Battle for the Commonwealth; Football Picks

In a region where college football rarely matters, Saturday will play host to what could be one of the better rivalries in college sports in the northeast. The University of Massachusetts Minutemen will invade Boston College's Alumni Stadium for a showdown between the state's top college football powers. UMass is coming off a season in which they were runner-up to Appalachain State in the 1-AA championship game and are ranked No. 2 in the 1-AA polls while BC is ranked No. 12 in the nation by the Associated Press and has Heisman-hopeful quarterback Matt Ryan. It looks like a mismatch on paper but UMass -- with a great defense and a good quarterback of their own in Liam Coen -- could give the Eagles a battle. It's a shame that UMass and BC don't play on a yearly basis. In 2004 the Eagles earned a hard fought 29-7 win over UMass (which featured a nice tackle by Milton High School grad Isaac "Twoooo Sweeeet" Kaufman). I understand that BC doesn't have much to gain from playing a team from a lower division -- especially one as good as UMass -- but it would make for an interesting and intense showdown each fall. Anyways, here are the picks... NCAA West Virginia (-6.5) over SOUTH FLORIDA MIAMI (-24) over Duke FLORIDA (-18) over Auburn WISCONSIN (-7.5) over Michigan State Notre Dame (+24) over Purdue Last Week: 1-3-1 Season: 5-4-1 NFL MIAMI (-4) over Oakland Houston (-3) over ATLANTA CLEVELAND (+4) over Baltimore DETROIT (+3) over Chicago Green Bay (-1.5) over MINNESOTA BUFFALO (+3.5) over NY Jets Tampa Bay (+3) over CAROLINA Seattle (-2) over SAN FRANCISCO ARIZONA (+6) over Pittsburgh SAN DIEGO (-11.5) over Kansas City INDIANAPOLIS (-9.5) over Denver NY GIANTS (+3) over Philadelphia Patriots (-7) over CINCINNATI (LOCK OF THE WEEK) Last Week: 6-8-2 Season: 10-19-3 Lock of the Week: 1-2 (Big game for the Wildcats tonight, hosting Walpole with first place in the Bay State League Herget on the line. Biggest game for Milton since 2001 season. Let's kill them Rebels!)