BREAKING DOWN OUR COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAMEDAY PICKS FROM SATURDAY

When you pick games against the spread, there will undoubtedly be teams that you grow to love and, more likely, hate. There are plenty of teams in my memory bank that I will avoid like the plague, and others that I will always love. Kansas is an example of the latter, as they’ve seemingly always come through for me. On the other side is Fresno State. After picking them to upset Wisconsin two weeks ago, they blew several chances to win the game and came away with a loss. And yesterday, they had the game against Air Force in their grasp, but let it get away. They ended up winning in double overtime, but that did me no good. So, needless to say, Fresno State won’t show up too many times in this column again. For the day, that late loss dropped me to 4-3 on the day. Craig finished with a 3-4 record. Tennessee is on his “hate” list right now. Here is the Saturday breakdown:

My Saturday: 4-3 (spread); 6-1 (overall); 1-0 (upset picks)
My Season: 14-13-1 (spread); 21-7 (overall); 2-1 (upset picks)
My Money: DOWN $30 (season)
Craig's Saturday: 3-4 (spread)
Craig's Season: 11-16-1 (spread)
Craig's Money: DOWN $660 (season

No. 15 East Carolina -7 at North Carolina State
My Pick: East Carolina 31, North Carolina State 27
Actual Score: North Carolina State 30, East Carolina 24 (OT)
Got the day off to a good start with North Carolina State coming back to beat East Carolina in overtime. While I was rooting for the BCS-busters, it was a great seeing NC State battle back. ECU coach Skip Holtz made a big mistake by not kicking a field goal that would have given the team a 7-point lead with 10:33 to go in the fourth. They came downfield later and did kick a field goal with 4:27 left, which should have given them a 10-point lead. After that, NC State scored the game-tying TD with 1:12 to go and won in overtime.

No. 4 Florida -7.5 at Tennessee
My Pick: Florida 33, Tennessee 20
Actual Score: Florida 30, Tennessee 6
Craig has already vowed never to pick the Vols again … I don’t know why he waited so long. I’m 2-for-2 with anti-Tennessee picks this year, including the Vols humiliating loss at home. We’re 2-0 so far, while Craig is 0-2. This perfect start can’t continue … can it? …

No. 20 Utah -9.5 at Air Force
My Pick: Utah 35, Air Force 14
Actual Score: Utah 30, Air Force 23
… Of course it can’t. Utah scored the game-winning touchdown with 58 seconds to play. Big deal. It’s a loss and a 2-1 record. Craig is 0-3.

No. 18 Wake Forest +5 at No. 24 Florida State
My Pick: Wake Forest 28, Florida State 21
Actual Score: Wake Forest 12, Florida State 3
Wake Forest beats Florida State for the third time in a row and moves our record to 3-1 overall. This was our upset pick as well, so if you took the chance, the profit margin goes up. Craig finally breaks into the win column with the win.

No. 6 LSU -2.5 at No. 10 Auburn
My Pick: LSU 14, Auburn 10
Actual Score: LSU 26, Auburn 21
Auburn took a 21-20 lead with 6:40 to go, but LSU came back with a game-winning TD drive that ended with 1:03 left in the game. It was an exciting end, especially for us, as we went with LSU. Great college football finish and we’re a tremendous 4-1 headed into the night. Craig is 2-3.

No. 3 Georgia -7 at Arizona State
My Pick: Georgia 24, Arizona State 21
Actual Score: Georgia 27, Arizona State 10
Georgia was impressive for the first time this season, right when I needed them to struggle. We’re 4-2. Craig gets the win and is making a strong finish with three victories in a row.

No. 25 Fresno State -7 at Toledo
My Pick: Fresno State 31, Toledo 17
Actual Score: Fresno State 55, Toledo 54 (2 OT)
When Fresno State took a 10-point lead with 10:20 to go in the game, I thought I had this game won. Fresno finally looked to take control of the game and would have ended GameDay on the perfect note. But in the time in took me to drive home from New Britain, Toledo came back to tie the game and came within a 2-point conversion in the second overtime of the upset victory. They missed the chance, giving Fresno the win. I’m sure it was exciting. But picking against the spread makes watching football very, very strange. Thank God I missed it. So, we end with a 4-3 record and 1-0 in upset picks.

(AP photo, top, North Carolina State's George Bryan, center, celebrates his touchdown with Owen Spencer, right, and Ted Larsen that tied the score with 1:12 to go against East Carolina Saturday afternoon.)