Last week our top picker reasserted dominance on the rest of the pack. Our top pickers of the week were GreenMountainJacket and dan who both had 9 correct picks. With that said donkeygoatrunner had another fantastic week with 8 correct picks which puts him 5 correct picks ahead of the rest of the pack with 37 correct picks and gives him the lead in overall pick percentage with 67.27% correct picks on the year. Well done!
Georgia Tech continues the positive vibes this year with another win at home.
While they did not cover the point spread due to giving up a last second touchdown, the Jackets won by a fair margin when all was said and done. I’m not on the coaching staff so I’m not going to talk about how we need to clean things up on offense and defense, I’m sure the players are hearing plenty of that this week. We won by a large margin against a team we were supposed to beat by a large margin. I’m fine with that.
There were a lot of games last week that were close to covering but only missed by a few points. Illinois @ Indiana was not one of those games. Indiana made Illinois look like a high school team, and that may be a generous statement to Illinois. Indiana is out to prove something this year and I’m glad we don’t have to play them in the regular season.
In ACC news, the only 2 teams that we know for certain are good are Miami and FSU. Clemson lost embarrassingly at home to Syracuse, Cal got shutout against San Diego State, and UNC continued to look like they have not received any coaching on how to play football. ACC has been pretty disappointing this year, so Georgia Tech needs to keep winning to prove they deserve national consideration despite being in this conference.
This week Georgia Tech gets back on the road to visit Winston-Salem to play against Wake Forest. Temple showed there were some weaknesses in the O-line and in the defensive secondary. Hopefully we can fix those issues before the Demon Deacons take advantage of them. Road environments can be a challenge, let’s see if the Jackets can handle one more challenge before making it to the bye week.
picks:
#16 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (-14.5) @ Wake Forest Demon Deacons
Logan: Georgia Tech is once again the better team in this matchup. We should win so this comes down to the spread. Wake Forest looked pretty good against NC State until the second half where the NC State defense shut them down. Based on last week NC State’s defense is not very good. I have a feeling we can dominate on both sides of the ball as long as we take this game seriously. I’m not thrilled about the big spread but I think its an achievable goal if Georgia Tech plays like we think they can.
Logan’s pick: Georgia Tech
#21 USC Trojans (-6.5) @ #23 Illinois Fighting Illini
Logan: I don’t even know what to do with Illinois after last week. I’m not sure the Illini deserve to have “fighting” in front of their name after that performance. USC is a solid defensive team who have come out of the gates hot. I think I need to side with USC in this game at least until I see one more good game from Illinois.
Logan’s pick: USC
Duke Blue Devils (-5.5) @ Syracuse Orange
Logan: A matchup of teams we have coming up on our schedule. QB Steve Angeli is out for the rest of the season for Syracuse, which could impact overall offensive performance. I think Syracuse is still the better team based on Duke’s lack of defense against NC State, but this one should be an interesting watch if you want to get an idea of what we will be playing against in the next few weeks.
Logan’s pick: Syracuse
Arizona Wildcats @ #14 Iowa State Cyclones (-6.5)
Logan: I don’t know how much I should trust Iowa State. The Cyclones seem to keep sneaking by tough opponents that they are facing. Arizona has a great offense and has done a good job of controlling other opponents using their defense. I will tentatively take Arizona to cover in this matchup.
Logan’s pick: Arizona
#25 BYU Cougars (-6.5) @ Colorado Buffaloes
Logan: Colorado seems to be figuring things out, finally. I think Salter is a good QB now that they trust him. The Colorado defense is a different story. Colorado can’t stop the run and BYU has done a good job running the ball down other team’s throats. I think BYU should take this one.
Logan’s pick: BYU
Louisville Cardinals (-3.5) @ Pitt Panthers
Logan: Louisville is another ACC team who is currently undefeated, but no one is talking about them for some reason. The Cardinals defense has not looked as good as last year but they still seem to be competitive. Pitt has had some offensive struggles but they are coming off a bye week and get this game at home. I think Pitt can cover in this one if not win outright.
Logan’s pick: Pitt
#11 Indiana Hoosiers (-6.5) @ Iowa Hawkeyes
Logan: If Vegas saw that beatdown that Indiana laid on Illinois last week I’m not sure why the spread of this game is so low. Indiana has given me no reason to believe Iowa can keep this game within a touchdown.
Logan’s pick: Indiana
Appalachian State Mountaineers @ Boise State Broncos (-7.5)
Logan: These two teams are probably the most well-known fort causing upsets in the entire NCAA. Both teams are not where they have been in the past, but they are talented and competitive. Boise State is the better team and get this game at home so I think picking them is reasonable, but in the spirit of upsets I’ll pick the Mountaineers to cover as underdogs.
Logan’s pick: App State
#4 LSU Tigers @ #13 Ole Miss Rebels (-1.5)
Logan: This is basically a pick ‘em. I think Ole Miss has looked like the better team overall after seeing LSU struggle on offense and since the Rebels get this one at home I feel safe picking them to win.
Logan’s pick: Ole Miss
#17 Alabama Crimson Tide @ #5 uga speeding tickets (-2.5)
Logan: I know my mantra is to never pick against Bama, but Deboer has made that hard for me. Truth is it’s uga, they’re at home, and as we established in the past nothing bad happens to the dwags. I hope my pick jinxes their chances this week, but I still pick uga.
Logan’s pick: uga
#6 Oregon Ducks @ #3 Penn State Nittany Lions (-3.5)
Logan: I’m not the only one who hasn’t really seen anything from Penn State right? I have heard quite a few commentators bring this up, but what has Penn State done to show they are a #3 team in the nation other than be ranked high to start the year. At least Oregon is whooping everyone they play. Without additional evidence to go on I will take Oregon.
Logan’s pick: Oregon
