Week 9 picks AKA the end of Radio

Hello again boys and girls. We're back again for another week of picks and football fun. There are some important games this week in the Big XII and Big TenLeven along with your normal SEC scrapes. Admittedly there is one game that stands above them all for me, and that is of course the ability of ND to put a nail in the coffin that is Tyrone Willingham's career at Washington. While he has always been described as an upstanding, nice guy, none of that matters to me. The franchise suicide he tried to lead at ND where he was more concerned with his short game than he was with getting recruits was demoralizing. The backlash that the university and its fans then received after he was fired following seasons of 5-7 and 6-6 somehow led to the branding of everyone involved as racist, even though the product on and off the field was miserable. To say that I've taken joy in his failure at Washington is an understatement. Again Willingham has put out an inferior product and done even less off the field in the recruiting game, always his biggest crime at ND, to help himself. But enough of that, for this paragraph, onto the games.

Results thus far:
ATS:21-21-1
SU:28-15

Notre Dame (-11.5) @ Washington
Pick: ND cover. Let it be noted now that if ND somehow loses this game I will be calling for Charlie's head. This isn't just due to my inane desire for unnecessary retribution, but the fact that Washington is one of the worst teams in a BCS conference this year AND without their only really decent player in Jake Locker. I don't just want to win, I want to punish.

#6 Oklahoma St @ #1 Texas (-13)
Pick: Texas cover. Another tough test for UT, another big spread. But like they say, gotta feed the hot hand. Colt McCoy has been unstoppable and while Okie St held Chase Daniels in check, Colt showed last week he's in a different league. Dez Bryant gives me slight pause on this line, but I feel like Texas' D should be able to get enough stops while the O keeps barreling on.

#3 Penn St (-2.5) @ #9 Ohio St
Pick: PSU cover. Sure this game is at the Shoe and I was clearly wrong about OSU last week. However that leads me more to believe that MSU is worse than I thought than OSU being better. They have indeed been playing better since Pryor took over but haven't been playing top talent and still show several weaknesses. Meanwhile PSU, even when they are playing bad seem to find a way. Last week they were tied with Michigan in the 3rd qtr at 17 all, somehow the final ended up being 46-17. Even when they are off this team is playing at a very high level. That and I'm still just not convinced by the Buckeyes.

#7 Georgia @ #13 LSU (-2)
Pick: Georgia WIN. Death Valley is consistently one of the hardest places to play in the country. However, LSU has a penchant for letting one guy beat them (see percy harvin) and Knowshon Moreno found his legs last week running for 172. Granted, LSU has a rowdy back themselves in Charles Scott, but I give Knowshon the nod in this battle and the QB comparison grossly favors Stafford and the Dawgs.

#8 Texas Tech @ #23 Kansas Pick em
Pick: Texas Tech. I'm going out on a limb here, Tech has looked awful the last 2 weeks, playing down to the level of their opponents. The thing is, unlike past Tech teams they won these games. Kansas meanwhile got worked by OU last weekend. Here's the thing, we know this is going to be a shootout, I'd take the over up to any O/U to 84. The one thing that helps Tech is because Kansas will be scoring in droves, they will have to have a sense of urgency the entire game. I think this will be the last week we see the Red Raiders at undefeated, but I think they will bring just a few more bullets to the shootout than Mangino's boys.

There's your games. So go do that voodoo that you do so well in the comments. If you haven't played along before feel free to start now, you get a spot on the pretty scoreboard up top right and everything.