What is this, Week 8?

 

Week 8 Picks! Yeah! I write this from Winchester, post mini-summit with the Marls which was also our first time meeting. A wonderful chap he is if you have not had the pleasure. Mr. KQ - next time my friend. I regret only having a couple of hours to spare but my homeland was calling.

If keeping track at home, you've figured out that Mark and I are pretty bad at picking games. As compared to last year at this time, Mark was around 5 or 6 games above .500 and I 1 or 2 games above .500. Today, Mark is 6-14-1 and 9-12 for yours truly. This weekend we make some changes though. Right Mark? AndI'd like to apologize again for last week's half-ass effort. 'Twas on the annual golf trip with my laddy's. Well let's get onto it shall we?

Syracuse -5 at Wake Forest
I thought I'd start off with a bang here. It'd be interesting to see the TV ratings on the ND/FSU game IF everyone were required to first watch in its entirety, this shitshow of a football game. The doormat of ACC. Hell, the doormat of college football are these two. Five points seems like 3 touchdowns but what the hay. Syracuse has scored some points against far greater opponents including 20 against FSU and 15 against ND, with a few turnovers mind you. Wake has had far less success so for that reason, I gotta go with the 'Cuse.
'Cuse is in house omygod omygod.

Stanford -3.5 at Arizona State
That thar is a head-scratcher. If I'd guess this spread without seeing it I would have figured Stanford by a touchdown. Admittedly, and I'm sure this is of no surprise to anyone, I don't do much research on these games. Much of it is what I've seen and perceive from usually just one of the teams. And what I've seen from Stanford is a team that probably got a little more hype pre-season than it should have. Their offensive line and thus running game is pretty similar to the Jaguars of Jacksonville. My guess of a -7 point spread was more due to ASU being annihilated by UCLA last week 62-27 rather than Cardinal superiority.
Sun Devils

Notre Dame +11.5 at Florida State University
Yup. I'm going against my pre-season edict of not, under any circumstances, betting on an ND contest. Ignoring this game this weekend here at GTB would simply be sacrilege. 'nah gonna do it.
So what's going to happen? One of two things - ND loses by 2 or more touchdowns or they win by a couple. I don't see a middle ground here. One concern for ND is their recent propensity to turn the ball over multiple times per game. Golson alone has 9 of 'em in the last 3 games. Nine times? Nine times! Nine times? Yes, NINE TIMES. Throw in a few more among the other guys and out comes a struggle against Syracuse, and a game they could have lost against UNC. The concern though is also somewhat of a silver lining. Not too many teams regardless of who they are playing will/could come out with wins with that many TO's. The other concern is ND's secondary combined with their blitz packages that when executed flawlessly are effective. When not, not effective? Yeah, not effective. I don't see Winston having any problems play-wise with his distractions this week. He'll play well and so will FSU despite their recent challenges. Everyone gets up to play FSU and everyone gets up to play ND. Should be a good'n. And I'm going with the Irish. Shocker of the day right?
Irish

Last Week was a fucking debacle. Danimal and I both went ofer on our picks and I missed Florida blowing an extremely winnable game against LSU because the PGA National Reesort doesn't get the SEC Network. Things have to turn around this week, right? RIGHT?

Kentucky +10.5 at LSU- This is your Daddy's Kentucky team. That's because your Dad's Kentucky team played basketball and was coached by Joe B. Hall. But seriously, Mark Stoops has Kentucky trending up. He's recruited extremely well and has developed those recruits. They should've beat Florida in the Swamp and did beat South Carolina in Lexington. LSU doesn't play defense like the Les Miles coached LSU team we're accustomed to seeing. LSU probably finds a way to win but the Wildcats cover.

Georgia at Arkansas +3.5- Arkansas was a missed extra point away from taking Nick Saban and the Tide to Overtime last week. While the record may not yet reflect it, Bret Bielema has a much improved Razorback squad. They have two big time tailbacks, an offensive line that's bigger than any NFL Offensive Line and a more than adequate QB. It's pretty impressive that's managed to turn this program into Wisconsin South in less than two years. Now he just needs and SEC win to show the nation and his boosters that things are moving in the right direction. Today's the day he gets that win. Woo Pig Sooey.

Tennessee +16.5 at Ole Miss- I was wrong. Ole Miss is for real. Dr. Bo isn't the scattershot QB we've seen the past two years and those stud recruits that Hugh Freeze has brought to Oxford the past two years have developed nicely. Quiet as it's kept, Butch Jones is doing similar things with the program in Knoxville (Side note: Everyone in the SEC seems to be improving, except Florida. Hey Dan Mullen! How, YOU, doing?). Tennessee's issue this year is that they had to replace every starter on both the Offensive and Defensive line. That's a tall task and the main reason we won't see a significant difference in Tennessee's Win-Loss record this year. They're better though and they have some legitimate talent at the skill positions. Enough talent to keep this game somewhat close. Take the Vols and the points.

(My site didn't have the FSU-Notre Dame line listed but I'm with Danimal. Take the Irish and points. If you've been paying attention the one good wager I've been making all year is taking the FSU opponent and the points. They're not the asme team this year. Not even close. FSU wins as usual but they don't cover. As usual.)