College Football Picks: Week 14

As the final week of the season draws near, here are my final predictions as to how this season will play out.  I’ll pick the conference champion for each conference and all games will also be picked against the spread.  Last week, I went 2-3 against the spread on my confident picks, 8-7 overall against the spread and 12-3 overall straight-up.  Not a very quality week in that regard, hopefully I’ll do better this week.  (Check out last week’s picks to see where I went wrong and make sure to read how many points I thought Arkansas would score).  Maybe I’ll even go 38-0!!!





My most confident picks are again starred this week.

Big East:

* West Virginia – 2.5 over South Florida – Both teams are playing for their season in this game.  WVU is looking to go to a BCS bowl and USF is just trying to go bowling.  However, due to South Florida recent struggles at home, losing their past 4 games, I give the advantage to WVU by 3.   

Connecticut +9 over Cincinnati – With WVU winning on Thursday, Cincinnati will have nothing to play for in this game and UConn will be fighting for a bowl berth.  Cincinnati wins, but it’s closer than expected.

After the weekend is over WVU will be in line to represent the Big East in the Orange Bowl where they will face the ACC Champion…

ACC:

* Virginia Tech – 7 over Clemson – I don’t think that VT blows out Clemson like everyone is saying.  Clemson will come to play and Hokies better be ready.  Like a typical VT game, they will struggle early and pull away in the second half to win by 14. 

Virginia Tech will be headed to the Orange Bowl to face WVU.

PAC-12:

Oregon – 31 over UCLA – That is a HUGE number! But, in UCLA’s 6 losses this season (that’s right, 6!) they have allowed an average of 43.5 pts and have scored 14.7.  That’s a difference of just under 29 points.  I’d give 2 points to any team in the PAC-12 playing Oregon and will take Oregon to BLOW-OUT UCLA! I’m hoping for 80 in this one!

With this win, Oregon will win head to the Rose Bowl where they will face the Big Ten Champion…

Big-10:

Michigan State + 10 over Wisconsin – I was expecting Wisconsin to be favored by 3 in this game, but the 10 is just too much to give up.  MSU has the #11 rushing defense in the country and should be able to slow down Montee Ball (my vote for Heisman) enough to keep this one close.  However, Wisconsin will pull this one off in the end and MSU will not convert the Hail Mary this time!  Just to note, look for Montee Ball to jump even further into the national spotlight with a big performance in this game.  It might be the chance for him to finally get some much due Heisman consideration.

Wisconsin will head to its second straight Rose Bowl to face Oregon.

SEC:

* LSU – 13 over Georgia – I learned my lesson last week to bet against LSU.  LSU is just too fast on defense and runs the ball extremely well (#18 nationally, #2 in the SEC).  I think they win handily again.

LSU will go the NCG against… 

Big 12:

Oklahoma State – 3 over Oklahoma – Since losing Broyles, Oklahoma hasn’t looked the same.  They lost to Baylor and struggled against Iowa State (at home and not after a tragedy).  I think OSU uses their bye week well and comes out firing against Oklahoma (who has average less than 8 points in the first quarter for the season and have only scored a field goal in their last 2). 

OSU will sadly go to the …  Fiesta Bowl even though they will be the most deserving team to make the National Championship game besides LSU.  Alabama will most likely remain #2 forcing us to watch the dreaded rematch.

Conference USA:

* Houston – 14 over Southern Miss – Last week Houston faced their toughest test of the season on the road against a really good Tulsa team and won easily.  This week, Houston will be at home and will dominate even more over Southern Miss. 

Houston will go the Sugar Bowl against ...  They will most likely play Michigan according to other experts out there.  However, I’m not sold that Michigan moves into the top 14 or that the Sugar Bowl doesn’t take Stanford instead.  Be on the lookout for some alternate possibilities in my blog over the next few days about other teams like Michigan State, Kansas State, or even Boise State making BCS Bowls.  Also, don’t count out Oklahoma State or Virginia Tech even if they lose. 

And just for fun!