OT: PAC 12 Week 6: Another Wk in the Blk, waddaya say!

OU 43-15. The potentially bigger deal here, of course, is James’s arm injury, the extent of which is not known at present.

Well, at least it’s not a knee…

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/ncaa-colleges-should-consider-offering-sports-as-an-academic-major/2011/10/05/gIQAF6ijOL_story.html

This reads somewhere between tongue-in-cheek and serious, but it deserves to be taken as the latter. In addition to including players in the distribution of financial rewards for their entertainment services, why not include the study of those services, in a way more serious than Recreation Studies and the like, in college curricula?

Hey, if more good h.s. pitchers, for example, could write college senior theses on topics like the relative economic advantage for pitchers who play in college instead of signing a pro contract at 18 — which was Mike Mussina’s thesis subject — everybody would be better off, I’m guessing.

Being right doesn’t always feel great, and here’s a good example. There’s nobody on the Boise sked to root for — look, when the closest thing to an actual game is @ the Dagos in late Nov, your conf really is one big cake walk — so viewers keep hoping for some kind of miracle, which last year’s Kaepernick/NEV W was the last we’re likely to see for a while.

Boise is well coached, Moore is v. good and the team would be competitive w/ OR and STA in the PAC 12 N if it played there. But it doesn’t and never will, which is prolly a good thing for a no. of on- and off-field reasons — so the only test it’ll get will be its BCS bowl game. Which its minimal strength of sked shouldn’t actually propel it into, meaning somebody else will get screwed, but that’s the No Playoff National “Championship” for ya.

SL’s “barely care” is way WAY too enthusiastic. Is she on drugs?

Cal @ No. 9 Orygun [-23 ½]
Gee, these teams have identical records, overall and conf; and last yr’s game @ Berk was a remarkably low-scoring slugfest (12-9!). So maybe this spread is exaggerated. Well, maybe I’m the King of France, too. I still don’t trust Cal’s road OFF, so take OU at 23.5.

[Ka-ching. See above.]

Zona [-1] @ OSU
Wow, how can a 1-4 team be a road fave in wk 6, you might ask. Which means you haven’t been watching O-State a lot, now have you? They are winless, and have a pretty good chance of running the table. In fact, this Zona game may be their last "good" chance to win a game this year. If somebody from the desert runs for 70, Foles will make sure it doesn’t happen this wk. I like this bet!

OSU 37-27. Zona top-rushes for 29, so Foles’ 378 can’t do it – and ta-da, the Punkins get a win this yr after all.

No. 22/24 ASU [-4] @ Utah
Erm, kinda nervous on this one, as the Scum Devils haven’t won away this yr and UT is a schizzo 2-2. I wish the spread here were 1 or 2, but what the heck: take Osweiler and the 4 for the W. With a very modest investment.

Debbils 35-14. Yeah, Osweiler again (300 + for the 3rd time, 3 TD) but UT turnovers too. Things lookin’ ug-LEE in Salt lake.

Colo @ No. 7/4 Snodfart [-29 ½]
I’m not nuts about the size o’ this spread – not b/c STA can’t put up enough pts (they can) but b/c their DEF is relatively suspect. This is a Sure Thing W, of course, but I’ll say at 21-28. I like Luck throwing 3 or 4 and sitting in the 4th, during which the margin shrinks.

STA 48-7. Way to not show up, Flubbaloes. To get his Heisman-track 3 (@ 378!) after CO started handing this one over early, Luck had to play a for-stats 2nd half. Can’t blame him/them, but there goes your spread-upset.

Wazoo @ UCLA [-3 ½]
Winning last wk @ CO was a Good Thing for the WSU prog, and winning one in the RB will be even better. Take ‘em to beat in any case, as Neuheisel looks increasingly lost out there and may be sizing up another NFL asst job as we speak.
 
UCLA 28-25. Thank cripes for half-pts, eh? Not a great day for Lobbestael, but Wazoo shoulda won anyway. Now we have to see Neuheisel for what, another month or sth.

Regional Pick o’ the Wk: No. 5/6 Boise [-20 ½] @ Fresno

[Ka-ching. See above.]

In fact, you read it here last year, that’s how first it was. You can’t raise expectations like this and then do a near-total crap-out. The other way of looking at it is that Zona has undeniably had a bunch o’ talent— why can’t they put it together?

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news;_ylt=Ag2oKJHRB6qUvKXwqSRcsCscvrYF?slug=ap-arizona-stoopsfired