Updating Coach's record

Last week (week 9) coach went 12-8 on his picks. Not as great as week 8 but still a winning record.

That brings his overall record to 26-9.  That's an amazing 74% winning percentage.

The week 10 picks are already posted, so don't forget to check them out.

What did we learn this weekend (10/28/12)?

WOW, we could label this past weekend as "Turnover and Play Dead". We started with eleven undefeated teams and finished with five. The teams that lost lead the day with turnovers and not just one or two but to the tune of four or more. Rutgers, Ohio, Florida, and Oregon State each had four plus and did every conceivable way to give the football game away. Then there were the teams that just played dead, Auburn and Colorado. I know you're saying that Oregon and Texas A&M have such potent offenses that what could we expect. Well have about show a little heart and make a tackle when the opportunity presents itself.

Let's quickly take a look at the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of this past weekend's games.

The Good

1.   Alabama, Kansas State, and Notre Dame can play defense with anybody and then pound on your
          defense until you wear out.

2.   Colin Klein and A J McCarron are the two best QB's in football right now and could make any
          other team better (except maybe Colorado).

3.   Kansas St, Boise St, and SMU are locks against the spread each week simply because they are
          very well coached on the offensive side of the ball and don't play any SEC defenses.

4.   Braxton Miller is the real deal. He won that game versus Penn State almost single handed.

The Bad

1.   The BIG TEN without Ohio State. Michigan State over Wisconsin (which will win the leaders
          division) and Nebraska which beat Michigan (without D. Robinson) was the highlight of the
          day. Northwestern can jump out to a fast start in each game but can't finish. It will not matter
          which team comes out of the league to play in the Rose Bowl we are talking blow out versus
          Oregon.

2.   South Carolina defense is not all that. Clowney is good but containable and the backend just
          does not get it done. Tennessee moved at will on them and even LSU controlled the ball.

3.   Key football matchups with over 200 yards combined in penalties. Take a look at the teams
          that are successful, they don't have more that three to five total penalties per game and they
          are usually the five yard variety.

The Ugly

1.   Teams that have already packed it in for the year. I find it interesting when the starters can
          not make a play but the hungry freshmen and sophomores will fly around the field and
          at least make it look respectable. You can insert your own team here as an example, there
          were several this past weekend.

2.   Now on a more somber note, the ugliest thing I saw in a game was a good person and great
          athlete was seriously injured and could quite possibly have it end his career. I am sure many
          of you will join me in wishing Marcus Lattimore all the best and hope for him to make a
          full recovery. I have been watching football for a long time and that was by far the most
          gruesome injury that I can remember. I realize that this does not compare to a spinal cord
          injury and I don't mean to minimize those in any way what so ever. But I just hope he can
          make back from yesterday unfortunate injury.

Coach Bourque's week 10 picks

We are going to try something a little different this week. Instead of an email sent to Kenny for him to post, I am going to write the post myself.  So if this changes the success rate I have enjoyed so far, then I will revert back to the old fashion way of making my locks of the week. So here goes;

HOME TEAM IN CAPS

Locks of the week

1.    Ga. Tech by 7 1/2 over MARYLAND.

Let's face it, when you have to start a fifth string true freshman QB for his first game, that usually   spells disaster. When that 5th string QB is really a middle linebacker, now that is really really bad. Maryland has this problem and then you compound that problem with a very weak run game, I don't see many points coming their way.

2.    UTAH ST. by 26 1/2 over Texas St.

I don't know if an explanation is truly needed here but I will provide one. Texas St has recently moved up to FBS and is working to establish themselves. Utah St is scoring points at will and they are a blistering 7 - 0 ATS.

3.    Penn St. by 3 1/2 over PURDUE

Coach O'Brien is the difference here and I believe that it is worth 3 1/2 points. Penn St is a more disciplined and consistent team than Purdue. Don't let last week Ohio State loss fool you, Braxton Miller is really good. Purdue does not have a Miller on their team.

4.    NO. ILLINOIS by 35 1/2 over Massachusetts

Man that is a lot of points to give a team but U Mass just gave up 49 to Vandy while playing on the road. No. Ill is better than Vandy so look for this one to a solid blow out.

5.    N.C. ST. by 11 1/2 over Virginia

Mike Glennon rank the bell for 42 against UNC last week. Virginia's defense is not a tar heel equivalent and the offense does not score much at all. The wolfpack are fighting for a bowl bid and the Cavs are 0 - 7 ATS this season.

6.    Arkansas St by 4 1/2 over NO. TEXAS ST.

Ark St is leading the Sun Belt and Gus Malzahn has the offense rolling. No Texas is no match for     fine tuned spread passing attack.

7.    FLORIDA by 16 1/2 over Missouri

This point spread kind of scares me but I look for Muschamp to get the gators back on track and take care of the ball this week. Mizzou does not stop the run nor do they protect the QB very well. This plays right into Florida wheel house.

8.    Ole Miss getting 13 1/2 from GEORGIA

Can you say trap game? Ole Miss is playing like they are relevant and I think they will be over looked by the bulldogs. Don't look for the Rebels to win but they will cover.

9.    MIAMI getting 2 1/2 from Virginia Tech

VT is 0 - 4 on the road, Coach Golden has the swagger coming back at the U. This one looks like a winner and getting points.

10.  FRESNO ST. by 33 1/2 over Hawaii

This is the first time I remember Hawaii traveling anywhere. They appear to be a bad road team they leave their defense at home when they travel. Look for a scoring fest early and often from Fresno St.

Other to be considered for almost locks

Troy getting 18 1/2 from TENNESSEE
MINNESOTA getting 9 1/2 from Michigan
Vandy by 7 1/2 over KENTUCKY
TEXAS TECH by 7 1/2 Texas
KANSAS ST by 8 1/2 over Oklahoma St
KENT ST by 21 1/2 over Akron
Florida International by 4 1/2 over SOUTH ALABAMA
MISSISSIPPI ST. getting 6 1/2 from Texas A & M
EAST CAROLINA getting 3 1/2 from Houston
Pittsburgh getting 16 1/2 from NOTRE DAME

Coach's Week 9 picks are up!

     Coach has posted his locks of the week.  He's going with a total of 20 picks this week, ranked in groups of 5.  I'm sure we are all looking forward to Saturday.  Good luck everyone.

Coach Bourque Off To A Blazing Start!

     In case you haven't notice, but I think there is a good chance you have, Coach Bourque started off on fire with his college football picks this past weekend.  He went a whopping 14-1 overall on picks against the spread.  The lone loss coming at the hands of Western Kentucky losing in OT to La. Monroe 43-42. Western Kentucky was a 2.5 pt favorite and had previously covered or beat the spread in it's previous 15 consecutive games. Hard to find a team in any sport that can beat the spread that many games in a row.  So unfortunately all good things must come to an end, and it just so happened to be last weekend.

     Week 9 picks should be posted within the next day or two, so be on the look out.  Become a follower of the blog and be the first to get notified of any updates.

Some quick thoughts on the LSU/TAMU game tomorrow

     I just wanted to post a few thoughts on tomorrow's game before I go to sleep. This game should be very exciting in my opinion.  In spite of the 11 am cst kickoff time, I have a feeling the crowd will be raucous.  I feel fairly certain that there will be plenty of Tiger fans crashing the midnight yell practice of the Aggies.  That will could make for an interesting atmosphere before and during the game.  Anyways, LSU will have to make some big plays early to take the home crowd out of it.  In particular, the LSU DE's, Mingo and Montgomery, must maintain containment on Manziel.  On top of that, I think Eric Reid must have a spectacular game like he did against South Carolina in order for LSU to contain the Aggie offense.  I found a great article that sums up the approach to stopping the Aggie offense here.  When LSU is on offense, they will need to establish the run game much like the USC game last week.  Also the receivers need to continue to catch passes and move the chains on third downs.  Mettenberger had a much improved game last week and I would like to see him build on that.

     Two hidden keys that I think will give great insight as to how this game will end up are:  1) if you see Les Miles with a play chart in his hands on the sideline and 2) the play calling on offense of the second series for LSU.  If you see the first item and the second item seems to flow/feed off of the first series then LSU will cruise to a victory over TAMU.  However, if you don't see number 1 then be warry.  And if you don't see number 2 then it will be a long day for the Tigers.

     I have a feeling we will see both of those things listed tomorrow and LSU will rack up another impressive performance stat wise, the scoreboard may not indicate that same. My prediction:

LSU 24  TAMU 17  (late td by TAMU makes it close)

This week's locks are in!

     That's right, Coach Bourque has picked his winners against the spread for week 8 of the college football season.  This is his first installment so his official record will start at 0-0, but some can already attest to the many winners he has picked throughout the season so far. You can see his selections on his page by clicking the tab at the top of this web page, or click here.  Good luck to everyone on their picks.