Weekly Picks of the Week - Championship Week

Picks in Bold

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

Louisville Cardinals @ Rutgers Scarlet Knights (-3)

Thursday 7:30
ESPN

#16 UCLA Bruins (+8.5) @ #8 Stanford Cardinal

PAC-12 Championship
Friday 8:00
FOX

#2 Alabama Crimson Tide v. #3 Georgia Bulldogs (+7)

SEC Championship
Georgia Dome (Atlanta, GA)
4:00
CBS

#13 Florida State Seminoles (-14) v. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

ACC Championship
Bank of America Stadium (Charlotte, NC)
8:00
ESPN

#18 Texas Longhorns (+11.5) @ #6 Kansas State Wildcats

8:00
ABC

#12 Nebraska Cornhuskers (-3) v. Wisconsin Badgers

Big 10 Championship
Lucas Oil Stadium (Indianapolis, IN)
8:00
FOX

-I was hoping to talk about how overrated the SEC is this week, but unfortunately Florida State and Clemson shit the bed against their SEC rivals.  However, I will at least talk about the SEC's cheap scheduling tactics.  South Carolina beat Clemson for the fourth straight year which is the longest such streak since the 50's and yet Clemson has still won 10 of the last 16 match-ups against the Gamecocks.  So, what changed in the past four years that suddenly made this rivalry swing in the Gamecock's favor?  In each of the past four seasons, South Carolina has scheduled a Division 1-AA opponent the week prior to the Clemson game allowing their team to rest key players and be refreshed for the big rivalry game.  In other words, there is a direct correlation between the Gamecock's recent scheduling and their four game win streak and that correlation is that they have to play a patsy the week before playing Clemson in order to win.  Some might say that what they are doing is smart scheduling, but I (as a bitter Clemson fan) say that they were so tired of getting beat all the time that they had to figure out a cheap way to finally beat the Tigers.  On top of that, the rest of the SEC is and has been doing the same thing for years.  For example, two weeks ago, seven SEC teams scheduled a cupcake the second to last week of the season and all seven teams won this week (except Kentucky, but that doesn't count).  Coincidence?  No.  Smart scheduling?  No.  Gay?  Absolutely.  The funny thing is that Clemson finally figured this out and they will be playing The Citadel the week before the South Carolina game next season which will finally put the two teams on equal footing going into the big rivalry game for the first time in five years.  (And I guess I should at least mention that I thought South Carolina was the better team this year and they deserved the win, but it at least makes me feel better to think that they cheated somehow in order to beat Clemson.)

-Also, I had another winning week by finishing 5-4 and it would have been even better if the SEC hadn't been using their cheap scheduling.  In any case, expect another winning week or your money back.

The Funniest College GameDay Sign From Last Weekend Said:

(You probably can't see it, but it's the yellow on the left that says "Mom The Meatloaf".  I always love a good Old School reference.)

Last Week's Results: 4-3
Season Results: 47-34