Week six wasn't a good one for the morale of our selection committee. Kevin was the only picker who finished on the winning side. Andy, Dan and Ramzy nailed half of their picks, and everyone else pretty much had a disastrous week.
Riding on the wings of Joe Burrow and the LSU Tigers finally came back to bite us. All but one of our staff members had the Bayou Bengals topping the Gators by a field goal or more, but the Swamp proved to be too much for Burrow and Co. Florida handed LSU its first loss of the season by a score of 27-19.
Most felt that Ohio State would cover against Indiana, but a sluggish first half prevented that from happening. Florida State has looked absolutely awful this season, so it made sense that the bulk of the selections were in favor of the Canes -12.5. This was only further proof that betting on rivalry games can be a foolish endeavor. The Noles led for most of the game, but Miami used a fourth-quarter touchdown to take home a 28-27 victory.
- How it works: Every week we will include 10 of the country's top games with a mix of Big Ten and national matchups. Each participating staff member will submit their picks – against the spread – for the selected slate of games. The odds will certainly fluctuate a bit throughout each week, but we'll be using sportsbook.ag for all betting lines.
What's the forecast for week seven? There are a few big ones across the country, but three games stand out above the rest as there should be some pretty big playoff implications on the line.
| CHRIS | RAMZY | HOPE | HARRISH | JONES | WEBB | ELLIS | WERTHEIM | REGIMBAL | ANDERSON | VANCE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LAST WEEK: | 3-7 | 5-5 | 5-5 | 6-4 | 3-7 | 3-7 | 3-7 | 3-7 | 3-7 | 3-7 | 5-5 |
| OVERALL: | 30-30 | 25-35 | 32-28 | 27-33 | 28-32 | 31-29 | 38-22 | 31-29 | 25-35 | 29-31 | 31-29 |
| ACCURACY: | 50% | 42% | 53% | 45% | 47% | 52% | 63% | 52% | 42% | 48% | 52% |
| #3 Ohio State (-29.5) vs. Minnesota | MINN | OSU | OSU | OSU | OSU | MINN | OSU | MINN | OSU | OSU | MINN |
| #14 Florida (-7) @ Vanderbilt | VANDY | FLOR | FLOR | FLOR | VANDY | FLOR | FLOR | FLOR | FLOR | FLOR | FLOR |
| Iowa (-4.5) @ Indiana | IOWA | IOWA | IOWA | IOWA | IOWA | IOWA | IOWA | INDY | IOWA | IOWA | IOWA |
| #2 Georgia (-7) @ #13 LSU | UGA | LSU | LSU | LSU | LSU | UGA | UGA | UGA | UGA | LSU | UGA |
| #22 Texas A&M (-2.5) @ South Carolina | TAMU | SCAR | TAMU | TAMU | SCAR | TAMU | TAMU | TAMU | TAMU | TAMU | TAMU |
| #7 Washington (-3.5) @ #17 Oregon | OREG | OREG | OREG | OREG | WASH | WASH | WASH | WASH | OREG | OREG | WASH |
| #8 Penn State (-13.5) vs. Michigan State | PSU | MICHST | PSU | PSU | PSU | MICHST | PSU | PSU | PSU | PSU | PSU |
| #6 West Virginia (-6.5) @ Iowa State | WVU | WVU | WVU | WVU | WVU | WVU | WVU | WVU | WVU | WVU | WVU |
| #12 Michigan (-7.5) vs. #15 Wisconsin | WISC | WISC | WISC | WISC | WISC | WISC | WISC | WISC | WISC | MICH | MICH |
| Southern California (-7) vs. #19 Colorado | COLO | USC | COLO | USC | COLO | COLO | USC | COLO | COLO | COLO | COLO |
The next four games should actually present a challenge to Georgia as Kirby Smart takes his team to Baton Rouge and then squares off against Florida, Kentucky, and Auburn; all of whom are among the Top-25. This weekend against the Tigers, however, may prove to be the biggest test of the regular season.
We've seen Joe Burrow come through in the clutch in a big one against Auburn and then come back down to earth against Florida. The Tigers are going to need a strong performance this weekend at home. The Bulldogs head to death valley as seven-point favorites and the 11W staff is mostly leaning toward Georgia covering.
The Huskies will travel south to take on No. 17 Oregon at 3:30 p.m. ET. The Ducks couldn't get it done a few weeks ago when they took on a highly ranked Stanford team at Autzen. Both Washington and Oregon may still be in the playoff hunt, but the Huskies are clearly in a better spot with the lone defeat coming against Auburn. Washington is a 3.5-point road favorite.
Michigan opened the season with a seven-point loss to Notre Dame. Since that time, the road trip to Northwestern has been the only contest that was a bit of a challenge. This weekend the Wolverines are set to face one of their more formidable foes when the Badgers come to Ann Arbor. The home team is favored by over a touchdown here but we're almost unanimously on board with Bucky covering. It's a 7:30 p.m. kickoff and this one should be fun to watch.
Outside of the big three, Penn State hosting Michigan State could be an interesting matchup. If the Spartans play anything like they did last week against Northwestern then this one could get ugly in a hurry. Most like the Nittany Lions to cover the 13.5 points. The Gators are starting to look like a bit of a dangerous team in the SEC. The lone loss is to Kentucky and they're favored by a touchdown at Vandy this weekend.
Finally, Ohio State is a 29.5-point favorite at home against Minnesota. The Gophs have some major concerns along the offensive line and a walk-on true freshman under center. The Buckeyes should be able to cause some chaos in the backfield even without Nick Bosa and potentially Jonathon Cooper. The staff is fairly split on the cover for this one.
Who do you got this weekend? Do the Buckeyes cover the hefty spread against the Gophs? #GetRich