Is God a man? I say YES

Well that’s what I get for putting out games in a hurried fashion after a week of being out of town working. The 0-3 start definitely hurts, but we’ll get it back on track this week. Reflecting on week 1, we had Penn St who raced to a 31-0 lead at halftime only to pull in the reigns and allow Akron the back door cover. Minny gets out to a 20-3 lead but allows ‘Cuse to come back and take the game to OT. Lastly, I really sold BYU short …they are a good team and not only knocked out QB S. Bradford, but killed Okla.’s chances at the BCS NC. BYU could run the table causing more BCS controversy and providing good entertainment from The Honorable Sen. Orin Hatch. Why do congressmen always think they need to weigh in on sports issues? They have better things to do like hiking the Appalachian Trail (or was it liking some “Argentinean Tail”).

Some great games on tap for this weekend, highlighted by a top 10 show down between U$C at O$U. Does anyone have any doubt how this one ends up? I cannot trust a true frosh QB (M. Barkley) on the road at the Horseshoe, but I expect it to be about 31-13 in favor of the Trojans. Another great tilt at the Big House as Michigan and ND renew their storied rivalry. ND -3 almost looks too good to be true, but I have a sneaking suspicion Rich Rod get his first signature W here. Down South you have an SEC elimination game with So. Car. travelling to UGA where points will be at a premium (take the under 38) and one of these HCs will be on the hot seat after losing. Finally, UCLA comes to Rocky Top in a re-match from last year. There is no “love-lost” between these staffs with Lane Kiffin and Coach O having faced off against the Bruins many times while at U$C. You also have a battle of football gurus as UCLA OC N. Chow goes against Vol DC M. Kiffin. UCLA starts 1 true frosh, 2 RS frosh., a soph. and a JUCO transfer on the OL, plus their QB is a RS frosh. making his first road start. I expect Neyland and Monte to cause a few problems for the UCLA offense. The line bolted from -7.5 to -10 so I could not pull the trigger. So here are my top 3 plays this week.

1. KANSAS -13 @ UTEP I normally stay away from double digit road faves, but I really love this game. For those veterans of the Locks, you know I have been a huge fan of the Jayhawks and Big HC Mangino. My boy will put some points on the board. Last week Kansas hammered FCS foe N. Colo (49-3) and UTEP lost at home to Buffalo. Miner HC M. Price is having a tough time in El Paso and after this game will be longing for a vacation on the Gulf Coast (“It’s Rollin’ Baby!”). The mis-match in this game is that UTEP has no D, and Kansas is loaded with weapons. The Jayhawks return QB T. Reesing and a bevy of playmakers at WR (K. Meier, J. Wilson and D. Briscoe). They also have 2 good RBs in J. Sharp and true frosh T. Opurum (6′ 2″/235 lbs. who had 8 carries for 79 yds last week). Kansas is breaking in a new D (4-2-5) and they lost all of their LBs from last year and UTEP has an up-tempo O led by QB T. Vittatoe, but Kansas will have very little resistance from the UTEP D. KAN 49 UTEP 20

2. VANDY +14.5 @ LSU Some people may question this pick, but this is not your father’s Vandy. HC B. Johnson has done a fantastic job of making Vandy very competitive in the SEC and secured Vandy’s first bowl win in ages last year. LSU came in this year as one of the favorites to win the SECW, but was in a dog fight last week with Wash. Now they get to travel back from the West Coast (1 less day of prep) to face a Vandy squad that just blasted W. Carolina last week. Vandy QB L. Smith was very efficient in going 10/18/153 yds/1 TD and rushing for 66 yds. LSU had trouble with QB Locher allowing him to pass for 321 yds. and rush for 51. Vandy also had 2 frosh RBs go for over 100 yds as Z. Stacey debuted with 133 yds on the ground. LSU has worlds and worlds of talent, especially on O with QB. J. Jefferson, RBs C. Scott and K. Williams, WRs B. LaFell and T. Tolliver, but Vandy has a stout D led by LBs C. Marve and P. Benoist and CB M. Lewis. One thing to remember is that LSU’s new DC is J. Chavis (from UT) and he has always struggled defending mobile QBs. Finally, a look at recent numbers reinforces this pick. Vandy is 5-2 ATS in its last 7 road games. On the other hand, LSU is 0-5 ATS in its last 5 at home and 1-7 ATS in its last 8 games. Double digit SEC road dogs have been barking the past 3 years. I’ll take the Dores and over 2 TDs. LSU 27 VANDY 20

3. UAB -11.5 v. SMU I like this UAB team a lot this year and expect them to be bowl eligible at the end of the year. The Blazers pasted Rice last week 44-24 as QB J. Webb went buck wild with 12/15/221/2 TDs through the air and 194 yds. rushing on 20 carries. UAB is experienced as they return 18 starters from last year (all 11 on O). The Blazers have a combined 108 starts on OL returning (huge number) and they return 7 of their top 8 DL. If you can control both lines of scrimmage you have a good chance of winning a lot of games. SMU is in the 2nd year of the June Jones regime and struggled last week to beat SF Austin (FCS team) 31-23. The Ponies were aided by 6 TOS from SFA and still had a tough game. QB Bo Levi Mitchell (I love that name) is the trigger man in this pass happy O, but SMU relied upon RB S. McNeal to carry the water last week. You don’t really have to worry about SMU winning this game as they are 1-19 SU in last 20 Sept road games while UAB is 7-1 SU in last 8 Sept. home games. So all you need is a 12 point UAB win. Not a problem as UAB scores in bunches in this game. UAB 47 SMU 24

OTHER GAMES THAT ALMOST MADE THE CUT

UNC -4.5, PENN ST -28, MICH ST -14.5, TENN -10, ORE -12, ARMY +1, AIR FORCE +3, NEW MEX +17.5, BYU -18 AND TTECH -27

GOOD LUCK