Short Takes and Week 5 Picks

• Oklahoma State receiver Justin Blackmon, that's my new favorite player.  To find out why, click here.
• My one word review of the Potawatomi Casino in Milwaukee : "dank".                            
• Q. What's across the street from Marquette University?
• A. The dank.
• I'm getting over Ozzie Guillen pretty fast.  My rate of recovery is directly related to his revelation that it's all about the money.
• If you have any pangs of conscience about our wagering hobby, reference Ozzie Guillen.
• The second episode of Two and a Half Men in its new incarnation was about half as good as the first.
• The first episode of Two and a Half Men in its new incarnation wasn't that good.
• Let us play.  Two strong match ups and two battles of the inept.  The pageantry of autumn!

****  New Mexico State  -1 1/2 @ New Mexico 
Saturday 7:00 p.m.  MTN Network

This is Sweet Sue, pictured here in honor
of the Northwestern vs Illinois game, the
winner of which was formerly awarded
custody of the Sweet Sioux trophy.  The
Sweet Sioux was a tomahawk on a plaque,
an exquisite old relic that was among the
finest of all the rivalry game prizes It was
replaced by the Land of Lincoln trophy,
a rather uninspired bit of hardware that
features a stovepipe hat on a wooden base.
There is really no reason for presenting
this photo here other than that I really
liked it when I stumbled across it. The
play on words that I used as justification
for posting the photo is a transparent
ploy to legitimize my choice. Ha!

This is 1-3 vs. 0-4, hardly the stuff of legendary showdowns.  New Mexico State--the Aggies-- beat Minnesota in Week 2 for its lone win.  New Mexico went to OT last weekend before submitting to mighty Sam Houston State.  The Lobos will go down again this weekend.

***  #16  USF -2 1/2 @ Pitt
Thursday 7:00 p.m. ESPN
The high flying Bulls of the University of South Florida share the spotlight on Thursday evening with the Pitt Panthers.  USF is 4-0, its most notorious victory of the season coming on opening weekend @ USB (then Ball State,Florida A&M and UTEP).  Pitt is 2-2 with wins over the Buffalo Bulls (ack, foreshadowing?) and the Maine Bears in the first two weeks of the season followed by losses to Iowa and USB. Pitt's been looking much better, and the Panthers have a schizzy history for us.  USF is ripe for a letdown.  All that considered, I'm still picking the Bulls.

**  Akron @ Eastern Michigan -9 
Saturday Noon TV TBA
The Zips are hapless.  They're 1-3, getting pasted by their first three opponents before beating up VMI last week.  Eastern Michigan is also not so good.  They beat a couple insubstantial opponents to open the season, then got slapped around pretty well when they met Michigan and Penn State.  The play here is that "not so good" trumps "hapless". 



*  #14 Texas A&M -3  @ #18 Arkansas
Saturday 11:00 a.m. ESPN
Such a tough one to pick.  A&M is 2-1, Arkansas is 3-1.  Arkansas just got beat by Alabama while A&M is coming off a one point loss to Oklahoma State.  This should be a great game.

Lots of fun match ups to see this weekend:  Northwestern @ Illinois (11:00 a.m. ESPN2), Alabama @ Florida (7:00 p.m. CBS), Nebraska @ Wisconsin (7:00 p.m. ABC).