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!