Foss' Football Forecast, October 28-29, 2006

I had a pretty good week of football last week going 3-2 in Pac-10 games, the two losses involved the Oregon schools again. The biggest disappointment of the week was the Oregon Ducks. Turnovers killed them again, losing at Washington State 34-23 despite a 20 point 4th quarter comeback that just made the final score closer than the game really was. The Ducks get a reprieve this week and a chance to get their offense back on track hosting non-league and in-state rival Portland State Vikings (a Division 1AA school). Meanwhile, the Oregon State Beavers continue to surprise as they went into Arizona and upset the Wildcats, 17-10 instead of melting in the Arizona heat. Washington gave the Cal Bears a scare taking them to overtime on a last second touchdown, but California pulled it out and made my pick exact winning by seven, 31-24. My overall Pac-10 record is now 39-12 for 76.5 winning percentage.

I went 4-1 in my "other games" college picks with the only loss being San Diego State grounding the Air Force Academy 19-12. My record is now 31-4 for 88.6 winning percentage.

I had a 3-2 NFL Sunday after two BIG upsets. Who expected the Jacksonville Jaguars to fall flat against the Houston Texans, as Houston won at home easily, 27-7. The other upset was the Minnesota Vikings blowing into Seattle and ending the Seahawks team record 12-game home win streak in dominate fashion, 31-13. Already playing without last years MVP RB Shaun Alexander, the Seahawks QB Matt Hasselbeck went out early in the second half with a sprained knee and is expected to be out at least three weeks.

This week's Pac-10 picks you'll see a trend, it is a good week to go against State Universities. In the NFL go with the New York teams and not Northern California' Bay Area teams. Here are this weeks picks:

College Football Saturday, October 28:
Pac-10 Picks
usc by 14 over OREGON STATE
WASHINGTON by 10 over arizona state
UCLA by 10 over washington state
OREGON by 21 over portland state

My Other Games picks are the biggest blow-outs this weekend:
MICHIGAN by 21 over northwestern
IOWA by 21 over northern illinois
ALABAMA by 30 over florida international
OHIO STATE by 14 over minnesota
BOSTON COLLEGE by 30 over buffalo

NFL Sunday, October 29:
CHICAGO by 21 over sf 49ers
new york jets by 14 over CLEVELAND
pittsburgh by 14 over OAKLAND
NEW YORK GIANTS by 10 over tampa bay
NEW ORLEANS by 3 over baltimore

For the record, football isn't the only thing going on. Ohbytheway, Major League Baseball's World Series is going on. I'm taking the St. Louis Cardinals over the Detroit Tigers in six games. I'd like to see the Cards win because they have four former Angels players I'd like to see win a ring: David Eckstein, Jim Edmonds, Jeff Weaver and Scott Spiezio. It would be the second ring for Eckstein and Spiezio who helped the Angels to their first World Series crown in 2002. Jeff Weaver also is pitching against his former team as he started his career with the Detroit Tigers. I also want to see Albert Pujols win his first championship after leading the Cards for years.

GO DUCKS, SEAHAWKS & CARDINALS!

Foss' Football Forecast, October 21-22, 2006

I did pretty good on my Pac-10 picks last week going 4-1, my only loss was the Oregon State Beavers upset of the Washington Huskies in Seattle, 27-17, who would've expected that! I was beginning to think OSU didn't have an offense this season after scoring only six points at home against Washington State, then they go into Husky Stadium and put up 27 points and walk away with an easy win. Just goes to show anything can happen in the Pac-10 on any given week. My overall Pac-10 pick record is now 36-10 for 78.3 percent.

The Oregon Ducks proved me correct as I got an exact pick with the Ducks winning by 10 at home against the UCLA Bruins, 30-20. It was a nice rebound for the Ducks after their debacle at Cal. The Ducks open the BCS rankings in 14th, while Cal is 10th and USC #2.

I finally got humbled in my "other college games" picks as my undefeated streak came to an end with a 2-3 weekend. I guess North Carolina is worse than I thought, I figured they would snap out of their funk with a non league game at home, but South Florida came in and trounced the Tar Heels too 37-20. I picked 15th-ranked Iowa figuring they would win easily over Indiana, but Hoosier magic happened in Indiana as they beat the Hawkeyes 31-28 for their first win over a ranked team since beating #9 Ohio State 31-10 on October 10, 1987! My other loss came in putting too much faith in the Fresno State Bulldogs at home against Hawaii. The Warriors usually struggle when they have to come to the mainland as they lost at FSU two years ago 70-14. Well, Hawaii returned the favor this year whipping the Bulldogs, 68-37 for their first win over FSU in three years. My "other games" record drops to 27-3, but I'd take 27 out of 30 any day and a 90 percent winning percentage. You can't stay perfect forever.

My NFL win streak came to an end too going 3-2 last week, with two southern teams getting their first wins. I didn't expect the Tennessee Titans to go into Washington and upset the Redskins 25-22, but now the Redskins are in a funk after losing two straight games and dropping to 2-4. Tampa Bay also stepped it up and couldn't afford to lose another home game, winning their first game with an upset of the Cincinnati Bengals, 14-13 in a close one. I think I'll stick to trying to pick the blowout games of the week. My overall NFL picks record dropped to 22-8 for 73.3 percent winning percentage. Here's this weekends picks:

Foss' Football Forecast:
College Football Saturday, October 21:
Pac-10 Picks:
NOTRE DAME by 10 over ucla
CALIFORNIA by 7 over washington
ARIZONA STATE by 14 over stanford
oregon by 10 over WASHINGTON STATE
ARIZONA by 14 over oregon state

Others:
boise state by 10 over IDAHO
air force by 14 over SAN DIEGO STATE
texas christian (tcu) by 10 over ARMY
AUBURN by 21 over tulane
MISSOURI by 14 over kansas state

NFL Sunday, October 22:
N. Y. JETS by 7 over detroit
jacksonville by 14 over HOUSTON
denver by 14 over CLEVELAND
INDIANAPOLIS by 10 over washington
SEATTLE by 10 over minnesota

GO DUCKS & SEAHAWKS FLY HIGH!!

Foss' Football Forecast, October 14-15, 2006

Last week was a tough week in the Pac-10 as I went only 3-2, and my Ducks were humbled by the Cal Bears 45-24 for Oregon's first loss of the season. But at least we aren't as bad as the Oregon State Beavers, who I actually had faith in to beat the Washington State Cougars at home, but the Beavers couldn't even defend their home turf losing in a boring game, 13-6. My overall Pac-10 record dropped to 32-9 for 78.0 percent, still a respectable record though.

I picked more challenging "other" college games last week and still went 5-0 to stay undefeated at 25-0 now. I had another 5-0 NFL week too to up my record to 19-6 and a winning percentage of 76.0.

The Ducks have the game of the week again in the Pac-10 hosting the UCLA Bruins in Autzen Stadium in Eugene. The ruckous crowd and home field advantage should help Oregon prevail by at least 10. It will be a good battle between the Ducks high powered spread offense and the Bruins stingy #1 Pac-10 defense. The Ducks gave the game away last week with too many turnovers, if they can control the turnovers and generate a few from the Bruins and rile up their young QB, the home crowd should go home happy.

Here are this week's Foss' Football Forecast:

College football, Saturday, October 14, 2006:
Pac-10 picks:
OREGON by 10 over ucla
california by 14 over WASHINGTON STATE
arizona by 10 over STANFORD
WASHINGTON by 14 over oregon state
USC by 10 over arizona state

other games:
W. VIRGINIA by 14 over syracuse
N. CAROLINA by 10 over south florida
iowa by 14 over INDIANA
purdue by 10 over NORTHWESTERN
FRESNO STATE by 14 over hawaii

NFL Sunday, Octover 15, 2006:
DALLAS by 10 over houston ("battle of Texas")
WASHINGTON by 14 over tennessee
cincinnati by 7 over TAMPA BAY
DENVER by 14 over oakland
san diego by 10 over SAN FRANCISCO

Should be another fun week, enjoy!

Foss' Football Forecast, Oct. 7-9,2006

Last week was another good week with only one Pac-10 defeat overall. I thought the Huskies would melt in the Arizona heat, and I guess I have been underestimating them. Washington may be for real this season and starting to turn it around again after a dismal 2-9 season last year. I am surprised the Huskies are 4-1 so far as Coach Tyrone Willingham has them playing well, but their biggest test of the season comes this weekend in Los Angeles against the Southern Cal (USC) Trojans. I'll give the Huskies some credit this week and only have the Trojans winning by 10 this season against Washington.

I was actually pleasantly surprised by my Oregon Ducks last week. Playing a day game in Tempe Stadium isn't easy, but the Quack Attack rolled over ASU, snuffing out the Sun Devils, 48-13. I thought it would've been a much closer game. The Gang Green defense is back and playing well. The Ducks are getting some national respect and are up to 11th in the national rankings with another big game against 16th ranked California in Berkeley. Some have picked Cal to win the Pac-10 title this season, but I'm going with the high flying and high scoring Ducks to continue their roll in a close one. With a 4-1 week my overall Pac-10 record this season is now 25-6 for a 80.6 winning percentage.

My record in other national college games stayed undefeated with another 4-0 week picking winners to run my streak to 20-games. You may think I'm padding my stats by picking mismatches? Well this week I'm taking some chances going with some big games and historic big time football schools.

My NFL picks are back on track after another 5-0 week my record is a respectable 14-6 now for a 70 percent winning percentage. I've gone 10-0 the past two weeks. I'm back on the Chicago Bears bandwagon this week. I was hoping the Seahawks would've gave them a better game last week, in what could've been a preview of the NFC Championship Game, but the Bears defense shutdown the high powered Seattle offense, 37-6 in Soldier Field. Seattle needs to battle the rest of the season to gain home-field advantage again if they want to make it back to the Super Bowl. I still feel they are the team to beat, and am glad to see Pittsburgh struggling. The feel-good story so far this season is the resurgence of the New Orleans Saints as they have returned home to a surprising 3-1 start. They were undefeated until last weeks close 21-18 loss at Carolina.

On to the picks see below....
Saturday, October 7, 2006
Pac-10 Games:
NOTRE DAME by 14 over stanford
SOUTHERN CAL. by 10 over washington
UCLA by 10 over arizona
OREGON STATE by 7 over washington state
oregon by 3 over CALIFORNIA

others:
ALABAMA by 21 over duke
MICHIGAN by 10 over michigan state
IOWA by 10 over purdue
FLORIDA by 3 over louisiana state
texas by 10 over OKLAHOMA

Sunday, October 8, 2006:
NFL:
CHICAGO by 10 over buffalo
CAROLINA by 10 over cleveland
MINNESOTA by 10 over detroit
st. louis by 14 over GREEN BAY
INDIANAPOLIS by 14 over tennessee

Great games this week, enjoy!