College Pick 'Em: Thanksgiving Edition

The early Thanksgiving edition of college pick’em is here. This week’s theme: in-state rivalries and/or conference championship implications.

For the second straight week, HHR scored with an overall tally of 7-3. After suffering some early season hiccups, we may just have a handle on this crazy football season. Here are the picks:

10 points: Miami (5-6) at BOSTON COLLEGE (9-2): Boston College clinched a spot in the ACC title game with their come-from-behind win at Clemson a week ago. Short of a bad two week stretch, this has been a dream season for the Eagles. A bad Miami team should only offer a tune-up for the well oiled BC machine.

9 points: Connecticut (9-2) at WEST VIRGINIA (9-1): At the start of the season, most pundits assumed WV would be playing for the Big East championship. But UCONN? Nobody saw these guys coming. In only their fourth year as a league member, the Huskies football team has laid aside several would be pretenders to the Big East crown, including South Florida, Rutgers and Louisville. This is undoubtedly the biggest game in UCONN’s history, and a win here would drop WV from the national title chase and catapult the Huskies into the BCS bowl picture.

8 points: Florida State (7-4) at FLORIDA (8-3): College football fans everywhere are hoping the Seminoles reestablish themselves as one of the most dominant and most hated teams in America. Because once upon a time, this was one of the best games in the college football season, hands down.

7 points: Alabama (6-5) at AUBURN (7-4): Alabama enters the Iron Bowl fresh off a devastating, embarrassing loss to Louisiana Monroe. For the $4 million per Nick Saban is getting from the school, I doubt ‘Bama boosters were expecting that kind of performance in return. Auburn has had an up-and-down season of their own, so it’s difficult to predict who has the edge. This is always one of the hardest-hitting games of the season, so it should be fun just to sit back and watch.

6 points: VA TECH (9-2) at Virginia (9-2): I can’t decide whether Virginia is for real or if they’ve just had a lot of good breaks so far this year. One thing I am quite certain of is that Virginia hasn’t beaten the Hokies since 2003, and I don’t see them ending the losing streak this year. By the way, winner goes to the ACC title game to meet Boston College … for as so-so as the ACC has been this year, the VA Tech-BC game from earlier this year was a billing that certainly lived up to the hype.

5 points: Washington State (4-7) at WASHINGTON (4-7): I know this matters to some folks in the Pacific Northwest, but for the sake of the rest of our readers, I’m just moving on …

4 points: CLEMSON (8-3) at South Carolina (6-5): South Carolina must have just given up on the ol’ Ball Coach. They’ve gone from top to bottom in near record time this season. Clemson, on the other hand, looks to be finishing a season strong for once, notwithstanding last week’s come-from-ahead loss to Boston College. This is another classic college grudge match where you just have to throw the records out the window. Since So. Carolina won last year, I’m going to take Clemson to balance things out.

3 points: GEORGIA (9-2) at Georgia Tech (7-4): The way Georgia has been rolling of late, it’s hard to seriously think Georgia Tech has a chance. If anything, this should be a great matchup between two of the best backs in college football, Georgia’s Knowshow Moreno and Georgia Tech’s Tashard Choice. Those two should at least be worth the price of admission.

2 points: Oregon (8-2) at UCLA (5-5): Dennis Dixon: out. Brady Leaf: in. Prognosis: not good for the Ducks.

1 point: MIZZOU (10-1) at Kansas (11-0): This is Armegeddon west of the Mississippi: who would have ever thought these two hated rivals would meet in a game of this magnitude? Basketball, ok, I can believe that. But football? These guys have both been Big XII bottom feeders for a while! In this crazy football seasons, both teams have emerged from the fray with a chance for each to squeeze their way into the national title game. Kansas is still unbeaten while Mizzou suffered their one loss at the hands of Oklahoma.

I’m taking Mizzou, if for no other reason than certain readers in the St. Louis metropolitan area would disown me if I took the Jayhawks. But more importantly, a Mizzou win would complicate the national title race (enter WV? Ohio State? Arizona State?) that much more. There will be a ton of points scored in this one, so sit back and enjoy because this should be one of the more exciting games played this year.

Season Record: 64-47