Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Beat the Penguin - Week #8

Time to get off the home range for a spell.



No I can't guarantee you'll look as charming as Miss Andrews when she tried on the Mountie hat... but you may have a bit of fun stepping out of the normal hunting grounds of Penguin's Pick'em.

My man John (5sdad) has reached deep into his bag of tricks and came out with some whoppers this week. As most of you are well aware, John is a true college football aficionado. He likes to step out and watch the players and teams that deserve to be watched because they play an interesting and good game. Numbers, as in rankings, don't mean much to a man like that.

Trouble is so many of us get in the rut of watching our own teams or maybe them plus a high powered matchup that we can get stumped when we are faced with your occasional MAC or Conference USA matchup. We'll see whether this ace he pulled out of his sleeve pays off.

Either way we'll have fun keeping up with some teams that we may not have noticed otherwise.

Week #8- Games List:

1) Penn St. @ Northwestern
2) Utah @ California
3) Oregon St. @ Washington State
4) Central Mich @ Ball State
5) UL Monroe @ North Texas
6) SMU @ Southern Miss
7) Louisiana Tech @ Utah State
8) Auburn @ LSU
9) Washington @ Stanford + total points tie breaker
10) Wisconsin @ Michigan State

Good luck,
Will

4) Central Mich @ Ball State
5) UL Monroe @ North Texas
6) SMU @ Southern Miss
7) Louisiana Tech @ Utah State

Did you two get into grandpa's cough medicine?

Yeah, John's got me scratching my head too. He ain't getting me without a fight though! lol

I wanted to get these posted on monday so that no one would accuse me of sitting on them until later so I would have a day or two more to get my homework done. I'm having to do some digging myownself.

We usually have a week or so every season where the mid majors get some action. Ashamed to admit I don't keep up with them as much as I should... especially since it looks like WVU may be joining their ranks if this conference shakeup thing doesn't turn around. :p

Will

I like it. I need 5 points and this might just be the only way to get. Also, guessing we'll all have about 6 ESPN Game-cast windows open at the same time as not likely that all are televised.

Great intro Will!

David

I live in MAC Country and still don't have a clue where most of these teams are in location and aptitude. I too love the game, but since I am unwilling to spend 8K a year to get the satellite needed to watch EVERY single CFB game,(I have to settle for 30ish games a week, dangit!) I'm going to have to do more research than normal. Most weeks I have a good feel for most of the games and only really research one or maybe two.

The only thing going for me is that Pitt (damn you to eternal fire you bunch of former porn-staches and current bunch of Graham Crackers!) isn't on the board to give me an automatic loss, so I have a shot.

You Bastard tuff games...but men and boys will be seperated...At Saturdays end will I be drinking a beer or chocolate milk with a straw???

I don't know if they're tough games yet. At least I get to do some research instead of flipping a coin....well,maybe,that is!

Good grief,5sdad! Will 6 of these games even be on TV or mentioned on ESPN's scoreboard?

I've held my usual number of weekly Penguin conference calls and met with all the consultants. My staff is now telling me that many of these schools will makeup the new super conference. Others will round out the Big East. Still looking into it but I think a couple are high schools making the leap.

I'll keep you posted as I learn more. I might need to enlist the special services of Bambi to complete my review.

wowza, this may give Sassy the edge she was looking for.


shouldn't there be bonus points for all involved if you can guess correctly what state some of these schools are in?

With this lineup I'm planning on another 10-0 week. Sorry guys

Ok, here goes nuthin!

1. Penn State 27 Northwestern 17-Seeing Penn State as only 3.5 point favorites kinda gives me the creeps. Penn State is 6-1 and Northwestern is 2-4. If Northwestern couldn't get by Iowon't, they damn sure won't get by Joe Pa's boys (Great, Great, Great Grandchildren?!?). Northwestern is not a gimme with their starting QB back, but they dang sure aren't contenders either.

2. Cal 35 Utah 21-So what Utah, you beat Pitt. You would have lost that game if I would have picked you to win. Amazing how a man in Ohio can influence a game in Pennsylvania like that, such is the power of my Pitt Hex.

3. Oregon State 28 Washington State 24-Sheesh, what a bunch of bottom feeders to pick from this week. Oregon State always seems to start slow and finish strong(ish). This year they are setting a personal best for slow starts. Washington State is somewhat of a surprise at 3-3, but look at their wins. Whoop-tee-doo.

4. Ball State 12 Central Michigan 8-When you lose to Eastern Michigan at home, you tend to lose my faith in your ability to even show up on time for a football game. Neither of these teams are likely to be playing in the MNC game this year (or ever), but what the hell happened to Central Michigan? Since they lost their coach(es) to Cincy and their version of Tebow, they went downhill fast. Ahh, such is the life and times of a MAC school. See a little success, lose your coach. Then hire an untested dude since that's all you can get and take your chances on that. That's why there is rarely a perennial power in these type of conferences. If they are good they move on.

5. UL Monroe 17 North Texas 14-I freely admit that I'm picking this game based solely on the line. After thorough research I was left scratching my head. These two teams do not have a common opponent, nor a comparable schedule yet. They were both annihilated when they played a decent team, but even this is misleading since you don't know when the other team took their foot off the gas. Who knows? We'll have to side with Vegas on this one.

6. SMU 38 Southern Miss 27-I always check out the Vegas line AFTER analysis. I really don't see how Southern Miss is a 3.5 point favorite?!? Other than home field advantage, which how much does 8-10K fans influence a game anyways, I can't really see Southern Miss keeping up with SMU. I've played in High School games with more fans than some of these MAC and Sun Belt games attract. Am I missing something?

7. Utah State 24 Whatever other team they are playing that I'm too lazy to pull up my other browser to look up again 17-Again, after much head scratching and consternation Vegas is going to be my deciding factor. Plus, any team that can hang with the defending MNC winner in the season opener is alright in my book. They had a Buckeyes in Lincoln like meltdown or they woulda spanked da War Iggles. Woulda, coulda, shoulda, but didn't.

8. LSU 42 War Iggles 13-Finally, back to the real world after taking a trip like Alice in Wonderland for the past 5ish games. LSU is The Real Deal this season. Their game with Bama should determine half of the MNC picture. Even with last seasons magic I wouldn't give Auburn more than a 1 in 25 chance of winning this game. In fact, I'll go as far as stating that this years LSU (or Bama) would spank last years Auburn 8 out of ten times. I'd give LSU even odds against the Miami Dolphins right now. LSU looks like a pro team. They have the biggest, fastest, most physical defense that I can remember seeing in CFB in a long time. That, AND they have the Honey Badger. He's just Nasty

9. Stanford 42 Washington 21-Total Points 63 Stanford will drop two games in the regular season. This is not one of them. They WILL lose to Oregon and Notre Dame (I just puked a little, but it's true). They aren't as good as they were last year, Andrew Luck is for real, but he is basically it. With "The Handshake" gone as their coach, they are not the same. As an aside, I absolutely loved Jimmy H's post game interview after "The Handshake". That was the most subtly smart-assed interview that I've ever seen. "It was totally my fault. I smacked his hand, hard. That's on me. Totally". He forgot to add, "By the way, we kicked their ass and their coach is a douche-bag," but his tone implied it. I think when it's all said and done, he will be one of the best coaches to ever coach the game. He turned Stanford from a team that was 30+ point underdogs any time they played a good team to a very respected program. I know it's early in his NFL career, but I just don't see him falling off. I wish to hell the Browns woulda had a shot at him. We might actually have mattered again.

10. Wisconsin 35 Michigan State 17-Wisconsin should be chafing at being 6th in the BCS. After watching all the top teams thus far, I think that LSU, Bama, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin are by far the top 4 teams in CFB this season. I'd love to see all 4 of these teams play each other as right now I don't see any difference in them, with the possible exception that Oklahoma might be just a hair weaker than the others. Boise State is tough, but I think that they would get mauled if they were to play any of these teams this season, with the exception of them being able to prepare for 6 weeks for the game. If they were to play them all in successive weeks, I doubt they would go 1-3. Of course, Wisconsin has no one to blame but themselves after failing to beat TCU in the Rose Bowl last year, so doubts about them just may keep them out of the MNC game. With the obvious out there that I see the world through Scarlet and Gray colored lenses, I see next week as more of a trap game for Wisconsin then this week. Wisconsin will be out for revenge after last year with their only loss coming to a Michigan State team that they should have beat. Ohio State will be out for revenge next week as well as I feel they had a better team then Wisconsin last year and likely would have played for and won a MNC (yes that's right) if they coulda thrown out the 1st quarter of the Wisconsin game. They would have played Auburn in the MNC if it wasn't for that quarter and they had a much better team overall than Auburn did last year. Ohio State was just as dangerous on offense and much better on defense. The would have got in over Oregon too since they soundly beat essentially the same Oregon team in the Rose Bowl the previous year. At any rate, Wisconsin better show up ready to play their second tough game on the road in a row next week. Ohio State is pretty predatory on defense, they just haven't found an offense to speak of yet. I still think that Wisconsin will probably win that game, just don't think that it is as sure of a thing as it looks like on paper. Plus OSU has two weeks to prepare, rest up a little, and hopefully find something that at least resembles an offense.

After close study (well 20 seconds or so anyways), this week should go to the winner of the tie-breaker. I can see a lot of similar picks. Plus I post mine for all to see, and let's face it, who wouldn't want to copy them?

As I'm sure Penguin would attest to, there is no subterfuge or deception going on with my picks. What I post on this board is exactly what I post on the pick website. So basically, I leave it open for you guys (and gal(s?)) to copy my greatness if you so choose.

What I post on this board is exactly what I post on the pick website. So basically, I leave it open for you guys (and gal(s?)) to copy my greatness if you so choose.
==============

Thanks but I prefer the top of the pool rankings.

Impossible to log onto the site, so this'll have to work.

1) Penn State
2) Utah
3) Oregon State
4) Ball State
5) UL-Monroe
6) SMU
7) Utah State
8) LSU
9) Stanford, 67 points
10) Wisconsin

You need me to add your score to the automated pick'em site?

We have the technology. :p

Will

Sean says Bob and I can make his picks for the next two weeks, he is out in the wilderness in Colorado, can ya help us out here will. I just saw him off this morning, on his way to Leadville for some Elk fun in the mountains.

Yeah, sure.

The way the site works I can go in and retroactively give someone a final score, which I did once for Cajunblake. Not sure if I can add them ahead of time, but I don't think so.

So long as his picks are posted in the thread ahead of time and you guys post them there shouldn't be a problem from anyone. Like this week he is on record with it ahead of time so no one has a gripe coming. Might want to also shoot me a PM in case I miss them.

Will

I need for someone else to make my picks as well. **sigh**

He will be out of contact next week, unless they score over the weekend.

I doubt that they will be on ESPN's scoreboard. I get so pissed off at them when they run the TOP 25 scores over and frickin' over, even though everyone has either watched those games or seen the outcome fifty million times already but only run the non-top 25 scores one time and one time only for the whole damn day. (They even run the I-AA scores more often than that!)