BleacherCoaches.com

This isn't on the week five agenda, but....
Monday:
Tennessee at LSU
Tennessee is coming off a very deflating loss to the Florida Gators, after this was supposed to be a Rose Bowl contender. Mark it down now, today officially makes Phil Fulmer's team a contender. LSU by 10. (BTW, the Maestro and I both picked LSU on last week's edition, though this game is just a couple days late...)

Tuesday:
Toledo Rockets at Fresno State Bulldogs
Fresno State is looking to win the WAC championship for the first time in a long time, and Toledo, while always a MAC contender, is not quite on the same level. Give me the Bulldogs by 7.

Wednesday:
Cincinnati Bearcats at Miami (OH) Redhawks
Another year, another game, and while this is supposed to be a rivalry game, it might not be a very good one. Are these the Cincinnati Beercats? They play like they've been drinking. Redhawks by 14.

Thursday:
Air Force Falcons at Colorado State Rams
Both of the Mountain West teams are more than worthy of belongoing ot the Big lEast, provided they didn't mind flying a couple thousand miles every couple weeks. But only one of these teams is good enough to win this game. As good as the Falcons are playing, it's not quite good enough. CSU by 3.

Friday:
Pittsburgh Panthers at Rutgers Scarlet Dragons
The hope for Pitt fans is that this 1-3 start (with no wins against Division I-A foes) is just a bad dream. Sorry, it's not. And it gets worse too, as the Scarlet Knights are considerably better than YSU. Rutgers by 10. As good a defense as Pitt appears to have (it's hard to tell when the only good offense they faced in Notre Dame racked up 42 points), their offense totally sucks (only 3 points scored on offense against Ohio U!).

1. Tennessee will take this one from LSU.
2. Fresno State pulls out a win in this one.
3. Miami(OH) racks up another win.
4. I think Air Force wins again.
5. Pitt will win this one and be back on track.

We'll see who gets more right flea.

(I will be adding further picks as I get more time, so not all of my Saturday picks will be done right away.)


Connecticut Huskies at Army Black Knights
Connecticut is a halfway decent (for their conference) Big East team; Army got kicked out of the MAC. Even if the Big East is bad, there's no way UConn will lose to Army.

Illinois Fighting Illini at Iowa Hawkeyes
Illinois is coming off a total butt whooping by Michigan State, and Iowa is coming off the same at the hands of Ohio State. Iowa isn't that good, but Illinois is that bad. Iowa takes it handily.

Florida Atlantic Owls at Louisville Cardinals
Yeah, the Cards got their behinds beaten by South Florida, but it requires a totally terrible team to lose to FAU. Louisville's team may not be a world beater as originally thought, but they still aren't terrible enough to lose this game at home.

Virginia Cavaliers at Maryland Terrapins
Virginia hasn't had a real good test this season, and this still isn't a really good test. The Terps are a middle tier team in the ACC, but the Cavs have always been competing to establish themselves as a top tier team. Right now, they're somewhere in between. It doesn't matter though, it's plenty good enough to beat Maryland.

Michigan Wolverines at Michigan State Spartans
Michigan, last year's winner of the Big Ten, is going to East Lansing to take on the hottest team in the Big Ten. Michigan has had some difficulties with Notre Dame and Wisconsin. Michigan State hasn't really had any difficulties against anybody yet, but they're about to. However, it still won't be enough for Michigan to beat the hottest team in the Big Ten. I'm taking MSU at home.

Texas Longhorns at Missouri Tigers
Yeah, the Tigers sometimes give the Longhorns a bit of trouble, but how good could a team that lost to New Mexico be? Not that good. Longhorns by about 30.

Virginia Tech Hokies at West Virginia Mountaineers
Last year's ACC champion is facing last year's Big East also ran. However, it is worth noting that WVU is the only unbeaten team left in the Big East. However, Virginia Tech also hasn't lost yet, nor have they really come close since the opener. If they beat Georgia Tech by 44 points, how much will they beat WVU by? Answer: a lot.

Indiana Hoosiers at Wisconsin Badgers
Anybody that beats Michigan has gotta be feeling pretty good. Expect the good times to continue as Wisconsin rolls to 5-0.

Mississippi Rebels at Tennessee Volunteers
I have to give credit to Tennessee for making a late comeback against LSU to win it. When a team is down 21-0 at the half, and 24-7 heading into the fourth, it is generally expected that they will lose. This team doesn't buy it. However, it's not likely that the Vols will ever trail in this week's game.

Baylor Bears at Texas A&M Aggies
Neither team is real good here, with Texas A&M barely beating Texas State, and Baylor getting two of their three wins against Army and SMU. However, even though it is dangerous to compare games in most cases, Baylor barely beat SMU 28-23 while Texas A&M destroyed the Mustangs 66-8. It would appear that the Aggies are the better team, and they're playing at home. Texas A&M will win this one.

Ball State Cardinals at Boston College Eagles
Um, Ball State's chances are slightly better than the chances of a snowball in hell. Maybe. BC wins big.

Navy Midshipmen at Duke Blue Devils
It's at Duke, which is a really good team, if you're talking basketball, anyways. Unfortunately, this is football, and Duke stinks. I'll take Navy.

Utah Utes at North Carolina Tar Heels
UNC has played some decent teams tight, and even pulled off an upset over NC State. However, Utah still isn't a bad team, and some of the opponents they've beaten are impressive in their own right. The line is UNC by 4, and I think that's about the amount they will lose by.

Kent State Golden Flashes at Eastern Michigan Eagles
This is the game to determine what the worst team in the MAC division is. The win total of these two teams is 1, due to EMU's barely beating CMU a little while back. One of these is guarenteed to win, and I think it will be Eastern Michigan coming out with the win. Seeing as Kent State isn't playing Temple, they might not win a game.

Colorado Buffaloes at Oklahoma State Cowboys
Wow, the Big 12 is in really bad shape this year, with the one contender team in the whole division being Texas. The South division is a shell of its former self, while the North is getting better. Therefore, I'm taking the Buffs in this game.

LSU Tigers at Mississippi State Bulldogs
After LSU's second half collapse against Tennessee, they'll get going again by taking apart Mississippi State.

UNLV Rebels at Wyoming Cowboys
This rebellion will end about the same way as the Civil War did. That is to say, the rebels will lose.

Florida Gators at Alabama Crimson Tide
Ok, Bama took it to Steve Superior's offense a few weeks back, and blew USC (University of South Carolina) out of the water. However, Urban Meyer has a lot more talent to work with, even if Chris Leak isn't the ideal option QB. I'm gonna take the Gators.

USC Trojans at Arizona State Sun Devils
Can anybody beat USC? Well, certainly no other team in the Pac 10 is going to do the trick. People think this will be a close game, and I feel bad for them. I'll take the Trojans by 21 points.

Syracuse Orange at Florida State Seminoles
When a team beats Miami and Boston College, and they're playing at home against Syracuse, losing isn't a distinct possibility. Winning is.

Iowa State Cyclones at Nebreska Cornhuskers
Iowa State's offense is a lot better than Pitt's, and the defense is likely just as good. There is a reason ISU is favored to win the Big 12 North. They'll show why in this game.

Minnesota Golden Gophers at Penn State Nittany Lions
Michael Robinson still isn't a throwing QB, and Laurence Maroney is a better RB. Penn State's defense is good, but not good enough to stop this ground game. Minnesota by a touchdown.

Southeastern Louisiana Lions at Tulane Green Wave
I have to take the Green Wave here, just as a general rule, because 90 odd percent of the time, DI-A teams beat DI-AA teams.

Clemson Tigers at Wake Forest Demon Deacons
No need to touch the rock here, as Clemson is good enough to terrorize these demons. Clemson by a lot.

Temple Owls at Bowling Green Falcons
Temple continues its vendetta against winning, and pulls out all stops to lose to this year's pitiful version of the Bowling Green Falcons.

Washington State Cougars at Oregon State Beavers
As the two states battle for supremacy, the Beavers will own home field advantage, and will also own the game.

Southern Methodist Mustangs at Marshall Thundering Herd
How Marshall lost to UCF is beyond me, but they still can't possibly lose to SMU. Until proven otherwise, I think the loss to UCF was a fluke.

Utah State Aggies at Idaho Vandals
I don't care where it's at; if Idaho can't beat the shell of last year's team from Hawaii, they cannot beat anybody. Utah State wins big.

Oregon Ducks at Stanford Cardinal
Walt Harris losing to UC Davis is pretty bad, and Oregon will roll over them rather easily after that little episode.

Central Michigan Chippewas at Akron Zips
CMU looks to get back on track after losing to the second worst team in the MAC, but Akron has other plans. Akron by 17.

Southern Miss Golden Eagles at East Carolina Pirates
The real Pirates must be rolling over in their watery graves with this pathetic team having taken their name and turning it into the joke of college football. Southern Miss will win easily.

Florida International Golden Panthers at Florida A&M Rattlers
Another big game for FIU, as they play their rival from their DI-AA days. The Rattlers may have home field advantage, but FIU has the butt whooping advantage. FIU by 14.

Rice Owls at UAB Blazers
How did Rice and SMU get into C-USA after doing horribly in the WAC? My only guess is the conferences wanted somebody to beat up on. They got what they wanted. Rice will prove it.

South Carolina Gamecocks at Auburn Tigers
USC looks to try and beat a down Auburn team that has been starting to get its stuff together. While the Tigers aren't near the same level they were at last year, they should be able to beat the Gamecocks. Should is the operative word though.

Arizona Wildcats at California Golden Bears
As overrated as California is, and as bad as their QB situtation is, I don't see Arizona being good enough to expose how bad this team really is.

New Mexico State Aggies at Louisiana Tech Bulldogs
Leave the fun n gun offense to Steve Spurrier and Mike Leach. Hal Mumme's offense is not working with the Aggies, and will continue to lead to 3 and out, as this team continues to get blown out.

Arkansas State Indians at Louisiana Monroe Indians
LA Monroe is quite possibly the worst team in college football, not withstanding their fluke win over FAU. It's not a question of whether they will win, but how badly will they lose. I'm gonna say they'll lose by 20.

Kansas State Wildcats at Oklahoma Sooners
While Adrian Peterson is one of the best college backs in football, his team is no longer among the elite. If TCU can shut him down, then I'm going to say Kansas State can do it too. And since we all know the Sooners have no air game to speak of, I'm going to take KSU in a repeat of the 35-7 blowout of the Big 12 championship a few years back.

Nevada Wolfpack at San Jose State Spartans
SJSU is not the worst team in college football this year, but they are still in the bottom 9 out of the 119 I-A teams. They'll suffer another blowout at the hands of the wolfpack.

New Mexico Lobos at TCU Horned Frogs
Two things we've learned so far this year: Oklahoma is really that bad, and the loss to TCU was not a fluke. TCU, while suffering a fluke loss to SMU, is really that good though. New Mexico, well, who cares, they're about to find that last bit out on their own.

Kansas Jayhawks at Texas Tech Red Raiders
Texas Tech will struggle to adjust to finally playing a real game, rather than a cupcake they can blowout, but will still manage to win. Barely.

Houston Cougars at Tulsa Golden Hurricanes
Tulsa is a sleeper team this year, though they were obviously wide awake and clicking on all cylinders when they ran over North Texas. Houston won't be as easy to steamroll, but will Tulsa know the difference?

Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders at Vanderbilt Commodores
After this blowout victory, the Dores will be one win away from a bowl berth, and less than halfway through the season at that. Enjoy.

Buffalo Bulls at Western Michigan Broncos
After losing to the second worst team in the MAC, WMU will look to rebound at home against Buffalo, and they will get their wish. Western Michigan wins a tight one.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Purdue Boilermakers
Did you know that Boilermakers was a derogatory term used to describe Purdue's football team in the 1890s after they blew out many teams they played? Regardless, that doesn't matter now, as they won't be blowing out anybody today, especially Notre Dame. Charlie Weis gets another big win.

UCF Golden Knights at Louisiana Lafayette Ragin Cajuns
UCF, after an 18 game losing streak, will continue to impress as they (make sure you're sitting down) win two in a row. I guess it was all in the scheduling, and scheduling one of the worst teams in the worst conference is a sure ticket to victory.

UTEP Miners at Memphis Tigers
UTEP will continue their undefeated season, and Williams, as good a running back as he is, will not be able to do anything about it.

South Florida Bulls at Miami (FL) Hurricanes
Someday, South Florida would really love to be able to compete on the same level as the Miami Hurricanes. For right now, they'll have to settle for getting blown out by them.

Brigham Young Cougars at San Diego State Aztecs
Brigham Young is coming to town, and the fair city of San Diego had best keep their women and children indoors. That means the San Diego State football team too.

Washington Huskies at UCLA Bruins
Tyrone Willingham just seems to have a lot of bad karma lately, as he's just about to get humiliated AGAIN! Poor guy.

Boise State at Hawaii Warriors
This takes place at midnight EST, and I can't see why anybody, save either a Boise State fan or a Hawaii hater, would want to stay up in the wee hours of the morning just to see Hawaii get blown out.