Amazingly I went 2-0 last week on my college picks and perhaps there is a change in the air and this could be the start of a redemption tour.  This week the Thursday night game will feature Auburn at West Virginia and close out Saturday night with a Pac 10 bout between #5 USC at Arizona.  I am also featuring a bonus pick this week on a game that should be a lock, please see below…

Thursday Night

Auburn Tigers vs West Virginia Mountaineers
7:30 PM ET, October 23, 2008
Mountaineer Field , Morgantown , WV
Spread: West Virginia -3

My Pick:  Both teams are playing decent football this year, but its the West Virginia running game that sets them apart from the rest of the crowd.  Sophomore RB Noel Devine is leading his team with 642 yards and 2 TD’s while QB Pat White is the second leading rusher with 428 yards and a paid of TD’s.  This only completements their passing game which is used more to set up the run game as well as in the red zone as is evidenced by the 9 TD’s White has threw the air with only 1 INT.  The Tigers are having a bit more trouble on offense as QB Chris Todd has only thrown 903 yards thus far with 5 TD’s and 6 INT’s.  Basically, Auburn adjusts their offense based on the matchups they have as they do not have a main playmaker on the team that they can depend on and the WVU defense is not going to present a favorable matchup for them.  I think that WVU is a steal right now at -3 and you should jump on it before it goes up. Give the points.

Saturday Night

(#5)USC Trojans vs Arizona Wildcats
10:15 PM ET, October 25, 2008
Arizona Stadium , Tucson , AZ
Spread:  USC -15

My Pick:  This is a suicide move on the bookies part!  USC has already proven to be a little inconsisent and AZ is actually not that bad and as mentioned before in past articles, DO NOT GIVE DOUBLE DIGITS TO THE HOME TEAM!!!  I mean I could see it as maybe 9.5 points, but no way 15.  I don’t care that USC is ranked #5, all those are good for is getting TV money, but when you look at the stats for both teams, they matchup reasonably well, and AZ has more overall yards.  Sanchez has thrown 1500 yards with 19 TD’s and 6 INTs with a rushing game that is no where near the caliber of the Reggie Bush era, but does just enough to take a little pressure off the passing game.  Arizona QB Tuitama has 1700 yards with 15 TD’s and only 3 INT’s, the biggest difference is that AZ actually has a run game that they can count on and keeps the ball spread out fairly well.  You definitely have to take the points on this one, it may be a shootout and USC may win, but not by more than 2 TD’s.  Take the points.

Bonus Pick:

Louisiana Tech Bulldogs vs Army Black Knights
1:00 PM ET, October 25, 2008
Michie Stadium , West Point , NY
Spread:  Army -1.5

My Pick:  LT is a passing team and Army has no choice but to run.  I picked this game as the bonus game simply for the fact that I believe you have a big time drubbing coming at Army’s expense.  Army is a 3rd tier team, even for their division and L Tech simply wants to prove something with a less than lethal pass offense.  I do believe that this will be a low scoring affair, but I the fact that Army has no pass offense at all and their defense is shabby at best makes me think the passing team will be taking advantage of the situation all night.  Take L Tech plus the points.

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