I sure wasn't expecting that. Both the offense and defense actually looked competent against a good opponent. I have no idea what to expect from this team this weekend, other than my favorite uniform combination they wear.
Quick shout-out to Nicholas Mehfoud for going 6-for-6 last week.
Make your picks at http://keyplay.football.cbssports.com/opm.
October 6
Texas
Oklahoma (-8)
Fun Fact #1: Outside a stunning, surprise loss, Texas has had an unexpectedly good season, beating two ranked teams thus far. Hmm...
Fun Fact #2: Mike Leach, as offensive coordinator for Oklahoma in the 1999 edition of this series, once planted a fake play script for Texas to find.
PICK: I feel like Texas is actually improving, but I'll take Oklahoma by 10 or so.
BC
NC State (-4.5)
Fun Fact #1: Sounds like BC running back AJ Dillon's going to be a game-time decision. That's, like, 80% of their offense.
Fun Fact #2: NC State this week agreed to host ECU on December 1st (assuming both miss out on championship games). Bitch move from both teams.
PICK: I'd be surprised if Dillon doesn't play. I like BC here, even though it doesn't make any sense.
LSU (-2.5)
Florida
Of course Ed Orgeron had a mullet
Fun Fact #1: Raise your hand if you had LSU 5-0 at this point. You liar.
Fun Fact #2: Steve Spurrier and Les Miles apparently have an interesting side bet for this game.
PICK: I feel like I'm chasing here, but I'll take LSU by a score.
Kentucky
Texas A&M (-5.5)
I remember when jerseys were meshy like this
Fun Fact #1: Kentucky is the only undefeated team that's an underdog this week. They've been underdogs in 3 of their 5 games this year.
Fun Fact #2: Texas A&M hasn't won a conference title in 20 years, and they're reminding their fans of that this weekend with 1998 throwback uniforms.
PICK: Kentucky's better that everyone's giving them credit for. Plus A&M struggled with a crappy Arkansas team. Kentucky wins outright.
Notre Dame (-6)
VT
No, I'm not
Fun Fact #1: Since 2005, Notre Dame is 4-16 against ranked teams in regular season true road games (h/t Alum07)
Fun Fact #2: Since 2009, VT is 0-6 in Lane against ranked teams.
PICK: This looks like the case of the resistable force against the removable object. I've picked against the Hokies both games this year, and they've won both. I'm not stopping now. I'll take Notre Dame to cover.
Utah
Stanford (-5)
Fun Fact #1: A couple of Utah fans found the $1060 they'd been saving for tickets run through a shredder. Turns out it was their 2-year old.
Fun Fact #1: Stanford gave up 5 sacks last week, 4 of them from the same guy (Jerry Tillery).
PICK: Stanford's better than they showed last week. They'll take out their frustrations against a Utah team that's been stuck in neutral for a while.
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DRINK OF THE WEEK
Mrs. OHokie and I usually spend Friday afternoons these days at her sister's place. She's a fan of this stuff and offered me one. I thought this would be kinda over-engineered, with some weird flavoring to justify the price they try to sell if for. Turns out it's quite a bit better than I was expecting.
Comments
OU
BC
LSU (by a not relatively close margin)
UK
VT (outright)
Stan
This is what 0-6 looks like boys.
Tejas +8
BC +4.5
LSU -2.5
aTm -5.5
VT +6
Stanford -5
Bringing some of these (among others) to the ND tailgate!
Texas - Herman loves the underdog role
BC - cause I still believe they are above average and NCSt loves to under perform
LSU - They are rolling but i almost took UF
Kentucky - They good
ND - I do not feel good about this one with our young Defense.
Stanford- turns it around at home
Sooners
Wolfpack
Gators
Aggies
HOKIES
and
(Have you really never had Fat Tire before? Back in the days before every bar and restaurant had a taplist, it was one of maybe 3 decent beers you could reliably find (along with Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada, at least in VA and southward). It's also about as cheap as craft beer gets usually. Anyways...).
Texas vs Oklahoma (-8) - Texas is renowned for keeping it close in their bad years, but I think Sooners mostly overlooked them before. Not this time, Okies roll
Boston College at NC State (-5) - If Dillon doesn't play this gets out of hand. If he does, I still don't think they have the firepower to hang with an impressive passing attack that finally has a chance to turn some heads
LSU (-2.5) at Florida - LSU finally has their first respectable QB since Mettenberger, Gators come down to Earth after winning Mullen's own personal super bowl
Kentucky (+5.5) at Texas A&M - I'll be honest, I just want to see Snell keep having fun. That and Kentucky's defense is playing out of their minds
Notre Dame at Virginia Tech (+6.5) - Hokies need a big win at home in a big way. Fuente knows it, Bud knows it, the team knows it, the fans know it. What Notre Dame doesn't know? They're about to walk into a damn buzzsaw.
Utah at Stanford (-5) - If there was an O/U on punts I'd set it at 30 and take the over. That said the Cardinal are better than what they showed last week, they take it out on a Utah team boasting one of the worst offenses in the country.
BEER
The double version of the renowned Falcon Smash. This thing is crazy-good and after kicking myself for not picking up any last weekend, I found out today they've still got a few cans left.
Here's hoping it lasts until tomorrow at noon! Gonna swing by TC on my way to the 'Burg tomorrow.
DT location still had about a case left. I'd imagine Fulton will have even more if you're their by noon, I'd imagine it'll go quick once people start picking up the new releases
Until maybe 4-5 years ago, I associated Fat Tire (along with other smaller brews) with bearded hipsters and Peter King, neither of whom I wanted to emulate. I mostly just forgot about it until recently.
That makes sense. It's kind of been eclipsed by all the recent wave, but i still consider Fat Tire an old standard
The rabbit to the right of the Stanford tree though.....
Notre Dame to cover only because last week it worked with me picking Duke.
This was an incredible week: multiple 0-fers, and nobody did better than 3-3.
brutal. On the bright side, I tied for first this week. On the other hand, so far 3 is the most I've had right all season so the 400 people ahead of me would have to stop making picks for me to have any hope of catching up.