Weekend Picks

Welcome back to Durty Butter's Weekend Picks. For the record we were 4-1 last weekend. Big Ten season starts so good games to pick. The goal for the year is to go 75%. Not to prove our infinite knowledge of college football, we will go 75% to pay the rent.

Illinois (+15) vs Penn State - Penn State is 4-0, and does average over 50 points a game, and have won by an average margin of about 42 points. I think this is when Vegas stopped reading. They beat Oregon State, Temple, and Syracuse who are ranked 69, 92, and 107 respectively in the CBSsportsline poll. That is out of 120 teams. The fourth was Coastal Carolina. Now I understand that Illinois did not look great against ULL in their last game, and they gave up points against Eastern Illinois. Against Eastern, the Illini were up 40-7 in the fourth, and just like ULL, they gave up points with their 2nd and 3rd string defenses playing.
People seem to forget that we fought back against Mizzou to lose by 10, and Penn State is no Mizzou. They are more balanced on offense, but not as good. Really good defense when they are not in jail. The illini will have the starting DL intact for this game, and Donsay Hardemann will finally play at safety. Not to mention they had 2 weeks to prepare.
Do we think Illinois will win? Yes. Is this because we are total homers? Absolutely. That being said, we don't think that there is anyway that Penn State wins by more than 2 touchdowns as responsible gamblers.

Ohio State (-18.5) vs. Minnesota - Bennie is back, Pryor looks like a pretty good quarterback, and oh yeah its Minnesota! They have a horrible defense, offense looks better, and by better that means they have a quaterback and one good receiver. OSU will roll Minnesota by at least 20, probably closer to 40.

Purdue (pick) vs. Notre Dame - When will people realize that Charlie Weis and more importantly Jimmy Clausen suck? Purdue still has a good offense that can put up a lot of points. Notre Dame has one of the best recruited offenses that can still turn the ball over. Wanna get drunk? Take a drink every time Clausen launches the ball deep on play action into double coverage, take a shot every time it is overthrown by 5 yards, take 2 shots every time its picked. You will be asleep by halftime, which coincidentally is about when this game should be over.

Wisconsin (-6.5) vs. Michigan - Both teams had off weeks last week, so that gives Dick Rod time to teach his pro-style players to run the spread offense. Maybe he is also teaching his team how to field punts and not fumble 7 times. PJ Hill will get back on track and this should be an easy cover.

Auburn (-7) vs. Tennessee - Tennessee is struggling to hold its season together at 1-2, and Auburn looked real good against LSU. People think that this would be a let down game for Auburn, but I think let down games are bullshit. In the SEC you don't have let down games, because every team hates everyone else. I don't see UT scoring more than 13 points, and look for Auburn's defense to score in this game as well.

If you don't want to bet these games straight up, tease them.
Illinois +21 vs Penn State
OSU -12.5 vs Minnesota
Purdue +6 vs. Notre Dame
Wisco -.5 vs Michigan
Auburn -1 vs Tennessee