Brad “The Greek” and his Week 11 Upsets to Watch Out For
Posted by deaconcat08 on November 12, 2009
I hate to brag, but I pulled a Jimmy “the Greek” last week and nailed 6 out of 7 of my upset picks including my double-digit longshot pick in Navy. The Greek loved picking the underdogs, and in honor of his documentary that aired last night on ESPN (it was very good by the way), I will try to replicate his success this week. These are ordered from smallest underdog to largest, and the value in each parentheses represents the number of points by which each team is currently an underdog according to the World Sports Exchange.
Arizona (+2.0) vs. California- This is one of those ol’ flip-flopper games where the underdog starts out as the favorite. I correctly predicted the Bears to get upset last week, so why not try it again. They haven’t been the same team since getting lit up by Oregon and USC, and if they can’t hang with Oregon State at home then I don’t see how they can beat this Wildcats squad, who have a decent shot of getting to their first-ever Rose Bowl.
Miami-FL (+3.0) vs. North Carolina- After a red-hot start, the U has looked worse and worse as the year has progessed. They still have an undeserved top 15 ranking, but they seem prime for a loss, especially on the road against a resurging North Carolina team.
Tulane (+3.0) vs. Rice- See my analysis for this game in the “picks of the week” entry below.
Marshall (+3.0) vs. Southern Miss- General Rule: Pick the home dog if a game involving two very evenly matched teams Rule applies here as both teams are 3-2 in conference and 5-4 overall.
Florida Atlantic (+4.0) vs. Arkansas State- See my analysis for this game in my “picks of the week” entry below.
Wyoming (+7.5) vs. San Diego State- The Cowboys are in the middle of a 3-game slide, but all three losses have come to the upper echelon of the Mountain West (BYU, Utah, Air Force). In fact, Wyoming doesn’t have a bad loss all year, as their two other defeats came at the hands of Big 12 opponents. The same can be said about San Diego State who comes in with the idential conference record (2-3) and overall record (4-5) as the Cowboys. Still, Wyoming has underachieved at times this year, while San Diego State has definitely overachieved under Brady “why did you leave Ball State” Hoke. I believe that if the Cowboys play the game they are capable of they can walk out of south Cali with a big win in this virtual bowl elimination game.
Longshot of the Week: Mississippi State (+12.5) vs. Alabama- See my analysis for this game in the “picks of the week” entry below.