UPS and DOWNS for Tuesday, the first week of November!

As the college football playoff committee puts out its rankings tonight, and Following Football has done the same over the last two days for all 285 pro and college teams we cover, it's a great time to look at which teams have had a surprisingly UP season, and which ones have been startlingly DOWN...

WHO'S UP? Well, what about the Cincinnati Bengals and the Carolina Panthers? Everyone who saw both of them at 7-0 starting November raise your hands. OK, we've identified the liars in the room...

WHO'S DOWN? It's not hard to find struggling teams in the NFL, but a couple we saw in the playoffs last year are the Baltimore Ravens and the Detroit Lions. Tough schedule, sure - close games, yes - but somewhere in there, you've got to stand up and win a couple of those games.

WHO'S UP? Three "usual suspects": the Green Bay Packers, the Denver Broncos, and the New England Patriots. Remarkable to watch Peyton be Peyton again, but Rodgers and Brady have left no doubt that they're still at the top of their games. And all three have defenses to get them the ball.

WHO'S DOWN? Again, who do you expect? The Tennessee Titans, of course, who just fired another coach...the Cleveland Browns, who continue to put up with Manziel for some odd reason...the Chicago Bears weren't expected to do much, and still haven't lived up to expectations... and even with their shiny new QB, the Tampa Bay Bucs are barely better than they were at this point last year.

WHO'S UP? There are signs of life in Oakland...in Minnesota...in Atlanta...in St. Louis. Parity is always the stated goal of the NFL admin, but what you really want is the feeling as a fan base that any year could be THE YEAR!

WHO'S DOWN? When you've got a fan base like the Sasktachewan RoughRiders do, arguably the best in the Canadian Football League, and you were expecting to be contending for the Grey Cup, when you were right on the heels of the eventual champion Calgary Stampeders all season...and you go a miserable two and fifteen heading into the final week of the season...yeah, the green is blue this year. The Riders were actually eliminated from playoff contention six weeks ago...in a league where 2/3 of the teams make the playoffs. THAT'S impressive in its badness.

WHO'S UP? When you went 2-16 last year in your first campaign as an expansion franchise, you can be forgiven if a successful second season in your mind was, say, six wins. Looking at the two expansion clubs in the AFL (Gold Coast and GWS), they went through about that - two bad years, then two mediocre years. But instead, the Ottawa RedBlacks are one win away from an Eastern Division championship in their second year - already guaranteed a winning record at 11-6, all they need to do is win OR not lose by more than five points at home on Saturday to the Hamilton Ti-Cats...not the first choice of opponents in this situation, especially since it's the Ti-Cats who will earn the title if you fail. But just to have this opportunity in your sophomore campaign! CONGRATULATIONS, OTTAWA!

WHO'S DOWN? My attention span for Canadian football once the American season hit full steam in late September. It was frustrating, because I knew I didn't have the time or energy to stay abreast of every single thing in the NFL, NCAA, and the CFL - and as the footy season was reaching its climax down under, it was the mid-to-late weeks of the Canadian season that got the short shrift. To our readers, I apologize. But of course, all we can do is our best, and we'll continue to do that for you.

WHO'S UP? At the moment, we have our top four "theoretically playoff bound" FBS teams (in the humble opinion of Following Football ACNC!) - LSU, Clemson, Alabama, Notre Dame. To most observers we've heard, the first two names are almost indisputable at the moment (things change quickly in college football, though!), and the other two could be replaced by any of close to a dozen teams: TCU, Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St, Michigan St, Ohio St, Florida, Stanford, Iowa, Utah, even Memphis or Toledo. (Probably not Idaho, though.)

WHO'S DOWN? Which teams thought they'd be in the mix at this point and aren't? There are some obvious candidates: Georgia, Auburn, Oregon, USC, Tennessee, There are some others whose fan bases might have thought it feasible - but that's another story.

WHO'S UP? There are some remarkable positive stories this fall of teams who weren't expected to fare as successfully as they have, as there are every year. That doesn't make them any less worth applauding: Florida (new head coach Jim McElwain has them sitting at #7 on the Following Football ranking at the moment; finished the 2014 season at #34), Michigan (Harbaugh took a team who finished at #67 last year, bottom half of the FBS, and has them at #14 right now), Houston (up from #69 last year to an undefeated 8-0 at #21 and looking at a possible New Year's bowl); and Temple (similar story arc, moving from #79 to current #22, having just taken Notre Dame to the brink). There are lower eschelon stories as well: Southern Miss moved from tier S up to its current tier L; Tulsa has bounded from tier T up to tier N this year. Vanderbilt from tier R up to its present place in tier I; and Northwestern, who beat Stanford to start the year, Duke for its only legitimate defeat (ahem, Miami), and moved from last year's tier M and #78 all the way into tier G and position #35.

WHO'S DOWN? And then... there are the sob stories. The ones you tsk tsk about behind their backs. The ones who (in your opinion) deserve a bad year every once in a while... How about Texas? Charlie Strong's first year looked promising! But with a blowout, embarrassing loss to Notre Dame (well, ok), embarrassing near-misses against California and OK State (hmmm...), a bad loss at TCU (eww...), a surprise win in the Shootout (hey! Maybe...) followed by definitive losses to two foes they used to pick their teeth with the last two weeks: K-State and Iowa State. Read that again. Iowa State! The Texas offense was not only shut out, they never got past the ISU 40 yard line.

But that pales next to Nebraska, who fired a coach who gave them nine wins a season every year - AGAIN. A decade ago, they fired Frank Solich because he wasn't Tom Osborne. The man they hired to replace him...was no Frank Solich. Disaster - they didn't even make .500! In desperation, they brought in NU guy Bo Pelini - colorful, successful, nine wins a season, just like Solich (who went on to be one of the most successful coaches in MAC history). Seven years of Pelini NOT being Tom Osborne was enough for the faithful, and they brought in Mike Riley, a very nice man with a mediocre program at Oregon State, who has produced a mediocre program at Nebraska, finding exciting ways to lose close games to good teams and sometimes to bad teams like Purdue last weekend.

South Carolina was doing badly enough that the Head Ball Coach simply walked away into retirement. Central Florida saw the same story with Head Resume Inflator in the lead walking role. Whether the story ends the same way at Virginia Tech in Frank Beamer's last year remains to be seen. It looks like Minnesota's going to be hanged if they allow Jerry Kill's epilepsy-induced retirement to end the same way, thankfully.

WHAT'S NEXT? Who knows? And isn't that the beauty of football? It's the best reality show there is - all the drama, the competition, the tension of the staged TV events, except it's actual reality! There IS no script! Maybe Texas turns it around! Maybe Florida nosedives the rest of the way! Maybe Jim Harbaugh takes Michigan to four miraculous victories against Ohio State, Iowa in the B1G title game, the semifinal and the NC game, and the Blue rule the nation! Or...just as unlikely...maybe they lose every game from here on out, including a 59-0 shutout by the Buckeyes. That's the point - we can't know ahead of time! So sit back, turn on the TV, go to a game if you're close enough, and enjoy the ride!

UPS and DOWNS for the Last Week of October!

Yes, we've been negligent in our UPS and DOWNS this month, so let's see if we can make it up to you today with a BIG long list!

UP to the FIVE UNDEFEATED teams still left in the NFL at Hallow'een! I've heard different dates, but it's been many, many years since we've had five 6-0 teams - Green Bay, Cincinnati, Denver, Carolina, and New England. They're certainly deserving of their hallowed spots - New England and Green Bay were the consensus picks for Super Bowl combatants; Cincinnati's been tested repeatedly and looks better than any previous year in the Dalton era; and Cam Newton and that Carolina defense are doing just as well as Peyton Manning and that amazing Bronco defense! (Rephrase that: Cam's doing more that the legend, but the Denver D has been more impressive by far than any in the league.)

DOWN to the MOST DISAPPOINTING teams in the NFL this season... Baltimore fell to 1-6 last night, although a valiant effort to come back against a strong Arizona club fell short in the end zone. They've been within a score in every one of their games, and the Harbaugh coaching line will keep them competitive...but as for their own playoff hopes? Six losses is probably already as many as they can afford, and they're not going 9-0 the rest of the way. Seattle? Too early to say. Yes, they've lost more than expected, but they looked good against the Niners Thursday night. Can you call Chicago, Tampa, Tennessee, or Jacksonville "disappointing" if you weren't expecting anything from them? I think not. Certainly Detroit belongs on that list...

UP to the GREATEST NAME in modern football! Yesterday, in an effort to rearrange deck chairs on the Titanic, the Lions reneged on their promise not to change any coaches and changed coaches, firing the OC and replacing him with....wait for it...Jim Bob Cooter, a man who not only has the greatest name in the the business, but also a creative criminal record to boot: while he was at Tennessee several years ago, he was convicted of "aggravated assault" because he went into a woman's home, stripped down to his underwear, and climbed in bed with her. Had it been his wife, no worries. However, she didn't know him....OOPS! A promising move for Detroit.

DOWN to the MIAMI HURRICANE fans and alumni... who deserve whatever terrible coach they receive now that they've singlehandedly forced the ouster of Al Golden as their football coach. Certainly, the AD had no choice after the 58-0 debacle against Clemson, and even if you want to admit that the players seemed to play without interest, the firing only became necessary because the overzealous "fans" (remember, the word is short for "fanatic") demanded it. NOW...put yourself in the place of a prospective coach. Do you want to coach at Miami, having seen what they did to your predecessor? Miami was still 4-3, you know - not a bad season, although admittedly not national championship contenders. The expectations for a mid-level ACC program - and make no mistake: with the facility issues they have there, it IS a mid-level program! - are way overboard. If the poor fellow who takes the job ends his first four seasons has the same 32-25 record Golden did, I'll be impressed. And surprised.

UP to the DEPENDABILITY of the BOTTOM FEEDERS! As a phootball prophet of the lowest order, I depend on the reliability of the teams I work with in order to phorcast the outcomes of the games they play. We've seen an amazing array of turnabouts this year - for example, we expected Michigan to beat Michigan St, and they did...for the first 59:55 of the game, pre-punt. We thought Florida St would win over my son's beloved Ramblin' Wreck of Georgia Tech...until a field goal block returned for a game winner changed that outcome. We've seen ridiculous outcomes across the board - games I was absolutely SURE about came out the other way. AND YET, the one constant that keeps us above .500, above the line of sheer guess work? Well, it's the bottom feeder teams - the Savannah States, the Davidsons, the Missouri States, the New Mexico States, the Charlottes and Eastern Michigans, the Kansases of the world, that remind us that the sun will come up tomorrow in the east, set in the west, and repeat again and again. Knowing that Savannah will go to Stillwater and lose by eighty...knowing that one more Davidson Wildcat loss may be the one that pushes its Sagarin rating into negative numbers, knowing that the MVC is made up of nine amazing FCS teams...and Missouri State. That's what makes a prognosticator look smart!

DOWN to the GREG HARDY situation... I hate to say this, because it'll sound terrible...but I hope there's something medically or psychologically wrong with the Dallas Cowboys' two-game veteran defensive lineman Greg Hardy. If not, it means he's simply a complete a-hole, a jerk of gargantuan proportions. To barge into the special teams huddle (of which you have NO business being in at ALL, not being on special teams) and literally assault the ST coach is, by most standards of business practice, grounds for firing on its own, To then continue the infantile behavior with Dez Bryant (THERE's irony - Dez is the voice of reason?) and in the farcical press conference (no comment next question - wait for the question, meathead!) would be adequate grounds to be removed from the league, as no team would want you representing them in a pig-calling contest, much less in front of cameras ever again. But the real piece d'resistance, in my opinion, is his team's owner, the brilliant Jerry Jones, not only excusing his behavior (for which his coach, Jason Garrett, will not punish him at all), but praising his behavior as the kind of passion that they want their leaders to show! Congratulations, Dallas! You just sunk to number 33 on the list of my favorite NFL teams! (And yes, I realize there are only 32 teams. #32 on my list right now is being forced to watch highlights of the Chuck Pagano Special Teams Instructional video on permanent replay...)

DOWN to the idiots who would use the anonymity of Twitter and other social media to threaten athletes (AND their FAMILIES!) in ways they would never have the juevos to do in person. Without going into details, the fanatics who called out the poor Michigan punter following his dropped ball at the end of the Michigan State game were bad enough...the ones insulting the Dallas punt returner after his gaffe Sunday night were just as bad, although at least he's a professional athlete and "signed up" for the criticism. But the morons who went after his wife? What the heck? How do you figure she had anything to do with the dropped punt? Would they have gotten in her face had they met in the stadium? ...Wait a minute...maybe they would have. Didn't Giselle Brady have to deal with that after the Patriots lost a Super Bowl once? ...Sigh. It's amazing we ever evolved far enough as a species to come down from the trees. Apparently, we still fling our feces at each other for fun...

UP TO ALL OF YOU WHO READ THIS BLOG! Seriously, there's no profit margin or income of any sort involved in this project. It's simply a chance to continue a passion for football and the unpredictability of its outcomes, something my late wife and I started a few years ago on Facebook and then moved over to the blogosphere one year ago this month. To everyone who's ever read our work, which is now just my work, unfortunately... Thank you.

UPS AND DOWNS - flip flopping the schedule!

We'll go through the Weekend Wesults either later today or tomorrow, but so much else is happening that we really want to get this piece out today... because there are a TON of folks who are UP and even more who are DOWN all of a sudden...

UP - a belated UP-UP-UP to the THREE-PEAT champions of the Australian Football League, the HAWTHORN HAWKS! Coming into a Grand Final against a team that had spanked them by 31 points three weeks ago, coming in with an older roster that had to cross the country four times in three weeks while West Coast sat at home and won a pair of games before travelling to Melbourne to play in the fabled MCG, "the home of footy"...and once there, play like they were in awe of the situation, while the Hawks were in "been there, won that" mode, demolishing the Eagles in a game not unlike last year's demolition of the also high-flying Sydney Swans - a brief, half-period of hope, followed by one-and-a-half quarters of the most devastating footy you'll ever see, leaving the second half to basically be a procession to the throne for Hawthorn, unquestionably the outstanding franchise of the 21st century at this point. What's more, it was no fluke - imagining another team to outplay them next year is difficult, and probably a measure of self-destruction will be necessary for other clubs to fancy themselves as "flag favorites" at any point in 2016.

DOWN-DOWN-DOWN-DOWN to the coaches already jettisoned in the FBS, barely halfway through the season - Randy Edsell at Maryland, for whom the bell tolled last year but who survived to coach another season, only to start out 2-4 with routs from West Virginia, Ohio St and Michigan on his record. The three-TD loss to Bowling Green of the MAC was the worst of the lot, but as always, there's more to the story...With Steve Sarkisian of USC, the struggle is straightforward: alcohol abuse, combined with life stresses, pushed him well over the edge of professional behavior after a drunken appearance at a major booster event, another reported one at the Arizona St game, and the worst this Sunday when he arrived for practice completely plowed. He was immediately put on leave, and today was relieved of his duties by AD Pat Haden. His situation is different than Edsell's, especially if you believe that alcoholism is a disease, rather than purely a choice on a person's part. While the university personnel are saying all the right things - we support him in his quest to get healthy - and well they should, as we all should, it's hard for me not to look at these circumstances for a professional and say, Isn't there a line you realize you shouldn't cross long before you reach this point? Of course, he's not the first coach for whom addictions played a role in losing his "dream job" - some for their own abuses, some for abetting those of players; some for alcohol, some for drugs, some for violence, and some for sex. But somehow, somehow, there's got to be more than just sympathy for a coach who has the self-discipline to succeed in a profession that demands self-discipline more than almost any other, and yet can't find the self-discipline to curb his own addiction issues, or get help for them before they destroy him. There's got to be something more akin to responsibility for his actions, beyond the firing. Sarkisian's issues have destroyed his life - but probably only temporarily. He'll get another coaching job, and like Jim Tressel, Kelvin Sampson, and other previous disgracees, he'll resume his career. But the players, university personnel, boosters, and fans of USC football won't forget...Just added in the last few hours, two more coaches with reason to feel down - North Texas (former) head coach Dan McCarney, who was handed his pink slip today after UNT (already the creators of tier "V" in the FBS division this year for their ineptitude) not only lost as we predicted to FBS Big Sky Portland State (at home, on Homecoming of all days), but lost by the Baylor-esque score of 66-7 (actually, that's exactly the score Baylor had against Kansas Saturday. But that was BAYLOR, not a tier O, 3-2 FCS team!). It was the largest loss by an FBS (or "1-A") school to an FCS (or "1-AA") school in history. So, let's see, at least North Texas gets a break now to work a new coach in...what? They play Western Kentucky? The conference favorite? On THURSDAY? Great timing, UNT....AND last because the headliner always goes last, the Head Ball Coach himself, Steve Spurrier, retired from coaching today as South Carolina sits at 0-4 in the SEC East, 57th ranked in the country, tier J on the Following Football charts, and idiots calling for the head of the master when they aren't worthy to carry his jock strap. I feel on this one like I do on Adam Goodes being humiliated by Australian "fans" - yes, he should retire at the end of the year, and yes, if he had been an ass about it you could argue for removal then. But he single handedly made the SEC the most relevant conference in the country - he deserves a better send-off than this. I'm no Spurrier fan, but he had more football knowledge in his ball cap than I've had my entire existence.

(And by the way, one further DOWN to those idiots in Australia I just mentioned, for preventing Goodes from participating in ANY of the retired star activities that his fellow (and all lesser) stars got to do this fall (spring there) because he didn't want any booing to distract from the celebration for the others. A hero to the last, Mr. Goodes. You deserved so much better than this.)

DOWN also to poor Joe Philbin, formerly of the Miami Dolphins, who was never going to keep his job there after the issues that took place under his watch, which from our standpoint didn't seem to be his fault. But you've got to have a fall guy, and we'll guarantee 1-3 one fourth of the way through an NFL season is hardly reason to fire your coach - especially when you weren't figuring to set the world on fire to begin with. But as so often happens, when the boss wants to make a change, and the GM has the wrong players on the roster, the only one you can get rid of quickly is the coach. Good luck, Miami - here's betting the next twelve games are no better.

UPS and DOWNS for Tuesday, Sept 29th, 2015

UPS to the AFL for an amazing season under some difficult conditions - dealing with the specter of racism against the aboriginal superstar Adam Goodes, who chose to retire quietly, after his final game, so as not to go through the traditional plaudits at the end of his last game that he so richly deserved and therefore avoid the possibility of negative reaction to deal with. The league can't be expected to solve a centuries-old problem singlehandedly in a few weeks, but the footy community did everything they could reasonably do for Adam and against racism. More than that, the murder of Adelaide Crows head coach Phil Walsh was handled with more aplomb and grace than could have ever been asked for - some of the most touching and beautiful moments ever seen on a sporting field took place in the aftermath. The league dealt with the after-effects of the Essendon doping scandal, the possibility of "tanking" for draft choices, and the seemingly everpresent shadow of injuries to its star players, such as Gary Ablett Jr and Nat Fyfe, the 2015 Brownlow Medal winner last night as best player in the league. Finally, as its highest paid player, Lance Franklin, admitted as the playoffs began that his injury issues were more of a mental health case than physical, the AFL and its community made great efforts to both shield him from the prying eyes of the media and to put those mental health issues in the light of day, exposing them as serious and no more or less debilitating OR worthy of embarrassment than a broken arm or an ACL. (Now, if they can get their free agency set-up to work more reasonably...)

DOWNS to the TEAMS WHO WERE EXPECTED TO DO SO WELL THIS SEASON! And yet, here we are, not even out of September, and some teams are so deep in a hole they probably can't dig themselves out of it before the season ends...

> Baltimore Ravens, 0-3, looking up at a hot Bengals team three games up and a tiebreaker, with improved wild card possibilities throughout the AFC... Is another Harbaugh going to the colleges next year?
> Saskatchewan RoughRiders, 2-11 and presumably out of the playoff picture completely, despite the ridiculously generous CFL playoff system which invites 2/3 of the league into the post-season. In theory, they are still just 3 1/2 games behind 5-7 Montreal for that last spot, but with six games remaining, the Mean Green has correctly started playing for next year already. The Riders, Grey Cup winners just three years ago, were expected to contend for the West division title this year with Edmonton and Calgary...instead, they're on coach number 2, quarterback number 3, and on to 2016...
> Oregon Ducks, 2-2 and 0-1 in conference. Still a very viable possibility of a Pac-12 North title, but that's not the OU goal - the college football playoffs are their goal, and while the 31-28 loss at Michigan State would have been survivable, the spanking they got at home last Saturday night from Utah, 62-20 (including a late gift TD by the third-teamers) was so comprehensive and so vivid that no voter will forget it. Ever.
> Many other teams who shot themselves in the foot, like Louisville (1-3), Nebraska (2-2), Texas (1-3), Texas' kicking game (0-2), Tennessee, Auburn, and South Carolina (all 2-2) and Arkansas (1-3...but hey, someone's got to lose in the SEC!); Marshall (3 bad wins and one BAD loss); the entire Mountain West (15-24 outside of conference, 11 of the wins coming against FCS schools); U Mass (1-3 and expected to contend for a MAC East title); Cal Poly SLO, Idaho State, and Montana of the Big Sky, 3-8 between them; Eastern Illinois (0-3); Stephen F Austin (0-4); the entire SWAC (3-12 outside of conference); and our #1 Bottom Team, Davidson of the Pioneer League, who plays almost equally-fruitless Valparaiso at home Saturday, in a meeting of the two last place teams in the Sagarin Ratings for the 253 Division 1 schools. Valpo is down to an amazing 6.67 rating, and yet is favored on the road at Davidson, who has set a record with their current rating of 3.08! It's conceivable that a bad Davidson loss this weekend could create a situation Sagarin's never had in D1: a negative rating.

PROPHECIES in PHOOTBALL for the 3rd Week of September, 2015

Sorry, folks - no UPS AND DOWNS this week, it seems. The blogmeister was pretty DOWN himself, and it took what strength he had to get these out there for you on time! So, HERE GOES!

Here are our prognostications for the 3^rd Week in September, 2015, straight from the  Following Football hotel room in downtown Dubai, overlooking the Palm Islands...

CFL) Calgary at home over the BC Lions, 39-24; and 8-3 Hamilton over 7-4 Edmonton at home, 34-26.

The other two are toss-ups, but we’ll take Montreal at home over Winnipeg, 30-20, and give home team Saskatchewan the edge over 6-4 Ottawa (holding our breath!) 23-21.

Current record: 27-21 overall; 25-21-2 against the spread.

AFL) We’re into the second week of finals now; six teams left, with the two West Australia teams home resting and awaiting the winners this week to come to Perth next weekend. This week, though, we expect Hawthorn to hold out against Adelaide and for poor crippled Sydney to find a way against North Melbourne through their experience and home field and sheer class. Hawthorn’s favored by 21, Sydney by 10 – if we’re betting, we would only bet the victor and not the spread. If as a Following Football expert, we’re required to bet the spread? Hmmm…. We’ll go Hawthorn more than 21 and Sydney less than 10. (But to be frank, it might be more interesting to see Adelaide and/or the Kangas go through instead! They’re both great stories!)  [Current record - 146-55 overall; 118-83 against the spread.]

NFL) Here are our suggestions for the second week of season 2015…

Denver (+3) to win against Kansas City. D’s O has to improve.

New England (-0.5) to win and cover against Buffalo, despite the FF ratings forecast!

Carolina (-3.5) to win and cover against Houston, unless the QB situation improves in Texas.

Arizona (-2) to win, cover, and annihilate Chicago.

Cincinnati (-3) over San Diego, but flipping a coin is more reliable here: very uncertain.

Tennessee (-0.5) winning at Cleveland; half faith in Mariota, half antifaith in the Browns.

Taking Minnesota (+3) at home vs. Detroit. All my numbers have this basically pick’m.

Tampa Bay (-10.5) to cover against New Orleans.

Atlanta (+2) winning at the Giants. New Jersey used up its luck last week.

Going against our own system: Pittsburgh (-5.5) over the 49ers.

St. Louis (-3.5) to win and cover against the dumpster fire in Washington.

Miami (-6.5) to win against Jacksonville, and crossing fingers to say they cover as well.

Baltimore (-6.5) will win at Oakland, and should cover as well, but the Raiders will improve.

Dallas (+5.5) to cover but lose to Philadelphia – without Dez, running game has to dominate.

Green Bay (-3.5) to win and cover against Seattle. At home.

Indianapolis (-7) has to be better than last week, right? Win and cover against the Jets.

Current record sucks. 7-9 against the spread, 8-8 straight up. GOT to do better this week or resign as your prophet!

NCAA) Our record here is a little better:131-24 overall; 83-72 against the spread. As we get more data from games throughout the season, we tend to improve as the season wears on. (We hope!) Remember, as always, all spreads come from Tuesday’s Vegas line for FBS/FBS games, and the Sagarin point spread if an FCS team is involved (because Vegas doesn’t take bets on those games).

The interesting games this weekend, in our opinion…

Clemson (-6.5) wins and covers against Louisville. (Tiers 1 v 3 imply a 13 point win)

Florida St (-7.5) wins against BC, and covers because the Eagles played a tier 11 and a 10 to prepare…

Notre Dame (+2.5) wins outright at home v Georgia Tech. (Even with a new QB…)

Miami-FL (-3.5) wins and covers against Nebraska. (Beginning to think Riley’s a .500 coach…)

Duke (-3.5) wins and covers against Northwestern.

Virginia (-24.5) cannot cover against William & Mary…and might not even win…

Iowa (-5.5) gives Coach Ferentz another week of life by covering against Pitt.

Penn St (-10) hosts Rutgers…wins and probably covers… (Hear the confidence in our voice?)

Western Kentucky (+1) upsets Indiana. (we have a three tier gap in WKU’s favor!)

Virginia Tech (-6) wins and covers against Purdue.

Illinois (+9.5) upsets North Carolina.

California (-6.5) wins but Texas stays close.

San Jose St (+7.5) upsets Oregon St.

USC (-10) wins and covers v Stanford.

Washington (-5.5) wins and covers easily against Utah St.

Colorado St (+4) upsets Colorado.

UCLA (-17) defeats BYU but does not cover.

Utah (-13) wins and covers against Fresno St. (Tiers 2 v 7? Should be 25 points…)

Kentucky (+3) upsets Florida in Lexington.

Georgia (-16.5) wins, covers, and slaughters South Carolina.

Alabama (-7) defeats Ole Miss but doesn’t cover.

LSU (-6.5) defeats Auburn but also doesn’t cover. Good games in the SEC Saturday!

Miami of Ohio (+19.5) covers against Cincinnati but loses.

Navy (-3.5) over East Carolina, and over the spread, too.

Temple (-10.5) wins and covers against U Mass.

South Florida covers against Maryland, but we think MD can hold on…

Memphis wins and covers at Bowling Green, as much as we like BGSU this year…

Rice wins and covers at North Texas.

Southern Miss (+3) upsets Texas St.

UTEP (-2.5) wins and covers at New Mexico St.

Central Michigan (+7) covers only at Syracuse, who should win.

Eastern Michigan (+6.5) not only beats the spread (can’t believe I’m saying this) but defeats Ball St!

Toledo (-7.5) wins and covers against Iowa St.

Wake Forest (-5.5) will win and cover over the Army-West Point Cadets.

Arkansas (-12) wins against Texas Tech, but we’re hedging that the Red Raiders will cover.

FCS Wofford (-5) goes to Moscow and beats Idaho by a TD or more,

…and, in the battle of Idaho’s two best teams, Boise St (-38) wins easily against Idaho St.

The other FBS games this weekend…because we don’t pick and choose who we pick and choose!

NC State (-18) covers and beats Old Dominion.

Michigan (-28) over UNLV, just not by four TDs.

Michigan St (-26.5) wins and covers against the Air Force Academy.

Ohio St (-34.5) defeats Northern Illinois by less than five TDs.

Minnesota (-24) covers and defeats Kent St.

Wisconsin by more than the 34.5 point spread over Troy.

Kansas St (-9) easily over Louisiana Tech.

Oklahoma (-30) by more than 30 over Tulsa.

Oklahoma St (-24.5) by LESS than 25 over UTSA.

TCU (-38) wins and covers against SMU, despite SMU’s improvement this year.

Oregon (-45.5) over Georgia St plus 46; after losing last week, they’ll take it out on poor GSU.

Washington St (-25) over Wyoming. Normally, too close to give the points. But this is Mike Leach. Give’m.

Arizona (-28.5) over Northern Arizona, but take NAU and the points – they’re better than Wyoming is.

Arizona State (-28) wins but doesn’t cover against New Mexico.

Missouri (-20.5) by MORE than that over U Conn.

Mississippi St (-41) over Northwestern St? Take the over…

Tennessee (-41) by MORE than that over Western Carolina.

Vanderbilt (-46) over Austin Peay, and if they’ll ever win by 47, this is the game they’ll do it.

Texas A&M (-34) should rout Nevada by more than that.

UCF (-19) will win and cover against Furman. (Six tier difference – expect a blowout)

Tulane (-4) over Maine, by five or slightly more…

Buffalo (-2) over Florida Atlantic, and at two points, might as well give the points, too…

Ohio (-11) by a lot more than 11 over SE Louisiana.

Marshall (-38) should beat but not rout Norfolk State; they played ODU to two TDs last week.

Florida International (-25) does rout NC Central: Last week Duke laid 55 on them without a sweat.

Middle Tennessee (-19.5) wins and covers against Charlotte in their first “real” game of the year.

Akron (-36.5) gets the best of our beloved Savannah State. Win and cover.

Western Michigan (-22) wins but doesn’t cover against Murray State.

San Diego St (-17.5) by three TDs or more over South Alabama, who should be better than this…

Arkansas St (-17) wins and covers against Missouri St.

Georgia Southern (-12.5) has an easy weekend against The Citadel. Can’t believe Sagarin’s only 12.5!

Hawai’i (-23) defeats FCS UC Davis, but for old times’ sake let’s say the Aggies keep it close.

And finally, here are the FCS games we’re watching this weekend…

SE Missouri St (+8) upsets Indiana St.

North Dakota St (-28) defeats cross-state rival North Dakota, but we think NDSU’s not quite up to it, yet. Take the points.

Cal-Poly SLO (+1) in a mild upset over Northern Iowa.

We’re actually picking THREE Pioneer League teams to beat the spread this week! Unreal!...

Drake (+19.5) covers at South Dakota,

Dayton (+9) at least covers at home against Duquesne, and

Marist (+26) should stay within 26 of Sacred Heart Saturday!

Moving on, Western Illinois (+10) may not beat Coastal Carolina, but they should beat the spread.

Same with St. Francis (+18) going to nearby Youngstown St…

And the same for Montana St, 11-point ‘dogs to Eastern Washington on the “red”.

Montana heads across the country to play and win and cover (-2.5) at Liberty.

Southern Utah (-9) covers v. Northern Colorado.

Sacramento St (+3.5) at least covers and should upset Weber St.

Elon (+3) will upset North Carolina A&T.

New Hampshire (pick’m) defeats conference rival Stony Brook.

Charleston Southern (-14.5) shows East Tennessee St what a real FCS team looks like Thursday night!

Samford (-2) wins and covers against Southern Conference rival Chattanooga in a possible “early title” game!

Mercer (+1) mildly upsets Tennessee Tech on their turf.

Bryant (+1.5) starts Ivy League Brown’s season off with an upset loss.

Tennessee St (+27) keeps Jacksonville St in its sight, after JSU’s big game at Auburn last week. (JSU still wins, though.)

Alabama St (-2) covers at home against Grambling.

Southern (-10) covers at home against Jackson St.

BUT, Prairie View A&M (-5.5) fails to cover against Alabama A&M.

Finally, the IVY LEAGUE kicks off its season Saturday, and to celebrate, we’re picking against some of their teams! (Hey, they’re not warmed up yet, and their opponents are on game #3!)

Harvard (-22), the favorite AGAIN, should win but NOT cover at Rhode Island.

Lafayette (-0.5) wins against Princeton, and Lehigh (-5.5) covers hosting Penn.

Colgate (+3.5) at least covers against the Yalies, and Bucknell (-5.5) covers with ease over Cornell.

Last, and probably least, Columbia starts its winless campaign by losing at Fordham (-30.5).

AND REMEMBER, folks! These predictions are made for entertainment purposes only! If you're stupid enough to trust OUR judgment on territorial progress of grown men bashing into each other for the cheers of obese onlookers, that's on YOUR head, not ours! 

(But then again, who else would you trust? We're the only one predicting EVERY game in the NFL, FBS, CFL, and AFL this and every weekend! This week, that's 106 college games, and 128 in all!)