Week 4 Picks of the Week

That time of the week again.  Lets take a look at my top five picks against the spread for Week 4:

Last Week:  2-3  Season 2-3

1.  Wake Forest @ Boston College (+2) 1:00 pm CDT espn360.com (online only)

Don't be scared of Boston College because of what happened last weekend against Clemson (25-7 loss).  Clemson is a good football team.  But this BC team is as well.  They just have to decide on a quarter back.  I like Justin Tuggle.  I know his stats haven't been great overall, but that is mostly because of the Clemson game.  take out Clemson, and he is 9-17 206 yards and most importantly, 3 TD and 0 int.  On the road at Clemson....4-20 23 yards 1 TD and 3 INT. But he is a 19 year old freshman in his first road start.  He will be back at home this weekend.  Coach Spaziani has said he might play another quarterback this weekend, but I don't think so.  I just hope this doesn't get under the young man's skin and he presses too much.  Close BC win at home 24-21.

2. Michigan State (+10) @ Wisconsin 11:00 am ESPN

I like the way MSU played against Notre Dame last weekend, and frankly think they should have won the game.  Had they not thrown the ball away at the end of regulation they would at least have likely taken it into overtime.  I like what I see in Kirk Cousins outside of that pass vs. Notre Dame (46-70 649 yards 5 TD 1 INT).  He is just a sophomore though.  And in the Big 10, it comes down to the running game.  Their two headed monster of Caulton Ray and Larry Caper have combined for 56 carries and 263 yards which isn't great, but should be enough to get it done with a good game from Cousins.  I like Wisconsin to the win the game at home, but ten points way too much.  17-13.

3.   Army (+10) @ Iowa State 6:00 pm College Sports Direct (online only)

This pick isn't so much about what I know about Army, but more what I know about Iowa State  Iowa State is terrible.  5-19 over the past two seasons.  They are 2-1 however this year (so i guess 7-20 now) but those wins are against North Dakota State and Kent State.  They cupboard is bare at Iowa State, and they aren't worthy of being 10 point favorites.  Army is also 2-1 on the season with wins over Eastern Michigan and Ball State.  A 35-19 loss to Duke, a team which lost to Richmond to start the season, is a little bit scary I will grant you, but I wouldn't put too much emphasis on that one.  Army has gone back to basics with the running game.  Four different backs have rushed for over 100 yards on the season and they have six touchdowns on the ground.  I like Army to pull the upset in this game 17-16.  If not, at least to stay within the 10 points.

4.  California (-6) @ Oregon 2:30 pm ABC

Oregon is beginning to recover from their open weekend loss to Boise State, especially with their 31-24 win over Utah, but they aren't there yet.  They have major questions in the passing game, and the running game is in the hands of a rookie who didn't figure to factor much into the offense at the start of the season.  They are not ready to beat a team like Cal.  Jahvid Best is the real deal at running back for Cal and he will have a BIG day against this Duck defense.  All QB Kevin Riley has to do is manage the game, and Cal should have this game over before the 4th quarter really starts.  Cal also NEEDS a statement style victory to really factor into the national picture.  USC is still the big team in the state no matter what the Golden Bears seem to do, so if they want to be talked about in the same context before their head to head matchup in two weeks, they need this to be a big win for a confidence builder.  Lets just hope they haven't been looking too far ahead and forgot about the Ducks though.  I don't think they do that.  I like Cal on the road with a 34-17 win.

5.  Washington (+7) @ Stanford 8:00 FCS Pacific.

So let me get this straight:  you beat USC, the BIG DOGS of the Pac-10 one week, and you come in 7 point UNDERDOGS to STANFORD the next!  Sorry, Homey Don't Play Dat.  Washington is going to avoid a major letdown loss and I think will crush Stanford.  Now I will say, QB Andrew Luck is the real deal.  Luck was an ESPN 150 recruit coming out of High School and played in the ESPN All-American game back in 2008.  And lets not forget about Toby Gerhart at running back.  Luck already has 639 pass yards, and Gerhart has 316 on the ground, but lets not kid ourselves, Stanford hasn't played anyone yet.  They did play on the road @ Wake Forest, but they lost the game.  Wins against Washington State and San Jose State don't prove anything yet.  I think Stanford is a good football team, but if Washington can beat USC (not to mention nearly beat LSU), they can certainly take care of Stanford.  We have to worry about the letdown after beating a big time opponent, but I don't see it.  Coach Sark will not allow for that.  Huskies 31, Cardinal 27.

Here they are.  I am most concerned with my pick of Army and least concerned with my pick of Cal.  I was more confident with my Washington pick until I dug a little deeper into Stanford and saw that they really have looked good on paper this year, but they will get it done.  So take the picks, give me yours, rip mine apart, I don't care.  Just let me know what you think.