Prophecies In Phootball for the second week in October!

Here are our projections, our predictions, our prognostications, our

Prophesies In Phootball

…for the second week of October, 2015!

In the Canadian Football League this week, there was a game on Tuesday to make the schedule (and specifically the byes in the nine-team league!) work out. Officially, Toronto had a bye last week and two games this week, but the first game this week was on Tuesday (they beat Ottawa 38-35, who themselves played twice in five days!) and the second will be on Monday the 12^th. Strange… Of course, they did this to themselves by adding a single team last year, returning their capital city Ottawa to the fold after twenty years without a team, instead of a pair that could keep a balanced schedule in play. (The AFL did that temporarily four years ago, allowing Gold Coast to start play in 2011 when Greater Western Sydney wouldn’t be starting play until the following year.) In hockey, basketball, and any other sport with more erratic scheduling (not once a week like clockwork), odd team scheduling really isn’t an issue, although generally they also strive for even numbers just for fair divisions and such. But…well, maybe in Canadian counting, nine is an even number…

So, our predictions: Hamilton over Saskatchewan (34-20)…Calgary holds off Edmonton (holding our breath on this one – 30-27)…BC to defeat Winnipeg (in Vancouver, not a stretch: 20-14)…and Montreal catches Toronto on six days rest (28-27, despite the Argos being favored otherwise).

(We’re still floating around the 80^th percentile in the CFL prediction contest, holding to our 35-25 record.)

Regarding the National Football League (“National” meaning “United States”, the most self-centered nation on earth. We invented the selfie, you know…), we have byes not because we have to…we have byes because we want to. That is, we want to stretch the season out longer to get more television money in the hands of the league and its teams. That’s why the Dolphins and Jets played a game in London Sunday morning – so Miami would have plenty of time to fire their coach before their next game.

So, our predictions: Houston (+0.5) upsets Indianapolis Thursday night…on Sunday, Atlanta (-8) covers against Washington…Cincinnati (-3) covers against Seattle…Green Bay (-9.5) covers against the Rams…Philadelphia (-4.5) covers against New Orleans…and Buffalo (-2.5) covers at Tennessee. On the flip side of that coin, Cleveland (+6.5) beats the spread against the Ravens…Chicago (+9.5) stays close to the Chiefs…and Jacksonville (+2.5) at least covers against Tampa. In the late games Sunday, Arizona (-3), New England (-9.5), Denver (-5.5), and the Giants (-7) all win by more than those spreads against Detroit, Dallas, Oakland, and San Francisco, respectively. Finally, on Monday night, Pittsburgh (+3) upsets San Diego.

(In our ESPN NFL pool, we’re in the 82^nd percentile on picking winners, and the 98^th against the spread.)

Finally, here’s our huge bundle of college football picks for the weekend! – Here are the FBS teams that we think will win by more than the Vegas betting spread…

Boston College (-7.5) over Wake Forest…Clemson (-7) over Georgia Tech…Florida St (-9.5) over Miami-FL…NC State (-0.5) over Virginia Tech Friday…Duke (-12) over Army…Pitt (-10.5) over Virginia…Michigan St (-14.5) over Rutgers…Iowa (-11) over Illinois…Minnesota (-3) over Purdue…Baylor (-44) over Kansas (yes, even with that spread!)…Texas Tech (-12.5) over Iowa St…Oklahoma (-17) over Texas…West Virginia (-7) over OK St…BYU (-7.5) over East Carolina…Utah (-7) over Cal (as much as we wanted to bet on a Ute letdown, seven points is too low)…Oregon (-17) over Washington St (would’ve taken double that – the Ducks’ll be MAD!)…Arizona (-8.5) over Oregon St… USC (-17) over Washington Thursday…Georgia (-3) over Tennessee…LSU (-13) over poor ol’ HBC and South Carolina…Alabama (-21) over Arkansas, now that they’ve got their mojo working now…Mississippi St (-33) over Troy…Temple (-16) over Tulane…Houston (-25.5) over SMU Thursday…Marshall (-5) over Southern Miss Friday…Western KY (-8.5) over MTSU…Louisiana Tech (-17) over UTSA…Akron (-7.5) over Eastern Michigan…Toledo (-15) over Kent State…Ohio (-15.5) over Miami-OH…Bowling Green (-13) over U Mass…Northern Illinois (-10.5) over Ball State…Air Force (-24) over Wyoming…Boise St (-16) over Colorado St…Nevada (-5) over New Mexico…Utah St (-12) over Fresno St…Appalachian St (-16) over Georgia St… and UL-Lafayette (-3.5) over Texas State.

And here are the FBS underdogs who we believe will at least beat the spread and (in some cases) win outright:

Syracuse (+3) will upset South Florida…Indiana (+8) against Penn State…Maryland (+33.5) against Ohio State…Northwestern (+7.5) against Michigan…Wisconsin (+1.5) will upset Nebraska… Kansas State (+9.5) against TCU…Navy (+14) against Notre Dame…Missouri (+5.5) against Florida…New Mexico State (+43) against Ole Miss… U Conn (+2.5) will upset UCF…UL-Monroe (-9.5) against Tulsa…Rice (+4) will upset Florida Atlantic…UTEP (-14.5) against Florida International…Central Michigan (+7.5) against Western Michigan…San Diego St (+1.5) will upset Hawai’i…and UNLV (+2.5) against San Jose St.

Finally, here are the predicted results for the FCS games coming up this weekend:

Missouri Valley Conference: Youngstown St by 3 over Indiana St; South Dakota St by 10 over Indiana St; Southern Illinois by 21 over Missouri St; North Dakota St by 7 over Northern Iowa; Western Illinois by 7 over South Dakota.

Big Sky Conference: Eastern Washington by 7 over Cal Poly; North Dakota by 8 over Idaho St; Montana by 21 over Weber St; Montana St by 20 over Sacramento St; Northern Arizona by 11 over UC Davis; and Portland St by three over FBS North Texas.

Colonial AA: Albany by 6 over Maine; Delaware by 16 over Rhode Island; Elon by 1 over Richmond; James Madison over Towson; William & Mary by 2 over Villanova. Some close games expected in the Colonial, as always!

Southland: Lamar over Abilene by 14; Central Arkansas by 24 over Houston Baptist; Sam Houston St by 30 over Incarnate Word; McNeese St by 4 over SE Louisiana; Stephen F Austin by 20 over Nicholls St.

 

Big South: Charleston Southern by 13 over Monmouth; Coastal Carolina by 31 over Presbyterian; and Liberty by 19 over Gardner-Webb. Not expecting any upsets this weekend…

Southern Conference: Chattanooga by 14 over Furman; Western Carolina by 3 over Mercer; Samford by 14 over VMI; Wofford by 3 over The Citadel.

North East Conference: Bryant by 14 over CCSU; Sacred Heart by 2 over Robert Morris; and Wagner (out of conference) over Columbia by 3.

Ohio Valley Conference: Murray St by 13 over Austin Peay; Eastern Illinois by 4 over SE Missouri St; Eastern Kentucky by 17 over Tennessee Tech; and UT-Martin by 7 over Tennessee St.

Pioneer Football League: Morehead St by 1 over Butler; Campbell by 3 over Marist; Dayton by San Diego; Drake by 14 over Valparaiso; and Jacksonville by 30 over Stetson. (This may not be a very strong conference, but it’s competitive!)

In the “Intramural” conferences (Ivy and Patriot Leagues):

Holy Cross by 3 over Brown; Harvard by 31 over Cornell; Dartmouth in overtime over Yale; Fordham by 13 over Penn; Princeton by 6 over Colgate; Bucknell by 5 over Lehigh; Lafayette by 2 over Georgetown; and as mentioned before, Wagner over Columbia by 3.

In the “HBC” conferences (SWAC and MEAC):

Bethune-Cookman by 3 over South Carolina St; Hampton by 10 over Delaware St; NC Central by 14 over Florida A&M; Morgan St by 17 over Savannah St; NC A&T by 7 over Norfolk St; Southern by 6 over Alabama St; Grambling St by 15 over Alabama A&M; and Prairie View A&M by 12 over Mississippi Valley St. 

(And in our ESPN College Pigskin Pick’m pool, we’re down around 72% - still in the top 30%! - after a poor week last week, as we admitted on Monday.)