I agree with your TU thoughts, but I haven't seen the line yet. No doubt that LA-Monroe will be sky high for a game on the national tube, and they return all 11 offensive starters!! (6 on D if you are wondering) True, they went 4-8 last season, but lost by only 2 at SEC's Kentucky and by only 5 at Troy. This team could actually win the Sun Belt this year. I'll wait for the line before I pick a side, but if TU is giving up very many points at all, I'm taking the home side.

I'll not comment extensively again on OU-Miami, as I wrote a novel about this game on a prior blog. In brief, I'll need to see if the new OU thrower can hit wide open receivers vs the mean green.

OSU-Georgia is an interesting game. The Cowboys will be able to score on anybody they play. The problem, as the picker noted, is that the opponent can also score at will. While the Georgia QB Stafford stunk it up last year, he was just a freshman. He'll have learned from those 8 starts (6-2 record), and he was the #2 ranked HS QB of his class. The Bulldogs have 7 returning offensive starters, and only 4 on defense. This has all the signs of a shootout. Plus, Georgia has a HUGE SEC battle at home the next week versus Spurrier's Gamecocks. I don't think the 'Dogs will overlook OSU since it is the season opener, but I think OSU's offense will keep this one close. I'll take the Cowboys and the points if the line is 8 or more.

Now Mr. P, I'll agree that the execution excuse is used too often, but you'd have to agree that teams of 18-21 yr olds don't always play their best game on a given Saturday. The best team doesn't always win, so a lack of execution could indeed be a reason for a loss. But again, it is used way too often. It would be refreshing to hear a coach actually say once in awhile that "they were the better team today".

As scared of Miami (and Jeremy did do a good job of breaking it down if others wish to find the other blog) as I was, the fact that they could have a backup QB starting and that their starting LB should be out is a huge turn. Miami is fast and will fly around on defense. Like I stated before, OU's young QB will have to make a few plays.

I honestly look at Tulsa and OSU in the same kind of light. With the new offense and stellar Qb play at Tulsa, they should put up quality numbers and scores...but how is their defense going to hold up? At this point, it is widely unknown, like OSU. Personally, I think too much is made of OSU and their defensive woes. They will be good on offense, but I don’t think that they are so good that they will be averaging 40+ a game. To that end, I am not willing to label their defense as a glaring weakness with the new coordinator coming in. They may not be leading the big 12, but it is far cry to call them weak just yet.

Although the OU offense rolled up some scores (many were redzone plays on Saturday) on the defense, remember picker that the defense has showed up and played very well in the other 2 scrimmages. The defensive line's increased disruption of an experienced and talented offensive line is encouraging to say the least. The more I have seen the D-line and LB's play, the more encouraged I become. I thought those would be OU's two biggest question marks going into the season (even over QB). Either Nichol or Bradford can make the throws that Thompson made, with enough talent left over to make a ton of the throws Thompson couldn't. Avoiding TO's like in the Texas game last year will be what guides this team to success or failure.

I'm not sold on OSU yet. It's just that the Georgia bandwagon is full for few reasons. If Reid isn't playing well, Gundy needs to get the hook on him early, as the second-team player is solid. This is a huge game, as it will tell Coach Emeritus Pickens if the Cowboys are contenders or pretenders with all his bread.

What's the big deal about Bradford being named starting quarterback? The other two were something like a combined 5 for 50 in the last scrimmage.

Why won't Wilson throw to a tight end

It's starting to seem like a phobia.

Overrated: West Virginia.

Underrated: Michigan.,p>

If I were going to be in Vegas and play real $$, I wouldn't touch any of the three games involving OU, OSU, or TU. I might consider a total, but I haven't seen those numbers and we aren't picking over/unders anyway.

I agree that OSU-GA is a tough game at GA laying 6-7. I can't see OSU winning in Athens, so that only gives me 6-7 points to work with. I may have to flip a coin on this one, but I'm leaning to the home team right now. OU laying 41 is incredible. There are so many bad things about playing games with huge lines (over say 30), that I won't bore you with mentioning all of them. It's another coin flip. With OU's recent inability to cover these early games, I'm leaning toward the points. I was hoping LA-Monroe would get more than 4-5. Here's a game, though, where the home team could win outright! The home field edge for Monroe is nil...until it's under the lights on national TV in the program's biggest game ever! In that case, the home edge is probably 3-5 points. So, Vegas thinks that the public will think that TU is 7-9 points better than Monroe. I'm not a big situational handicapper, but this game has the looks of just a scenario. Leaning toward the home side.

The chosen OU QB seems to be the most steady of the three in practice, but I sure hope Stoops and Co. give #2 plenty of live reps in the 3rd/4th qtrs in the opener (and in game 3 vs Utah St). I never get too caught up in the QB races. I'll wait and see how Bradford competes in front of 80,000 with the 'Canes defense snarling and drueling. Judgment can then be passed.

I tend toward underdogs for the simple fact that the betting public tends to fall in love with favorites. After all, the favorite is supposedly the better team. In other words, I think there's more line value in underdogs than in favorites on average.

My favorite thing to find is a decent dog (let's say by 3-10 points) that could actually win the game outright.

It's gambling though, and like the ponies anything can and will happen. This is why people shouldn't play the rent money. The should just play the "Beat the Picker" contest to feed their habit.

No charge for the plug. ;-)

You know what else might be a little overrated: home field advantage. Everybody gets a schedule to pick a champion. Concerning the point spread, anyway, it was around 50-50 last year, home and visitors.

I agree about home favs. They usually give up way too many points for reasons discussed earlier. I don't tend to like games with huge lines. There are way too many variables to consider. Will a coach call of the dogs in the 4th? Will the huge dog come in the back door on a meaningless late TD with the fav's 3rd string defense on the field? The only big lines I like are the fishy ones. I remember recently USC being favored at home over a really good team by 21 or so. It seemed like way too many points to give up...but I think USC covered the spread by 21!