 2:30 pm ABC/ESPN, the Longhorn's finish the Oklahoma portion of their schedule with a visit from the Cowboys of Oklahoma State. Unfortunately for Mack Brown's team the biggest weakness of his squad matches up with the greatest strength of the Cowboys which should make for a long day in Austin. Winner: Oklahoma State 55-31 ATS: Oklahoma State -7.5

#1 LSU at Tennessee, 2:30 pm CBS, if Tyler Bray were playing this game would be a "so you're saying there's a chance?" games for the Vols, unfortunately that won't be the case Saturday. LSU's defense will eat a young Vols offense alive. Winner: LSU 31-13 ATS: LSU -15.5

Ohio State at #16 Illinois, 2:30 pm ABC/ESPN, this game will decide which team will battle PSU for the right to be #1 contender to Wisconsin in the Leaders division. If Braxton Miller plays in this game, which looks likely as of today then Ohio State has a shot to leave Champagne with a victory on Saturday. If he isn't I have little faith in Bauserman or the freshman that are below Miller on the depth chart to win this game. Winner: Ohio State 24-21 ATS: Ohio State +4

UCF at SMU, 2:30 pm, a game that has lost a little bit of it's luster from the start of the season but is a still a very enlightening non-AQ match-up this week in Texas. SMU looks to be a legit contender in C-USA after beating, an admittedly down, TCU and improving under June Jones every year. UCF was a preseason darling for fans and media alike and has been underwhelming to say the least so far this season, but can also make a difference in how Conference USA shakes out. Winner: SMU 41-31 ATS: SMU -3

#5 Boise State at Colorado State, 5:00 pm, after back to back contests against former and future conference foes Boise starts it's seven week run through it's Mountain West schedule. I think this is the first of at least four cakewalks in conference for Boise. Winner: Boise State 55-10 ATS: Boise -32

#2 Alabama at Mississippi, 5:00 pm ESPN2, the Mississippi Rebels are really bad and will battle Kentucky for title of worst in the SEC. Winner: Alabama 48-9 ATS: Alabama -25.5

#19 Virginia Tech at Wake Forest, 5:30 pm, both teams come in with one loss on the resume, but Virginia Tech's is in conference if it wants to avoid a similar fate to the Seminoles it would be advised to not take the Deacons too lightly this week. Winner: Virginia Tech 31-17 ATS: Virginia Tech -7

#17 Kansas State at Texas Tech, 6:00 pm, Kansas State is the surprise of the Big XII season so far with wins over Miami (FL), Baylor and Missouri the past three weeks but still don't seem to be getting any respect from most college football fans and analysts. Texas Tech is coming off a back door cover against the  A&M last week and welcomes the Wildcats to Lubbock. I think Kansas State has some trouble with the high flying Tech offense but I have my doubts about the Red Raiders D. Winner: Kansas State 41-38 ATS: Kansas State +3

Florida at #24 Auburn, 6:00 pm ESPN, Florida is a young team on it's 3rd quarterback of the season, Auburn is young with it's original starter and have won big games this season. Florida will be able to get pressure on Auburn with their defense as they have had success with talented group to this point in the season but I think it all comes down to the effectiveness of the Gators offense on the road. Winner: Auburn 31-14 ATS: Auburn +2

#8 Clemson at Maryland, 6:00 pm ESPNU, Clemson takes a trip to a Maryland team that has had it's fair share of issues this season in the transition under Randy Edsall and no one embodies that more than Danny O'Brien. Clemson is having the most Clemson season in recent memory led by Tajh Boyd and an explosive group of talent surrounding him. Winner: Maryland 28-27 ATS: Maryland +8.5

Northwestern at Iowa, 6:00 pm BTN, Northwestern has dominated this match-up in recent years both at Iowa and at home. Iowa is coming off of a disappointing loss in a series in which it has been the more successful team recently, does the trend busting continue this week in Iowa City or do Dan Persa and company get back on track. Winner: Northwestern 31-28 ATS: Northwestern +6 P.S. if Iowa loses this game its chances of making the Big Ten Championship game go from slim to practically none.

#7 Stanford at Washington State, 6:30 pm Versus, Washington State is making strides toward being competitive in the Pac-12 but Stanford has Andrew Luck and a punishing defense. Winner: Stanford 52-17 ATS: Stanford -21

#3 Oklahoma at Kansas, 8:15 pm ESPN2, Kansas gave up 56 in the first half of the against Oklahoma State, Landry Jones and company should give that mark a run for it's money. Winner: Oklahoma 76-13 ATS: Oklahoma -34.5

#18 Arizona State at #9 Oregon, 9:15 pm ESPN, This match-up is intriguing because it should tell us something about both teams, however Arizona State hasn't won a big game in what feels like a decade and Oregon has been pretty much unstoppable in conference play the last couple years. Winner: Oregon 45-24 ATS: Oregon -16

Enjoy week 7 of the College football season and I'll see you soon to think fondly on this weekend's games.

Rambling's Poll Recap (10/9/11)

First off let me establish what you're gonna see here, I'm going to compare my top 25 to the AP, USA Today and BCS top 25's in the coming weeks on and share my ideas on the teams in each 5 team tier. To make this clear if I say a team is overrated or underrated I mean in relation to the polls and not necessarily in real life...

AP Top 5: LSU, Alabama, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Boise State
USA Today Top 5: Oklahoma, LSU, Alabama, Wisconsin, Stanford
My Top 5: LSU, Alabama, Oklahoma, Boise State, Wisconsin
Reaction: One could make an argument for any arrangement of the top 3 but I believe that LSU has the best resume of the 3 and deserves it's place at the top. I have Boise at 4 because it has the next best win and resume. Wisconsin rounds out the top five on the strength of it's Nebraska win and it's demolishing of the teams it should beat in it's non-con just edging out Stanford.

AP 6-10: Oklahoma State, Stanford, Clemson, Oregon, Arkansas
USA Today 6-10: Boise State, Oklahoma State, Clemson, Oregon, Michigan
My 6-10: Stanford, Clemson, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Arkansas
Reaction: Stanford is still a top 5 team with Luck at QB but it falls due to no marquee wins on it's resume. I have Clemson so high because they won three straight against ranked opponents including one at Lane Stadium  and have looked impressive all year. Oklahoma State's only such win is Texas A&M otherwise the resume is a little flat. Oregon and Arkansas round out the top ten having top 5 losses but nothing spectacular to fill out their respective resumes so far.

AP 11-15: Michigan, Georgia Tech, West Virginia, Nebraska, South Carolina
USA Today 11-15: Arkansas, Georgia Tech, South Carolina, Nebraska, Illinois
My 11-15: Georgia Tech, South Carolina, Michigan, Nebraska, Illinois
Reaction: Georgia Tech, Michigan and Illinois are gained their spots through going undefeated and are ranked according to strength of opponents and wins. South Carolina lost a "meh" game to Auburn but also has a good win over Georgia, Nebraska had a nice bounce back against Ohio State and has a good win over a top 30-35 Washington team. The AP has WVU up here but until they show that they can play a complete game I think 13 is a bit overrated for the Mountaineers.

AP 16-20: Illinois, Kansas State, Arizona State, Virginia Tech, Baylor
USA Today 16-20: West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Kansas State, Michigan State, Arizona State
My 16-20: Kansas State, Arizona State, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Texas A&M
Reaction: First off let me just say that Kansas State is getting no respect coming off wins over Miami (FL), Baylor and Mizzou. I know Miami is down but on winning on the road there is still tough and Baylor and Mizzou have better talent than they do. I also think A&M has fallen a bit too far, they blew leads to two very good offenses in back to back weeks but have shown they have the team to compete with both of them for an entire game.

AP 21-25: Texas A&M, Texas, Michigan State, Auburn, Houston
USA Today 21-25: Texas, Houston, Texas A&M, Baylor, Penn State
My 21-25: Houston, Michigan State, Baylor, Notre Dame, Penn State
Reaction: First off, let me just say that this was the toughest 5 to figure out as I made my top 25. Houston Baylor and Michigan State were all right there in the conversation around 20 so lets focus on the last two teams I put in and the two that appear in the polls that I didn't. Notre Dame has two blown lead losses to teams that are much better than we expected them to be and have gone on to win convincingly in 3 out of the next four games. Penn State on the other hand keeps winning and their only loss is to the #2 team in the country. I left Auburn out of my top 25 because I just don't believe they are a top 25 team, yes they find ways to win but you could see how much the youth hurts this team this week against Arkansas and that was enough for me to drop them. Similarly, Texas' youth is a detriment to them and they seem to be partially back to being Texas but not quite, which makes them a top 35 or so team instead of a top 25 team.

Feel free to leave comments below and I'll have my week 7 picks blog posted Tuesday or Wednesday.

Rambling's Week 6 Recap

The Chalk was pretty good this week which no doubt aided my picks...

Thursday, October 6th, 2011:

California at #9 Oregon, 8:00 pm ESPN, Oregon looked like a team with a mission to prove that last year was a fluke game against the Bears. Scary looking injury to LaMichael James is something to watch for this week and will be a harbinger for the rest of the Ducks' season. Winner: 1-0 ATS: 1-0

Friday, October 7th, 2011:

#5 Boise State at Fresno State, 8:00 pm ESPN, Boise State steamrolled this game, and the starters were out by the 3rd quarter. Winner: 2-0 ATS: 2-0

Saturday, October 8th, 2011:

#3 Oklahoma vs #11 Texas (Dallas), 11:00 am ABC, Oklahoma came out swinging in this game and it was never really in question. Some positives for the Texas defense early as they stopped the Sooners multiple times in the red zone but ultimately Landry Jones and company were just too much for the Longhorns. Winner: 3-0 ATS: 3-0

Maryland at #13 Georgia Tech, 11:00 am ESPNU, Maryland did a nice job of containing Georgia Tech's triple option today even bouncing back from a 21-3 deficit at the end of the 3rd quarter. Ultimately Maryland came up short losing by 5 but at least there are signs of life from Randy Edsall's squad. Winner: Georgia Tech 4-0 ATS: 4-0

Connecticut at #16 West Virginia, 11:00 am, another sluggish start for the Mountaineers, down 6-3 at half time but yet again a huge second half. WVU pulled away from UCONN in this game, finally exerting it's talent advantage over the Huskies. Winner: 5-0 ATS:5-0

Kentucky at #18 South Carolina, 11:21 am SEC Network, Connor Shaw was better than expected even against Kentucky and the Gamecocks easily walk away with a victory. Kentucky is in for a long season  of bad bad games in the SEC. Winner: 6-0 ATS: 5-1

#23 Florida State at Wake Forest, 11:30 am, Think this says it all, FSU's two wins are over Charleston Southern and Louisiana-Monroe. That is all. P.S. Congrats Wake Forest on a well played game and on the win. Winner: 6-1 ATS: 6-1

#19 Illinois at Indiana, 1:30 pm BTN, I had Illinois as being 18 points better and they won by 19. Not much to say other than Illinois will put up a fight for Wisconsin and Indiana won't worry just about anyone. Winner: 7-1 ATS: 7-1

Boston College at #8 Clemson, 2:00 pm, for a while it looked like Clemson might have something to worry about but they won going away. The bigger news out of this game is the injury of Tahj Boyd for the Tigers, that should be the Clemson faithfuls biggest concern. Winner: 8-1 ATS: 7-2

#17 Florida at #1 LSU, 2:30 pm CBS, Florida never really had a chance with it's two best quarterbacks injured on the road against the best defense in the country. Winner: 9-1 ATS: 8-2

Kansas at #6 Oklahoma State, 2:30 pm, as said in the picks column... ummmmmm, yeah. Stat of note in this game however, Oklahoma State had 56 points at halftime. Winner: 10-1 ATS: 9-2

Missouri at #20 Kansas State, 2:30 pm ABC/ESPN, Kansas State won held on to win a tough Big XII game at home further cementing them as the best of the second tier of teams in the conference behind Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M and maybe tied if not better than Texas. Winner: 11-1 ATS: 10-2

Miami (FL) at #21 Virginia Tech, 2:30 pm ABC/ESPN, the Fightin' Beamers pulled out the late victory at home over the Hurricanes. A late ground based drive was the Hokies response to the Canes touchdown with around 2 minutes left. Winner: Virginia Tech 12-1 ATS: 10-3

#22 Arizona Sate at Utah, 2:30 pm, Utah didn't have much of a chance in this game with Jordan Wynn out and that showed in the final score against Arizona State. Osweiller and company were just too much for a team that had trouble scoring when healthy. Winner: 13-1 ATS: 11-3

Iowa at Penn State, 2:30 pm ABC/ESPN, another ugly game and another win for the Nittany Lions. The defense is top 15-20 in the country but the offense is but 10% which isn't helped by the inability of Joe Pa and staff to pick a QB. Iowa continues to have growing pains with a young team including a myriad of drops by wide receivers in this game. Winner: 14-1 ATS: 11-4

Vanderbilt at #2 Alabama, 6:00 pm ESPNU, Alabama pitched a shutout at home against the commodores in what was another less than satisfying game leading up to the LSU game in 2 weeks. Winner: 15-1 ATS: 11-5

#15 Auburn at #10 Arkansas, 6:00 pm ESPN, Finally an Auburn outcome that makes sense, their weak defense especially a young secondary were taken advantage of by the Razorbacks in Fayetteville. Auburn put up a good fight through halftime but then the cracks started to show and the team with superior talent emerged. Winner: 16-1 ATS: 11-6

#12 Michigan at Northwestern, 6:00 pm BTN, Dan Persa makes a difference for the Wildcats but the Michigan defense continued it's opportunistic ways and forced a couple turnovers on the road to get the victory. Northwestern once again doesn't have much defense to speak of under Pat Fitzgerald in a quest that continues to perplex. Winner: 17-1 ATS: 11-7

#24 Texas A&M at Texas Tech, 6:00 pm FX, better game than I thought it would be as Tech drove late to bring it within 5 but A&M finally won a game after a solid first half lead. Texas Tech's offense is still rolling but the defense hasn't taken that step forward that was expected under Tuberville. Winner: 18-1 ATS: 11-8

Iowa State at #25 Baylor, 6:00 pm, RG3 and Baylor have cemented themselves behind Kansas State in the middle tier of the Big XII whilst Iowa State seems to have taken a step back from last year. Winner: 19-1 ATS: 11-9

Georgia at Tennessee, 6:00 pm ESPN2, Georgia pretty much dominated  Winner: 20-1 ATS: 12-9

Colorado at #7 Stanford, 6:30 pm Versus, ummmmmm... yeah Winner: 21-1 ATS: 12-10

Ohio State at #14 Nebraska, 7:00 pm ABC, Ohio State played well well into the 3rd quarter until Braxton Miller went out with a right ankle injury. Nebraska showed good heart to come back after another tough game a lagging defensive showing to start the game. Burkhead and Martinez both showed up to propel the Cornhuskers to the victory. Winner: 22-1 ATS: 12-11

TCU at San Diego State, 9:30 pm, TCU got a big bounce back conference win on the road late Saturday night in San Diego. San Diego shows that they still haven't quite made it to the point in which they will be a constant headaches for the top of the conference. Winner: 23-1 ATS: 12-12


Had a really good weed this week going 23-1 on winners, I'll grant you that it was a pretty weak week but still I didn't get greedy and try for too many upsets after a rough week 5. Keep an eye out on later today or early tomorrow for a poll recap, with a week until the BCS rankings come out I wanted to start adding my two cents to how teams are ranked.

Rambling's Week 6 CFB Picks

Welcome back for another week of college football action it's hard to believe we're already to the 6th week of the season but it's been fun so far and hopefully the fun will continue. Last week was a rough week for me as far as picking was concerned, I went 15-7 on winners and 12-10 against the spread to move my season totals to, 85-21 and 40-39-3 respectively. Every AP top 25 team except #4 Wisconsin is in play this week which should make the slate enjoyable if not overtly exciting. So without further ado lets get to the picks.... (all times are central time zone)


Thursday, October 6th, 2011:
California at #9 Oregon, 8:00 pm ESPN, Cal played the Ducks tough last year playing them to within two points, however, I don't expect this years contest to be that close or that low scoring. Cal has been hit or miss and Oregon looks to be running on all cylinders. Winner: Oregon 41-17 ATS: Oregon -24 (Push)
Friday, October 7th, 2011:
#5 Boise State at Fresno State, 8:00 pm ESPN, for the second straight week Boise plays a former and future conference foe. I like the Fresno program and how they schedule each year but Boise has too much firepower for this team. Winner: Boise State 48-23 ATS: Bosie -21
Saturday, October 8th, 2011:
#3 Oklahoma vs #11 Texas (Dallas), 11:00 am ABC, another addition of the Red River Rivalry comes to us from the Cotton Bowl. I keep hearing this will be a close one but the last 10 contests have been won by an average of 19.5 points which suggests the winners will walk away in the fourth quarter. Winner: Oklahoma 38-20 ATS: Oklahoma -10
Maryland at #13 Georgia Tech, 11:00 am ESPNU, Georgia Tech has been the second biggest surprise in the ACC this year behind Clemson be the anti-Clemson and the triple option is tough to prepare for in the middle of the season. Maryland looks to be having a tough time with the coaching transition and haven't shown much life this year. Winner: Georgia Tech 24-13 ATS: Maryland +14
Connecticut at #16 West Virginia, 11:00 am, last years Big East champion versus this years front-runner heading into the heart of the conference schedule looks like a mismatch on paper. The Holgersen offense seems to be gaining some steam after some sluggish starts to open the season. Connecticut has look bad so far this year with losses to Vandy, Iowa State and WMU. Winner: West Virginia 58-24 ATS: WVU -20
Kentucky at #18 South Carolina, 11:21 am SEC Network, if the Gamecocks hadn't lost to Auburn last week this would have been that game that South Carolina loses each year that you hear Homer Simpson in your head going, "Dope". Winner: South Carolina 24-10 ATS: Kentucky +21
#23 Florida State at Wake Forest, 11:30 am, Florida State had a week to stew over a loss to Clemson and Wake Forest has looked like it could at least contend with some of the better teams in the ACC. With the turmoil at QB for FSU and a home game for Wake a perfect storm could be a brewing. Winner: FSU 24-21 ATS: Wake Forest +10
#19 Illinois at Indiana, 1:30 pm BTN, Indiana gave Penn State a run for their money but I don't think that matters in this weeks game. Illinois is 5-0 for the first time since the Truman administration brings a stout defense and a meh offense with some pop. Indiana brings a loss to Ball State. Winner: Illinois 27-9 ATS: Illinois -14.5
Boston College at #8 Clemson, 2:00 pm, is this the week Clemson returns to being Clemson, I say know but put this down as a trap game for the Tigers. Boston College has looked bad and have some major injuries but the Tigers have to regress to past levels of Clemson one of these weeks and a bad team after three ranked wins just sounds right. Winner: Clemson 21-20 ATS: Boston College +21
#17 Florida at #1 LSU, 2:30 pm CBS, Florida comes in bruised and battered from it's match-up with Alabama and it's bag of oranges defense, this week it gets LSU and it's bag of potatoes. Florida has talent on both sides of the ball and the Defense has shown flashes of brilliance along the way. Winner: LSU 34-17 ATS: LSU -13.5
Kansas at #6 Oklahoma State, 2:30 pm, like Oklahoma last week, ummmmmm, yeah. Winner: Oklahoma State 58-20 ATS: Oklahoma State -31.5
Missouri at #20 Kansas State, 2:30 pm ABC/ESPN, Kansas State has two esteem building wins in row now beating Miami (FL) and Baylor back to back which makes this match-up all the more intriguing. The Wildcats are young but so is Missouri which makes this a very close match-up. Winner: Kansas State 31-27 ATS: Kansas State +3.5
Miami (FL) at #21 Virginia Tech, 2:30 pm ABC/ESPN, the Fightin' Beamers are coming off of a really poor showing against Clemson and with conference black-eye coming to town I think we see a beating at Lane Stadium. Winner: Virginia Tech 24-7 ATS: Virginia Tech -7.5
#22 Arizona Sate at Utah, 2:30 pm, Utah looks bad and it gets worse with Jordan Wynn out with injury, Arizona State has been everyone's favorite, "am I good, I'm not sure" team. Winner: Arizona State 38-24 ATS: Arizona State -4
Iowa at Penn State, 2:30 pm ABC/ESPN, Penn State looks like Bama lite on defense and Fordham on offense. Iowa looks like a good young team that has grown in-season but looks like the wobbly infant learning to walk. Winner: Penn State 17-16
Vanderbilt at #2 Alabama, 6:00 pm ESPNU, Vanderbilt is improving in year one of the Franklin regime, Alabama is team 1B in the country. Winner: Alabama 27-10 ATS: Vanderbilt +29
#15 Auburn at #10 Arkansas, 6:00 pm ESPN, Auburn is coming off of a sloppy come from behind win at South Carolina, Arkansas is coming off an impressive come from behind game against the Fighting Gaggies of A&M. Auburn looks like it's starting to find it's stride defensively but Arkansas has Tyler Wilson. Winner: Arkansas 41-38 ATS: Auburn +10
#12 Michigan at Northwestern, 6:00 pm BTN, the second real test for the Michigan defense looks to be legitimate because of the return of Dan Persa. With his return we can judge the strides taken since the Notre Dame game in the weakest part of the defense, it's secondary. Northwestern on the other hand has less defense than Michigan which will make it very tricky to stop Denard Robinson from tearing them apart. Winner: Michigan 38-35 ATS: Northwestern +7.5
#24 Texas A&M at Texas Tech, 6:00 pm FX, the presumed last of the A&M-Tech match-ups for a while should leave A&M with fond memories and Tech saying good riddance. Winner: Texas A&M 45-20 ATS: Texas A&M -9.5
Iowa State at #25 Baylor, 6:00 pm, two lower tier Big XII teams trying to move up a tier and put themselves squarely on the minds of those fighting for the conference championship. This one should be a fun quarterback match-up between Steele Jantz and RG3.Winner: Baylor 31-28 ATS: Iowa State +15.5
Georgia at Tennessee, 6:00 pm ESPN2, two teams that have fallen on hard times to varying degrees during the SEC's time a top the college football hierarchy. Tennessee has some good pieces in place especially at QB but seems to still be lacking up front on both sides of the ball. Georgia lost it's opening two games to very good teams but winning this one keeps them in the East division race. Winner: Georgia 31-17 ATS: Georgia -2
Colorado at #7 Stanford, 6:30 pm Versus, ummmmmm... yeah Winner: Stanford 45-17 ATS: Colorado +30
Ohio State at #14 Nebraska, 7:00 pm ABC, Ohio State is struggling with issues on and off the field right now and there doesn't appear to be much help in sight with Posey and Herron being put back on suspension. Nebraska is coming off a beat down at Camp Randall in which their defense looks average and their offense proved it lacked the ability to play well from behind. Winner: Nebraska 34-13 ATS: Nebraska -11
TCU at San Diego State, 9:30 pm, TCU is down and San Diego State looks to keep the momentum from  the Brady Hoke era going. TCU has been bad this year with the combination of youth and injuries on defense and youth on offense. San Diego has some pieces in place to make this game interesting especially at home. Winner: TCU 28-27 ATS: San Diego State +4.5


Enjoy the week of football and as always please leave your comments and thoughts below, I would love to hear from you.

Rambling's CFB Week 5 Recap

Another wonderful weekend of college football brings us to another day of looking back on the action...

Thursday, September 29th, 2011:

#16 South Florida at Pittsburgh, 7:00 pm ESPN, had a hunch here and didn't follow it I was on the right track with a team firmly with it's back against the wall and they played like it. South Florida always had the holes on defense and they showed more of it against Graham. Winners: 0-1 ATS: 0-1

Saturday, September 1st, 2011:

#14 Texas A&M vs #18 Arkansas (Arlington),  11:00 am ESPN, well apparently A&M is a 3 quarter team and those quarters are 1, 2 and 4. They out played and physically beat Arkansas on both lines for most of the game but it didn't matter because of another team wide brain fart.  Winner: 1-1 ATS: 1-1

Minnesota at #19 Michigan, 11:00 am BTN, the Wolverines utterly dominated this game from start to finish as Gophers could do nothing right in this game. Winner: 2-1 ATS: 1-2

Northwestern at #24 Illinois, 11:00 am ESPN2, Persa was a huge step up for the Wildcats and we saw just how much as they squandered a 4th quarter lead with him back on the sidelines with a re-injured ankle. The Illini found a way to come back and win this one at home. Winner: 3-1 ATS: 2-2

Mississippi State at Georgia, 11:00 am, Georgia pounded Mississippi State in this one and got themselves a keep conference victory between the hedges. Mississippi State can now focus on being a spoiler in the West. Winner: 4-1 ATS: 2-3

Air Force at Navy, 11:00 am CBS, this one came down to a blocked extra point and overtime. Air Force won a game in which they controlled and ultimately was decided on a personal foul committed by the Midshipman. Winner: 4-2 ATS: 3-3

Kentucky at #1 LSU, 11:21 am, Cupcake city. Winner: 5-2 ATS: 4-3

Nevada at #4 Boise State, 1:30 pm Versus, This one was much more lopsided than last years game, which isn't surprising because Kellen Moore is still at Boise and Nevada was on their second string QB. Winner: 6-2 ATS: 4-4

Auburn at #10 South Carolina, 2:30 pm CBS, the Gamecocks had this win in their hands, even if it was a sloppy and poorly played game by both teams. Auburn on the other hand continues to pull the proverbial rabbit out their butts just about every week. Winner: 6-3 ATS: 4-5

#15 Baylor at Kansas State, 2:30 pm ABC/ESPN,  RG3 put up another great game, but came up short on the drive to win the game with 3 minutes to go. The Wildcats came up with another big win and this one against a conference foe with top flight talent.Winner: 6-4 ATS: 4-6

SMU at #20 TCU, 2:30 pm, and just like that Boise State's BCS title hopes took a gigantic hit. Unfortunately that's the biggest take away from SMU's streak busting victory against TCU. June Jones has the Mustangs pointed in a upward direction and they should contend in Conference USA this season. Winner: 7-4 ATS: 5-6

#21 Georgia Tech at North Carolina State, 2:30 pm ABC/ESPN, Georgia Tech walked away a winner in this game and they did it with a slightly more balanced attack than in recent years at Tech. Tech used the triple option to perfection and purely outscored the Tom O'Brien led Wolfpack. Winner: 7-5 ATS: 6-6

Bowling Green at #22 West Virginia, 2:30 pm, Cupcake city. Winner: 8-5 ATS: 7-6

Arizona at USC, 2:30 pm, USC won but not without a whole lot of trouble. Lane Kiffin has the offense running on all cylinders but Monte's defense gave up a school record amount of yards. On the Arizona side Nick Foles threw for 400 yards again in a losing effort. Winner: 9-5 ATS: 8-6

Michigan State at Ohio State, 2:30 pm ABC/ESPN, Zzzzzzzzz, a snoozer out of Columbus as Michigan State outlasted Ohio State 10-7. Winner: 9-6 ATS: 8-7

#13 Clemson at #11 Virginia Tech, 5:00 pm ESPN2, Clemson has impressed with three straight victories over ranked teams. Virginia Tech disappoints on offense as they fail to score while entering Clemson territory. The Clemson defense should be what keeps this team in the ACC title hunt. Winner: 9-7 ATS: 9-7

Ball State at #2 Oklahoma, 6:00 pm, Cupcake city Winner: 10-7 ATS: 9-8

#17 Texas at Iowa State, 6:00 pm FX, Texas avenged last years loss with a beat down this year. Texas is well on the road back to being Texas, Iowa State well is Iowa State and will be middle of the pack at best in a top heavy Big XII. Winner: 11-7 ATS: 9-9

#3 Alabama at #12 Florida, 7:00 pm CBS, Alabama showed the country why it deserves it's reputation, the defense was swarming and the offense avoided mistakes. Florida is definitely improved but it has a bit to go until it catches the LSU's and Alabama's of the country again. Winner: 12-7 ATS: 10-9

#8 Nebraska at #7 Wisconsin, 7:00 pm ABC, the Badgers looked like they were a full step above the Cornhuskers on Saturday night in Madison. It was much more lopsided than expected and the biggest surprise was most assuredly how the defense took a step forward. Winner: 13-7 ATS: 11-9

UCLA at #6 Stanford, 9:30 pm, Stanford still has Andrew Luck, UCLA is well on the way to getting rid of Rich Neuheisel. Winner: 14-7 ATS: 12-9

Oregon State at #25 Arizona State, 9:30 pm, Arizona State did what it had to and was suppose to do it beat a weak conference opponent at home. Winner: 15-7 ATS: 12-10