Heading into Friday night’s game between Baylor and Louisiana Monroe, I knew it was a must win situation. I had to stop the bleeding, having lost my last seven games. When Baylor scored to go ahead by 12 with a few minutes to play, the congratulatory texts came in as expected. Given my experience in epic losses, I was still terrified of the unfinished business of UL Monroe’s final drive. The prevent defense of Baylor prevented me from ending the night a winner, as ULM QB Kolton Browning threw a meaningless touchdown with just six seconds remaining. Thankfully I stepped up on Saturday, going 8-5 to salvage my week. My day on the couch was thrilling thanks to a dramatic overtime win by my Hurricanes. My picks were solid throughout the day and my confidence was restored once again.
photo credit: nwsportsbeat.com
My record on the season is now 28-29-2. From talking to my readers recently, it certainly seems that they feel as if I’m having a much worse season than the numbers would indicate. While my record isn’t exciting, it certainly isn’t the disaster that some have “kindly” heckled me about. I had to do some digging to figure out where the confusion stemmed from. Games on weeknights attract more attention from casual fans, mainly because they are usually the only football option on that given night. In those situations, I am a disgraceful 4-10-1 on the season. College football owns Saturdays and I have a very respectable 24-19-1 Saturday record. My performance this year has been misunderstood, but I can solve that problem by simply winning some weeknight games. It’s time for the Huskies to impress on Thursday night.
Some other interesting stats from my season thus far – Hopefully I’m very due for good results on Thursday (Stanford at UW) and Friday (Hawaii at BYU), because the trends don’t look good………
- 4-0 record in games involving teams from Illinois
- 4-1 record in games involving teams from South Carolina
- 0-5 record in games involving teams from Utah
- 1-8-2 in games involving Pac 12 teams (I’ve spent countless hours reviewing film on Pac 12 Network to ensure this problem is fixed)
- 9-5-1 in games involving SEC teams
It is time to stand up for what you believe in. Everyone in American with access to a phone has tweeted, texted, or called someone to complain about the embarrassing state of the NFL during Replacement Ref-gate. Fans across the country have made threats like “I’m not watching another game until the real refs come back.” Clearly that wouldn’t happen because Sunday football controls this country, but there is a compromise that I am proposing. NFL Network will be showing Browns at Ravens on Thursday night. Even if the real refs come back at the last second, put your money/remote control where your mouth is and show Roger Goodell you won’t be pushed around. Instead of watching Brandon Weeden throw three picks to Ed Reed, focus all of your attention on a very intriguing Pac 12 game between Stanford and Washington. As we’ve seen this week, anything can happen at CenturyLink Field in Seattle.
Stanford at Washington +7 THURSDAY – ESPN – 9pm
I’m basing a great deal of this prediction on the power of the Huskies’ home crowd. Seattle is a very tough place to play and Stanford QB Josh Nunes will be making the first road start of his career. UW has struggled stopping the run this season, but I expect the energy and emotion of this primetime game to help UW’s front-seven. Stanford RB Stepfan Taylor will have a productive game, but won’t be able to dominate the Huskies like he did in 2011. Stanford’s strength on the OL and DL would make it easy to take Stanford, but the Huskies are a different team at home. While the win against USC stunned the country, we are finding out that the Trojans weren’t as good as advertised. Stanford may not be ready for these exceedingly high expectations. Washington QB Keith Price will be the most impressive player on the field Thursday night. Price is going to have a great year under the teaching of Coach Steve Sarkisian and RB Bishop Sankey will help lighten the pressure on his quarterback. This game will be close all night, with a field goal determining the final outcome on Friday morning on the East Coast.
John Pickens
Go Dawgs!