Pac-10 Plays

[bgold13]

Oregon St at Fresno friday osu -8.5

wash st at notre dame +6.5
ucla at colorado +2.5
nev at ore -21.5
IU at wash -24.5
CSU +2.5 at Cal
USC -22 vs BYU at usc
lsu -11.5 at AZ
sjsu +14 at Stan
NAU vs ASU noline

Washington vs Indiana at Seattle UW -24.5

Huskies are overrated.. they were shown up on national tv.. but IU is nothing like OSU and Washington gets a lot better fast and lights up the scoreboard and covers easily

SJSU +14 vs Stan

coming of a 60+ loss isnt easy... but this is the super bowl for SJSU as they care more about this game than any other game.. look at the S/U results in the past 5 years and see that SJSUhas beaten Stanford up... Stanford on the other hand LOST A SCRIMMAGE TO UC DAVIS... I know it was just a scrimmage but that says something about the team. Play the Spartans +14

Cal -2.5 vs CSU
Cal is finally getting some respefct and proved they can score on anyone.. now the defense will have a medium here... they saw the best in kstate and maybe the worst in shutting out so miss.. csu is an upper echlon offens led by bradlee van pelt and he hopes to exploit what ksu did to the cal secondary. I think Cal is geting better and better each week and strawberry canyon will be rocking once again.. play Cal -2.5

UCLA vs CU -2.5

Colorado proved they were not rebuilding in knocking off top 25 csu last week. UCLA in the first game in the Karl Dorrell era have the work cut out for them and starting qb Matt Moore will look to have a big day if UCLA will win.. I like CU to cover and win by a td

more coming

 

[mjbarley]

gold,

good job on that Cal game last week. I guess they are for real. But this week, we know they have trouble stopping the run (as we saw against K St), and CSU does run the ball well. Is their defense for real? This game is a no-play for me, because I'm not sure how CSU responds after losing the big game to CU, but I can't really see CSU starting 0-2. Or do you see this game as more of a shootout?

I'm with you on Washington. I think there is a bit of a public perception issue already. Just a week ago, most people were picking Washington or USC to win the PAC-10. All of a sudden, Washington sucks? They came up a very good OSU defense, and I think we're seeing a tremendous overreaction. I think they get Pickett's heisman campaign back on track (400 yds passing and 5TDs ought to do that), and they have no trouble shutting down a very poor Indiana team, that travelled all the way to the East coast last week, and now travels about as far West as it can go.....

CU might have a bit of a letdown as well this week after the big game with CSU, so I'm not anywhere near that game either.

mj

 

[bgold13]

barley- I was never high on Washington this year, but I did feel like they could hang around OSU. OSU showed me that they are stiill on that level of excellence. Washington still cant run. Indiana is not average but below... so UW should roll

Cal- They showed me they could shut down a d1 top 50 team last week- They controled the line of scrimmage on defense too. CSU is a medium between so miss and kstate on offense and i think at best they put up 28 against Cal.. while the Bears can score 37 on SO miss there is no reason to think they cant vs CSU. Not to mention Cal is a young team and will get better every game

 

[mansa_musa]

bgold,

Interested to know your thoughts on LSU-AZ game. I think the Wildcats will hang in @ home. I dont know a whole lot about the match-ups, but I think talent, speed, skill should be about even.

 

[bgold13]

mansa- I am still looking at a couple of the matchups in this game.. i will have a writeup tommorow.. at the moment im leaning towards a no play but I think LSU has more talent tha Arizona. UA is hoping there qbs can play the way they did vs utep and they hope frosh rb mike bell runs well again, so mack doesnt have to play rb clarence farmer who he hates.. you like arizona here?

 

[AR182]

bgold,

i disagree with with your cal. play, but good luck on the others.

 

[mansa_musa]

Yes I like Zona here. Mainly because of homefield & point cushion. I think the Wildcats get a few calls/breaks to go their way.

Just remembering back to last year, how most people discounted Cal because of the 1 win season the year before. Cal started the season by overwhelming their first 2 opponents. Dont think AZ will dominate, but I do believe the SEC rep is overvalued here.

Also, I think Mackovic needs big wins. A ranked team coming into the desert would buy a week or two of good will towards his program. AZ should put their best foot forward here in my opinion.

 

[bgold13]

WSU +6 at Notre Dame
NO PLAY- I cant see a side in this game worth betting, I want to take the points but WSU offense showed me nothing against a bad Idaho defense.

Nevada +21.5 vs Oregon
I like Reno here.. I know they were not sharp at all in week 1. Either was Oregon in the 3d and 4th in Starkville. Losing Nate Burrleson on offense can hurt Nevada but a thin secondary in Oregon may allow Nevada to hang in there for a while and cover the spread. PLAY UNR +21.5

 

[bgold13]

ORE ST at Fresno ST +8.5

I like FSU here, Fresno has a game expieriene where as OREst really is playing game one (sac st was 1aa) Home crowd will be intense for Fresno. I am big on Ore St this year and think they have an excellent chance to win the pac 10. I think 8.5 is too much chalk to lay on a road game this early in the year especially since Fresno is a quality opponent

more to come

 

[Marra]

bgold,

Interested to know your thoughts on LSU-AZ game. I think the Wildcats will hang in @ home. I dont know a whole lot about the match-ups, but I think talent, speed, skill should be about even.

Definitely not. With each one of those attributes, the edge goes to LSU. U of A just isn't very good. Farmer is back, which is great, but the QB hasn't seen a defense like LSU's. U of A is horrible as a road underdog, something interesting you might consider. LSU is going to look like track stars against U of A.

 

[mansa_musa]

Marra,

The game will be played in AZ. LSU lost 4 of their last 6 games last year, & the 2 wins were by a total of 4 pts over Ole Miss & a miracle win @ Kentucky. LSU QB Mauck played his first game since Oct of last yr v LA-Monroe, I doubt the Tigers offense will gel this early in the season on the road against an average team.

Last week, wareagle mentioned Auburn's speed being a problem for USC. Pac 10 teams all recruit talent & speed, in order to compete w each other. Other confs are usually over rated against the Pac 10 because the players come in w less pub, but w equal talent.

 

[Marra]

Marra,

The game will be played in AZ. LSU lost 4 of their last 6 games last year, & the 2 wins were by a total of 4 pts over Ole Miss & a miracle win @ Kentucky. LSU QB Mauck played his first game since Oct of last yr v LA-Monroe, I doubt the Tigers offense will gel this early in the season on the road against an average team.

Last week, wareagle mentioned Auburn's speed being a problem for USC. Pac 10 teams all recruit talent & speed, in order to compete w each other. Other confs are usually over rated against the Pac 10 because the players come in w less pub, but w equal talent.

Don't underestimate the coaching- as Saban is lightyears ahead of Makovic.

I am a PAC-10 advocate big time. I am not taking LSU b/c they are in the SEC, but because their team is just a lot better than U of A.

In their last 12 games, they are 3-9 with wins against the football powerhouses UTEP and North Texas, and Cal.

Now, a rookie QB on a below average team is supposed to play LSU tough? I just don't see that happening.

 

[ststrl]

BG, I'm glad you switched sides and are playing the Buff's here. UCLA will be tough this year, but CU will win and cover. As you know I really like ND -6 vs. Wazzu. As far as UofA, the team and the players and fans for that matter, are really anxious for this game. I can tell you that LSU will be well represented at Arizona Stadium; word is they purchased around 10,000 tickets. Though the visitor section at UofA is in the rear corner so don't look for them to be a factor.

Just because UofA won convincingly vs. a horrible UTEP squad does not mean they are back and going to win big this year. However that win along with UofA's underdog mentality and hungriness to prove people wrong about them will show Saturday.

I wouldn't be surprised to see UofA win this game, then again I wouldn't be surprised to see an Arizona melt down and have LSU cover convincingly. As a UofA alum and avid follower of our football program, I'd advise a no play here. If anything maybe a small play on UofA.

 

[johnnyb.]

i like ucla myself, i'm still looking for where colorado has a big advantage...i see two teams looking at changing their identity.
colorado coach barnett has come out and said that he will move the ball through the air this year, moving away from his running offense of the past. the receiving corps is where i could say they are better, but even then ucla has their coach (embree).
ucla is going to a west coast offense, incorporating short, quick passes and dropping the play-action predicated offense that previous coach toledo preferred. i went to several practices during their camp and attitude is 180 degrees different! before practices were real unemotional and very little hitting with pads. as almost anyone could wear a red shirt to avoid contact last year but not anymore, this is the most physical team in years.
wait till you see cb. matt ware, kid added 25 lb's of muscle. he looks like a freak 6'3 225 or so and absolutely will cover colo's best wr. mccoy like a blanket all day. bruins are really talented and ready for this challenge. i'll take the points in this one, as i see a close game in the twenties (maybe 24-22).

 

[hawkeye]

I am a big cu follower and keep up with them very closely--I have never heard barnett say cu would be a throwing team this year--he still likes the run and will work on that this saturday--he had no idea what klaat his new qb would do--csu came out to stop the run which they did so cu passed-look for a close game-gl

 

[johnnyb.]

here you go my good friend taken from news article in star telegram on sept. 4th:

"He exceeded all expectations," said Colorado coach Gary Barnett, whose team has ridden a powerful ground game to consecutive titles in the North Division. With Klatt at the helm, Barnett said the aerial route is now "the best way for us to move the ball." That's an unexpected twist, and it might pay off in a 10-win season.

 

[hawkeye]

this was after the game not before-before he did not know what to expect-gl on your picks this weekend

 

[bgold13]

fresno was a nice early payday.... add byu +22.5

here is why: BYU throws the ball and wont stop throwing till the last tick... lets see how usc does defensively agaisnt a passing team. I think BYU is a better team than a lot of people give them credit for.. +22.5 is hte play

 

[ND2002HORNS]

Norm Chow was the offensive coordinator at BYU and was passed up for the head coaching position a job he wanted bad. Makes me wonder if USC lets up on offense.

HORNS

 

[bgold13]

ND- lets see if USC has an awesome offense, they could but lets see. Plus Carroll hass too much class for running up the score