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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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2013 Pigskin Picks of Profundity…..Week 7

It’s been an odd & stressful week in The Manoverse. I’ll spare you the details, but the fact that I am just finally getting around to doing this week’s PPP a few short hours before kickoff tells the story to an extent. Thank goodness we didn’t pick any Thursday or Friday games this week and obviously there’ll be no extra games like last week. Speaking of last week, I went 4-4 (thank you for the last second assist Ohio St.), as did Zach. That brings the season’s total to this point to:

Your Humble Potentate of Profundity    =             17-16

Zach       =             16-17

Thank God we aren’t trying to make a living doing this, right?? Anyway, on to this week…brief & dirty!!

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Oklahoma (-14) at Texas

TEXAS LONGHORNS.1271817676In my Pre-Season Top 25 I ranked Texas #4 and opined that “the Longhorns are finally primed to re-ascend to theoklahoma top of The Big 12 and possibly contend for a national championship.” Oops…I may have been slightly wrong about that. Texas is instead 3-2 and head coach Mack Brown is fielding questions about his job status. Meanwhile the Sooners are undefeated and just about where I thought they’d be at this point. Long story short on this one…I think Texas is a dangerous animal that’s been cornered. I’m not at all confident that they’ll win this annual renewal of The Red River Shootout, but I think they’ll be competitive and certainly won’t lose by two TDs. Zach, on the other hand, believes that Brown’s days are numbered and that Oklahoma takes this one easily. Actually he is very specific, saying that the Sooners will win by 24 points. We’ll see.

My Pick          Texas

Z’s Pick           Oklahoma

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Florida at LSU (-7)

Two Top 20 SEC teams in another highly anticipated clash. What else can be said?? I like LSU to pull this one out at home. Zach agrees.lsu_logo

My Pick          LSU

Z’s Pick           LSU

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Oregon (-14) at Washington

The Huskies are a lot better than anyone thought they’d be this season, but do they really have a shot against the #2 Ducks?? Maybe the Oregon-Ducksmore interesting question is whether or not Oregon can cover the points. They have won their five games thus far by an average of 47 points. Now I will grant that they haven’t played anyone of note, but still…that’s a high powered offense. I think Washington gets exposed here and Oregon wins easily. Zach goes so far as to say it’ll be a blowout that’ll be over in the first quarter.

My Pick          Oregon

Z’s Pick           Oregon

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Green Bay (-3) at Baltimore

The Packers haven’t exactly been world beaters this season. They are 2-2 and in 3rd place in their division. The Ravens aren’t that much better at 3-2. I find it interesting that Green_Bay_Packers_HelmetBaltimore isn’t getting the standard 3 point home field bump, especially since they have a better record. That tells me that the oddsmakers know…just like most of us…that Green Bay is a lot better than average and will start to prove it soon…probably this week. Zach concurs.

My Pick          Green Bay

Z’s Pick           Green Bay

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New Orleans at New England (-2.5)

I find this point spread baffling. Yes the Patriots have the home field. But the Saints are clearly the better team and unlike the Packers I’m not sure that New England will be 10_new_orleans_saintsbreaking out of their funk anytime soon. Now, I know what you’re saying…”But humble Potentate of Profundity…the New England Patriots are 4-1!!”. Yes…yes they are. But have you watched any of their games?? Each of those four victories has been a real uphill climb. New England is definitely not the same stellar team that we’ve watched run roughshod over the NFL for the past decade. They have issues. Conversely the New Orleans Saints look like the real deal and have plowed thru their schedule like a fat kid at an all-you-can  eat buffet. This’ll be tough & close, but in the end I think Drew Brees throws for 300 yards and 3 touchdowns en route to a double digit victory. Zach seconds that emotion.

My Pick          New Orleans

Z’s Pick           New Orleans

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