It's Rivalry Week -- and we have a bunch of teams (Kansas, Alabama, Minnehaha) and games in the contest that otherwise wouldn't be there.

Yep, 10 of the 11 Big Ten teams are here -- other than Purdue's visit to Hawaii it's the last football Saturday for them -- onto the Bowl Games!

There's And yet another Big Easy match-up on Thursday to watch for. And watch out for the Friday MAC game.

The Rules:
1. Pick the winner in each game.

2. Predict how many points the team you pick to win the designated Game of the Week will win by. This will be used for tiebreak purposes. This week it is, of course, #2 Michigan at #1 Ohio State.

3. The first pick is needed by the kickoff of the first game -- Thursday evening.

4. Picks must be submitted either via the Private Message function or E-mail. My email address is dcbucky2000@hotmail.com -- please do not post your picks here. Include your Outsports nickname with your picks.

The Games
Thursday, November 16
1. West Virginia at Pittsburgh
(Last year: wvu 45 - pitt 13)
The Backyard Brawl -- Pittsburgh leads the series 59-36-3

Friday, November 17
2. Central Michigan at Northern Illinois
(Last year: NIU 31 - CMU 28)
A rare MAC game in the contest -- CMU is undefeated in the conference and just won their division. Tough road trip to DeKalb -- CMU has lost 8 in a row to the Huskies.

Saturday, November 18
3. Western Michigan at Florida State
(Last met in 1991: FSU 58 - WMU 0)
Speaking of the MAC ... last week FSU gets shut out at home for the first time ever under Bowden. Does it get worse ... losing to a mid-major? Western Michigan is 7-3.

4. South Florida at Louisville
(Last year: USF 45 - L'ville 14)
Can USF beat Louisville again?

5. Rutgers at Cincinnati
(Last year: RU 44 - Bearcats 9)
RU hasn't visited Cinci since 1992 -- their BCS hopes can't afford a slip-up

6. Virginia Tech at Wake Forest
(Last met in 2004 VaTech 17 - WF 10)
Tech hasn't lost to Wake since 1983 -- but there was a long 20 year stretch between games.

7. Miami of Florida at Virginia
(Last year: MoF 25 - uva 17)
How bad does it get for MoF?

8. Maryland at Boston College
(Last year: BC 31 - Maryland 16)
Terps first visit ever to BC -- they last played BC in Massachusetts in a 1985 game in Foxboro.

9. Missouri at Iowa State
(Last year: Missouri 27 - I-State 24)
The Telephone Trophy -- Missouri leads 56-33-9
Missouri has lost two in a row. Will this make it three?

IN-STATE RIVALS
10. North Carolina State at North Carolina
(Last year: unc 31 - NCState 24)
North Carolina leads the series 62-27-6

11. Tennessee at Vanderbilt
(Last year: Vandy 28 - Tennessee 14)
Tennessee leads 67-27-5. Last year's Vandy win was its first since 1982

12. Kansas State at Kansas
(Last year: KSU 12 - KU 3)
The Governor's Cup -- Kansas leads 62-36-5

13. Auburn at Alabama
(Last year: AU 28 - Bama 18)
The Iron Bowl -- Alabama leads 38-31-1

14. Washington at Washington State
(Last year: Wazzou 26 - Wash 22)
The Apple Cup -- Washington leads 63-29-6

15. California at Southern Cal
(Last year: USC 35 - Cal 10)
First place in the PacTen is on the line

16. Indiana at Purdue
(Last year: PU 41 - IU 14)
The Old Oaken Bucket -- Purdue leads 67-35-6

17. Illinois at Northwestern
(Last year: NU 38 - IL 21)
The Sweet Sioux Tomahawk -- Illinois leads 51-43-5

OTHER BIG TEN RIVALRIES
18. Iowa at Minnesota
(Last year: IA 52 - MN 28)
The best trophy in the land -- Floyd of Rosedale -- Minnesota leads 58-39-2

19. Michigan State at Penn State
(Last year: PSU 31 - State 22)
The Land Grant Trophy -- Series tied 11-11-1

20. Michigan at An Ohio State University -- GAME OF THE CENTURY
(Last year: d'OSU 25 - MI 21)
No trophy, just a chance to play for the national title -- Michigan leads 57-39-6

CUT-AND-PASTE
Thursday, November 16
1. West Virginia at Pittsburgh

Friday, November 17
2. Central Michigan at Northern Illinois

Saturday, November 18
3. Western Michigan at Florida State
4. South Florida at Louisville
5. Rutgers at Cincinnati
6. Virginia Tech at Wake Forest
7. Miami of Florida at Virginia
8. Maryland at Boston College
9. Missouri at Iowa State
10. North Carolina State at North Carolina
11. Tennessee at Vanderbilt
12. Kansas State at Kansas
13. Auburn at Alabama
14. Washington at Washington State
15. California at Southern California
16. Indiana at Purdue
17. Illinois at Northwestern
18. Iowa at Minnesota
19. Michigan State at Penn State
20. Michigan at Ohio State -- GAME OF THE CENTURY -- Predict by how many point the victor will win

Ugh if anyone comes away from this with 3 losses or less, they should be praised.

Once again, there are Thursday and Friday evening games to consider.

In the meantime:

Cougar Fan
mdphl
GoMonica!
jerseyguy
SoFlaSpartan
itsplaytym
The B Man
weirdblackdog

are all in.

even me?

hey...wait a minute!

what?

love ya

lol he forgot me too...

Another reminder about this evening's Backyeard Brawl

I have picks from:
psulionstorm07
TheOtherFSU
Ill RepUTE
PCC
Thomas
theosdaddy
Gamecock
meric

Mine are:
Pittsburgh
Northern Illinois
Florida State
Louisville
Rutgers
Wake Forest
Miami
Boston College
Missouri
North Carolina State
Tennessee
Kansas State
Auburn
Washington State
USC
Purdue
Illinois
Iowa
Penn State
Ohio State by 13

Picks also in from:

SCTrojan
Purdue Fan

btw -- for tonight's matchup we are favoring WVU 20-1

may the vast majority of us start the weekend 1-0

Finally a Big East Thursday night game that doesn't end in sorry!

Except for Pitt...

Palko connected with Walt Harris but not with Wannsteadt (sp). That has been well documented. Pitt has been losing since Harris left. Perhaps Palko's future is in pros.

Harris was pretty stupid to leave Pitt for Stanford-he's probably on his way out; he's won ONE game this season and that will probably be it

With softballstud, MiamiDr, ChiAthlete, zeno and ClemsonTigah all in the contest, here are our predictions:

12-12
Minnehaha and Iowa

15-8
Nerdwestern over Illinois

16-8
d'OSU over Meechigan
K-State over KU

16-9
CMU over UNI

18-6
The Other USC over Cal

19-5
BC over Terps

20-4
MoF over uva
NC-State over unc
PU over IU
Auburn wins the Anemia Bowl

22-2
Wake over VaTech
Washington State over Washington

23-3
WVU over Pitt

23-1
Missouri over Iowa State

24-0
The Other FSU over Western Meechigan
Louisville over USF
PSU over MSU
Rutgers over Cinci
Tennessee over Vandi

There are a lot of games this week, so I'll make a post for each final score of the pick 'em.


West Virginia 45 Pittsburgh 27

Central Michigan 10 Northern Illinois 31

Miami (FL) 7 Virginia 17

Iowa 24 Minnesota 34

Maryland 16 Boston College 38

Michigan State 13 Penn State 17

Tennessee 39 Vanderbilt 10

North Carolina State 9 North Carolina 23

Indiana 19 Purdue 28

Illinois 16 Northwestern 27

Missouri 16 Iowa State 21

Western Michigan 20 Florida State 28

Auburn 22 Alabama 15

Kansas State 20 Kansas 39

Michigan 39 Ohio State 42

Virginia Tech 27 Wake Forest 6

Washington 35 Washington State 32

South Florida 8 Louisville 31

Rutgers 11 Cincinnati 30

California 9 USC 23

12:00 game rush just about up, now let's sit back and enjoy OSU-UM

My picks are already crap and the day's only half over.

lol this week is horrible...I'm 6-8 right now

I've lost 5 games so far this week.

I think I have missed three so far ... but my tiebreaker was Ohio State by 3 - so do I get a bonus prize for that?

Cougar Fan, you could be a contender for the weekly winner title!

lol, I think I might be going for the single worst one day pick 'em record in the history of OutSports

Gah

7-13 (.350)

How unbelievably horrendous.

Ok weird stat of the day, as I just heard on ESPN and confirmed by checking the official website:

The evening pick four for the Ohio State Lottery was:

4239

which of course was the score of the OSU-Mich game.

Too bizarre for words!

I sucked and not in a good way

9-11

I congratulate whoever takes over first from me this week

I somehow managed to go 13-7. The ACC killed me. 1-4 in those games.

Well done! I think I ended up 14-6 or so ... WHY DO I KEEP THINKING MIAMI WILL WIN A GAME?!?! AUUUGGGHHH!!!!!

Miami has done me in two weeks in a row. When will I ever learn?!?!?

the ACC killed me, the Big 10 killed me

I picked Miami too

UVA??? WTF

all I can say is bye bye Coker

Yeah -- I'm just about to tabulate the results this a.m. -- here's another peek at what we might be in for:

24-0
Rutgers over Cinci

Cincinnati won 30-11

23-1
Missouri over Iowa State

Iowa State won 21-16

22-2
Wake over VaTech

Hokies won 27-6

22-2
Washington State over Washington

Huskies won 35-32

20-4
MoF over uva

Wahoos 17-7

20-4
NC-State over unc

Tarheels won 23-9

16-9
CMU over UNI

Huskies won 31-10

16-8
K-State over KU

Jayhawks won 39-20

I don't feel as bad as I did

there were some real upsets this past weekend

Yes: 14-6 and tied with ChiAthlete for the lead. And you do get bonus points for picking d'OSU to win by 3. It's the tiebreaker. You win! Well done.

14-6
CougarFan
CHIAthlete

13-7
Hwkpride
jerseyguy
mdphl
The B Man
TheOtherFSU

12-8
Go Monica!
meric
softballstud
zeno

11-9
itsplaytym
MiamiDr
Purdue Fan
SoFlaSpartan

10-10
ClemsonTigah
DCBucky
Gamecock
Ill RepUTE
PCC
SCTrojan

9-11
blueraider
theosdadddy
wierdblackdog

8-12
Thomas

7-13
psulionstorm07

Wow -- I figured I'd be near the bottom. Definitely didn't think 11-9 would have me in the top half....I feel like I'm in the NL West or something, where .500 could win you the division...

WOW!! Who would have thunk it?!? Stupid Miami. Here's a hint to everyone ... I am picking AGAINST Miami this week so the 'Canes will beat the Eagles.

Cougar Fan, you've won 2 of the last 3 weeks. What's your secret? And BYU keeps moving up the polls in sync with your pick'em wins. You have obviously pleased the football gods in a major way. Pass on some of that luck to the rest of us please.

All I want from the football gods is to finally beat those damn Utes!!!