Week #5

If only I could begin this week's look at the games by claiming to have called the mighty USC Trojans falling on Thursday night to unranked Oregon State. However, nobody saw that one coming, including your little blogger with the 75% winning percentage. But I'm sure glad to see them lose! Yet, just as I said about Ohio State, don't write Southern California off yet. Both teams are capable of recovering by running the table against their weak conferences. Regardless, the loss clearly does help the superior SEC and Big 12 powers who are seeking a spot in the BCS champtionship themselves.

Here's a look at 5 games from week 5.

North Carolina(+7.5) at Miami -- MY PICK: NORTH CAROLINA, GEORGE'S: NORTH CAROLINA; Butch Davis is slowly building a real program at North Carolina. The Tar Heels come into this game at 2-1, with a solid beating of Rutgers and a near upset of Virginia Tech. In fact, I couldn't understand why they are a TD underdog to struggling Miami. Then I saw that UNC lost QB T.J. Yates for a month to injury. Makes more sense now. However, I still don't like the Hurricanes and expect Coach Davis to rally his squad for the outright upset of his former team.

Alabama(+6.5) at Georgia -- MY PICK: ALABAMA, GEORGE'S: GEORGIA; What a game! As if last year's overtime thriller between these schools wasn't good enough, this one could be even better. Both teams are top 10 ranked and the winner of this game is primed to march towards an SEC championship. Alabama's QB John Parker Wilson and Georgia's QB Matthew Stafford are both juniors and in their 3rd year as starting quarterbacks. You can't ask for better in college football! This one will be close. So I'll take the Tide and the points.

Colorado(+5.5) at Florida State -- MY PICK: COLORADO, GEORGE'S: FLORIDA STATE; Here again I question the odds makers this week. I know Colorado is on the road. But there's no reason why FSU should be a TD favorite. FSU looked awful at home against Wake Forest last week. The luster fell quickly off new QB Christian Ponder. And though Mickey Andrews' defense was typically good, it's not enough when you only score 3 points. Colorado will score way more than that. Coach Dan Hawkins is rebuilding the Buffs and it's pretty cool that he's doing it with his son QB Cody Hawkins at the helm.

Arkansas (+27) at Texas -- MY PICK: TEXAS, GEORGE'S: TEXAS; Coming off a 40 pt loss at home to Alabama, look for new coach Bobby Petrino's Razorbacks to get destroyed at Texas. It's too bad because it's otherwise great to see this rivalry restored. I well remember then new coach Houston Nutt going into Austin with QB Matt Jones and coming out with a huge upset win earlier in the decade. Not this time. Coach Mack Brown's Texas squad has its usual offensive weapons led by QB Colt McCoy. However, Arkansas has nothing after losing their running attack and best wideout to the NFL draft. Petrino was hoping to build an offensive attack around 3rd year starting QB Casey Dick, but it just isn't working.

Wisconsin (-6) at Michigan -- MY PICK: WISONSIN, GEORGE'S: WISCONSIN; Can Michigan burn me a 3rd time? I vowed not to touch them again, but I think it's ok to go against them in this one. Wisconsin is so much better that I have to go with yet another road team. Michigan QB Stephen Threet has looked clueless (even against Notre Dame!). On the other hand, Coach Brett Bielma's Badgers have their usual solid running game in high gear. Wisconsin RB P.J. Hill keeps the tradition alive and I wouldn't be surprised to see him run for 200+ yards in this one and enter the Heisman discussion.

JTB YEARLY RECORD: 14-5-1
GW YEARLY RECORD: 7-12-1