Week 7 Recap

There were 15 upsets in Week 7 and the biggest ones were so unexpected that none of our entrants selected them: South Carolina went between the hedges as 24.5-point underdogs and defeated Playoff favorite Georgia in 2OT; Bowling Green, widely regarded as a bottom-five FBS team took down MAC favorite Toledo as 26-point underdog. The largest-spread upset that someone thought to pick this week was MWC bottom-feeder UNLV picking up an SEC win over Vandy in Nashville as 14.5-point underdogs. Other key upsets: Tennessee finally got off the floor to take down Miss State; Louisville gave Wake Forest its first loss to knock the Demon Deacons out of the Top-25; and Temple put a major dent in the Memphis NY6 bid. This week, the tie-breaker determined the winner: both Victory Cigars for Everyone and Karly scored 20 points, so it came down to who guessed closest to the total score in the Red River Shootout, so VCfE won the day.

Although Karly’s big week didn’t win out, it still produced the biggest move on the Leaderboard, jumping 17 spots to #20 overall. VCfE has now fully joined the fight at the top of the season-long standings, sitting just 2.5 points behind Yours Truly. There is still plenty of season left to climb the leaderboard and earn weekly prizes, so join now.

Week 8 Picks

There is certainly one juicy home underdog that we’ll be watching closely, as our Frogs go into Manhattan as 3.5-point favorites. Although I’m not sure TCU has done anything this season to deserve to be road favorites over anyone, much less a strong and feisty Wildcat squad, but I don’t have the heart to pick it here. I still want to believe. But I certainly don’t begrudge those of you who jump on over to pick against TCU, there is some logic on your side. Last week, I noted how tough it was to come up with five games I liked; this week I have too many games that I think set up nicely for the underdogs, which likely means I won’t pick the right ones, but here goes nothing:

1. Baylor (+3.5) vs. Oklahoma State – As long as oddsmakers keep setting the Bears as underdogs in these middle-tier Big 12 games, I am going to continue hating myself and picking them to win.

2. Temple (+7.5) vs. SMU – Last we saw Temple, they were upsetting AAC East favorite Memphis; last we saw SMU, they somehow escaped in 3OT at home against AAC East bottom-feeder Tulsa. Perhaps this is an indication that the Ponies are for real for real and a threat to reach the NY6, but I’m hoping they are flying a bit too close to the sun.

3. Ole Miss (+6.5) vs. Texas A&M – Maybe I haven’t been paying enough attention, but this line just doesn’t make sense to me. Even with the game being in Oxford, shouldn’t the Aggies be 2-TD favorites over the Rebels? Maybe it’s the “body-blow theory” with A&M coming off a bruising loss to Alabama that they won’t be ready to get up for a trip to lowly Ole Miss. Something is off here

4. Virginia Tech (+3.5) vs. North Carolina

5. Syracuse (+3.5) vs. Pittsburgh

These last two are just basically home underdogs as equal teams floating around in the middle of the ACC.

Your Picks

This week’s slate feels like a bit of a come-down after the anticipation and excitement of last week – most of the Top 25 are heavy favorites and the “game of the week” features a 2-score home favorite. However, these sleepy weekends that can often produce chaos. Will the top teams continue to roll over lowly competition or will another minnow swallow a whale? Fill out your selections in the form below or click HERE if your browser doesn’t show the form on this page. Remember to get your picks in before the start of games you select – Week 8 Schedule. Good luck!