[NU Sports] PIGSKIN PICKS - Week 1

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

My friends, the long drought of darkness is over! No more weekends where golf, beach volleyball, cars going in circles or other “sports” are offered as meager filler to tithe sports fans over! No more suffering through the big-money Yankees and Saaawwwx (channel your inner Wilbon when saying that, NU fans!) buying up titles and players while 20 other teams sucker their fans to buy tickets for baseball games that are meaningless in the money/steroid era.

Our long national nightmare is over and America’s true passion, football, is BACK! Thanks to the redbird’s run to the Super Bowl, Arizona is now officially a football state and it’s fun to see more and more jerseys of all teams around campus (except the Cowboys and Raiders). High schools in Arizona kicked off Friday, college comes at us this week and the NFL countdown is under two weeks! And there are actually a couple decent games for the first week as the bowl folk appear to be realizing that their days are numbered and that they should go NIT-style and focus on week one kickoff megamatchups instead of meaningless half-full stadium games in December to fight with the B(C)S (kudos to the organizers in Atlanta, St. Louis and Dallas!).

For those who may not know, I have a bit more on my plate at school this year. In addition to journalism, world history honors and law, I’m also taking on the yearbook and AP (Advance Placement) U.S. history classes. It keeps me busy and I love it, but it’s also going to mean I can’t get standings out until fall break in October most likely.

It also means that I’m going to combine my two regular college picks groups into one this year for my own sanity. I had been doing games for the NU sports list and among football fanatic friends – we’re all together now, which means the NU game is an extra pick and not counted in the standings for all of us this year. It’s been that way in the NU list for years so we don’t have to pick for or against the Cats and it will probably help the other group as well, as I was often one of the few who would pick the Cats and would reap the reward of an extra game when NU kept pulling off upset after upset. One of these years with Coach Fitz, they’ll stop becoming “upsets” but I think a lot of people still doubt the power of purple.

Soooooo, fifteen games below (for those new to the picks, we pick all Big Ten games and other national games of interest). You’re just picking straight-up winners (no spread) and it’s all for fun and bragging rights. The season kicks off with a whopper of a game Thursday night in the Pacific Northwest and it should be a great weekend of games thereafter – I LOVE the Big Ten Network! So get your picks in by kickoff Thursday, feel free to pass this along to any and all friends who might be interested and welcome back to another year of the Pigskin Picks!

PIGSKIN PICKS – WEEK 1
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Name: 

BIG TEN
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GAME 1: Illinois vs. Missouri (@ St. Louis, MO)
WINNER: 

GAME 2: Eastern Kentucky @ Indiana
WINNER: 

GAME 3: Northern Iowa @ Iowa
WINNER: 

GAME 4: Western Michigan @ Michigan
WINNER: 

GAME 5: Montana State @ Michigan State
WINNER: 

GAME 6: Minnesota @ Syracuse
WINNER: 

GAME 7: Navy @ Ohio State
WINNER: 

GAME 8: Akron @ Penn State
WINNER: 

GAME 9: Toledo @ Purdue
WINNER: 

GAME 10: Northern Illinois @ Wisconsin
WINNER: 

NATIONAL
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GAME 11: Oregon @ Boise State
WINNER: 

GAME 12: Alabama vs. Virginia Tech (@ Atlanta, GA)
WINNER: 

GAME 13: Brigham Young vs. Oklahoma (@ Dallas, TX)
WINNER: 

GAME 14: Georgia @ Oklahoma State
WINNER: 

GAME 15: Miami (FL) @ Florida State
WINNER: 

MY PICKS
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* ILLINOIS 38, Missouri 24 – No one doubts the Illini can score, and they should have won this game last year but gave it away – this time, Mizzou minus Chase doesn’t have the firepower to compete.

* INDIANA 35, Eastern Kentucky 10 – The Hoosiers better win their early games or it could be a long year in the newly renovated (and still half empty) Memorial Stadium.

* IOWA 22, Northern Iowa 9 – Still not sold on the Hawks as a sleeper for the title, but they have a bye week here to figure out who will score. I’m seeing a lot of FGs and few TDs without Mr. Green.

* MICHIGAN 37, Western Michigan 27 – So, RichRod’s already in the thick of an NCAA controversy? The only thing less surprising will be when Kentucky’s basketball team gets their next Final Four stricken from the record under Calipari’s regime. Better start winning in a hurry, Rich, or that seat in Ann Arbor will get blazing in a hurry. After a close first half, they pull away late.

* MICHIGAN STATE 45, Montana State 10 – Now here’s a team I do like as a sleeper – I like the QB transfer from Oklahoma, I like the defense and I like the schedule. The only thing that can stop Sparty this year is, as usual, Sparty.

* MINNESOTA 24, Syracuse 20 – Could be the biggest upset trap for a Big Ten team in the cupcake-heavy first week. Yes, Cuse is bad, but they have some spunky energy with the new leadership and the Gophers may be looking ahead to their home opener in their beautiful new stadium.

* OHIO STATE 41, Navy 7 – Folks out west are already downplaying SC this year with injuries and all, so we’ll have to wait until next week to see if they’re playing possum or in real trouble … until then, though, the Bucks need to unleash Pryor and roll over Navy to get confidence for the Trojans.

* PENN STATE 55, Akron 17 – Royster should have a field day for the Lions, who really won’t be challenged the first month and should roll up some impressive numbers as they climb in the rankings.

* PURDUE 30, Akron 23 – Hope and company need to win now since their September schedule is a lot tougher than the rest of the league. It will be a rough year for fans in West Lafayette as the countdown to Painter’s crew and hoops season is already under way.

* WISCONSIN 44, Northern Illinois 21 – Aside from RichRod, the league’s hot seat is the one Coach Bielema is on and he needs to win early and win big this year in Madison. The Huskies are crafty enough to keep it close for a half, but get rolled in the second.

* OREGON 34, Boise State 31 – I’m going back and forth on this game, as it should be a dandy on the Smurf Turf. Oregon would be a good Pac 10 pick if they hadn’t had the coaching change to deal with. And Boise is a good B(C)S sleeper, especially if they can win this game. I’ll ultimately go with the better QB in a great game.

* ALABAMA 26, Virginia Tech 21 – This won’t be the Bama route that last year’s Atlanta opener was, but I’m still not sold on Tech and the ACC as up to the SEC’s level (even if Bama was exposed a bit at the end of last year). Saban is dangerous with time and the Tide escape a late charge.

* OKLAHOMA 49, Brigham Young 31 – Break out the six shooters and let out a hearty “yeeeee-haw!” for this shootout at the new House that Jerry Built – should be a fun game for those who love offense, but OU just has too much firepower and puts a dent in BYU’s BCS buster hopes. That could leave Utah and TCU as the lone buster candidates if the Cougs and Broncos both fall opening week. Kudos to the big schools for finally scheduling these WAC and Mountain West schools, though!

* OKLAHOMA STATE 38, Georgia 27 – And now for my sleeper of the year (forget the Ole Miss hype!) and the exception to my theory of picking the SEC team – the Sooners aren’t the only big guns in Oklahoma this year. The Cowpokes announce their presence on the national stage with an impressive win over UGa (who seem to be the only SEC team willing to leave the comfort of the deep south for a matchup in September or any other time of the year for that matter – kudos to the Dawgs for that). If they can upset Texas at home later this year, Bedlam could be for a B(C)S title game spot.

* FLORIDA STATE 17, Miami 13 – It’s not the classic this game used to be, but at least it’s not the clunker it was a few years back either. Both teams are starting to rebound and the Noles rally around po’ ole Bobby to get his farewell season off on the right foot.

And off the board …

* NORTHWESTERN 27, Towson 7 – Defense will carry the Cats this year, especially early. They need to win their September games before the Big Ten stretch starts and that begins with Towson, which should be a comfortable win … but with a young offense and turnovers, you never know. Hopefully it’s not the usual tight NU finish.

Picks in Thursday by kickoff!
GO CATS!!!
- SjT

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STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!!