SB Nation User Blog: ntrebon

Jersey Contest: Week 11

ntrebon — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:24:42 -0000

SnoConeGod made his plea in person for the Tennessee game at Witts on Saturday. With not all that many interesting games this week, I decided to throw him a bone. Also, no Beaver game this week. You're welcome. Good luck this week.

Northwestern at Illinois

Michigan State at Purdue

Tennessee at Mississippi

Utah at TCU

Arizona at California

Jersey Contest Scoreboard: Week 10

ntrebon — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:28:34 -0000

This week, there were only 80 entries with one perfect entry. Congrats to mtduck. There were two posters (DuckFanAndy and skywalker9) that earned a 0. Not a very good showing by the ATQ community this week. And, for those of you that picked Cal, it's your own fault. No one switched their picks after I told you I had them fingured out, finally. axemen23 maintains his two-point lead over six posters who are all tied for second.

Here are your distributions:

Correct Picks	# occurrences
5	1
4	2
3	19
2	25
1	31
0	2

Winner	Correct Picks
Illinois	13
Alabama	54
Ohio State	23
UCLA	32
Oregon State	29

As always, the full standings are after the jump. And, let me know if there are any errors in tabulating your score -- I have been known to make mistakes.

Name	Total Score
axemen23	34
71903	32
DONALDUCK	32
Gorbachav5	32
Matt Daddy	32
sgthawkins	32
SnoConeGod	32
Al Orange	31
JShufelt	31
B Money	30
Duck_in_NC	30
travissimmo	30
Webfoots	30
caguirre91	29
Tortuga12	29
trumpetduck	29
Nick	28
Dave	28
ConnorOSU	28
djp	28
duck_sir	28
Pie	28
AcadianTraverse	27
Bill Musgrave	27
clown1020	27
Duck4Lif3	27
jcgoducks	27
jfwells	27
MarineCorpsDucks	27
Paul	26
bradLL99	26
DuckinNC	26
joffthedeckk	26
SteveBlakeFan	26
Jared	25
athacher	25
buffduck	25
Jack223	25
jojames	25
KyleC	25
mtduck	25
NamDuck	25
swaymarquez	25
Takimoto	25
Jeremy	24
duckalope	24
DuckFan23	24
qrsouther	24
Dominic	23
bpeterson	23
brwkev	23
kkobers	23
SeattleDucks	23
Squishy	23
AllSaintsDay	22
CDDucks	22
lross315	22
GustyJ	21
NCDuck	21
skywalker9	21
coolconman	20
DavisDuck	20
DUCKERDIE	20
KDean75	20
NEP	20
niko	20
DuckFan4	19
duckydaz	19
jessenumber1	19
theshwags	19
tunathebigfish	19
SherrieC	18
nbudde	17
Nevaduck	17
Tillanate10	17
WhenDUXattacK!	16
haveasoda	15
QuackinAK	15
riptatermen	15
stone86	15
bmxryder507	14
bzzz61	14
ChicagoQuack503	14
StuckeyDuck	14
Templar	13
thuginator	13
Berkelium97	12
DerekGoDucks	12
DuckFanAndy	12
DuckJess	12
oregonduck4life	12
polo12354	12
ProbablyMonty	11
TBohn	11
thrilliam	11
CaDuck	10
westspec	10
DUCKinNY	9
oregonsportsaddict	9
tj4eck	9
Tylendel	9
ajneuman	8
blazer24252	8
cafe_civet	8
BayDuck	7
IOWA DUCK	7
Nelz	7
Twith	7
AKDuck	6
ArbyOSU	6
benzduck	6
greenthunder	6
Oregon Duck in SLC	6
The VD Special	6
GoDuckYourself420	5
vaultguru6	5
ENVYduck	4
jcolomy	4
kono	4
MrRizzo2	4
NVDuck	4
bigrez	3
Cherry Pie	3
Crushin Beers	3
dougall5505	3
fooldog1	3
gamedaytribe	3
GoDucks69	3
lars.thorwald	3
moismgoducks	3
NC Duck	3
OH3Sticks	3
PresidentGSP	3
QuackQuackAttack	3
RipCityRoyCity	3
SouthOfTheBorderDuck	3
uonburris	3
albanyduck	2
bham duck	2
Bicycle Rider	2
Defender90	2
DuckMe	2
Duckufan	2
Dux	2
faninterference	2
J-Duck	2
Oregonismysecondoption	2
phillyduck23	2
spaceman21	2
Stemmy_23	2
wolfmanshowlforever	2
6meangreen6	1
BKB	1
gsunny22	1
M. Fletcher	1
quackingbites822	1
sfouts7	1

Brandon Spikes doesn't have anything on Elizabeth Lambert. Though, she did get...

ntrebon — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:43:26 -0000

Brandon Spikes doesn't have anything on Elizabeth Lambert. Though, she did get suspended indefinitely.

Jersey Contest: Week 10 -- Blogger Picks

ntrebon — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:07:59 -0000

If you haven't made your picks, you can do so here. The deadline is tonight at 11.59 PM PT.

We have a little more variety with our picks this week (ignoring the first game). Jeremy's are included without comment.

	Illinois at Minnesota	LSU at Alabama	Ohio State at Penn State	Washington at UCLA	Oregon State at California
Jared	Minnesota	Alabama	Penn State	UCLA	California
Nick	Minnesota	Alabama	Penn State	Washington	Oregon State
Dave	Minnesota	Alabama	Ohio State	Washington	Oregon State
Dominic	Minnesota	LSU	Penn State	Washington	Oregon State
Jeremy	Minnesota	Alabama	Penn State	Washington	California
Paul	Minnesota	Alabama	Penn State	UCLA	California

Illinois at Minnesota:

Jared: Minnesota isn't all that good, but Illinois and Ron Zook suck way more. Pick: Minnesota

Nick: This game seemed a lot more interesting when I picked it on Monday morning. Now, it looks like a terrible Illinois team playing on the road against an average Minnesota team. Seems like an easy pick. For what it's worth, Phil Steele likes the upset here. Pick: Minnesota

Dave: I know that Minnesota's best player is out. But they beat Michigan State even with Eric Decker out. And Illinois sucks. In every way possible. With a game against South Dakota State still on the schedule, Minnesota is on the way to an under the radar 7-5 season. Pick: Minnesota

Dominic: Illinois comes into this game with a surprising win over Michigan but I just don't see how they can beat this Minnesota team at home. They found some things but Michigan just had a downright awful game in the loss. The only other win for Illinois is against Illinois State near the beginning of the year. I think Minnesota is pretty good at home and has shown the ability to hang with teams more consistently, even in losses. Even the most conservative bet has Minnesota at 4.5 with most lines at a full touchdown. No upset in this one. Pick: Minnesota

Paul: Minnesota has shown up A LOT in the Jersey Contest this year. Did Nick go to school there? I like the direction the Minnesota program is going in, and I like them at home in their spiffy new stadium. Aside from that, I really don't care. Pick: Minnesota

LSU at Alabama:

Jared: I'd really like to go with the upset here, but I'm still not convinced that LSU is actually any good. I also have a feeling that Alabama will pull itself out of the offensive doldrums after the bye week, and get this game at home. Pick: Alabama

Nick: Man, if this game was in Death Valley I'd be awfully tempted to take LSU. Both teams boast top 10 defenses in terms of points scored. Ultimately, I think Alabama's offense (averaging just under 220 yards a game on the ground) can get it done when it matters most. Pick: Alabama

Dave: I'm really struggling with this one. Alabama's offense is starting to look one dimensional. But the same could be said in reverse. This is going to be a low scoring 13-10 type affair, as the defenses are miles ahead of the offenses. If the game were in Baton Rouge, I could be tempted, but I like the Tide in a close game in Tuscaloosa. Pick: Albama

Dominic: I'm going against the grain here and picking LSU in the upset for a couple of reasons. For one, I don't think Alabama has played anyone of consequence... an overrated Ole' Miss team, a Virginia Tech team that appears to be pretty average and the Crimson Tide ESCAPED against Tennessee. LSU had opportunities against Florida and just couldn't capitalize on them. I think LSU is flying under the radar nationally with all of the hype on a possible Alabama-Florida matchup in the SEC championship game. Offensively, this looks like a one-sided affair towards Bama but I think LSU's defense has just enough to slow Mark Ingram down and make the Heisman Race that much more clouded. Pick: LSU

Paul: This should be a great game to watch, especially since the mere sight of Nick Saban or Les Miles invokes genuine and immediate hatred in my heart. Some Oregon fans really think an LSU win helps us, and I can't emphasize enough that LSU will surpass us in the BCS standings if they win. But, I also think the Crimson Tide are the better team. Pick: Alabama

Ohio State at Penn State:

Jared: Penn State seems to be getting on a roll. Daryll Clark and Evan Royster make a great combo on offense, and Penn State has one of the top defenses in the country. As much as people want to talk about Terelle Pryor improving, he hasn't had a good performance against competent defense yet this season. Pick: Penn State

Nick: I think this game will be a classic Big-10 showdown (read: low-scoring and boring). I think the decisive edge belongs to Penn State's offense, especially at home. Pick: Penn State

Dave: I cannot think of a bigger fraud in the top 25 than Penn State. We rip on Boise's schedule, but Penn State may be worse because, seriously, they have no excuse. Penn State's schedule is an embarrassment to major college football. I have it on good faith that Juju is going to make them pay for the utter abomination that their schedule has been. We love you, Juju! Pick: Ohio State

Dominic: The one loss for Penn State was at home against a team currently ranked #4 in the nation. Whether you think Iowa is overrated or not, it doesn't change the fact that the Hawkeyes have beaten Penn State two years in a row. I think outside of Iowa, Penn State has been great the last few years and I don't see Ohio State pulling this one out. I think Jim Tressel's conservative style will get him into trouble and I don't think Pryor can escape the speedy Penn State defense. If we were predicting this matchup for 2010, I might go the other way but I don't think Ohio State is quite there yet. Too many losses from last year and not enough experience overall. Pick: Penn State

Paul: Terrelle Pryor's first trip to Happy Valley, where many thought he'd be playing home games. The pressure on Pryor to perform will be heavy, and it could affect his performance. The question is whether or not that effect will be positive or negative. I guess we'll find out. It should be a great Big Ten battle, but I'm taking the home team on this one. Pick: Penn State

Washington at UCLA:

Jared: Jake Locker is injured and Washington is on the road. UCLA at least showed some signs of life against OSU. Pick: UCLA

Nick: I can't believe that UCLA is a favorite in this game, as they are currently giving five points. Though, this may have a lot to do with Jake Locker's health. However, it looks like he will be playing, and even Locker at ~75% should be enough. Pick: Washington

Dave: Does somebody have to win this game? Neither team is very good, but at least the Huskies have an offensive pulse. I'll go with them. Pick: Washington

Dominic: Jake Locker has been cleared to play and will get the start against UCLA. With him at the helm, I like the Husky offense in the game and we should see some big plays in the running and passing games. UCLA should slow them down but not enough to keep them from scoring. I still think the Bruins have issues offensively and even though Washington's defense has been pretty bad this year, I don't think UCLA can sustain drives without making mistakes. Pick: Washington

Paul: It's the Pac-10's Battle of Who Could Care Less. UCLA has been atrocious lately, although they at least covered the spread in Corvallis last weekend. Washington is just not there, as much as everyone wanted to think they were after the upset over USC. I'm giving the edge to UCLA, only because Washington has been terrible on the road this year. Pick: UCLA

Oregon State at California:

Jared: Kevin Riley has improved since the Oregon and USC debacles, and I think he'll have his way against the porous OSU secondary. However, Cal's defense has been a large disappointment, and OSU will be able to move the ball as well. However, OSU's pass rush is a shell of what it was last year, and Cal wins the shootout. Pick: California

Nick: I told you all that I have finally figured out the Beavers. You still have time to change your picks accordingly. Pick: Oregon State

Dave: Another damn Beaver game? Nick, are you a closet Beaver? Why do we give so much time to the barkrodents around here? ATQ South hasn't convinced me of their worth yet. Its predictible every season--Oski gets worse and worse, while the Beavers get better and better. I'll go with OSU on this one. Pick: Oregon State

Dominic: This series is interesting because the road team tends to do better when these teams do battle. It's November and historically you don't bet against the Beavs in November. I'm a little concerned about bumps and bruises to the Rodgers Brothers but they have done what they need to do. This is a big test for Cal to see if they belong in the top 3 of the conference. I like Jahvid Best and Kevin Riley has improved the last few games but let's be honest...UCLA, Washington State and Arizona State aren't very good. The Beaver defense will give up plays but I don't see Cal stopping Sean Canfield. I think the Beavers start their yearly climb in November with the win. Pick: Oregon State

Paul: The Beavers continue to find ways to win. That will stop on Saturday in Berkeley. Cal is slowly and quietly creeping back up the Pac-10 latter. After Oregon and USC demolished them in two straight weeks, the Bears have been picking up steam. After Cal lost to USC, I told a couple Cal fans (I live in SF, so there are a lot of them) that I thought the Bears would right the ship and finish 9-3. I'm retracting that prediction. They're going to finish 10-2. Pick: California

Quack Fix: Preparing for Stanford and ranking the Pac-10

ntrebon — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:13:02 -0000

Lots of news out there today for your quack fix, so let's get straight to it.

Rob Moseley's feature story today looks at the Oregon and Stanford offenses, which are both powered by strong rushing attacks. Saturday will be an intersting contrast in styles, as Moseley notes that Stanford sometimes has as many as seven offensive lineman blocking for Toby Gerhart.
Moseley also writes about how the Ducks worked out in only helmets on Monday in an effort to lighten the load a little as the team enters latter third of the season. Moseley also discusses the changes in practice routine that Kelly has implemented this season, and to which the team has been responding to very well.
George Schroeder has a column about LeGarrette Blount's efforts to overcome the early season adversity and fulfill the requirements for reinstatement to the team. Definitely worth a read, so check it out.
Steve Summers of eDuck writes about how the Ducks are putting the USC game behind them with Stanford looming on Saturday. Summers also asks Kelly how he can avoid his team becoming overconfident as the impressive wins start to pile up. Kelly's response, "They understand – I talk about one loss or win doesn’t define you as a team. The other thing we need to do is just show them tapes of the Stanford offense, defense and special teams and that’ll get their attention right away."
Bob Clark has his Pac-10 rankings up, and it's no surprise that the Ducks are on top. He does include an ominous note on Stanford, who come in at #6. Nick Daschel also has his rankings, with an interesting selection at #2. And, Ted Miller also has the Ducks at #1, as does Husky blogger Bob Condotta .
A blogger from the Seattle P-I takes a look around the Pac-10 and notes that it's not just UW that is headed in the right direction -- most of the other teams are as well. While I don't share his rosy outlook on a few of the teams (UCLA, ASU), teams like UW, Arizona and Stanford do appear to be improviing quite dramatically from where they have been in recent years.
The weekly Heisman Pundit poll, which is made up of 13 actual Hesiman voters, now has a couple of Ducks sneaking a few votes.

Also, there are a few video clips after the jump, so check them out.

Go Ducks!

Here's Chip Kelly talking Stanford:

Video: Chip Kelly talks Stanford

And, here's Kelly on LeGarrette Blount:

Chip Kelly on LeGarrette Blount

And, here's Mark Asper and Jeremiah Masoli talking about Blount:

Players on LeGarrette Blount

Here's KVAL story that touches on Blount, but also includes video of Chip wearing the mascot head on Saturday morning:

Jersey Contest: Week 10

ntrebon — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:45:23 -0000

Here are this week's games. A couple of games from both the Big-10 and Pac-10 plus an SEC showdown. Good luck.

Illinois at Minnesota

LSU at Alabama

Ohio State at Penn State

Washington at UCLA

Oregon State at California

Some random thoughts on ATQ's growing community

ntrebon — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:51:21 -0000

Thanks to all of you out there who have made visiting ATQ a daily (or hourly) part of your routine, the community has seen a significant jump in numbers over the past few months. Jared and I had speculated last month that our record number of visitors were driven by a LeGarrette Blount effect. However, not only were those numbers maintained this month, but they were surpassed. For some more (rambling) thoughts, follow the jump.

One of the primary reasons that I joined ATQ (besides Dave's great writing) was because of the community of fans that was developed at other SBN sites that I follow. The SBN network and blogs offer, in my opinion, a somewhat unique opportunity to foster a community of fans through the ability of visitors to participate and post their own their thoughts through fan shots, fan posts and comments. However, way back then, there was very little active community for the blog. But, I was confident that Dave's posts would attract that community given enough time. Developing a community of loyal readers from the ground up is the hardest thing for a blog to do -- it takes some combination of mechanisms that will steer first time visitors to the site (e.g., word-of-mouth, luck, search results, being a part of the SBN network, etc.) and then interesting, frequent and original content to keep the readers coming back. Dave was clearly successful in this regard and deserves all the credit for developing a community from scratch.

Over the past few years, the community has been growing pretty steadily. In May of this year, we had our 1,000,000th page view, and our 500,000th site visit followed a few months later. Both of these were pretty remarkable milestones and a testament to the passion of Oregon fans looking for an outlet online to discuss everything Oregon-related. Those numbers were nothing compared to what we have seen the last two months. The huge spike in traffic began last month with the start of the football season. In the days following the Boise State game, the blog would be closing in on setting monthly records for page views and visits -- only one week into the month. As I mentioned in the intro, Jared and I both were sure this was driven by the Blount incident and that traffic would slow down once we were a few weeks removed from the incident. It didn't. In September of this month, we smashed all our previous records for traffic at ATQ, more than doubling the number of page views and visits that we saw during September of last year. And, this month we not only beat those numbers, but we beat them in the first 30 days of the month without including the numbers from the Halloween game day. For those of you interested in the numbers, in September/October of last year, we averaged 69,000 page views and 30,500 visits. This year, those numbers are approximately 171,500 and 71,500.

What does this mean? After taking 2 1/2 years to reach the 1,000,000 and 500,000 milestones, it is entirely conceivable that we could smash through the 2,000,000 and 1,000,000 marks in January or February -- only six to seven months after reaching the first marks. That just boggles my mind. More important than simply the spikes in traffic, we have seen the addition of many posters over the last year who now comment regularly and have become great additions to the vocal community here ATQ that provide their own insight, ranting and humor.

Anyway, the purpose of this post is basically to say "Thank you" to all of you who make the ATQ community great. Oh yeah, Go Ducks!

Jairus Byrd has two more interceptions today

ntrebon — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:39:01 -0000

Jairus Byrd has two more interceptions today

I don't even know what else to say.

Jersey Contest Scoreboard: Week 9

ntrebon — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:13:32 -0000

Well, we've gotten to the point of the season where the number of weekly entries in the Jersey Contest slowly begin to dwindle. In week 9, we were down to 82 entries, which included perfect entries by DuckFanAndy and travissimmo. We also had three goose eggs submitted this week, with GustyJ, riptaterman and skywalker9 earning those dubious honors. The picks this week were pretty lopsided in all five games, but the unexpected happened in three of the five games which resulted in only seven posters getting a score of 4 or 5 this week. And, as we have come to expect, the Oregon State game caused many of you problems. Again.

Here are your distributions:

Correct Picks	# occurrences
5	2
4	5
3	27
2	34
1	11
0	3

Winner	Correct Picks
Auburn	24
Missouri	71
Texas	61
Minnesota	19
UCLA	15

As always, the full standings are after the jump. And, let me know if there are any errors in tabulating your score -- I have been known to make mistakes.

Name	Total Score
axemen23	32
Matt Daddy	31
71903	30
DONALDUCK	29
Gorbachav5	29
JShufelt	29
sgthawkins	29
Webfoots	29
Al Orange	28
Duck_in_NC	28
SnoConeGod	28
travissimmo	28
trumpetduck	28
B Money	27
caguirre91	27
djp	27
Nick	26
Duck4Lif3	26
jcgoducks	26
Tortuga12	26
Dave	25
Bill Musgrave	25
clown1020	25
ConnorOSU	25
duck_sir	25
DuckinNC	25
jfwells	25
MarineCorpsDucks	25
SteveBlakeFan	25
swaymarquez	25
Paul	24
AcadianTraverse	24
bradLL99	24
buffduck	24
joffthedeckk	24
NamDuck	24
Pie	24
Takimoto	24
Jared	23
Jeremy	23
brwkev	23
DuckFan23	23
Jack223	23
KyleC	23
qrsouther	23
SeattleDucks	23
Dominic	22
athacher	22
bpeterson	22
CDDucks	22
jojames	22
kkobers	22
duckalope	21
lross315	21
skywalker9	21
AllSaintsDay	20
KDean75	20
mtduck	20
niko	20
Squishy	20
DUCKERDIE	19
duckydaz	19
jessenumber1	19
NCDuck	19
NEP	19
DavisDuck	18
DuckFan4	18
GustyJ	18
SherrieC	18
coolconman	17
nbudde	17
theshwags	17
Tillanate10	17
tunathebigfish	17
Nevaduck	16
riptatermen	15
stone86	15
WhenDUXattacK!	15
bmxryder507	14
bzzz61	14
ChicagoQuack503	14
haveasoda	14
StuckeyDuck	14
QuackinAK	13
thuginator	13
Berkelium97	12
DuckFanAndy	12
DuckJess	12
oregonduck4life	12
polo12354	12
Templar	12
TBohn	11
thrilliam	11
DerekGoDucks	10
ProbablyMonty	10
westspec	10
DUCKinNY	9
oregonsportsaddict	9
tj4eck	9
Tylendel	9
ajneuman	8
blazer24252	8
CaDuck	8
cafe_civet	8
BayDuck	7
IOWA DUCK	7
Nelz	7
Twith	7
AKDuck	6
ArbyOSU	6
benzduck	6
greenthunder	6
Oregon Duck in SLC	6
The VD Special	6
GoDuckYourself420	5
vaultguru6	5
ENVYduck	4
kono	4
MrRizzo2	4
bigrez	3
Cherry Pie	3
Crushin Beers	3
dougall5505	3
fooldog1	3
GoDucks69	3
jcolomy	3
lars.thorwald	3
moismgoducks	3
NC Duck	3
NVDuck	3
OH3Sticks	3
RipCityRoyCity	3
SouthOfTheBorderDuck	3
uonburris	3
albanyduck	2
bham duck	2
Defender90	2
DuckMe	2
Duckufan	2
Dux	2
faninterference	2
gamedaytribe	2
J-Duck	2
Oregonismysecondoption	2
phillyduck23	2
spaceman21	2
Stemmy_23	2
wolfmanshowlforever	2
6meangreen6	1
gsunny22	1
quackingbites822	1
sfouts7	1

Jersey Contest: Week 9 -- Blogger Picks

ntrebon — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:40:02 -0000

If you haven't made your picks, you can do so here. The deadline is tonight at 11.59 PM PT.

And, it looks like another boring set of blogger picks. Though, I blame it on the schedule this time around.

	Mississippi at Auburn	Missouri at Colorado	Texas at Oklahoma State	Michigan State at Minnesota	UCLA at Oregon State (-8.5)
Jared	Mississippi	Missouri	Texas	Michigan State	Oregon State
Nick	Mississippi	Missouri	Texas	Michigan State	UCLA
Dave	Mississippi	Missouri	Texas	Michigan State	Oregon State
Dominic	Mississippi	Missouri	Texas	Michigan State	Oregon State
Jeremy	Mississippi	Missouri	Texas	Michigan State	Oregon State
Paul	Auburn	Missouri	Oklahoma State	Michigan State	Oregon State

Mississippi at Auburn:

Jared: Auburn started out strong, but has begun to unravel as their offense grinds to a halt. Mississippi hasn't been great, but they are a better team than Auburn. Pick: Mississippi

Nick: After a 5-0 start, Auburn has come crashing back to Earth with consecutive losses at Arkansas, Kentucky and at LSU. Ole Miss QB Jevan Snead has been heating up of late, and I like him and the Rebels to take advantage of what has turned out to be a very suspect Auburn defense. Pick: Mississippi

Dave: Man, how overrated was Mississippi coming into the season? That said, Auburn is simply a putrid defensive team, and that they have lost three in a row to mostly mediocre competition is no accident. Not only will Auburn lose this game, but they'll lose to Georiga and Alabama as well, setting up a 1-6 finish to the season. Pick: Mississippi

Dominic: Auburn comes into this game losers of their last 3 games and seem to be having all sorts of trouble. We got lulled into thinking that they were for real until they hit the Arkansas game. Then the wheels fell off the cart. They do share a common opponent in Arkansas and the Rebels handled them. Pick: Mississippi

Jeremy: The bloom is off the rose at Auburn. What once was 5-0 is now 5-3. This isn't the physical lock-down defense we've see from Auburn in the past, either. Even in their wins Auburn gave up a lot of points. Mississippi, on the other can play a little D and puts up plenty of points. Pick: Mississippi

Paul: Ole Miss quarterback Jevan Snead has been slightly better at home than on the road, so I'm going with Auburn. Although, I think this will be a great game and more of less a toss-up. Pick: Auburn

Missouri at Colorado:

Jared: The Big 12 north is a soul killing division. Both of these teams are very bad. Missouri is more talented, I think. So I'll go with them. Pick: Missouri

Nick: I could waste your time with a justification, but I'd rather just refer you to Dave's comment below. Pick: Missouri

Dave: Colorado sucks. Next. Pick: Missouri

Dominic: Both teams aren't very good offensively, especially Colorado who ranks 107th in the country in total yards. I like Missouri's coaching staff and even though they've lost some tough games, they should be able to beat up on a Colorado team in complete disarray. Pick: Missouri

Jeremy: This game should be cancelled for lack of potential for quality football. Colorado has played better of late, Missouri keeps getting worse. It's college football, though, and nothing ever makes sense. Pick: Missouri

Paul: The "Fire Dan Hawkins" movement will gain more steam when the Tigers from Columbia visit Boulder and run up the score. Pick: Missouri

Texas at Oklahoma State:

Jared: I want to go with the upset on this one, but Oklahoma State hasn't accomplished much this season. I think that Texas will be able to move the ball consistently, and shut down the Dez Bryant-less Cowboys. Pick: Texas

Nick: Both teams boast high-scoring offenses, with Texas coming out slightly ahead. The real difference is on defense, where Texas has a sizeable margin in points allowed and yards allowed. And, most importantly, Texas currently leads the country in rushing yards allowed, with only 299 yards on 197 carries in seven games (1.5 ypc). I just don't think Oklahoma State will be able to move the ball consistently enough to keep up with Texas. Pick: Texas

Dave: I just think that, especially without Dez Bryant, that Texas has more talent than Oklahoma State. I'd like to see Texas lose, but if that happens, its going to be about what Texas didn't do, as opposed to what Oklahoma State did. Pick: Texas

Dominic: Oklahoma State just isn't the same team without Dez Bryant. Colt McCoy just continues to find ways to win. It should be a great matchup but I have they ultimate key to picking this game. Texas has a less offensive "orange", therefore they win the game. Pick: Texas

Jeremy: No Dez, no dice for Okie State. They'll give the horns all they want, and UT will have to play better than they showed against Oklahoma. Colt McCoy can step forward in the Heisman race with a good performance on the road. Pick: Texas

Paul: Even without Dez Bryant, the Cowboys and Zac Robinson are going to expose the Longhorns in Stillwater. I wasn't impressed with Texas when I saw them live at the Cotton Bowl against Oklahoma, and they aren't battle tested on the road, despite the big win at Missouri last weekend. But, I'm sticking to my guns: Down goes No. 3. Pick: Oklahoma State

Michigan State at Minnesota:

Jared: Minnesota's season is getting really tough, with the injury of their best player, Eric Decker. Without that offensive threat, MSU gets a victory on the road. Pick: Michigan State

Nick: The Spartans have had some tough, close losses this year, losing to Central Michigan, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, and Iowa by a combined fifteen points. Michigan State will also be without Eric Decker for the remainder of the season after he went down last week against the Buckeyes. Honestly, if I had realized that Decker was out on Monday, I wouldn't have chosen this game. Pick: Michigan State

Dave: Neither of these teams are terribly great, but did you hear that Eric Decker is out for the season? When your only playmaker is done for the season, your team is probably done for the season too. Minnesota just has nobody to score points. Pick: Michigan State

Dominic: I like Michigan State, primarily because they've looked good in the games they've played, even in the losses. Minnesota is coming off disasters in the Penn State and Ohio State games. I think Michigan State has finally figured some things out and will play well against the Gophers. Pick: Michigan State

Jeremy: Sparty is this year's hard luck case. So close against Central Michigan, Notre Dame, and Iowa. I suppose MSU could come out with a post-final-second-loss hangover and lay an egg, but in the end I think they're a little better than Minnesota. Pick: Michigan State

Paul: Coming off a heartbreaking loss to Iowa on the final play, the Spartans have still won three out of their last four and are gaining momentum. Minnesota, on the other hand, has lost three out of their last four, including their last two. Momentum is the name of the game in the Big Ten. Pick: Michigan State

UCLA at Oregon State (-8.5):

Jared: Oregon State is improving, while UCLA is falling apart. I think that Oregon State wins this one easily. Pick: Oregon State

Nick: Everyone seems to be giving the points and taking Oregon State. And, I see all the reasoning: UCLA has no offense, their defense is suddenly nearly as bad, the Beavers are at home and have two of the conferences top playmakers on offense. But, I haven't picked an OSU game correctly yet, so I'll go against the grain on this one. Pick: UCLA

Dave: UCLA is not a good football team, and they are getting worse as the season goes on. OSU is getting stronger. I expect a steady dose of Quizz to lead the Beavers to a two score win. Pick: Oregon State

Dominic: Oregon State is going to KILL UCLA. Seriously, it won't even be close. UCLA is not a good team and they are looking to play 2 quarterbacks in Corvallis. I can't even fathom OSU losing this game. The way Canfield, and the Rodgers Brothers are playing, it won't matter how good the Bruin defense is and as bad as the Oregon State defense has been this year... UCLA still won't be able to move the ball. Beavers in a landslide. Stone Cold Lock! Pick: Oregon State

Jeremy: The Beavers are doing what they do - getting all revved up for a strong second half finish. Are we past all this "UCLA has a great defense" stuff? Probably. The Bruins have to score some points...and they just don't have the tools to get it done. Beavers do. Curious though, is this the game were OSU suffers that one big injury that makes everything look shaky? Pick: Oregon State

Paul: Despite coming up short against the Trojans on Saturday, the Beavers are doing what they always do, and that's picking up steam as the season progresses. UCLA, as far as I'm concerned, is the second worst team in the Pac-10, and OSU shouldn't have any trouble covering this spread. Unless UCLA's rumored two-headed quarterback ends up solving all their problems. Pick: Oregon State