Draft Video: Eddie Lacy

27. February 2013  - Published by Dan Clasgens

Many draft gurus project Alabama's Eddie Lacy to be the first running back off the board...

WATCH HIGHLIGHTS (YouTube)

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First BCS Rankings Released

17. October 2010  - Published by Dan Clasgens

Oklahoma is No. 1 in the first BCS rankings, released Sunday night.

The Sooners (6-0, 2-0 Big 12) jumped up to No. 3 in the AP and Coaches' polls after blowing out Iowa State 52-0 on Saturday, and — in part because of previous AP/Coaches No. 1 Ohio State's 31-18 loss to then-No. 18 Wisconsin — hold the coveted top spot in the BCS rankings that determine postseason bowl placement.

Oregon sits at No. 2 in the BCS, followed by Boise State, Auburn and TCU in the top 5. LSU, Michigan State, Alabama, Utah and Ohio State round out the first top 10.

"I understand that the announcement of the poll makes for good conversation among media and fans, but two games into our conference season, it's too early for us to give it any attention," OU coach Bob Stoops told to the Oklahoma Daily. "At this point, it just speaks to the quality of the schedule we've played. And while I appreciate the caliber of those teams, our focus has to be on the games we have remaining. We're not talking or thinking about anything but playing Missouri."

How important is being in the top five of the standings? If history is a guide, 20 of the 24 teams to play in the title game were in the top five in the initial standings. No team has reached the title game from lower than 12th in the initial release (from ESPN.com)

COMPLETE RANKINGS

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College Football: Week 5

30. September 2010  - Published by Scott Heckle

Winning NFL picks, odds and power rankings all from our friends at Doc's Sports Service.

***

Week #5 is here and there are several games between ranked teams that have the potential for future BCS implications. While some teams are trying to stay on top, there are a couple of smaller teams that will be hoping for some upsets. Here are a few previews as well as my predictions for the week...

#21 Texas at #8 Oklahoma - Coming off an embarassing 22 point loss last week at home to UCLA, Mack Brown is going to stop at nothing to prevent back to back losses, getting knocked from the top 25 and even worse a loss to OU. Last week Texas gave up 27 passing yards and still lost. They also gave up 264 on the ground and you have got to believe that the OU running game is going to have a great day and the Texas defense will have a hell of a time trying to keep Landry Jones from having big numbers. Gilbert has been anything but incredible so far in trying to make Texas fans forget Colt McCoy thus far. This Texas team is just not the same without a leader at QB, and they still don't have a RB that has over 200yds rushing. Texas will have a descent season, but I just don't think this will be a game Texas will want to remember...Oklahoma 41, Texas 24

#7 Florida at #1 Alabama - If the top 25 polls didn't come out until this week I am just not sure Florida would be in the top 10. They, much like Texas, are attempting to replace the face of their football program for the past few years under center. John Brantley is doing pretty well so far with 6tds and only 1 int. but the offense has taken some criticism for their slow starts, one in particular was the Miami Oh. game to open the season. One can only wonder what the QB position may look like had 2007 Freshman Cameron Newton had stayed at Florida, but I'd say they are probably pretty happy with the outcome. Brantley will continue to do fine....Just not this Saturday night. John will leave the swamp and enter the sea of crimson under the lights at 'Bama. Alabama has 3RBs that have over 25 carries and each average over 7 yards per carry.  Oh and by the way, they also have the reigning Heisman winner in Ingram. I am sure the Florida defense will find a way to keep it entertaining to watch, but I expect Alabama to pull away late and wear Florida down as well as force Brantley to make poor decisions. Alabama has no business losing this game...Alabama 31, Florida 20

#19 Michigan at Indiana - I may be the only person reading this that cares at all about this game, but that's just fine by me. I don't have a good feeling about this game Saturday. I am a UM fan and the thought of Rich Fraudriguez on the sidelines screaming at the miserable defense throughout the entire game as Ben Chappell looks like the 2nd coming of Joe Namath is making me lose sleep. I want to believe. I want to believe that Denard is going to stay healthy, throw for 200, run for 120 and the UM defense will grow up right before my very eyes. The thing is, I know better. I know what a Rodriguez version of Michigan football looks like and it doesn't sit well with me. The defensive backfield has almost no experience and the WR turned Safety Cameron Gordon, while he hits hard, is slow. My problem with this game isn't the offense at all, I am scared that the Indiana offense may have a bigger day than the Michigan offense and that is hard to believe I know. I hope Rodriguez proves me wrong...But until then...Indiana 37, Michigan 35

OSU 49, Illinois 13

Wisconsin 23, Michigan St. 21

Stanford 31, Oregon 30

Iowa 28, Penn St. 24

Boston College 16, Notre Dame 9  (One can only hope)

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Thoughts on Boise St. and BCS system

26. September 2010  - Published by Scott Heckle

Memo to the NCAA, Boise St. fans are going to be contacting you when at the end of the season when OSU and Alabama are undefeated and Boise who is also undefeated is playing TCU in another "battle of the little program that could" BCS game. Sorry Boise St. fan but it is true. Assuming OSU doesn't screw it up, the Buckeyes have no business losing a regular season game this year and will end up in the BCS National Championship game versus another SEC school (just their luck huh?). If Alabama, OSU and Boise St. ALL finish the season undefeated there is ZERO chance that Boise or TCU for that matter, with their remaining schedules, will ever jump either OSU or Bama. With that being said....is that fair?

With the system set up the way it is there is a lot of debate over if it is fair. There is no playoff and the BCS is set up for the two best teams to play each other in the National Championship game. How do we know Boise St. and TCU aren't better than Alabama and OSU? We don't, but we go off what we know- OSU and Bama play in big time conferences and have big name players, while Boise St. and TCU do not. Who plays QB for TCU? Exactly. Do you know who Doug Martin is? You probably don't. The tradition that these small time schools have is little at most. Is the lack of tradition that these two schools have the fault of their programs? No. They are up and coming programs that just happen to be in non BCS conferences. The next question is how would Boise St. or TCU fair if they were in the Big 10 or SEC or even the ACC or Pac 10? We will never know that for sure, but what we do know is that teams like this deserve a chance to prove themselves against the big boys of college football.

I am 100% in favor of a playoff system. There are many college football fans who chuckle at the thought of Boise St. or TCU beating a big name school. They may be right, and if they are right, then the best teams will still play in the title game. How interesting would it be though if they were wrong and TCU knocked off a powerhouse to move to the next round? I am not going to get into how the playoff system would work, everyone seems to have a brilliant idea, but I will say that college football needs one. Schools that have a strong winning football tradition, long, long ago had to earn it. It took years to do so, but they did it by winning consistently over a long period of time. I believe the NCAA needs to allow smaller schools a true shot to earn powerhouse status. Don't get me wrong, smaller schools like these are to blame as well. Just because you play in a non BCS conference doesn't mean you can't schedule strong non-conference opponents. Now am I speaking too early about 3-4 programs possibly all going undefeated this season? Yes, but it is still a fun debate.

Over time, Boise St. and TCU may fade away and return years later and other small schools will pop up and be the next big thing, but a lot of "big name programs" do as well. Ask Michigan, Tennessee, Florida St., Nebraska and Notre Dame about this. All I am saying is that with the way the NCAA has this currently set up, there is zero chance of a smaller school earning enough respect to reach the BCS championship game unless enough teams lose. For all I know Bama and OSU could both lose and Boise St. gets their shot to play in the big game and they get beat by 30 points. The smaller school haters would be all over the NCAA for allowing this to happen, but does the BCS Championship game always live up to the hype? Since the BCS championship games began back in 1998, only 4 games have been decided by fewer than 10 points. It is time to stop protecting the teams with tradition, and force Goliath to beat David...

See you next week for week #5.

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College Football Week 4

25. September 2010  - Published by Scott Heckle

As we enter the 4th week of what has been an interesting year of college football so far, I want to spotlight a couple of games that I will be following and give predictions on other games as well.

#1 Bama vs. #10 Arkansas
This is the best game of the week as far as I am concerned. I expect this to be a classic. The giant that is Ryan Mallett will try his hand at the Alabama defense today at home. I haven't seen a QB confuse a defense more with his play action abilities more than Mallett. This kid is a pro when it comes to disguising whether it is a run or a pass. I want to see how Bama will deal with this today. The Arkansas running game hasn't been stellar so far so I expect Mallett to be forced to toss the ball atleast 35x. If his oline can defend the Bama pass rush, then they may have a chance to knock off the champs. On the other hand, Bama's offense isn't a slouch either. Ingram is just getting warmed up and could have another great game, and if another RB is needed Richardson and Lacy provide a combined 7.0 yard per carry average. I just have a feeling that Mallett will put his name well above Denard Robinson in the race for the Heisman after today... Arkansas 35   Alabama 31

#24 Oregon St. vs. #3 Boise St.
I am sure fans in Boise will be scoreboard watching today and the entire campus at Boise will be Razorback fans today. Even if Boise wins tonight, there won't be a chance of them jumping OSU or Bama without those teams losing a game this season. Oregon St. decided to paint their practice field blue this week in an effort to simulate the blue turf at Boise St. I get the idea, but still pretty silly to me. Instead maybe they should have tried to simulate the Boise St. offense. I do believe Kellen Moore is legit as is Boise, but something just tells me that this game will be far from a snoozer. I am picking another upset this week...But it won't be this game... The Rodgers brothers are impressive, but I think Boise will pull this one out in a close one... Boise St. 37  Oregon St. 30

Michigan 45   Bowling Green 27

Florida 31   UK 17

South Carolina 24   Auburn 23

Stanford 27    Notre Dame 21

OSU 56  EMU 7

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College Football: Week 2

8. September 2010  - Published by Scott Heckle

After a lengthy two-year hiatus, I have returned to the getsportsinfo.com team as a college football contributor. I'm hoping to write a few blog posts per week on different topics regarding the college football world. Every week I will post my outlook for the upcoming week and take a dive into some of the more interesting matchups and give my predictions. If anyone would like to contact me, you can email me at Scott.Heckle@yahoo.com or feel free to leave comments at the bottom of every post. With that being said, lets get into week 2 and some of the more intriguing games. Be sure to follow me on Twitter @scottheckle

Michigan at Notre Dame   -4 1/2
So let me get this straight... Michigan opens the season with a boom and has a running QB throw 18-21 and run for almost 200yds and still be a 4 1/2 point dog. How could this be? Because it's Rodriguez vs. Kelly. I am sorry but as a self proclaimed UM fanatic, Rodriguez has been embarassing to watch over the past couple of years. Saturdays game, Brian Kelly's first big rivalry game, at home versus Michigan is a game I can not envision his team losing. The Wolverine nation is going ga-ga over a QB that last year we cringed at when he took the field to throw a pass is now expected to be a one man Army, turn into Pat White and run 29 times against a Notre Dame defense? Not going to happen. I have a very good feeling that Notre Dame will cause Denard to struggle early and by the 3rd qtr if not sooner, Tate Forcier will be under center. I know Tate has been in the dog house lately, but I cannot imagine Rodriguez putting in Devin Gardner as a #2 QB when you have a QB who has played ND, and beaten ND already. Dayne Crist has got to be foaming at the mouth for a shot at the skeleton crew that is the Michigan defensive backfield. I look for the Notre Dame running backs to have over 150yds rushing combined. Unless the Michigan defense can force a few turnovers and compile a few sacks I don't think Rodriguez and co. will be able to keep up. J.T. Floyd, Craig Roh, Mike Martin and Cameron Gordon will be the key to Michigan success on defense if it is going to happen. As far as the Irish go, Manti Te'o will introduce himself to "Shoelace" on more than one occasion and slow the fast paced Michigan offense down considerably. This game will be close, but in the end Michigan just isn't there yet and Rodriguez just isn't going to cut it in the Big 10...If Michigan wins, I will be very surprised. Memo to coach Kelly: We miss ya in Cincinnati already. -  Notre Dame 31 Michigan 23

#18 Penn St at #1 Alabama  -11 1/2
Joe Paterno is back and older than ever. But as long as he can produce quality teams, PSU will let him wander the sidelines. This season is no exception for the Nittany Lions. PSU is off to a fast start and with a Freshman at QB named Rob Bolden who beat out Kevin Newsome among others for the starting role. Bolden was named co-Big Ten Freshman of the week for his part in the 44-14 beating of Youngstown St. With Evan Royster and Brett Brackett as just a few of the other offensive weapons in the PSU arsenal, they seem ready to make some noise this year. But a funny thing happened on the way to Glendale...The returning National Champion Alabama Crimson Tide. Now I am a die hard Big Ten guy who loves a good game versus the SEC but I am not very confident that PSU will be able to hang with Bama all that long. A night game at Bama spells disaster for a Freshman QB on the road. Even with Mark Ingram likely out for Saturdays game, Lacy and Richardson are more than capable of filling the Heisman winners shoes. Greg McElroy will face a very difficult task in facing a PSU defense, but I can't see Alabama losing at home under the lights. PSU is 4-8 versus #1 ranked teams and old Joe Pa hasn't beat a #1 since 1990 and I don't see it happening this year either. Roll Tide... - Alabama 37 Penn St. 24

#12 Miami Fl. at The Ohio State University  -8 1/2
Saving the best for last we have the Hurricanes and the Buckeyes. This is the first rematch of a game that determined a BCS national title. Unlike the game played back then, the drama will be minimal as far as I am concerned. I have been going back and forth on this game for a few weeks wondering whether or not Miami has what it takes to keep up with an Ohio State team who honestly has no business losing a regular season game this year. After reading all I could read and listening to self proclaimed experts, I still can't see this game being as close as a lot of people imagine it will. Fans have had a love/dislike (won't say hate yet, lets wait until after Saturdays performance), with Pryor. Pryor has been frustraing to watch over the past two seasons but also amazing to watch at times. For me he seems to be coming around to being a very good QB and a great athlete, not just a great athlete. As long as Saine can stay healthy and the oline can block well two things will happen. Pryor will get a chance to excel and OSUwill see less of Boom Herron. More Saine is a good thing. Posey and Sanzenbacher are huge threats to the Hurricane defense who I am sure will be amped up to play and I am sure will come out swinging. The OSU defense may not have all the star names they are used to having but they are still strong none the less and I can't imagine Jacory Harris having a successful afternoon in the Shoe. Am I giving Miami enough respect from where they have come in the past few years, probably not. No disrespect to Miami, I am sure they will go on to achieve great things this season, but I just cannot envision OSU losing at home at any point this season to any team. They are just too good. OSU is 57-7 at home and 31-4 versus non-conference opponents under the Vest. Few teams will score over 20 points against the Buckeye defense and I can't see Miami scoring much more than that. Saturday, Miami will need to be in the upper 20s or 30s to hang late with OSU... OSU 34 Miami 21

Other games of interest:

#22 Georgia  28   -  #24 South Carolina 24

UC  42  -  Indiana St. 17

#10 Oklahoma 31   -   #17 FSU 30

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Preseason Polls Are Rubbish

6. August 2010  - Published by Chris Murdico

Winning NFL picks, odds and power rankings all from our friends at Doc's Sports Service...

I'm not a believer in preseason polls at all. How can you rank any team before they actually play a game? I'm a firm believer that the polls shouldn't come out until around the beginning of October. By then every team has played four or five games, and are about to enter conference play. Preseason polls can really hurt teams that have stellar seasons but started out the season ranked too low to make a move to the top of the rankings. At the same time it can both help and hurt those teams that get top rankings. It can help them in the way that as long as the teams don't lose, they don't drop, even if teams below them are undefeated and beating better teams. But it can also hurt them. If a top ranked team loses, especially early in the season, they could slide pretty far down the rankings and have to fight their way back to the top, hoping to get a lot of help along the way.

With all that said, today the USA Today Coaches' Poll was released. It counts for 1/3 of the overall BCS rankings at the end of the season. Its no surprise that last year's BCS champ, Alabama, sits atop the rankings with 55 of the 59 first place votes. They are returning 10 of 11 starters on offense from last year and are definitely considered to be the favorites to take the title again this year. Behind them sits the the Ohio State Buckeyes, who received four place votes. With Heisman hopeful, Terrelle Pryor leading the charge, the Buckeyes could see themselves back in a national title game come January. Rounding out the top five is Florida, Texas, and the surprise to the party, Boise State. This is the highest the Broncos of the "Smurf Turf" have ever been ranked in preseason polls. While Boise State isn't in a BCS conference, its a very good possibility that they could crash the party this year. Their fate could very well be decided after their first game this year when they take on No. 6 Virginia Tech.

A complete listing of the USA Today Coaches' Poll is listed below:

1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Florida
4. Texas
5. Boise State
6. Virginia Tech
7. TCU
8. Oklahoma
9. Nebraska
10. Iowa
11. Oregon
12. Wisconsin
13. Miami (FL)
14. Penn State
15. Pittsburgh
16. LSU
17. Georgia Tech
18. North Carolina
19. Arkansas
20. Florida State
21. Georgia
22. Oregon State
23. Auburn
24. Utah
25. West Virginia

*For those of us here in Cincy, the Bearcats are on the outside looking in at No. 26. Odds are they will be in the top 25 at some point this season, most likely after the first week if they beat Fresno State and one of the lower rank teams get upset and fall out.

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College Football: Weekend Preview

6. November 2009  - Published by Rick Broering

Game of the Week:

3:30 PM
CBS

#9 LSU at #3 Alabama

Well if you like really good, hard-hitting, SEC defenses then this is the game for you. Much like when LSU and Florida played earlier this season, don't expect a whole lot of points to be scored in this one. Both teams will be playing the field position game and relying on their stout defenses to get them the win.

That's not to say that there won't be some exciting offensive players to watch in this one. Alabama will be handing the ball off to Heisman-candidate Mark Ingram all night long. Ingram has been the key to the Alabama offense who ranks fourteenth in the nation in rushing yards. If LSU wants to win this game they will have to slow the tireless runner down.

For LSU, they will be looking to Jordan Jefferson to lead their offense. Jefferson has made good decisions all year long throwing 11 touchdowns to only four interceptions, but one interception in this game could be the difference. This LSU defense can stop anyone in the nation, as they proved against Florida only giving up 13 points, but the key will be them scoring enough points to win the game.

Other Games to Watch:

#15 Ohio State at #11 Penn State

Plenty of storylines in this one, as not only are these two battling it out for second place in the Big Ten and a chance at sharing the Conference Championship should Iowa falter, but Terrelle Pryor is returning home for the first time since turning down the hometown team for the Buckeyes.

UConn at #5 Cincinnati

Cincinnati still has some uncertainty as to who will be the quarterback this week, but no matter who is under center the offense should continue rolling. Connecticut has had heartbreaking losses the past two weeks, so despite their record they aren't a cupcake.

Upset of the Week: Indiana over Wisconsin

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Gottfried Out; Old SEC Foe In?

27. January 2009  - Published by Adam Bartel

With Alabama men's basketball head coach Mark Gottfried resigning Monday after 10+ seasons, under very unusual circumstances, the focus - as always - now shifts to his eventual successor.  As contractually obligated, all speculation immediately begins with Gonzaga head man Mark Few (who isn't going anywhere) and Memphis' John Calipari (who would probably go if the money was big enough).  But there's one name that keeps popping up that strikes me as more than a bit odd: former UK (and current Minnesota) head coach Tubby Smith.

This seemed like a random report initially when the AP threw his name in a quick summary article about the firing of Gottfried.  But it turns out they didn't just pull this out of thin air.  The Birmingham Times ran a column that insinuated that Tubby was the preferred choice of the Crimson Tide boosters if/when Gottfried was displaced, and the Bama Sports Report lists him as one of the two favorites for the job, along with VCU's Anthony Grant.  Additionally, The Big Lead notes that former UK athletic director and former Alabama head coach C.M. Newton (who hired Tubby at UK) likely will have a fairly large say in the selection of Gottfried's replacement.

Now, the immediate question is why would Tubby want a job back in the SEC, less than two years after fleeing Lexington?  Well, for one, the pressure for a basketball coach to succeed at Alabama isn't anything close to that of a Kentucky leader.  That pressure seemed to be the primary reason to want to leave UK.  He might also miss the (usually, except for this season) higher quality of competition that the SEC provides over the Big Ten.  And, even though 'Bama hoops doesn't compare to the importance of the football squad, it's still more revered and respected than Minnesota basketball.

Having said that, Tubby may be quite comfortable as a Golden Gopher: he's got five years left on a $13M contract, and the expectations of him aren't in any way outrageous.  That, in and of itself, might be enough to deter him from looking elsewhere.

This may all be much ado about nothing, but it seems like more than a coincidence that a name like Tubby's, which would seem so out of place in a situation like this, keeps appearing over and over again.  Worth watching.

(h/t The Big Lead for doing the heavy lifting)

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College Bowl Game Pick 'Em Breakdown

16. December 2008  - Published by Chris Murdico

The bowl games finally start this weekend. Fellow GetSportsInfo.com writer, Jeremy Fischer, and myself have put together our picks including how confident we are in them. In case you've never done a pick 'em game like this before, here's how it works. In addition to picking who you think will win the game, you assign a number to that pick as to how confident you think that pick is going to be right. There are 34 bowl games this year (way too many in most people's opinion, but that's beside the point), so the max number of confidence points you can give to one game is, yep, you guessed it, 34. The game you are least confident in you assign one point too, and fill in everything in between.

A lot of office pools are done like this and make it much more challenging than simply picking a winner for each game. As J-Fish states when it comes to doing a pick 'em game like this, "I have seen many strategies and I prefer the one that calls for using the higher confidence points on the bigger BCS games." He goes on to give his reasons as to why.

"Right or wrong, the larger conference teams get more coverage. The more information that is out there, the better informed pick you can make. The more informed you are, the more confident you'll be about a particular selection." Makes sense right? So picking the BCS bowl games really isn't as difficult as picking some of the more obscure games like the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl between Southern Mississippi and Troy that provide more difficulty in not only picking who will win, but deciding how confident you are in that pick.

J-Fish goes on to say, "Unless you fancy yourself as the next Jimmy the Greek, don't over analyze. The amount of games will definitely lead to paralysis-by-analysis." In my opinion, when it comes to picking some of the lower level bowl games, its almost more of a gut feeling when making that selection than anything else.

With all that said, let's get to the picks. What you'll find below is the bowl schedule starting with the first game on the docket all the way to the National Championship game on January 8th. With each pick you'll see both J-Fish's pick as well as my own with a little bit of analysis and how many confidence points (#) we have assigned to the pick we've made. Let's get to it with a look at the BCS games.

January 1st
ROSE - Penn State vs. USC
JFISH: USC (34) - Too much defense.
DICO: USC (32) - Too much USC! PSU hasn't seen anything like the Trojans this year. Ask OSU how things worked out for them. Plus this is a "home game" for the Trojans.

FEDEX ORANGE - Cincinnati vs. Virginia Tech
JFISH: Cincinnati (22) - 1st BCS bowl berth will drive the Bearcats.
DICO: Cincinnati (10) - Special teams could be the difference in this game. Mardy Gilyard for the Bearcats is one of the best in the country in the return game. A chance to finish the season in the Top 10 will push the Bearcats to a win.

January 2nd
ALLSTATE SUGAR - Utah vs. Alabama
JFISH: Alabama (32) - Utah hasn't faced a defense like this.
DICO: Alabama (33) - See JFISH's comments...the Utes will have a hard time stopping the 'Bama offense as well.

January 5th
TOSTITOS FIESTA - Ohio State vs. Texas
JFISH: Texas (33) - Too much speed on defense, and the Horns will be playing angry because of the whole BIG XII, BCS screw job.
DICO: Texas (31) - QB Colt McCoy will be too much even for a good Buckeyes' defense. Terrelle Pryor will see what team speed on defense is all about against the Longhorns.

January 8th
FEDEX BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP - Florida vs. Oklahoma
JFISH: Florida (26) - Tebow/Harvin will find a way.
DICO: Oklahoma (22) - Bradford leads the most potent offense in the country. Even with the loss of DeMarco Murray at RB, the Sooners won't miss a beat. Expect a high scoring affair.

COMPLETE PICKS (ALL 34 GAMES) 

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