Weekend Picks

Well hello. Long time no type. I missed my preseason picks for the top 10 in College Football. I'll go ahead and retroactively pick my top 10 teams following Week 1 (which makes more sense than guessing my picks based on everyone else's predications)

1. USC - a trip to Charlottesville may not raise eyebrows across the country, but the fact is the Trojans traveled across country to play a BCS team away, and pounded the living snot out of New Year's Day bowl team from '07. Kudos.

2. Ohio State - based on nothing they did against Youngstown State. I choose to ignore the injury to Beanie Wells because I want a #1 vs #2 matchup next Saturday night. (at least I am honest)

3. LSU - Defeating a defending national champion by 30 plus points in impressive. Just ask Michigan...

4. Georgia - What is the big deal about this team? Lots of pro talent, but much of it unproven. QB Matt Stafford set a personal high with a mid 200 yard passing day - and all I have heard from pundits is about his greatness. For now, a team finishing 10-2 in '07 earns a #4 ranking for bringing back 18 starters. Reality will set in - expect a "dissapointment"

5. Oklahoma - Only lightning stopped the pouding of Chatanooga last week. They'll trip up once this season, but will be the class of the Big 12 come December. Of course, another BCS chokejob lies in wait.

6. Missouri - They looked good againt Illinois. Oh wait - I forgot about their defense. Illinois and Juice Williams are talented, to be sure, but a team from the Big 10 scoring 42 points should raise eyebrows to Missouri fans. Facing the likes of Texas and (potentially) Oklahoma this year will surely drop the Tigers to the Holiday or Cotton Bowls. For now, a big win over a top 25 team earns the spot above Texas.

7. Texas - Defeating a defending conference champion by 40 plus points: impressive. Giving up 150 plus passing yards in the 1st quarter - not so much. Still, if QB Colt McCoy can pass for 200 and run for 100 yards like his predecessor, Vince Young, expect Texas to spoil some dreams of national title contenders on their way to a BCS birth.

8. West Virginia - Pat White throws for 5 TD?! Keep this up, and you might find WVa in a BCS title game as a sleeper. Wouldn't that be great vindication? RichRod hauls off to Michigan, only to lose his career opener at home, and his former team sneaks into the national championship. Wouldn't surprise me - especially with a worse-than-normal Big LEast.

9. Florida - I still don't think Urban Meyer has it. His championship team of 2006 was built on the defense left to him from Ron Zook. His gimmicky offense will be beat by speed. The spread offense which has manifest itself on the college landscape is a fad - once people realize that 9-4 at Florida gets you fired, the Meyer inspired trickery doo doo that has invaded our game will fade into black.

10. East Carolina - You beat a top 20 team as a double digit dog, you get a chance to crack the top 10 for this week. You beat W.Va, and it's likely that everyone else may see the light. This team brought back a plethera of starters from its Hawaii Bowl Champion team of 2007 - without a devestating nonconference schedule, they'd be the talk of BCS Buster of 2008.

In addition, these teams will flounder in 2008. You read it here first - these teams will NOT live up to expectations.
1. Texas Tech
2. Georgia
3. Alabama
4. Clemson (that's cheating, I know)
5. Kansas
6. Florida

This weekend's guarantees:

Texas -26.5 at UTEP
Texas Tech -10.5 at Nevada