By Dannie Oliveaux and John Leggett
With a week before many of the interstate rivalry games, there are a few interesting match-ups on both the college and pro schedule. This week we picked four college games and three pro contest which have the Ol’ Pickers scratching their heads after last week. With a perfect 5-0 mark last week, DO upped his margin over JL by 3 games. DO stands at 56-17 overall, while JL is 53-20.
Week 12
No.19 Oregon State at Washington State
DO: The Cougars are one week away from their bowl game – the Apple Cup – against Washington. Perhaps Wazzu should look ahead, because those hungry Beavers are bowl-bound and will leave Pullman with another win. OREGON STATE
JL: Sorry Cougar fans but about one-fourth of my 20 miscues have materialized, by foolishly picking the inept Wazzu pussy cats to upset teams far better than they are. I don’t know what is going on in the Palouse these days, all I know is that it hasn’t been a wonderful year for the crimson and gray. Heck, the team doesn’t even have anything to hang its hat on, except a fluke victory to the Southern Methodist Mustangs, who apparently underestimated a Pac-10 contingent. The Cougars have just stunk out loud in the 2009 campaign, and to be quite candid I think the powers that be at Washington State University might not have hired the right man to turn the program around. Time will tell though I suppose. OREGON STATE
No. 25 California at No. 17 Stanford
DO: After dropping 55 points on the Men of Troy last week, do the Cardinals have enough against their Pac 10 and interstate rival Bears in “The Big Game.” Thoughts of the Cal-Stanford game go back to “The Play” in 1982. After Stanford took a 20-19 lead with four seconds left in the game, Cal used five lateral passes on the ensuing kickoff return to score the winning touchdown over the tuba player and earn a 25-20 victory. STANFORD
JL: The Cardinal will mop up the field with that bunch of dyed in the wool, liberal, tree hugging hippies from Berkley. Stanford has been beating teams up this season (I mean 55 points against the men of Troy – wow!). Anybody who thinks Stanford is going to cut their biggest rival any slack has got another think coming. STANFORD
No. 10 Ohio State at Michigan
DO: The Rose Bowl-bound Buckeyes make their way north to face their arch-rival Wolverines. While OSU has maintained their prominence in the Big 10, Michigan has stumbled near the bottom of the pack. Look for a big win in Ann Arbor. OHIO STATE
JL: People always say that when it comes to rivalry tilts you can throw out all the records and statistics in such contests out the window. Well, not this year baby. Oh I know the Buckeyes lost to Purdue and they are playing in “The Big House” at Ann Arbor, but Ohio State is just a better team than the Wolverines this season and I am truly of the opinion that OSU is going to take Big Blue behind the wood shed and give them a good old fashion thrashing this time around. THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY.
No. 8 LSU at Mississippi
DO: The “Magnolia Bowl” pits two teams who had national championship dreams early this season. The Tigers dropped a pair of games to Florida and Alabama, while the once highly-rated Rebels have slipped out of the Top 20. LSU leads the all time series, 55-38-4 and will win in Jackson, Miss. LSU
JL: Okay, I admit it, it is hard for me to be unbiased with this one, because I flat out love the Fightin Tigers of LSU (hello, purple is one of their colors), because like Mississippi that part of the country just keeps cranking out a fantastic pro players. Even though the pride of Baton Rouge has lost more games than usual this year (to the Gators and Crimson Tide) and even though this campaign’s rendezvous is in Jackson, Mississippi, I feel a Tiger triumph coming on. LSU
Seattle at Minnesota
DO: If the Seahawks are looking to make the playoffs as a wild card team, it has to happen this Sunday. Brett Farve and the Viks are gunning for a NFC title and trip to the Superbowl. And they should have little trouble from the “Seachickens” in Minneapolis. MINNESOTA
JL: After watching the Minnesota vs. Detroit game on the tube last Sunday on one of my rare Sunday’s off (between high school sports seasons) I have a bone to pick with my Vikings. I couldn’t believe that I witnessed a Detroit defensive back running down Adrian Peterson from behind and then punching the ball out of AP’s mitts. Why do the Vikings always have so much trouble in pummeling the Lions, especially in the Metro Dome? This has always been a mystery to me. But, I can tell you this, that was the first Viking game I have watched from start to finish all season long and consequently the first time I have seen the mercurial Percy Harvin play since the Gators bowl appearance against the University of Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl last year. I had forgotten how Harvin scorches the turf when he turns on the afterburners. I have rarely seen a football player with the blazing speed of Harvin. Sure, AP will probably struggle a little against the Seahawks decent run defense, but that old riverboat gambler, Brett Farve, is going to have opened ball shaggers all day long with his pet receiver WR Sidney Rice, tight end Visanthe Shiancoe and Harvin breezing past the Hawk’s lame secondary personnel continuously. Put your hard earned money on the Vikings by at least two touchdowns. MINNESOTA.
Tennessee at Houston
DO: Who else? HOUSTON
JL: This should be a humdinger of a pro ball meeting with these two teams’ offenses facing off against two pretty maladroit defenses. Former East Carolina U. Pirate, Chris Johnson, has been absolutely off the chain this season in a year that was supposed to be his “sophomore jinx”. Last week alone, when the Titans hosted Buffalo, admittedly a squad in complete and woeful disarray, Johnson, put up 100 yards receiving as well as over 100 yards on the ground in addition to recording a tandem of touchdowns.Oh, don’t get me wrong, Houston is capable of lighting up the scoreboard as well, but Johnson is simply a phenomenal player who no one has been able to stop in this 2009 season. I am glad that Titan coach Tony Fisher took the leash off of Johnson with the whole slash and dash thing and simply made C.J. the primary ball carrier in Tennessee, because watching that little beast run with the pigskin is nothing but entertaining to watch. TENNESSEE.
Philadelphia at Chicago
DO: Both teams are accustomed to playing in harsh winter weather. The Eagles are a game behind Dallas in the NFC East, while the Bears are tied with several teams for a wild card berth in the playoffs. Will Michael Vick get to play this Sunday? PHILADELPHIA.
JL: I do believe I will not be missing this game Sunday night on NBC. This potentially wild affair played in the city with big shoulders will feature some smash mouth football and should be a great game for true football fanatics to view. New Bears QB, Jay Cutler, that cocky ol Commodore from Vanderbilt, has been just a shade on the erratic side, despite the fact that he shouldn’t be feeling the pressure of having to live up to the previous standards of that proud old tradition of great Chicago QB’s. Wait a minute my tongue is stuck in my cheek. Last week alone, Cutler tossed five picks against the 49ers in the city by the bay, during a NFL Network game on Thursday, Nov. 12. Conversely, Eagles signal caller Donovan McNabb threw for an astonishing 450 yards last Sunday in a comeback bid versus the Chargers that fell just short in the beautiful city of San Diego. As the Bears displayed last week against the Forty-Niners though, head coach Lovie Smith has them playing some real gritty, stingy defense. I think maybe it just took the Monsters of the Midway a little time to become accustomed to playing without their main stopper, linebacker Brian Urlacher, as he was lost for the season with a broken arm about a month ago as I recall. I think Philly wins this one, but not by much. One thing is for sure though, McNabb will be filling the brisk windy city air with footballs, since his main boy, running back Brian Westbrook is probably done for the season, thanks to his recently suffering two different concussions in the span of three weeks. Also, time is running out for the Eagles, who really could use a substantial victory right about now, since they trail the Dallas Cowpokes by a single game in the NFC East standings. PHILADELPHIA
