Week 8 college picks

Well, last week stunk, as I only nailed half of the winners. I guess I thought I was picking NFL games last weekend. Ah well, lets see if we can't get back to the realm of the mildly competent this week.

USC (+42.5) at Washington State
Don't frantically refresh this page. That spread is real, swear to God. USC fans are probably getting the shakes right about now, as the last time they were favored by this much saw the shocking loss to Stanford. However, Wazzu is horribly bad. The Cougars have been outscored 223-33 in its four Pac-10 losses and with the Trojans already having lost a game, Wazzu won't get much sympathy at all here.
USC 62, Washington State 7

Stanford (-2.5) at UCLA
Stanford has flummoxed me all year, but it seems to enjoy staying within a game of .500. So at 4-3, I guess this week means a loss to the Bruins, who actually played pretty well at Oregon and are slowly but surely improving. We'll see if the Cardinal ruin me again, but I'm going with UCLA to win a tight one here.
UCLA 21, Stanford 17

California (-2.5) at Arizona
Just when I jump on the Arizona bandwagon and consider them a true force, they lose at Stanford. Pretty typical if you ask me. However, Cal isn't what I would call great either, despite an opening-game victory over Michigan State, and this is a type of game - on the road against a middle-of-the-road conference team - that they blow. And I think I will. I'm here for ya Zona.
Arizona 34, California 27

Oregon State (-16) at Washington
It must be depressing to be a sports fan in the state of Washington. Seriously, look at the landscape of that state right now. Your two college teams are arguably the two worst BCS-conference teams in the nation. The Seahawks have fallen off the face of the Earth. The Mariners had one of the worst records in baseball and the Sonics are now in Oklahoma and are called the Thunder, which is uber-lame. You see where I'm going here.
Oregon State 34, Washington 13

Missouri (+4) at Texas
This spread has plummeted quite a bit this week, as it opened at 6.5 after Texas' big win and Missouri's loss to Okie. State. People are big on the Tigers for good reason, as their offense is still potent and it will be hard for Texas to get as sky-high as it was against Oklahoma last week. This should be a classic and I'm picking the upset, as Texas' run at No. 1 will be short and sweet.
Missouri 35, Texas 31

Kansas (+19.5) at Oklahoma
For continuity's sake, we'll stay in the Big 12 for now. There are two schools of thought on this game. One is that Oklahoma, after losing a hard-fought game with its archrival and ceding control of No. 1, will come out flat and are prone to the upset. Two is that Oklahoma is going to be extremely agitated and pluck the Jayhawks feather by feather. Ok, that's a little graphic, but it's in cahoots with my thought process.
Oklahoma 38, Kansas 16

Vanderbilt (+14.5) at Georgia
Well, Vandy didn't exactly handle prosperity well, as it celebrated its historic win over Auburn by going in the tank against Mississippi State. Meanwhile, Georgia slogged through an uninspiring win over Tennessee, which is in league with UCLA and Michigan for worst highly-regarded BCS school. Anyway, Georgia wants to make a statement and I think it will.
Georgia 27, Vanderbilt 9

Mississippi (+12) at Alabama
Very interesting game. For as well as Bama has done in its big games, blowing out Clemson and Georgia, they tend to let everyone else hang around for longer than they should. Ole Miss is definitely capable of pulling a shocker, already winning at Florida and almost winning at Wake Forest. Expect Alabama to be pushed by the Rebels, but eventually prevail.
Alabama 24, Mississippi 20

Ohio State (-3.5) at Michigan State
Its a Big Ten powerhouse against a school looking for an elusive big-time mid-to-late season win. Ohio State's offensive struggles of late gives hope to the Spartans, as the Buckeyes are the worst passing team in the nation and can't seem to keep RB Beanie Wells in one piece. However, the Spartans are known for starting out hot and fading away in October. While MSU may not do that ultimately, I don't think they are balanced enough to score much against a very good Ohio State defense. It'll be a slobberknocker though.
Ohio State 17, Michigan State 12

Virginia Tech (+3) at Boston College
Kind of a strange spread if you ask me, as the Hokies have won five straight and the Eagles, while 4-1, aren't exactly a powerhouse this year. Virginia Tech wins ugly and struggles offensively, which might explain the lack of consumer confidence right now. However, I think that Tech has enough to continue its winning ways, especially since former BC QB Matt Ryan is in Atlanta.
Virginia Tech 16, Boston College 14

Overall record: 49-21. Against the spread: 33-36-1