For more on Georgia Tech's win over Duke, as well as other happenings in the ACC and college football in general, check out the "4th and Short" podcast, courtesy of Will Patton and Andrew Brown!
Note: My spread picks are denoted by which team the line is specified for, and straight-up picks are noted where different.
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (-9) @ Duke Blue Devils
Final Score: Georgia Tech 38, Duke 14
As was alluded to in the Over/Under accountability article, this was easy money. It's starting to look like Tech might be a lot better than a lot of folks thought a month ago.
Virginia Tech Hokies (win) @ East Carolina Pirates (+7)
Final Score: Virginia Tech 15, East Carolina 10
It's becoming increasingly apparent how straight up dysfunctional the Virginia Tech offense is. They're going to have a rough time reaching bowl eligibility if they can't be any better than they've been over the first quarter of their schedule. Might this be the year that Virginia breaks the streak?
Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks @ Wake Forest Demon Deacons (-3.5)
Final Score: ULM 21, Wake 19
Let's get one thing straight here: Wake is a very bad football team. This game wasn't even as close as it looks.
New Mexico Lobos @ Pittsburgh Panthers (-20.5)
Final Score: Pittsburgh 49, New Mexico 27
As I predicted, Pitt came back and struck down upon New Mexico with great vengeance. They'll be much better than their loss to Florida State made them look.
Boston College Eagles @ USC Trojans (-16)
Final Score: USC 35, Boston College 7
USC's football program is on a very fast downward spiral (by the way, if you're new to the program, this has been going on for a long time), but they definitely had the talent necessary to beat up Boston College with even the worst coaching.
Nevada Wolfpack @ (10) Florida State Seminoles (-31)
Final Score: Florida State 62, Nevada 7
Florida State was trailing 7-3 with 4 minutes until halftime, and then turned it on and won with 59 straight points to end the game. This just goes to show how good their offense can be when on their game for only part of the game and playing against a pretty bad defense. (In other words, we learned nothing and expected this.)
Maryland Terrapins (-8) @ Connecticut Huskies
Final Score: Maryland 32, UConn 21
You know, Maryland is going to be a decent team this year. They got shut out in the first quarter on the road and then came back to score 32 points and hold their opponent to 21. I'm not going to suggest that UConn is great competition (Towson sure didn't think so), but in any case the Terps look fairly functional on offense and should be in a good spot to play West Virginia next.
(21) Notre Dame Fighting Irish (-21.5) @ Purdue Boilermakers
Final Score: Notre Dame 31, Purdue 24
This game ended up being a lot closer than I thought it would be, but it ended up that way after Notre Dame trailed 17-10 entering the 4th Quarter. The Irish had 400 yards of offense, but considering that 82 of that came on one play means that they struggled to get much going otherwise. The Fighting Irish does not look as intimidating as it did last year.
Weekly Bonus Pick: (1) Alabama Crimson Tide (win) @ (6) Texas A&M Aggies (+7)
Final Score: Alabama 49, Texas A&M 42
You'd better believe I jumped out of my chair and screamed when A&M scored with 15 seconds to go. Not because I cared who wins (I honestly wish both teams would have lost), but because it meant I wasn't wrong about the Aggies covering the spread. I'll take the push on a 7-point line, though I have friends who played against a 7.5-point line, wherein I would have won.