Pea-Pickin' Picks Oct 5

Reward: No questions asked. Your name will remain a secret. If anybody has any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the criminal who stole The Great Stumpola’s Crystal Ball please contact Varsity Sports Media.

What a shame. I plead insanity. There was a full moon. The games were fixed. I received bad information on some of the teams. I worked too much on basketball this week. My wife yelled at me all week that I was a bad husband. Well, I might have deserved that. My credit card declined my latest payment to CoachFran.com and I didn’t get the tips I needed from Texas A&M coach Dennis Franchione. I listened to Boomer. I believed what Terry Bradshaw said. Why, why, why would I take advice from Michael Ervin? He’s a nice guy and has worked at the same gas station for years. Nevertheless, what does he know about football? I guess I started believing I really was good at picking games. It was a bad week. Both of my bosses bragged on me.

I should have seen this coming.

What else can I say? How did I pick Brainerd over Austin East, Cookeville over Cleveland, McCallie over Ensworth, Pope John Paul over BGA, Cordova over Arlington and Polk County over Sweetwater to go 25-10 in the preps?

I’m sorry that is not up to my standards.

Not to mention, I took Clemson over Georgia Tech, Alabama over Florida, Florida over Auburn (I’m glad I missed that pick), and the worst of all, Chattanooga over the Citadel.

I’m totally embarrassed. Four wins and four losses in the college games will not get you anywhere but the unemployment line.

Actually, five wins and two losses in the professional games wasn’t too bad when you consider Atlanta over Houston and Oakland over Miami weren’t bad choices.

But I vow to do better this week or my name isn’t The Great Stumpola.

Even David Pachal beat me last week.

However, I don’t have my Crystal Ball and I have more dodges than Chrysler.

It’s going to be tough, but as my coach used to say, “When the going gets tough you need to do something to make a statement.”So, here goes. It’s “Redemption Weekend” and I have decided to make this week’s picks in the nude in an effort to chase the evil sprits away that have taken my Crystal Ball.

Hey, don’t knock it until you try it. And just hope nobody opens the door to my office until I make all of the Pea-Pickin’ Picks in memory of Tennessee Ernie Ford.

I feel like the 16 tons he used to sing about are all on my shoulders.
I need a winning week as bad as Phillip Fulmer and his Tennessee Vols do in Knoxville on Saturday.

Record for year: 205-73

PREPS
Knoxville Catholic over Anderson County
Boyd Buchanan over Bledsoe County
Ooltewah over Bradley Central
Cleveland over Chattanooga Central
Lookout Valley over Grace
Silverdale over David Brainerd
Elizabethton over Sullivan
East William Blount over Farragut
Father Ryan over Knoxville Webb
Knoxville West over Lenoir City
Maryville over Knoxville Central
McCallie over Baylor
McMinn County over Oak Ridge
Morristown East over Morristown West
Howard over Polk County
Red Bank over Brainerd
Bearden over Science Hill
Sullivan South over Sullivan Central
South Pittsburg over Whitwell
Antioch over Gallatin
Austin-East over Livingston Academy
Franklin County over Coffee County
MBA over Ensworth
Ezell-Harding over CPA
Franklin over Brentwood
Goodpasture over East Robertson
Jo Byrns over Eagleville
Maplewood over Lawrence County
Mt. Pleasant over Collinwood
MUS over Cookeville
Pearl Cohn over DeKalb County
Brentwood Academy over Pope John Paul
Ravenwood over Columbia
Tullahoma over Shelbyville
CBHS over Briarcrest
Collierville over Houston
Kingsbury over Fairley
Whitehaven over Hamilton
Henry County over Jackson Central-Merry
Jackson Northside over Hardin County
Jackson South Side over Fayette Ware
Melrose over Memphis Northside
White Station over Kirby
Wooddale over Germantown

COLLEGE
Tennessee over Georgia
LSU over Florida
Arkansas over Chattanooga
Auburn over Vanderbilt
Carson-Newman over Mars Hill
Ole Miss over Louisiana Tech
Oklahoma over Texas
Alabama over Houston
Middle Tennessee State over Virginia
Tennessee Tech over Austin Peay

PRO
Tennessee over Atlanta
Dallas over Buffalo
Green Bay over Chicago
Denver over San Diego