Saturday 10/23 Picks

5 Star

Utah St +3 vs Hawaii

Top Picks

TCU – 18.5 vs Air Force
San Diego St -23.5 vs New Mexico
Georgia -4 vs Kentucky
Leans
LSU +5.5 vs Auburn
Va Tech -27 vs Duke

To Have a Side

Oklahoma/Missouri over
Alabama
Notre Dame

Writeups

Utah St- This has been a team I have been keeping my eye on since their opening strong performance against Oklahoma. They have played quite a bit better at home and have an extra week to prepare against Hawaii after coming off a bad performance against La Tech.

Hawaii true to their name has been flying high lately. They were a SU winner against Nevada and have gotten their pass attack back in order. However, I think that we have seen this consistently in college, the inevitable letdown.

This game sets up for a classic home dog SU winner as the Aggies use their extra week to get their game plan together and take advantage of Hawaii’s let down and get another home victory.

TCU- We all know how good TCU is so no need to go into detail about that. This pick is predicated on what I saw last week with Air Force. Their offensive was pretty well exposed by San Diego St. I don’t see the Falcons being able to make too many adjustments against a more physical, faster defense this week.

I usually like to take the points with an option team but I see this working against them this week as TCU will get a big lead early and then AF will be forced to change things up which will just make things worse.

SDSU – This is another game that I have been waiting for. I think a very underrated angle in college football is when a former HC gets dismissed and then goes to a conference foe as a coordinator. This is the case here as Rocky Long returns to NM as the D Coordinator for SDSU.

He has to feel a bit validated as NM has been a disaster since his departure. Look for a very spirited effort from his defense and the offense has an easy time putting up enough points to cover.

Georgia- This team was essentially left for dead after a poor September but don’t look now but they are in position to win the East if South Carolina stumbles again. Kentucky has been through a tough schedule and is very unlikely to be able to avoid a letdown against Georgia which looks weak on paper but will come into Lexington with a strong game.

LSU- They continue to find a way to get it done and have been non plussed on the road. Auburn has vaulted itself into the spotlight and this game all of sudden puts them in a position of being an upstart team to a legitimate contender. I think this will take away their carefree attitude and put a stress on them.

I am not calling for LSU to win but this will be at tense game and 5.5 is too many points but an LSU team that will be able to slow Auburn down quite a bit.

Va Tech- If the Dukies have not already done so, they will officially be switching gears to hoops after this beatdown.