COLLEGE PICKS

There aren’t a whole lot of promising plays this week in college. As always, the dwindling number of college games on the docket means the regular season ends with a whimper and not a bang. So I’m going light on the college picks this week. There looks to be a healthy bunch of pro picks coming, though.

1. COLORADO (+27) vs. Texas Longhorns: When these two teams played in Austin earlier this season, Colorado was getting 15-17 points around the country. A series of Longhorn blowouts and a poor showing by the Buffalos has this line balooning. That's a huge jump in a few weeks, considering neither team has lost a key player to injury. This line looks a little artificial to me. I think it was set a little high to get some action, after that awful Colorado showing last week.
I wouldn’t tend to pick a 27 point favorite in a conference title game anyway, just because the other team usually comes out with pride and focus enough to play well for at least one half. This is the one no-brainer college pick of the weekend for me.

2. VIRGINIA TECH (-14) vs. Florida State: Except for one week this year, Virginia Tech has dispatched opponents with ease. The Hokies are one of the best covers in college this year, going 8-2 against most lines. If you look at the Miami disaster as through the “one bad week” theory, Virginia Tech is a national title level team. Florida State is a disappointing ACC Championship opponent. I’ll take VaTech to roll to a big win in this one.

3. UCLA (+21) at Southern California: The words have been flying this week, as a couple of Trojan players have called out the UCLA front line as soft. Ah, you have to love the rivalry game. This reminds me a lot of last week’s Texas/Texas A&M matchup, where Vince Young disparaged the Aggies in the press the week before. I expect the Bruins to make a respectable showing of themselves in this game, while the Trojans should be happy to notch a win and move on to the title game.
When the #11 team in the nation is getting 21 points in a game played across town, that can’t be such a bad bet.

That’s it for the NCAA this week. Most of the other picks look like virtual tosses of the coin to me.

Well, that was freakin' brutal. Colorado took the kickoff and was driving and then wham! a turnover and the rout was on. The announcers were playing up the friendship between the two head coaches and how Brown wouldn't run up the score and then boom! the blocked punt went down. Looks like Texas is ready for the bowl season.

What's worse, it looks like the Trojans saw the 70-3 score and decided to answer with their own rout. Looks like a bad day to pick against this year's Rose Bowl entries.

I'm most surprised about how good the Trojans defense looks. I guess UCLA got shut down on another occasion or two this year, but USC's defense seems to give up numbers to just about everybody this year.

C'mon, VTech, salvage the day for me.