FH: Ohio State Hosts Eight Longstreth Midwest Spring League Games Saturday

Buckeyes face Ball State at 9 a.m. and Michigan State at 12:15 p.m.; Indiana, Kent State and Miami also to play at North Turf Field
Continue reading at Ohio State Women’s Basketball Headline News

BASE: Ohio State Loses, 8-7, to No. 24 KSU

No. 26 Ohio State dropped an 8-7 game to No. 24 Kent State Wednesday in a back-and-forth, well-played midweek game that featured 33 hits and no errors.
Continue reading at Ohio State Women’s Basketball Headline News

Big Ten content to be Saturday staple

Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg

A look at the 2009 ACC composite schedule released earlier Thursday illustrates how leagues take different approaches toward football scheduling. 

The ACC opens its season on a Thursday night, as NC State hosts South Carolina. The league features five more Thursday night games as well as a Labor Day (Monday) matchup between rivals Miami and Florida State.

Midweek games are nothing new in college football, especially in the last few years. Football is an every-day affair, and while the non-BCS leagues are a big reason why, the bigger-name teams are also willing to give up a Saturday or two. One of last season's biggest moments came on a Thursday night, as top-ranked USC fell at Oregon State. 

But the Big Ten has largely stiff-armed the midweek trend, and it figures to stay that way. The league played all of its games on Saturdays last fall. In 2007, Northwestern faced Eastern Michigan on a Friday night in a contest that had to be moved because of high school games at Ford Field in Detroit.

The Big Ten hasn't played a true midweek game since 2006, when Minnesota and Northwestern opened against Kent State and Miami (Ohio), respectively, on a Thursday night. 

Mark Rudner, the Big Ten's associate commissioner for television administration, told me in an e-mail today that only on a "very rare occasion" would a Big Ten game get moved from a Saturday. This would only occur during the first or last week of the season. The Big Ten's television agreements are based on Saturday games.

I'm a bit greedy when it comes to college football and wouldn't mind seeing Big Ten games every night of the week (it's hard to keep track of everything on Saturdays). But midweek games present logistical problems for coaches, players and even fans, who plan their travel and tailgating around fall Saturdays. 

Plus, the Big Ten really has no reason to move away from Saturdays, given its strong ratings during the regular season and the bowls. It would seem very un-Big Ten to have, say, Iowa play Penn State on a Thursday night. Then again, I wouldn't complain. 

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Big Ten recruiting roundup

Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg

Ohio State will learn Tuesday whether it will earn the services of standout prep quarterback Tajh Boyd. Defensive end Craig Drummond has, in fact, picked Mississippi after originally committing to Illinois. Iowa had a big weekend recruiting haul, while other Big Ten schools are racking up commits. 

Here's the latest from ESPN Scouts Inc.'s national recruiting director Tom Luginbill. 

ESPNU 150 Craig Drummond picks Rebels over Illini

Craig Drummond, DE

Chicago, IL

Morgan Park H.S.

Scouts Grade: 81

ESPN150 Rank: 99

Position Rank: 7

Defensive end Craig Drummond of Morgan Park (Chicago, Ill.), rated No. 7 nationally among defensive ends and No. 99 prospect overall in the Class of 2009, has chosen Mississippi.

The 6-foot-5, 260-pound Drummond had originally picked Illinois over Wisconsin, but was wavering on his choice.

Among others, Drummond was also offered by Miami-Florida, Tennessee, Ohio State, Southern California, Florida, Michigan State and Minnesota.

Drummond, who was an all-state and all-area selection as a junior after recording 22 sacks, did not play his senior season because of a foot injury.

---

ESPNU 150 Tajh Boyd to choose on Tuesday

Tajh Boyd, QB

Hampton, VA

Phoebus H.S.

Scouts Grade: 82

ESPN150 Rank: 59

Position Rank: 5

Tajh Boyd of Phoebus (Hampton, Va.), rated No. 5 among quarterbacks and No. 59 prospect overall in Class 2009, plans to make a final decision among Clemson, Oregon and Ohio State on Tuesday afternoon (Jan. 27).

Among many others, Boyd was also being recruited by Florida State, Boston College, Virginia and Penn State.

Boyd had first committed to West Virginia, but had second thoughts following the Mountaineers' offensive struggles early in the season. He then chose Tennessee, but decommitted following a conversation with newly hired coach Lane Kiffin who warned him that he might not be happy with the Vols' pro-style system.

As a junior, Boyd passed for 2,059 yards and 25 touchdowns, and also rushed for 500 yards and seven scores. He tore his ACL in the third game of his senior season and is set to have surgery next month.

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Ohio Beats Kent State 71-65

Jerome Tillman scored 16 points, including a pair of insurance free throws and a dunk in the closing seconds, to lead Ohio to a 71-65 win over Kent State on Sunday.
Story By College Sports for NBC4i.com

OSU men back in top 25

Ohio State’s mens basketball team, coming off back-to-back road upsets of ranked Miami and Notre Dame, moved into both major polls this week at No. 21.

The Associated Press and USA Today coaches polls were both released Monday.

The full AP story is below.

<b>North Carolina is unanimous No. 1</b>

(AP) North Carolina’s 35-point romp over a ranked team kept the Tar Heels a unanimous No. 1 choice in The Associated Press’ college basketball poll Monday. Ohio State joined the Top 25 following a pair of five-point victories over ranked teams.
The Tar Heels (8-0) dismantled Michigan State 98-63 at Ford Field last week as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and again received all 72 first-place votes from the national media panel.
Connecticut and Pittsburgh held the second and third spots, while Gonzaga and Oklahoma both moved up one place to fourth and fifth. Texas, Duke, Tennessee, Louisville and Xavier rounded out the top 10.
Ohio State (5-0), which beat Miami and Notre Dame last week, moved in at No. 21, the Buckeyes’ first ranking since being No. 1 in the final poll of 2006-07.
Defending national champion Kansas (7-1) moved back into the poll at No. 25.
Miami (5-2) and Florida dropped out of the rankings. Miami bounced back from the loss to Ohio State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge with a victory at Kentucky on Saturday. Florida lost to intrastate rival Florida State for the third straight year on Sunday.
Texas (6-1) moved up one spot after beating UCLA 68-64 last week. Duke, which lost 81-73 at Michigan on Saturday after winning 76-60 at Purdue on Tuesday, fell from fourth to seventh.
Wake Forest was 11th and was followed by Notre Dame, Syracuse, Purdue, Villanova, UCLA, Memphis, Michigan State, Georgetown and Arizona State.
The last five ranked teams were Ohio State, Baylor, Davidson, Marquette and Kansas.
Kansas, the defending national champion, returned to the poll after being out for one week following its loss to Syracuse. The Jayhawks beat Kent State, New Mexico State and Jackson State last week, all by at least 21 points.
The last time Ohio State was ranked it had a roster full of freshmen who all headed for the NBA after the title-game loss to Florida. Greg Oden, Mike Conley and Daequan Cook were first-round picks after that one season.
The current group of Buckeyes is about as young, with sophomores Evan Turner and Jon Diebler and freshmen B.J. Mullens and William Buford joining junior David Lighty to lead the way this season.
“Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect,” coach Thad Matta said Monday. “I think the big thing is we’re pleased with the start we’re off to, but we know we have to work to get where we want to be. But it beats the alternative.
“The guys have done a very good job of working hard and from that standpoint we’re very pleased. We sit down after every game and show them things we have to improve to get to where we want to be.”
Ohio State trailed by 14 points at halftime at Miami, and the win over then-No. 7 Notre Dame came at Lucas Oil Stadium, hardly a neutral site with the Fighting Irish having a homestate advantage.
“No question as we went into last week we knew we were going to have play very good basketball to have a chance to win,” Matta said. “The come-from-behind victory at Miami was big with the way we did it, only turned the ball over one time, what we had been preaching, to take care of the ball. We knew defensively we had to be very sound in both games. We hope the guys are learning the system and staying focused on what we need to do.”
The Big East had a record eight teams in the Top 25 for a second straight week: Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Villanova, Georgetown and Marquette . The Big 12 was second this week with four teams, while the ACC and Big Ten had three each.
There are two games between ranked teams this week, with Villanova facing Texas on Tuesday at the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden, and Memphis at Georgetown on Saturday.
 

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Ten Top 10s After Week 13 in College Football

Top 10 Teams

1) Alabama—I’ll be as shocked as anyone if they occupy this spot on Dec. 7.

2) Utah—Undefeated and the run away winner of the Holy War

3) Boise—Survived a scare but got it done.

4) Ball State—Will WMU be their undoing?

5) Oklahoma—Just a tough call.

6) Texas—Beat No. 5.

7) Florida—I’m sure their fans won’t like this too much but what am I supposed to do?

Penn State—Looks like they are the odd man out.

9) USC—I like the Defense, if they lose it will be the Offense’s fault.

10) Oregon State—These guys haven’t lost in a long time.

 

Top 10 Games This Past Week

1) Buffalo 40, Bowling Green 34 —Just when you thought it was over…

2) Oregon State 19, Arizona 17—The Beavers never led until the final gun sounded.

3) Ball State 31, Central Michigan 24—Everything we thought it would be and more.

4) Purdue 62,, Indiana 10—That’s the way to send out your retiring coach.

5) Syracuse 24, Notre Dame 23—What can you even say?

6) Boise 41, Nevada 34—Not really as close as the score.

7) Northern Illinois 42, Kent State 14—Not a great game but we had a hoot in the chat room.

Boston College 24, Wake Forest 21—BC showed guts even with their QB going down.

9) Cincinnati 28, Pittsburgh 21—Congrats to Brian Kelly and the Bearcats on their Big East title.

10) Washington State 16, Washington 13—Eyes glued to the TV watching the worst College Football has to offer.

 

Top 10 People I Am Thankful For This Year

1) My Wife—A true testament to patience and understanding.

2) The readers,  people, and the community of The College Football Place—350,000 unique visitors a month and growing every day, I am truly humbled.

3) Jordan—I hope everyone gets a chance in their life to work with someone who truly gets it.

4) Baby Tate—Not only the most knowledgeable and most informed person at Bleacher Report, also just a class act.

5) Yaro Starak—While he reminds me it was my dream, he helped me realize it.

6) Zander Freund—Unyielding supporter and defender of free speech and freedom of the press; I respect the heck out of that.

7) Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden—College football is better with these guys in it.

Gideon Shalwick—Gave me the confidence to add video to my blog; this is how most people recognize me.

9) The gang I grew up with—We knew at a very young age that football was a special game.

10) The people of Chicago—The best city to live in in the world!

 

Ten People Who Had A Bad Week

1) Charlie Weis—Not going to be fun in South Bend.

2) Ty Willingham—Not the way you want to go out.

3) Mike Leach—His team had NO answers.

4) Anyone still long the stock market—We touched 7500 on the Dow this week.

5) People who picked against me—I went 13-5 against the spread and 7-2 against the spread on my big picks.

6) Ron Zook—Great recruiter, bad coach.

7) The Miami Hurricanes—Back and on their way back mean two totally different things.

Tim Brewster—Not going to be the Coach of the Year

9) Mark Cuban—I don’t get it, this guy is worth how much?

10) Butch Davis—See “Ron Zook” (No. 6).

 

Top 10 Heisman Candidates

1) Tim Tebow—Why not?

2) Sam Bradford—The Texas Tech game was like an infomercial about him.

3) Rey Maualuga—I have no problem with it going to a defensive guy.

4) Colt McCoy—The accuracy this year has been unreal.

5) Knowshon Moreno—The best Running Back in the country.

6) Graham Harrell—Will get plenty of votes.

7) Michael Crabtree—Will be splitting votes with Harrell.

Beanie Wells—May be the best player.

9) Trevor Vittatoe—An inside joke, but really he’s no joke; give him another year.

10) Nate Davis—He’s had a heck of a year.

 

Top 10 Thanksgiving Foods

1) Turkey—It’s all about the bird; the star of the show.

2) Stuffing—Some call it dressing, I call it my second favorite.

3) Mashed Potatoes—Hello!

4) Corn—Anyone getting hungry?

5) Sweet Potatoes—Extra starch?, count me in.

6) Rolls—Hot, crusty, beautiful rolls.

7) Green Beans—Are these just for show?

Gravy—This should be it’s own food group.

9) Cranberries—Not everyone is a fan, I am.

10) Pumpkin Pie—Last but certainly not least.

 

Ten Favorite Games With Nicknames

1) The Backyard Brawl—Just a great name for a game.

2) Holy War—Sounds like a battle.

3) Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate—So what exactly do they mean?

4) The Worlds Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party—The name was better than the game this year.

5) Civil War—War seems to be a good word for a named game.

6) The Game—Sounds like they mean business.

7) Bedlam—Always has been one of my favorites.

The Iron Bowl—Men of steel?

9) The Arch Rivalry—Played in St. Luis of course.

10) The Game—The Big Game was already taken.

 

Top 10 Trophies for Games

1) The Old Oaken Bucket—I just like saying it.

2) The Little Brown Jug—Another classic.

3) Paul Bunyan’s Axe—Looks very cool when they carry it around.

4) Chief Caddo Trophy—Just lovely at over 7 feet tall.

5) The Wagon Wheel—Anyone ever see When Harry Met Sally?

6) The Old Brass Spittoon—These guys kill each other for it, my wife wouldn’t let me bring it in the house.

7) The Iron Skillet—I saw one of these going for 35 cents at a garage sale recently.

The Beehive Boot—Who wouldn’t want to play for the Boot?

9) The Keg of Nails—Looks just like it sounds.

10) The Peace Pipe—This can get you arrested in 23 states.

 

Top 10 USA Today Preseason Teams From This Year

1) Georgia—The Dawgs were more bark than bite.

2) USC—May finish near this same spot.

3) Ohio State—Stumbled in the big games.

4) Oklahoma—Pretty close.

5) Florida—I wonder if the Gator fans gave these guys as hard a time as they give me.

6) LSU—Maybe No. 6 in the SEC?

7) Missouri—Never got over the hump.

West Virginia—Tough start and they were doomed.

9) Clemson—What exactly were they thinking?

10) Texas—The Longhorns were underrated for a change.

 

Ten Games I’m Looking Forward To This Week

1) Oklahoma State at Oklahoma—The Big 12 and another big game.

2) Florida at Florida State—Real Gator fans know this is no gimme.

3) Georgia Tech at Georgia—Should be a good game.

4) West Virginia at Pittsburgh—Panthers won as 29 point digs last year.

5) Oregon at Oregon State—These teams do not like each other.

6) Auburn at Alabama—Looks horrible on paper but you never know.

7) Notre Dame at USC—Anyone else looking forward to watching this?

Houston at Rice—Should be an offensive show.

9) Western Michigan at Ball State—Does Ball State stay perfect?

10) South Carolina at Clemson—The battle for the Palmetto State.

 

Visit Mitch anytime at The College Football Place.

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College Football’s Week: A Regional Review And Recap Of Week Twelve

 Football’s Week is a weekly B/R series prepared by veteran observer Baby Tate.

THE EAST

The Best: 1) Penn State 10–1, 2) Pittsburgh 7–2, 3) West Virginia 6–3

The Navy believed it had everything covered when they traveled over to Baltimore for an inter–sectional battle with hated Notre Dame. The Middies had broken their 43 year losing streak to the Irish last year and were confident in continuing their success.

The problems began early for the Naval Academy. Not used to the hard hitting they faced from the Irish linemen, the Middies seemed tentative and tight.

Notre Dame often forced the action resulting in negative plays and held Navy to a season low in rushing with 178 yards.

Trailing 27–7 with 99 seconds remaining in the game, the Navy scored twice and nearly pulled out the game. A stunned Charlie Weis could only add, “I don’t know what happened there”.

Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo was more realistic, “You can’t dig a hole that deep against Notre Dame and expect to make it all up in a minute and a half”.

The final score of 27–21 doesn’t reflect the ball control of the Fighting Irish with nearly 36 minutes of possession.

Syracuse was challenged to go out and win one for Coach Greg Robinson by Senior leaders of the Orange. Unfortunately, they were crushed by Connecticut, 39–14. This resulted in Robinson being dismissed as head coach within hours of the loss.

In Ivy League action, Harvard and Yale tuned up for their big battle next week by taking out Princeton and Penn. The two New York state schools settled their differences with Columbia trimming Cornell, 17-7 and Brown buried dreadful Dartmouth, 45–16.

 

THE SOUTH

The Best: 1) Alabama 11–0, 2) Florida 9–1, 3) Georgia 9–2

The old ball coach of South Carolina thought he had a fighting chance against his alma mater on Saturday. The Gamecocks boasted the No. 1 defense in the SEC and had shown signs of New Year’s Day Bowl potential recently.

The offense is reminiscent of the 1980 team that featured Heisman Trophy Winner George Rogers (Pictured Above). 

Unfortunately for Carolina, Rogers is an employee of the school now and no longer on the football field as a player.

It is doubtful even Rogers would have made much of a difference as the Gators absolutely slaughtered the 22-point underdog Gamecocks, 56–6.

“We got clobbered,” added Spurrier. Later the Super–Gator himself murmured to reporters, “A loss is a loss, whether it is one point or fifty”.

Personally for Steverino, it was the worst margin of defeat he has ever suffered as a player or a coach.

In other Dixie action, Georgia survived Auburn 17–13, Boston College handled Florida State 27–17, and Alabama defeated Mississippi State, 32–7.

Likewise, Maryland overpowered UNC 17–15, Vanderbilt trimmed Kentucky 31–24, and LSU came back from 28 points down to slide by Troy 40–31.

Next up for the Tigers will be Ole Miss who humiliated Louisiana–Monroe, 59–0.

Dabo Swinney continued to make a case for removing the “interim” from his title by leading Clemson to a 31–7 win over Duke and N.C. State upset the unpredictable Wake Forest Demon Deacons, 21–17.

The Scarlet Knights of Rutgers traveled down to South Florida and dominated the Bulls, 49–16. Miami is looking more and more like an ACC contender. Their latest victim? The Gobblers of Virginia Tech, 16–14.

 

THE MIDWEST

The Best: 1) Texas Tech 10–0, 2) Texas 10–1, 3) Oklahoma 9–1

While some of the best football in the country is being played in the Big 12, the league had to stand by and allow Texas Tech and Oklahoma the week off in preparation of their big battle next week in Norman.

Texas went about their Big 12 business by defeating Kansas on the road, 35–7. Missouri dominated Iowa State 52–20, Nebraska dominated Kansas State 56–28, and Baylor defeated Texas A&M, 41–21. Oklahoma State pinned down Colorado, 30–17.

In the Big 10, Minnesota continued to falter, this time losing to a recovering Wisconsin, 35–32. Ohio State gained revenge for a late season loss last year by whipping Illinois 30–20.

Purdue bowed to Iowa 22–17, and Michigan lost again. This time to Northwestern by the score of 21–14. Sad days in Ann Arbor, bad news with Ohio State up next.

Penn State righted their ship following the upset loss at the hands of Iowa by defeating lowly Indiana, 34–7. Louisville fell to Cincinnati, 28–20 and unbeaten Ball State handled Miami (OH), 31–16.

In other Mid American Conference action, Tom Amstutz’s Rockets of Toledo fell to Kent State in a scoring free for all, 41–38 while the Central Michigan Chippewas escaped Northern Illinois in overtime, 33–30. Buffalo surprised Akron in overtime as well, 43–40.

 

THE WEST

The Best: 1) Southern California 9–1, 2) Utah 11–0, 3) Boise State 10–0

Wyoming was flying high after their win in Knoxville over faltering Tennessee the previous week. Too high apparently. Nevada–Las Vegas took it to the Cowboys and put them away, 22–14. So much for their fifteen minutes of fame.

Fellow Mountain West member Utah had no such problems as they slaughtered the once–pround San Diego State Aztecs, 63–14. Brigham Young kept pace by taking down the difficult Falcons of Air Force, 38–24.

The PAC10 provided plenty of fireworks during the weekend as Oregon outscored Arizona, 55–45 while UCLA stopped Washington, 27–7.

Southern California had to “put it in overdrive” according to Coach Pete Carroll as the Trojans beat Stanford, 45–23.

One of the best games of the day featured California and Oregon State. When Beaver Bossman Mike Riley collapsed his ends to slow down the Bear running game the end was near.

After a grueling battle, Oregon State continued on its path to the Rose Bowl by taking down Cal, 34–21. “We’ll keep getting after them until we get there” chimed Coach Riley.

In a game that featured Idaho’s finest, Boise State took out the Vandals 45–10. Nevada continued to chug along in the WAC with a 41–17 win over Dick Tomey’s San Jose State Spartans.

Fresno State continued their up and down year with a 24–17 victory over Hal Mumme’s New Mexico State Aggies while the Utags of Utah State fell once again. This time to Louisiana Tech, 45–38.

The Desert Report: This season hasn’t been kind to Dennis Erickson’s Sun Devils, a glaring example of what happens when a team fails to refocus after a huge game(Georgia). To recover from this situation the Washington State Cougars were served up as a sacrifice.

When the smoke cleared, Arizona State had crushed the old school of Coach Erickson by a score of 31–0. A few hundred miles away, Mike Price’s Miners of El Paso battered June Jones’ Mustangs of Southern Methodist, 36–10.

 

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Much-maligned Clemson quarterback Cullen Harper regained some of his pre–season All American form by completing 20 of 26 for 292 yards in leading his Tigers to a win over Duke. 

 

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

D.J. Moore of Vanderbilt intercepted two Kentucky passes at critical times to help the Commodores overcome the Wildcats and become Bowl-eligible for the first time since 1982. Moore also split time on offense, recording the first two receptions of his career, both for touchdowns.

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Mitch’s Week 13 College Football Picks: Part One

We have another week packed with college football, starting with Tuesday night and moving right through Saturday with games every day and decent matchups across the board.

There are just a few weeks left in the regular season, and then it will be conference championships and bowl games. While there are only a few weeks left, there are still a few free picking contest weeks to play and still time to get involved. We’ll also be having a picking contest for the bowls, and it should be the same format we’ve been using for the regular season.

This past week’s winner was Mark R., who went an impressive 12-3 against the spread. Mark is a regular in the forums and chat room and said all he did was take the best ideas from those places along with a little of his own research, and he was able to nail down that kind of week. While that is the best week we have seen for the winner, it was also the best overall performance from top to bottom in the contest.

We’ll also be continuing our live chats this week during all of the weekday games and all day Saturday. Feel free to stop by and say hello and chat with everyone. Stay as long or short as you like, and the conversation has been wide open. We’ve had a lot of fun, but we’ve also put together some great plays as well.

In any event, we have some ground to cover this week, so let’s get to some games.

Northern Illinois – 3 1/2 at Kent State (Tuesday, Nov. 18, 7 EST): 6 out of 10

I have been on Northern Illinois for most of the season, and up until lately they hadn’t let me down. While the Huskies are 5-5 on the season, they have dropped their last two. Kent State comes in at 3-7 and winners in two of their last three.

I believe that college football is a game of matchups, and in this one the matchups clearly favor NIU. While the Golden Flashes have a nice running game, they will be facing the 46th-best run defense in the country, but more importantly, the number one rush defense in the MAC, when they step onto the field against the Huskies.

While Northern Illinois prefers to run as well, they will be met by the nations 96th-ranked rush defense and the 100th-ranked defense in points scored.

When we look at this series historically, Northern Illinois won outright last year in the underdog role. The Huskies have covered four of their last five against Kent State and more recently are 5-1 against the spread in their last six road games.

Northern Illinois is traditionally built for cold weather as they are 8-3-1 in their last 12 November games and are 5-2 against the spread against teams with a losing record. Kent State is 2-8 against the spread in their last 10 home games and 0-6 against the spread in their last six games following a straight up win.

While Northern has been on the wrong side of things as of late, those games were against the top two teams in the conference, and Kent State isn’t even close to that caliber of a team. I am a bit surprised by the low point spread, and I am all over Northern Illinois.

See the rest of Mitch’s Week 13 college football picks and predictions against the spread.

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Mitch’s Week 12 College Football Picks Part Two

We have college football every night of the week this week form last night forward and with the season winding down, we may as well enjoy it.

I’m not sure why ESPN feels the need to show Temple so many times, but I guess we can be thankful that at least they are off of their Ohio University kick for a week.

While I think it’s nice to get exposure to some of the smaller conferences, maybe just once a year or so gets it done. In fact, Temple has had more national games at this point than USC, Penn State, or Oklahoma. At least we have an alternative game in Northern Illinois and Central Michigan which is usually a very entertaining match up.

Speaking of entertaining, I sent out the games last night for my free picking contest so if you haven’t received them just shoot me an email and let me know. For those not signed up, there is still plenty of time to enter and it’s free and easy to get involved.

Last night, we also had another milestone event as we hosted our first in game chat ever in the history of the site. While I wasn’t too good at spreading the word because I wasn’t sure I would be able to get it set up in time, we had a handful of people show up and chat which was enough to know it works. This, like everything else, will be a growing experience and as we had over 7,000 unique visitors last Saturday, my guess is it will grow pretty quickly.

There are links in the forums and I will post every time we are going to have one which should be during any weekday games, all day Saturday, or really anytime there is a game on.

It will be especially fun on days when there are multiple games so we can get updates from people all over the country. My goal is for next year to host handicapping chats as well, so we can talk about what we are looking at, those will probably be just like a Monday or Tuesday thing though. I am looking into just making those moderated conference calls with Jordan and myself, things are growing fast. More on this to come.

Speaking of games and chats, here are my picks and analysis of tonight’s games along with more picks as we continue on with week 12 in college football.

Temple -1 at Kent State (Wednesday 11/12/08, 8 EST) 3 out of 10

This is a horrible game and if it wasn’t on a Wednesday night I wouldn’t waste the time writing this as my attention span watching this one will be shorter than it takes me to get to the end of this sentence.

What we have are 2 teams with five combined wins and nothing at stake as they play out the string. It is a battle of ineptitude as Temple’s offense can’t move the ball or score and Kent State has a hard tome stopping anyone, on the other side of the ball it’s a case of solid mediocrity.

Kent State comes in at 2-5 against the spread on the season while Temple is at 6-2-1  against the number. Kent State is 1-9 against the spread in their last 9 at home and 3-13 against the spread in their last 16 conference games.

Temple is 13-3-1 against the spread in their last 17 conference games and are 5-1-1 following a bye week. I think that even though their record doesn’t show it, Temple has had a season to build on and they continue to build by beating Kent State.

Northern Illinois -3 1/2 Vs. Central Michigan (Wednesday 11/12/08, 8 EST) 4 out of 10

This is a match up that a lot of my friends give me a hard time about as I always have a pretty strong opinion about it and while I’m usually on the right side of it, it’s the game two years ago where Northern Illinois beat a very good Central Michigan team where I considered the Chippewas a “lock”.

That was the last time I used that term to refer to one of my picks.

As always, this game gives us an interesting match up as Central Michigan is 7-2 straight up and winners of five in a row and Northern Illinois were the kings of the cover earlier this season, but haven’t covered in either of their last two times out.

Northern is favored in this one primarily because of their power running game and the match up against Central Michigan’s questionable defense. On the other side of the ball Norther Illinois has the 16th ranked defense in the country and Central Michigan’s offense is somewhat one dimensional as they are reliant on the passing game.

The trends are squarely in the Huskies favor as they are 7-2-1 against the spread in the last 10 meetings between these 2. The favorite is 5-2-1 against the spread in the last eight meetings and the home team is 5-0-1 against the spread in their last six meetings,

Finally, Central Michigan hasn’t covered in their last five trips to Northern Illinois and while I was originally leaning CMU I am going to do an about face and go with NIU.

Go here for the rest of Mitch’s week 12 part 2 college football picks abgainst the spread

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