Pistols Firing Week 4 Picks

The picks have been pretty ugly for most of us through three weeks, but Thomas Fleming is crushing at 10-2. Here are this week’s picks with current standings at the bottom (locks of the week in bold). Our explanations are below.

Kyle Boone

Arkansas over A&M is my lock. A&M is the favorite for this neutral site showdown, but I like Arkansas in this one. They’ll cover the +6 with their potent running game and a rising QB who showed out against TCU two weeks ago.

OSU/Baylor: Either Baylor has yet to show all their cards on offense, or things look dramatically different than how it did under Art Briles. Regardless, I think OSU takes advantage of the Baylor defense and wins handily.

Florida / Tenn: I care not that Butch Jones has not beat Florida since 1845, I’ll take the Vols as the home favorite. Especially with Florida losing Luke Del Rio for an extended period after an injury last week.

Wisconsin/Mich. State: I saw what Wisconsin did to LSU and Les Miles this year, but I still like Sparty at -5 to win handly at home against the banged up Badgers.

Caleb Deck

OSU will win this week. They have to. If (Lord forbid) they do lose (they won’t, of course) I will be lying on the floor of my in-laws living room sobbing and that’s just not a good situation for anyone. This is all on you Yurcich …

I like A&M still, with Trevor Knight on his “Baker who?” vengeance rampage through the SEC and a solid defense they top Arkansas pretty easily.

Still riding the CMU hype-train and will be a Chips fan until the CFP now. Interesting thought, if CMU and OSU both win out, who gets in? Actually nevermind, that’s a sad, sad world I don’t want to explore.

Arizona State has proved they can put up some points and Cal is coming off a crazy battle with Texas. Sun Devils look like a pretty good choice here.

Not to disparage Texas State but they did just get beat 42-3 by Arkansas. Greg Ward may break some CFB passing records this evening and will surely break the hopes, dreams, and quite possibly the dignity of the Bobcats.

Thomas Fleming

OSU @ Baylor — OSU +8.5: Not saying that OSU will win, but if they lose, I’d hope that it would be close. Plus, if they get off to a fast start, who knows?

Louisville @ Marshall — UL -27.5: Louisville is the hottest team in college football, and while Marshall is a decent team, they won’t be able to keep it within four touchdowns.

Colorado @ Oregon — UO -10.5: The Buff’s starting QB is out, leaving RS freshman Steven Montez as starter. Montez went 0-for-7 against Michigan in his time last weekend. Throw in this game’s recent history and it’s a fairly safe pick.

FSU @ USF — FSU -4.5: This is a prototypical overreaction line. Yes, the Seminoles just got embarrassed by Louisville. But do they still have better players than USF? Yes. And are they now angry and ready to beat the pulp out of someone to prove their worth? Yes.

Stanford @ UCLA — Stanford -3: People forget that Stanford is more than Christian McCaffrey. Plus, UCLA hasn’t won this game in eight years. I’ll take the Cardinal, but I still despise their band. Worst excuse for a band I’ve ever seen, and they’re not even good.

Kyle Porter

Florida State by 4.5 over South Florida? In what world? [Vegas builds new casino]

OSU is my classic homer pick of the week. USC is a mess, and Utah should torch them. I’ll ride Stanford until Tiger tells me to stop. Penn State might stink as well. I’m in on Michigan at home.

Sam Aldrich

I’ve got Stanford over UCLA as my lock of the weekend. I’m looking for the Cardinal to go into the Rose Bowl and expose UCLA as a bit of a fraud (they’ve already lost to Texas A&M and scraped by last week against BYU). I’ve got Stanford as a favorite for the CFP and I expect Christian McCaffery to roll all over that defense this week.