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2013 Pigskin Picks of Profundity…..Week 8 (Kind Of)

Citizens of The Manoverse may have noticed that there were no picks last week. Your humble Potentate of Profundity ran into some computer issues at home, and my backup plan fell thru as well, so I decided to take it as a bye week. However, Zach had already emailed me his picks and he went 2-3. He picked UCLA over Stanford (oops), Clemson over Florida St. (oops), Northern Illinois over Central Michigan (thumbs up), Carolina over St. Louis (thumbs up), & Denver over Indianapolis (oops). That brings his total record thus far to 18-20. Zach doesn’t know this yet, but he’s getting a bye week this week and I’m flying solo. That’ll even things out.

 

 

 

 

Texas Tech            at       Oklahoma (-6.5)

I’ve watched both of these teams play and both struggled against my WV Mountaineers before ultimately getting the win. Tech is 7-0 oklahomabut the argument can be made that they haven’t truly been tested. Oklahoma has a loss to archrival Texas as the only blemish on their record. I don’t doubt that Tech is legitimately good, but I have to go with the home team here.

 

South Carolina       at       Missouri (-3)

Who would have ever predicted a month ago that this game would be all that meaningful?? And who could have foreseen that thesouth_carolina_gamecocks_pennant_8949big Tigers would be the Top 10 team?? No one can say that Missouri hasn’t played anyone, even if it is true that Florida & Georgia were slightly overrated. Conversely the Gamecocks had high expectations and have seen them crashing to earth after losses to Georgia and Tennessee. I think South Carolina rebounds a bit here and it’ll be Missouri being knocked off their very tenuous pedestal.

 

UCLA                    at       Oregon (-23.5)

I’m really looking forward to this game. In my pre-season Top 25 I rated the Ducks #1 and the Bruins #15. So far I’m not too far off, ucla_bruins2although Oregon is going to need a bit of help to get into the national championship. They can help themselves immensely with a victory in this game. I believe Oregon will indeed win…but not for a second do I think they will even come close to covering the spread. So UCLA is the pick.

 

Dallas                   at       Detroit (-3)

The only reason the Lions have the betting edge is because of home field advantage. They have been way too up & down for my dallas-cowboys-logo2comfort level this season, and it isn’t quite time yet for the Cowboys to crash & burn. That’ll happen in the playoffs as usual.

 

Atlanta                  at       Arizona (-2.5)

Another spread no one could have predicted just a few short weeks ago. The Falcons are off to a very poor 2-4 start, while thenflarizonacardinals Cardinals defense has carried them to a respectable 3-4 record. At some point Atlanta will surely begin to resemble the team that nearly every pundit had winning another division title and making a deep playoff run. I just don’t think it’ll be this week.

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2012 Pigskin Picks of Profundity…..Week 14

You may have noticed that I took another bye last weekend. It was completely unintentional. Time simply got away from me. I was busy with other things, and for some reason became enamored with getting the bowl preview finished even though it could have waited a few more days. Ah well…c’est la vie.

College football is over except for the bowl games so for the next few weeks we’ll concentrate exclusively on the NFL, which is in the home stretch of their season. Thus far I have a dismal 38-58-1 record, meaning I’d pretty much have to be perfect these last three weeks to break even, which of course is extremely unlikely. However, I’ll do my best and try to finish on a high note.

 

 

Green Bay (-2.5)    at        Chicago

These two teams seem to be going in opposite directions. The Packers have overcome a shaky start and won 7 out of their past 8 games. The Bears have lost 4 out of their last 5 and are Green_Bay_Packers_Helmetlooking every bit as mediocre as I predicted they’d be. The loss of All-Pro LB Brian Urlacher has obviously not helped. Even with the home field I’d be surprised if Chicago pulled this one out, so I’ll take the favorites to cover.

 

 

Atlanta (-2)             vs.       NY Giants

Can the Giants do it again?? For some reason they have been able to peak at the right time and get hot in the playoffs on more than one occasion the past severalGiants Logo years. I have never bought the Falcons as a legitimate Super Bowl contender even though they have done better than I thought they might and already have a playoff spot all sewn up. I’m going to roll the dice and bet that New York will continue their late season heroics.

 

 

 

New Orleans (-3.5)           vs.       Tampa Bay

I’ve said all along that the Saints would get off to a rough start but still end up in the playoffs. That prediction is beginning to look a bit shaky. This is absolutely a must win for both clubs if tb-buccaneers-authenticthey hope to sneak into a wildcard spot. Both teams are in the midst of three game losing skids, so something’s got to give here. I am usually one to stand behind my predictions, usually to my own detriment. However, at this point I have more confidence in the Bucs than New Orleans, so that’s the pick.

 

 

St. Louis (-3)                        vs.       Minnesota

Neither of these teams is going to the playoffs, but both have shown glimmers of hope at times thus far. Vikings’ RB Adrian Peterson is a beast and has made avikingshelmet1 remarkable comeback from tearing his ACL last Christmas Eve. The Rams are riding a three game winning streak, including a surprising overtime victory over division leading San Francisco a couple of weeks ago. St. Louis may be the hotter team and have the home field, but the vibes are telling me to pick Minnesota, so I shall.

 

 

Denver (-3)              at        Baltimore

I predicted a division crown for the Peyton Manning led Broncos and because the rest of the competition is even worse than I broncos-4759thought Denver has already clinched. They’ve also won an incredible eight games in a row. That’s not easy to do in the NFL no matter who your QB is. Conversely the Ravens have lost their last two games and the injuries are piling up. This is a real toss up, but I have to go with Denver.

 

 

Houston (-10)         vs.       Indianapolis

Both teams look to be heading to the post-season, although the division title is still up for grabs. What intrigues me here is the massive point spread. Colts’Indianapolis_Colts_Helmet QB Andrew Luck has had a tremendous rookie campaign and the team is on a three game winning streak, so I am hard pressed to figure out just why the folks in Vegas are being so disrespectful. I’m not buying it. Houston may win , but they aren’t going to do it by double digit points.

 

 

 

New England (4.5)                        vs.       San Francisco

The hated Patriots are at it again. Just when everyone thinks that maybe they have plateaued and may be headed toward the San-Francisco-49ersdownside they rise up and look as good as ever. They have won seven games in a row and are as good as any team in the league. Meanwhile the 49ers haven’t been quite as invincible as most thought they’d be and are actually in a real battle for their division with the surprising Seattle Seahawks. This is another vibe game where The Voices are telling me something different than what logic would seem to dictate. I have nothing to lose at this point so to heck with playing it safe. I’ll go out on a limb and pick the underdogs.

 

 

 

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