5-at-10: Fab 4 picks (and then some), playoff rankings, sports thankfulness

photo Thanksgiving tile

OK, it's Thanksgiving week. You know this.

The list of things for which we are thankful is overflowing. Among that list is the freedom and the opportunity to share this venue and our views with you guys and gals and the chance to read your replies.

Thank you for that. Seriously. (And remember the mailbag.)

From the "Talks too much" studios, thank you one and all. (And remember the mailbag.)

Fab 14 picks

We need a jolt. We have again dropped closer to .500, which is better than sub-.500, but not up to our expectations. Plus, with entertainment brokerage fees, .500 is actually losing, which is how Vegas builds fancy buildings and offers a Surf and Turf dinner for $4.99.

This week - being Thanksgiving and all - we decided to gorge ourselves. Yep, this is entertainment gluttony and while we normally warn against the extremes of mass quantities, well, we're running out of time to get to an acceptable 10 games over .500.

Last week: 2-4 against the spread

This year: 39-38-1 against the spread

Since the start of 2011: 250-148-6 against the spread.

1) Rice-La. Tech over the 51.5. We have watched and followed way more mid-level FBS football than anyone one person should, and it's all in the pursuit of entertainment. Sort of. These have been two of the more consistently entertaining teams we have embraced. That said, the line is pretty square, but the total seems short-sighted considering each team scores in a variety of ways.

2) Western Michigan minus-7 over Northern Illinois. Western Michigan is 10-1 against the number. TEN and 1. Sorry for yelling, but we feel like we have cheated the entertainment-seeking public out of that knowledge. So it goes. And so it will continue since Northern Illinois has continued to skate through on name-recognition and cool points. But you know what? Vegas does not recognize cool points. Cool? Cool.

3) Nebraska even over Iowa. Iowa is the biggest fraud 7-4 team this side of Texas A&M. Iowa has become bowl eligible by beating Northern Iowa, Ball State, Pitt, Purdue, Indiana, Northwestern and Illinois. That's the opposite of Murder's Row. That's Ticklers' Row. Nebraska is still Nebraska, and they have the best player on the field. In an even game, that's more than enough.

photo Football tile

4) UCLA minus-5 over Stanford. Motivation? Check. Talent edge? Check. NFL prospects? Check. This Stanford team is hollow compared to its recent predecessors. That means good things for a UCLA team that has been right alongside THE Ohio State as the best teams in the country the last four weeks.

5) Colorado State minus-7 over Air Force. Call the ball Maverick. The CSU Rams are 10-1 and closing in on a big-boy bowl bid. They also are 8-3 against the number this season and have been the class of the nation's next-level teams. Motivation + talent = entertainment. Remember, math is your friend.

6) Appalachian State minus-14 over Idaho. The Mountaineers have found a comfort zone the last month or so, winning five straight. That's good news. Idaho is going to travel from Moscow to Boone. That's great news.

7) Cincinnati minus-7 over Temple. The fighting Tubervilles have been handling their BID-ness the last month, and whether Mel Kiper, Jr. knows it or not, Cincinnati has arguably the best passing quarterback prospect in the country in Gunner Kiel. Believe it.

8) Texas State minus-13.5 over Georgia State. Georgia State stinks. Texas State is improving. Improving is better than stinks. Well, unless we're talking about something involving a nuclear reaction. Because then someone could be glowing and getting better, and we can all agree that glowing is worse than stinking, right?

9) UAB minus-4 over Southern Miss. Oh my G-O-S-H, this one feels like stealing. Southern Miss is doing everything in its power to emerge from the unofficial A-C-C (also known as the All-Crappy-Conference that includes Georgia State and SMU, two teams we also picked against this week) but this week is a tough draw. UAB has skills. South Miss has spirit. Skills trump spirit everyday unless you are talking about cheerleaders, pain remover or moonshine. Yep, we went there.

10) Michigan State minus-13.5 over Penn State. The Spartans have skin in the game. The Nittany Lions barely have skin. The Spartans have NFL talent. The Nittany Lions barely have FBS talent. The comparables are hardly comparable, and in truth if we talk in many more circles, we're going to feel like I-285.

11) Utah minus-9 over Colorado. Utah is a good team reeling from playing better teams. Colorado is a bad team regardless of whom it plays. Sometimes logic is that logical.

12) Akron minus-3 over Kent State. We have stumbled this year at times by trying to pick too many winners and not focusing on the obvious losers. We have changed that this week and are going against three of the five worst teams in the FBS. (We left SMU off the list because the Mustangs are a 22-point home underdog against an unpredictable Houston team. We still love you Smoo.) Kent State, Georgia State and Idaho are dreadful. And for that - and the accompanying entertainment - we give thanks.

13) UNC minus-6.5 over NC State. There are a slew of rivalry games with bigger match-ups and better names. Those also have better point spreads, too. Forget the bad blood and focus on talent and success. Yes, these teams have the same record at 6-5 but the path to the postseason has been strikingly different. Since starting 4-0 with wins over Georgia Southern, Old Dominion, South Florida and Presbyterian, N.C. State two ACC wins over Wake and Syracuse. Gross. UNC has won four its last five and averaged better than 33 points per game in that stretch.

photo Steve Spurrier reacts during an NCAA football game in this file photo.

14) South Carolina plus-5 over Clemson. Yes, we mixed in an actual underdog. Call it a Thanksgiving miracle. This pick hinges on three things: First, Steve Spurrier vs. Dabo Swinney. Thank you. Second, South Carolina is 6-5 and could easily be 8-3 or better. Third, even if Clemson freshmen quarterback Deshaun Watson plays, he will not be 100 percent. If Watson doesn't play, this line flips 10 points the other direction. Are we really going to hinge the entirety of a rivalry game on a hobbled true freshman quarterback? Also, did we mention Spurrier vs. Swinney? Yep, we don't always pick rivalry games but when we do, we go with the Head Ball Coach. Stay thirsty my friends.

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Playoff rankings

The top four remained unchanged in the eyes of the College Football Playoff committee.

1. Alabama

2. Oregon

3. Florida State

4. Mississippi State

We still maintain that having Florida State anywhere but No. 1 is a disservice to the game of college football in particular and sports in general.

This is not figure skating, where interpretation and style should matter more than winning among the Power 5 conferences. Period. Yes, there will be cases when teams have similar records and resumes and judgements must be made, but putting one-loss power conference teams ahead of an unbeaten power conference team is the first leap in devaluing the greatest regular season in sports. A worry that more than a few of us had about this playoff thing from the beginning.

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College football rivalries

This week the most heated college football rivalries take center stage. Here's how we'd rank the ones this weekend in importance, passion, emotion and stature.

1) Iron Bowl. This one really isn't even close either, considering that the winner of the last five has played for the national title. Before the college football playoff, this was a college football playoff game.

2) Ohio State-Michigan. It's down because Michigan stinks but there's still the emotion and pageantry.

3) USC-Notre Dame. The best rivalry that spans the country and without conference affiliation.

4) Egg Bowl. The bad blood here is palatable. It's an Iron Bowl Jr. in all the good ways. And the bad ways.

5) South Carolina-Clemson. Has gotten sneaky fun in recent years, mainly because of Steve Spurrier, who can make any rival hate him more than the Devil himself. Ask Tennessee fans.

6) Georgia-Georgia Tech. This one has fallen some because of the one-sided run of the Bulldogs under Mark Richt. Let Tech pull the upset Saturday and the Clean Old-Fashioned Hate moniker will be rekindled quickly.

7) Florida-Florida State. There's a load of emotion, but the rivalry

8) Oregon-Oregon State. Bitterness. And it's not only the cold.

9) Washington-Washington State. Cool name - The Apple Cup - too.

10) Idaho-Appalachain State. Nothing screams border war like the Sun Belt season-finale for these two. Feel the intensity.

Side note: Army-Navy is not this week.

Side note, part II: There are several great rivalries from days gone by that we miss, including Oklahoma-Nebraska, and Texas-Texas A&M.

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This and that

photo Injured Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose leaves the court before the start of game between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Chicago Bulls in Game 2 in the first round of the NBA basketball playoffs in Chicago, Tuesday, May 1, 2012. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

- Derrick Rose left Tuesday's game with a tight hamstring. Yes, you read that right. Who among us could call the boss down at the ol' J-O-B and say, "Hey, Boss man, not going to make it back from lunch... Tight hammy." Rose needs to drink more milk or something, dude is extremely fragile.

- Robert Griffin III is apparently going to be benched for Colt McCoy. Yes, we had as hard a time typing that sentence as you did believing it.

- UK rolled again, whipping UT-Arlington 92-44. The new round of impressive stats from each Kentucky game is staggering. UK still had nine players log at least 17 minutes and this time had six players score in double figures. UT-Arlington shot 27 percent, a number that was inflated when the benches were emptied since the Mavericks starters were a combined 6-of-31 (19 percent). Side note: ESPN analyst Seth Greenberg said on Press Row on Tuesday that he's on the train of UK going 40-0. Giddy-up.

Kentucky 92, UT Arlington 44.

Stars: Devin Booker again did his best Vinnie "Microwave" Johnson impersonation, scoring 19 in 17 minutes. Dude has 37 points 34 minutes on 13-of-16 shooting, including 10-of-13 from 3 in the last two games. Karl-Anthony Towns again shows a versatility that is beyond his years with 13 points on 5-of-5 shooting and 11 rebounds.

Up next: Kentucky (6-0) plays at home against Providence on Sunday.

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Today's question

Some how it's fitting that today is Charles Schulz birthday. He would have been 92, and we feel sure we will watch a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving at some point in the next 48 hours.

Also, today is the 225th anniversary of the first Thanksgiving as declared by George Washington.

With that in mind we offer two questions:

What in the sports world specifically for which are you thankful?

And what is our Rushmore of George in honor of the man who made this grand holiday official?

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