Pac-12 Football Odds and Picks: The Gamble-Tron, Week 11

Terveisiä Helsingistä, jossa on kylmä. Joten, niin kylmä. Siinä kaikki.

In about the most apt metaphor we can think of, team Gamble-Tron suffered through yet another losing week, and was dispatched to the great white north of Helsinki, Finland as a result. While this is a beautiful city, it isn’t exactly the place to go in November if you’re looking to heat up. But seriously it’s really damn cold here.

We came close to a solid week last Saturday, but a couple things broke the other way and we were losers once again. One of those actually made us happy, though, as the Washington Huskies started out looking great against the Utah Utes, only to cough and wheeze their way down the stretch. For the second straight time, they had a double-digit lead, at home, as an underdog. For the second straight time, not only did they lose, they couldn’t even beat the spread!

Related PSA - Only favorites cover. Underdogs do not cover, they beat the spread. Moving on...

Why I love gambling: B-E-A-V-E-R-S BEAVERS!!! As we suspected, the wrong team was favored. And as we suspected, there were lots and lots of points. Double winner!

Why I hate gambling: Well for one thing, I didn’t know that Okie State’s best receiver was out. Regardless, things were looking good as the Cowboys stormed out to a 17-3 second quarter lead. That was good enough for them, I guess, as they let TCU go 95 yards to tie the game with under a minute to go in the half. Good job, good effort.

Last Week: 7-8

Season Total: 75-88-3

Reader Results:

• WSUCougars’01: 8-9
• DallasCoug: 6-1
• BothwaysUphill: 1-5
• CougAF: 4-1
• 89Coug in FL: 6-3
• .:R: 3-4
• BRCoug99: 6-4
• 425CougFan: 7-4
• stewak: 2-2
• bburn33: 6-4
• TheOriginalCougMan: 4-0

Washington Huskies at Oregon State Beavers (+10): Hoo boy, this might be OSU’s best chance to beat Washington in, well, let’s just say a while. In the last six matchups, Washington has won by 42, 24, 45, 24, 35 and 19. Yikes. We keep picking Washington to beat the odds, and they keep failing. That should tell you where we’re headed here.

The Pick: Washington

Stanford Cardinal at Colorado Buffaloes (+3): This game started as a PK!!! Seriously?! Colorado is horribad, and while Stanford isn’t anything special, they shouldn’t have a lot of trouble scoring.

The Pick: Stanford

USC Trojans at Arizona State Sun Devils (-2): Beat up Trojans with their dead man walking coach head to the desert, where a previous coach was left on the airport parking ramp when the team headed back to LA. EDIT: I’m a moron. Kiffin was pink-slipped back in LA. Meanwhile, the Devils are rested and ready after getting embarrassed at UCLA. Normally, I wouldn’t go within 50 miles of this game, but it’s a Pac-12’er so I gotta pick a side.

The Pick: Ess Cee

Washington State Cougars at California Golden Bears (+8): Cal will be starting either Devon Modster or a true freshman whose name I don’t know. If you think that will matter, you haven’t ever paid attention to a WSU game in Berkeley.

I know most of the analysis here is pithy nonsense, but let me try and provide a little. This game will come down to whether or not WSU allows Cal opportunities to take advantage of short fields, be it through special teams breakdowns or turnovers. Cal’s offense is so pitiful that even the Cougars defense - yes, this Cougar defense - should be able to hold the Bears down.

That means that the WSU offense needs to be careful with the ball against a stout, albeit diminished Cal defense. If the Cougs can get to 24 points, they should win. They’re certainly good enough to get to 24, but it sure would be a lot easier if WSU’s defense could generate a takeaway or two of its own to give the offense advantageous field position. That has happened precious few times this season. If the Cougs win the turnover battle, they win the game. But still, Cal.

The Pick: Fightin’ Weavers

Kansas State Wildcats at Texas Longhorns (-7.5): I don’t know man, but I can foresee the Wildcats taking Texas down to the wire, and possibly winning outright.

The Pick: Cats

Temple Owls at South Florida Bulls (+1): Sorry, but I just can not buy the idea of USF being good enough to beat Temple.

The Pick: Owls

Florida State Seminoles at Boston College Eagles (-2): FSU is terrible, they just got their coach fired, and now they’re headed into temps in the upper 30s to face BC in the Red Bandana Game. Good luck with that.

The Pick: BC

Clemson Tigers at North Carolina State Wolfpack (+32): Think Dabo wants to make a statement after the first College Football Playoff ranking came out?

The Pick: Tigers

EDIT II: Forgot to throw in a couple first half picks sure to go wrong:

UNC-Charlotte -7

Baylor -.5

Iowa +5

San Jose State +5.5

That’s it for now, folks. Prayers up!