The Big E College Football Picks: Week 15

Coffee is for closers.

LEAGUE STANDINGS

For the third time this season SacofRome led the pick 'em league. In week 14 he went 16-7 and has moved up to 6th place overall. Our leader in the overall standings continues to be tjv who is sitting at 177-137 with a 3-game lead over our own Whiskey.

Will Whiskey's farewell be the greatest comeback in Big E College Football Picks history??

Now for this week's games...

Bowling Green (+4) at Northern Illinois [MAC Championship]

Pick: Bowling Green

NIU is 12-0 and looking for a second straight berth in a BCS bowl. I think they lose outright to Bowling Green who has been playing really well down the stretch.

Oklahoma (+9.5) at Oklahoma State

Pick: Oklahoma

Okie Junior has the opportunity to win the Big 12 and once again I'm going with a big upset. The Sooners offense with Trevor Knight can be more run-heavy and that might take away the Cowboys greatest strength on defense which is forcing turnovers. I'm not sure this OSU offense is truly high powered enough to cover this spread anyway.

UCF (-10) at SMU

Pick: UCF

June Jones is just toiling away down there in Texas. I'm pretty confident that UCF takes this road game without a problem (SMU just lost 34-0 to Houston) unless for whatever reason they don't play well when they travel this far away. Maybe that's what Vegas is banking on here?

Memphis (PK) at UConn

Pick: UConn

The Huskies are going to win three straight to finish the season and go into 2014 with A TON of momentum.

Texas (+15.5) at Baylor

Pick: Texas

Baylor has not looked quite right on the road over the past two weeks. I don't know if the Horns pick up an upset here but I think they'll play Briles & Co. closer than expected. This game seems to have some big implications for the entire state of Texas with recruiting, coaching decisions, etc. It's fascinating.

Missouri (+2) at Auburn [SEC Championship]

Pick: Missouri

Literally every single preview I have read for this game has said the same thing. Missouri's defense is going to bother the Auburn offense and the Auburn defense really isn't all that great. I'll echo those thoughts and also mention that Auburn is probably due for some let down after their epic upset over Alabama.

South Florida (+6) at Rutgers

Pick: Rutgers

The Scarlet Knight have quietly kind of sucked this year (5-6 overall) but there's no way USF wants any part of playing a December game in cold-ass New Jersey. I smell a blowout win for Rutgers.

Stanford (+3) at Arizona State [Pac-12 Championship]

Pick: Stanford

If ASU wins this game Notre Dame will have beaten two teams who won 11 games. Imagine that? Unfortunately I see Stanford having their way with the Sun Devils like they did earlier in the season. The Cardinal defense matches up well and quarterback Taylor Kelly never plays well when a defense gets in his face. It'll be Stanford picking up their 11th win and heading to the Rose Bowl, I'm sure.

Duke (+29) at Florida State [ACC Championship]

Pick: Florida State

Just a quick glance at the scores in Florida State's all-time 18-0 record against Duke shows the Blue Devils rarely ever cover a spread this big against the Seminoles. Winston wasn't charged, he's back in the Heisman race for real, and I think this game gets very ugly. FSU has been on another level this year.

Ohio State (-5.5) at Michigan State [B1G Championship]

Pick: Ohio State

Part of me wants to pick Michigan State here but I don't think they can throw the ball well enough to take advantage of Ohio State's weaknesses on defense. The Buckeyes option game should get them enough points to hang on in a 24-13 type of game.

Utah State (+3.5) at Fresno State [Mountain West Championship]

Pick: Utah State

Utah State has lost to the 4 teams that have more talent than them but won the rest of the games that they should have. I'll take the points and see if they can play Fresno tough.