All right, looks like I'm first up, giving me 5 straight posts. WHERE MY PEOPLE AT. A few things I want to say, and then on to the picks:

It seems I wasn't clear when I was referring to Jeremy Bloom and NCAA violations before. I absolutely agree with The Caned One that what happened to Jeremy Bloom was ludicrous. They don't give you a check with your gold medal. Also, look at what's happening in Clemson. That one player has to support his brother, and the NCAA approved a trust fund be set up for the kid that players, coaches and regular people can contribute to. Granted, it's for a good cause, but this is just barely not pay for play. In either case, both Bloom and Clemson went to the NCAA first to see if what they were doing or wanted to do was ok. Bloom was denied, so he forfeited his eligibility and didn't cost his university anything. The Clemson player was approved, and he gets to play and keep the money while not hurting his school. Reggie Bush and his family knowingly took money and benefits that were clear NCAA violations, and it may cost his school 2 national titles and cost him a Heisman trophy. I say it may cost them national titles because I know when Jim Harrick got in trouble with the UGA basketball team, they had to forfeit the SEC title they won a few years before. The issue of whether or not college athletes should be paid is a different matter, because when Reggie took the money, he knew he wasn't supposed to. Caned's analogy that we've been drilled for so long to get money, and Reggie was just fulfilling that doesn't hold water because of the hundreds of students who don't take improper benefits because it's against the rules. We've also been taught since childhood that we should follow the rules and stay out of trouble. If Caned's life lesson won out over mine, then every body would be robbing banks all the time, because we care more about the money than following the rules. I'll save my breakdown for how paying college atheletes might work for a later piece, but I just wanted to clarify my position a bit. Was Jeremy Bloom screwed? Of course. The NCAA was being insane when they ruled against him. But $100,000 in improper benefits is a different matter, and Reggie deserves whatever is coming to him. If the institution was involved, they should be forced to forfeit all games he participated in, including the championship games.

Anyway, on to the picks:

1) Penn St. vs. Ohio State. If this game were in Happy Valley instead of the shoe, and if Morelli got hot early, Penn St. could pull this off. Ohio State didn't bring their A game last week against Cincinnati and relied on a fourth quarter bustout to pull away for a misleading final score. I think Ohio State was in a classic sandwich game situation (Cincinnati being between Texas and Penn State), and will be much more prepared for this game. I'll take Ohio State and the points in a rout, sending Joe Paterno home unhappy to his nurse who rattles her keys and gives him some applesauce to make him forget the whole thing. Then he poops his pants.

2) Alabama vs. Arkansas. It's hard to believe this is the most exciting game on the SEC slate this weekend. Alabama is undefeated, but have just crept by a couple of really bad teams. Arkansas hung with USC early, but got run out of the stadium late. This game seriously might end up 3-0 because Alabama has a good defense but an offense weaker than the springs on Charlie Weiss's bed, while Arkansas has a decent offense, but a defense softer than my penis after watching a Don Knotts shit-porn video. I'll take Arkansas for the win and the spread, but only because it's in Arkansas (Man it was hard to avoid making a pun on Houston Nutt's name).

3) Arizona State vs. California. Probably the most intriguing matchup on the board, and I know jack shit about either team except Cal got assraped by an overcharged Tennessee team and Arizona State's head coack Dirk Koetter is 0-10 lifetime in the state of California. I can't decide if I'm more surprised by that record or by the fact that there's an American person actually named Dirk. Until Arizona State proves otherwise, I'm going with the trend (and the fact they've not played anybody worth half a squirt of diarhhea). I'm taking Cal for the win, but Arizona State covers. This feels like a 3 point game.

4) Notre Dame and Michigan State. When I used to gamble, I lost a fucking fortune on Michigan State. They were 6 point favorites over Rutgers with a team that was supposed to score 60 a game, and they lost by 2 touchdowns. -$. Then they play an undefeated Notre Dame team, and ND are only favored by 7. MSU puts a monstrous beatdown on the Irish. -$. They're a different team not only from game to game, but minute to minute. It's like there's a switch somewhere, like in Sri Lanka, that some unsuspecting jackass throws, and MSU is unstoppable. Switch off, and I could beat them with 6 hobos, 3 women, and a paraplegic paranoid schizophrenic as my tailback. I swore I'd never try to pick a game involving MSU again, but if I must, I say Weiss's boys bounce back in East Lansing and easily cover the 3 point spread.

5) Boston College and NC State. I live in Boston and don't give a fuck about this game. BC has pissed me off for 2 straight weeks by winning in double overtime at the noon game slot, either causing me to miss the end, or miss the beginning of a game I really want to see. They play down to the opponent, doing just enough to win, which you can do against Clemson and BYU, but it won't fly for long in the ACC. That, and I fucking hate BC and hate when they win. NC State may be one of the worst teams in the country. If they keep at this pace, Chuck Amato will be saying "Do you want fries with that?" by November. BC wins the game and finally wins in regulation by more than 7.

BONUS PICKS: Florida beats the Wildcats in the swamp, but UK makes it interest and keeps it under the 24 point spread. Urban Meyer and the rest of the Gators then gangbang each other in the locker room for 6 hours and go home to play with their doll collection and masturbate to Abercrombie catalogs.

Georgia lays it's 3 straight shutout down and makes Dan Hawkin's anus tighten in rembrance of the assreaming his Boise State team received courtesy of DJ Shockely and Co. last year. UGA wins big in this one and Dan Hawkins goes home to cry into his smurf-blue pillow and gaze longingly at the picture in his room of his old hideous stadium. Is there any coach in America regretting taking their new job more than Dan Hawkins? He's pretty much guaranteed to go 0-11 or 12 or however many games they play this year and he has little in the way of prospects for the future. 3 years before he's at home on Saturdays beating off to "Barnyard Love 8."

And for tonight's game, UVA owns GA Tech. 3 in a row and 4 out of 5. Al Groh has Chan Gailey's nuts in a grip so tight Chan is singing 3 octaves higher right now. Tech reverses that tonight and wins the game big, especially since Virginia is so bad there's no way Reggie Ball can fuck the game up. Reggie Ball and Calvin Johnson have huge games and then go home and cuddle together while watching "My Best Friend's Wedding." I guarantee you will hear Calvin Johnson's name at least 50 times tonight. Somebody who's bored count. The ESPN crews think he's the second coming of Xenu or something.

The gauntlet is down.