This article is part of our College Football Picks series.
There are many reasons to love college football, but perhaps the best is the unpredictability. It wasn't always this way, in fact, the regular season used to be fairly predictable, but something changed about a decade ago and for whatever reason, the playing field was seemingly leveled, which led to more balance and more upsets.
Just 10 years ago, the thought of a team like Ole Miss going into the belly of the beast and not only winning, but looking like the better team, was unthinkable, but that's exactly what happened Saturday as the Rebels traveled to Tuscaloosa and controlled the play on the field.
Nearly the same exact scenario played out on the west coast as Stanford, a team which looked futile just two weeks earlier, won with relative ease at USC. OK, so Stanford is not exactly a push over, the Cardinal have been solid for years, but the fact remains, USC looked the part of a top-ranked team early this season, while, until Saturday night, Stanford had not.
We aren't exactly talking about colossal upsets here, but that's not really the point. The point is, the days of penciling in teams for a championship a week or two into the season are long gone. Heck, it's pretty much impossible to even pencil a team into the top 4 at this point in the year.
Prior to the season, Ohio State was penciled into the Championship game, but after a couple questionable showings, few are comfortable about putting
There are many reasons to love college football, but perhaps the best is the unpredictability. It wasn't always this way, in fact, the regular season used to be fairly predictable, but something changed about a decade ago and for whatever reason, the playing field was seemingly leveled, which led to more balance and more upsets.
Just 10 years ago, the thought of a team like Ole Miss going into the belly of the beast and not only winning, but looking like the better team, was unthinkable, but that's exactly what happened Saturday as the Rebels traveled to Tuscaloosa and controlled the play on the field.
Nearly the same exact scenario played out on the west coast as Stanford, a team which looked futile just two weeks earlier, won with relative ease at USC. OK, so Stanford is not exactly a push over, the Cardinal have been solid for years, but the fact remains, USC looked the part of a top-ranked team early this season, while, until Saturday night, Stanford had not.
We aren't exactly talking about colossal upsets here, but that's not really the point. The point is, the days of penciling in teams for a championship a week or two into the season are long gone. Heck, it's pretty much impossible to even pencil a team into the top 4 at this point in the year.
Prior to the season, Ohio State was penciled into the Championship game, but after a couple questionable showings, few are comfortable about putting the Buckeyes into the top 4 for now. I guess we'll just have to see how all of this plays out ... and have a lot of fun doing so.
A much needed set of results for me in week three as I hit all of my top plays. It didn't go unnoticed that all of those plays were on totals either. I'll try not to overreact to those specific results, though, as that usually leads to trouble.
As always, I'll tweet any insights I come up with post-article each week. You can follow me at @gregvara
CREAM OF THE CROP (Week: 4-0; Season: 6-2)
Saturday
Bowling Green at Purdue: It's a case of the moveable object vs. another movable object. It's too early to tell if either team has a legitimate offense yet, but one thing is for certain, neither of these teams can stop anyone. I've seen these situations go south before as sometimes teams that are often involved in high-scoring affairs need the help of a strong opponent, but something tells me it won't take much to move the ball on either team in this one.
Total: Over 75
Indiana at Wake Forest: Indiana is beginning to hit its stride on offense and as per usual, its defense is more than willing to get into a shootout. Wake Forest is nothing like Indiana in that aspect, but teams like Indiana have a way of drawing the opposition into its style. The beauty of this situation is that it won't take much to get over this number as Wake's style has this total set in the mid-50s.
Total: Over 56
Ohio at Minnesota: I can't imagine Minnesota coming out as flat as it did last week against Kent, but then again, I don't see how that offense can put up more than 24 points against any team. As for defense, well that's not a problem. Expect another low-scoring affair this week in Minnesota.
Total: Under 47
BEST OF THE REST (Week: 0-2; Season: 1-5)
Thursday
Boise State at Virginia: I generally shy away from going under a total in the 40s, but this one is about as close to 50 as it can get, so I'm not all that nervous. The best reason to take the under, however, is Boise State's defense, which has proven to be solid in the early going. Virginia hasn't proven quite as stout on defense, but the Cavs have faced some pretty solid offenses already this season.
Total: Under 49
Stanford at Oregon State: A couple ways to look at this one. The first is Stanford is due for a letdown after a huge win at USC last week. The other is Stanford has figured "it" out and is about to go on a nice little run. I'm in the camp of the latter. There's still no way to explain what happened Week 1 at Northwestern, but that doesn't really matter now that the Cardinal seem to have righted the ship.
Side: Stanford -16.5
Saturday
Georgia Tech at Duke: The Yellow Jackets laid a big egg last week in South Bend, but they face an entirely different situation this week at Duke. Georgia Tech has made a habit of beating up on bad teams since moving to the triple-option, but they've struggled against top-tier competition. Fortunately for them, the Blue Devils do not qualify as "top-tier."
Side: Georgia Tech -7.5
PASSing THOUGHTS: (Week: 2-1; Season: 3-4)
Saturday
BYU at Michigan: This will be a good test to see where Michigan is now. Week 1 at Utah was a little too much to ask, but this game, at home, against a solid foe will show us a bit more. BYU has not missed a beat since losing its starting QB, and while this is certainly a tough spot, I think the Cougars will at minimum stay within the number.
Side: BYU +5.5
Western Michigan at Ohio State: A perfect situation for OSU backers here as the Buckeyes did win last week, but it was not pretty, which means a tough week of practice, which means some frustration will be let out on lowly Western Michigan.
Side: OSU -31.5
Tennessee at Florida: Certainly a tough environment for a young team to thrive, but I think the experience of the Oklahoma game is going to help the Vols in this spot. That and the line has moved two points in the favor of Tennessee since it opened.
Side: Tennessee pick
