And here we go! It’s the first week of College Football picks on The B Flow!!! Every Thursday we’ll break down the five biggest matchups of the week – as determined by us, with an admitted SEC slant – and give you picks against the spread. Picking NCAA Football straight up is a little too flattering, IMO, and leads to people like Chris Low, ESPN SEC Blogger extraordinaire, going 22-5 thanks to a lot of “I’ll take Alabama over North Texas, and Florida over Troy,” so we’re going spread! Many folks opt to follow either College Football OR the NFL, but I think this is a big mistake. While I could care less about my old alma mater’s gridiron exploits (homecoming this weekend vs. Howard!) or pretty much 90% of the college games, I DO care about the elite teams because you’re looking at the next NFL stars blossom in front of your eyes. You also see passion…forget it, I’m not going to give you the Rah Rah College Football is better speech, I’ll leave that to the crazies. Fact is, it’s football, and for the next 2 months it’s the only football we get on Saturdays, and it’s damned good, so deal with it. In the future we will offer less analysis per game, and add in a segment on “Future Pros to Watch” to guide you through the games, but the season is just revving up so I don’t want to have you watching Mel Kiper’s all-overrated team at this point.
Also, since this is a college post after all, each week will be sponsored by a B Flow Cheerleader Snapper of the Week. To get us all in the mood for the conference season heating up, this week we’ll feature the Top 10 sets of Cheerleaders in all the land. Enjoy! Picks at end of blurbs.
Game of the Week:
Miami -2.5 at Virginia Tech
As much as it pains me to select a non-SEC game as game of the week, this is the best matchup this weekend. I really like this Miami team – along with everyone else at this point – and would love to see Miami return to the elite of College Football. Doesn’t it just seem like they belong there? I miss random NFL studio idiots yelling about “The U,” and NFL coaches getting pissed off because their Miami-based players go to train at “The U” during the offseason instead of with the team because the trainers and facilities are better down there. It’s fun. Virginia Tech, on the other hand, is everything Miami is not. They aren’t flashy, they haven’t had huge recruiting classes, they aren’t particularly good at offense, and they win on random special teams plays. At least until this year. The bottom line in this one is that Miami has passed two stern tests so far (Florida State and Georgia Tech), whereas Frank Beamer’s team has largely no-showed on two tests of their own (trampled by Alabama, unbelievably lucky to escape home vs. Nebraska last week). Are the Hokies due for a good showing here? Maybe, but I’m not convinced that it will even matter. MIAMI, -2.5.
Best of the Rest:
Ole Miss -4 at South Carolina
The first real test for this season’s media darling, a trip to Columbia, SC should give us some idea of whether the Rebels can match the hype. Famously the only team to beat Florida last season, Mississippi perhaps not-so-famously lost some significant talent – especially along both lines – to the NFL, including 1st Rounders DT Peria Jerry and OT Michael Oher. Stud DE Greg Hardy is supposedly healthy for this matchup (for once), so he should disrupt Garcia enough in the backfield early (i.e. before he gets hurt again) for Jevan Snead and co. to overcome the early nerves on offense and move the football against an inferior opponent. Look, the southeastern USC is not a bad team, but they gave up 52 points to Georgia, and are only 1-7 vs. the top 10 since Spurrier took over to rebuild the program. There are NFL players abound to watch here, and most of them will be wearing the red, white, and blue. OLE MISS, -4.
California -5 at Oregon
Cal has got themselves aligned to finally wrest the Pac-10 from USC’s vice-like, 7-year grip, but the journey starts here with a tough road game at Autzen Stadium. Objectively one of the loudest places to play in the country, this will be no cakewalk for the Golden Bears, especially early when the crowd is still in it. In a cute side story, Oregon Coach Kelly actually refunded a fan $349 for tickets to Oregon’s disappointing defeat to Boise State earlier this season. Classy move, but it may have set a troubling precedent for the rest of the season. Get your Jahvid Best glasses on, because he will run wild. CAL, -5.
Iowa +10 at Penn St.
I seriously considered boycotting picking any Big 10 games all season just because I can’t stand the conference, but it is getting to the point nationally where I don’t need to be so belligerent anymore: the country agrees. One might argue that part of the problem is that the conference’s standard bearer recently has been, almost exclusively, the Ohio State Buckeyes, a talented group exceptional at dominating fellow midwesterners, but abysmal at competing with other conferences’ elite. Perhaps it is finally time for Penn St. to break that mold. They have to start here vs. a game Iowa team with sleeper Big 10 title hopes of it’s own. Remember, Iowa was the only thing standing between Penn St. and an unbeaten regular season last year and the Nittany Lions couldn’t get it done. Payback, as they say, can be a bitch. PENN STATE, -10.
Arkansas +17.5 at Alabama
This may not be the actual 5th best game of the week (perhaps it’s Georgia Tech-North Carolina, Georgia-Arizona State, LSU-Mississippi State, or even Florida State-South Florida), but as an Alabama fan I make the rules and as long as the Tide are unbeaten their game is important because it’s the next step on the march to the national title. So there. In all seriousness, though, you’ll want to tune into this one at 3:30pm on CBS to watch Michigan-transfer Ryan Mallet, who many are calling the best pro prospect in the SEC at the quarterback position (seriously, Corey Chavous says so), against one of the elite defenses in the country in Alabama’s. You’ll get the standard litany of NFL-caliber talent in the Crimson Tide lineup, pay particular attention to Junior LB sensation Rolando McClain, Junior CB/Return Man Javier Arenas, Senior beefcake Terrance Cody, Super Sophomores DL Marcel Dareus, LB Dont’a Hightower, WR Julio Jones, RB Mark Ingram, standout Freshman RB Trent Richardson, and the big uglies all along Alabama’s offensive front. Every one of those gentlemen has a real chance to be an NFL difference maker. Still, 17.5 points is a lot of points against a team with a big quarterback easily capable of putting up garbage scores. I’ll say Arkansas keeps this closer than some think before Alabama pulls away for the 10-13 point win. ARKANSAS, +17.5.
