Week 9 Football Picks/13-14

Good evening everyone.  Well, if you have a serious rooting interest in tonight's Panthers/Bucs game, then you've probably been more miserable than I've been with my illness-plagued little life recently (and no, I don't think I have the plague)...  My disinterest in this game (the Bobcat Nation pick 'em contest is my only rooting interest - go Panthers) will allow me to freely flip back and forth between the NFL and the World Series (go Sox!).  Last week I only had five celebrity experts due to my illness and laziness (just wait and see what I have in store for you tonight)...  :P  The good news is that our celebrity experts went 5-0 last week as the Bobcats beat the Panthers of Georgia State 24-17.  Two of our experts, Tim Thrash (31-17) and Pete Wyatt (44-17), nailed the Panthers score.  Our in-house expert Joey also nailed Georgia State's score, and had the Bobcats winning the game 30-17.  Joey also had Rice beating New Mexico State (his alma mater) 45-7, and the final score was 45-19.  What's completely unbelievable (not really) is that our fearless forecaster Alyssa was not only right there on her Texas State prediction (24-14 Bobcats), but she also had the Texans beating the Chiefs 17-14.  While the Chiefs ended up winning the game 17-16 (sorry Alyssa), you can't just say that she's in the neighborhood with her scores - Alyssa's living IN THE HOUSE...  :)  I would hate to have a contest with her on the overs and unders - GEESH!  The bad news about celebrity experts is that I once again went the lazy route in my recruiting this week, and well..., you'll see in a minute...  ;)  Both of our favorite local teams are back in action this Saturday as Texas State plays host to the Jaguars of South Alabama, while the Texas Longhorns visit Fort Worth to take on the Horned Frogs of TCU.  Now for this week's predictions...


Celebrity Experts (Last weekend 5-0/Overall record of 75-61 on Bobcats and Longhorns games)

Saturday, October 26th - Texas State Bobcats (4-3) vs. South Alabama Jaguars (3-3)

TXST  21-20     Christopher Green - @TalentedGreen
TXST  35-16     George Garcia - Bartender @ Harper's Public House This Weekend!
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Saturday, October 26th - Texas Longhorns (4-2) @ TCU Horned Frogs (3-4)

UT  34-21     Aaron Smith - BYU Alum/Diehard College Football Fan
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So yeah, evidently doing the "all calls" on facebook, Twitter, and here in the blog IS NOT a very successful strategy for soliciting predictions...  :)  SOOOO, if you're reading this right now, and you would like to give me a prediction on either the Texas State or the Texas game, I will edit them into this post up until I have ten scores for each game, (or Saturday, whichever comes first...).  You'll get some free advertising with the name of your business beside your name, or your blog, or your Twitter handle, etc..., and you'll be famous (semi, kinda-sorta).  Last week's 'Football Friday' entry was my most-viewed post in a single weekend with 692 views from the time that I published on Thursday night until I put up Monday's post, so there's that...  ;)  Use the comments section, facebook, Twitter, WHATEVER..., just get your prediction to me!


Now it's time for our favorite Las Vegas ticketwriter (the only one that we know, but still our favorite)...  ;)  Coming to you live from the Palace Station Sportsbook, here's Joey!

Joey's Parlay Card (Last weekend 2-0/Overall record of 7-6 on Aggies, Bobcats, & Longhorns games)

This week's parlay card is a little short since my 0-7 Aggies are at home taking the week off.  Come to think of it, they seem to take every week off...  So Texas takes on TCU this week.  The defense seems to be coming around.  I'll take the Longhorns to win 27-17.  The Bobcats get another home game this week.  True freshman Tyler Jones has struggled the last 2 weeks with 2 picks and only 1 TD, but South Alabama's passing game is not much better.  The game is close to the end, but the Bobcats pull out the victory 23-20.  That's it for this week's card - may all your bets be winners...


I was talking about that steak in Joey's photo above with some coworkers today - we saw a small handsaw, and I said that it would be the ideal steak knife for that cut up above...  ;)  My friends, I decided that it would be unfair to post that photo with Alyssa's face buried in my shoulder again this week, with the Texans having a bye and all.  Also, I'm honestly getting sick of seeing it - I mean, what if THAT IS THE REASON that the Texans keep losing?!  I have some news that is potentially good for you though Alyssa:  The Steelers started the season 0-4, but we have won 2 straight games after our bye week, soooo...  ;)  And here she is, our favorite Texans' fan (with her "little" and our good friend, AND Texas State Homecoming Queen Nominee, Gabby)...  :D  In case you're confused, Alyssa is the cat (SHOCKER)...

Alyssa's Corner (Last weekend 1-1/Overall record of 8-12 on Texans, Bobcats, and Longhorns games)

Happy Thursday!  Even though my Houston Texans lost (again) last weekend, I am very impressed with the way Case Keenum played!  It was an actual game last Sunday!  I hope that Kubiak decides to start him again on November 2nd against the Colts.  I will be at that game, so they should win...the last game I was at (against the Titans), they won.  I am OBVIOUSLY their good luck charm.

So next Thursday is Halloween and I will admit that I am happy to be out of college because I HATE dressing up for Halloween, but I am super excited about my first grown up Halloween.  I went to the dollar store earlier this week and bought a bunch of Halloween decorations for the outside of my apartment!  If I don't get any trick or treaters I am going to be VERY upset.  If I sit at home all night with my bowl of candy and no one comes...Belle (my cat) will be very upset.  Speaking of Belle, I am going to get her a Halloween costume...either I'll make one or buy one from PetSmart.  Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!  My job is asking for pictures of animals in their Halloween costumes and Belle has to be the cutest!  Also on Halloween is another office potluck...if ya'll remember from the last office potluck, NO ONE ate my dish... not even me.  But don't worry guys!  I'll bring my A game this time!  Now for my predictions...

My TEXANS have a bye this week
Horns vs. Horned Frogs:  20-14 Horns
Bobcats vs. Jaguars:  24-17 Bobcats


And yes, OF COURSE I posted that photo to prove that Alyssa "hates Halloween..."  Alyssa made it very clear though - COLLEGE Halloween...  :)  I personally think that Belle should dress up as a cat this year, if my opinion means anything...  ;)  I'm not superstitious or anything, but I went 6-4 on my '10 Best Bets' last week (a WINNING WEEK), so here's our favorite mascot again...

Coach (Last weekend 1-0/Overall record of 7-6 on Bobcats and Longhorns games)

The first time that I checked the Vegas lines this week, both the Bobcats and Longhorns were two-point underdogs this Saturday.  South Alabama intrigues me...  While the Jaguars were picked to finish next to last in the Sun Belt in Phil Steele's 2013 College Football Preview magazine, they did beat Western Kentucky by a touchdown AND they only lost by a touchdown AT Tennessee.  I like the Bobcats at home in what I think will be a relatively low-scoring game - my pick is 17-14 Bobcats.

The Longhorns are taking their 4-2 mark to TCU this weekend.  I find it unusual that the Horns aren't ranked in the Top 25 currently, especially with the success that Ole Miss (1 of the 2 teams to beat them) has had recently.  I'll come in on this game higher than my friends, taking Texas to beat the Frogs 31-21.


Coach's Ten Best Bets of the Week (Last weekend 6-4/Overall record of 41-38-1)

Texas Tech (+6 1/2) @ Oklahoma - Lots of respect for the 10th-ranked Red Raiders - hmmm...
Oregon State (+4 1/2) vs. Stanford - Beavers have been on a roll after losing their opener...
Missouri (-2 1/2) vs. South Carolina - I liked the Tigers before they JUMPED in the polls...
49ers (-16 1/2) @ Jaguars - Doubtful that Harbaugh overlooks Jacksonville...
Falcons (+2 1/2) @ Cardinals - LONG SEASON if the Falcons can't win this one...
Giants/Eagles (Over 52 1/2) - I expect about 70 in this one...
Cowboys (+3) @ Lions - Dallas still isn't getting any credit...
Browns/Chiefs (Under 39 1/2) - I expect about 27 in this one...
Seahawks (-10 1/2) @ Rams - St. Louis wants Brett Favre - enough said...
Seahawks/Rams (Under 42 1/2) - About 38 points, with Seattle scoring most of them...

And that's it folks...  Get a score prediction to me on the Bobcats or Longhorns game if you want to be in the blog this week and have a good one!