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!