FTRS Picks, Week 6: It’s starting to get spoooooky

Gotta say, having never been to Philadelphia before last weekend, I wasn’t totally sure what to expect. To my delight, we were treated to a heaping helping of great food, gorgeous buildings, and lots of American history. But I can’t in good conscience recommend watching a sporting event there. Go Birds, though. Go Birds.

Bit of a rough week last week as only about a quarter of y’all scored higher than 50%. Statistically that should be, you know, closer to 50% of y’all. Congrats to Bone-In Ribeye and monorail_yellowjacket for leading the pack, though. I’ll leave it up to y’all to determine how to split custody of the imaginary FTRS picks player of the week medal. Temporary congrats to new current leader RamblinRocketman. Enjoy it while it lasts, for victories like these tend to be fleeting. Now on to the picks, which.... gonna be honest with y’all, figuring out that fifth game was tough. I’ve also decided to stop including the current week’s Georgia Tech game, or at least by default; if this displeases you, be sure to voice that displeasure in the comments, via email, or on Twitter @murphey_stephen.

#18 Central Florida Knights (-4) @ Cincinnati Bearcats

The latest victims of the Pitt Superweapon were knocked down, but aren’t out. They bounced back nicely against UConn, but then again, that is UConn. A Friday night date in the City of Bad Chili will tell us if they’re truly over it or if they’re out of the running for their third straight New Years Six bowl. And Cincy shouldn’t be some pushover; sure, they got blanked 42-0 at Ohio State, but, you know, it’s Ohio State. That’ll happen. Following that up by stomping Miami (Ohio) and Marshall is a good sign. And look, it might be Friday night, but it doesn’t start getting cool until Saturday, so stay inside and watch this one, yeah?

Pick: UCF

Tulane Green Wave (-3) @ Army Black Knights

We haven’t heard much from Tulane since their dramatic win over Houston two weeks ago.... probably because they actually haven’t played a game since then. That means they’ll have had a whole sixteen days off between then and playing Army, but that’s probably good for them, since all that extra time off practically guarantees a win against the triple option. Or does it? The Black Knights are a couple bad breaks against Michigan from being undefeated, but outside of that.... they really ain’t played nobody. Wins over Rice, UTSA, and Morgan State don’t say a lot. But take down Tulane, and who’s really standing in their way the rest of the season. Do it for America. Do it for the option.

Pick: Army

#14 Iowa Hawkeyes @ #19 Michigan Wolverines (-3.5)

Well, well, it appears to be.... [checks notes] an arbitrary year, so that means Iowa’s good again. There’s not a whole lot on the Hawkeye’s resume, so let’s look at opponents in common with Michigan, which are Rutgers and [checks notes again] Middle Tennessee? What are the odds? Both blanked Rutgers, but Iowa only did it by 30 compared to Michigan’s 52, so point to Michigan there. The Wolverines defeated MTSU 40-21 to open the season, a tight contest compared to the Hawkeyes’ 48-3 romp last week, so point to Iowa. And sure, some of that difference could be attributed to early season rust on the Wolverines’ part, you just gotta look at the numbers here. And those numbers lead me to pick....

Pick: Iowa

#7 Auburn Tigers (-3) @ #10 Florida Gators

Oh yeah, College GameDay is coming to see the Second Doctor Bo. Ever since regenerating, Doctor Bo has been taking it easy, as his 980 passing yards on the season so far puts him barely in the top half. The Tigers aren’t getting turnovers and are only 36th in yards per game, even after racking up 578 yards against Mississippi State last weekend, so I’m not really sure how they’re doing this, either. It’s like the Tardis of college football offenses. Now that I’ve strained that reference enough, let’s talk about Florida! Lost their quarterback, still undefeated, buuuuut two of those are over FCS teams, and a 34-3 win over Tennessee probably shouldn’t count toward bowl eligibility either. Okay, I’m no longer interested in talking about Florida.

Pick: Auburn

#25 Michigan State Spartans @ #4 Ohio State Buckeyes (-20)

So hold up, beating Indiana puts you in the top 25 now? That’s some straight bull, man. I bet the pollsters did it just so we could talk about THE BUCKEYEZ playing in another ranked matchup. Hold on, I’m receiving a note here.... “Ohio State has not played a ranked matchup yet this season.” So they’re ranked because they also beat Indiana? How did the Hoosiers become so important in college football?

Pick: Michigan State

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