Best five games of Week 5

When I heard Dana Holgorsen makes $2.3 million a year at West Virginia with a buyout of only $2 million, I immediately took this as bad news for Razorback football. Considering that the University of Arkansas is ready to pay $4 million a year on the next coach if necessary and saved $18 million by firing Petrino (sorry, Robert Shields), Holgorsen jumps out as a flashy and affordable hire who would appease fans with his reputation for putting points on the board. The problem is that he also strikes me as the kind of coach who would run his motorcycle off the road three years later. While Arkansas again didn't warrant making the pool this week, there are four coaches involved in games who are on the potential hire list for the Hogs. I wouldn't really want the guy from Baylor either, but I'll be saying "Hey sic 'em, Bears" on Saturday if it helps prevent Holgorsen from ending up in Fayetteville.


Baylor - West Virginia
11 a.m., Saturday, FX
Line: West Virginia by 12
* Underdog worth four points

Ohio State - Michigan State
2:30 p.m., Saturday, ABC
Lie: Michigan State by 3

Tennessee - Georgia
2:30 p.m., Saturday, CBS
Line: Georgia by 13
* Underdog worth five points

Texas Tech - Iowa State
6 p.m., Saturday, Fox College Sports Central
Line: Texas Tech by 2

Texas - Oklahoma State
6:50 p.m., Saturday, Fox
Line: Texas by 2


Smile!
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Best five games of Week 4

Clemson. More than any other team in 10 years of Poolsville, Clemson has confounded participants with the most unpredictable games year after year. It even inspired one pool participant after yet another loss to send me a T-shirt in the mail with the initials DYC and a tiger paw covered with the no symbol. This week, Clemson appears as one of two extremely rare five-point underdogs. For Clemson to pull an upset this time on national-championship contender Florida State would be like a "Kill Bill" coup de grace on everyone who picks against them. Will Clemson and the ACC do it to us again?

Note the Thursday night game this week. For $800 and the Ramon Escobar Trophy, the embodiment of the values of the AAU (no, the Against Aubrey Union), select your winners and email them back to me by 5 p.m. Thursday.


BYU - Boise State
8 p.m., Thursday, ESPN
Line: Boise State by 7
* Underdog worth three points

Battle of the Columbias
Missouri - South Carolina
2:30 p.m., Saturday, CBS
Line: South Carolina by 10
* Underdog worth four points

Michigan - Notre Dame
6:30 p.m., Saturday, NBC
Line: Notre Dame by 6
* Underdog worth three points

Kansas State - Oklahoma
6:30 p.m., Saturday, Fox
Line: Oklahoma by 14
* Underdog worth five points

Clemson - Florida State
7 p.m., Saturday, ABC
Line: Florida State by 14
* Underdog worth five points


Good luck.
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Five best games of the week

On "ESPN First Take," one of the outstanding programs in sports broadcasting, Skip Bayless called Arkansas' loss to Louisiana-Monroe "the most disastrous loss in college football history." And when you have one of the most disastrous losses in college football history, typically that means you are exiled from the Poolsville Five the following week. So breathe a sigh of relief, Razorback fans, you won't have to sacrifice your record to pick against the Hogs this week. Instead, we pass the Auburn jinx off to Missouri and enjoy the return of some stellar rivalry games that have been missing from the pool in recent years. Plus Notre Dame. There won't be 56 5-0s this week.


The Third Saturday in September
Florida - Tennessee
5 p.m., Saturday, ESPN
Line: Tennessee by 3

Arizona State - Missouri
6 p.m., Saturday, ESPN2
Line: Missouri by 6
* Underdog worth three points

USC - Stanford
6:30 p.m., Saturday, Fox
Line: USC by 8
* Underdog worth three points

Battle for the Megaphone Trophy
Notre Dame - Michigan State
7 p.m., Saturday, ABC
Line: Michigan State by 5
* Underdog worth three points

The Holy War
BYU - Utah
9 p.m., Saturday, ESPN2
Line: BYU by 4


Good luck.
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Five best games of the week

Week 2

Texas A&M and Missouri make their debuts in the SEC this week. Fans are talking big. Erin Propst went to Missouri and has high hopes. Do the Big 12 expats make their mark, or do they get a rude awakening? They are two of five tough games to predict in Week 2. There won't be 56 5-0s this time.

Auburn - Mississippi State
11 a.m., Saturday, ESPN
Line: Mississippi State by 3

Miami - Kansas State
11 a.m., Saturday, FX
Line: Kansas State by 7
* Underdog worth three points

Florida - Texas A&M
2:30 p.m., Saturday, ESPN
Line: Texas A&M by 1

Nebraska - UCLA
6:30 p.m., Saturday, Fox
Line: Nebraska by 5
* Underdog worth three points

Georgia - Missouri
6:45 p.m., Saturday, ESPN2
Line: Georgia by 3

Good luck.
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