Sports: College Football Picks for Sept. 17 Weekend

One rather puzzling and annoying thing I have noticed in attempting to be diligent about putting out weekly picks is that no site has all the information I want in one easy to cut-and-paste place. How about just a team's ranking, record and opponent (+ record) for the Top 25 all in one simple, easy to copy format? Enough complaining.-------------------

1. USC Trojans vs. Arkansas

2. Texas Longhorns vs. Rice

3. L-S-U Tigers- IDLE

4. Virginia Tech Hokies vs. Ohio

5. Tennessee Volunteers at Florida

Florida coach Urban Meyer's first encounter with its bitter SEC East rival, who is as overrated as its coach is rotund. I am not sure if the Citrus Bowl still exists in name, but the sentiment of former Gator coach Steve Spurrier's observation that "You can't spell Citrus without UT" remains, in my opinion, as true as ever.

6. Florida Gators vs. Tennessee

7. Georgia Bulldogs vs. Louisiana-Monroe

8. Florida State Seminoles at Boston College

Welcome to the new ACC, I suppose. I don't think that FSU is that good, and they might be thrown off by playing in an unfamiliar environment.

9. Ohio State Buckeyes vs. San Diego State

10. Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs. Michigan State

11. Louisville Cardinals vs. Oregon State

12. Purdue Boilermakers at Arizona

This one actually could be an upset pick, but Arizona is a pretty lousy team.

13. Miami-Florida Hurricanes at Clemson

In mild contrast to FSU, I don't think that Miami is as bad as it may appear. They may win 8 or 9 games which, notwithstanding a history of doing better and the potential imperilment of Coach Coker's position, is overall a fairly solid performance.

14. Michigan Wolverines vs. Eastern Michigan

15. California Golden Bears vs. Illinois

In his head coaching debut at Illinois, former Gator coach Ron Zook ws indeed victorious. However, the victory was over Rutgers and required an overtime in which to occur (this was in Champaign as well). The outcome will not be the same on the road vs. California.

16. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets vs. Connecticut

17. Boston College Eagles vs. Florida State

18. Arizona State Sun Devils vs. Northwestern

19. Texas Tech Red Raiders vs. Sam Houston State

20. Clemson Tigers vs. Miami (FL)

21. Oklahoma Sooners at UCLA

This may seem like a counterintuitive pick in light of OU's season thus far and the fact that it's a road game for them. I think that people are favoring UCLA more because OU is down rather than because UCLA is so good. Look for OU to bounce back in this game

22. Iowa Hawkeyes vs. Northern Iowa

23. Fresno State Bulldogs at Oregon

This game has a feel like it may be a high-scoring affair. I just feel like the PAC 10 team is going to come out a little better in this matchup.

24. Iowa State Cyclones- IDLE

25. Virginia Cavaliers at Syracuse--------------- Wow, 17-3 (.850), a pretty solid performance, if undercut a bit by my prediction that Oklahoma would bounce back. Although it seems simple, and b/c I would like to do a good job of it, I am going to cease making weekly pics b/c it requires a little more time and energy than anticipated. Expect continuing commentary as the college football season progresses, however.