Thursday Night Throwdown: Colorado @ West Virginia & Southern Miss @ UAB

Two games on the schedule for tonight (3 if you count Alcorn St. @ Arkansas-Pine Bluff which will be on ESPNU at 6:30 PM tonight) to preview for you.  Here it goes.


1.  Colorado @ West Virginia 6:30 PM CDT ESPN

I've had a chance to watch Colorado twice this season, and neither time have they looked very good.  After losing opening weekend to Colorado State 23-17, the Buffs were just destroyed on national television @ Toledo 54-38.  The game wasn't even that close with Toledo taking a 30-3 lead early in the 3rd quarter.  They did right the ship somewhat two weeks ago with a 24-0 win over Wyoming.  Coach's son QB Cody Hawkins leads the offense with 755 pass yards on the year.  He has just a 5/4 TD/INT ratio however and only a 52% completion percentage.  Rodney Stewart gets most of the carries at running back, but sopomore Darrell Scott has a lot of upside as a prep All-American in high school.

The Mountaineers come into the game with a 2-1 record defeating Liberty and East Carolina and losing only to Auburn.  Although they should have beaten the Tigers were it not for some bad turnovers late in the game.  QB Jarrett Brown has had the unenviable task of attempting to replace All-Everything quarterback Pat White.  White is now in the NFL, and Brown hasn't exactly played spectacular .  He does sport a 69% completion percentage with a nearly 9 yard per attempt average, but 5 TDs to go with 5 INTs isn't going to cut it.  On the ground, Noel Devine is a super stud.  He is listed at 5'8'', 176lbs  but that must be on stilts holding rocks.  The kid is 5'5'' at best and can't be more than 150 soaking wet.  But kid can move and has been a YouTube sensation since his freshman year of high school. 

I expect a hard fought low scoring ground battle in this contest.  Vegas has WVU as 17 point favorites in the game, but thats probably not enough.  I say 23-3 West Virginia tonight.


2.  Southern Mississippi @ UAB 7:00 PM CBS College Sports

The Golden Eagles come into the ae with a 3-1 record with wins over Alcorn State, UCF, and Virginia with the only loss against Kansas.  Some considered the Eagles a dark horse BCS Buster.  UAB's record is a flipped 1-3 with a win over Rice, but losses to SMU, Troy, and Texas A&M.  And some of those losses were pretty ugly.  Eagle quarterback Austin Davis has nearly 1,000 yards passing on the young season already with an 8/1 TD/INT ratio.  On the ground, Damion Fletcher is a likely NFL draft pick this April and as 76 carries already this season.  DeAndre Brown leads the team in receptions after coming off of a horrible injury in last season's bowl game.  I couldn't find any Vegas odds on this game, but I would have to assume they favor the Golden Eagles by 12 or 13.  I like Southern Miss to dominate and get a pretty large victory tonight 35-10.

Week 3 Picks

Each week after I give you my top five games of the week, I'll be giving my top picks too.  Didn't see a lot this week that jumped out at me, but here's what I have.

1.  Boise State -7 @ Fresno State (Friday Night Game)
Fresno is getting too much credit for nearly beating a bad Wisconsin team last week.  Boise utterly destroyed Oregon in week one.  I think Boise wins this game by three touchdowns 38-17

2.  East Carolina @ -7 North Carolina
Too much respect given to East Carolina, and its at home for the Heels.  I see a big win for UNC here

3.  Wyoming +7 @ Colorado
I struggled with this pick for a couple of reasons.  First, Wyoming kept it tight with Texas for a half but got out talented at the end.  Colorado doesn't have that talent.  But, Colorado really needs a huge win here to right the ship and get back on track.  I just don' think they do it.  Colorado may win the game, but it'll be within a touchdown

4.  SMU @ +6.5 Washington State
SMU hasn't had talent in twenty years.  Totally new offensive strategy in recent years that only hurts my pick if somehow they pull it together this year.  But I'm taking the odds.  The Washington schools hit rock bottom last season, and they have already begun to pull it together.  I look for State to win this one outright

5.  North Texas +38 @ Alabama
Listen, I love Alabama (obviously)  and I want the to crush poor little UNT.  But, they hardly ever do when it comes to big spreads like this.  And if they do, they are back door covers and the Tide did that once this year against Va Tech already.  To make my pick wrong, the Tide have to win by more than say 41-3 and I don't think it'll happen.  The North Texas coach used to coach Tide quarterback Greg McElroy in high school ---- he knows his strengths and weaknesses.  Won't be enough to stop him, but it will be enough to slow him down.  I look for about a 31 point Tide victory with the backups racking up a couple of late TDs again.

There you have it fellas.  Rip them apart, give me your own predictions, do whatever you want.  But someone give me SOMETHING that lets me know y'all are reading this blog.