Miami Mitch's Week Two College Football Picks: Part Two

Some people must think I’m just dead money.

I have been invited into every football pool, college football pool, fantasy football league, MLM business (aka “Ponzi scheme”), and just about anything else known to man in just the past month. While I know my videos aren’t Hollywood (yes, I still love college football) and The New York Times isn’t knocking on my door, this stuff doesn’t leave me much time during the season for any of those things.

Sure I’ll make a trip or two to Vegas, and I’ve already tried calling in a favor on the Manny-Oscar fight on Dec. 6, but generally this stuff just takes up time and, to be 100 percent honest, I just really enjoy it.

I gave a look at five games yesterday, and let’s get back to it with 10 more today.

Oregon State +16 1/2 at Penn State (Saturday 9/6/08, 3:30 EST) 1 Unit

I had this whole shtick written up about how the Beavers were playing in Beaver Stadium and it was a road game but then I read Lisa Horne’s article and she beat me to the punch. She’s a great writer and we’ll let her have the bit to herself, but we won’t be so nice when we’re up picking against her, which is coming up.

I actually like Oregon State a little more than a unit’s worth, but I think the chances of them getting a decent call in Happy Valley are slim. Speaking of decent calls, the Beavers didn’t get a whiff of one last week.

For Joe Paterno’s crew, I still have questions about the quarterback play. While many have high expectations of the Nittany Lions I don’t see it.

Penn State is a solid 6-1 against the spread in its last seven non-conference games and 4-0 vs. the number against teams with a losing record; however, those out-of-conference games were against Temple twice, last year’s Notre Dame team, FIU, Buffalo, and Akron—in other words, not a good team in the bunch.

For Oregon State, the Beavers are 4-1 against the spread in their last five overall, 5-1 against the spread in their last six following an against-the-spread loss, and 4-1 vs. the number following a straight-up loss; that’s good enough for me.

Arizona State -14 vs. Stanford (Saturday 9/6/08, 10 EST) 2 Units

Congrats to Jim Harbaugh on his team’s win last week as a home underdog. I believe that Stanford did get plenty of favorable calls and a few non-calls to help it along, but a win is a win and a cover is a cover; we know Oregon State sure had its chances.

One thing we know for sure about Sun Devils head coach Dennis Erickson is that he doesn’t leave anything up to the officials and he’s not afraid to flex his team’s muscle, especially at home in a night game. Neither team on its own has much positive to speak of in the trend department, though the home team is 6-2 against the spread in the last eight.

ASU wasn’t too good until last year, and it was one of those two road covers. It wasn’t even close, winning by a 41-3 margin last year. I’m looking for a lot more of the same from Erickson’s bunch.

See the rest of Mitch's Free College Football Picks