The Weekly Scoreboard: Tears in T-Town Abound

The Big E goes 4-4 and makes up no ground in week 11.

Congratulations to afkas17, cranked_irish, ndbios2000, and tuckeverlasting for leading the way this week with 6-2 records.

Savannah_Domer still has the overall lead---one which he's been very reluctant to relinquish this season.

Recap:

1) Louisville 26 at Syracuse 45

Winner: Syracuse (+2.5)

16% picked correctly

What did Vegas know??

There goes Louisville's undefeated season and the last vestiges of the Big East's pride. I'll say it again...the Cardinal defense shouldn't be this bad under Charlie Strong. It makes no sense.

Even in a loss Teddy Bridgewater did work (36 for 49, 424 yards, 3 TD, 1 INT)---he's super accurate. Interestingly, Syracuse quarterback Ryan Nassib is getting a lot of NFL draft love right now. Hey, the League needs quarterbacks! Just ask the Bills.

2) Oregon State 23 at Stanford 27

Winner: Oregon State (+4.5)

28% picked correctly

Freaking half points.

A bit of an odd game to watch this one was. For some reason I just typed that sentence like an Englishman country gentleman. I thought Oregon State controlled the game after a disastrous start, but a costly fumble by their quarterback crushed them late.

Stanford's new quarterback Kevin Hogan isn't half bad. I was looking forward to seeing an immobile and average quarterback in Palo Alto for a couple years but it looks like we may not be so lucky.

3) Penn State 23 at Nebraska 32

Winner: Nebraska (-7.5)

56% picked correctly

When this game ended I was sure I'd go 0-8 on the week.

I didn't get a chance to watch much of this game with more important tilts going on at the same time, but apparently there was some goal line controversy?

Yeah, I saw that play. That's ruled a fumble usually, isn't it?

Penn State sitting at 6-4 feels about right. We'll still have to hear about them overachieving this season though. Good for them, I guess.

4) Texas A&M 29 at Alabama 24

Winner: Texas A&M (+13.5)

63% picked correctly

No big deal.

Bonus points for some sweet uniforms by A&M.

5) Kansas State 23 at TCU 10

Winner: Kansas State (-7.5)

53% picked correctly

Is anyone going to talk about the Wildcats gaining just 260 total yards? Or maybe about how Collin Klein did nothing all game outside of a decent touchdown run?

Nah, let's not talk about it.

6) Notre Dame 21 at Boston College 6

Winner: Boston College (+18.5)

9% picked correctly

We're all a bunch of homers.

Except Concrete Charlie, ndbear, and Irishane.

This game was so boring we didn't even get a proper recap out of BC Interruption (EDIT: We got one now!).

7) Mississippi State 17 at LSU 37

Winner: LSU (-14.5)

69% picked correctly

Miss State could finish 9-3 and LSU at 10-2, yet we'll always have the feeling that neither are as good as their records indicates---especially the Bulldogs.

8) Oregon 59 at California 17

Winner: Oregon (-28.5)

88% picked correctly

California was within a touchdown of the Ducks early in the 3rd quarter. They got our hopes up.

5 straight touchdowns to end the game for Oregon. Thanks for playing.

Opponent Watch:

• Navy 31 at Troy 41

That's a tough loss for Navy ending their 5-game winning streak. They fall to 6-4 and as we all know, finishing the season 9-3 always looks way better than 8-4. It'll be interesting to see if they beat Army for the 11th straight time.

• Purdue 27 at Iowa 24

There you go Purdue! Remember what a win feels like? It's been almost two months but you did it!

Man, is Iowa a mess this year or what?

*Michigan State had a bye.

• Northwestern 31 at Michigan 38

Technically this was a win over a ranked opponent for Michigan. For the second straight game the Wolverines played without Denard Robinson. Gotta rest him up for that meaningless Ohio State game!

• Miami 40 at Virginia 41

The Canes blew a 10-point 4th quarter lead and fall to 5-5 on the season. Despite being 4-3 in league play I am being told they still control their destiny in the ACC? That's cute.

• Idaho 13 at BYU 52

This one was bound to get ugly. BYU moves to 6-4 on the season.

• Baylor 34 at Oklahoma 42

The Sooners were able to hold off the high-flying Bears. If you are keeping score at home Baylor is now 4-5 overall and 1-5 in Big 12 play this season. Not sure how that happened with the great program Art Briles was building.

• Pitt 17 at UConn 24

This game probably hurt the Irish more than anything else over the weekend. We're living in some bizarre universe where Tino Sunseri continues to play outstanding football yet his team can't win.

• Wake Forest 6 at NC State 37

This partly explains why Notre Dame is such an enormous favorite this weekend (see below).

• Arizona State 17 at USC 38

3 interceptions for Matt Barkley and he's on pace for more picks than any season he's played at USC. Is he still going to be a top draft pick? Yeah, probably but I'm sure they'll be plenty of debate.

I thought this was a strong yet quiet win for USC after more circus shenanigans surrounded their program last week.

Early Lines for This Week's Big E Picks:

Rutgers (+6.5) at Cincinnati

USC (-3.5) at UCLA

NC State (+17.5) at Clemson

Ohio State (+2.5) at Wisconsin

Wake Forest (+23.5) at Notre Dame

Oklahoma (-10.5) at West Virginia

Stanford (+20.5) at Oregon

Kansas State (-11.5) at Baylor