Guest Column: College Football Picks by William Jones

Well, now that the wedding bells have stopped ringing, our Blogmeister,Frank, can get back to work and I can get my picks out to the starving masses after a couple of weeks off. New rule: no fluff picks...I know most fans are looking for as many picks as possible, but we're going to focus on quality, not quantity.With that, let's look at Week 9 of the NCAA.

Middle Tennessee State -12.5 visiting North Texas - The fact that North Texas is arguably the worst team in D-1 isn't really what put us on this pick. Dwight Dasher, the QB for the MTSU, is what you'd get if you could combine Michael Vick at Virginia Tech and Kordell Stewart at Colorado...and you put him against Sun Belt Conference caliber defenses. North Texas is used to losing by 30+ points and MTSU, while the overall record is deceiving, look at them since they played LSU and inserted Dasher and they have dominated on Offense, giving the D more chances to make plays. This team will play in a minor bowl, no question. Take MTSU in a laugher.

Oregon -3 vs. USC - Living in SoCal, I have been hearing all the USC fans gush about it matters not who the QB is against the Ducks since either one of them will walk away with a victory...not so fast! The USC line has been obliterated with injuries and they actually had a student walk out of biology class and onto the practice field just because he had size...forget that he hadn't played football since high school and never played O-Line! USC hasn't played anyone impressive. They will have lots of first year players who have never played in an environment as hostile as Autzen Stadium or against an offense as deceptive as OU. This will be a matter of how the Trojan's offense plays against the decent OU defense and, with the lack of continuity of the O-Line, Sanchez starting in that noise bowl and the lack of big playmakers at the wideout position will cause the offense to sputter. Look for the O-Line to take offsides and holding calls all day. I'm going with the Ducks.

Kansas -3 at Texas A&M - Look at this for the upset of the week. Kansas is 7-0, the bulk of those wins coming against weak opponents. A&M needs a win desperately before going on a rough stretch facing Oklahoma, Missouri and Texas...if they come away with one win out of those three, I'll be shocked. Kansas is fairly full of themselves and this is the first real tough road-test, after playing K-State (had to believe Kansas had fans travel for that) and Colorado in away games. A&M has a 260 lbs RB who is unstoppable...this may be a clock-eating affair... let's go with A&M!