OT: Titov to PAC 12 Week 4: Roger, We Have Conference Lift-Off!

All of whom need it, STA especially: they lost their best DEF player, LB Skov, for the season (knee). Which is gonna coast ’em.

UCLA (1-2) at Oregon St. (0-2) [-5]
Nice to open your conf sked with a contest that "has the look and feel of an elimination game" – which it pretty much is. Da Beavs have had wk off to figure out WTF has gone wrong (besides Katz) while UCLA moves up to low-end mediocre w/ Brehaut. Take the OSU 5 in a yawner.

UCLA 27-19. Things are worse than I thought in Corn Valley. Worse than ANYBODY thought. This is not, repeat NOT a v. good UCLA team. Uh-oh.
    
Cal (3-0) [-1] at U Dub (2-1)
Toughest call of the week. You have to like the way Cal has put up pts. (even allowing for Presbyterian) but the Dogs as a dog @ home are v. tough to bet against. True, the field diff isn’t as big as @ the old venue, but still Good game for OVER bettors and should be fun to watch. Gimme U Dub for the win.

U Dub 31-23. Cal didn’t play that badly, but couldn’t do it in the clutch. Price looked v. good.

CO (1-2) at Ohio St. . (2-1) [-16 ½]
The Flubbaloes haven’t won on the road since 2007 and aren’t v. likely to do so in Columbus. That said, Ohio St. may well be more overrated than the usual overrated Big Dim team they’ve spent decades being. This wk’s Take a Flyer With Titov is CO beats the 16 ½.

OH St. 37-17. Welp, that’s why it’s called a Flyer. Coulda beat this spread but they didn’t. OH St. at least looked workmanlike—which is what you’d expect on an Embarrassment Rebound Week.
 
No. 10 Orygun (2-1) [-15 ½] at Zona (1-2)
Easiest pick o’ the week. The lack of help Foles got at home against Snodfart was embarrassing, and I don’t think A Good Talking To in the meantime from Coach Stoops is going to make a lot of diff. Zona’s task here is not to get TOO beaten up.

OR 56-31. When some guy runs for 288, nobody – and not Foles, at 35-57/398/3/0 – is gonna beat ya. Hope you bet this one big as per instructions.
  
No. 23 USC (3-0) at ASU (2-1) [-2 ½]
If beating Syracuse gave you a newfound confidence in previously-shaky SC, you’re not gonna listen to me anyway, so go ahead, bet the Rubbers. True, the Scum Debbils did another crap-the-bed at IL, but this is their chance to protect Osweiler and return to the Top 25 – not to mention end their embarrassing streak of SC losses at 11. I say take ‘em.

ASU 43-22. SC actually led this in the 3rd. But they remain an overrated, bad-4th team, so TA-DA.
 
Regional Pick o’ the Wick: San Diego St. at No. 22 Michigan (-10 ½)
The frickin’ Tecs cost me some rubles by cruising leisurely by Army in the 4th at West Pt., so it’s hard to bet ‘em doing much better at a Big Dim school, esp. in a Jet Lag Special (12:00 EST kickoff). But I don’t think the ranked Wolferines, or whatever it is, are particularly good. Take the Dagos to beat.

MI 28-7. My New Year’s Resolution: Drop no more rubles on the ‘Tecs away. Ever.

Now, think Happy Thoughts about next wk, which looks evern MORE promising…