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!