CFB Top 25 Picks: Ohio State Fail Edition

I never linked to this week's final BlogPoll -- not my ballot, but the combined national ballot of all BlogPoll voters. I am stunned I was the only one to rank BYU at No. 1.

I also remain casually miffed that my old Northwestern classmate Doug Lesmerises, an AP voter out of Cleveland, has gotten all sorts of props for voting Bama, BYU and OK St 1-2-3 ahead of Florida. I voted BYU-Bama-OK St AND Boise St ahead of Florida (my freaking team!) and got...bupkis.

(Why has no one pointed out that Lesmerises doesn't even follow his own so-called logic consistently -- why rank Bama, BYU and OK St ahead of Florida but not Boise State?)

Now, onto this week's picks...

Another early-season week, another week of cupcake match-ups (for the most part) that makes the rule of picking Top 25 games be "chalk." Obviously, USC-Ohio State is the headliner -- unless you've been paying attention to OSU in big games the last few years and recognize that they are going to lose... even to an overrated USC team. Let's get to it:

1 Florida over Troy
2 Texas over @Wyoming
3 USC over @8 Ohio St -- Yeah, yeah, GOTW. Remember last year? It was GOTW then, too.
4 Alabama over Fla Int'l
5 Oklahoma St over Houston (If I had guts, I'd pick UH)
UPDATED (see below): Houston over @5 Oklahoma St (UPSET SPECIAL)
7 Penn St over Syracuse/Paulus
9 BYU over @Tulane
10 Cal over E. Washington
11 LSU over Vandy
12 Boise St over Miami (OH)
13 Oklahoma over Idaho St
14 VA Tech over Marshall
16 TCU over @Virginia
17 Utah over San Jose St.
18 Notre Dame over @Michigan -- Schadenfreude Bowl
19 UNC over @UConn (Why am I not picking this as an upset?)
21 Georgia over South Carolina (only b/c it's in Athens)
22 Nebraska over Arkansas St
23 Cincy over SE Mo St.
24 Kansas over @UTEP
25 Mizzou over Bowling Green

So, yes: In the Schadenfreude Bowl, I will take Notre Dame over Michigan -- after picking both to lose last week and being relatively humiliated in the process. I would say that ND humiliated me more, leading to my "No Knocking ND (Until They Earn It On the Field)" policy. The winner of this game gets the misleading "They're Back!" meme; the loser gets the misleading "They're Doomed!" meme.

Why does this Houston-OK St game intrigue me as an upset-waiting-to-happen? Seems to have a lot of elements that smell like a trap: OK St is coming off a very big season-opening win over Georgia... And that they have that Top 5 ranking... And that, suddenly, they are the best team in the state, finally eclipsing Oklahoma... And that Houston has a freaky pass-happy offense, not unlike the Texas Tech offense that pinned 56 on OK State a year ago? What's the downside to me actually picking Houston over Oklahoma State? I mean, cripes: I picked Nevada over ND and Western Michigan over Michigan, couldn't have been more wrong about either and the world didn't end. OK, I've talked myself into it...

Other Games of Note:
*Tennessee over UCLA
*Mississippi St over @Auburn
*Toledo over Colorado
*Wisconsin over Fresno St
*Northwestern over E. Michigan
*If nothing else, track UAB's Joe Webb vs. SMU. Webb Mania!

Any big predictions on your end? Put them in the comments. And it's not too late to join the Daily Quickie Readers group of the College Pick 'Em! Join now! (For god's sake: I'm in 5th place. You KNOW you can do better than me.)

-- D.S.