Huskies win, Huskies win; promptly Hell froze over!
I had to do too many things on Saturday (aka – Recover from Friday Night), so I didn’t have much time to skip around and see what happened around the college ranks. Before I went into my deep, deep Tivo college football replay game depression, a random walker-by told me that the Huskies killed the Wildcats of Arizona. “Oh shit!” I thought, and as it turns out I had good reason to worry. Realizing that hell just froze over, I could only expect my worst set of college football picks of all time. That’s just what I got. As it turns out, I can’t tell the future. I’ll never make fun of that stupid, fat, ugly Jamaican lady again…

Fresno State @ Boise State (+9.5) – Bulldogs 27 – Broncos 7. It turns out I was wrong about a couple of things. Weird. Jared Zabransky looked like the same quarterback who intercepted the LSU game away, and the Bulldogs didn’t seem underrated one bit. Sometimes you think you have something but you really don’t, like Rosie O’Donnell thinks she has a penis.

Maryland @ North Carolina (-2.5) – Terrapins 33 – Tar Heels 30. It went into overtime, where I realized I couldn’t lose if North Carolina would just score and hold the Terps to nothing. If, again. It always seems to crap on your glasses when you figure out what you need to win. The Terps outlasted the Tar Heels in the extra session, sending me to 0-2, with the knowledge of a Husky loss on the horizon.

Northwestern (+18.5) @ Ohio State – Wildcats 7 – Buckeyes 48. Ohio State is finally playing as well as everyone thought they would all year. Sometimes it takes awhile to pull your head out of your ass, just ask the Bush family. Troy Smith is going to be a great quarterback, and State’s set of backs and receivers could probably take gold in the 4×100 at the next Olympic games. Unfortunately half of them will be making gobs of money playing professional football so they won’t have time to travel to Hong Kong to run around a track.

Michigan State (+6) @ Minnesota – Spartans 18 – Golden Gophers 41. The Spartans have now lost 5 of 6, making them almost as bad as the Blue Devils of Duke. Just kidding. State would still outscore Duke by 50 points in the first half. In this game it was Amir Pinnix and Gary Russell leading the Gopher rushing attack. Maroney was out for the day. The Gopher offensive line played at a high level, and the Gophers absolutely dominated the Spartans.

Iowa @ Wisconsin (-3) – Hawkeyes 20 – Badgers 10. Iowa led by 7 after three quarters, and their defense played stellar in the 4th, holding Wisconsin scoreless while taking home victory. The Badgers have really fallen off since their undefeated start to the season, while the Hawkeyes are playing their best football of the season. Another unlucky loss for Lucky.

Florida State (-2) @ Clemson – Seminoles 14 – Tigers 35. Terry Bowden took another game from his daddy on Saturday. The Tigers are a much better football team than I originally thought. This is beginning to look like a theme here; I think team is good, team is bad; I think team is bad, team is good.

Washington @ Arizona Wildcats (-13) – Kudos to Tyrone Willingham, he’ll end up building a solid team at the University of Washington. He got his first victory on Saturday, in response I originally thought hell had just frozen over. Especially with the way the Wildcats took down the Bruins’ hopes for an undefeated season last week. What can I say? You can’t win them all. You can’t win most of them, half of them, some of them, one of them… Can I get a tie?

Arizona State (+4) @ UCLA – Wildcats 35 – Bruins 45. The Bruins came back from their loss in a big way, taking down the Wildcats in a big-time scoring affair. Maurice Drew could only manage 88 yards on the ground, but that didn’t matter much as Drew Olson passes for 510 yards and 5 touchdowns, setting a new record for touchdown passes in a season for the Bruins. What happened to Arizona State after losing to the Trojans?

Texas Tech (-24) @ Oklahoma State – Raiders 17 – Cowboys 24. Not only did the Raiders fail to cover, but they got beat up by the Cowboys. Tech roared back with 14 points in the 4th quarter to tie the game, but a late touchdown by State took away any chances the Raiders had to pull out the victory. This is one of the biggest upsets of the weekend.

Oregon (-5) @ Washington State – Ducks 34 – Cougars 31. I’ll tell you what, the Cougars have been just good enough to lose every single Pac-10 game in the second half. This time it was the 3rd quarter that happened to be the Cougs’ undoing. Back here at home, we like to call this act, “Couging It”. It comes from all those games UW has taken down the Pussycats from Pullman. Loser = Me.

LSU @ Alabama (+3) – ‘Bama lost a heart breaker, but not without allowing me my one shot at mediocrity, allowing me a push and at least $20 left in my account. Thanks. Alas, their are only two undefeated teams left in the college ranks. And the BCS gets off again. Those Bastards!

A shot below the belt… 5-6
Lets say the Belt is right at .500, well this week marks a shot right in the junk. At 5-6, I couldn’t make a hat trick out of my winning weeks, but a nail biter makes for good TV right? At least an ulcer. I’ll have to take a trip to the family doctor before I go back to the drawing board in an all or nothing week 11. For now, take a look at my ups and downs and try and figure out where I went wrong.

Losers – 6

Michigan State (-5) @ Purdue – College football is a mess, no one can figure this stuff out… okay, I just couldn’t figure this one out… Purdue takes down Michigan State, the only team besides USC to beat Notre Dame… what is this world coming to? I get it; sure money is not sure at all… okay, okay, I’ll learn my lesson.

Toledo (-11) @ Ohio – The Rockets could only outscore Ohio by 9 which is… carry the two… oh yeah, not enough for me to cover the 11 points needed for payout. Schucks!

Wake Forest (+8) @ Georgia Tech – It looks like the swagger Tech has been walking around with finally followed them into a football game. Georgia Tech is loaded with talent, too much for the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest. Reggie Ball finally played some good football, and the Yellow Jacket defense was too much for the offensive unit in Wake.

Miami @ Virginia Tech (-6) – Markus Vick looked terrible. He couldn’t throw, run, or hold on to the damn ball. He’ll grow up, but not soon enough to make a BCS catastrophe… dang! I had hopes for some Texas, USC, Virginia Tech, and Alabama undefeated season BCS ugliness… but now it looks more and more like a USC – Texas title game. Thanks Hokies!

Tennessee (+8.5) @ Notre Dame – Notre Dame is one of the NCAA’s best teams. They took a Tennessee scare and dominated in the last 15 minutes. Notre Dame will play in a big BCS game if they can win out.

UCLA (-9) @ Arizona – The dream is dead in California. There were many season ticket holders and college students’ alike waiting and hoping to see the UCLA Bruins and the Trojans of USC playing in a match-up between undefeateds, but their dreams were dashed by the horrendous play of the Bruins. At the bottom of the Pac-10, the Arizona Wildcats took down the Bruins, giving UCLA what had been coming to them over the last three weeks. This just shows, you can’t deny destiny!

Winners – 5

Minnesota (-13) @ Indiana – The Golden Gophers were much better than the overmatched Indiana Hoosiers. Marooney looked good and the Gophers over powered the young Hoosier team easily.

Duke (+31) @ Clemson – “The oddsmakers must be slamming their heads into walls left and right.” (Me) Yes, the Blue Devils made this closer than it needed to be, but I was right on top of the score. No way the Tigers outscore a college football team by more points than they’ve scored all year. So, Duke lost and I won… Can’t have a better day than that!

Texas A&M @ Texas Tech (-17) – “Texas Tech shall dominate this match-up. Tech is a solid, offensively explosive machine while A&M is what? The 8th best school in Texas. Exactly. No-brainer.” (Me) 56-17… Are you kidding me? Once again, that’s Lucky “Genius” Lester, I’ll be here all year.

Texas (-28) @ Baylor – “Texas will absolutely obliterate Baylor. 28 points will be had after 1.5 quarters of football, and a 40-point victory will be on the horizon.” Okay, okay, I was wrong… the Longhorns only had 27 points at halftime. And they didn’t win by 40, they won by 62… You can’t be perfect all the time.

Oregon State (-3) @ Washington – The Huskies continue to be the Pac-10 doormat, but it’s not their fault, they’re just really, really bad. Who’s fault is it? I blame Drew Bledsoe and Tom Cruise. Bledsoe is sluggish on a fast day and Tom Cruise is borderline dwarf material. Plus, they’re both assholes. Another Husky loss means another win for me!

Double Up 8-4-1
I doubled up my wins over losses in a big winner week for Lucky. I plan on many winner weeks to come as I feel like I have this college thing down. Those Trojans broke my heart by taking down the Irish with a little reversal of Irish Luck. Even with a broken heart, a new fat wad in my wallet felt pretty good… who said money can’t make you happy?

Push Me

Toledo couldn’t get me one more point. They did everything but. And what can I say, I was meant to win twice as many games as I loss and no less.

Losers

South Florida couldn’t pull this one out, so I started my Saturday with a loss… luckily the losses would come few and far between. Let freedom ring.
Bowling Green could only muster up 20 more points than Buffalo. I’ll stick with my guns though, and bet on my main man Omarr Jacobs on any given Saturday.

The Indianna game was tough, I lost the spread by 2.5 points. I thought the Hoosier defense would play better… guess I was wrong.

UCLA couldn’t pull the spread out. I knew Washington State was going to choke, they’ve made a career of it. Unfortunately they didn’t choke until late, too late for me to win.

Winners

Washington tried to joke around and hold on early, but the true purple and gold came through with a nice and dissapointing loss. Oregon is one of the best teams in a weak Pac 10. The Huskies are one of the weaker teams in the NCAA. Another loss of the Dogs is another win for me.

Penn State couldn’t pull off a win that would have kept them in the National Title hunt. On 4th and goal, with time running out, Michigan State got a touchdown to win by 2. Did I say 2? Luckily for me, I had 3. Winner!

Florida couldn’t win the big game, but LSU coldn’t finish off the Gators. Meyer’s team hung around long enough to cover the spread and make my money.

Mo money, mo money, mo money….. Notre Dame was out to make me look like a genius before the luck of the Irish reversed and broke my heart. A little mending with the cash I pocketed made me feel a little better.

Georgia Tech was much, much better than those horrible Blue Devils. The Yellow Jackets stepped up and took the Devils by 25, giving me my first of many wins on the day.

Weird, Colorado couldn’t compete with Vince Young and the rest of the Texas Longhorns. I called this one right on the dot. I’m getting used to picking these Longhorn games.

Ohio State was a touchdown favorite and they deserved to be. Michigan State is a good football team, and they had control, but Ohio State can score at any time on any play. They did, and they came back to beat the Spartans easily.

Northwestern is a damn good squad, and they came out and took advantage of a Purdue Boilermaker team that is out of their conference race. Basenez is a good quarterback, one of the toughest leaders in the college game. Look for Northwestern to make some noise.

No Pushing!
Picking the Lucky number 13 games took me over the .500 mark for the first time this year. Sure, it was only a game over even, but you must crawl before you walk. Do you have to walk before you sprint? Let’s hope not! As my genius continues to expand, so does my record. Check out my 7-6 week 6 in the College Ranks.

North Carolina State @ Georgia Tech (-4.5) – (Loser) Wolfpack 17 – Yellow Jackets 14. I had this game lost with the Yellow Jackets driving in the games final seconds. Fate would have it that I’d lose by a half a point, right? Wrong. The only player who was keeping the Jackets’ hopes alive, Calvin Johnson, had the ball bounce off his hands and get intercepted to end the game for Georgia Tech. Tough luck for both of us! Lucky’s Fearless Prediction: North Carolina State Wolfpack 27 – Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 34.

Illinois @ Indiana (-6) – (Winner) Illini 13 – Hoosiers 36. I hit this one right on the toe. Blake Powers was solid in all aspects as he led the Hoosiers to 4-1 in an easy victory over Illinois. James Hardy had 118 yards receiving with two of Power’s four touchdown passes. Running back Chris Taylor added his fuel to the fire with 132 yards on 18 carries. This Hoosier team is tough! Lucky’s Fearless Prediction: Illinois Fighting Illini 21 – Indiana Hoosiers 38.

Wisconsin (-7) @ Northwestern – (Loser) Badgers 48 – Wildcats 51. I have to give it to the Wildcats, they put up 51 on the Badgers. This game was phenomenal! The Badgers were seemingly down and out until their final comeback. They came up short, but don’t look for Wisconsin to let down in coming weeks. Lucky’s Fearless Prediction: Wisconsin Badgers 31 – Northwestern 21.

Virginia @ Boston College (-7) – (Winner) Cavaliers 17 – Eagles 28. Got it! The Eagles were too good for the overrated Cavaliers. Boston College tightened the clamps and didn’t allow a 4th quarter score out of the Cavaliers, as they took their second straight conference game. Lucky’s Fearless Prediction: Virginia Cavaliers 13 – Boston College Eagles 28.

Oklahoma @ Texas (-13.5) – (Winner) Sooners 12 – Longhorns 45. Vince Young was great. The Sooners were not. Oklahoma didn’t score their first touchdown until the 4th quarter, as the Longhorns were as good as advertised. Mack Brown has a smile the size of Texas after his first victory over Bob Stoops. Lucky’s Fearless Prediction: Oklahoma Sooners 17 – Texas Longhorns 48.

Maryland (-28.5) @ Temple – (Winner) Terrapins 38 – Owls 7. “I’d like to thank Temple for giving me another win. Thanks!”(me) I have to admit, I was a little frightened when the Owls took a touchdown lead over the Terps. As it turns out I had nothing to worry about. The Owls never touched the end zone again, and the Terps put up their 35 plus. Another Owl game, another victory! Lucky’s Fearless Prediction: Maryland Terrapins 55 – Temple Owls 14.

Minnesota (+7.5) @ Michigan – (Winner) Golden Gophers 23 – Wolverines 20. “I think last week was an aberration, for both these teams. Take the Golden Gophers to upset the Wolverines and take their top 25 ranking for the second time this year.” (me) I haven’t checked yet, but I’ll guess the Wolverines aren’t resting in the AP’s Top 25. The Gophers made me look like a fortune teller, taking the Wolverines down in Michigan. Lucky’s Fearless Prediction: Minnesota Golden Gophers 38 – Michigan Wolverines 24.

Air Force (+1) @ Navy – (Loser) Falcons 24 – Midshipmen 27. It’s always a tough game to predict, as great rivalries are tough to call. The boys at Navy put Air Force at 2-4 while evening out their own record at 2-2 after their 2nd straight victory. Lucky’s Fearless Prediction: Air Force Falcons 28 – Navy Midshipmen 24.

Arizona @ USC (-37.5) – (Loser) Wildcats 21 – Trojans 42. This game was a hell of a lot closer than the 21 point final margin. The 1-4 Wildcats were only down a 14-7 at the half and 28-21 after the third quarter. I’m sure as shit the Trojans aren’t as good as everyone thinks they are. A loss is in their near future. Next week? They sure didn’t look like winners against the sub par Wildcats. Lucky’s Fearless Prediction: Arizona Wildcats 3 – USC Trojans 49.

Georgia (+3) @ Tennessee – (Winner) Bulldogs 27 – Volunteers 14. It wasn’t this close. Don’t be confused, the Bulldogs put an old fashioned beat down on the Volunteers in Tennessee. Georgia was the better team, in every aspect as I predicted. The late score by the Vols just made the score closer to my prediction. Lucky’s Fearless Prediction: Georgia Bulldogs 24 – Tennessee Volunteers 14.

Ohio @ Bowling Green (-22.5) – (Winner) Bobcats 14 – Falcons 38. Omarr Jacobs threw for 341 yards while tossing his NCAA leading 19th touchdown of the year. The Bobcats couldn’t keep pace… big surprise. The 24 point victory took me to 7-4 going into my final two games of the week. Lucky’s Fearless Prediction: Ohio Bobcats 30 – Bowling Green Falcons 57.

North Carolina (+13) @ Louisville – (Loser) Tar Heels 14 – Cardinals 69. Any time you drop 69 on a team you get love. Any time you drop 69 on a good defense like Carolina you get Jenna-like love. The Cards are back! After getting so many right on the button, this one was a real reality slap in the face. Not only did I lose my bet, but the Tar Heels got lambasted by those Louisville Cardinals. Finally the Cards play like the team everyone thought they’d be, and it was the week I picked them to fail. Lucky’s Fearless Prediction: North Carolina Tar Heels 31 – Louisville Cardinals 28.

Oregon @ Arizona State (-10) – (Loser) Ducks 31 – Sun Devils 17. I’m not sure what this all means… The Pac 10 sucks? I’ve been saying that all along, but I’ve never thought it more than I do right now. Maybe USC will crush every sports writer’s dream, to pick the National Champion, by losing to the Irish this week. As for these two teams, neither will find themselves in a BCS Bowl game. That’s a fact! Oregon took me to 7-6 by taking it to the Sun Devils in Tempe. Lucky’s Fearless Prediction: Oregon Ducks 17 – Arizona State Sun Devils 45.

I was had!!!
USC pulled one out of the hat, as they took the Sun Devils by ten. As for me, I had the same fate as Arizona State, up early, down late. Follow my 6-8 week as I review the games I won, and the games that ripped holes in my check book.

Kansas State (+7) @ Oklahoma – I picked the Wildcat score. Unfortunately I don’t get half my money back for that one. The Sooners couldn’t and wouldn’t be stopped by Kansas State. A team the Sooners still seem to own. Adrian Peterson lost any chance he had to win the Heisman when he went out in the second quarter with a foot injury. Stoops said he should be fine, but eight carries for 51 yards isn’t going to get you any votes. Ask Laurence Maroney. If you told me the Sooners were going to win without Peterson in the game, I would have laughed in your face. Then of course, you would have laughed last. Lucky’s Fearless Prediction: Kansas State Wildcats 21 – Oklahoma Sooners 20. Actual: Wildcats 21 – Sooners 43.

Notre Dame @ Purdue (-3) – A swing and a miss. Actually Purdue beat the Irish by seven in the second half. Unfortunately for me the Boilermakers gave the Irish a head start. After the first half it was already 28-0. At least I didn’t have to watch Notre Dame after the first fifteen minutes… I had a CSI episode on Tivo… that sucked too! Can’t win ’em all. Lucky’s Fearless Prediction: Notre Dame Fighting Irish 23 – Purdue Boilermakers 30. Actual: Irish 49 – Boilermakers 28.

Temple @ Bowling Green (-28) – Thank God for the Temple Owls! “Temple is very, very, almost as bad as Duke. (0-4, can it get any worse? yes, say 0-5) The Bowling Green Falcons only have one win to show for their first three games. But they’re better than that.” (me) This game was easier than the Texas Missouri game. Omarr Jacobs has enough talent in his own right hand to beat the Owls by 50. Jacobs numbers you ask? 26-30, 326yards, 4 touchdowns, 0 interceptions. He’s a man among Owls! Lucky’s Fearless Prediction: Temple Owls 13 – Bowling Green Falcons 49. Actual: Owls 7 – Falcons 70.

Washington @ UCLA (-21.5) – The Huskies take me down for the second time this year. This game was way too close. Either the Bruins took a huge step back or the Huskies are way better than I expected. Bet on the step back. The Huskies not only played close with the Bruins, but they had UCLA beat. The Dogs were up 14 in the fourth, but fell victim to their own inability to finish football games. The Huskies have allowed more points in 4th quarters this year than all their first halves combined. Lucky’s Fearless Prediction: Washington Huskies 17 – UCLA Bruins 50. Actual: Huskies 17 – Bruins 21.

Utah @ North Carolina (-3.5) – A big win right on the money for me. The Tar Heels are a better team than many believe. They’ll continue to prove themselves against tough competition throughout the year. The Tar Heels will be bowling come December. Lucky’s Fearless Prediction: Utah Utes 17 – North Carolina Tar Heels 27. Actual Utes 17 – Tar Heels 31.

USC @ Arizona State (+16.5) – Well, I won the bet, but lost the big upset call. What can you do? If it wasn’t for this and that and all that other stuff the Sun Devils would have won. Exactly. If it wasn’t for the Reggie Bush and Lindell White and…. the list goes on and on. But remember, USC has made a small habit of playing like shit in the first half. Luckily for them the opposition in both those games have come out in the second half like a flat tire. If they continue to shit bricks in the first half, their opponent might come out in the second half with more confidence. Lucky’s Fearless Prediction: USC 37 – Arizona State Sun Devils 42. Actual: Trojans 38 – Sun Devils 28.

Minnesota (-2.5) @ Penn State – I didn’t see this one coming. I didn’t think Laurence Maroney would get held under 100 yards against anyone, let alone Joe Pa’s Nittany Lions. I thought the Gophers would score way too many points for the Lions to follow, but it was Paterno’s Penn State squad that turned up the fire on offense. Maroney fell from the Heisman race in a big loss for the previously undefeated Nittany Lions. But how great would it be to see Joe Paterno’s bunch of boys run the table? After everyone was giving Joe a hard time for continuing to coach. Stay as long as you want Mr. Paterno! Lucky’s Fearless Prediction: Minnesota Golden Gophers 46 – Penn State Nittany Lions – 27. Actual: Gophers 14 – Nittany Lions 44.

Florida (-4) @ Alabama – Looks like I was wrong about a lot of things. Mainly those men in Alabama. This was an amazingly bad day for the Gators. “A Meyer-coached team had never been held without a touchdown, and the Gators hadn’t been kept out of the end zone since 1992.”(CBS) A nice double team on those two streaks. Meyer was welcomed to the SEC by Alabama to the tune of total destruction. A young man named Tyron Prothro took a short slant and ran bye the Gators like they were stuck on pause by Tivo. Now that’d be an expensive upgrade. Looks like Meyer’s Gators, and myself, are back to the drawing board . Lucky’s Fearless Prediction: Florida Gators 32 – Alabama Crimson Tide 20. Actual: Gators 3 – Crimson Tide 31.

Navy (-6) @ Duke – Duke gets beat at home by Navy and nobody says a thing. That’s how bad Duke football is. Navy outmaneuvered and outscored the Blue Devils, even with 11 points from Duke in the fourth quarter. I get a big smile on my face when I win money off of a Duke loss. Lucky’s Fearless Prediction: Navy Midshipmen 38 – Duke Blue Devils 13. Actual: Midshipmen 28 – Duke 21.

Virginia Tech (-10.5) @ West Virginia – Virginia met their match against their cross state rivals. The Hokies were better than the Mountaineers in every aspect of the game. Marcus Vick looked better than ever, and his confidence was booming throughout the game. Look out for these Hokies! Lucky’s Fearless Prediction: Virginia Tech Hokies 49 – West Virginia Mountaineers 21. Actual: Hokies 34 – Mountaineers 17.

Clemson (-7) @ Wake Forest – Bottom line… I just flat out didn’t think the Clemson Tigers were this bad. I was wrong. Clemson was held scoreless in the fourth quarter, and instead of destroying Wake, they got beat by four. So I struck out on this game. Even the best go down to a knuckle-baller sometimes. Lucky’s Fearless Prediction: Clemson Tigers 45 – Wake Forest Demon Deacons 14. Actual: Clemson 27 – Deacons 31.

Michigan @ Michigan State (-5.5) – This game was close just like I had imagined. I was down seven late in the game until the biggest damn guy on State’s team picks up a fumble and bumbles eighty firkin yards for a touchdown to tie it up. As you well know, that wasn’t gonna do it for me. So I was back to my old antics, hope for overtime, an easy score from the Spartans and hold the Wolverines to nothing. Unfortunately the Wolverines marched down the field and had a 20 yard field goal to win it. Fortunately the bonner missed it wide right. My overtime wishes had been granted. Then my wishes turned to the shits. The spartans were held scoreless and Michigan’s bonner of a kicker puts the ball through the uprights for the three point victory. Lucky’s Fearless Prediction: Michigan Wolverines 17 – Michigan State Spartans 24. Actual: Wolverines 34 – Spartans 31.

Indiana @ Wisconsin (-17.5) – The Badgers walloped the Hoosiers. If it wasn’t for a meaningless score with a minute and change left on the clock the score would have been 41-17. If you do the math, that would have made me a winner. As it stands, mark Lucky down for another loss by a half a point. Son of a….. Lucky’s Fearless Prediction: Indiana Hoosiers 17 – Wisconsin Badgers 38. Actual; Hoosiers 24 – Wisconsin 41.

Texas (-14.5) @ Missouri – This one was as easy as Tracy Cox. Honestly, I wish all games could be like this. Vince Young was dominate, kid looked like an NFL starter playing middle school ball. Missouri wasn’t ready, and they’ll never be ready for Texas. Lucky’s Fearless Prediction: Texas Longhorns 56 – Missouri Tigers 17. Actual: Texas 51 – Missouri 20.

College Football Pick’em
I took 10 games and picked half of them right on the button. LSU’s big tumble on Monday night took me to an even .500. So I’m getting better at this college stuff … I had some tough games to pick. I highlighted my losses in red and my wins in blue to make it easier for everyone. Follow my review to see where I turned right, and of course where I turned left.

Michigan (-2.5) @ Wisconsin – Wolverines 20 – Badgers 23. This one broke my heart. The Badgers have been making money for me all season, and I let them down. They won again, taking the Michigan Wolverines out of the AP Top 25 for the first time in 7 years. Crazy. Michigan will get back in by seasons’ end. As for now, those tough Badgers and Brian Calhoun are undefeated. Kudos to Barry Alverez for getting his kids ready week in and week out.

Tennessee @ LSU (-6.5) – Volunteers 30 – Tigers 27. Just as I had imagined the LSU Tigers came out with a passion. After the first half of play the Tigers had built a 21-0 lead on the Vols, who lost their starting quarterback after a tough tackle in the back of the end zone. After half the Tigers just didn’t get the bounces. Momentum changed teams, as he often does, and the Tennessee Volunteers tied the game late in the 4th quarter. LSU had a chance to win the game with a late field goal, but their time management was piss. The field goal unit wasn’ t even set when time ran out. Overtime was quick, the Tigers kicked a field goal… and after two tough stops on the 1 yard line, Riggs ran in for the score. LSU was too excited early, and it caught up with them late. Another loss evened me out at .500 for the week.

USC (-22) @ Oregon – Trojans 45 – Ducks 13. My prediction called for a 34 point differential and the final was 32. The ducks tried to trick USC in the beginning, playing well enough to be up 3 at the half. But the Trojans wouldn’t be had. Reggie Bush is the best player in the Nation, hands down. The Trojans have their toughest game of the year next week in Arizona. USC got me a much needed win after a scarry first half.

Notre Dame (-13.5) – Washington – Irish 36 – Huskies 17. I was a little off, but in the end the Fighting Irish won the game without much difficulty. The Huskies held on the a chance much later than I had expected, but the Irish got me another win, taking the Huskies by 19. Charlie Weis is a good football coach!

North Carolina @ North Carolina State (-10) – Tar Heels 31 – Wolfpack 24. How about them Tar Heels? I’m Carolina blue, through and through, so this lost felt as good on the inside as it hurt the check book outside. The Wolfpack just aren’t the team I thought they’d be. The Heels will play tough with anybody. Look for a big upset later in the season. The Wolfpack couldn’t get me a victory, but a Carolina upset at NC State is much much sweeter!

TCU (+3.5) @ BYU – TCU 51 – BYU 50. This game was too close for comfort. I was covering my eyes like a little girl at the end of Titanic. Subsequently all men, young and old alike, also are closing their eyes at the end of that movie. After three overtimes the TCU horned Frogs came out the victors, giving me another win on the day.

Western Michigan(-3.5) @ Temple – WM 19 – Temple 16. Ahhh…. Those damned Temple Owls. This is the second week in a row they lost when I bet against them. This also marks the second week in a row I didn’t win any money off them. This week was one worse than last, they didn’t cause a push, but covered the spread by a half point. Thanks. Another loss out of Temple, another loss for Lucky.

Boston College (+3) @ Clemson – Eagles 16 – Tigers 13. “The Boston College Eagles have another tough test against Clemson. BC has shown over the last few years, that they play well in bounce back games. This week should be no different.” (me) This game was everything I thought it would be. My prediction called for a 3 point game. The Final difference was 3 for my BC Eagles. This was a huge win for the Eagles who played without starting quarterback Quentin Porter. Another win for me!

Georgia Tech @ Virginia Tech (-11) – G-Tech 7 – V-Tech 51. Reggie Ball was back in action, but that didn’t help the hopeless Yellow Jackets. The Hokies got 21 combined points from defense and special teams. Marcus Vick showed he could be a consistant pocket passer, completing 13-18 for 223 yards. The Hokies didn’t have great offensive numbers, but they didn’t need to, as their defense brought ruckus all game long.

Iowa (+7) @ Ohio State – Hawkeyes 6 – Buckeyes 31. Before this Saturday, Heisman Hopeful Ted Ginn Jr. hadn’t shown me the greatness everyone predicted from him. Nothing has changed. Ginn caught three passes for thirty yards. On the other hand, new starting quarterback Troy Smith looked like an All American, throwing for just under 200 yards while rushing for 127. The Buckeyes destroyed Iowa in every aspect of the game. So much for what I said. The Buckeyes gave me my 4th Saturday loss on the week.