College Picks, Week 9

We had two winners last week with Clemson and Michigan St., which got an unbelivable backdoor cover, putting the blog at 19-15 on the season. That's not great after a hot start, but we're still on the positive side of the ledger. Let's see if we can't take a piece out Saturday and make Halloween a little more spirited.

West Virginia -5 at Connecticut
Let's kick it off with the Friday night game. Both teams looked terrible last week. West Virginia lost 19-14 at home to Syracuse and Connecticut got smoked 26-0 at Louisville. Connecticut is 3-0 at home and West Virginia has only had to go on the road twice so far this year, but WVU is much more talented. Jordan Todman is a good back but Connecticut has been outrushed by an average of over 200 yds/game when playing WVU the last five years. Look for Geno Smith to rebound and WVU to cover.

The Wake Forest/Duke Daily Double
We made some jack early in the season getting against the terrible defenses of both Wake Forest and Duke before getting a bit of a comeuppance when they both lost but narrowly covered. We are back against them this week.

Maryland -5.5 vs. Wake Forest
Wake is 2-9 ATS in their last 11 road games and 2-9 ATS in their last 11 meetings with Maryland. Throw in the fact that they've lost five in a row and they suck and I don't see any reason to buck the trend.

Navy -12.5 vs. Duke
When you attend one of the service academies I think they focus on not having letdowns. "Hey guys, nice battle, sunk a few ships, did well. Take it easy on the next one and save it up in case we have a big one." I'm pretty sure that's not how it works in war and it won't happen this week after Navy crushed Notre Dame. If Navy wins out they'll be in the top 20. They get Duke at home and the midshipmen will want to put on a show for their classmates after being in NYC last week.

Texas A&M -7.5 vs. Texas Tech
A&M seems to have it finally figured out and the sharps agree having moved the line 2 points from the open already. I'm not a buyer of Tech and I think the sharps are all over this one. Go Aggies.

It's Friday night 6:30. I'll try to get write-ups on the following games up by noon tomorrow, but I like the following,

Ohio St. -25 at Minnesota (national tv on the east coast Sat night);  Miami -14.5 vs. Virginia (blowout);  Oklahoma -23.5 vs. Colorado (Sooners are dominant at home)

Considering: Pitt -9.5 vs. Louisville;  Hawaii -15 vs. Idaho;  Nebraska -7.5 vs. Missouri