USC Oregon

OK so i admit my Boise Oregon pick was wrong, but i still believe Oregon would have demolished Boise if two things hand't happened.

1) Jeremiah Masoli getting knocked out with a concussion. Not only would Oregon scored a lot more points, but once it became obvious that Harper couldn't throw the ball, you could see feel the air get sucked out of the stadium and that is when the defense gave up. If Masoli stays in and Oregon actually believes they can win the whole game, there is no way Boise scores 37 points.

2) Walter Thurmond plays. As evidenced by his two interceptions against WSU, WT3 is really good. And as evidenced by his play against Boise, Talmadge Jackson is not. By my count Jackson gave up at least 3 long passes, and wiffed on a couple of tackles that Thurmond surely would have made. No way the Boise QB does what he does if Thurmond is in there.

Now with that being said, Boise is obviously better than I thought, but i still feel they lose by two TD's if Thurmond and Masoli play.

All that being said, the Boise game really is pretty inconsequential to what bowl Oregon plays in this season. Oregon wasn't going to go undefeated, and no one from the pac ten was going to a BCS at large bowl given the perceived weakness of the league. So in order to avoid the Holiday Bowl, Oregon would had to have run the table. With 5 conference road games that simply wasn't going to happen. Oregon still has a decent shot to win the league and go to the Rose Bowl, but any dreams about them being a BCS at large were shot down the day the league went -5 agasint the MWC.

This week Oregon plays @ a really pissed of USC team. Its still hard to gauge how good USC is exactly. Virginia is as bad as WSU so beating them doesn't mean anything. Obviously USC loooked crappy in losing to Oregon State, and the Ohio State win has lost some luster. Still its hard to think that USC is anything less than a legitiamte top 10 team.

Oregon on the other hand could be really good or really bad. All the peices seem to be there except at the QB position. I would actually argue that outside of the linebackers, and QB, Oregon will have as much starting talent as USC. Of course Oregon is also one hit on the QB to being forced to play two true freshman.

I am not sold on USC (especially their offense) so I think this game will actually be close for awhile. Of course Oregon's defense sucks on the road so USC will still score 35 points, it will just take them 4 quarters to do it. On the other side of the ball Oregon wont do anything offensively unless jeremiah Masoli is actually really good, which i doubt. Oregon will get a cheap touchdown sometime during the game to keep it from getting to out of hand, but USC will pull away late to win big.

Oregon 10 USC 38.

For my loyal fans I also made picks for every game this week against the spread. I actually picked games last week but didn't post them which is good because I only went 17-24. So if you gambe on my picks you are still making money!

Week 5 picks


Week 5
Michigan State -7 vs Iowa
Akron -4 @ Kent State
Minnesota -7 vs Indiana
Georgia Tech -14 vs Duke
NC State +8 vs Boston College
Rutgers +14 @ West Virginia
Penn State -14 @ Purdue
Baylor +25 vs Oklahoma
Florida -26 @ Arkansas
Kansas -12 @ Iowa State
Western Kentucky +28 @ Virginia Tech
Western Michigan -7 vs Ohio
UNLV +1.5 @ Colorado State
Mississippi -2.5 vs South Carolina
Notre Dame -7 vs Stanford
Tulane -20.5 vs Army
Miami -2 vs Florida State
Arizona State +9 @ Cal
Temple +7 @ Miami OH
Illinois +3 @ Michigan
Kentucky +16 @ Alabama
Kansas State +8 vs Texas Tech
UCF -13.5 vs SMU
Air Force -4.5 vs Navy
Eastern Michigan +20.5 @ Bowling Green
Nevada +24 @ Idaho
TCU -25 vs San Diego State
Vanderbilt +4.5 vs Auburn
North Carolina -7.5 vs UCONN
UL Lafayette -3 @ UL Monroe
Colorado +12.5 vs Texas
So Miss -7 vs UTEP
Maryland -14 @ Virginia
FIU -6.5 @ North Texas
Ball State -7.5 @ Toledo
Tennessee -16.5 vs Northern Illinois
Texas AM +26 @ Oklahoma State
Arizona -24.5 vs Washington
USC -17 vs Oregon
Ohio State -2 @ Wisconsin
Rice +17 @ Tulsa
Nebraska +11 vs Missouri
New Mexico -11.5 vs Wyoming
Fresno -21.5 vs Hawaii
UCLA -17.5 vs WSU