This week provides plenty of games which are intriguing in the NFL, and a few pretty good college games. Only one featuring the SEC. The others college games feature some pretty good Big Ten and Pac-12 teams.
College (All Games Saturday)
No. 25 Maryland at No. 8 Florida State, Noon, ESPN
Maryland is ranked for the first time under Randy Edsall, proving he can rebuild programs. He built the program at UConn, then left for Maryland his "dream job" after Maryland fired the most successful coach in their history, Ralph Friedgen. Too bad for Maryland their stay in the top 25 will only last one week, as Maryland is 0-fer lifetime in Tallahassee, and that trend will continue in this game. Maryland has played a weak schedule so far, and the fact that Florida State has manhandled each opponent its had thus far.
Pick: Florida State 42, Maryland 23
Arkansas at No. 18 Florida, 7, ESPN2
Florida is looking to send Arkansas home with its 10th consecutive loss in the series. Florida leads the nation in time of possession and they have a good running back in Matt Jones, who ran all over Kentucky last week. Arkansas also has a good running game, which helps them be 13th in the country in TOP. Arkansas will try not to let coach Bret Bielema lose more than two in a row for only the second time in his career. Arkansas will also try and get out to an early lead and hold it. They blew a 17 point lead two weeks ago in Rutgers, and then last week could not overcome a deficit from Texas A&M.
Pick: Florida 31, Arkansas 21
No. 22 Arizona State vs. Notre Dame, in Arlington, TX, 7:30, NBC
This is part of the Notre Dame strategy to recruit throughout the nation, playing "home" games, calling it the Shamrock Series. Notre Dame has won each of their first four games in the series, granted, it's been to less than stellar opponents as well. Notre Dame hasn't played that well this season, as Tommy Rees has struggled passing, and that hasn't opened up the running game. So, the defense has played fairly well, but not well enough to truly be elite. Arizona State meanwhile, has played very well. They have an up tempo offense, led by quarterback Taylor Kelly, who has already thrown for over 1300 yards. But, they need their defense to step up, after allowing 41 points to a horrible USC team last week. They need the defense to step up and be formidable to challenge UCLA for the Pac-12 South title. I believe Arizona State has more than enough to beat Notre Dame, and badly.
Pick: Arizona State 41, Notre Dame 24
No. 4 Ohio State at No. 16 Northwestern, 8, ABC
Both teams come in unbeaten, both teams have played rather soft schedules, and both teams feature pretty good defenses. There are a few differences though, Ohio State and Northwestern are worlds apart when it comes to athletics and academics. Ohio State is known for having excellent football and basketball teams, take for instance the football team, who currently has a 17 game winning streak. The basketball team has been to the final four. Northwestern football is trying to get to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1995, when their head coach was the starting middle linebacker. Northwestern basketball has never been to the NCAA tournament in its 75 years of existence. Northwestern has basically Ivy league standards for admission, while Ohio State will get you in on a 1200 SAT probably. But, for me, since College Gameday is in Evanston for the first time since 1995, go with the upset.
Pick: Northwestern 32, Ohio State 30
No. 15 Washington at No. 5 Stanford, 10:30, ESPN
Washington is looking for its second win in the series, after winning in a very low scoring affair, 17-13 last season. They are also looking to take the lead in the Pac-12 north. This is the first in a stretch of tough games for Washington, and if they come out of it 2-1, they've got a chance in the north division. But, Kevin Hogan is now the quarterback for the Cardinal, and he has been very good so far for Stanford. It should be a tough , hard fought game, but go with Stanford, who have looked dominating so far.
Pick: Stanford 28, Washington 21
NFL (All Games Sunday)
Philly at New York Giants, 1, Fox
Both teams are horrible. Both defenses are awful. Both teams still have a shot at winning the division because the division is dreadful. Get where I'm going here? It's going to be a shootout, and very well could come down to the last team who has the ball. I'm going with the lesser of the bad teams and the one who I think could produce more offense in the Eagles.
Pick: Philly 49, Giants 41
Seattle at Indianapolis, 1, Fox
Both teams have very good young quarterbacks who control the game well. Then, both teams have running backs who can turn into "beast mode" at any point. Both teams also have good defenses. This should be a good game which should be rather low scoring, and one of the undefeated teams will be no more.
Pick: Indianapolis 23, Seattle 21
New Orleans at Chicago, 1, Fox
New Orleans is another unbeaten team, and with its firepower on offense means that it can easily beat anyone, just so long as it's defense holds opponents to less than 24 points. Drew Brees has a set of receivers who can match any team, except for perhaps Denver. Plus, he has two good running backs in Mark Ingram and Darren Sproles who provide the power and speed respectively. Chicago last week seemingly couldn't stop the Detroit offense and Reggie Bush last week. Chicago didn't look all that impressive, and I don't think they'll be able to stop the Saints.
Pick: New Orleans 35, Chicago 26
Denver at Dallas, 4:25, CBS
Denver is the best team in the league. Dallas is the leader of the worst division in football. Plus, did anyone see Denver's second half last week, when they put up 38 points?
Pick: Denver 54, Dallas 27
Houston at San Francisco, 8:30, NBC
Houston let victory slip out of their hands last week against Seattle, and that was at home. Matt Schaub looked like a shell of his former self. San Francisco seemed to look like it put its game back together after its two consecutive defeats against St. Louis. Go with the 49ers.
Pick: San Francisco 31, Houston 24
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