So far I am making up for a poor weekend with a decent week this week. Here’s hoping is continues!

NCAA Football

UCLA Bruins (6-6) @ #9 Oregon Ducks (10-2)
Pick: Oregon -31 & taking the over (66.5)
Reason: A 31 point spread is a gigantic number, I know, but UCLA is probably the worst team to play in a conference championship game ever. They gave up nearly 31 points a game, combine that with the face that Oregon nearly 46 and it’s a recipe for successfully covering a 31 point spread and going over 66.5 combined points.

Season stats
ATS: 9-5-1
O/U: 4-4
Overall: 13-9-1

NCAA Basketball

#9 Florida Gators (5-1) @ #3 Syracuse Orange (7-0)
Pick: Syracuse -6 & taking the over (148.5)
Reason: I like the Orange to cover the spread by attacking a suspect Florida defense. The over (148.5) seems to be relatively easy to meet with Florida averaging 90.9 ppg and the Orange at 83.1 ppg.

Cincinnati Bearcats (4-2) @ Georgia Bulldogs (4-3)
Pick: Georgia +1.5
Reason: Cincinnati is pretty terrible. Combined with the fact that Georgia has 3 of their 4 total wins at home and that equals a Georgia win.

#19 Vanderbilt Commodores (5-2) @ #6 Louisville Cardinals (6-0)
Pick: Louisville -8
Reason: Louisville is off to a fantastic start (injuries be damned!) and is playing some ridiculous defense holding opponents to under 50 ppg on the season. The Cardinals are also 5-0 at home.

Season stats
ATS: 5-6
O/U: 3-1
Overall: 8-7

I occasionally make picks on Covers.com for free. They are a part of a contest they have for various sports with weekly and monthly winners (I believe). It’s fun for me and the reason for that is I am at least half good because I consistently finish at 50% or slightly higher.

With that said, here are all of my picks for today (and probably a well below 50% win-loss record since I so obviously jinxed it).

Some games will have a reason listed and other will not. The ones that do not are because it’s either A) an obvious pick or B) a boring explanation (i.e. “it just feels right”, or “I have a hunch”)

NCAA Football

Texas Tech @ #18 Baylor
Pick: Baylor -12 & taking the under (82)
Reason: I think Robert Griffin III and the Bears can easily cover the 12, they are clearly the better team. The o/u on the other hand is much more difficult. Both teams have put up tons of points during the season, but 82 just seems like such a huge number to me. If they go over than more power to them.

#17 Clemson @ #12 South Carolina
Pick: Clemson +3.5
Reason: Clemson had me fooled earlier this season into thinking they were a marginal great team and they are not, but neither is South Carolina who has been extremely inconsistent (at different times) on both sides of the ball. I’ll take the team that beat Auburn, Florida State, and Virginia Tech by a combined score of 106-57.

#22 Notre Dame @ #4 Stanford
Pick: taking the over (59.5)

Tulane @ Hawaii
Pick: taking the over (55)

Season stats
ATS: 8-4-1
O/U: 3-2
Overall: 11-6-1

NCAA Basketball

San Diego – Alcorn State @ New Orléans
Pick: San Diego -11.5

UMass – Charleston @ Battle 4 Atlantis at Nassau, Bahamas
Pick: UMass -4

Northern Iowa – Providence @ South Padre Island Invitational at South Padre Island, TX
Pick: Northern Iowa -4.5 & taking the under (126)

UNLV – North Carolina @ Las Vegas Invitational
Pick: UNC -7.5 & taking the over (158.5)
Reason: UNLV has the unofficial home court advantage, but let’s be real here, the Tar Heels are the most stacked team in the country. I think that 7.5 point spread is solely on the fact that the game is being played in Las Vegas alone. The spread and over/under will both be blown away, in my opinion.

Season stats
ATS: 2-2
O/U: 0-0
Overall: 2-2