Pac-10 picks

What is it about the Oregon Ducks? Over the past three years I’ve done these picks, the Ducks have accounted for, oh, I don’t know, 38.3 percent of my losses, though that’s just a guess.

It must be revenge for all the times in the office I made fun of the Oregon fans who would drive seven hours – one way – to Eugene for home games.

The Ducks did it again last week. Pick them to upset Boise State and they can’t even get a first down in the first half? And the loss cost me a perfect week. But, as you know, it cost others a heck of a lot more.

As always, the listed line is for your entertainment purposes only.

Stanford at Wake Forest (Wake by 2.5): Let’s see, the Cardinal won by 26 on the road. Wake Forest lost by three at home. Right, Stanford was in Pullman; Wake played Baylor. Now we understand the line. Still, Stanford 24-22.

Idaho at Washington (UW by 21): Was last week’s rout of LSU … pardon me … close loss to LSU a fluke? Or the harbinger of good things? This week, the latter. UW 31-14.

UCLA at Tennessee (UT by 8.5): This is a trap game – for the Bruins. Even though Tennessee plays at Florida next week, the guess here is the Vols need wins too badly to look past UCLA. Tennessee 24-17.

EWU at Cal (no line): Not a good year for the Eagles to be playing in Berkeley. This might be the best Bears team in decades. It’s at least the fastest. Cal 55-17.

Northern Arizona at Arizona (no line): In contrast, this isn’t a bad time to be playing the Wildcats. They’re a little banged up, their offense needs fine tuning and they have a big game at Iowa next week. UA 28-0.

Purdue at Oregon (UO by 11.5): Bounce-back game for the Ducks? Got to believe it. Oregon 31-17.

Oregon State at UNLV (OSU by 7): Seems like a small margin for a darn good Pac-10 team against a Mountain West school. But it is on the road – think you could write that about a SEC school? – so it’s understandable. OSU 24-14.

USC at Ohio State (USC by 7): USC has to lose one of these big games sometime, don’t they? Seems like as good a time as any. OSU 28-24.

Hawaii vs. Washington State in Seattle (Hawaii by 2): These teams played fairly even not too long ago. Now the Cougars are better, Hawaii has lost a lot and WSU really needs a win. WSU 27-17.

Last week: 8-1 overall, 5-2 vs. spread.