Gambling

Air Force at BYU (-2)
This should be a classic. BYU’s offense is up on blocks right now as the coaches try and figure out what’s wrong, but they should find their potent passing game to counter-act the power running game of the Falcons. Go with the home team. BYU

Arizona State at Oregon State (-6)
ASU lost to Iowa, a team playing great football. OSU lost to Fresno and barely beat Boise. If they had trouble with the Broncos offense, the Sun Devils should give them fits. ASU

*Arkansas at Alabama (Pick)
I know Bama’s gonna be motivated, but they have not looked like a very well-coached team this year. Arkansas’ option attack looks virtually unstoppable, and if it will be stopped, it’ll be by a disciplined defense. ARK

Cincinnati at Miami OH (-7)
This should be a good game. Guidigli hasn’t found his rhythm yet, and going into the MAC is a tough place to get on track. MIAMI

Connecticut at Virginia Tech (-23)
That’s an awful big line. VT’s playing well, but they aren’t a team that tries to blow you out. And UConn’s been playing pretty well. UCONN

Florida at Kentucky (+9)
The Gators are mad and should take out their frustrations on the Wildcats. UF

Georgia Tech at Vanderbilt (+7.5)
Is there a tougher read than GT? They lose to Wake, play close to FSU, beat Auburn, and get blown out by Clemson. I’m baffled. GT

Indiana at Michigan (-35)
The spread seems fair. Coming off a loss, Michigan’s going to be chomping at the bit. MICH

*Iowa at Michigan State (+6.5)
The Hawkeyes are playing outstanding football right now. MSU beat Notre Dame, but so what? They aren’t that good of a team. IOWA

Iowa State at Northern Illinois (-6.5)
Wow. Why not? Wouldn’t it be funny of NIU beat Maryland and Bama only to lose to the Cyclones. Don’t read the papers, kids. NIU

LSU at Mississippi State (+13.5)
LSU’s won 11 of 12 against MSU. Most by blowout. MSU just lost to Houston and Tulane. You figure it out. LSU

*Missouri at Kansas (+10.5)
Mizzou has struggled thus far, and this is one of football’s more unknown rivalries. Whittimore has a huge game. KANSAS

Navy at Rutgers (-2)
Never give points with Rutgers. Even when they play Navy. NAVY

Nebraska at Southern Miss (+9)
Two inept offenses and two great defenses. Why are they playing in Hattiesburg? That should be enough to at least cover. USM

North Carolina at NC State (-18.5)
I have nothing but contempt for this UNC team. NCSU

*Notre Dame at Purdue (-9.5)
Purdue has already played some tough teams, and now they get a reeling Irish team. Does Notre Dame even have an offense? PURDUE

Pittsburgh at Texas A&M (+1)
I think the Toledo game was an example of what happens when you don’t take your opponent seriously. The Panthers will respect A&M. PITT

San Diego State at UCLA (-11.5)
UCLA just got humiliated on national TV. SDSU ain’t Oklahoma, but they can play some defense, too. They keep it close before dying down the stretch. UCLA

South Carolina at Tennessee (-16)
Tennessee can sense it. They are the front runners in the east. UT

Stanford at Washington (-13.5)
Have we learned nothing about the Pac-10 over the years? Anybody can beat anybody. That’s a huge spread. STANFORD

TCU at Arizona (+15)
If you listen carefully, you can hear Purdue scoring again. TCU

Temple at Louisville (-14)
The Owls have played fairly decent so far this season. Louisville should put an end to that. LVILLE

Texas Tech at Ole Miss (-1.5)
The game that defense forgot. Or running games. In a matchup of passers, take that Manning kid. OM

Toledo at Syracuse (-4)
The Cuse has looked questionable at best. Toledo wins straight up because, well, they are probably better. TOLEDO

USC at California (+13)
Anything can happen in the Pac-10. Except USC is truly a cut above this year. USC

Utah at Colorado State (-6.5)
What have the Rams done to justify six and half points this year? A whole bunch of nothing. UTAH

Wake Forest at Virginia (No line)
Why not? WAKE

Washington State at Oregon (-4)
They still can’t play defense, and Wazzu will take advantage of that in the final quarter. WSU

*Western Michigan at Ohio (+2)
Ohio is a bottom dweller, WMU’s not exactly a world-beater, but they have played some decent football. They should win in a rout. WMU.

Wisconsin at Illinois (+2)
Illinois’ just had brutal schedule thus far. Wisconsin keeps the hits coming. WIS

Father Mushroom weighs in below.

Okay, clients and parishioners, we are going BIG this weekend and I mean BIG. We were 3-2 last weekend (2-0 in the colleges, probably because we liberals don’t BUY our degrees like SOME Presidents.) First, the colleges, then a new strategy for the pros.

Colleges—Saturday
LSU (-14) at Mississippi State. I like Mississippi as a state. How can it be the birthplace of such talented writers, have such a literary history, yet so many terrible marks against it in the history of civil rights? That state is truly a dichotomy. I hope they turn it around down there. I usually root for the Bulldogs, but this time, take James Carville’s alma mater (ed note- And the Editor of BartCopSports! And Faulkner may have been a night watchman at MSU, but he was first published in the Southern Review, a literary journal from LSU). I’ve seen both teams play this year; MSU is poorly coached, and LSU is the real deal this year. Final from Mississippi: LSU 45 Miss. St. 13.

Arkansas (pick) at Alabama. We’ll go with The Big Dog’s alma mater this week. They’ve been kind to us before. Final from wherever they play in Alabama: Arkansas 38 Alabama 10.

Wisconsin (-2.5) at Illinois. “Mad-town” has a great history of student radicalism, and in his college daze, Fr. Mushroom was treated like royalty there. He was over-served often (this was during the Good Father’s drinking days, or “Blurry Period” as he sometimes refers to the 80’s.) I know it’s at Illinois. But I also know that Wisconsin needs a win and Illinois isn’t very good. Final from Champaign (oooh, that stuff used to give me a headache!) Wisconsin 31 Illinois 21.

Now, for the Pros.

This week, we are PURELY playing numbers. Pure science here…a Stephen Hawking approach to gaming. There are teams that are 0-3 against the spread and 3-0 against the spread. It’s the laws of physics, Scotty…teams CAN’T go 4-0 or 0-4…it just doesn’t happen. And speaking of numbers, we need only hit 56% of our picks to make money. I have a feeling (no guarantees—we leave that to Nancy on Court TV): The number following a team represents them vs. the spread so far this season. Take them (listed first), plus or minus the points, and they will cover one way or another. Here we go:

Baltimore vs. Kansas City (3-0)
San Francisco vs. Minnesota (3-0)
Detroit vs. Denver (3-0)
New Orleans vs. Indianapolis (3-0)

Now, the ones who will snap out of it…
(0-3) Chicago vs. Green Bay (Play of the Week…Monday Night)
(0-3) Philadelphia vs. Buffalo
(0-3) Jets vs. Dallas
(0-3) Oakland vs. SanDiego (0-3) YEEOW! This one will be a push. Get a prop bet at 100-1 that it will be a tie, or take Oakland.

Peace,
Fr. Mushroom.