Weekly Picks of the Week - Week 9

Picks in Bold

Rankings based on BCS Standings
All lines provided by Sportsbook.ag

Cincinnati Bearcats @ #16 Louisville Cardinals (-3.5)

Friday 8:00
ESPN

#2 Florida Gators (-6.5) v. #10 Georgia Bulldogs

Jacksonville, Florida
3:30
CBS

#14 Texas Tech Red Raiders @ #3 Kansas State Wildcats (-7)

3:30
FOX

Ohio State Buckeyes (Pick) @ Penn State Nittany Lions

5:30
ESPN

#5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish @ #8 Oklahoma Sooners (-10)

8:00
ABC

#11 Mississippi State Bulldogs (+24.5) @ #1 Alabama Crimson Tide

8:30
ESPN

-If you haven't noticed, there has been a growing trend in college football for the past couple of seasons where teams wear a different style of uniform compared to their traditional game day unis.  And of course, Oregon is to blame for this trend considering they haven't worn the same combination of jersey/pants/helmets since 2006.  Since then, every team but a few have worn some sort of radical looking uniform compared to what they usually wear and I have a question about this trend - does it hurt a team's performance to wear a different uniform every once and awhile?  Think about it, if your team is used to seeing one of two possible color combinations, can they get confused when they see something they are not used to on the field?  The immediate answer is no because Oregon wears something different every week and they are blowing people out.  But what about a team that might wear an alternate jersey once a year?  Oddly enough, I'm pretty sure the answer is still no but it has nothing to do with the different looking uniform a team is used to seeing.  Instead, I have seen that when a team wears something unique, it tends to incite extra adrenaline into the players and they ramp up their game for some reason.  However, you would think it would do the exact opposite because they would be doing something that isn't in their routine and most athletes are all about their routine and any variation in that routine usually leads to bad play, but for some reason it doesn't.

-So, Clemson is ranked 13th in both the Coaches and the Harris Polls (which constitutes 2/3rds of the BCS Formula) and South Carolina is ranked three spots (16th) behind Clemson in both polls.  However, South Carolina is ranked FIVE spots ahead of Clemson in the BCS Standings.  That makes no sense.....until you look at the Computer Rankings which seem to hate the ACC and that is not only killing Clemson's BCS ranking but also Florida State's ranking.  If you are those two schools, you are probably hating the ACC right now because they are killing your chances at playing for anything meaningful (well, not this season but maybe next year).  And if you are the ACC, you have to be stoked that the BCS is going away in two years and those standings won't exist and your crappy conference can't kill your best teams' chances of playing for the National Championship anymore and therefore they won't be looking to go elsewhere.  But in any case, I still find it ridiculous that South Carolina is five spots ahead of Clemson in the BCS Standings when Clemson is three spots ahead of the Gaycocks in the two polls that matter.  An eight spot swing seems ridiculous based off of only 1/3rd of the BCS's formula.

-I had another good week and finished 5-2, so look forward to another winning week.  Better yet, look forward to an undefeated week or your money back.

The Funniest College GameDay Sign From Last Weekend Said:

(Seriously, if you don't know why this is funny then you need to stop playing outside all the time and watch this video right this second.  Do It!!!)

Last Week's Results: 5-2
Season Results: 27-23