Beerman's Picks
By Beerman, 11/18/99

HokieCentral Note:  Beerman has been doing his weekly picks for the HokieCentral Members Only section for almost two full seasons.  Now that all HokieCentral content is free, Beerman's entertaining look at the upcoming weekend's games are now available to all readers.  Enjoy!

Howdy! Each week this season, I will be posting a column previewing the upcoming weekend's Big East and Top-25 match-ups. All rankings are from the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. Picks are against the spread, and are for entertainment purposes only.

Last Week: "Last year, a healthy bit of luck in this game propelled UT to a National Championship. In the year of the Hokie, will the pendulum of fate swing the other way?"

I may be under .500 on the year, but I'm picking the ones that count. Now who's Nebraska playing next?

This Week: Time to rock and roll in the Swamp. Time to exact revenge against the mighty (tic) Owls of Temple. Time to get those Sugar Bowl ticket orders in.

Not In Action This Week: #4 Nebraska, #5 Wisconsin, #6 Texas, #20 Texas A&M

Saturday (11/20)

Top-25 Games:

#1 Florida State (-3) @ #3 FLORIDA

I guess it would be better for us if UF were to win this one. I mean then FSU's 1st-place votes would have to end up somewhere, and I bet we'd get most of em. On the other hand, FSU plays into our schedule strength twice, because of UVA and Clemson, so mebee it's better if they win? I don't know. I'm getting tired of having to think like this…

The Noles have not looked very dominant all year, thought they performed quite adequately in their tune-up last week at Maryland. Florida began the season with defensive questions, and they're ending it with problems on offense.

Pick: Seminoles

#2 Virginia Tech (-29) @ TEMPLE

I wanna see RUTS redefined in this game. Anyone remember Houston in the David Klingler years? That's what I want to see.

Pick: Hokies

#7 Tennessee (-12.5) @ KENTUCKY

Oops! Guess they let one get away from them. Poor Vols, better luck next year. Hal Mumme's made great strides with the Wildcat program, but he's yet to win a big one. I doubt he does it here either.

Pick: Kentucky

#8 Alabama (-4) @ AUBURN

Looks like the Music City Bowl was really on to something, albeit one year too early.

What can I say about this game? It's the meanest, nastiest, ugliest, dirtiest rivalry in college football. Sure, Alabama is much better on paper, but that doesn't mean a thing here.

Pick: Bama

#9 KANSAS STATE (-24) vs. Missouri

Nebraska fumbled ten times last week, but KSU couldn't recover most of them, and an entire season's efforts went for naught. Missouri is about to feel the brunt of a whole lot of anger and frustration. Ouch.

Pick: KSU

#10 MICHIGAN (-12.5) vs. Ohio State

Now OSU has to win this one just to become bowl eligible. Ouch. The thing is that if the Buckeyes do manage to pull this one off, all will be forgiven.

Pick: Ohio State

#11 Marshall (off) vs. Ohio

Talk about an insult. It isn't so much that Vegas doesn't have a line out for this game … I couldn't even find a listing with an "nl" next to it!

Pick: Marshall

#12 Georgia Tech (-10) @ WAKE FOREST

30 or more points in each and every game this season. That's unbelievable!

Pick: GA Tech

#13 Penn State (+1.5) @ #14 MICHIGAN STATE

Geez. Loose two in a row and now JoePa is an underdog to Nick Saban. You'd think the world was coming to an end or something!

Pick: PSU

#15 Mississippi State (+7) @ #24 ARKANSAS

Well, it was fun while it lasted. The Bulldogs came up one 4th-quarter comeback short. I think that we all saw that one coming though.

Go Hogs! :o)

Pick: Arkansas

#16 MISSISSIPPI (-5.5) vs. #23 Georgia

Too many Mississippises. I donna like it. It says something about SEC football that Georgia can have 3 losses and there's talk about Coach Donnan being fired at season's end. Don't get me wrong, I'd still be ecstatic if we somehow found our way into the conference…but expectations there are just nuts!

Pick: Mississippi

#17 Southern Mississippi (-4.5) @ LOUISEVILLE

Right, like I'm going to pick Louiseville to win anything!

Pick: USM

#18 Minnesota (-20) @ IOWA

That's one heckuva job Glen Mason's done out in Minnesota. Really, I mean they've been lousy for years! Now one last snack before bowl time.

Pick: Gophers

#19 BYU (-6.5) vs. Utah

The holy war. Well maybe if you're a Mormon. For the rest of us, it's just another "Oh by the way" Mountain West game.

Pick: BYU

#21 EAST CAROLINA (-8.5) vs. N.C. State

I'm still trying to figure out how NC State has won 6 games this year. Boy, I bet Texas wants to play that one over again!

Pick: ECU

#22 Boston College (+9.5) @ NOTRE DAME

UPitt did their job last week, now it's the Eagles' turn. Win this one, and BC will be 8-2 and likely top-20 for our showdown.

Pick: BC

#25 Purdue (-12) @ INDIANA

Joe Tiller's done a fine job competing in the Big Ten with a pass dominated offense. The running game and more importantly the defense are going to have to step it up a notch or two next year, however, if they want to win Drew Brees that Heisman

Pick: Purdue

Other Big East Games:

MIAMI (FL) (-33) vs. Rutgers

I'm telling you, if we can't cover Bubba Franks, we don't stand a chance against the Canes!

Pick: Gator Bowl

Game of the Week to Watch: Oh come on, like you need me to tell you?

Upset Special: Boston College over Notre Dame

Last Week: 10-11

Season to Date: 110-124-1

Upset Special: 3-9

          

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