Weekend Football Forecast

Type/ Last Week/ Season
NCAA /0-0/ 2-1
NFL /1-0/ 1-0
Invest/ 0-0-1/ 0-0-1

INVEST

St. Louis 30 Arizona 27 (over 44 ½)*. I think I’d pick the Rams to win this one, but would rather go to the roulette wheel. Both teams have offensive minded coaches that love the passing game, and even if Kurt Warner doesn’t play well, he’ll help the Rams put points on the board. Then the Cardinals will turn to Josh McCown, who should play like he did in 2003 rather than last year when he didn’t have any competition pushing him. Arizona was a “sleeper” pick by some, but they had better get RB J.J. Arrington going or it will be another long season in the desert, and for my virtual football teams!

SATURDAY

3:30 ET ABC Regional Michigan St. 24 (+7) Notre Dame 27. HC Charlie Weis has the Irish winning as often as the Patriots. Now the investors will be jumping on the Irish bandwagon, which is why I’m picking the Spartans to cover.

7:45 ET ESPN HD Boston College 16 (+1) Florida State 10. The Seminoles outwilled the Hurricanes 2 weeks ago 10-7 in a very sloppy game, even for an opener. The offensive problems for Florida State look pretty basic; poor blocking at the point of attack. Miami has great defensive players, but even great defensive players are sometimes blocked. I didn’t see much blocking occurring in Tallahassee on Labor Day. Florida State couldn’t establish a running rhythm or give its quarterback time to throw. The only consistent positive plays on the offensive side of the ball were screen passes… plays where the linemen are supposed to let the defenders through. That won’t be successful for long in the ACC.

8:00 ET CBS HD Tennessee 20 (+6) Florida 23. The Gators get a real test after two warm up games against some directional schools. Tennessee has won its last 2 trips to Gainesville. This one should be fun to watch, Tennessee’s power running offense against the offense many I-A teams are switching to, the spread.

SUNDAY
Note that there is only 1 NFC game on this slate. That isn’t an accident. I wonder if FOX took the NFC’s poor quality into account when they bid for the NFC portion of the NFL regular season last winter.

1:00 ET CBS Jacksonville 20 (+9) Indianapolis 27. It took the Colts a half to break through the Ravens’ defense last week, but QB Peyton Manning found the end zone twice in the 3rd quarter to pace the Colts to a 24-7 victory. The Jaguars beat the Seachickens, who wisely decided to abandon the Blue Man Group look in the humidity last weekend. Indy's defense hasn't proved it's tough; until that happens I can't give more than 7 points to a quality opponent.

4:15 ET CBS HD San Diego 24 (+2 ½) Denver 21. Both of these favorites lost outright last weekend, and neither one can afford to fall 2 games behind the Chiefs this quickly. The Chargers get All-Pro TE Antonio Gates back from a holdout related suspension. No doubt he or RB Ladamian Tomlinson would have been good options inside the Cowboys’ 10 last week on the final drive. Broncos RB Mike Anderson is supposed to be available, but who will see the bulk of the carries, Anderson or 2nd-year RB Tatum Bell?

ESPN 7:30 ET HD NFL PrimeTime… Bring back the old music. 8:30 ET Kansas City 34 (-1) Oakland 27. RBs Priest Holmes and Larry Johnson combined for 195 yards and 3 TDs in the Chiefs’ impressive 27-7 victory against the Jets. The Chiefs’ defense will get a tougher test from the Raiders’ offense than they did from the Jets. ABC’s John Madden questioned why any team would trade Randy Moss (or any other player with similar talent). The answer was shown during the failed 2-pointer against the Patriots. Moss ran towards the DB, then grabbed him and threw him down when QB Kerry Collins’ pass was closer to the DB than to Moss. Announcers Al Michaels and Madden thought the obvious call was defensive pass interference, but they must have been munching on a turkey leg during the play. It was very clear that Moss initiated the contact. Additionally, there were numerous plays where Moss jogged his route… just track the replays where Moss isn’t the receiver… chances are he’s just out for a jog through the park… and watch how that affects how long Raider QB Kerry Collins has to hold the football while Moss Terry Glenn’s it.

MONDAY

ABC 9:00 ET Washington 16 (+6) Dallas 20. They could have shown Despearate Housewives as a lead-in to this one in recent years. But Dallas posted an impressive victory at San Diego last week. (I’m curious what Vegas would set the over-under on NFC road wins vs. AFC teams at this season) The Cowboys could challenge the Eagles in the NFC East if QB Drew Bledsoe doesn’t revert to his old habits. Bledsoe’s 134.4 QB rating was the best in the league in week 1. The Redskins defeated the Bears 9-7 and have reinstated QB Mark Brunell as the starter. Brunell didn’t have much arm strength last season, and RB Clinton Portis hasn’t found holes like he did in Denver.