If you were following along last week, we hit two dingers in our locks of the week picking both BYU and Tennessee to cover the spread.
The bad news is that the Ole Miss/Missouri over didn’t hit, and Memphis let us down on the road to go 2-2 for week seven and now 15-12 for the season. The locks are better this week as the data continues to pour in with every game played, and the conference races start to shake out.
This is also the part of the season where despair begins to really set in for some teams. If you’re sitting at 2-5 right now, your hopes and dreams are sitting like the S.S. Minnow on a far away beach somewhere. Its do or die time, and you might have a top 25 team to play on the road.
Then there’s the teams facing the pressure of making the College Football Playoff with no margin of error left sitting at 5-2. Will the intensity of the moment produce laser focus or crumbling mediocrity? I think its time for the picks.
LOCKS FOR COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEK 8
- Rutgers at No. 24 Northwestern (-16.5) – There’s just something I like about this Northwestern team. Last week they didn’t look great against Michigan State but got the job done. Now the Scarlet Knights roll into town looking for their biggest win of the season though they haven’t played well against good teams this year (see: 47-15 loss to Indiana). This one gets ugly, bet on the purple Chicago boys.
- Vanderbilt at No. 12 Kentucky (-10.5) – After starting 3-0, the Commodores have lost four straight including to moribund Arkansas, and now Clark Lea and Co. face a road trip to Lexington with a late kick. The Wildcats have caused the average blood pressure of its fanbase to be 20-30 points higher this season with some of its heroics, but that won’t be a problem this week as UK covers easily.
- Oregon at Illinois (+8.5) – Oregon will be without Dante Moore at quarterback for this game, and the Illini are coming off a bye week. Other than its blowout loss to Ohio State, Illinois has been within one score in its losses, so with a homefield advantage, I think this one could stay closer than expected.
- No. 7 Ole Miss (+3.5) at No. 19 Texas – I’m not saying the Rebels will win it, but I like them +3.5 on the road against Texas. The Longhorns in my opinion are probably going to come out swinging after back to back losses and a lot on the line this week. The Rebels just have to quell that initial effort from Texas long enough for its offense to get clicking with Trinidad Chambliss under center. I’d like to put it out there this could be called the Kewan Lacy legacy game as he has had a lower carry volume the last month, and its maybe time for him to break out in his native state for a big game.
