Your Weekend Picks 11/13/2009

(Insert thing lame joke about it being Friday the 13th and how some teams may get killed off this weekend).

(15) Iowa @ (11) Ohio State
Iroquois:
With QB and lucky charm Ricky Stanzi out for the year, the clock has struck 1 AM on Iowa's dream season run. Were it not for us officious intermeddlers, it may have ended weeks ago. I might have had more faith if Iowa was at home, but alas, they are not. And that's all she wrote.

OSU over Corn.

Slate:
If this game were in Ohio State, I probably would have grown a pair and picked Iowa. The logic behind that is that it is Ohio State and their offense is as impotent as a Kazakhstani uranium miner and they usually lose an in-conference home game this time of year. Yet, a young inexperienced QB in the madhouse in Columbus could never win. Despite all of the obvious logic pointing in one direction, I'll take the other.

OSU over Corn.

(25) Stanford @ (11) USC
Iroquois:
I'm not buying an automatic USC win, despite their history of great success in November (undefeated under Petey Pie). Sure, Stanford had to expend a great majority of their energy and probably a lot of their reserve energy in keeping up with the Quack Pack last week. Sure, USC has a better defense than most Stanford has faced this year, led by Everson Griffen and Nick Perry and the perennially overrated Taylor Mays (NOT A SAFETY AT THE NEXT LEVEL. HE CANNOT EVEN COVER WIDE RECEIVERS AT THIS LEVEL. THERE'S A REASON HE ALWAYS GETS STUCK IN THE CENTER FIELD POSITION AND HAS TO CHEAT TO LATERALLY COVER. IT'S BECAUSE HE'S A LINEBACKER.)

I am drinking the Stanford Kool-Aid this week. In fact, for those curious about my identity, here's an action shot of me drinking some Stanford drink. USC will be pretty one-dimensional on offense this week without pass-catchers Damian Williams and whoever their pass-catching TE is. As long as Stanford can play some ball-control and use Gerhart's physical running style to wear down the clock and USC run defense,I think they eke out the victory.

Stanford over USC.

Slate:
Last time Stanford went to the LA Coliseum, they pulled off an upset of epic proportions. LOLZORZ and ROFL-copters were thrown all over the college football landscape in USC's general direction because they finally lost AT HOME to an in-conference team.

This time, Stanford is far improved and USC is not the universe destroyer they once were. A loss for USC would perhaps be the end of the of the halcyon days of complete brutalilty against their opponents 12 out of 13 games a year. A win for Stanford would put Palo Alto back on the football map and validate their hiring of Jim Harbaugh, who promised a resurgance of the Trees. Stanford's gritty/gamer/hard worker/TRUE football player/all around tough guy Toby Gerhart might be able to get some traction against the USC defense which is clearly not the immovable object of previous campaigns. Yet even with a hampered offense, ol' Pete has never lost in November and this will not become the start of that trend.

USC over Stanford


(16) Utah @ (4) TCU
Iroquois:
Utah present meets Utah past. TCU simply has too much on both sides of the ball and the best shot of going undefeated (more on that below).

TCU over Da Utes.

Slate:
Simple fact, Utah has a frosh at QB. TCU has a spectacular defense. This will not end well for the Utes. TCU will continue its march towards undefeatedness.

TCU over Da Utes.

(1) UF @ South Carolina
Iroquois:
Look for Florida to hopefully utilize the vertical passing game to give SCAR something to think about. Since both UF and Bama have punched their championship game tickets, I expect every game from here on out for both teams to be tune-ups and exercises in experimentation for new offensive wrinkles.

UF over SCAR.

Slate:
Last year, Florida set South Carolina on fire in the first quarter and didn't put them out until the lifeless charred remains were glowing orange embers. But last year, UF's offense obliterated all in their way. This year, the offense is far more humanitarian in its efforts. Florida, in an attempt to make some new wrinkles may try something new here and there. But Spurrier is not a man to be trifled with. Upset COULD happen, but probably will not.

UF over SCAR.

Notre Dame @ (8) Pitt

Iroquois:
I continually remain far less skeptical of the Wannstache than most here at PLS. I can't quite tell if it's the recent hire of Frank Cignetti as OCoord or if Dion Lewis is just that good, but whatever the case may be, Bill Stull, Lewis, and Jonathan Baldwin (an IP favorite) have led the way for a much improved Pitt offense.

Of course, we all know the story on Cheeseburger Chuck and his Irish. (No, that wasn't a fat joke, I swear.) Not even the worst Notre Dame coaches in previous years lost to Navy twice in a row. Granted, Navy was a lot worse then and perhaps Navy just had the decided schematic advantage, as Cheeseburger so famously crooned upon his ascension to Head Coach. Put succintly, if last week's lost to Navy didn't do it and the buyout isn't a huge obstance (rumors have it above his annual salary by a considerable margin), a loss this week firmly takes Cheeseburger from Head Coach to Home Couch.

Pitt over ND.

Post-Pick Soapbox

This one will be quick. Once again, I really have nothing to base this on, and maybe its just the Friday the 13th talking, but Boise State will lose this Saturday to Idaho and make a very interesting battle between Al Golden of Temple and Robb Akey of Idaho for Coach of the Year. It's entirely likely that Boise comes out firing because they're angry at themselves for lapsing against La Tech. Maybe, though, juuuust maybe the Football Gods are not ones with which to be trifled and Boise's PR firm idea for BCS promotion was putting the cart before the horse in assuming an undefeated season.

Idaho over Boise.

Slate:
Iroquois seems rather smitten with the Wannstache. There is some reason to this idea. Bill Stull is now a competent QB and the Pitt defense is better than usual. But my good friend forgets that he the Wannstache is Dave Wannstedt. The same man who clearly spends more time feathering his hair than analyzing game schemes. He ALWAYS loses games he should win. Bowling Green last year? North Carolina State this year? Virginia 2 years ago?

This guy always screws up that which is good. The Dolphins, when he coached them, blew playoff tickets in 2003 by losing the last two games despite having 4th quarter leads. If there is a man who can blow something as quickly and seamlessly as Dave Wannstedt, I don't want to meet him.

On the other hand we have frontbutt, Charlie Weis. I'll wager a coke that he pulls this off. Why? Because he is a cockroach and will not go away. He will fight his firing with every breath and kill his program even more as he does.

Notre Dame over Pitt