Outside the Sidelines, over at RollBamaRoll.com, has an awesome preview of tomorrow's game against LSU up on the page. Guy is a genious when it comes to football, and if you want to know what to watch for tomorrow, please check this out. Great reading.
Dennis Dodd, who is known for writing about subjects that he doesn't know ANYTHING about, tries his hand at why Julio Jones has not been successful for Alabama this year. Read up on it here. Best quote comes from Coach Saban who told Julio, while he was recruiting him, that "we're going to win, with or without you." God, that's awesome.
Our boys at "And the Valley Shook" have a great write up about how the LSU obsession with Saban needs to stop.
Roy Exum, from the Chattanoogan, has picked Bama biiiiig in this game. "No. 9 LSU (7-1) at No. 3 ALABAMA (7-0), 3:30 p.m. (CBS) -- So now we come to the "the real game of the year." Alabama will try to put the Dec. 5 "dance" (SEC championship game) on ice while LSU is eying the BCS rankings. LSU fans have been crowing all week that Les Miles has one more win than Nick Saban in the same time frame while wearing the LSU's head coaches' hat, but neither Les or Nick will play tomorrow. Alabama, idle since the UT fright, is an 8-point pick and the guess here is that it will be more than that. The Tide realized 'Bama was now merely mortal against UT and Saban is a master at fine-tweaking a powerful engine. UA has Miss. State and Chattanooga before Auburn (there) while LSU faces La. Tech, Ole Miss and Arkansas this month. MY PICK: Alabama 34-14."
Phil Steele is looking at a 27-10 Bama win. Read his preview here.
So, for the picks, I was 2-3 last week. Not too good, but not winless either. How bout we try our hand again this week.
Illinois at Minnesota (-6.5)
--- We're getting good line value with Illinois this week because of their blowout of Michigan, but they were built better to matchup against a team like Michigan. Minnesota is playing good football, and I don't believe there's anybody on Zook's team that can handle Eric Decker. I think Minnesota wins by two touchdowns here.
Northwestern (+17) at Iowa
--- Northwestern isn't awful, and even though Iowa's undefeated, they're not that great. They got some favorable calls last week against Indiana, and they've been more of a "cardiac kids" type of team - winning games in the 4th quarter, and games that are closer than they really should be. I think this is another one. I could see Iowa winning, but I'm talking 10-14 points, not 17.
Kansas at Kansas St (+2.5)
--- Kansas St has been playing really good football lately, and Kansas has lost 3 in a row. Not to mention Kansas St is 5-3 against the spread, while Kansas is an abysmal 2-5 against the number. I don't have any faith in Mangino to go in and win in Manhattan against Bill Snyder, who has this team clicking and still striving for a Big 12 North division championship.
Rice at SMU (-17.5)
--- Rice has been absolutely abysmal. I mean horrendous. Pitiful. Ridiculously bad. Like, worst football I've seen in a long time. They're 1-6-1 against the spread this year, while SMU has been 5-2. June Jones has his offense rolling, and they're coming off a win at Tulsa. SMU's defense has been pretty good (anybody that holds Tulsa to 13 points ain't bad), and Rice has been giving up HUGE numbers to just about everybody they play. SMU wins by 4 touchdowns, easy.
Duke (+10) at North Carolina
--- Duke has won 3 straight ACC games, and they control their own destiny in the ACC Coastal division. North Carolina has lost 3 of their last 4 ACC games, but they're coming off a win at Virginia Tech last Thursday night, which, I believe, is giving us GREAT line value. And I do mean great. I think David Cutcliffe has got this team playing excellent football, and I don't think that Butch Davis has his kids gelling. VaTech gave away the game to UNC last week. Duke won't do that. Not to mention, Duke is 4-1-1 against the spread, and UNC is 3-4. And if you want even more, this matchup, since 2004, has been decided by an average of 4.5 points per game. 10 points is waaay too much, and I actually think Duke will win this one straight up.
¶ 10:00 AM
