Your Week Six College Football Scores

October 9, 2010 - 6:00 am by McD

6 am - Read my week six picks here.

7:45 am - Jerrod Johnson says he needs to fix his turnover problem. Florida also realized this week that it needs to fix its blocking problem and Michigan mentioned how it’s working on its crappy defense problem.

Also, Charlie Davies got pulled over last night going 125 mph. It’s been about a year since the accident that nearly killed him. Way to learn your lesson, Charlie.

8:07 am - It’s so early and unusual for us to get political, but I figured I’d point out the one system worse than the BCS: the two-party system in American politics. Apparently, it doesn’t take much to get the nomination from either major party.

Please, if you live in Nevada, don’t vote for Sharron Angle. I’m not saying vote for that twit Harry Reid, but don’t vote for Angle either. Recent statements by Sharron Angle: that Harry Reid gave Viagra to child molesters and that two cities in America are currently run under Sharia law because they have large populations of Muslims. She’s currently running even with Reid in polls.

All I’m saying is this: don’t vote for people who say things like that. It’s not a Republican or Democrat thing because one’s political views don’t prevent people from saying stupid, evil shit or from making our country worse. We deserve the opportunity to vote for people who will actually improve this country, not say they will and do nothing or, worse, make you afraid of everything to get your vote. And we shouldn’t be stuck voting only for two parties who aren’t particularly interested in fixing anything at all.

/steps down off high horse.

/ votes for Josiah “Jed” Bartlet

9 am - Am I watching the first hour of College Gameday on ESPNU for the first time ever, or am I watching my DVR’d copy of Teach: Tony Danza?

9:01 am - We’ll give this Gameday thing a shot for a second. You know, to see if it sucks before 10 am. Purely research. What? Stop looking at me like that.

9:15 am - (via Every Day Should Be Saturday) LSU offensive “coordinator” Gary Crowton might or might not be on the sideline this week to help eliminate some of the confusion that has plagued the LSU offense since 2007 when Crowton was hired.

Read this breakdown from And The Valley Shook of LSU’s offensive game against Tennessee. Interesting read.

9:17 am - Found this week’s Steven Seagal: Lawman on my DVR. To hell with Gameday.

9:38 am - Nap time ’til noon when the games start.

10:50 am - Aaaand we’re back. Watching Teach: Tony Danza now. In defense of his class, I’m not a huge fan of Of Mice and Men either, though Steinbeck is the man.

11:30 am - 30 minutes until IU/Ohio State kicks off, and I’m trying not to think about it. So just to mess with Phillips, here’s something for USC fans to chew on.

12 pm - And here we go.

Scores and more snarky commentary after the jump.

Record after week five: 56-20 (38-36-2 ATS)

12 pm ET

Indiana (3-1) at (2) Ohio State (5-0) (-22.5)

Pick: Ohio State wins but doesn’t cover

Final: Ohio State 38 Indiana 10

Okay so that was an overly-optimistic homer pick on my part. If you want non-Indiana biased blogging, go to some other dark corner of the internet, ya hippie.

I did learn a couple of things though:

First, I learned that IU’s defense is much, much worse than it first seemed. Sure, Denard Robinson made them look bad, but name a team he hasn’t embarrassed. But Ohio State didn’t do anything tricky or special, and a golden retriever could make the proper passing reads in that offense. Yet somehow, the Indiana defense let Terrelle Pryor pass all over them, essentially making them the first team in history to have that done to them. Which leads me to the second thing I noticed.

Terrelle Pryor definitely hurt his knee last week. He couldn’t run for shit while he was in (which wasn’t that long). Hick Flick texted me as much: “Pryor is totally immobile. Anyone else in the Big Ten could beat OSU today. Except Purdue. And Minny.” I wonder if it looked that bad to The Baker in person today.

Anyway, I’m trying not to overreact to this one loss. Indiana was never on the level of Ohio State. An upset would have been nice, but come on. That Michigan loss was much more of an attainable win, and it was, in fact, a game IU should have won. As are all but two games left on the schedule. Sucks we don’t play Minnesota. But if the Hoosiers don’t make six wins, Bill Lynch should be on the big-time hot seat.

Finally, I’m watching Indiana’s two backup quarterbacks play out the end of the Ohio State game. Dusty Kiel is essentially a carbon copy of Ben Chappell, so maybe the offense would be able to retain some of the passing awesomeness it’s these last two years. That said, he’s about as much of a running threat as I am.

There’s also Edward Wright-Baker, a lefty who can fly. His presence would mean that Indiana could run the pistol much more as it’s meant to be run and IS run in Reno. Problem is, he’s about as much of a passing threat as I am.

I don’t know what this means for the future, and I’m starting to doubt that it’ll be sorted out by the end of spring practice. I just really hope we don’t go dual-quarterback next year.

Record: 57-20 (38-37-2 ATS)

12:21 pm ET

Tennessee (2-3) at Georgia (1-4) (-11)

Pick: Georgia wins but doesn’t cover

Final: Georgia 41 Tennessee 14

This is pretty much how it’s going to be for Tennessee in the SEC for a while. They just don’t have enough talent or continuity to beat even Georgia, who sucks this year.

As an Indiana fan, I know what impotence within one’s own conference feels like. I know that special feeling of hopelessness that comes with almost every Big Ten game and the hollowness of the occasional victory.

That’s right, UT fans, it’s like looking in a mirror. You ARE the Indiana of the SEC. Now try to sleep at night.

Record: 58-20 (38-38-2 ATS)

3:30 pm ET

(1) Alabama (5-0) at (19) South Carolina (3-1) (+7)

Pick: Alabama

Final: South Carolina 35 Alabama 21

Watched it from start to finish, and I can tell you this: that fake field goal didn’t lose the game for Alabama. It was already over. It might have thrown a little momentum USC’s way, but ‘Bama was already down and wouldn’t score again anyway.

I wonder if this loss means Greg McElroy loses all of his powers in some sort of Faustian deal. Or maybe it was Saban who made the deal? Everything I know about the devil, I learned from the movie Bedazzled, so I’m probably not making much sense.

The worst part about beating the number one team in the nation at this point in the season is there are so many games still to play. So many chances for a let down and disappointment. Worse, it’s not like South Carolina is going to the national title game. A BCS game MAYBE, but they still have to play several very good teams. This might be a huge win for the program, but their season might be disappointing overall still.

Record: 58-21 (38-39-2 ATS)

UC,LA (3-2) at California (2-2) (-7.5)

Pick: UC,LA

Final: Cal 35 UC,LA 7

The fact that Cal play somewhere called “Straberry Canyon” should cost them a loss every year. The fact that UC,LA hasn’t won there since 1998, well, that’s just kinda depressing.

This score sure seems familiar for UC,LA too. This fucking team is either beating Texas annd winning three straight, or they’re giving up 30+ points and losing badly. There’s apparently no in between for the 2010 Bruins.

The worst thing for the rest of the conference is an unpredictable UC,LA squad. Cal, Arizona State, USC, and especially Oregon State can play with, and beat, anyone on a given Saturday. That makes life extremely difficult for Oregon and Stanford in their chase to win this thing. Especially for Oregon, who still has to play all those teams (except for Stanford) and Arizona too. This race ain’t over.

Record: 58-22 (38-40-2 ATS)

Virginia (2-2) at Georgia Tech (3-2) (-10)

Pick: Georgia Tech wins but doesn’t cover

Final: Georgia Tech 33 Virginia 21

Like I said, beat the plucky, yet still awful, teams in your conference and good things can happen down the road. Besides, it’s the ACC. It’s not like anyone is a threat to go undefeated in there.

Record: 59-22 (38-41-2 ATS)

Pittsburgh (2-2) at Notre Dame (2-3) (-6)

Pick: Notre Dame

Final: Notre Dame 23 Pitt 17

So Notre Dame isn’t to the winning every game for infinity level their fans expect. So what? At least they’re still beating teams they should beat. It’s not going to be pretty right now, nor is it going to necessarily be great the rest of the year. But at least they’re better than they ever were under Charlie Weis. And I do mean under.

Record: 60-22 (38-41-3 ATS)

(17) Michigan State (5-0) at (18) Michigan (5-0) (-4.5)

Pick: Michigan State

Final: MSU 34 Michigan 17

Phillips said this during the game, and I think he’s right: Denard Robinson hurt himself at some point last week or this week and he just wasn’t the same against the Spartans. There was no burst or dynamic play. Just a mobile quarterback who can’t win games solely with his arm.

This was bound to happen to Michigan sooner or later. Having one player be the entire offense is a razor’s edge that no team can survive on all season, especially if their defense is as atrocious as Michigan’s.

What’s ironic is this defensive awfulness actually started the last few years of Lloyd Carr’s tenure and has only gotten worse during Rich Rodriguez’s three years. I have no idea why this is. Nor do I have any idea why Michigan always has at least one amazing, stud receiver no matter how run-oriented their offense might be.

Record: 61-22 (39-41-3 ATS)

(11) Arkansas (3-1) at Texas A&M (3-1) (+5)

Pick: Arkansas

Final: Arkansas 24 Texas A&M 17

Not a terribly pretty win for Arkansas, but they got the job done on the “road” at Cowboys Stadium.

Also, how overrated was Jerrod Johnson coming into this season? That guy is a turnover machine who looked like he had no idea where he was on Saturday. I’m thinking concussion or something because if that was just him, he might not even finish the season as the Aggies’ starter with the last two games he’s had.

Record: 62-22 (40-41-3 ATS)

6 pm ET

Oregon State (2-2) at (9) Arizona (4-0) (-7.5)

Pick: Oregon State

Final: Oregon State 29 Arizona 27

Arizona fought valiantly, but there’s no defeating the Mike Riley game. The only difference from the classic version of the MRG is that Oregon State was ahead pretty much the whole game, and it was Arizona that came back and almost won.

I don’t know about you, but Ryan Katz looks pretty good for a first-year starting sophomore. When the kid learns to play the position, that cannon of an arm are going to do big things for the Beavers.

This loss was bigger than Arizona. There was no way they could stand up to the forces of chaos at work underneath Oregon in the Pac-10. Everyone is going to lose to everyone, and we’re going to have insanity if some one nips Oregon too. There was just no way Arizona was going to go undefeated, especially not heading into a late season showdown with Oregon. And there was no way Oregon State was going to dip to 2-3. It just doesn’t work like that, especially when everyone is so even.

Sorry, UA fans. Them’s the breaks.

Record: 63-22 (41-41-3 ATS)

San Diego State (3-1) at Brigham Young (1-4) (+4.5)

Pick: SDSU! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!

Final: BYU 24 SDSU 21

I guess it WAS too much to ask for SDSU to win as a road favorite against an old rival. They’re much, much improved under Brady Hoke, but I was probably a little too excited. Damn.

Record: 63-23 (41-42-3 ATS)

7 pm ET

(10) Utah (4-0) at Iowa State (3-2) (+6)

Pick: Utah

Final: Utah 68 Iowa State 27

Look out, TCU and Boise State. The Utes might be fucking good too. I still think Boise is the best of the non-AQ’s, but it’s not like it’s a blowout.

Record: 64-23 (42-42-3 ATS)

Colorado (3-1) at (24) Missouri (4-0) (-11.5)

Pick: Missouri wins but doesn’t cover

Final: Missouri 26 Colorado 0

That’s more like it from Colorado. It seemed preposterous that Dan Hawkins’ program had it together enough to win on the road against a ranked, yet vulnerable, opponent. Guess they’re still boring and mediocre after all, Buffs fans.

Record: 65-23 (42-43-3 ATS)

7:30 pm ET

(12) Louisiana State (5-0) at (14) Florida (4-1) (-6.5)

Pick: Florida

Final: LSU 33 Florida 29

Les Miles wins the Big Balls Award for this week with that fake field goal that led to the game-winning touchdown with six seconds. Holy shit what a call. Some one should check Mark Dantonio out just in case he was watching this game. It’s also worth pointing out that all of Florida’s vaunted speed couldn’t catch up to LSU’s kicker on that fake field goal.

They’re still not very good offensively, but they’re improved with Jarrett Lee playing a bigger role. I guess that’s obvious since he threw the touchdown at the end, but still. Sorry, Jordan Jefferson. That’ll pretty much do it for you as the sole starter.

This was bound to happen to Florida at some point. They’re just not that good this year.

In fact, the SEC East sucks massively compared to the SEC West this year. Florida’s two losses have come to Alabama and LSU. Combine them with Auburn and Arkansas, and you’ve got yourself a hell of a battle to thump the SEC East winner in the SEC title game in December. Shit, that team could be South Carolina or ‘Bama or LSU could get Florida again. I’m sure they’re VERY excited about that idea.

Record: 65-24 (42-44-3 ATS)

8 pm ET

Southern California (4-1) at (16) Stanford (4-1) (-10)

Pick: Stanford wins but doesn’t cover

Final: Stanford 37 USC 35

The officials somehow missed something that gave Stanford 30 extra seconds on the clock and let them win the game. I have no idea what it was because I didn’t watch the game. Phillips tried to explain it to me yesterday, but I was in the airport and that makes pretty much everything impossible. That said, if he feels like explaining here, he should go for it.

Otherwise, I think we learned a little something about USC’s and Standford’s defenses. They’re both pretty, um, not good. That and USC should have won, but they failed to finish a game for the second time in two weeks.

Record: 66-24 (43-44-3 ATS

(23) Florida State (4-1) at (13) Miami (3-1) (-6)

Pick: Miami wins but doesn’t cover

Final: FSU 45 Miami 17

Didn’t care to watch this game even though it was on where I live. Both these teams are the very height of mediocrity, making virtually every game involving one or both of them rather painful to watch. Sure, there are NFL prospects all over the field, but the two TEAMS suck.

Also, Jacory Harris is much, much worse than the hype machine wanted him to be before Miami’s matchup with Ohio State. He’s not even on Christian Ponder’s level, and that’s saying something.

Record: 66-25 (44-44-3 ATS)

10 pm ET

Arizona State (2-3) at Washington (2-2) (-2)

Pick: Washington

Final: ASU 24 UW 14

I’m an idiot. I picked ASU to win this game everywhere but in my weekly picks for this site. I even took them on my Yahoo! picks. Damn it.

Jake Locker is never, ever going to be the number one pick. And if he is, I can’t wait to see what idiot team takes him.

Record: 66-26 (44-45-3 ATS)

Hawai’i (3-2) at Fresno State (3-1) (-10.5)

Pick: Fresno State wins but doesn’t cover

Final: Hawai’i 49 Fresno State 27

This is why Fresno State’s head coach has never gotten a better gig than the one he currently has. Sure, his teams can compete with anyone on a weekly basis and play a major-conference style of football. But his teams can also lose to anyone every week. And they do. Often.

Usually it’s because of defense, and this game was no exception. Yes, Hawai’i is a terrible matchup for everyone, and they have the nation’s leader in passing and total offense, but wow Fresno. Really?

Record after week six: 66-27 (45-45-3 ATS)