It’s round 1, let the trash talking and whining begin! Anybody is welcome to participate and it won’t cost you anything. See this post for rules (how to submit picks, etc.). See this post or leave a comment or email me if you have any questions about just what the hell this contest is. Remember, there’s a $50 Amazon gift certificate at stake, so choose carefully!
Odds are accurate as of Aug. 27 at 6 p.m. Your pick for the Temple vs. Arizona St. game needs to be submitted by Wednesday, Aug. 31 at midnight; picks for Sat., Sept. 3 games need to be submitted by Friday Sept. 2 at midnight; picks for Sunday, Sept. 4 games need to be submitted by Saturday, Sept. 3 at midnight; your pick for the Miami (FL) vs. FSU game needs to be submitted by Sunday, Sept. 4 at midnight.
Thursday, Sept. 1 games
Temple @ #18 Arizona State
Odds: Arizona State by 26
Saturday, Sept. 3 games
Miami (OH) @ #9 Ohio State
Odds: Ohio State by 14
TCU @ #5 Oklahoma
Odds: Oklahoma by 25.5
Ball St. @ #10 Iowa
Odds: Iowa by 38
UAB @ #3 Tennessee
Odds: Tennessee by 23
#22 Boston College @ BYU
Odds: Boston College by 3
Sacramento St. @ #20 Cal
Odds: Cal*
#19 Boise St. @ #13 Georgia
Odds: Georgia by 7
W. Michigan @ #23 Virginia
Odds: Virginia by 32
#1 USC @ Hawaii
Odds: USC by 31.5
Louisiana Lafayette @ #2 Texas
Odds: Texas by 38.5
North Texas @ #6 LSU
Odds: LSU by 32.5
Notre Dame @ #25 Pittsburgh
Odds: Pittsburgh by 3
#17 Texas A&M @ Clemson
Odds: Texas A&M by 1.5
Georgia Tech @ #15 Auburn
Odds: Auburn by 7
Sunday, Sept. 4 games
#14 Louisville @ Kentucky
Odds: Louisville by 21
#7 Virginia Tech @ N.C. State
Odds: Virginia Tech by 4
Middle Tennessee State @ #24 Alabama
Odds: Alabama by 22
Monday, Sept. 5 games
#8 Miami (FL) @ #12 Florida State
Odds: Miami by 2.5
Off this week
#11 Florida
#16 Purdue
#21 Texas Tech
* - No odds were available for this game, so I named a favorite.
UPDATE: “Odds” should be referred to as “favorites” from now on when submitting picks since “odds” was confusing to a couple of people. However, I’m not going to change the format of the games list much because seeing the odds is still helpful when picking favorites.
UPDATE 2: I extended the deadline to submit a pick for the Temple-Arizona State game to 5 p.m. EST Sept. 1.
i’m goin with the odds
Yep, I’ll take the odds for Arizona State.
I’ll take the odds for Arizona State
I’m taking the odds in all games except for Boise State over Georgia.
I will take the favorites on all games except the following:
Clemson
BYU
Florida State
I’ll take the odds except for
Temple-Arizona State
Boise-University (sic) of Georgia
Georgia Tech-Auburn
Louisville-Kentucky
In case there’s any confusion, what Aaron and Amber have entered are their picks ONLY for the Thursday game. They still need to enter picks for the other games. A good reason to do what they did is if you’re sure of which team you think will win Thursday, but you want to think about your choices for the Saturday games for a while longer, since the deadline for Saturday picks isn’t until Friday.
I don’t think ASU will cover a 26-point spread on Thursday.
Odds except:
Notre Dame
Tony, none of the teams have to cover the spread. If you pick ASU and they only win by 3, it still counts as a win for you.
Tony,
Here, we speaketh not of the spread, as picking against it was soundly voted down by last year’s participants (even though I would have liked to).
I’ll accept that as taking the odds in Arizona State’s favor unless you say otherwise.
Jen beat me to that comment.
I will take the odds on everything, but Florida St.
Odds except:
Miami-Ohio State
Boston College-BYU
Notre Dame-Pittsburgh
Texas A&M-Clemson
I really have no idea what I’m doing. For someone who’s so bad at being a girl, I’m pretty good at it when it comes to football bets.
I take odds, except: Notre Dame & Clemson
Pretty straight forward week (as the first week generally is), so I’ll take odds on all games.
Odds on all except :
Notre Dame-Pittsburgh
Texas AM-Clemson
See … I read the part about not picking against the odds and only picking the winner. Multiple times, even. And I still screwed it up. The confusion, for me, was squarely in the terminology. With the odds posted and everyone saying, “I’ll take the odds, Regis,” my little Georgia pea-brain got itself all in a tizzy.
I’ll take all the FAVORITES (including Arizona State) except:
Notre Dame
Texas A&M
Miami (FL)
Favorites except:
BYU
Notre Dame
Clemson
NC State
Oh Shiznut. I’m just a stoopid Georgia Tech grad. Forget everything I wrote about the odds - never tell me the odds.
I will take favorites on all games except:
Boise State - University (sic) of Georgia
Texas A&M - Clemson
Georgia Tech - Auburn
Gotta vote with your heart.
I’ll bet the Fav on all but this Dog:
Notre Dame over Pitt
I’ll take the favorites except for:
Boston College @ BYU
Notre Dame @ Pittsburgh
Texas A&M @ Clemson
Miami @ FSU
And yes, I am voting against my team. Tech football sucks, and anyone who says otherwise is just trying to piss of someone over at U[sic]GA.
Scott, you’ve got to put a semi-colon at the end of a symbol for it to work right. I went ahead and edited the comment.
All pics from Aaron are now part of the Two Youtzs
[...] 15 players who have already submitted round 1 picks [...]
Just remember, Youtz, that you still need to enter picks for the rest of the games before Friday at midnight.
Shoobies Picks
Arizona State -26
Ohio State -14
TCU +26
Ball St. +38
UT -23
Boston College -3
Cal
Boise State +7
UVA -32
USC -31.5
Texas -38.5
LSU -32.5
Pittsburgh -3
Texas A&M -1.5
Auburn -7
Louisville -21
VaTech -4
Bama -22
FSU +2.5
(how do i get that fucking ORANGE T off my gravatar)
Shoobie,
Upload a Gravatar at http://www.gravatar.com to get rid of the Power T.
And also, for simplicity’s sake, please just enter up or down favorites.
rusty,
the mind of a better only thinks in the correct betting terms for sports betting.
my b, g
Same for anyone who picks Boise State. Boo!
Shoobie,
I have no idea what that means.
Jen,
Not really. Boise State may have no defense to speak of, but their offense could fuck Georgia’s somewhat depleted D (relative to last year) up. The AJC had a good article or blog entry about how BS likes to sub personnel at the last second and use trick plays to exploit good match-ups with the defense. The SEC has a rule against that, so it will be interesting to see how much they can get away with. It’s an even bigger concern considering the Bulldogs are breaking in a new defensive coordinator after losing one who brought them a lot of success over the past few years.
Rusty, to all that I say: What.Ever.
Yeah even though ASU’s starting running back is in jail for like murder I’ll still take them over Temple. More to come.
I take all the favorites except for Pitt. What can i say? I live on the edge
odds for the rest of the games but
#22 Boston College @ BYU
Notre Dame @ #25 Pittsburgh
#17 Texas A&M @ Clemson
I’ll take the favorites, except Clemson over the Aggies, Georgia Tech over Auburn (going out on a limb to support the place that pays my checks–plus, I’ve got a couple of players in my classes this year, so I gotta show ‘em some love, right?), and of course, the ‘Noles over My-Hammy.
not to mention the fact that boise state on average scored 50 pts per game and held opponents to 24 ppg.
uga scored 28 ppg and allowed 16 ppg.
this game will be less than a TD apart, and i feel like boise state might win outright.
reference their amazing bowl performance last year, where they battled the louisville cardinals and lost in a 4 point 44-40 blowout TD kinda game.
You ever get the feeling that for some people, it’s still 1980?
Ha!
I really think if the Boise/UGA game was being played anywhere except Athens that Boise would pull it off…especially up at their place with the blue turf. I may still pick them anyways.
favorites except for:
notre dame
clemson
Ken the Corporate Cock here. I play it safe because the powers that be do not like me to take chances. At least one upset must be chosen though. Odds except NC St. As far as the whole Boise-UGA crap. Believe me, I will be glued to the TV hoping to watch what could be the best game of the weekend, but the bottom line is Boise can’t stop UGA’s running game and they will wilt in the heat & humidity in the 4th. Also, they haven’t played in an environment like UGA. They’ve beaten teams like GT at Boise and played L’ville tough last year but it just isn’t the same. Bettors beware of this one.
Hate to do it, but I’ll take the stinkin’ Irish to win an opener, and I think Florida State will beat Miami since they’re playing at home.
Sliding in just under the wire, I’m going to start off my picks by going for the favorite in the Arizona St. game tomorrow night. My picks for the rest of the upcoming games will come tomorrow when I’m finding something to do at work other than, well, work.
Boise State may have scored 50 points per game last year, but lets have a look at their 2004 schedule, shall we?
Idaho
Oregon State
UTEP
BYU
SMU
OMGWTF
Tulsa
Fresno State
Hawaii
San Jose State
Louisiana Tech
Nevada
I’m not saying an upset isn’t always a possibility. It’s a possibility in every single game. But let’s try to keep our shit-talking analogies in perspective please.
Thursday, Sept. 1 games
#18 Arizona State
Saturday, Sept. 3 games
#9 Ohio State
#5 Oklahoma
#10 Iowa
#3 Tennessee
#22 Boston College
#20 Cal
#13 Georgia
#23 Virginia
#1 USC
#2 Texas
#6 LSU
Notre Dame
#17 Texas A&M
Georgia Tech
Sunday, Sept. 4 games
#14 Louisville
#7 Virginia Tech
#24 Alabama
Monday, Sept. 5 games
#12 Florida State
Ken, Boise State has never beaten Georgia Tech. They have never played each other.
Tech did play in Boise against Tulsa in 2004, where they won 52-10.
Tony,
If Georgia is successful running (as they should be against an undersized BS line) and eats up a lot of clock (and thereby giving the Boise State offense less touches), they should be fine. There will be a temptation, I think, for both Shockley and the receivers to try to prove themselves, which is where I see trouble. Not because Boise’s secondary is good enough to pick him off all that much (they’re not), but because that might lead to enough quick three-and-outs to give the BS offense opportunities against a Georgia D that didn’t get a breather.
I pick favorites for all of the games in the first round.
My picks:
Thursday, Sept. 1 games
With the odds except for
Miami, BYU, Notre Dame (sorry!), N.C. State.
Of course, I know nothing about college football, so this will be real interesting!
As said in the other post, I’ll take Arizona State.
Just like everybody else.
I might be headed to New Orleans for the relief effort. Keep everyone informed
I’m going with the favorites for the rest of the games. It just seems like the right thing to do for now. (Though really scary, because I know ONE game is going to go wrong, I just don’t know which one. And its NOT going to be UGA/Boise St. Mothershuckers.)
OK I’ll take the favorites except for Clemson, BYU, NC State, and Notre Dame. Really decided to hang it out there with the BYU one but they always seem to get some East cost team out there every year and surprise them.
Um, I’m a little confused. Florida played Wyoming today, so why are they on the “Off this week” list?
Or am I missing something because I’m a girl, and therefore, supposedly am not born with this innate piece of knowledge?
I made a mistake. Everybody gets a point.
not to be a dick but I won the #17 Texas A&M @ Clemson and did not get the point
That’s exactly why I post the whole spreadsheet. I do make mistakes occasionally, believe it or not. Changes have been reflected in the spreadsheet (and also in a mistake I made in Scott’s week 1 picks). I’ll edit the posts later today.
Thank Rusty
Is that a suggestion or a command?
I forgot the s on Thanks, like Thanks Rusty for fixing the problem