Week 4 College pick recap...the bloodbath continues

Seriously, this is just getting embarrassing at this point. A quick tip to those of you who read this and don't make picks yet: If you would like to join in this week you are more than welcome. If you would like an easy strategy to shoot to the top of the leaderboard it appears that all you need to do is pick the opposite of me because I am currently the epitome of prognostication disaster right now. Off we go

#6 Cal (-6) @ Oregon
Pick: Cal -6
Result: 42-3 Oregon: L
Well, I'm not surprised it turned into a boatrace, I just can't believe the Ducks were the ones driving this time around. This was just an absolute beat down. Jeremiah Masoli finally got himself in the Passing TD category for Oregon, and the retro-chic Ducks held Best to a relatively human 55 yards. I'm disappointed in you Jeff Tedford, you couldn't even pretend to have a shot at getting the job done into October? Why not just wait til USC for the annual breakdown man? EXPOSED

#9 Miami (-3) @ #11 Virginia Tech
Pick: The U -3
Result: 31-7 Va Tech: L
When Frank Beamer lays his child-scaring face down to sleep at night, he probably dreams of games like this. A sloppy, rain-soaked day at Blacksburg turned into a dominant beatdown by the Hokies who controlled this game with, wait for it, D and Special Teams. I know you would never believe Va Tech relying on D and ST to win, but hey, they like to change things up every now and then. The Canes were held to only 209 yards in weather befitting their nickname, thanks in part to the fact that their stud QB Jacory Harris was surrounded all game by VT defenders. Harris was pressured, sacked, even lost a fumble in this game. The kid is still a budding star, and this shouldn't take away from that, but today, the Hokies flat out owned him.
PSUEDO EXPOSED(Bad weather and a good opponent, no shame for the Canes in losing to VT)

Texas Tech @ #17 Houston (even $)
Pick: Houston win
Result: 29-28 H-town: W
Oh Mike Leach...once again with some strange play calls late in a ball game. More importantly, Houston earned this win with a manly 95 yard TD drive to take the lead, ending with only 49 seconds on the clock. This loss kicked off all kinds of drama for Tech with some indefinite suspensions, of a team captain mind you, all thanks to my old friend Twitter (Follow me if you'd like @NDEddieMac). Dr. Saturday has a full rundown of the chicanery out in Lubbock that is worth a read. All that aside, congrats to Houston. The Coogs are on probably one of the best 2 week runs in their football programs history. Enjoy it kids, normally I'd mock a ranked team's fans charging the field for beating an unranked, but you know what? This time it felt right.
EXPOSURE

#24 Washington @ Stanford (-7)
Pick: Washington +7
Result: 34-14 Stanford: L
Stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid. My first draft of the picks had me picking Stanford, part due to let down after a huge Wash W, part due to not trusting a team months removed from an 0-for year, and part gut. But I looked at the #s, remembered how Wash has looked the 2 times I had seen them play, and picked the Huskies. For this, I, and UW, were punished by the Trees. Anytime you start the game by giving up a KR for a TD, you know you are in for a long day. Stanford's Toby Gerhardt felt like putting on a show and reminding people Javhid Best isn't the only guy that can run the rock in the Pac 10 with a rowdy 200 yard game. When doing my game by game predictions, I mentioned that Stanford scared me as one of ND's potentially toughest games. Having seen how good UW can be against USC and the talent of Jake Locker, I'm concerned about this weekend too. Sometimes I really hate football.
EXPOSED

Notre Dame (-7) @ Purdue
Pick: ND -7
Result: 24-21 ND: L
Dear sweet Lord I can't do this every weekend. We knew going into the game that the Cannon (miss u) was out. We didn't know that Armando Allen (who gets credit for greatest stat screen headshot evahhhhh which sadly I can't find) was going to sit out the entire game, or how hobbled Jimmy Clausen was going to be. My thoughts on this game are pretty scrambled, and I apologize for that, but here goes. First off, tons of credit to Dayne Crist and Golden Tate. Crist came in and provided an immediate spark to the Irish offense, announcing his presence with authority on a big QB keeper where he embraced contact and pretty much owned the Purdue D. Tate meanwhile did anything and everything. It was great to see Golden back in the backfield (remember, he came in as a RB, but was moved to WR part to due depth chard imbalance, part due to the fact that he can burn) taking handoffs and making defenders miss left and right. The running game took over in the 2nd qtr and felt almost like we were back in the Land of Lou. Then there is the coaching...When is the D going to step up?? Corwin Brown and Jon Tenuta were supposed to combine forces into some Wonder Twin amalgamation of Defensive genius ready to shut down all comers. Yet Purdue was able to move the ball, and their QB Elliot racked up 289 yards and 3 TDs on 22 of 38 passing. Adjustments were not made, AGAIN, and Purdue damn near stole this game away in the 2nd half. On the flip side, Purdue made some fantastic adjustments at halftime and really shut down the Irish running game. The master plan was to let Crist take over the entire 2nd half, but when it came down to it, Weis had to put Jimmy back in the game. Clausen played with a hell of a lot of heart in this game and got through some obvious pain to lead his team. Kyle Rudolph continues to show why he's the best Tight End in the country throughout this game, culminating with a picture perfect box out for the TD reception in the endzone with just under 25 seconds left. At the same time, I will fully admit, that play should have never ever happened. It absolutely blows my mind that with under 30 seconds, and the Irish rushing to the line to spike the ball on 3rd and goal (because once again ND's timeout management is downright abrasive it's so bad) that Purdue would call a timeout. This play bugged me for several reasons. First, on the Irish side, you have 30 seconds, that's plenty of time to run 2 plays. You know you are passing on 3rd down with where time is at, pick a play that is either 6 or out the back of the end zone, don't force yourself into one chance. For Purdue, I understand wanting to get your D some rest after a long drive, or make sure you have all the personnel you want...but ND is clearly trying to spike, why give the Irish 2 plays when they are trying to give one away??? Very, very strange, but I'll take it. Like my Dad always says, sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.

Now the ugly part, result time kids:
Results this week: 1-4
Results to date: 7-13 (.350)

.600 is looking far far away, I'm just hoping to end up in the positive at this point. But hey, it's only 4 weeks in, surely this can turn around. How'd you kids do?

Matt:
Results this week: 1-4
Results to date: 6-9 (.400)

Johnny Chan:
Results this week: 1-4
Results to date:5-15 (.250)

Travis:
Results this week: 0-5
Results to date: 1-9 (.100)

Ryan:
Results this week: 0-5
Results to date: 6-14 (.300)

Daniel:
Results this week: 1-4
Results to date: 1-4 (.200)

Judson:
Results this week: 1-4
Results to date: 10-10 (.500)

Donnie B:
Results this week: 0-5
Results to date: 4-11 (.363)

David L.:
Results this week: 2-3
Results to date: 10-10 (.500)

Kristin:
Results this week: 0-5
Results to date: 0-11

Clearly you all need to stop picking what I pick. Or just pick opposite of KB, that would probably work too. Tune in tomorrow, we can't all keep sucking this bad can we?