Brown's Picks - College Football Week 11

I knew last week was a potential disappoint for me. I picked some of the right winners, but the spread is what did me in. I went a dismal 2-6 last week, which brings my overall record to 7-9. Hopefully, this week will treat me better. It’s a shorter list of games because I’ll also be doing some of the big College Basketball games for this weekend.

West Virginia @ Cincinnati (-9.5)

Huge Friday night game in the race for the Big East Championship. Sophomore Zach Collaros will be starting again for the Bearcats but Cincy coach Brain Kelly has said Tony Pike will get some playing time. Cincinnati is coming off a nail-biter against UCONN last week, but I expect the Bearcat Defense to show up tonight. This is a game Cincinnati needs to win before the big matchup with Pitt in a couple weeks. I think WVU keeps it close, but the Bearcats pull it out with a 10 points victory, just barely covering

PICK : CINCINNATI

Iowa @ Ohio St. (-16.5)

This is the Big Ten Championship game. Terrelle Pryor looked pretty good last week at Penn St. He was effective running and throwing the ball and looked like the QB Buckeyes fans have been waiting for. On the other side of the field, the Hawkeyes are coming off a crushing loss to Northwestern and will be playing without starting quarterback Ricky Stanzi, who had surgery on his ankle after injuring it in last week’s loss. Iowa has been in every game this year and I don’ expect anything different this weekend. The Buckeyes win, but not by 17 points.

PICK: IOWA

Clemson (-8) @ NC State

Clemson is in the driver’s seat to win the ACC Atlantic Division and potentially win their first conference championship since 1990. The Tigers’ offense has been rolling, scoring 38 points in four straight games for the first time in the program’s history. Kyle Parker and CJ Spiller should have a big day against an NC State defense that is allowing almost 30 points a game. Clemson shouldn’t have too much trouble with a struggling Wolfpack. Clemson wins this one by 13.

PICK: CLEMSON

Kentucky (-3) @ Vanderbilt

The Wildcats need this one. Kentucky is going into Nashville with a 5-4 (1-4) record. A win this Saturday would make them bowl eligible, and just in time; their last two games are between the Hedges in Athens, GA and at home against an up-and-down Tennessee teams. Those games are winnable for the Cats, but I’m sure they would feel much better going into those games with a bowl already wrapped up. Vanderbilt shouldn’t be much of a test for Kentucky; the Commodores have a scoring margin of -5.8 this year. I think 3 points is a pretty low spread, I see the Cats winning by double digits.

PICK: KENTUCKY

Utah @ TCU (-19.5)

It seems funny to say this about a game in the Mountain West, but this is a big game on the national scene. TCU leap frogged (pun definitely intended) Cincinnati last week to move to #4 in the BCS standings. I had a chance to see TCU earlier this year when they visited Death Valley and handed my Tigers a loss. Let me tell you, they are the real deal. Quarterback Andy Dalton is the real deal and has the HornedFrogs rolling. This game may be in Forth Worth but Utah is very familiar with TCU and ended the Frogs’ hopes at a BCS birth a year ago. TCU will win this game, but not by 20 points.

PICK: UTAH

This is an abbreviated version of Brown’s Pick for Football this week. Check back later tonight for my run-down of some of the big basketball games this weekend.

GO TIGERS!!!