Frontrunner Friday Football Picks

Alabama -10 over Auburn (3 units), 2:30 PM:  We're usually in the position of pulling for a team like Auburn here for BCS-busting purposes.

But as much fun as it always is to see the thing busted, one nice thing about believing in the inevitability of a BCS title contender like we believe in this Tide is that we can suppose we're getting a free point or two just from the busting potential.  This pick has an added bonus of featuring a road team in a rivalry game.  As society progresses, the big rivalry games become increasingly dependent on manufactured hate.  Recent results seem to bear out that it creates an advantage for the road teams to have this to feed on.

Pitt -1 over West Virginia (3 units), 7:00 PM:  Another rivalry road team here.  And another thing about this one relates to yesterday's Lions/Packers game.

In that game, Lions star WR Calvin Johnson played despite having injured his knee on Sunday against the Browns and having been expected to miss yesterday's game.  A right-handed quarterback with an injured left shoulder is one thing, but why rush a WR with a bad knee?  Why not just rest?  The Lions surely would have been better off if Johnson had yesterday, as he was thrown the ball twelve times, and caught only 2 passes for 10 yards.  Similarly, West Virginia would likely be much better off this week had they let star RB Noel Devine rest his injured ankle.  Instead, he played, averaged 3.5 yards a carry, and the Mountaineers still lost.

Pitt impressed us against Notre Dame in its last outing on both sides of the ball, and has had a seemingly very well-timed bye week since then to rest up.  Keep an eye on Pitt receiver Jonathan Baldwin, who looks like he'll be playing on Sundays soon enough.

That's all for today.  Enjoy the games, folks.  Back tomorrow for more college football, then on Sunday for the pros, per usual.

UPDATE: Both home teams cover, and the aforementioned Mr. Devine broke off an 85-yard touchdown to seal the win for Pitt.  What feats of handicapping wizardry to follow tomorrow!?  Stay tuned.