Week 7: Bounce back or snap back?

Where's Larry Smith when you need him?  During the latter stages of his career at Missouri, when they were piling up convincing loss after convincing loss, he tried to gimmick his way into the players psyche.  I remember him having them carrying tennis balls all around campus reminding them to "bounce back".  Another marvelous thought was wearing rubber bands around their wrists reminding them to "snap back".  These Jedi mind tricks proved ineffective at best, although they did provide fodder for a fan base that at that time was screaming for his head.  Larry's wife, Cheryl did a bit of screaming herself, losing her composure and going after the players during the debacle in 1999, forever etched in Missouri lore as "Route 66".

As an aside, has any program ever suffered as many horrific losses as the team I choose to cheer for?  We've even named a number of them.  "The Fifth Down", "The Norman Conquest", "The Kick", just to mention a few. But I digress.

At this point, I have no idea which Missouri team is going to show up in Stillwater this weekend to face the Cowboys of Oklahoma State.  Will the Tigers be able to forget about the 4th quarter meltdown vs the Huskers last Thursday night in a monsoon?  Will Blaine Gabbert have any mobility after suffering a sprained ankle in the first quarter of said meltdown?  Are we ever going to be able to establish a running game?  I frankly have no idea at this point.  I do know that the series has defied logic and the visiting team has won the last 4 times they've played.  Does that mean squat for this week?  Again, I have no idea.  I do know that I'm hoping for a dry field and Blaine to have enough strength in that right ankle to step into his throws.

When you come down to it, we don't even know which Oklahoma State team we'll be facing.  Their star receiver, Dez Bryant was suspended last week vs A&M for lying to the NCAA about having contact with Deion Sanders and possibly his agent.  As of this early week draft, he has a meeting scheduled with the NCAA for Tuesday to determine if he'll be eligible for the remainder of the season.  Normally, I'd say there would be no chance that a decision would be reached in time for this weeks game, but I'm a Missouri fan.  I've been bitten before and I'll probably be bitten again.    Due to this, I'll refrain from posting this until Thursday when presumably a conclusion has been reached.

As it stands now, Okie State opens as a 7 point favorite.  My pick on Monday would be for Missouri to cover the spread but fall, 28-24.  As I say, I reserve the right to update this on Thursday, pending the

Bryant decision and updates on Gabbert's health.  (As of Thursday morning, no word on Bryant.  I'll stick with this pick and hope I'm wrong.)

In other games around the conference, Iowa State opens as a 3 point favorite hosting the Bears of Baylor.  The Cyclones gave a great effort in lawrence last weekend before falling to the jayhawks 41-36.  Predicatably, their quarterback missed a wide open receiver in the end zone in the final minute of the game on a 4th and long throw to end their hopes for an upset.  Baylor meanwhile was suffering a 33-7 thrashing at the hands of returning quarterback Sam Bradford and the Sooners.  I think (or I hope) that too much is being made of the close loss to the beaks.  Iowa State generally plays them well, but fails to close.  Hell, they were up 20 points at half time in 2008 in Ames only to choke the game away in the 2nd half.  Baylor needs 3 more wins to qualify for their first bowl game since the 1994 Alamo Bowl.  I think they'd like to do this for their coach and for their injured quarterback, Robert Griffin.  I'm picking the Bears to cover and win, 21-17.

kansas travels to Boulder to face the Buffaloes.  I mentioned the beaks near death experience last weekend vs the Cyclones.  Meanwhile, in Austin, Dan Hawkins made more of a game of it vs the Longhorns, leading at halftime before falling 38-14.  Well, they did cover the 32 point spread and helped fuck up my week.  At some point I think the Buffs are going to go ahead and mail it in and this may well be the week it happens.  ku opens as a 10 point favorite.  I think they cover 38-20 and Dan Hawkins future will be determined by whether Colorado will be willing to pony up the money to buy out his contract plus hire a new coach.  There is some talent on the team, although I think it's been over rated.

Texas A&M opens as a 5 1/2 point favorite as they travel to Manhattan to face Bill Snyder and the Wildcats.  This is actually probably one of the biggest snoozers of the weekend, which means it will be a great, close contest that will be decided by which team has the last opportunity to shoot themselves in the foot.  The Aggies played OSU close last weekend before falling 36-31 in College Station.  Don't let that fool you.  Dez Bryant was in week 1 of his suspension and the Cowboys also elected to hold anyone out that had broken a nail during practice that week.  It just wasn't a big priority to the Cowboys, who were saving up for the upcoming weeks.  Meanwhile, the Wildcats were suffering a 66-14 hammering in Lubboch which was reminiscent of Andy Dufrane vs the sisters in "The Shawshank Redemption".  Bill Snyder is 10 times the coach Mike Sherman will ever be, but he has almost 0 talent.  That being said, I'm going to pick A&M to win but fail to cover, 24-20.

Nebraska is a 10 point favorite at home vs the Pirate and his Red Raiders from Texas Tech.  If weather plays no part here, I don't like this match up at all for the hicks.  Tech can throw the ball and throw it quick.  The Nebraska defensive backfield isn't better simply because they held MU in check last week in a downpour with a one legged quarterback.  I'm going with the Techsters to cover and win outright, 41-27.  Afterward Bo Pelini will attack Mike Leach at midfield for running up the score which will earn him another trip to kindly old Dr. Toms office next week.

The big game of the week happens in Dallas as the Sooners and Longhorns lock up in the final Red River Shootout that will happen at the Cotton Bowl.  It moves to Jerry World next year along with, well, the Cotton Bowl.  The Longhorns have had a fair amount of success against the Sooners lately, only to fall later in the season in a game they should have won.  I want to go on record as saying that I kind of like Mack Brown and I absolutely detest Bob Stoops.  I want the Horns to win this badly and then fall on homecoming at Columbia next week.  If any fan base has ever deserved that, it's Missouri's.  That pretty much means we'll be eating eskimo bars in hell before that happens.  I think the Horns win this weekend, but they're going to need to mount some kind of running game.  I believe they'll have enough to cover the 3 point spread and win 31-24.

Moving out of conference, Undefeated Iowa travels to Madison to face the Badgers.  The Hawkeyes open as a 1 1/2 point favorite.  They've done very well in close games so far this year beating Michigan, Arkansas State and Northern Iowa by a total of 6 points.  I'm pretty skeptical of those 3 wins however.   By far their most impressive win of the year was a 21-10 victory over Penn State on the road.  Wisconsin lost their last game 31-13 at the Horseshoe vs Ohio State.  I'm going to go with the mild upset here and pick Wisky to hold serve at home, winning 31-28.

USC travels to South Bend to face the fighting Irish and Jimmy Clausen.  Last week the Irish held off Washington 37-30.  The Huskies handed USC their only loss earlier this year, winning 16-13 at home.  However, the Trojans seem to have one inexplicable loss every season and that is probably the one for 2009.  I'm going with USC to win and cover on the road, winning 31-17.

I'll wind things up, (or start up, depending on your point of view) with a Thursday night matchup between 2 Big East undefeateds as the Cincinnati Bearcats visit the USF Bulls.  Cincinnati opens as a 3 point favorite.  Both teams have something of a signature win on the road this season.  The Bearcats winning 28-18 at Oregon State and the Bulls 27-17 at Florida State.  I think this is going to be a pretty damn good game and I'll be in front of the television Thursday night.  I'll go with the home team here and pick USF to win outright 34-28.  Oh, and when did they pick up Jen Sterger as a fan?

That's all I have for now as I continue to battle whatever it was I picked up after spending last Thursday night in a monsoon in Columbia.  Good luck to your teams unless you follow fictitious birds.