uh, ditto

the ravens will walk in this one

and i hate the nfl network

I'm going with Baltimore in tonight's matchup against Cincinnati. Other picks to come later.

Last week:

Ryan: 3-5 (15-25), my picks were right on my average, leaving DISMAL so far this year, oh well, they're still the playoffs

John: 7-1 WOAH (22-18), john jumps above .500, not too shabby

combined: 3-1, (pretty f'ing sweet) 9-13 on the rise!!

so, i'm thinking playoff pick'em, and john's superior record allows him to pick the games HE wants to pick first, leaving me with the harder games, is this making sense? or we could just pick 'em all (gotta pick 'em all, Pick-e-mon)

i guess we're both glad we didn't pick the panthers game, it would have hurt in all three categories, unless john ended up letting war eagle sway him over.

College Basketball Thoughts (yes, yes, this is more than a NFL pick 'em blog)
Duke - wow, they look beatable, and not just aginst a fired up, young, athletic Marquette on a neutral floor, but an average (I tried to look up Indiana's Big Ten pre-season rank, but apparently the Big Ten only publishes the top 3, and Indiana wasn't one of them) Indiana team, at home, playing slowed down basketball Duke normally dominates. I'm not comparing Paulus to Felton, well, I am, but NO BYRON, DON'T CLOSE THE WINDOW, just stick with me for a second, but only in importance to the team. Just like in 2004 and 2005, we had no reliable PG behind Felton, no Melvin Scott doesn't count. In the games that Felton got into foul trouble early, we obviously struggled. Paulus means as much to Duke as Felton did to those Tar Heel teams, and with only freshmen behind him, no one can run the team quite like Paulus. SO, in light of this, i suggest teams attack Paulus by driving, and forcing him into foul trouble, it might be the easiest way to get to Duke.

Maryland - move over Duke, move over BC, move over UNC? Maryland is playing good solid Gary Williams basketball, with perhaps their least talented team in the past 3 years. I guess Gary can still coach 'em up with the best. Maryland is playing the best basketball in the ACC right now, hands down, no debate. They have clearly replaced Duke and BC as the co-favorites to run with UNC for the ACC title (and thats based on pre-season opinions 1.UNC 2a. Duke 2b. BC). And along with BC struggling, Maryland looks to be moving on up in the world, oh boy, I can't wait for Md at Cameron (hmmm, Feb 28th, things might look a LOT different then). Speaking of, is Maryland peaking too early? Lets check the past few years in search of teams that peaked early after being initially ranked outside the top 25.

2006 - Washington started ranked #26 (technically), and 10-0 before cooling off, but i all ended up OK (#1 seed in tourney, elite 8), then again, they play in a weaker bball conference, and probably weren't tested as severely in conference

2005 - Iowa starts off hot and rockets into the top 25, only losing to UNC in Maui (correct me if i'm wrong), however, they cooled back off and fell out of the rankings, did they suspend someone or something? I feel like one of their players got in trouble around new years, oh well.

OK, thats all i'm going to look into for now, i mean, its kinda hard to do clicking around on ESPN and without the actual schedule results, just records and weekly top 25s. That and i think the professor is noticing that i haven't looked up in like 25 minutes. Anyways, thanks to Dr. Styers for giving a lecture that would inspire me to post. God, i hope this stuff isn't on the final.

PS: State, impressive, that was a quality win, for State basketball this year at least, Injun going down reeks of Ewing theory

PPS: JAKE IS THE QB, I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOUR WHINING, HE IS GOING TO BE THE QB FOR 2 MORE YEARS, TOUGH, SUCK IT UP.

that is all.

PPPS: oh yeah, PLEASE POST, call me an idiot, call me a genius, call me a UNC back stabber for saying UMD>UNC, whatever, just say something.

snake? SNAAAAAAAAKE!!?!?!!?

Wolfpack Releases Chuck Amato

We all knew State fans liked kicking Chuck around, but according to gopack.com, it appears that "NC State Director of Athletics Lee Fowler has announced that head football [sic] Chuck Amato will not be retained for next season."

Wolfpack Club members have made it abundantly clear that losing to UNC three years in a row is absolutely unacceptable, no matter what else goes their football coach does (take Phil Rivers, for example).

Ok, I'm not sure if I remeber the games to pick

12:45:27 AM johannimhaus: jags/bills
12:45:30 AM johannimhaus: steelers/ravens
12:45:37 AM johannimhaus: bengals/browns
12:45:39 AM johannimhaus: falcons/saints
12:45:48 AM johannimhaus: and bears/pats $$

All that, plus the 2 we already picked for turkey day, that starts me at a 1 game hole (Dolphins>LIONS, Broncos>CHIEFS) anyways, I'm gonna change it up a little, new formatting (home team in caps, winning team first, example above) and pick solely based on my gut instinct because, well, I've gotta turn it around.

jags > BILLS: umm yeah, even if they did have willis, no one would be picking the Bills here, not sure why the line is so low, David Gerrard WINS GAMES

RAVENS > steelers: yeah, i've been wrong on every steelers game, ever. so, i'm just putting that out there, but i think the Ravens' D will bottle up the run game and force angry pass happy Big Ben to show up, which spells doom

bengals > BROWNS: i like picking the Browns on occasion, they're a decent team, but today is a points-fest, and the Browns can't keep up with the Bengals during a points-fest, over-under 58.

FALCONS > saints: the Falcons are a confusing team with two certainties, 1) they play well when motivated and 2) Micheal Vick passes well against poor defenses. BOTH are true today, so i'll take the Falcants

bears > PATS ($$$): ok, i lied, i did some research, when i read about this game earlier in the week FO said that the Bears are the best defense in the NFL against all receivers except WR1's, this indicates that it takes skill as a reciever to beat them (ie steve smith), that is something that the Patriots severely lack, and i think the Patriots are overrated, well I think the Bears are too, but the Patriots more

side note: we tossed out Giants/Titans, because thats shooting fish in a barrel, and we don't cop out around here, and if you don't believe us just check out our records, that should be proof enough

Guess what? I want to introduce you to a friend of mine.

Here are the Week 12 picks (we're only picking five now, since we already picked two for Thanksgiving):

Jacksonville over Buffalo. The Jaguars, while quite inconsistent, have looked dominant recently.

Baltimore over Pittsburgh. Big Ben's going to have a bit tougher time against the Ravens' D than he has in the past two weeks, so I can't convince myself to take a gamble on riding the Steelers' coattails to victory for three straight weeks.

Cincinnati over Cleveland. The league's third-best offense will run roughshod over Cleveland's 29th-best offense.

New Orleans over Atlanta. Michael Vick just looks terrible right now.

And the money pick...

New England over Chicago. Gutsy call, but I'm manning up and sticking with the Pats after an initial pre-stat-check pick. And if Ryan's luck is any good at predicting who will win, this one's money in the bank for me. Hey, if Miami can do it...

This might be a tad much, but is there any interest in doing a Top 25 college basketball pick'em?

I have the HOLIDAY HAWK on my side! It promises a winning record at the end of the season in addition to serenading me with holiday melodies!

I'm going with Kansas City over Denver and Miami over Detroit. Happy Thanksgiving!

wow, ryan's picks, AKA seeking new depths
last week: 2-6, on the year: something horrible (12-20)

john's:
last week: 4-4, on the year: something better than horrible (15-17)

combined: 1-3, 6-12 ugh

and in the kasparov vs. big blue showdown:
John: 10-6
Ryan: 8-8
Big Blue: 8-8

not too bad, especially since the lines were remarkably low this week (9 under 4 points)

This next week, I move to just void the Thursday games, unless you want to post before they start tomorrow john (just post and I'll know)
Miami (-3) @ Detroit
Tampa (+11.5) @ Dallas
Denver (+1.5) @ Kansas City

if we end up using these, my picks are in bold, have a good weekend everyone

so, there at 6 games that definitely count this week (line 3 or less)
Bills/Texans
Skins/Bucs
Lions/Cards
Seahawks/Niners
Colts/Cowboys
Chargers/Broncos

Now, here's where it gets interesting, 3 games area at 3.5:
Vikings/Dolphins
Saints/Bengals
Falcons/Ravens

so, let's pick the game we all got right: Atlanta v. Baltimore, or we can do it randomly, advice?

Okay, we're picking all the games this week, so here goes (one-liners to come, maybe)

Kansas City over Oakland.

New Orleans over Cincinnati.

Pittsburgh over Cleveland.

Philadelphia over Tennessee.

Baltimore over Atlanta.

Carolina over St. Louis.

Houston over Buffalo.

New England over Green Bay.

Washington over Tampa Bay.

Chicago over New York.

Miami over Minnesota.

Detroit over Arizona.

Seattle over San Francisco.

Dallas over Indianapolis.

San Diego over Denver.

Jacksonville over New York.

Ryan's Picks (here we go, making Byron look sillier than MICHIGAN did yesterday)

Baltimore over Atlanta: this one was close, no ray-ray, but Vick has been horrible lately, he'll have to make a vast improvement to beat this defense
Houston over Buffalo: i almost had to think about this game, then i realized the bills don't have McGahee
Chicago over N.Y. Jets: yeah, Benson, 2 TDs, and still on my bench, maybe i'll put him in for Tatum
New Orleans over Cincinnati: yeah, they shot their wad last week, time for an emotional letdown and more yelling at teammates
Miami over Minnesota: solid defense stops the excuse for a run game that the Jets have, and when you can't run you can't win
New England over Green Bay: three in a row? ha, not for the street urchin
Kansas City over Oakland: this is the one Byron will flip "Oakland" and be sorry he challenged John and I
Cleveland over Pittsburgh: the upset is really tempting here, not sure why, what the hell, you only live once right, GO BROWNS
Carolina over St. Louis: gotta go with the home team, that and Pep will OWN this rook playing in place of Orlando Pace, too bad Lucas isn't playing or I'd be starting the Panther's D in fantasy
Philadelphia over Tennessee: McNabb of the past vs. McNabb of the future, i'll take the experience
Tampa Bay over Washington: yeah, Washington couldn't beat Duke right now, they can't run, can't pass (not yet with Jason Campbell), and can't defend ANYone
Detroit over Arizona: its hard to pick a game between two equally erratic equally and hard-luck teams
Seattle over San Francisco: well, i think i'd pick Seattle even without Hasselbeck and Alexander, who might be back
Indianapolis over Dallas: apparently Dallas isn't going to alter their gameplan for the Colts, what a joke, lets NOT drop 6 on every play and force them to run and pound the ball down their throats like Tenn and Buff did, god Parcells is a genius
MONEY GAME Denver over San Diego: its at Denver, i don't care if the ghost of Gale Sayers was playing against them, or if Jim Brown 30 years ago, or Barry Sanders crossed with Gale Sayers, or Ryan Houston, people don't score on Denver in Denver Jacksonville over New York: no pass rush no win for the Giants, the Jags defense is staunch as usual

Last week, upon Byron's learning (yes we had to tell him, no he doesn't read the blog) that our picks were a paltry .500 on the year, he laughed at us, and suggested he could do better with a quarter or computer randomizer. We took his challenge, and so far we're all tied at 1-0 (we all picked the Panthers over the Bucs). Now, lets see what and increased sample size will do. This week we're going to pick ALL the games to prove our point that we're smarter than a random coin. However, don't worry, we'll still keep tabs on our top-7 and the money game of the week (gotta be denver/san diego). The only problem is that Byron is "in absentia" visiting the cold and soon to be depressed Ann Arbor campus for med school interviews. Never fear, for we can use Byron's computer, which he left, to predict the games, since that's what he'd use anyways. Ok, enough talk, on to the schedule:

Atlanta at Baltimore
Buffalo at Houston
Chicago at N.Y. Jets
Cincinnati at New Orleans
Minnesota at Miami
New England at Green Bay
Oakland at Kansas City
Pittsburgh at Cleveland
St. Louis at Carolina
Tennessee at Philadelphia
Washington at Tampa Bay
Detroit at Arizona
Seattle at San Francisco
Indianapolis at Dallas
San Diego at Denver $$$ New York at Jacksonville

sorry folks, turns out I was jumping the gun a tad, and we have MULTIPE ELIGIBLE GAMES!!! There are 8 games that have a line of <4, (including SD/Den) so that means that John and I actually pick this week. I'm also throwing in Baltimore/Atlanta b/c its 4 points. And Tampa/Wash is still blank, but if i had to guess the line will be close. FYI, the eligible games are bolded, and we'll figure that out later. Looks like Byron lucked out and may have a better shot than we thought with so many close games.

UPDATE (5:10 PM): 2 more games added, Wash/TB is within the margin as per Bill Simmons' column and apparently so is Seattle @ SF, should be a fun week

BUTCH DAVIS

The secret hiring of Butch Davis has finally been announced! The week long wait for homecoming to be over so that no one will be stepping on Bunting's toes has passed, and the word has come down from on high (Baddour's office), that Davis is indeed the next football coach of the Tar Heels. According to reports 2 members of the new offensive triumvirate (Houston & Paulus) have reconfirmed their commitment to UNC football with Davis at the helm, with no word yet from Dwight Jones (on a side note, 194 yds 3 tds for Houston in a first round playoff win). Hopefully all the cogs will remain in place to keep together this top-15 recruiting class.

in other news:
-UVa upsets #10 Arizona to open their new arena
-Greg Paulus has already returned from his broken foot
-"kid bro sweets' crew" has been renamed "the '85 DeLoreans" and has started building for the future after the loss of star RB Bro Sweets for the season
-i have a paper due tomorrow, so expect 3 more posts tonight, including an analysis of the top 25 college football teams headed down the stretch

um, so yeah, john and i need to start using our picks to benifit the Panthers' playoff hopes, as in, ALWAYS pick the Falcons and Saints to win...

John 4-4, 11-13 overall
Ryan 3-5, 10-14 overall
combined 2-4, 5-9 overall

um, yeah, next week Byron the Magnificent and his quarter will be joining us

Week 10 picks:

Kansas City over Miami. It's not that the Dolphins looked all that great last week; the Bears just looked terrible.

San Diego over Cincinnati. The Chargers, my midseason Super Bowl champions pick, just look dominant right now. I don't see them losing another game this season.

Minnesota over Green Bay. Toss-up on this one, but the Vikings have more quality wins, so I'm going with them.

Detroit over San Francisco. The Lions looked pretty good last week over the Falcons in a surprising victory. This one won't be surprising, as they'll dominate the 49ers.

Pittsburgh over New Orleans. This one should be a great game; Big Ben looked great last week throwing for a career high in yardage - over 400 yards. The Steelers win a close one.

St. Louis over Seattle. The Rams avenge their earlier loss to the Seahawks and pull the upset.

Carolina over Tampa Bay. Everything will click on Monday night for the Panthers as they absolutely dominate the Buccaneers in a blowout.

And the money pick:

Chicago over New York. This one is shaping up to be one of the better games this season, but the loss of Toomer just hurts the Giants too much.

My Weakly Picks (more explanation later if I find the time)
Chiefs over Dolphins: This week the Dolphins go back to being the Dolphins

Lions over Niners: Kevin Jones has a MONSTER day here

Vikings over Packers: the Vike's defense is at home in the dome

Chargers over Bengals: hmmm, good RB, poor run defense, lemme think...
just imagine if the Panthers had kept on running the ball agains the Bengals

Saints over Steelers: upset pick number 1? maybe, i just don't have faith in the Stellars anymore, no team talking to the media about quitting can concievably win a game

Rams over Seahawks: upset pick number 2? again, maybe, the Rams' offense has looked solid, and their defense should be able to hold the 'hawks B-team that's starting right now

$$$ Game (based on many counted absentee fan ballots)
Bears over Giants: weak secondary allows Grossman to get back in the swing of things, and Benson scores 2 TDs from my bench just to spite me

So, um, yeah, we've kinda fallen asleep at the switch here. I'll just update the football standings:

John: 4-4 (7-9 overall)
Ryan: 3-5 (7-9 overall)
combined: 3-5 (all weeks, $$$ game counts as 1)

and in other news, GO RUTGERS, who saved my title game prediction last night by beating Louisville

the eligible games of the week:
Chiefs @ Dolphins
Bears @ Giants
Rams @ Seahawks
Chargers @ Bengals
(now we get out of the +/- 3 pt spread range)
Packers (+5.5) @ Vikings
Saints (+4.5) @ Steelers
Niners (+6) @ Lions

money game, any suggestions?