For those of you crying about what the CBS experts are picking against the spread, well now I see you can check out how they do against the spread and how they do straight up. But I'm sure some will still complain.

As for me, I'm sticking to picking against the spread.

Last week I went 11-7, but it only goes down at 10-7 since the CBS page now doesn't include the unranked Michigan-Notre Dame game. But no worries as that was my bonus play and I'll definitely count it there.

The 11-7 makes me 22-18 after the first two weeks.

Jerry Hinnen is in front of the expert's group at 25-15, followed by Dennis Dodd's 24-16, Adam Jacobi's 22-18, Bruce Feldman & Chip Patterson both at 21-19, Brett McMurphy's 20-20 and Tom Fornelli's 18-22.

As for my Top Handicapping Plays: I went 3-1 with wins on Missouri, Stanford and Michigan. I was wrong g on the Oregon State-Wisconsin over. That makes me 5-1 on these suggestions so far.

Looking at this weekend, there are some big games with the big showdown in Tallahassee. Meanwhile, I'll be in the crowd at Ohio State at Miami.  Go Bucks!

On to Week 3

THURSDAY
No. 3 LSU -3.5 at No. 25 Mississippi State

FRIDAY
Toledo +18.5 vs. No. 4 Boise State

SATURDAY -- Sorry these aren't in order of rankings. They're in the same order as the CBS Experts page.
No. 21 Auburn +3.5 at Clemson
No. 18 West Virginia + 1.5 at Maryland
Louisiana-Monroe +28.5 vs. No. 23 TCU
No. 16 Florida -9.5 vs. Tennessee
Washington +16.5 at No. 11 Nebraska

Northern Illinois +17.5 vs. No. 7 Wisconsin (at Chicago)
No. 23 Texas -3.5 at UCLA
Notre Dame -4.5 vs. No. 15 Michigan State
Arkansas State +26.5 at No. 13 Virginia Tech -26.5
Navy +18.5 at No. 10 South Carolina

Illinois +1.5 vs. No. 22 Arizona State
Idaho +36.5 at No. 9 Texas A&M
No. 17 Ohio State +1.5 at Miami
No. 2 Alabama -45.5 vs. North Texas (I could never lay money on this many points)
No. 14 Arkansas -25.5 vs. Troy

No. 5 Florida State +3.5 vs. No. 1 Oklahoma
No. 8 Oklahoma State -13.5 at Tulsa
No. 6 Stanford -10.5 at Arizona

------------------------------

TOP HANDICAP PLAYS
Note: Some lines are different from above because the experts pull their lines early in the week.

FRIDAY: Toledo +20 vs. No. 4 Boise State
SATURDAY: Nevada -6.5 at San Jose State
SATURDAY: OVER 51.5 Michigan State at Notre Dame

I know I said I'd be banging Wisconsin OVERS all season, but I'm going to pass on the 64 vs. Northern Illinois.

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WEEK 2 HANDICAPPING (3-1 last week, 5-1 overall)
Wins
Missouri +7.5 in 37-30 overtime loss at Arizona State
Stanford -21 in 44-14 victory at Duke
Michigan +3.5 in 35-31 win over visiting Notre Dame

Loss
Over of 56.5 in Wisconsin's 35-0 shutout of visiting Oregon State

Great finish to the college football season last night.

Again, I'd like to point out my comment from my Week 2 picks on Sept. 9:
"No. 21 Auburn over Mississippi State (Tigers my sleeper of the year)"

And of course -- well not really, based on my season record -- I picked Auburn to win last night. Dodd was the only expert to do so (maybe all the experts except for Chip Patterson should be replaced next season).

I was completely wrong on the high-score prediction. I had a feeling it would be low scoring heading into the game, but much easier to say after the fact. Hope no one got burnt on playing the over.

FINAL Expert Picks standings
Bowls: Patterson 22-13, Jacobi 19-16, Darst 18-17, me 18-17, Dodd 18-17 & Horowitz 17-18
Overall: Patterson 258-81, Darst 252-87, me 248-91, Dodd 245-94, Jacobi 244-95 & Horowitz 239-100

Underdog moneyline strategy
Had you followed this theory, you would have been ahead 112.8 units. And to think it started out 0-5.

Remember I said not to play any games of this theory after Dec. 31 (No underdogs won outright after this date). But if you want to know the final tally for all the bowls, here you go:

Underdog moneyline strategy
0-1/-10: New Mexico: BYU wins as FAV vs. UTEP (+320)
0-2/-10/Total -20: Humanitarian: Northern Illinois wins as FAV vs. Fresno State (+111)
0-3/-10/Total -30: New Orleans: Troy wins as FAV vs. Ohio (+110)
0-4/-10/Total -40: Beef O’Brady’s: Louisville wins as FAV vs. So. Miss (+120)
0-5/-10/Total -50: Poinsettia: San Diego St. wins as FAV vs. Navy (+130)
DNP: Las Vegas Bowl: Boise State wins as FAV vs. Utah (+550)
1-5/+31/Total -19: Hawaii: Tulsa (+310) wins as DOG vs. Hawaii
DNP:  Little Caesars: FIU opened as DOG, wins as FAV vs. Toledo
1-6/-10/Total -29: Independence: Air Force wins as FAV vs. Ga. Tech (+125)
2-6/+13/Total -16: Champs Sports: N.C. State (+130) wins as DOG vs. West Virginia
3-6/+13/Total -3: Insight: Iowa (+130) wins as DOG vs. Missouri
3-7/-10/Total -13: Military: Maryland wins as FAV vs. East Carolina (+270)
DNP: Texas: Illinois opens as DOG, wins as FAV vs. Baylor
3-8/-10/Total -23: Alamo: Oklahoma State wins as FAV vs. Arizona (+170)
4-8/+25/Total: +2: Armed Forces: Army (+250) wins as DOG vs. SMU
5-8/+10.3/Total +12.3: Pinstripe: Syracuse (+103) wins as DOG vs. Kansas State
DNP: Music City: North Carolina wins as PICK vs. Tennessee
6-8/+39/Total +51.3: Holiday: Washington (+390) wins as DOG vs. Nebraska
7-8/+17/Total +68.3: Meineke Car Care: South Florida (+170) wins as DOG vs. Clemson
8-8/+11.5/Total +79.8: Sun: Notre Dame (+115) wins as DOG vs. Miami
9-8/+21/Total +100.8: Liberty: UCF (+210) wins as DOG vs. Georgia
10-8/+12/Total +112.8: Chick-Fil-A: FSU (+120) wins as DOG vs. South Carolina
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10-9/-10/+92.8: TicketCity: Texas Tech wins as FAV vs. Northwestern (+250)
10-10/-10/+82.8: Outback: Florida wins as FAV vs. Penn State (+210)
10-11/-10/+72.8: Capital One: Alabama wins as FAV vs. Michigan State (+250)
10-12/-10/+62.8: Gator: Mississippi State wins as FAV vs. Michigan (+145)
10-13/-10/+52.8: Rose: TCU wins as FAV vs. Wisconsin (+130)
10-14/-10/+42.8: Fiesta: Oklahoma wins as FAV vs. Connecticut (+520)
10-15/-10/+32.8: Orange: Stanford wins as FAV vs. Virginia Tech (+155)
10-16/-10/+22.8: Sugar: Ohio State wins as FAV vs. Arkansas (+130)
DNP: Go Daddy.com: Miami (Oh) opens as FAV, wins as DOG vs. Middle Tennessee State
10-17/-10/+12.8: Cotton: LSU wins as FAV vs. Texas A&M (+110)
10-18/-10/+2.8: BBVA Compass: Pittsburgh wins as FAV vs. Kentucky (+165)
10-19/-10/-7.2: Fight Hunger: Nevada wins as FAV vs. Boston College (+250)
DNP: Title game: Auburn opens as FAV, wins as PICK vs. Oregon

Thanks to those who often checked in. I was stunned to see each weekly blog received over 1,000 views and the Bowls pix blog received over 17,000 views. Maybe some of you were checking in to see who not to bet on, but I hoped some of the information helped.

Enjoy the offseason -- and feel free to check out CBSSports.com's baseball coverage through the year as that is my primary job here.

JR

Are you ready for the Bowl Season? First kickoff is less than 16 hours away.

Even though I failed to defend my regular-season title among the experts, I look to bounce back with my bowl picks … but I have always struggled this time of year. You never know what team will show up; if a team is so bummed it's not playing in a bigger bowl (See Alabama) and isn't as focused as it should be.

But below, I'm making my picks anyway. More importantly, I'd like to point out my underdog moneyline strategy, which I will keep an updated scorecard for on the comment part of this blog.

The idea: Play the moneyline on the underdog for every bowl through Dec. 30. In the picks below, I list the moneyline in parentheses from scoresandodds.com.

Ex: BYU over UTEP (+320) means, even though I'm picking BYU to win to help my standings vs. the experts, I'm suggesting to play UTEP at +320 to win outright. I will keep records for my picks and the underdog moneylines for all the games. But I don't like the underdog moneylines after Dec. 30.

Some games won't have a +moneyline next to it, because there isn't one if the game is virtually a pick 'em.

Before getting to my winners below, a quick reminder of the Expert Picks regular-season standings: Chip Patterson 236-68, Darst 234-70, me 230-74, Dodd 2227-77, Jacobi 225-79 & Horowitz 222-82.

HANDICAPPING
As for my regular-season suggestions, I finished 19-23-1. I know, not good, but we'll get three of them back on Day 1 as I like the lines on all three games (UTEP +11½, Northern Illinois -1½ & Ohio +2).

There are a total of seven games I like. Add Central Florida +6½, Michigan State +9½, TCU-Wisconsin over of 58½ and Kentucky +3½.

If there are any more that pop up, I'll post on the comment board of this blog.

Good luck and have a happy holiday & bowl season.

THE WINNERS
SATURDAY, DEC. 18
New Mexico:  BYU over UTEP (+320) – Take the 11½ points
Humanitarian: Northern Illinois over Fresno State (+114) – Lay the 1½ 
New Orleans: Ohio (+110) over Troy – Take the 2 points

TUESDAY, DEC. 21
Beef O'Brady's:  Southern Mississippi (+120) over Louisville

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 22
Maaco: Boise State over Utah (+485) 

THURSDAY, DEC. 23
Poinsettia: San Diego State over Navy (+165)

FRIDAY, DEC. 24
Hawaii: Hawaii over Tulsa (+305)

SUNDAY, DEC. 26
Little Caesars: Florida International (+108) over Toledo

MONDAY, DEC. 27
Independence: Air Force over Georgia Tech (+125)

TUESDAY, DEC. 28
Champs Sports: West Virginia over North Carolina State (+125)
Insight: Missouri over Iowa (+108)

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 29
Military: East Carolina (+240) over Maryland
Texas: Baylor over Illinois (+110)
Alamo: Arizona (+175) over Oklahoma State

THURSDAY, DEC. 30
Armed Forces: SMU over Army (+250)
Pinstripe: Kansas State over Syracuse
Music City: Tennessee (+110) over North Carolina
Holiday: Nebraska over Washington (+400)

FRIDAY, DEC. 31
Meineke Car Care: Clemson over South Florida (+170)
Sun: Notre Dame (+125) over Miami
Liberty: Georgia over Central Florida (+210) – Take the 6½ points
Chick-Fil-A: South Carolina over Florida State (+135)

SATURDAY, JAN. 1, 2011
TicketCity: Texas Tech over Northwestern (+300)
Outback: Florida over Penn State (+250)
Capital One: Alabama over Michigan State (+310) – Take the 9½ points
Gator: Mississippi State over Michigan (+170)
Rose: Wisconsin 36 (+120), TCU 28 – Play the over of 58½
Fiesta: Oklahoma 42, Connecticut 13 (+475)

MONDAY, JAN. 3
Orange: Stanford 38, Virginia Tech 30 (+140)

TUESDAY, JAN. 4
Sugar: Ohio State 31, Arkansas 24 (+145)

THURSDAY, JAN. 6
Go Daddy.com: Miami of Ohio over Middle Tennessee State

FRIDAY, JAN. 7
Cotton: LSU over Texas A&M (+101)

SATURDAY, JAN. 8
BBVA Compass: Kentucky (+145) over Pittsburgh – Take the 3½ points

SUNDAY, JAN. 9
Fight Hunger: Nevada over Boston College (+310)

MONDAY, JAN. 10
BCS title game: Auburn 43, Oregon 38 (+135)

I went 8-3 in Week 14. Even though the Hawaii-UNLV game isn't over, I'm counting it as a win since Hawaii leads 31-7 at the half. Plus, all the experts picked Hawaii. If UNLV pulls off a miracle, I'll update the appropriate records.

My losses this week were Northern Illinois (to Miami of Ohio), Nebraska (to Oklahoma) and Florida State (to Virginia Tech). Congrats to the RedHawks on an thrilling victory and an amazing turnaround from last season's 1-11 showing.

Overall, I closed out the regular-season at 230-74.

So I failed to defend my title and even lost to Darst. Chip Patterson finished first at 236-68; Darst was second at 234-70. The rest of the Experts: Dodd 227-77, Jacobi 225-79 & Horowitz 222-82 -- Again, I will fix if Hawaii loses.

I didn't have any handicapping suggestions this past week, so I finished 19-23-1 there. My deepest apologies.

With Auburn and Oregon headed to the title game, I'd like to point out my Auburn comment from my Week 2 picks.

"No. 21 Auburn over Mississippi State (Tigers my sleeper of the year)"

It's one of the few positives I have from this past season. I was also the only expert to pick South Carolina over then-No. 1 Alabama in Week 6, but I should point out I was wrong when I picked USC to knock of then-No. 1 Oregon in Week 9.

I also picked against Auburn, when ranked No. 2, vs. Georgia in Week 11 and vs. Alabama in Week 13.

As for Oregon, I picked the Ducks to lose to Tennessee in Week 2 and to USC in Week 9 ... so I was obviously wrong there.

But what a fun season it has been.

For the bowl season, I'm going to track an underdog moneyline strategy, which I've done in my blog before.

It's simple. Play all the dogs on the moneyline before the Jan. 1 games. In the past, this usually comes out ahead, not by much, but enough to make the bowl season fun … especially if you hit a +400 or better win-outright dog.

To whatever loyal fans I have, thanks for your time & I hope you enjoyed my picks – even if you were only looking to "go the other way."
JR

Boy, did last Saturday's Northwestern-Michigan State game irk me. I really thought the 'Cats would win and upset the No. 8 Spartans. NU fumbled at the 1 in the first quarter and blew a 17-0 lead. MSU took its first lead on a TD with 2:00 left.

But how about another top team (Oklahoma) going down. None of the so-called experts picked Mizzou … nor did they/we pick the Badgers to win in Iowa City.

For Week 8, I went 17-5, losing on OU, NU, Iowa, West Virginia (to Syracuse) and Texas (to Iowa State -- how did this possibly happen?).

I'm 145-39 on the season, remaining one game back of Chip Patterson, who also went 17-5. I passed J. Darin Darst, who went 15-7, and Dennis Dodd, who crashed & burned at 12-10.

Overall standings: Chip 146-38; me 145-39, Darst 144-40, Dodd & Adam Jacobi 141-43 & Jay Horowitz 133-51 … And they kicked me out?!?!?!

On to Week 9
TUESDAY
No. 2 Boise State over Louisiana Tech

THURSDAY
No. 16 Florida State 33, North Carolina State 27

SATURDAY
No. 24 USC 48, No. 1 Oregon 44
No. 3 Auburn over Mississippi
No. 4 TCU over UNLV
No. 18 Iowa 30, No. 5 Michigan State 20
No. 14 Nebraska 44, No. 7 Missouri 30 (Play the over of 55)

No. 8 Utah over Air Force
No. 10 Ohio State over Minnesota
No. 11 Oklahoma over Colorado
No. 13 Stanford over Washington
No. 15 Arizona over UCLA

No. 17 South Carolina over Tennessee
No. 19 Arkansas over Vanderbilt
No. 20 Oklahoma State over Kansas State
No. 22 Miami over Virginia
No. 23 Mississippi State over Kentucky
Texas over No. 25 Baylor

Georgia over Florida (Who would have thought neither would be ranked at this point?)
Central Florida over East Carolina
Texas A&M over Texas

WEEK 8 HANDICAPPING (4-0)
I suggested lay the points in Ohio State 49, Purdue 0 (closed at 24)
 & overs in
Michigan State 35, Northwestern 27 (closed at 51.5)
Stanford 38, Washington State 28 (closed at 64.5)
Nebraska 51, Oklahoma State 41 (closed at 58.5)

I only like one play for the upcoming week (the over in Nebraska-MIzzou). If anything else hits me before Saturday, I'll post below.

Interesting facts: The Longhorns were laying 21, making the Cyclones a nice +975. The Mountaineers were favored by 14 against the Orange.

Wow, did I get my butt kicked in Week 7. I apologize for posting such garbage on here this past week. I went 14-10 – and this was picking games straight up! Uggggh. I guess we’re all allowed to have a bad week, but this was just brutal.

The 14-10 showing makes me 128-34 on the season. The so-called experts are led by Darst, Dodd & Chip at 127-33.

I need to get back on track, so on to Week 8.

THURSDAY
No. 1 Oregon 41, UCLA 23

SATURDAY
No. 3 Oklahoma 33, No. 18 Missouri 28
No. 4 TCU over Air Force
No. 5 Auburn 32, No. 6 LSU 27
No. 7 Alabama over Tennessee
Northwestern over No. 8 Michigan State (Play the over of 53)

No. 9 Utah over Colorado State
No. 13 Iowa 27, No. 10 Wisconsin 20
No. 11 Ohio State over Purdue (Lay the 23.5)
No. 12 Stanford over Washington State (Play the over of 63.5)
No. 14 Nebraska 45, No. 17 Oklahoma State 40 (Play the over of 60)

No. 15 Arizona over Washington
No. 19 South Carolina over Vanderbilt
No. 20 West Virginia over Syracuse
No. 21 Arkansas over Mississippi
No. 22 Texas over Iowa State

No. 23 Virginia Tech over Duke
No. 24 Mississippi State over UAB
No. 25 Miami over North Carolina

Clemson over Georgia Tech
Texas Tech over Colorado
Georgia over Kentucky

WEEK 7 RECAP (14-10)
Losses  on Ohio State (to Wisconsin; yea, I predicted OSU 33-16. Ouch!), Nebraska (to Texas), South Carolina (to Kentucky), Nevada (to Hawaii), Texas Tech (to Oklahoma State), Texas A&M (to Mizzou),  Florida (to Mississippi State), Air Force (to San Diego State), N.C. State (to East Carolina) & Syracuse (to Pitt)

Handicapping: I was 1-2 on my strong plays; I was correct on the over (closed at 54.5) in Iowa 38, Michigan 28, but missed on the over (closed at 48.5) on TCU 31, BYU 3 & was wrong on taking Florida -9.5 in a 10-7 loss to Mississippi State.

In my small plays, I went 1-1, liking the under (closed at 75.5) in Hawaii 27, Nevada 21 & suggesting the over (closed at 50) in Purdue (28-17).

So I even sucked here after nailing six in a row over the previous two weeks.

Dropped three games last week, going 15-3. That makes me 97-19 on the season, remaining tied with J. Darin Darst; Chip Patterson goes 16-2 last week to join us. Meanwhile, CBSSports.com Senior Writer Dennis Dodd still leads among the so-called experts, but he lost five games last week to fall to 98-18.

It's only a matter of time till I go sprinting past these guys – starting with my upset special in Columbia, S.C.

My Week 6 picks

THURSDAY
No. 7 Nebraska 35, Kansas State 23

FRIDAY
No. 22 Oklahoma State over La.-Lafayette

SATURDAY
No. 19 South Carolina 20, No. 1 Alabama 17
No. 2 Ohio State over Indiana
No. 3 Oregon over Washington State
No. 4 Boise State over Toledo
No. 5 TCU over Wyoming

No. 8 Auburn over Kentucky
No. 9 Arizona over Oregon State
No. 10 Utah over Iowa State
Texas A&M over No. 11 Arkansas
No. 14 Florida 17, No. 12 LSU 16 (Yep, I'm predicting a Tigers safety)

No. 13 Miami 30, No. 23 Florida State 24
No. 16 Stanford over USC
No. 18 Michigan 35, No. 17 Michigan State 33
No. 20 Wisconsin over Minnesota (22 points? Too many for this rivaly. Take it)
No. 21 Nevada over San Jose State

No. 24 Missouri over Colorado
No. 25 Air Force over Colorado State

Georgia over Tennessee
North Carolina over Clemson
Cal over UCLA

WEEK 5 RECAP (15-3)
Lost on USC to Washington (Trojan fans can't be too happy), N.C. State to Va. Tech (I did say take the 4 points) & Boston College to Notre Dame (I said take the 3 points).

As for the handicapping, I was on fire last week, going 5-0!!! (Why wasn’t I in Vegas???): I suggested taking the points with the Hokies & Irish mentioned above and I hit the overs in Oklahoma-Texas, MSU-Wisconsin & Michigan-IU. Unfortunately, there weren’t many things that caught my eye for Week 6, only liking the 22 points in Minnesota-Wisconsin.