Happy New Year, College & Pro Picks, Bowl Pool Update

Lots of games to pick correctly this week. As always, we will start with college.

NCAA (Last week: 1-2, Overall 41-36, 53%)

Houston (+6) vs. South Carolina. The Gamecocks have played to the level of their competition both ways all year, and Houston has a high powered offense that should keep up if not win outright.

Purdue (Pk) vs. Maryland. The Terrapins did it with smoke and mirrors all year this year, they are just not that good. Hollenbach makes too many mistakles at the quarterback spot. Despite Friedgen's strong bowl record and Tiller's 3-5 mark in bowl at Purdue, take the Boilermakers here.

Navy (+6.5) vs. Boston College. The Eagles are not good enough to separate here, despite havnig a month to prepare for Navy extremely one dimensional offense. The turmoil with the coaching change in Chestnut Hill will not help here.

Iowa (+10) vs. Texas. The 'Horns have not been right the second half of the year. Despite a disappointing season behing senior QB Drew Tate, the Hawkeyes will be ready to play.

Virginia Tech (-2.5) vs. Georgia. Tech has played great the second half of the year, learning again how to run and stop the run. eorgia has improved as well, but the Hokies get it done by 10 or more here.

Nevada (+3.5) vs. Miami (FL). The Wolfpack, despite laying an egg in their season finale against Boise State, are the better team here.

Auburn (-1.5) vs. Nebraska. Look for the Tigers to salvage a bitterly disappointing season against a team that does not have the talent to stay with them.

Georgia Tech (+10.5) vs. West Virginia. The Yellow Jackets will be better off without Reggie Ball at quarterback, and they will rally around each other. West Virginia will not be excited playing in this game.

Boise St (+7.5) vs. Oklahoma. Stoops was the most overlooked coach in the country this year for the job he did, but Boise is playing for respect, and they will keep it close....at least.

Wake Forest (+10) vs. Lousville. Been riding the Wake train for a while, cannot abandon ship now that they have reached the Orange Bowl.

Will have the last three bowl games next week....

NFL (Last Week 6-2-1, Overall 51-41, 55%)

Kansas City (-2.5) vs. Jacksonville. Repeat after me....unless in Philadelphia, Jacksonville cannot win on the road.

Indianapolis (-8.5) vs. Miami. Miami will not be able to slow down Indy enough or score enough to keep up. Indy will want to gain its confidence which is shattered before heading into the playoffs.

New England (+3.5) at Tennessee. New England does not usually take its foot off the brakes before the playoffs, and if anyone can stymie Vinve Young, it's Belichick.

Seattle (+3.5) at Tampa Bay. I know, the game does not mean much to Seattle and Tampa will want to wni their finale, but Seattle is better, and I think Holmgren wants to get this team moving in a better direction before their playoff opener next week.

EAGLES (-7.5) vs. Atlanta. Raucous crowd, team with momentum and they sneed the game to win. Atlanta, once they get behind, will want to get out of town as fast as possible to prepare for Jim Mora Jr.'s firing later this week. And how to trade Michael Vick to get Chaib in th elineup? That is the next challenge....

Now, onto the bowl pool.....

The herd has taken the favorite in all fives games today, which seems to make sense based on how things have gone in the bowl season so far with 9 out of 12 favorites covering so far (which is unheard of by the way). If it keeps up, we will have some very lofty bowl pool scores.

Standings:
1. Jodi Wallace #1 204
2. Joe Hochhauser 203
3. John McKeating 195
4. Mike Powers 171
5. Brian Wallace #2 164
6. Greg Benedetto 161
7. Peter Krug 159
8. Bob van Nortwick 158
9. Jodi Wallace #2 157
9. Clint 157
11. Rob Mitchell 152
12. Jeremy Hare #1 151
13. Shawn Mitchell 150
14. Jeff Saito 147
15. David Scherby 146
23. Dils 123

Clemson (-10.5) Picks: 43
Kentucky Picks: 31 (Slight Lean in Vegas toward Kentucky, line at 10 in most spots)

Oreg St (-3.5) Picks: 49 (slight lean in Vegas to Oregon St, where line has inched up to 4 in some spots)
Missuori Picks: 25

South Carolina (-6.5) Picks: 42
Houston Picks: 32 (slight lean in vegas to Houston, as line is down to 6)

Maryland (-2.5) Picks:43
Purdue Picks: 31 (strong push in vegas to Purdue; it is now a Pick'Em in many spots)

Texas Tech (-6.5) Picks: 47 (slight lean to Tech in Vegas, where line is now 7)
Minnesota Picks: 27

Name (Points to date), Friday Picks
Michael Albrecht (122) Clem 20 Oreg St 17 South Car 21 Pur 27 Tx Tch 31
Tom Arnold (75) UK 3 Oreg St 20 South Car 19 Md 23 Tx Tch 18
Bear (80) Clem 16 Oreg St 19 Hou 15 Md 30 Tx Tch 27
Joseph Beedon (109) UK 26 Oreg St 24 Hou 10 Pur 4 Tx Tch 8
Gregg Benedetto (161) Clem 22 Oreg St 26 Houst 19 Md 21 Tx Tch 18
Scott Bingham (111) Clem 22 Oreg St 8 Houst 6 Pur 2 Tx Tch 24
Bryan Boisi (67) UK 12 Oreg St 21 South Car 18 Pur 20 Tx Tch 8
Barry Bredt (83) Clem 10 Oreg St 9 South Car 8 Pur 28 Minn 7
Billy Bredt (60) UK 3 Mizzou 25 Houst 16 Pur 28 Minn 15
Brownie (52) Clem 13 Mizzou 14 South Car 15 Md 16 Minn 17
Clint (157) UK 6 Oreg St 30 Houst 7 Pur 8 Minn 9
Cow (79) Clem 21 Mizzou 11 South Car 22 Pur 18 Tx Tch 19
Dils (123) UK 5 Mizzou 24 Houst 30 Pur 25 Tx Tch 9
Derald Emory (100) UK 4 Oreg St 17 South Car 18 Md 5 Tx Tech 19
Matt Emory (130) UK 17 Oreg St 3 Houst 11 Pur 20 Tx Tch 21
Scott Fiedler (89) UK 12 Oreg St 1 Houst 11 Md 24 Minn 10
Flummer (71) UK 27 Oreg St 3 Houst 26 Md 25 Tx Tch 32
Frank G (67) Clem 24 Oreg St 20 South Car 15 Md 17 Minn 2
Sean Germon (119) UK 27 Oreg St 18 Houst 28 Md 11 Minn 31
Brian Getson (72) UK 16 Mizzou 17 South Car 25 Pur 4 Tx Tch 24
William Greenlaw (53) UK 20 Mizzou 6 South Car 27 Pur 12 Tx Tch 17
Darryl Griffin (Tm WalMart) (124) UK 26 Oreg St 14 South Car 31 Md 27 Tx Tch 28
Jimmy Grossman (67) UK 27 Mizzou 6 Houst 14 Md 17 Tx Tech 30
Kevin Gusinow (91) Clem 15 Oreg St 23 South Car 12 Md 30 Minn 11
Max Haber 1 (51) UK 15 Mizzou 30 South Car 8 Pur 7 Tx Tch 18
Max Haber 2 (74) Clem 13 Oreg St 4 South Car 3 Md 23 Tx Tch 32
Jeremy Hare #1 (151) UK 25 Oreg St 7 South Car 27 Md 6 Tx Tch 16
Jeremy Hare #2 (102) Clem 8 Mizzou 10 South Car 27 Pur 7 Minn 15
Eric Haron (99) UK 12 Oreg St 5 Houst 4 Pur 3 Minn 11
Joe Hochhauser (203) Clem 27 Mizzou 3 South Car 14 Md 4 Tx Tch 23
Dave Holdsworth (112) UK 8 Oreg St 22 Houst 21 Md 9 Minn 18
Iceman (55) UK 26 Mizzou 5 Houst 10 Md 20 Minn 11
Rick Kaiser (110) Clem 23 Mizzou 6 Houst 16 Pur 15 Minn 14
KMart (82) Clem 32 Mizzou 12 South Car 3 Pur 15 Minn 4
Peter Krug (159) Clem 29 Oreg St 14 South Car 28 Pur 3 Minn 2
Charles Kulbok (30) Clem 12 Oreg St 29 Houst 13 Md 14 Tx Tech 32
Laughandwin (126) Clem 13 Mizzou 17 South Car 12 Md 9 Tx Tch 25
Beth Levine (104) Clem 15 Oreg St 19 Houst 7 Md 22 Tx Tch 8
Dan Levine (85) Clem 27 Oreg St 31 South Car 11 Md 5 Tx Tch 23
Matt Littman (55) Clem 13 Oreg St 14 Houst 15 Md 16 Minn 17
Mark Loftus (128) UK 8 Oreg St 20 Houst 4 Pur 7 Tx Tech 23
Tom Maiden (132) UK 29 Mizzou 25 South Car 28 Md 22 Tx Tch 23
Mike Maurer & Jon Reis (101) Clem 7 Mizzou 4 South Car 14 Md 15 Minn 16
John McKeating (195) Clem 21 Mizzou 3 South Car 12 Md 25 Minn 2
Rob Mitchell (152) Clem 8 Oreg St 22 South Car 14 Md 5 Tx Tch 11
Shawn Mitchell (150) Clem 15 Oreg St 23 South Car 6 Md 16 Tx Tch 17
Stephen Moss (112) Clem 17 Oreg St 25 Houst 2 Md 29 Minn 5
Brian Murphy (53) Clem 21 Mizzou 10 South Car 22 Pur 11 Tx Tch 6
Will Nadeau (106) Clem 32 Mizzou 1 Houst 10 Pur 2 Tx Tch 13
Bobby P (77) Clem 8 Oreg St 31 South Car 24 Pur 30 Minn 23
Larry Parsons (92) Clem 20 Oreg St 19 South Car 21 Pur 14 Tx Tch 2
Needham Hines (143) Clem 16 Oreg St 11 South Car 9 Md 17 Tx Tch 7
Glenn Peter (104) Clem 25 Oreg St 16 South Car 10 Md 13 Tx Tch 14
Mike Powers (171) Clem 27 Oreg St 21 South Car 19 Md 10 Minn 9
Princess Bitch (84) Clem 21 Oreg St 11 South Car 22 Md 18 Tx Tch 19
Mark Rudofker (39) UK 30 Mizzou 8 Houst 17 Pur 5 Minn 18
Jeff Saito (147) Clem 27 Oreg St 12 South Car 23 Pur 6 Tx Tch 10
David Scherby (146) Clem 18 Mizzou 12 Houst 2 Md 3 Tx Tch 16
Greg Shields (100) UK 25 Mizzou 15 Houst 28 Pur 24 Tx Tch 3
Ed Smeltzer (26) Clem 15 Oreg St 16 South Car 17 Pur 18 Tx Tch 19
Andy Smukler (57) UK 10 Mizzou 23 Houst 27 Pur 26 Tx Tch 4
Matthew Spanjers (25) UK 2 Oreg St 25 South Car 16 Md 21 Tx Tch 17
Stitzer (73) Clem 10 Mizzou 12 South Car 15 Md 14 Minn 16
Jon Taylor (83) UK 9 Oreg St 27 Houst 15 Pur 21 Tx Tch 20
Bob van Nortwick (158) Clem 17 Oreg St 32 South Car 3 Md 18 Tx Tch 12
Bob Wallace (67) Clem 15 Mizzou 12 South Car 3 Md 4 Minn 23
Brian Wallace 1 (135) Clem 13 Oreg St 12 Houst 25 Md 11 Minn 10
Brian Wallace 2 (164) UK 7 Oreg St 4 Houst 31 Md 3 Tx Tch 24
Jodi Wallace 1 (204) Clem 3 Oreg St 22 Houst 12 Pur 10 Tx Tch 9
Jodi Wallace 2 (157) UK 6 Oreg St 15 South Car 2 Md 14 Tx Tch 29
Dirk Welzien (92) Clem 10 Oreg St 6 Houst 15 Pur 1 Tx Tch 18
Steve Whiteford (90) Clem 27 Mizzou 8 Houst 8 Md 12 Tx Tech 28
AJ Whitehead (59) UK 9 Oreg St 23 South Car 27 Md 12 Minn 13
Wade Wilson (67) UK 15 Oreg St 23 South Car 22 Md 29 Minn 17