alt.sports.college.pac-10

Huh? Season already started? Fine, those games didn't count since they were
in August. Nobody plays football in August.

Odds courtesy of
This season's record: 0-0
This week's picks: Oregon, UCLA, Tennessee, ASU

This Week's Games:
Houston @ Oregon -

It's been quite a while since Oregon rolled over the first Div1A
nonconference foe at home (hello, Indiana!). Houston looks like a likely
candidate for an arse-whipping; they have more freshmen on the roster than
juniors and seniors combined, have a new coach, a new QB starting his first
game on the road (and a budding Quarterback Controversy to boot) in what
should be a hostile environment, and Aliotti is likely to load up the box to
contain quick tailback Alridge and make Whoever Is Passing beat him.
This could be one of those Trap Games, where the home team is caught Looking
Past the Opponent to next weeks' Big Challenge. I doubt it -- Oregon has too
many weapons on offense, Dixon has by all accounts had a good camp and is
ready to prove his detractors wrong, and the Ducks will head to Ann Arbor
having built up a good head of steam at the Cougs expense. Take Oregon and
lay the points.

Wazzu @ Wisconsin -

Coogs felt they played Auburn tough last season on the road. Unfortunately,
the scoreboard read 14-40. They do return a lot of experience, a senior QB,
good receivers and a decent defense. Wisconsin doesn't score a lot of
points, so I see this as a reasonably low-scoring game, but this line looks
good, so no pick.

UCLA - @ Stanford

Hard to see anything but de-provement in the Cardinal. A brilliant
first-time coach can only use words as so much motivation before the first
opponent of the year rolls them into a tight little roll and performs a
colonoscopy with them. If UCLA doesn't get 10 wins this year Dorrell is
toast -- too much experience and talent to do any worse than that. It starts
here. Take UCLA and lay the points.

Arizona - @ BYU

Hard game to call, but AZ's been playing well on the road lately. That looks
like a good line, so no pick here.

Tennessee @ Cal -7

UT could win this game outright, Lee Corso's appeal to urgency and frequency
on the part of the Bears notwithstanding. I'd love to see Cal uphold the
honor of the league -- these conferences don't play each other often, and
when they do it's usually a road game for the Pac -- but if they win, it
won't be by much. Take Tennessee and the points.

SanJoseSt @ ASU -

ASU always wins these initial non-conf games against non-BCS teams, usually
in blowout fashion. The temperature will be about 100 degrees at gametime
even though the sun will have been down a couple of hours. It's bloody hell
hot in Tempe this year. Take ASU and lay the points.

Idaho @ USC -

I don't buy the "oh, no way this is a 48 point blowout, Carroll will get a
lot of third stringers playing time.." argument. USC's third string would be
starting for Idaho. Hell, USC's third string players weren't even considered
for recruiting by Idaho, because they knew they had no chance of getting
them. In '05, in the home opener versus Arkansas -- a team that went on to
win 10 games and play in the fscking SEC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME -- USC covered a
30 point spread by more than three touchdowns. Think in '07, with maybe a
better team, playing a squad that never plays well in its road opener, that
this game will be 38-7 Trojans? Think again. This is a good line, so no bet.