College Football Picks Week 10: Hurricane Season

Are you for real?

Every college football team in the country is about to stare that short quip in the face. If they have even the slightest bit of expectations, it’s time to put up or shut up.

The first college football playoff football rankings are out. In case you missed it, Florida State has a top-10 victory!

Yeah, LSU is No. 10 and I, quite frankly, don’t have a real disagreement with it because I don’t know if any of the other teams in that range have a better resume. Plus, they’ve got a shot to prove that a worthy ranking — and possibly claim the SEC West — this weekend as they host No. 6 Alabama. Is LSU for real?

That game should be an epic top-10 matchup, but it’s not even the biggest game in the SEC this weekend.

The aforementioned top team in the land is heading to Athens for a matchup between the hedges with the reigning national champion No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs for the SEC East title. The Vols get a clear path to the SEC title game and the playoff with a win. But the question remains, is this Tennessee team for real?

And finally, hurricane season remains open — in the Atlantic basin with a whole lot of activity for November. But it certainly feels closed in Coral Gables because Mario Cristobal’s Hurricanes are showing no activity. They’ve been scuffling all season and now look somehow even further from competent than they did under the last coach.

So my question for them is Miami are you for real with calling this a football team?

I am back to simply treading water with my picks after another 5-5 that included 3 losses by a combined 2.5 points. I’m now 53-48 on the season. Above the fold is all I can hope for as we enter the final weeks of the year.

The comment section got smoked this week again as almost everybody got caught on the -State blowout win. I think only one person chose the Wildcats in that one. The rough week gave us our worst record winners of the season with 3 folks finishing at 6-4 and all three are previous winners. RWHUGHESJR (back-to-back), NoleGrad07 and Noleyman each won for the second time evening them up with mr_britt and medav for most wins this season. Congratulations and welcome back to the Comment Section Championship Hall of Fame.

Comment Section Champions:

• Week 0 — NoleOhana (8-3) yeah, we did 11 games that week
• Week 1 — OhNoleHeDidnt (7-3)
• Week 2 — Jason Kuruvilla, DenverNoleFan & mr_britt (8-2)
• Week 3 — mr_britt & trojan24man (9-1)
• Week 4 — medav (7-3)
• Week 5 — medav (7-3)
• Week 6 — NoleGrad07 (7-3)
• Week 7 — Noleyman & Noles95’ (8-2)
• Week 8 — RWHUGHESJR (8-2)
• Week 9 — NoleGrad07, RWHUGHESJR & Noleyman (6-4)

Could you be the next Comment Section Champion? Leave your picks below.

If you’re new to the proceedings (which many of you probably are because I’ve only done this for one season), drop your picks in the comments with the spread provided. The following week, I’ll tally up the wins and losses, give a salute to whoever dominates the weekend and add you to our BRAND NEW BULLET LIST OF CHAMPIONS above. Remember, that I’m just a guy with a keyboard, not a gambling pro, so this isn’t advice. Just giving all of us a viewing guide and rooting interest as we watch the football season.

Reminder that I pull all the lines from Tallysight.com because they make it easier for me to track my picks, if I do it correctly.

• No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes (-38.5) at Northwestern Wildcats (Noon ET, ABC)

It’s a slate filled with a lot of slim home underdogs, but this is not that. On an incredibly top heavy slate, somebody had to fill an empty slot in our pick em and this gets to be that game. Ohio State continues to look not as good as they could be, but they continue to win. Last week, it was on the shoulders of the defense (yes, even in a shootout) that sealed the victory. In this one, they should roll even over this extremely large number against a team trying to shorten the game.

Brian’s Pick: Ohio State -38.5

• Texas Tech Red Raiders (+9.5) at No. 7 TCU Horned Frogs (Noon ET, FOX)

I swear I get no respect, says TCU once again after the College Football Playoff Committee seemingly under ranks them once again. One of the nation’s lone unbeatens from a power five conference sitting well outside (relatively) the playoff picture, the Horned Frogs will almost certainly feel snubbed and play with a little chip on their shoulder this weekend. They handle their business, they’ll be in the playoff. But I think this one is closer than the experts as TCU is due for a letdown and Texas Tech is coming in at a good time to make that happen.

Brian’s Pick: Texas Tech +9.5

• No. 17 North Carolina Tar Heels (-7.5) at Virginia Cavaliers (Noon ET, ACCN)

Back to our home underdogs and this one hurts one. One of my preseason darlings, Virginia, is simply not that team they were a year ago. Apparently hiring one of Dabo’s coordinators in the last coaching carousel was the kiss of death. The Cavs just haven’t looked good all season. They were on the losing end of last week’s 14-12 4OT(!!!) disaster with Miami. North Carolina and Drake Maye are going to coast into the ACC title game in Charlotte and I expect Virginia to be smooth sailing.

Brian’s Pick: North Carolina -7.5

• No. 1 Tennessee Volunteers (+8.5) at No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs (3:30pm ET, CBS)

How often is the No. 1 team in the country a more than a touchdown underdog this late in the year? But here we are. And actually, this is a battle of two No. 1’s depending on what ranking system you prefer — I’m using the CFP because that’s the only one that matters in the current structure. ANYWELL, the Vols are drawing comparisons to 2019 LSU for how prolific their offense has been, but I think this Tennessee team isn’t ready for that bright light yet. I akin this roster more to the first ever college football playoff ranking that saw Dak Prescott’s Mississippi State Bulldogs sit at No. 1 in the land. As you remember, they didn’t exactly polish off a perfect season. The Dawgs are down a star pass rusher, but the national champs are at home. Good luck with that.

Brian’s Pick: Georgia -8.5

• No. 20 Syracuse Orange (+4.5) at Pittsburgh Panthers (3:30pm ET, ACCN)

This one is going to hinge on the availability of quarterback Garrett Shrader. Dino Babers is keeping that information close to the vest this week as his team heads to Pitt. The Orange are riding a two-game losing streak and are facing a potential three-game skid before Florida State travels to New York. I’ll take a guess that Shrader plays and plays well enough for them to win this game, though Pitt did give Tennessee its best game so far.

Brian’s Pick: Syracuse +4.5

• No. 6 Alabama Crimson Tide (-13.5) at No. 10 LSU Tigers (7:00pm ET, ESPN)

Ahhh.... the most important game on the schedule. Again, if you’re new to the proceedings, I’m an LSU grad. The question I posed at the beginning of this article is very much in my head here. Is LSU for real? They certainly could be a 1-loss team if they could block on their field goal/extra point units. But they could also but a 3-loss or 4-loss team if Auburn or Mississippi State doesn’t fumble away a huge early lead. What LSU has done is found its passing attack. Jayden Daniels and the receivers are clicking and that could be a huge problem for this Alabama secondary that his been rough on the road this season. It’ll likely be a wet field in Baton Rouge after storms push through that morning. Will that help or hurt either team? Guess we’ll find out... on Saturday night in Death Valley.

Brian’s Pick: LSU +13.5

• No. 24 Texas Longhorns (-2.5) at No. 13 Kansas State Wildcats (7:00pm ET, FS1)

I mentioned it above, but K-State was the surprise team of this pick em last week. I along with 99% of you took Oklahoma State on the road to topple KSU, but the Wildcats not only won but covered handily. They absolutely throttled the Cowboys with a backup QB in a huge blowout win. Now they get Texas who has been incredibly confusing this season. Some weeks they look unstoppable. Others, they’ve looked incredibly stoppable. So which version of Texas do we get? I’m not sure, but I doubt K-State can gives us a repeat dominant effort.

Brian’s Pick: Texas -2.5

• Florida State Seminoles (-7.5) at Miami Hurricanes (7:30pm ET, ABC)

For my pick and the rest of our staff predictions, click here.

Brian’s Pick: Florida State -7.5

• No. 4 Clemson Tigers (-3.5) at Notre Dame Fighting Irish (7:30pm ET, NBC)

Don’t look now but Notre Dame might be figuring it out a little. And when I say a little, I really mean a little. They’ve had a lot of success in recent weeks with their run game, but the problem is that’s all they have. Its passing attack isn’t quite doing it for them this year. So can they find enough of a rushing attack to beat Clemson? I think so. Florida State had Clemson where they wanted them outside of a few critical errors. If Notre Dame can avoid those, they certainly can be the team that topples an overperforming Clemson team. This offense has struggled at times which may be enough to give Notre Dame the chance to make them pay.

Brian’s Pick: Notre Dame +3.5

• No. 21 Wake Forest Demon Deacons (-4.5) at No. 22 NC State Wolfpack (8:00pm ET, ACCN)

What the hell happened to Wake Forest a week ago? Since the return of Sam Hartman, Wake Forest looked a lot like we expected Wake Forest to look — a consistent, solid football team. Last week, they were a disaster. Eight... 8... eight... turnovers! Woof! Now, they head to Raleigh for a date with a really good NC State defense. Problem is that the NC State offense has been really not good without Devon Leary. I’d expect Wake to bounce back even on the road against a tough team.

Brian’s Pick: Wake Forest -4.5