There are only 15 college games to pick from this week as one already went on Wednesday night so there will be fewer picks made this week. Hopefully they will be winners J

My first pick this week is on the Oklahoma Sooners playing the Missouri Tigers at neutral site Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, MO. Oklahoma is laying 16.5 points and I believe they will cover this number.  It’s hard not to pick the Sooners as they played a very good Oklahoma State team last week on the road and covered, while Missouri played Kansas at home and loss. Oklahoma has won the past 6 games SU, but are 3-3 ATS. Oklahoma is going to make a statement here as they have to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt they belonged in this game and not Texas. They will not only make sure they cover this number but cover it with an exclamation point !!. As for stats, Oklahoma is 4-1-1 ATS in Big 12 title games, including a 38-17 win last year against Missouri in the title game.
Lay the points and wait for the 4th quarter cover.

 

Next, I’m going with the red hot Florida Gators playing the Alabama Crimson Tide at the Georgia Dome, in Atlanta, GA. laying 9.5 points. This is a pick that does go against most of the stats, as Florida and Alabama have met 5 times for the SEC title with Florida holding a narrow 3-2 lead, 2-2-1 ATS. However, looking at the talent and speed that both teams have, you have to ask yourself, how can you go against the roster of athletes that Florida has, especially on offense. Harvin is expected to play but will most likely not be 100% but Harvin’s 50% is better than most players 100%. Both teams are eyeing the BCS title game but I just have a gut feeling that Florida will be there.
Look for Florida to cover this number and be headed to the BCS title game probably against Oklahoma, which would be a game we would all like to see.


 
I am also going to back California this week at home laying 35 points to winless Washington. Normally in this situation I would not lay this many points but California is playing to secure a bid in the Holiday Bowl while Washington is playing to get ONE win this year, which unfortunately is not going to happen this week. I’m a little nervous about this big spread but I can see Washington not even scoring in this game and possibly giving Cal a few TDs on the defensive side. I also like revenge games as motivation, and this is a revenge game for Cal as Washington won this game last year by 2 TDs. Lay the 35 points and hope Washington gives up in this game in the first half.

 

Next, I’m going with the red hot Cincinnati Bearcats who have beaten 6 out of the 7 Big East teams this year with their only loss to UCONN on the road. Cincy is playing on the road this week at Hawaii laying 7 points. Normally I don’t like to pick against Hawaii at home because many teams look at this as a vacation and not a football game, but Cincy is on a 5 game win streak and are heading to their FIRST EVER BCS game and most likely they do not want to go into that game off a loss. Cincinnati won the Big East title and tied a school record with 10 wins this year. I look for Cincinnati to come out and win this game to break the school record with 11 wins and they only have to win by a TD. As for stats Hawaii is 0-2 ATS versus the current Big East teams, while Cincy is 2-0 ATS versus WAC teams. Lay the touchdown with the better and hotter team here.

I am also leaning towards a few other games as well.
      On Thursday night Rutgers(-10.5),  on Saturday – Navy(-10.5) and Troy(-11). 

 

    And last but not least I do like a couple of underdogs this week:
    Pittsburgh(+3) and UCLA(+32).

    Good Luck and as always bet with your head and not above it.

 

As for the Pros, the pickings are slim this week in my opinion, but here they are
 

My first pick in the pros this week is Arizona at home hosting the St. Louis Rams and laying  13.5 points. I must admit picking Arizona as one of my best bets is a scary proposition but they are home and playing the Rams. Arizona had an extra 3 days rest to get over the Thanksgiving night loss to Philly where they did not play well. I am not one of the fortunate ones who has the NFL network so I can’t say definitively how bad they did play but the stats certainly show that they played poorly. With that being said, Arizona is in a very unique situation this weekend, as they can clinch the division title for the first time since 1975. I know the Cardinals are one dimensional but the Rams, well they don’t have a dimension this year at all as they are awful on both sides of the ball. As for the stats, the Cardinals are 7-3 ATS the last 10 meetings with the Rams and the Rams are 2-8 ATS the last 10 against the NFC. Arizona should cover this number en route to their 1st division title in 33 years.

I’m also picking the Tennessee Titans to have a big win at home against the Cleveland Browns laying 13.5 points. The last time the Titans were home they got embarrassed by the Jets, so I know they want to win this home game and Cleveland should give them little opposition as the Browns are starting Ken Dorsey who hasn’t played in 3 years. Not only is Quinn gone for the year but so is Derek Anderson and Kellen Winslow is out for this game as well. So with so many negatives against Cleveland and Tennessee home on 3 more days rest, the pick here has to be the Titans. Lay the 13.5 points and wait for them to cover late in the 3rd quarter or early 4th or maybe sooner if the Titans put Dorsey out of commission.

 

Once again this week I’m going with the Indianapolis Colts to hopefully cover at home against the Cincinnati Bengals who have for all intensive purposes packed it in.  The Colts are laying 13.5 points which I’m not keen on but like I said the pickings are slim this week and this looks like a total mismatch as the Bengals are the walking wounded, they have 18 players on the IR and more that are questionable for this week including their top receiver TJ Houshmandzadeh. The Colts have to keep winning to stay in the playoff hunt so they are taking each game very seriously and that could spell disaster for a Bengals team whose last good game was a tie with the Eagles. Lay the points and pray the Peyton Manning throws a few TDs and the defense scores a few as well.
 
My next pick is the New England Patriots on the road at Seattle laying 4.5 points. The Pats got totally embarrassed at home last week by the Steelers and that isn’t good news for the Seahawks, as Belichick usually comes back big after a bad loss, as he is a perfect 10-0 ATS and SU on the road after a loss. Seattle is 1-4-1 ATS the past 6 home games and Hasselbeck has averaged only 15 points per game since coming back. Look for New England, still in the playoff hunt, to take out their frustrations on a Seattle team that is playing just for pride.

I also like Minnesota this week, but with the Williams boys most likely out for this game due to suspensions, I’ll pass on this game. Although the line is only 9 against the absolutely awful Lions, but I’ll still err on the side of caution.

Also if the Giants didn’t have the Burress distraction this week I would also be backing the Giants laying a TD at home against the Eagles. But how the players react to the Burress problem is keeping me off of this game as well.

 

As for over/unders this week I like the over 48.5 in the Rams/Cardinals game and I also like the over 47 in the Texans/Packers game, and the over 46.5 in the Vikings/Lions game.

 

Well that’s it for another week, GOOD LUCK !!

 

 

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