$121,311,945 Playing Golf

The Red Sox reign ended last night, before 2004 hero SP Curt Schilling took the mound. Ex-Yankee SP Orlando Hernandez escaped a bases-loaded no-out jam out of the White Sox bullpen to close the door on the Red Sox this season.

The Yankees rallied in the rain from a 5-0 deficit to take a 6-5 lead against the Angels, but the Angels posted 3 straight 2-run innings to win 11-7 and take a 2-1 lead. New York’s Game 4 starter isn’t named Brown, Wright, or Pavano; it’s former Colorado pitcher Shawn Chacon (7-3 w/ NY). Both teams are using small ball to manufacture runs, but the Angels are hitting more homers (though C Bengie Molina likely won’t play after being hit on the elbow last night – he has 3 of the 5 Angel homeruns).

Type/Last Week/Season
NCAA/1-2/3-3
NFL/2-3/7-6
Invest/+1*/-2.3*

INVEST
**USC 52 (-38) Arizona 7. The Trojans didn’t cover the number on the road last week, and worrisome from a championship perspective, allowed the Sun Devils to retake the lead after rallying from a 21-3 halftime deficit. The Trojans need to be motivated to play from the opening kickoff this week; otherwise I’d expect them to lose at Notre Dame next week.

SATURDAY (All Times ET)
1:00 ABC Texas 38 (-14) Oklahoma 14. This Sooner team has played like ’95 HC Howard Schnellenberger’s edition rather than one during current HC Bob Stoopes tenure. Texas HC Mack Brown finally gets the elusive win over Texas’ biggest rival. ABC’s Keith Jackson makes a (now) rare trip across 2 time zones to broadcast this one.

3:30 CBS HD Georgia 26 (+3) Tennessee 24. Tennessee has another new QB a week after picking a starter.

7:30 TBS UCLA 27 (-1) California 21. Two unbeaten teams meet, UCLA has played the tougher schedule to date, and the Bears have suffered some significant injuries on offense during the warm-up phase of their schedule.

7:45 ESPN HD Ohio St. 27 (-3) Penn St 20. ESPN’s College GameDay is at State College for this one. Both are undefeated thus far, Penn St. HC Joe Paterno is off to his best start since 1999.

SUNDAY
1:00 CBS HD New England 23 (+3) Atlanta 16. The Patriots played poorly last week against the Chargers in all phases of the game. DL Richard Seymour joins SS Rodney Harrison on the sidelines this week. New England is in the midst of a brutal schedule run, and while they won’t make it to the postseason with 1 or 2 losses, they still look like the best team in the AFC East. Look at the other starting QB’s in the division: Vinny Testaverde for the Jets, Kelly Holcolmb for the Bills, and Gus Frerrotte for the Dolphins. The Patriots have typically contained running QB’s well; they face the ultimate test this week against the Falcons’ Michael Vick.

1:00 FOX HD. Seattle 34 (+3) St. Louis 27. This doesn’t feature two great teams, but one of these figures to qualify for the playoffs by winning the NFC West. St. Louis had 5 turnovers last week in its loss to the Giants and even the Seachickens defense will capitalize on the Rams carelessness with the football.

4:15 FOX HD Denver 27 (-6.5) Washington 16. The Broncos are successfully pounding teams with multiple running backs. Mike Anderson does the heavy work inside, Tatum Bell gives Anderson a break and adds speed. Ron Dayne is the 3rd man in the equation, and is gaining yards for the first time since he left Wisconsin. The Redskins are a surprising 3-0 after trying to give a game away last week to the Seahawks. QB Mark Brunell is playing like it is 2002 again.

4:15 FOX HD Philadelphia 27 (-3) Dallas 20. The Eagles rallied from a 24-6 deficit to the Chiefs last week to win impressively at Arrowhead. But QB Donovan McNabb took a pounding and figures to endure a difficult game against a physical Cowboys defense. Dallas has played 4 close games to open the season, but they haven’t been consistent on offense or defense. Their scoring drives feature long passes to Terry Glenn, but they only hit one or two of those a game. RB Julius Jones hasn’t run as well as he did last year. The defense is on its way to setting records for most 40+ yard pass plays allowed. It took 2 plays last week for Oakland WR Randy Moss to get behind all 11 defenders for a 73-yard gain. I am dumbfounded that a Bill Parcells coached team doesn’t practice the concept of having a defender behind the deepest receiver… especially in the 3rd season of his tenure.

7:30 ESPN HD NFL PrimeTime 8:30 Jacksonville 19 (-3) Cincinnati 16. The Bengals are 4-0 for the first time since Ronald Reagan was president (1988)! Jacksonville really needs this win after losing at home to Denver last week.

9:00 ET ABC HD San Diego 24 (-3) Pittsburgh 20. The Chargers looked Super in defeating the Patriots last week in Foxboro. They have rebounded from an 0-2 start with 2 straight impressive wins, scoring over 30 points in each victory. They probably won’t reach that level against the Steelers, but should be able to outscore the Steelers. Jerome Bettis and Duce Staley are ready to return at RB for the Steelers, but Fast Willie Parker is off to a great start and may not relinquish many carries since he has an attribute the other two don’t have: speed.