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!