Something weird/stupid happened with my picks last week.  Of the three ACC matchups involving ranked teams, my WPOTW picks were the complete opposite of my Macallan Cup picks.  The result of those three matchups, three losses for my WPOTW picks and three wins for my Mac Cup picks.  And because of this I had a losing week in the WPOTW but jumped to second place in the Mac Cup standings.  I would have had a winning week if Florida had a kicker or if Pittsburgh could cover a punt. I don’t know how this happened, maybe because I made my Mac Cup picks early in the week and then never looked at them again, maybe I was covering all my bases (just like Lindsay Lohan with males and females, either way, both will make you happy), but more likely it is because I am an idiot.  Could go either way.

Also, I want to mention the high level of Clemson’s play recently.  Under Tommy Bowden, Clemson would not only have lost to FSU by three touchdowns after falling behind like they did, but if they somehow did win, then he definitely would have laid an egg at NC State, mostly likely due to the overuse of Rob Spence’s stupid bubble screen. True story, my best friend is a GT grad and grew up a Cocks’ fan (and who I would like to thank for a couple of these jokes). After last year’s close game against GT he called me and said, “You know what? It is amazing how effective the bubble screen is when you don’t run it every other play.”  Proving once again, Rob Spence sucks.  But he sure did love him some God.  *Bonus Rob Spence Note – has anyone else noticed that Rob Spence’s decline coincided with Tim Tebow’s rise?  Maybe Tebow took away most of God’s time.  The point is, I believe that Clemson will finally make it to the ACC Championship.  Partly because UNC will destroy BC this weekend, partly because ACC officials desperately want a team with a fan base who will actually show up to the game. If there are a large number of questionable calls going Clemson’s way this weekend, send the ACC offices a thank you note. Mostly though, it’s because Dabo has finally changed this team’s mindset into winners.  And with that, on with the fun of gambling picking games:

ACC Games

(Pick in Bold.  Lines from Bodog.com. Rankings based on BCS Standings)

Duke Blue Devils @ #20 Miami Hurricanes (-21)

12:00

-Fun Facts about my favorite Miami football player ever, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson:

• He was a member of Miami’s 1991 National Championship team.
• He went to Miami because they didn’t show any interest in him and made the team as a walk-on.
• Because of an injury in 1992, he was replaced by Warren Sapp, and then never won the starting job back.
• He had a 0.7 GPA his first semester in college.
• He was teammates with Doug Flutie during his brief Canadian Football League career.  And by brief, I mean that he was cut after only two months of being on the team
• He has a fear of spiders.
• For some reason, I love watching his terrible movies, and his most underrated role was as Elliot Wilhelm in Be Cool, where he played Vince Vaughn’s gay bodyguard.

North Carolina Tarheels (+3.5) @ Boston College Eagles

12:00

-There usually is no method to my madness of making picks and rarely do I use football-related evidence; however, this game is different.  Boston College has played only two teams with a defense ranked in the top 25 of total defense in the nation.  Those two teams were Clemson and Virginia Tech (statistically, the next best defense they faced was Central Michigan, which doesn’t count due to their crappy conference).  Against Clemson, BC’s offense gained 54 total yards and had -2 yards in the first half.  Against Virginia Tech, BC’s offense gained 163 total yards with 135 of those yards in the 4^th quarter when they were down by 5 TDs, and they had -18 yards in the first half.  Well, guess what?  On paper, North Carolina’s defense is better than both Clemson and Virginia Tech and somehow Boston College is favored.  Enough said.

Maryland Terrapins @ Florida State Seminoles (-19)

12:00

-Last week’s Coin Flip Game was money, so this week’s Coin Flip Game has to be money, right?  The coin came up heads, so Florida State is the pick.

Virginia Cavaliers @ #23 Clemson Tigers (-21)

3:30

-During the Florida State game, did anybody see the idiots that threw oranges on the field?  Are they trying to jinx the team?  Did they realize that if Clemson won that game that they still had to win two more conference games and then still had to win the actual championship game as well?  Did they realize that those oranges would have served a much better purpose by adding them to some stupid fruity drink that would have helped to get a female to lose her inhibitions?  Remember, always think before you throw fruit, people.

NC State Wolfpack @ #15 Virginia Tech Hokies (-21)

3:30

-In a recent survey, 91% of the citizens of Blacksburg said that they feel safe from crime happening in their neighborhood.  Which makes you wonder what that percentage was when the Vick brothers were playing at Virginia Tech?  50%?  25%?  1%?  And that one percent being the Vick brothers themselves.  Also, I don’t want to sound negative here, but didn’t Blacksburg recently have a school shooting?  And then even more recently, didn’t a graduate student get decapitated?  When was this survey made?

Other Games of Interest

#10 Ohio State Buckeyes @ Michigan Wolverines (+12)

12:00

-Of the 120 teams in Division 1-A (saying FBS is stupid), five schools have stadiums that seat over 100,000 people.  Two of those schools play in this game (the other schools are Penn State (106k), Texas (100k), and Tennessee (100K)).  And because Michigan’s “Big House” seats two thousand more people than Ohio State’s “Horseshoe”, they are the pick.  (P.S. the University of Idaho has the smallest stadium in the nation, the Kibbie Dome, which only holds 16,000 fans and is located in Moscow, Idaho.  How is it possible that America allowed a city to be named after a Russian city?  If the plot of Red Dawn were to actually happen, do you think it would start in Moscow, Idaho?  And do you think that if Idaho did play in the real Moscow, would their mascot still be the Vandels?  The answers to those questions are – the decision was made on a bank holiday, yes, and absolutely.)

#8 LSU Tigers @ Ole Miss Rebels (-4)

3:30

-Listen up, here is one of the craziest laws I have ever heard.  “Within Oxford, MS city limits, it is illegal to sell cold beer.”  In other words, you can buy beer, but only warm beer.  How weird is that?  But then again, when has the last time warm beer ever stopped drunk college kids before?

#25 California Golden Bears (+7.5) @ #17 Stanford Cardinal

7:30

-Here is the only matchup between teams ranked in the top 25 of the BCS Standings (which should tell you how terrible this weekend is for watching quality college football) and it is the annual rematch of the famous “Stanford Band Game”.  And because it cracks me up every time I see that trombone player get his ass handed to him at the end of “The Play”, I’m going Cal here.

Weekly Lock of the Week

Bye Week @ Cocks (no line)

-I’m going with the Bye Week in this game, because we all know that the Cocks will have two weeks to prepare for Clemson and then will ultimately fail.  But if you want a real Lock of the Week, then I would go with Clemson if Boston College wins and Virginia if Boston College loses.  Logically, it makes sense.  Too bad it will be tough to actually wager on this game if you are tailgating your ass off like you should be this weekend.

Last Week’s Record: 4-5-1

Season Total: 13-13-3

Lock of the Week Record: 2-1