Foss' Football Forecast, September 30- October 2, 2006

I had a good week last week, my only loss was in a Pac-10 game with Washington's upset of UCLA 29-19. I went 4-1 in Pac-10 games and am now 25-6 overall for 80.6 percent. I stayed undefeated at 16-0 now in other college game picks with another 4-0 week. I also had an undefeated 5-0 NFL week to gain a winning record for the first time this season at 9-6 for 60 percent, and it will stay there and the percentage will continue to get better. Going with the road teams paid off last week as my assessment of the stronger teams were playing on the road panned out. I did have one typo last week as I thought TCU/BYU was on last Saturday's schedule, instead it was scheduled for Thursday, September 28th. BYU pulled off the upset with a dominate 31-17 win to end Texas Christian's longest win streak in the nation at 13-games. It was their first win over a Top 25 team since 1999. No. 1 Ohio State and No. 4 West Virginia both have won 11 games in a row, now the longest streaks in Division I-A. The NCAA's longest streak is 17 by Division II Grand Valley State.

The biggest Pac-10 game this week is my Oregon Ducks at Arizona State. Games in the valley of the sun usually are tough for Oregon, but their bye week came at just the right time last week as they could recover from their battle with Oklahoma. Meanwhile, ASU is coming off a tough 49-21 pounding by California. I knew Cal would win, but was surprised it was by that much. I'm picking the Ducks to stay undefeated and continue their climb up the national rankings, who enter this week at 14th in the AP Poll.

Here are this weeks picks:

Saturday, September 30, 2006:
Pac-10 games:

ARIZONA by 3 over washington
oregon by 3 over ARIZONA STATE
california by 10 over OREGON STATE
usc by 21 over WASHINGTON STATE
UCLA by 14 over stanford

other games:

michigan by 3 over MINNESOTA
KENTUCKY by 3 over central michigan
MIAMI by 21 over houston
TEXAS by 30 over sam houston state (first meeting)

NFL:

Sunday, October 1, 2006:

KC CHIEFS by 7 over sf 49ers
ST. LOUIS by 10 over detroit
dallas by 3 over TENNESSEE
indianapolis by 10 over N.Y. JETS

Monday, October 2, 2006:

PHILADELPHIA by 10 over green bay

Enjoy!

Foss' Football Forecast, September 30-Oct. 2, 2006

I had a good week last week, my only loss was in a Pac-10 game with Washington's upset of UCLA 29-19. I went 4-1 in Pac-10 games and am now 25-6 overall for 80.6 percent. I stayed undefeated at 16-0 now in other college game picks with another 4-0 week. I also had an undefeated 5-0 NFL week to gain a winning record for the first time this season at 9-6 for 60 percent, and it will stay there and the percentage will continue to get better. Going with the road teams paid off last week as my assessment of the stronger teams were playing on the road panned out. I did have one typo last week as I thought TCU/BYU was on last Saturday's schedule, instead it was scheduled for Thursday, September 28th. BYU pulled off the upset with a dominate 31-17 win to end Texas Christian's longest win streak in the nation at 13-games. It was their first win over a Top 25 team since 1999. No. 1 Ohio State and No. 4 West Virginia both have won 11 games in a row, now the longest streaks in Division I-A. The NCAA's longest streak is 17 by Division II Grand Valley State.

The biggest Pac-10 game this week is my Oregon Ducks at Arizona State. Games in the valley of the sun usually are tough for Oregon, but their bye week came at just the right time last week as they could recover from their battle with Oklahoma. Meanwhile, ASU is coming off a tough 49-21 pounding by California. I knew Cal would win, but was surprised it was by that much. I'm picking the Ducks to stay undefeated and continue their climb up the national rankings, who enter this week at 14th in the AP Poll.

Here are this weeks picks:

Saturday, September 30, 2006:
Pac-10 games:

ARIZONA by 3 over washington
oregon by 3 over ARIZONA STATE
california by 10 over OREGON STATE
usc by 21 over WASHINGTON STATE
UCLA by 14 over stanford

other games:

michigan by 3 over MINNESOTA
KENTUCKY by 3 over central michigan
MIAMI by 21 over houston
TEXAS by 30 over sam houston state (first meeting)

NFL:

Sunday, October 1, 2006:

KC CHIEFS by 7 over sf 49ers
ST. LOUIS by 10 over detroit
dallas by 3 over TENNESSEE
indianapolis by 10 over N.Y. JETS

Monday, October 2, 2006:

PHILADELPHIA by 10 over green bay

Enjoy!

Foss' Football Forecast Sept. 23-24, 2006

I had another good week with my college football picks going 6-2 in Pac-10 games and stayed undefeated with another 4-0 week in other games. Overall I am 21-5 for 80.8 percent in picking Pac-10 team games, and 12-0 in other games.

My only two losses were Stanford and Fresno State. I have Stanford another chance, it was their home opener at their new stadium in front of 44,022 fans with Navy coming all the way across country from Annapolis, Maryland. I figured the Cardinals would be psyched up, but they fell flat again as Navy bombed them 37-9 to start 3-0 for only the second time since 1979.

After losing a close one to Oregon the previous week, I figured the Fresno State Bulldogs were Pac-10 tough now and could beat a lesser Washington Huskies in the "battle of the dogs." However, Husky Stadium can be a bit intimidating with 57,012 rabid dawg fans, but the Bulldogs almost pulled it off only losing, 21-20 on a blocked extra point.

The BIGGEST game of the week for me a Duck alum, was the Oregon/Oklahoma game. I wanted the Ducks to win this one so bad in our revenge game at home. The Ducks had never ever beat Oklahoma (0-6 overall against them). I have to admit it wasn't looking good being down 33-20 with only 3:12 left. Even many of the record Oregon crowd at Autzen of 59,269 (the largest crowd ever to see a football game in the state of Oregon history) started to leave. I was listening to the game on the radio and had turned it off after Oklahoma scored to take the 13-point lead. But I turned it back on in time to hear the Autzen magic. When the Ducks scored a TD with 1:12 left to pull within six, 33-27 I was praying we could still pull it out. I was excited as "voice of the Ducks" Jerry Allen. Listening to the games on the radio is the next best thing to being there with his excitement. I knew all they needed was an onside kick and in the storybook ending the coaches son Luke Bellotti pulled it off. I've heard all the controversy, and that the replay judge never even got a chance to see the play, but there wasn't enough evidence to reverse the call on the field, which was Oregon ball. They still had to get the winning TD with 46 seconds left. They almost left too much time for the Sooners as they drove into field goal range. We had finally taken the lead, I didn't want them to blow it on the last play. Destiny was complete when the Ducks blocked the 44 yard FG attempt. This is starting to look like Oregon's year.

I thought it was crazy and poor sportsmanship for the Oklahoma University President to ask for the game to be "stricken from the record" because of poor calls by the refs. The Ducks also have lost many games due to poor calls, they are just part of the game. You win some, and lose some, buck it up. The Sooners had their chance at the end and Oregon stepped it up and blocked the kick end of story.

This is the first week of full Pac-10 conference play. The Ducks have a well deserved week off to prepare for Arizona State next week. Here are my Pac-10 picks:

Saturday, September 23, 2006:

CALIFORNIA by 3 over arizona state
ucla by 7 over WASHINGTON
usc by 14 over ARIZONA
washington state by 3 over STANFORD
OREGON STATE by 14 over idaho

other games:

BOISE STATE by 14 over hawaii
GEORGIA by 14 over colorado
TEXAS CHRISTIAN by 7 over brigham young
iowa by 10 over ILLINOIS
FLORIDA by 10 over kentucky

NFL picks, Sunday, September 24, 2006:

chicago by 10 over MINNESOTA
washington by 14 over HOUSTON
baltimore by 10 over CLEVELAND
philadelphia by 3 over SAN FRANCISCO
MIAMI by 3 over tennessee

Week 2 I finally had a winning week at 3-2 60 percent in my NFL picks. I'm at 4-6 40 percent overall now and will be looking to move above 50 percent this week. The early part of the season is often tricky to pick until you find out who the strong teams are. This week is a good week to go with the road teams as most of the strong teams are on the road.

Enjoy the games!

Foss' Football Forecast for Sept. 14-18, 2006

Last week went well for college football as I went 8-1 in games involving Pac-10 teams, the only loss was by Stanford as they were surprised by San Jose State 35-34. I almost picked SJSU, but wanted to give Stanford a chance to uphold the Pac-10 against a lesser opponent. In this bay area rivalry the Spartans can hold their own. My overall Pac-10 record picking winners is now 15-3 for 83.3 percent. There are some good match-ups this week, and on the national level with ranked opponents meeting each other it could be a preview of how a BCS playoff system could work. In other games I am still undefeated picking winners at 8-0.

In the first week of the NFL anything can happen, as you don't know who's offenses will be on track yet, since the starting unit doesn't play much together in the pre-season. Defenses tend to shine in the early season, so it should be no surprise there were three shutouts. The surprise came that they were all the home team getting shutout, Chicago at Green Bay 26-0. Baltimore at Tampa Bay 27-0, and San Diego at Oakland 27-0. I was surprised the Seattle Seahawks potent offense was kept out of the end zone by the Lions and squeaked out only a 9-6 win in a battle of field goals. I was humbled in week one only winning one of my five picks for 20 percent. I'll have to bounce back this week to get back to 50 percent or better. Here are this week's picks, college first, and home team in CAPS.

Thursday, September 14, 2006:

WEST VIRGINIA by 14 over maryland

Saturday, September 16, 2006:
Pac-10 picks:

OREGON by 7 over oklahoma
WASHINGTON ST. by 10 over baylor
fresno state by 7 over WASHINGTON
arizona state by 10 over COLORADO
USC by 14 over nebraska
STANFORD by 3 over navy
CALIFORNIA by 21 over portland state
ARIZONA by 21 over stephen f austin

Other games:

IOWA by 21 over iowa state
AUBURN by 3 over louisiana state
florida by 6 over TENNESSEE

My Five NFL picks:

Sunday, September 17, 2006:

MIAMI by 7 over buffalo
carolina by 3 over MINNESOTA
CHICAGO by 10 over detroit
SEATTLE by 7 over arizona

Monday, September 18, 2006:

JACKSONVILLE by 3 over pittsburgh

This will be revenge week for the Oregon Ducks as they finally get the Sooners on their home turf after losing to Oklahoma twice last season, once at Oklahoma, and also in the Holiday Bowl. The Ducks defeated Fresno State in a good non-league game on the road. The tune was good for the Bulldogs too, as now they go on the road to Seattle to play the Huskies. When FSU does beat Washington it won't be an upset. The USC Trojans have a big game this week against Nebraska, which seems more like a bowl game, but with the Trojans playing at home they should be able to continue their home win-streak.

Enjoy the games!

Foss' Football Forecast Week 1 NFL

I'm off to a pretty good start in week 1 of the college football season going 7-2 in Pac-10 games and 4-0 in other games, 3-1 against the spread (ATS).

This week the pros kick it off in the National Football League (NFL), and I have made it a hobby of mine to pick all the games every week since the 1980s. I've been able to maintain a 68 percent winning percentage just picking winners. I make up my own spread just to see if I can pick it exactly, and some I have. I usually have at least one or two exact picks a week. For example, I had one exact college pick last week saying Arizona State would beat Northern Arizona by 21 and the Sun Devils won 35-14. I knew I was going out on a limb picking California on the road at Tennessee, but since Cal was ranked higher and the Volunteers have been in a slump lately, I took Cal and lost. I also didn't know what to expect from Arizona, and Brigham Young (BYU) usually has a better offense, and they were playing at home, but Arizona pulled out the close one 16-13. Anyone reading my board can check out the scores for yourself, since they are plentiful elsewhere, I prefer Yahoosports.com or ESPN.com, so I won't waste space posting them here.

Here are Foss' Football Forecast for Week 2 of college football:
once again, home team in CAPS.

Pac-10 Picks:

Thursday, September 7, 2006:

BOISE STATE by 3 over oregon state

Saturday, September 9, 2006:

OKLAHOMA by 14 over washington
WASHINGTON ST. by 3 over idaho
stanford by 7 over SAN JOSE STATE
LSU by 10 over arizona
CALIFORNIA by 7 over minnesota
UCLA by 21 over rice
ARIZONA STATE by 14 over nevada
oregon by 3 over FRESNO STATE

My other picks for Saturday:

iowa by 14 over SYRACUSE
ARMY by 7 over kent state
PURDUE by 14 over miami, oh
ALABAMA by 10 over vanderbilt

Foss' Football Forecast for Week 1 of the NFL:

Thursday, September 7, 2006:

miami by 3 over PITTSBURGH

Sunday, September 10, 2006:

TENNESSEE by 3 over n.y. jets
seattle by 7 over DETROIT
CAROLINA by 3 over atlanta

Monday, September 11, 2006:

WASHINGTON by 3 over minnesota

It was unusual to see two Monday night NFL games on the schedule, but considering it is 9/11 it is appropriate to see our national capital hosting a game, that is why I picked that one. I won't post all my picks on here, just my Five best picks for the week to try and keep my record up.

Good luck all, have a great weekend of football as it is in full swing now in the wanning summer days.