Thursdays are my favorite. The John Brandon column comes out on Thursday! If you don’t read him yet, you should. It’s so good that I will soon begin systematically stalking Florida Outbacks. Wait, what? No. I’m kidding.
Anyway, Thursdays are my favorite. On Thursdays, I come home, have a beer (today it’s Lucky U IPA from Breckenridge Brewery!), catch up on The Awl and The Hairpin, study my fantasy football and football gambling research, and then later I get to watch Parks & Rec and I feel like everything is going to be ok and somehow I’ll salvage that Michael Vick number one overall pick into a winning fantasy football season. Haha, not really. On to the picks.
USF -1.5: I actually think the spread would have been bigger if Pitt hadn’t kept it close with Notre Dame last week. But there’s a major flaw in this logic: Notre Dame is terrible. We go through this every year. Beating a Big 10 team at home once a year doesn’t make them not terrible. And yet, in three months, someone on television (I’m looking at you, Kirk Herbstreit) will use that win as the sole reason for ol’ Touchdown Jesus to make an appearance at a BCS bowl game. Oh my have I derailed. Back to USF/Pitt. Someone somewhere this week referred to Todd Graham’s offense as “high octane,” I guess because they scored 35…against Maine? Also Buffalo! On the other hand, USF’s offense actually is high octane (a conference leading 523 ypg) – plus it’s not really cold up north yet, so there’s no advantage for Pitt there. I reckon the Bulls win by at least two TDs.
Houston -16.5: Case Keenum. The end.
Oh, I’m sorry – you want more? Fine. The Miners of UTEP have lost seven starters so far this year, though some of them may return tonight – including their best QB…from a SEPARATED SHOULDER, which sounds painful and unwise for someone you expect to throw a ball. Also: Case Keenum. The end.
Fun fact: I picked these spreads first thing Monday morning while trying to avoid a staff meeting, and totals hadn’t been posted yet. Total for Houston/UTEP? 66.5. In CUSA. That’s an easy over for me. This conference is basically allergic to running.
Ok, enjoy the football y’all! I’ll probably be watching Ron Swanson.
