Foss' Football Forecast, Nov. 23-26, 2006

In the last full week of Pac-10 play, I went only 2-3, with the Oregon State Beavers romp over Stanford 30-7, and the USC Trojans surprisingly easy win over California 23-9, my only two wins. I went with the home teams in the other three games, which ended up not being the way to go. The Washington Huskies picked off a close 35-32 win at Washington State to win the Apple Cup rivalry game. The Oregon Ducks ran into a hot Arizona Wildcats team, who played a perfect game with no turnovers, while causing the Ducks to have six turners with four interceptions and two fumbles, for a surprisingly easy win in Eugene, 37-10 to hand the Ducks their first home loss of the season after five straight wins. It gave the Wildcats a three-game Pac-10 win streak for the first time since 1998, and clinched their first season of .500 or better since 2000. I'm predicting Arizona to extend it to a four-game streak this week and clinch a bowl game with a win over rival Arizona State. My other loss was the UCLA Bruins upset of Arizona State, 24-12 in the Arizona sun. My overall Pac-10 record dropped to 48-22 for a 68.6 winning percentage.

I went 3-2 in my "other" college game picks as Kentucky, Navy, and Hawaii came through for me, but Air Force couldn't hold off Utah, 17-14. My upset special of Michigan didn't come through, although the game lived up to the hype and looked like a championship game with Ohio State only winning by three, 42-39 as the game was much higher scoring than most people expected.
My overall "other games" record is now 44-6 for an 88 winning percentage.

I went 2-3 in my NFL picks as my easy games turned into tough ones. When Donovan McNabb went down with an injury, the Eagles crash landed as the Titans easily won 31-13. The Houston Texans were favored this week for probably the only time of the season hosting a weak Buffalo team, but the Texans couldn't cash in on the Bills, 24-21. All of a sudden the San Francisco 49ers are hot with a three-game win streak for the first time since 2002, and ended the Seahawks six-game win streak in the series, 20-14. The Seahawks had their chance in the end, but a game-winning drive was ended by an interception. Only my southern teams, Carolina and Tampa Bay came through with wins. The Panthers 15-0 shutout of the St. Louis Rams helped the Seahawks as they didn't lose any ground in the NFC West to the Rams, although now the 49ers are only one game back at 5-5.

It's Civil War week in Oregon as the Ducks and Beavers square off for the 110th time, but for the first time on Friday in Corvallis. The Ducks already played their worst game of the season last week, so now that they got that out of their system, they can go back to playing like the team that started 4-0 and were ranked 11th in the nation. The Beavers seem to be the team with the momentum now, winning five of their last six and have the revenge factor after a 56-14 drubbing last season in Eugene, the most points scored in the series by one team. Both teams enter the game 7-4, but achieved there record in different ways, and are playing for third place in the Pac-10 and a berth in the Sun Bowl in El Paso. A bowl game the Beavers have never been too, but as a Duck alum I can't pick against the webfeet, but I'm picking them to win a close game. Turnovers have been the Ducks nemesis all season, and they will have to avoid those to be able to dam the Beavers.

Here are this weeks picks:
College Football
Pac-10:
Friday, November 24:
oregon by 3 over OREGON STATE (11oth Civil War)
Saturday, Nov. 25:
ARIZONA by 3 over arizona state
USC by 7 over notre dame

other games:
Friday, Nov. 24:
TEXAS by 14 over texas a&m
NEBRASKA by 14 over colorado
air force by 14 over NEVADA-LAS VEGAS
Saturday, Nov. 25:
north carolina by 7 over DUKE
RUTGERS by 14 over syracuse

NFL Thanksgiving, Nov. 23:
miami by 7 over DETROIT (Joey Harrington Bowl current team vs. former)
DALLAS by 14 over tampa bay
Sunday, Nov. 26:
MINNESOTA by 14 over arizona
carolina by 7 over WASHINGTON
SAN DIEGO by 14 over oakland

May everyone have a totally awesome Thanksgiving and enjoy the games!

Foss' Football Forecast, Nov. 18-19, 2006

It was another week of upsets in the Pac-10, and I correctly predicted two of them as I was glad to see the Bruins upset the Beavers easily, 25-7, ending OSU's four-game win streak. I also picked the Sun Devils upset of the Cougars, ASU rolled at home, 47-14. However, those were my only Pac-10 wins last week (2-3) as the Ducks couldn't keep up with the Trojans, as most expected, 35-10. But the biggest surprises were Stanford going into Seattle and winning easily over the Huskies, 20-3 for the Cardinal's 1st win of the season, just when I thought they'd go winless. California may have been overlooking Arizona with their big game against USC this week, and the Wildcats pulled the upset at home 24-20, ending Cal's eight-game win streak. The Golden Bears made life more difficult for themselves as they enter the game with the Trojans tied for the Pac-10 lead, when they could've been one game up. This season is probably Cal's best shot at ending its 48-season drought since they last played in the Rose Bowl, the longest in the Pac-10. I would like to see Cal end that drought, but with the game in Los Angeles where USC has won 31-straight home games at the Colesium, I don't see it happening for the Bears. They can look back to the Arizona game as the one that blew it for them. The fourth-ranked Trojans have a lot to play for too, as they still have a shot at getting into the BCS Championship Game with all the upsets in the Top 25 the past few weeks, a one-loss team may make it to the title game. With #1 Ohio State and #2 Michigan facing off this week with a playoff game feel, one of those undefeateds will fall and could open the door for USC, although #3 Florida at 9-1 also wants a shot at the title game. My overall Pac-10 record is now 46-19 for a 70.8 winning percentage.

I went 4-1 in my "other college games" picks, my only loss was Kansas State's upset of defending champion Texas in a wild one, 45-42, handing the Longhorns their second loss off the season and assuring they will not get a chance to defend their title this season. I was kind of glad to see Texas lose, but wasn't sure enough to predict the upset. I picked the Kentucky game because former Oregon coach Rich Brooks is coaching the Wildcats now. In his fourth season at Kentucky, after going 9-25 in his first three season, kudos have to go out to Coach Brooks for turning the Wildcats around. He had the team on a three-game win streak, including a 24-20 upset of Georgia on November 4th. Currently at 6-4, the Wildcats are bowl-eligible for the first time (since 1999) this century. Coach Brooks, who I have personally interviewed when I was at the U of O, has a knack for turning around struggling programs. The Ducks new winning tradition at Oregon can be traced back to starting in 1994, when Brooks led the Ducks to their first Pac-10 Championship and Rose Bowl Game in 38 seasons. I went to that Rose Bowl game to be a part of Oregon history, and although we lost to Coach Joe Paterno's Penn State team, making their first ever trip to the Rose Bowl, all the Oregon fans had a blast. We witnessed history for Coach Paterno too as the Rose Bowl win gave him a win in every major bowl game, the Rose was the only one that kept eluding him. But getting back to Kentucky, I'm picking them again this week to clinch a winning season with their seventh win of the season against Louisiana-Monroe in a well scheduled non-league game to get a break from conference play, before ending the season with a tough one at Tennessee. Kentucky is currently second in the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division at 4-3 in conference play, which is very good in the tough SEC. Word out of Lexington today is Kentucky is giving Coach Brooks at least a one year contract extension. He still has one year remaining on his currently contract, so he will stay as coach of the Wildcats through at least 2008. Congratulations Coach Brooks, a job well done. It was a tough job to get Wildcats fans excited about something other than basketball, but you have done it.

You'll also notice I went out on a limb and included one of the biggest games of the season in my "other games" this week picking #2 Michigan to go into Columbus and upset the #1 Ohio State Buckeyes. Michigan will be dedicating the game to former Coach Bo Schembechler, who passed away at 77 years old, just one day before the big game. He will be with the Wolverines in spirit and give Michigan the extra edge to win this close battle. My overall "other college games" record is now 41-4 for a 91.1 winning percentage.

I went 3-2 in my NFL picks last week, but the two losses were a couple of upsets that bit me. Who would expect the Cleveland Browns to come to life and upset the Atlanta Falcons and Michael Vick in Atlanta, 17-13. The Houston Texans did the same thing with a rare road win at Jacksonville, 13-10. My overall NFL picks record fell to 31-19 for a 62 winning percentage.

On to this weeks picks:
College Football, Saturday, Nov. 18, 2006
Pac-10:
oregon state by 14 over STANFORD
OREGON by 14 over arizona
WASHINGTON STATE by 3 over washington (Apple Cup)
SOUTHERN CAL by 7 over california
ARIZONA STATE by 3 over ucla
Others:
michigan by 3 over OHIO STATE
KENTUCKY by 21 over louisiana-monroe
NAVY by 28 over temple
AIR FORCE by 3 over utah
HAWAII by 21 over san jose state

NFL Sunday, Nov. 19, 2006:
PHILADELPHIA by 14 over tennessee
CAROLINA by 7 over st. louis
HOUSTON by 3 over buffalo
seattle by 10 over SAN FRANCISCO
TAMPA BAY by 7 over washington

For you NASCAR fans, including myself, this Sunday is the final Nextel Cup race of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway a champion will be crowned. I'm predicting Jimmy Johnson will win his much deserved first championship after coming so close the past two seasons.

A BIG sports weekend, enjoy all! With Thanksgiving on Thursday, I'll be making my picks early next week. After Saturday it will start the countdown to the Oregon Civil War, which will be played for the first time on the day after Thanksgiving.

Foss' Football Forecast, November 11-12,2006

I did pretty good in my Pac-10 picks last week winning 4 of 5. My only loss was putting my faith in the Washington State Cougars and they let me down as the Arizona Wildcats pulled the surprise upset in Pullman, 27-17. My overall Pac-10 record is now 44-16 for a 73.3 winning percentage. As you will see below, I am going out on a limb and picking some upsets this week in the Pac-10. The UCLA Bruins are in a must win situation and in the Rose Bowl I think they can derail the Orange Express of the Oregon State Beavers and end their four-game win streak. The Arizona State Sun Devils also are in a must win home game against the Cougars. WSU proved they could be beat at home last week and the other Arizona school will beat them with some home Southwest cooking. The Southern Cal Trojans (USC) proved they are beatable this season and the Oregon Ducks high powered spread offense will be tough to stop. The Trojans have never faced this Duck offense and I am picking the Ducks to upset USC at the Memorial Colesium in LA.

In my "other" college games last week I went 5-0 again, although Michigan and Ohio State were almost upset as the powerhouses must have been overlooking their weaker opponents. Why on earth was Michigan playing the Ball State Cardinals, who entered the game at 3-6, in the first place? I'm sure Ball State only agreed on it for the big paycheck, but instead of rolling over for the Wolverines only lost to Michigan in the Big House, 34-26. The Illinois Illini were only 2-7 when they took their shot at the #1 Buckeyes, and on the road anything can happen, but Ohio State held on to win by just a 17-10 margin. My predicted "margin of victory" is not an actual point spread, so even though they didn't win by as much as I expected, I still count it as a win since I picked the winner. My record in other games is now 37-3 for a 92.5 winning percentage.

It was the NFL that humbled me last week, as it was a tough week with many upsets. Unfortunately, I thought I was picking the easy games, which on paper looked like mismatches, but the games I picked turned out to be the upset specials and I went only 1-5 to drop my overall record to 28-17 for a 62.2 winning percentage. I guess home field advantage meant more than I thought as all four of my losses came in picking against the weaker home team. Who would've expected Michael Vick to have a bad game against the Detroit Lions, but two interceptions converted into touchdown by the Lions pretty much covered the 30-14 margin of victory. Just when I thought the Green Bay Packers were starting to turn it around and have an easy game in Buffalo, Brett Favre also had two interceptions, and the Packers had a total of four turnovers to none by the Bills as Buffalo won 24-10. In a game the Minnesota Vikings should've rolled in turned into the ugliest game of the week with the San Francisco 49ers actually winning a defensive duel, 9-3. Two costly fumbles cost the Vikings the game. When the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins meet in the classic cowboys versus Indians anything can happen, so I probably shouldn't have touched this game, but with the Redskins slumping on a three-game losing streak I didn't expect them to snap out of it against a better Cowboys team. Even the New York Giants had a hard time beating the 2-5 Houston Texans, but were able to hold on 14-10 for my only win last week.

The most interesting NFL game I picked this week is the Baltimore Ravens at Tennessee Titans in the "Relocation Bowl." A few years ago this would've been the Cleveland Browns at the Houston Oilers. On that note, here are this weeks picks:
College Football, Saturday, November 11, 2006:
Pac-10 picks:
WASHINGTON by 21 over stanford (is this Stanford's worst team ever?)
california by 14 over ARIZONA
UCLA by 3 over oregon state
ARIZONA STATE by 3 over washington state
oregon by 3 over USC

Other college games:
KENTUCKY by 10 over vanderbilt
michigan by 14 over INDIANA
ohio state by 21 over NORTHWESTERN
BOSTON COL. by 21 over duke
texas by 14 over KANSAS STATE

NFL Sunday, November 12, 2006:
baltimore by 10 over TENNESSEE
INDIANAPOLIS by 14 over buffalo
ATLANTA by 14 over cleveland
JACKSONVILLE by 14 over houston
dallas by 10 over ARIZONA

Games on Saturday will be dedicated to all our valuable United States military veterans out there, of which I am one (USAF 1992-96). Have a great Veteran's Day men and women who wore the uniform and currently are defending our freedom. I'm sure the NFL will pay tribute on Sunday too. It's not often when Veteran's Day falls on a weekend.

NORTHWEST PRIDE: GO DUCKS & SEAHAWKS!

Foss' Football Forecast, November 4-5, 2006

A week of surprises in the Pac-10 as the wild, wild west continues. I went only 1-3 this week, with my only win being the Oregon Ducks romp over Division 1AA Portland State, 55-12, in a confidence builder for the Ducks offense. The biggest upset, which caught national attention, was the upstart Oregon State Beavers knocking off the #3 Southern Cal Trojans 33-31 in Corvallis, snapping the Trojans record 27-game win streak in conference games, who would've thought it would be the Beavers breaking that streak. I don't think USC likes the new balances conference schedule, where they have to play everyone each season. They caught the Beavers on a roll and playing with confidence. OSU lead at one point 33-10, but the Trojans came storming back and tried a two-point conversion on their final touchdown with seven seconds left to try and tie it, but the OSU defense knocked down the pass and the Beavers held on. OSU had to play a perfect game and did with no turnovers, while USC's usually sure handed running backs caughed up three fumbles and QB John David Booty had one interception. The Beavers made a Booty call and scored with a big time win. Two other upsets on the road as Arizona State tried to save its season with a 26-23 overtime win at Washington, and the surprising Washington State Cougars went into the Rose Bowl and embarrassed the UCLA Bruins, 37-15. The win earned WSU a #25 ranking this week, and doesn't make Oregon's loss to them look so bad. The Ducks two losses have come against ranked teams. The Ducks slipped in the rankings to #24. Overall my Pac-10 record is 40-15 for 72.7 winning percentage. I went 5-0 again in my other games to up my record to 32-3 for 91.4 winning percentage.

It was a tough week in the NFL as I only went 2-3. Two struggling teams, the Cleveland Browns and Oakland Raiders, managed to pull it together in home games as the Browns beat the New York Jets, 20-13; and the Raiders upset the defending Super Bowl champ Pittsburgh Steelers also 20-13. The Steelers are only a remnant of last year's Super Bowl team as they realize how much Jerome Bettis meant to their offense. As a Seahawk fan, I am relishing the Steelers 2-5 start, and am not afraid to predict the Steelers will not make the playoffs this season. Despite all their injuries, the Seattle Seahawks are still 4-3 and tied for first in the NFC West. I do still feel once they get their star running back Shaun Alexander and QB Matt Hasselbeck back they will hit stride and make it back to the Super Bowl and win it this time, of course the road to the NFC Title will probably have to go through Chicago this season. My overall NFL picks record is now 27-13 for 67.5 winning percentage.

Here are this week's picks:
College Football Saturday, November 4, 2006:
Pac-10 picks:
OREGON by 10 over Washington
OREGON STATE by 7 over arizona state
WASHINGTON STATE by 14 over arizona
southern cal (usc) by 21 over STANFORD
CALIFORNIA by 10 over ucla
others:
MICHIGAN by 30 over ball state
AUBURN by 35 over arkansas state
ohio state by 21 over ILLINOIS
TEXAS by 21 over oklahoma state
NOTRE DAME by 14 over north carolina

NFL Sunday, November 5, 2006:
atlanta by 14 over DETROIT
dallas by 10 over WASHINGTON
green bay by 14 over BUFFALO
minnesota by 14 over SAN FRANCISCO
N.Y. GIANTS by 10 over houston

It's finally time to say goodbye to the Boys of Summer, and congratulations goes out to the St. Louis Cardinals on winning the Major League Baseball World Series Championship for the first time since 1982, and avenging their 1967 loss to the Detroit Tigers in the World Series, it was a long time coming. The Cardinals dominated this years series 4 games to 1. I gave the Tigers some credit and picks the Cards to win 4 games to 2, but I'm glad the Cards tamed the Tigers early. A special congrats goes out to four former members of my favorite team the Angels: Scott Spiezio & David Eckstein (MVP of the World Series for clutch hits) won their second rings, as they also were members of the Angels 2002 Title team, Jeff Weaver and Jim Edmonds on winning their first Championship ring. I also was glad to see Albert Pujols win a championship, besides being a great player on the field, he also is a great role model for kids as a Christian athlete and does so much in the St. Louis community. The Cardinals with only 83 wins this season, proved that any team can win the World Series, all you have to do is get into the playoffs. The National League Central was tough this season and with everyone knocking each other off it was tough to establish a good record, the Cards won their division with only 83 wins, but the Houston Astros were close behind at 82-80.

You probably noticed from my Pac-10 picks this week I have finally jumped on the Beavers and Cougars band wagon, and Cal should easily win the "Battle of the Bears" Golden Bears vs. Bruins. The Ducks have another Northwest rivalry this week with the always hated Huskies coming to town, GO DUCKS!

Milwaukie's Mike Bliss wins NASCAR truck race

For you Northwest NASCAR fans, congratulations goes out to Mike Bliss, from Milwaukie, Oregon, on his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win since 2002, last Saturday, October 28th in the EasyCare Vehicle Services Contract 200 (probably the longest named race) at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Bliss, in the #16 Xpress Motorsports/StrutMasters.com Chevrolet Silverado, grabbed the lead on a restart with 10 laps to go and held off Terry Cook for the win. It was his lucky 13th career truck victory. His last truck series win came in September, 2002 at South Boston Speedway in Virginia. With three races left Bliss remains 10th in the Craftsman Truck Series points, 424 points behind leader Todd Bodine, but only 153 points out of fourth and still has a shot at a Top 5 finish in the final point standings with strong finishes. Bliss has had a good season with 7 Top 5 finishes, and 13 Top 10's this season.

The last three races follow the NASCAR Nextel Cup schedule as the Friday night races at Texas, Phoenix and end the season November 17th at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Blazing a new trail

With Halloween behind us for another year, November 1st kicks off a new NBA season for our beloved Portland Trailblazers. The NBA is my favorite sport, at least the fast paced and high scoring games. The Trailblazers are our only major porfessional sports franchise in town, so Portland enters the national spotlight again when the NBA season rolls around. A new season brings new optimism for all 30 teams as they all start out undefeated at 0-0 and dream of NBA Championship rings. There is excitement in the air and this season shouldn't be as frightening as last.

I believe the years of the Jailblazers are behind us, and I will never use that phrase again. I like the new group of young players management has brought in, even with a couple of local players making the roster in Ime Udoka, a 6-6 215 lb small forward who prepped at Jefferson High School in Portland, and made a name for himself as a member of the Portland State University Vikings basketball team. In his first regular season game as a Blazer tonight he played 25 minutes in Seattle, helping the Blazers upset their 1-5 rival Sonics, 110-106, scoring 10 points. Dan Dickau, a 6-0 190 lb. point guard is the other local favorite, born in Portland, who now lives in Vancouver, Washington. Coach Nate McMillan chose not to play Dickau in the first game this season.

The win ended the Blazers 16-game losing streak, continuing from the end of last season. The last time the Blazers started out 2-0 was the 2004-05 season, lets see how good a start the Blazers can blast out too.

The Blazers entered the game as a nine-point underdog on the road, but will probably surprise a lot of people this season. Opening the season in Seattle was probably the best situation for the Blazers, as their new point guard 6-6 Brandon Roy got to make his NBA regular season debut in front of his family, friends and former coaches, you see Roy was a standout at the University of Washington. He put on quite a show scoring 20 points with hot 10-for-16 shooting. Zach Randolph led the team with 30 points and 10 rebounds. Juan Dixon had a nice game scoring in double-figures with 18 points and 2 steals. I look for Juan to have a breakout season and average close to 20 points a game this year. Jarrett Jack was the other Blazer in double-figures with a well balanced game with 13 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 steals. Jamaal Magloire had a disappointing first game for the Blazers with 6 points and 5 rebounds in 19 minutes of play. As a team, the Blazers shot a hot 54.8 percent from the field and held the Sonics to just 45.6 percent shooting. The Blazers still need to work on their outside shot, only making 2 of 10 three-pointers. Portland's offense was impressive putting up 110 points in its first outing, giving Blazer fans something to get excited about. The key will be if they can continue to play with consistency like this every night, and this wasn't just an adrenalin rush against Coach McMillan's former team and in owner Paul Allen's home town.

It was nice to see the Blazers not fade down the stretch as they have been doing in recent years, and actually poured in 34 points in the fourth quarter, their best quarter of the game. The Blazers youth may pay off for them as they can keep putting in fresh young legs. If McMillan can keep the team motivated and this young group continues to play well together this could be an exciting season. The most veteran player on the team is new addition 6-11 forward/center Raef LaFrentz in his eighth season. Raef played just seven minutes in his first game for the Blazers and didn't score.

Last season I said I wouldn't be disappointed if the Blazers won only 20 games. They did one better and won 21, and were still the worst team in the league. This season I like the team chemistry, this team reminds me of the early years of young players named Terry Porter, Clyde Drexler, Jerome Kersey, Kevin Duckworth, Buck Williams, Danny Ainge, etc. I don't want to put any pressure on the young players, but the first season Drexler was on the team in 1985, the Blazers only finished 42-40. I can see the Blazers turning it around and buying into Coach McMillan's system and having a winning season at 42-40. They can double their win total. This season will not be as frustrating for Coach McMillan as he finally has the players he wants and young guys that will listen to him. Most of these guys come from winning college backgrounds and if they can maintain a winning attitude with the Blazers, they shouldn't settle for a losing season. The Blazers can be the most improved team in the league this season.

The Blazers ARE on a new trail this season and it should be fun to watch how far it can go. They can ignite Blazermania back in Portland.

I'm once again proud to say: GO BLAZERS and will make it to the Rose Garden to watch the most entertaining event this winter and spring.