It’s been a tough season already with my beloved Vols getting their eyes drilled shut by UGA last weekend, and my young Titans getting handled pretty much week-in and week-out by superior NFL competition, but we soldier on.

Why do we soldier on? For the glory of the gridiron, the broken bones, the torn ligaments, the triumphant touchdowns, the off-the-field criminal activity, the drama of steroid-enhanced competition – no, wait, that’s baseball.

A quick look at last week’s results – I went 4/5 in semi-pro and 3/5 in the pros. If I hadn’t gone with my heart instead of my head in the UT game, I would have been 5/5 in semi-pro ball. Ron Mexico didn’t get the job done for me against the Pats last week, which is more evidence that the Falcons won’t be in the Superbowl this year either.

Anyway, on to this week’s prognostications, and thank God it’s a bye week for the hapless Vols.

• USC 30 Notre Dame 21 – I’d like to see the Irish pull this one out, but I’m just not sure they’re there yet. Should be a good game though.
• Bama 33 Ole Miss 17 – Alabama’s on a roll. Which is bad news for Tennessee next week.
• Penn St. 19 Michigan 17 – This probably isn’t a great call, even though the resurgent Nittany Lions have a good shot. If they do win, expect a sideline heart-attack from JoePa.
• Florida St. 29 Virginia 12 – Virginia sucks this year. FSU isn’t much better, but they should pound the Cavs pretty good.
• LSU 27 Florida 19 – LSU may be starting to live up to their preseason billing, which means more trouble for Urban Meyer.

On to the pros… The Titans looked good last week, but things may get nasty with the Bengals coming to town. Cincy’s offense is the real deal and the Titans defense is not yet up to the task. Plus, Ms. Pacman Jones may be in the Davidson County Jail and unavailable to play, leaving the secondary wide open. I see a Bengals win, 29 – 14.

Elsewhere…

• Minnesota 22 Chicago 14 – The Vikings take a break from sex, drugs and prostitutes long enough to play a football game. Lucky for them, they’re playing da Bears.
• Atlanta 38 New Orleans 12 – Look out, San Antonio, Ron Mexico is coming to town and he’s bringing both of his scoring machines.
• NY Giants 26 Dallas 20 – I don’t know where last week’s Cowboys came from, but I’m not buying it. One bonus with this game – you may get to see Keshawn and Drew Bledsoe mix it up again on the sidelines. Nothing says team unity like a good fistfight.
• San Diego 31 Oakland 20 – Short week for the Chargers, but they won’t need much gas in the tank to spank the evil Raiders.

Remember, gambling is illegal in Tennessee. (But don’t tell the guy who runs the betting pool I’m in, I’m still convinced I’m going to win this week…)

Share This entry was posted on Friday, October 14th, 2005 at 11:16 am and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.