Quick Hits, Free College Football Picks

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Quick Hits, Free College Football Picks
By
Nov 3, 2006, 11:08

In news around the world of college football in week nine, here's what you might have missed:

Coming in off two losses Va Tech stepped it up a notch and kept what was a rather prolific Clemson offense stymied all game. The Tigers mustered just 166 total yards of offense in a big home win for the Hokies.
Miami finished with a yardage edge over GT (317-282) and had some very impressive sustained drives but couldn't finish them well enough to get the points for the win. Two 3rd qtr drives went over 8 plays and 50 yards but they amassed only 3 points (and one fumble @ the ten yard line).
In the shot heard round the college football world lowly Temple broadsided Bowling Green and gained their first win in their last 21 games. BG did win the battle of first downs (27-12) and yardage (407-255) but that is no consolation when you get topped by arguably the worst team in the country.
On the flip side of the coin, Notre Dame topped Navy for the 43rd straight time. Navy did start a back-up QB but he played relatively well with the offense picking up 270+ yards. But UND picked up over 400 and rolled to victory.
In injury news, Northwestern, Washington, Marshall, E Michigan, and New Mexico St all had QB injuries last week. Washington lost Bonnell in the 3rd Qtr, NMSU lost their QB in the 3rd, EMU in the 4th, Marshall in the 1st, and NWestern in the 4th.

Looking through the board this week, here's what we find appealing:

La Tech +2 at N Texas
La Tech has played some outstanding OOC foes while N texas has struggled to get off on the right foot this year. Both squads are 2-6 but UNT is averaging 11 PPG while LT has averaged greater than that total against Boise St, TAMU, and Nebraska. No one is going to look at this as a flashy and exciting wager, but LT is the better team and getting points here we like them this weekend.

WSU -16 v Arizona
WSU has three losses this season but all to ranked teams (Auburn, USC, Cal). They also smacked Oregon two weeks back by 11 and beat OSU (that topped USC) by a TD in Corvalis. U of A still isn't back and the Cats have only three wins on the season, by three over BYU, over 1AA SF-Austin, and against lowly Stanford. WSU will roll here.

Ohio -3.5 at E Michigan
The Bobcats are off a big win against Kent State that puts them in the driver's seat for a shot at the MAC title game. EMU has only one victory on the season (Toledo) and with the defense surrendering an average of 27 PPG (while the offense musters only 16) this one should be a good place of OU. The one caveat here is that OU may be in a bit of a letdown spot after the big win, and EMU has played relatively well the last three weeks getting the win against Toledo and staying within a FG of Bowling Green and W Michigan.

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