Picks for the Weak: Week 2

UPDATE: Link to Whatifsports.com fixed.

After a beatdown from Jay in last weeks picks we’re back for another edition of the Picks for the Weak.  If you’re wondering where we got the awesome name you’ll have to look to LA.

Unlike last week’s excellent slate of games (with a few that could’ve easily gone either way) this week is almost a dearth of quality college football – that’s despite having 3 games pitting ranked teams against each other!

One of my unwritten rules for this whole thing was that I was never, ever, going to pick the Buckeye game.  The primary reason for this is that this article is supposed to give us an opportunity to discuss the greater college football landscape and maybe look like we care about anything outside of Columbus (I promise, we do).  That said, however, the OSU/Miami game is too good not to pick, so we’re going to do it anyway.

Actually it’s because I had the hardest time finding 10 decent games to watch this week.  That’s kinda sad, honestly.

This week we’re adding a little something new.  WhatIfSports.com* is running a game simulator in an attempt to predict every single game every week, including the score.  Last week they were an impressive 85% for the games, making them only slightly better than Jay’s 77.8%.  We will include their predictions of the scores on a weekly basis as well.

Last but not least, if you’re participating in our Yahoo Sports Fantasy Pick ’em, don’t forget to submit your picks for the week!

Enough with the navel-gazing, lets get to the games.

Thursday, September 9th

#22 Auburn at Mississippi State

Auburn is one of the trendy picks in the SEC right now, and after the Miami (OH) debacle in Gainesville (more on that later) I can see why.  They took care of business against Arkansas State last week 52-26, but their defense probably gave up a few more points than they should against a Sun Belt foe.  Miss State, on the other hand, took care of Memphis in brutal fashion 49-7, and those 7 came in trash time.

This is probably a horribly misguided pick, especially since Memphis is coming back from a 2-10 season, whereas ASU won 2 extra games.

Eric: Mississippi State 21, Auburn 17

Computers: Auburn 36, MSU 19 (91.2%)

Friday, September 10th

#23 West Virginia at Marshall

West Virginia struggled last week with Coastal Carolina for some entirely bizzare reason.  In fact, during the 3rd quarter WVU was up only 10-0 and fumbled the ball while in scoring position.  A piss-poor call by the refs (stopped forward progress) saved the Mountaineers and gave WVU the chance to run away with it.

Marshall, on the other hand, had a rough time with the Buckeyes, though they did find some success here and there.  This week should be roughly similar for them.  Doc Holliday’s knowledge of WVU will help, though.

Eric: West Virginia 31, Marshall 14

Computers: West Virginia 33, Marshall 22 (86%)

Saturday, September 11th

#19 Penn State at #1 Alabama

Penn State fans are going into this one with confidence despite having a freshman quarterback at the helm.  It’s probably the best way to handle attacking the #1 team in the nation on their home turf.  That said, their argument has some weight – Alabama was held to under 30 points by 3 teams, including 2 unranked teams.  Note also that the same LSU team that Penn State beat in the Capital One Bowl was one of the teams to do it (though PSU’s win was by about as narrow a margin as possible).

This will be a big test for both teams, and I’m very very interested to see how it comes out.  Given Penn State’s sluggish start in their last game, it’s going to be tough to pick them in this, despite the claims that Alabama’s defense is a little weak this year.  It will be closer than the experts think, though.

Eric: Alabama 23, Penn State 17

Computers: Alabama 30, Penn State 14 (82.5%)

#13 Miami at #2 Ohio State

This game has been talked about for years, so it is exciting to see it finally happen.  We all know the story lines – how this is revenge for the title game, revenge for the “blown interference call” (more on that in another article), etc. etc.  Toss all of that crap out the window now – that’s for the fans, not the players.

These players are playing for their teams.  Most were in their early teens when that first game happened and very likely don’t care so much about it.

The team that comes out of this very likely has an upper hand on the MNC talk early on this season.  Given the Buckeyes success on offense and defense and how clean they looked doing it, they’ll probably secure the win – though they definitely won’t cover the spread.  Miami will find success against the Bucks on special teams, though their offense will struggle moving the ball.  Jacory Harris and Terrelle Pryor will both have similar passing stats in the end – it’ll be OSU’s running game that is the difference.

Eric: Ohio State 27, Miami 20

Computers: Ohio State 34, Miami 26 (70.2%)

What?  You’re surprised by this?  No-one ever claimed we weren’t atrocious homers!

#20 Florida State at #7 Oklahoma

Florida State is already massively improved under former head-coach-in-waiting-for-an-eternity Jimbo Fisher.  The excellent part of the system they had devised is that the FSU teams of the last couple of years were basically Fisher’s, they were just being run by Bobby Bowden.  With Fisher replacing Bowden he could instantly change the entirity of the system to his choosing and hit the ground running.

Oklahoma is going to find themselves in a dogfight and be very surprised by the tenacity of this new, improved FSU team.  Florida State pulls this out and starts on the road to recovery.

Eric: Florida State 38, Oklahoma 28

Computers: Florida State 39, Oklahoma 39 (61.4%)

#11 Oregon at Tennessee

This will be Tennessee’s first loss of the year.  Oregon is firing on all cylinders right now and Tennessee has some work to do before they shake off the cobwebs of Lane Kiffin’s tenure.

Oregon 35, Tennessee 17

Computers: Oregon 33, Tennessee 19 (86%)

#23 Georgia at South Carolina

South Carolina looked very good last saturday in pounding a competent Southern Mississippi team (one that was a trendy upset pick no less!).  However, Georgia has been the thorn in toUSC’s side for years, and I think they have a team that could do it again.  However, I expect Georgia’s defense to be unable to stop Gamecock quarterback Garcia and lose in a shootout.

Eric: toUSC 42, Georgia 31

Computers: Georgia 30, toUSC 28 (63.2%)

Stanford at UCLA

Despite losing their Heisman Trophy Nominee runningback Toby Gearhart during the offseason, Stanford has a talented offense coupled to a powerful defense.

UCLA is going into its third year under former gambler Rick Neuheisel.  His last two seasons have been fairly unimpressive and he could use a big win over a conference foe to help his campaign this season.  Unfortunately, a week 1 loss to Kansas State is not the way to start things out – no matter how close they were to almost winning it.  Expect that loss to carry over into this game a little.

UCLA will have a tough time with the Cardinal as they continue to try to rebuild their program.

Eric: Stanford 24, UCLA 14

Computers: Stanford 34, UCLA 33 (56.1%)

Michigan at Notre Dame

This will be an exciting game of two programs duking it out in an attempt to win the game and the rights to scream from the rooftops “We’re back baby!”.  Yes, the winner of this game will get the rights to be annoying again, unfortunately.

Given their respective wins last week, you might think that Michigan has the better chance to win this, considering UConn and Purdue are probably on equal footing at this point.  However, if you consider that Purdue had a shot to win their game in the end and couldn’t do it, while UConn could have had a shot to win their’s if Head Coach Randy Edsall hadn’t been brain dead, you’ll notice that Notre Dame at the moment is the stronger of the two teams.  They at least held off a rally at the end.

Also, I’m not yet confident in Michigan’s secondary.  They went basically untested throughout the UConn game because UConn’s receivers couldn’t catch a cold, let alone the ball.  I expect Brain Kelly to take better advantage of that.

Michigan, for your sake I hope you have more in store than 3 basic plays (Denard Robinson up the middle, Runningback up the middle, Generic passing play), because a competent team will shut that down in a hurry.

Eric: Notre Dame 27, Michigan 21

Computers: Notre Dame 36, Michigan 28 (66.7%)

South Florida at Florida

This will be Skip Holtz’s first big game since taking over the helm at South Florida.  Given his abilities as a head coach, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him figure out a way to upset the currently struggling Florida Gators.

For you Gator fans out there that just had a caniption fit over that last statement and the one above, listen up.  26 total yards of offense going into the 4th quarter, despite having a lead on your opponent, is not football competence and is struggling.  That has to be the most pathetic result for a major conference program in a long time.

South Florida had a slow start against Stony Brook, but then scored 17 unanswered in the 2nd quarter to pull away and they never looked back.  They have the talent and coaching to pull off the upset, it’ll be fun to see if they can do it.

I believe South Florida will shock the world (and by the world, I mean Gainesville) and win this one.

Eric: South Florida 24, Florida 17

Computers: Florida 39, South Florida 21