We’re back with another week of Golden Blogs Pickem! It was a very exciting September 17 with some big time upsets, including one by our own California Golden Bears!
Conference Play begins for most of the teams today, only Oregon State (one more non-conference game, a big one vs. Boise State) and Washington State (bye week) do not have Pac-12 openers today, in addition to Furd and USC having their second conference matchups today (Both end their non-conference schedule during the final week of the season).
The weekend starts early, with Utah and USC matching up in Salt Lake City. Who do we think will win? Let’s find out!
First here’s the results so far.
A couple pushes limited the amount of points our crew earned. We had some crow with Cal/Texas, and look at me predicting the North Dakota State win! After finishing dead last I have a nice start right now... Ruey Yen takes sole possession of first place after a rough week from Perry. Still plenty of time to go, even the folks at the bottom can get to the upper half of the rankings with one solid week.
Remember these are from VegasInsider.com as of Tuesday, September 20. The lines may be different now especially concerning Oregon/Colorado and Arizona/Washington as those games have some concerns regarding starting QBs. I actually had to make the AZ/UW over/under up as there wasn’t one.
USC @ #24 UTAH
FRIDAY 6PM on Fox Sports 1 and Fox Deportes
Utah (home team) is a 3 point favorite. Over/Under is 46.5
This is going to be a theme for today. Mostly unanimous picks with one or two people going against the grain. Here, Perry is the lone chooser of the Trojans with the rest seeing Utah have the victory. Here’s all the comments from the people who picked Utah.
Nik Jam: I expect USC to look respectable, but Utah should win.
Ruey Yen: USC might right the ship by the time they place Cal (unfortunately), but I see them being routed in a tough road game at Salt Lake City.
KWBears: U$C is slumping.
boomtho: USC looks like a mess, I'm sure they're going to storm back and win big now.
Piotr T Le: Utah's defense will eat USC's bleeding carcass alive.
Berkelium97: Helton gets punched, benches Browne, and USC players are transferring in a mass exodus? This team is getting blown out in Salt Lake City.
Nam Le: fck sc
OREGON STATE VS. BOISE STATE
SATURDAY 12:30 on Fox Sports 1
Oregon State (home team) is a 13.5 point UNDERDOG. Over/Under is 59.5
Is it time to believe in the Oregon State Beaver’s comeback? A few think so, but for the most part Boise State is expected to romp.
Nik Jam: Oregon State will make a statement. Not sure it will be a victory though.
Ruey Yen: I see Boise State winning this one but not cover.
boomtho: I'm assuming OSU is bad, real bad, until proven otherwise.
COLORADO @ OREGON
SATURDAY 2:30PM on Pac-12 Networks
Oregon (home team) is a 10 point favorite. Over/Under is 68.5
A couple of us (Ruey and myself) picked Colorado to cover, but it’s a vast majority with Oregon getting the 1-0 Pac-12 start.
Nik Jam: I think Colorado is this year's Washington State. The Cougars made their cinderella season known with a win at Oregon, so...
Ruey Yen: Even with the injuries, I think Oregon will win this game but just not cover the spread.
KWBears: Not even gonna be competitive.
boomtho: No defense
Berkelium97: Colorado will score some points, but not enough for this to be a single-digit win for the Ducks.
#7 STANFORD @ UCLA
SATURDAY 5PM on ABC and ESPN Deportes
Furd (road team) is a 3.5 point favorite. Over/Under is 46.5
Only Ruey believes in the UCLA Bruins as they try to end a long losing streak (one year longer than Cal’s) to Furd.
Nik Jam: I would like to pick UCLA, but like Cal, they seem to falter when the opponent is the Cardinal.
Ruey Yen: I don't buy that Stanford is that good (as in top 10 in the country good). UCLA has the talent on defense to keep Christian McCaffrey in check.
KWBears: McCaffrey dominates again.
boomtho: UCLA still getting love despite squeaking out unimpressive wins all year
PerryScope: Rose Bowl isn't a home field advantage and Furd is too technical.
Piotr T Le: This hurts. UCLA is my family's main team... but I don't see Mora breaking the streak this year.
CAL @ ARIZONA STATE
SATURDAY 7PM on ESPN2
Cal (road team) is a 3.5 point UNDERDOG. Over/Under is 82.5
After Cal’s big win last week. Surely no one from the biggest Cal blog on the internet would go against the Bears right? Sure enough, it is an unanimous pick of Cal! I want to see why a few of us think 82 points won’t be scored...
Nik Jam: Hopefully Cal's defense continues to make progress.
Ruey Yen: Golden Bears win this shootout as both team combine to surpass 120+ points. I also suspect that I will lose my voice from singing Fight for California after every Cal TD while watching the game inside Sun Devils Stadium.
KWBears: Cal will barely win, and defense will actually show up.
boomtho: Fuck it, I'm finally back on the Cal bandwagon.
PerryScope: We're gonna score on any soft defense we play and so will they. So I just think we can score with them or basically with anybody.
Piotr T Le: In Webb's arm we trust.
Berkelium97: Cal takes on the worst passing offense in the country. Does the ASU scoreboard display triple digits?
#9 WASHINGTON @ ARIZONA
SATURDAY 7:30PM on Pac-12 Networks
Washington (road team) is a 9.5 point favorite. Over/Under is 60.5
Note that this spread and over/under came early in the week with questions regarding Arizona’s QB Anu Solomon, and it looks like he won’t start. Washington is now a 14 point favorite with an over/under of 58. I did tell the crew they could e-mail me a new pick after new information, but no one did (half of the responses did come last night, though).
Only boomtho has Arizona. Will Washington or Arizona make a huge statement tomorrow?
Nik Jam: Washington is now facing a real opponent. I think for now they will deliver and maybe falter later.
Ruey Yen: I am not sold that Washington is a top 10 team in the country, but Arizona is bad.
boomtho: I'm buying the UW hype until someone proves me wrong, but I'm not sure their offense can score enough to win by 10+
Berkelium97: Arizona has been the most disappointing Pac-12 team this year. I doubt that changes this weekend.
WILD CARD: LOCK OF THE WEEK
Home teams on the left.
#8 Michigan State -5.5 vs. #11 Wisconsin
#23 Ole Miss -7 vs. #12 Georgia
#14 Tennessee -6.5 vs. #19 Florida
Auburn +3.5 vs. #18 LSU
Northwestern +7 vs. #20 Nebraska
#16 Baylor -9.5 vs. Oklahoma State
#10 Texas A&M -6 vs. #17 Arkansas
OTHER
Nebraska over Northwestern and LSU over Auburn is tied for the plurality pick. Michigan State and Arkansas with some love as well.
Ruey Yen: (Nebraska) When in doubt, pick a ranked team over a unranked opponent, particularly one that has lost to Western Michigan and Illinois State.
boomtho: (LSU) Fournette smash
Berkelium97: (Nebraska) Remember when Northwestern lost 7-9 to Illinois State the other week?
WILD CARD: UPSET OF THE WEEK
Bonus points for picking a straight up win by a double digit underdog!
Rutgers (14 point underdog vs. Iowa) [3]
Penn State (19 point underdog at #4 Michigan) [3]
Duke (21 point underdog @ Notre Dame) [3]
Colorado State (16 point underdog @ Minnesota) [3]
Miami Ohio (17 point underdog @ Cincinnati) [3]
Marshall (26 point underdog @ #3 Louisville) [4]
Kent State (45 point underdog @ #1 Alabama) [5]
OTHER
No upsets among listed (or OTHERs) [1]
Not a whole lot of upsets to choose from, but a few people are taking the risk. Rutgers appears to be the popular choice, with Miami (Ohio) and Colorado State picked as well.
Ruey Yen: I'll take Rutgers at home over a vulnerable Iowa team.
CLOSING
Enjoy conference play! Hopefully it will be a big one for Cal. Go Bears!