Jesus, this is bad

Ladies and gentlemen, you are witnessing history right now. I am now 1-9 picking against the spread thru 10 games of bowl season. To put that in perspective, there are 1,024 different ways to pick 10 games. Only 11 of them would have resulted in fewer than 2 correct picks. That means you have a 98.9% chance of getting at least 2 games right if you were just throwing darts at a board. However, I have managed to land in the other 1.1%. I feel like I ate a whole wheel of cheese and pooped in the refrigerator. I'm not even mad. I'm actually impressed.

To add insult to injury, the only game I've picked right thus far was the UNC game. Too bad that when I actually bet $150 on the Heels in real life, the line had moved down to UNC +1 (instead of +2.5 like we used for the blog challenge). That meant that not only did UNC lose a heartbreaker, but the failed to cover by a single point and I lost $165 to twist the knife a little deeper.

Sorry for that rant. On to the next round of picks...


Georgia -7.5 over Texas A&M


The most popular storyline in this game is the matchup of the Aggies' high-powered offense against UGA's much-maligned defense. I really like Jerrod Johnson, the quarterback for A&M. He's a big, athletic QB who can actually throw it. But Georgia is getting AJ Green back, who is so good that he makes Joe Cox look decent. The most important stat for me: Texas A&M only has one win this year against a team with a winning record (Texas Tech). That's proof that their non-conference schedule was terrible, and that the Big 12 had no depth this year. Go Dawgs.

UCLA -3.5 over Temple

Okay, I have a confession - I haven't seen a single minute of football played by Temple this entire year. Frankly, I was shocked that they are even in a bowl game. Apparently, the Owls won 9 straight games before losing their season finale against Ohio. It's amazing what leaving a BCS conference (Big East) for a mid-major conference (MAC) can do for your record. Anyways, I have actually watched a couple UCLA games. This isn't because I'm a Pac-10 fan, mind you. It's just that UCLA is often on while I'm out at bars on Saturday night, so instead of trying to pretend I'm single and talk to girls I'm not going to hook up with, I just stare aimlessly at the TV behind the bar showing the Fox Sports broadcast of some random West Coast night game that doesn't end until 2am EST. So yeah, I'm taking the Bruins.

Miami -2.5 over Wisconsin

I really dislike Miami as a program and I think that Randy Shannon is too incompetent to merit a big-time head coaching job, so I'd really like to pick the Badgers here. However, Shannon has definitely assembled some talent down in Coral Gables, and it is starting to pay dividends, despite his shaky coaching. Wisconsin has done a good job of beating "bad" teams this year, but their two best wins are against Michigan State and Purdue. Miami is better than both of those teams, and this game is in Orlando, so the U might actually be able to get 5-10 thousand fans to travel for the game. As a sidenote, anyone who didn't see the 2-hour ESPN 30 for 30 special on "the U" should really check it out. Pretty awesome story. Even though I thought Butch Davis was portrayed in a completely unfair light at the end, there were still a bunch of highlights - including my personal favorite: "the George Jefferson" celebration dance.

Idaho +0.5 over Bowling Green

This is another game where I haven't seen either team all season. Here's what I do know: Idaho's nickname is the Vandals and that's pretty cool. Also, this game is played on the smurf turf in Boise. So I have to assume there will be a homefield advantage effect. The only thing worth a damn to come from Bowling Green is the rap group Nappy Roots, and they haven't had a hit since "Aww Naww". So yeah, I'm taking the Fighting Potatoes.

Arizona -1.5 over Nebraska

Okay, now we're talking. I've actually seen both of these teams play multiple games, which virtually ensures that I'll get this pick wrong. For some reason, the Holiday Bowl always seems to produce entertaining, high-scoring games. However, if you watched Nebraska play Texas (which everyone did), then you might've noticed Nebraska barely cracked 100 yards the whole game. The Huskers also have a 10-3 win over Oklahoma and a 9-7 loss against Iowa State. If you can't see where I'm going with this, my point is that Nebraska's offense struggles to score more than a Chi Psi pledge who mistakenly wandered into a Tri Delt-Beta mixer. I am tired of hearing the media slobber over N'adlkerauemeogongkdu Soo, so I am going with the 'Cats.

In case you were wondering, the probability of going 1 for 15 against the spread is 0.05%. So at least one of these picks HAS to be right......right?