Foss' Football Forecast, Dec. 10-11, 2006

In the final weekend of regular season college football games, I went only 1-2 on my final three Pac-10 games with only California's win over Stanford 26-17 being a given, although the game was closer than expected, but most rivalry games are.

The biggest upset of the weekend was the UCLA Bruins win over the #2 Southern California (USC) Trojans in an unexpected defensive duel, 13-9, knocking the Trojans out of the National Championship game. The Bruins (7-5) achieved their goal and earned a bowl invitation to the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco against Florida State, which should be a good matchup. The Trojans (10-2) as Pac-10 Champs, slipped to #5 in the BCS rankings, accepted their bid to the Rose Bowl for a traditional match-up against a Big-10 team the #3 Michigan Wolverines (11-1) in a game that could be national championship caliber. The Wolverines missed out on a rematch with Ohio State in the BCS Championship Game due to the Florida Gators 38-28 win over Arkansas in the SEC Championship Game. #2 Florida (11-1) earned the right to play #1 Ohio State in the BCS Championship Game, January 8th. To correct an error from last week, the Championship game is being played in the same city as the Fiesta Bowl, but it is officially the BCS Championship Game this season, it isn't being rotated between the four biggest bowls anymore. The Fiesta Bowl has its own match up of #8 Boise State (12-0) earning their first BCS Bowl bid in an interesting matchup against #10 Oklahoma (11-2). Even though the Boise State Broncos were undefeated, their schedule wasn't tough enough to earn them a shot at the BCS Championship as they only ranked eighth in the BCS standings, which is their highest ranking in school history. It's nice to see them finally getting some national recognition. My other Pac-10 loss came as Oregon State hung on to win another close, wild one this time in Hawaii, 35-32. The Beavers didn't have to win after already clinching their 1st invitation to the Sun Bowl in El Paso with an interesting match-up against the Missouri Tigers (8-4). The Beavers (9-4) even found themselves ranked 22nd in the most recent BCS standings. Cal's win gave me my 50th Pac-10 win as I finished the season at 50-26 for a respectable 65.8 winning percentage in a tough league, where anything can happen and did this season.

In my "other games" last week I went 5-0 as the impressive Navy Midshipmen (9-3) earned a trip to the Meineke Bowl in Charlotte, North Carolina and the Commander and Chief Cup with a win over their arch rival Army Knights 26-14. The #6 Louisville Cardinals (11-1) closed out an impressive regular season with a big 47-17 win over Connecticut and earned a trip to the Orange Bowl against the #14 Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Texas Christian (TCU, 10-2) completed another successful regular season with a big 38-14 win over the slumping Air Force Academy that ended the season on a four game losing streak and a disappointing 4-8 season, after a 3-2 start. The TCU Horned Frogs accepted a big to the Poinsettia Bowl the first bowl game of the bowl season, December 19th in San Diego against the Northern Illinois Huskies (7-5). I will post my picks for this and all bowl games next week. Along with Florida's win, as mentioned earlier, my fifth "other games" win came with #13 West Virginia Mountaineers (10-2) finishing a successful regular season with a wild win over #16 Rutgers (10-2). 41-39 in triple overtime! It was a playoff caliber performance. West Virginia accepted a bid to the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida against Georgia Tech (9-4). Rutgers successful 10-2 season earned head coach Greg Schiano the Big East Football Coach of the Year Award. The Scarlet Knights also will be bowling in the inaugural Texas Bowl in Houston, formerly the Houston Bowl, against the Kansas State Wildcats (7-5). My final "other games" record was an impressive 52-8 for a 86.7 winning percentage.

I had a pretty good NFL week going 3-2 as the New Orleans Saints easily handled the San Francisco 49ers, 34-10, the Chicago Bears beat the Minnesota Vikings 23-13 and Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 20-3. My two losses were both upsets with the biggest being the Tennessee Titans surprise win over the Indianapolis Colts, 20-17, handing the Colts only their second loss. The Arizona Cardinals, playing in their former home town, won only their third game of the season upsetting the St. Louis Rams 34-20 in another "Relocation Bowl" game. A few seasons ago this would've been the Los Angeles Rams visiting the St. Louis Cardinals. My NFL record is now 40-25 for a 61.5 winning percentage. This weeks picks will just be NFL games.

One final college note, I need to comment on Stanford's record breaking season, although they weren't records to be proud of. The Cardinal finished 1-11 with the most losses in one season in school history and their worst record since an 0-10 season in 1960. This was their worst season in my lifetime. Not surprisingly Coach Walt Harris was fired after going 6-17 the past two seasons under his inept leadership. By Harris lasting just two seasons, it is the shortest tenure of a Stanford football coach in the last 27 years. His most daunting distinguish was the proud Pac-10 program losing to Division 1-AA University of California at Davis last season. Stanford still hasn't won in their sparkling new stadium going 0-5 this season, but someone found a way to win 20-3 at Washington in one of the toughest venues in the league. It snapped Stanford's team record losing streak at 11-games, second longest in the nation. Stanford caught the Huskies at just the right time as the loss was the sixth in a row for Washington, but it snapped its losing streak the following week against rival Washington State in the Apple Cup and knocking the Cougars out of a bowl game, so the Huskies achieved their goal.

On to the picks. Here is this weeks Foss' Football Forecast:

NFL Sunday, December 10:
atlanta by 14 over TAMPA BAY
minnesota by 7 over DETOIT
CINCINNATI by 14 over oakland
seattle by 14 over ARIZONA
NEW YORK JETS by 10 over buffalo
SAN DIEGO by 10 over denver
new england by 10 over MIAMI
SAN FRANCISCO by 7 over green bay
tennessee by 7 over HOUSTON

Monday, December 11:
chicago by 10 over ST. LOUIS

Bonus pick, my Heismann Trophy pick is: Ohio State University Quarterback Troy Smith who has led the Buckeyes to an undefeated season and a shot at their second national championship in four seasons.

Enjoy the games!