PIGSKIN PICKS: Week 11
Published 11:43 am Friday, November 13, 2009
By Dannie Oliveaux and John Leggett | The Courier-Herald
High school football season is over after Bonney Lake and Enumclaw lost last week in the Class 3A preliminary playoff games. But there is still plenty of college and pro football for everyone for the next few months.
DO and JL each posted 4-1 marks last week and one game separates the brave prognosticators. After 11 weeks, DO is 51-17 and JL sits at 50-18.
Washington at Oregon State
DO: Which Husky team will show up in Corvallis. The one who beat USC or the one that lost to UCLA. If UW wants to go to a bowl game, they better get to winning. I have a feeling the Beavers will come to play at home. Bow down to OSU. OREGON STATE
JL: I agree with my prognosticating brother on this one. The Beavers are such an unpredictable lot, but Corvallis is a really hard place to win a football contest. It must be something about the rainy latitudes and climes. but this stadium has proven to be a den of vipers for a bevy of opponents.
UCLA at Washington State
DO: The Bruins should have little problems with the weary Cougars in Pullman. UCLA
JL: A tip of the hat to my fearless French friend for being a game ahead of me overall, but I really must disagree with him on this one. Way back in the stone age, when I played ball in Pullman – circa late 1970’s, the Cougs used to upset the Bruins every other year and let me tell you Slick Rick and Co. are ripe for the upsetting after barely pulling one out of the bag against the DAWGS last week. WSU
Stanford at USC
DO: The Cardinal are riding a high after beating Oregon and throwing a wrench in the Pac 10 title race. Now its on to Pasadena and a date with the Men of Troy. Is Stanford for real. Maybe so. STANFORD
JL: I have always been kind of a Trojan fan, because so many great tailbacks (albeit one of them being a psychotic son-of-a-gun) have come out of that fine institution. As badly as USC has played this year I just have a real tough time believing that the Trojans will embarrass themselves one more time in front of their home fans. The Trojans coach, Pete Carroll, is a real mellow fellow, but even he has his limits when it comes to being able to stomach mediocrity. USC.
Iowa at Ohio State
DO: Only one spot separates the No. 10 Hawkeyes from the No. 11 Buckeyes. At stake is the Big 10 title. Iowa is coming off a loss to Northwestern, while Ohio State won at Penn State. The Buckeyes are tough at home with the ghost of coach Woody Hayes hovering over the Horseshoe. OHIO STATE
JL: Understand that I am more than a little biased here, because my father was graduated from The Ohio State University and in fact lived in a dormitory that was build under the horseshoe’s bleachers. He rolled with a contingent called the Derby Gang back in the mid-forties. As a child I was given no other recourse but to watch the OSU band spell out the script Ohio. You know, where the tuba player dashes out and dots the i at the very end. My dad would say, “Watch kids here comes the tuba player, he’s going to dot the i.” I never would say anything to my dear old pappi, because I could tell how proud he was about that whole deal, but after I saw that damned tuba player dot that i a dozen times, the suspense had pretty much left that scenario. No suspense in this contest either, because the Bucs are en fuego after netting the Nittany Lions last week and the Hawkeyes laid an egg that wasn’t very golden last week, by costing the gambling parlors in Vegas a fortune, shaming the state of Iowa in losing to Northwestern, As well, the Big-10 crown is at stake here not a national title for the perennial bridesmaid Bucs, so I am of the opinion that it could be safe to give the nod to – drum roll please Coach Tressel, you vest-wearing maniac…OHIO STATE.
Seattle at Arizona
DO: The Seahawks should remember the 27-3 beating at home a few weeks ago from last year’s NFC champs. Curt Warner will have a field day at home as the Red Birds fly high in the desert. ARIZONA
JL: While Seattle should be able to enjoy a certain measure of success through the air against a pathetic Arizona pass defense, the question is, will the Seahawk QB, whoever that might turn out to be, be given enough time to throw anything further than a pass in the flat? Look for TE Johnny “Golden Domer” Carlson and O’Dea High’s own Nate Burleson to have outstanding afternoons, but I wouldn’t put a lot of stock in Julius Jones racking up a boat load of yards, because the Redbirds do possess a fairly decent run defense. Additionally, former grocery store bag boy and Iowa Barnstormer Kurt Warner, put it to the Chicago Bears last week with five (count’em) five TD strikes, two of which went to Ollie Oop artist Larry Fitzgerald. ARIZONA.
