Finally, football is here.

My picks this week (straight up):

* South Carolina vs. NC State (Thursday). SC. I’m tempted towards NC State as SC always lets me down. * Oregon vs. Boise State (Thursday). Oregon. Hoping for a good game. * Navy vs. Ohio State. OSU. I expect Navy to cover the spread tho, Tressel won’t show all his cards in this game. * Oklahoma vs. BYU. Oklahoma. Oklahoma just has too much. * Virginia Tech vs. Alabama. Bama. Tho I will be pulling for VT, I’m not a Saban lover. * Georgia vs. Oklahoma State. Georgia. I refuse to support T Boone Pickens’ attempt to establish Okie State as the common meaning of OSU. We must crush any attempt of this program to rise out of the murk of mediocrity. * Minnesota vs. Syracuse. Syracuse. This is a brutal game to pick. Going with the home team but these are two programs with all kinds of frothy expectations amongst their fan bases, and yet we all know they are going to crash hard. * Mizzou vs. Illinois. Missouri. Why does everyone love Juice? By the end of the Big10 season, he will be like the 5th best QB in the big 10. * Stanford vs. Washington State. Stanford. All the smart writers think Stanford is really stepping up, but not sure I can buy that. However they should have no problem with a pitiful WSU. * Maryland vs California. Cal. I don’t know that I have ever picked a Cal game right tho, they continually disappoint. * San Jose State vs. USC. USC. But SJSU covers the spread as the USC team starts to learn about itself. * Mississippi vs. Memphis (Sunday). Ole Miss. Tho I am not on the crazy Ole Miss bandwagon. * Colorado State vs. Colorado (Sunday). Col State. Another tough one to pick, Colorado has so often disappointed. * Miami FL vs Florida State (Monday). FSU. Sad but true, I don’t care about either of these programs any more. I can’t even get up the energy to hate them. Oregon State, Minnesota, Rutgers all seem more relevant, and wow that is sad. * Cincinnati vs. Rutgers (Monday). Rutgers. No idea so go with home team.