With the holiday approaching -- there's a game that day (that would be yet another Miami of Florida game ) and a couple on Friday -- I'm posting this early.

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 Notre Dame at Southern Cal

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.

Thursday, November 23
1. Boston College at Miami of Florida
(Last met in 2003: MoF 33 - BC 14)
Last time BC won at Miami was 1984 -- was Doug Flutie still at the helm then?? (sure -- they did win in Miami in the 1993 Blockbuster Bowl vs. uva). Time to kick the Canes when they're down.

Friday, November 24
2. Texas A&M at Texas
(Last season: TX 49 - a&m 20)
The Lone Star Showdown -- Texas leads 73-34-5

3. LSU at Arkansas
(Last season: LSU 19 - Arkansas 17)
The Golden Boot -- LSU leads 32-17-2
One of these teams may get the boot from the BCS.

4. Oregon at Oregon State
(Last season: Ducks 56 - B**vers 14)
The Civil War -- Oregon leads 55-44-10
Oregon last won this game in Corvallis in 1996

Saturday, November 25
5. Syracuse at Rutgers
(Last season: ru 31 - cuse 9)
Can RU bounce back?

6. South Florida at West Virginia
(Last season: WVU 28 - usf 14)
SoFla's first visit to Morgantown

7. Louisville at Pittsburgh
(Last season: Louisville 42 - pitt 20)
And the Cards first visit to the Iron City since 1993

8. Wake Forest at Maryland
(Last season: Maryland 22 - WF 12
Someone needs to win the ACC Atlantic. Terps have won seven in a row over the Deacons

9. Troy at Middle Tennessee State
(Last season: MTSU 17 - Troy 7)
Yes, a Sun Belt game, just to throw you. First place in the conference is on the line: Troy is 4-1; MTSU 6-0

10. Boise State at Nevada
(Last season: Smurfs 49 - NEvada 14)
Can the Wolfpack rain on B-State's BCS parade?

OLD RIVALS / NEW RIVALS
11. East Carolina at North Carolina State
(Last met in 2004: NC State 52 - ECU 14)

12. Florida at Florida State
(Last season: Gaytors 34 - The Other fsu 7)
The Governor's Cup

13. Georgia Tech at Georgia
(Last season: uga 14 - gatech 7)
"Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate" -- Georgia leads 57-38-5

14. Virginia at Virginia Tech
(Last season: Hokies 52 - Wahoos 14)
The Commonwealth Cup -- VaTech leads 45-37-5
uva last won in Blacksburg in 1998

15. South Carolina at Clemson
(Last season: Clemson 13 - usc 9)
Battle of the Palmetto State -- Clemson leads 63-36-4

16. Kansas at Missouri
(Last season: KU 13 - MO 3)
The Border Showdown -- KU leads 54-52-9

17. Mississippi State at Mississippi
(Last season: Miss State 35 - Ole Miss 14)
The Egg Bowl -- Series Record: Ole Miss leads 58-38-6

18. Oklahoma at Oklahoma State
(Last season: Sooners 42 - Cowboys 14)
The Bedlam Game -- Oklahoma leads 77-16-7

19. Brigham Young at Utah
(Last season: Utah 41 - BYU 34)
The Holy War -- Utah leads 49-28-4

20. Arizona State at Arizona
(Last season: AZ State 23 - zona 20)
The Territorial Championship Cup -- Arizona leads 44-34-1

21. Notre Dame at Southern California -- GAME OF THE WEEK
(Last season: Trojans 34 - Irish 31)
The Jeweled Shillelagh -- Notre Dame leads 42-30-5

CUT-AND-PASTE
Thursday, November 23
1. Boston College at Miami of Florida

Friday, November 24
2. Texas A&M at Texas
3. LSU at Arkansas
4. Oregon at Oregon State

Saturday, November 25
5. Syracuse at Rutgers
6. South Florida at West Virginia
7. Louisville at Pittsburgh
8. Wake Forest at Maryland
9. Troy at Middle Tennessee State
10. Boise State at Nevada
11. East Carolina at North Carolina State
12. Florida at Florida State
13. Georgia Tech at Georgia
14. Virginia at Virginia Tech
15. South Carolina at Clemson
16. Kansas at Missouri
17. Mississippi State at Mississippi
18. Oklahoma at Oklahoma State
19. Brigham Young at Utah
20. Arizona State at Arizona
21. Notre Dame at USC -- GAME OF THE WEEK -- predict by how many points the victor will win

I really hope I do better this time :\

Son of Rivalry Week, huh?

How about, RII: The Rivalry Continues...?

Boise State at Nevada should be really interesting. The Wolf Pack hasn't lost a home game in over 2 years and they're 8-3 and on a 5-game win streak. They've outscored their last 3 opponents 129-7... and weather almost always seems to be a factor in Reno in late November. If Boise State wins this one to finish 12-0, it's definitely deserving of a BCS bowl.

Bucky, I can honestly say that you have surpassed yourself in this week's picks

@#$%$$%

kisses!

Thursday is fast approaching.

Picks are in from:

Cougar Fan
SCTrojan
psulionstorm07
The B Man
theosdaddy
SoFlaSpartan
Rbear78240
ClemsonTigah
weirdblackdog

Mine, before I forget, are:
Boston College
Texas
Arkansas
Oregon State
Rutgers
West Virginia
Louisville
Wake Forest
MTSU
Nevada
North Carolina State
Florida
Georgia Tech
Virginia Tech
Clemson
Missouri
Mississippi
18. Oklahoma
Utah
Arizona State
USC by 17

May you be more wrong than you have ever been before!

Bumping this up.

mdphl, meric and Hwkpride are in.


And to answer my question -- just read in the McPaper that indeed the 1984 game was the Flutie's famous Hail Mary game that catapulted him to the Heisman win.

TheOtherFSU
Purdue Fan
IllRepUTE
and jerseyguy

are now it

I HATE YOU MIAMI HURRICANES!!! AUUUGGGHHHHH!!!!

Is there a breakdown of this week's picks?

Thank god Oregon State won or I'd be 0-4 already. Even at 1-3, things aren't looking great this week.

Yeah, I'm 1-3 as well with my losses being BC/UM, UO/OSU, and TEX/A&M.

Ugh.

Must be because of holidays.

I'm 1-3 so far also. You are not alone.

I don't think many people picked Texas to lose at home. And of course the stupid Hurricanes hosed me again. 2-2 already.

as soon as I quit picking Miami, they come back to win

but of course it doesn't save Coker's job

OMG, Clemson and West Virginia both lose at home too? I am definitely going to have a losing record this week. I can't remember a week with this many upsets in a long time. I'm getting worried about Boise State now.

WVU looked like a high school team today

It's been a while since I've seen them play so poorly

it looks like the Gator Bowl, if we're lucky

The Sun Bowl is probably a better bet at this point. Just an awful performance today.

Speaking of awful performances, I had my worst week of the season and finished 11-10.

Yay I did do better this week

Somehow I managed to scrounge up a 14-7.

Here's the rundown, from worst to best

26-0
Texas over A&M
WVU over South Florida

25-1
BC over Miami of Florida

24-2
MTSU over Troy

23-3
Clemson over USC

21-5
NC State over East Carolina

20-6
Arizona over Arizona State

17-9
Arkansas over LSU

16-10
GaTech over uga

14-12
Maryland over Wake

... now getting better ...

20-6
The Other USC over ND

22-4
Oregon State over Oregon
B-State over Nevada
Mississippi over Mississippi State

23-3
Oklahoma over OK State

24-2
Louisville over Pitt

25-1
Fla over Fla State

26-0
VaTech over uva
RU over 'cuse

I'll have the results up in a minute

Thomas wins this week's contest with an impressive 15-6 record ... most of us were well behind that ...

15-6
Thomas

14-7
psulionstorm07

13-8
ClemsonTigah
CougarFan
Go Monica!
jerseyguy
meric
MiamiDr
Purdue Fan

12-9
Hwkpride
mdphl
RBear78240
SCTrojan
The B Man

11-10
blueraider
DCBucky
PCC
TheOtherFSU
zeno

10-11
pat 125
SoFlaSpartan
theosdadddy

9-12
Ill RepUTE
itsplaytym
wierdblackdog

8-13
CHIAthlete

Wow, I went from last to second place?

Holy crap.

this is the second week in a row that I've finished under .500

To be honest with you, I've never even seen half of the midwest and northern teams on your list play. That's a good thing though, because I joined this board thinking that half the teams in the SEC could beat any team from the other football conferences. I was wrong. Because of this board, I actually watched many of the Big East, ACC, and WAC games and now respect other teams and conferences. I never used to do that. My favorite football conferences are still the Pac-10 and SEC, and my favorite teams are still LSU, USC, OSU and Michigan, but I've also come to love Cal, Louisville, Rutgers, WVU, and especially Wisconsin. If there is a football God, please let Michigan play LSU in the Rose Bowl (I expect that Notre Dame will end up in the Rose BOwl though, because they have so much more history and television appeal than LSU). I am really disappointed that Wisconsin was , by rule, shut out of a BCS bowl because I think that team is playing some of the best football in the nation right now.