It's the Football, Stupid

Get your bets ready...here's the winners (and losers) this week:

Fairmont Senior 45 - Elkins 17: FSHS wins big and still drops to #2 in the state? Sometimes there's no justice. But that's a number. One or two doesn't matter...finishing in the Top 2 will give them homefield throughout the playoffs. The Polar Bears destroy an undermanned Elkins squad.

Morgantown 24 - Brooke 20: Big upset. Brooke is the #1 team in the state and safely in the playoffs while Morgantown is fighting to stay in the playoff hunt. This would be a huge win for Morgantown on the road if they can actually pull it off.

Cincinnati 28 - South Florida 21: Big East matchup between the two undefeated teams on Thursday night. Good game. Cincinnati has too much fire power for South Florida but you have to admit that USF's determination since the loss of Grothe has been impressive. The Bearcats win as they defend their Big East crown.

Oklahoma 35 - Texas 24: There's a rumor out that Colt McCoy might be injured. Mack Brown says there's no truth to it. Either way, Oklahoma pulls a huge upset and rights their ship. Bob Stoops wins the big, non-bowl games and this is no different. Oklahoma comes in with a chip on their shoulder and finds a way to stop the Longhorns' offense and wins this game.

USC 42 - Notre Dame 17: The demise of the Trojans has been greatly exaggerated. This is still one of the best defenses in the country and look for Matt Barkley to find his rhythm against the "lucky" Irish. Notre Dame has just been squeaking by opponents to create buzz for this matchup. The buzz dies quickly in South Bend this weekend.

And three games that I actually care about:

Steelers 24 - Browns 9: I don't know if Pittsburgh has righted the ship or not but it doesn't matter against the Browns. Cleveland is bad. Real bad. If Pittsburgh even shows up for the game, they win. That's how bad Cleveland is.

East Fairmont 14 - Preston 6: Can East Fairmont score 2 touchdowns? Maybe. They actually performed decently against RCB last week. If they can bring some of that momentum into this game, they should squeak by the Knights. Rain and snow are in the forecast so expect a low scoring affair.

WVU 52 - Marshall 24: West Virginia outmans the Thundering Herd just about everywhere. The attempts to build up this game as some great rivalry will be squashed early and often in this game. Noel Devine runs up a good 200+ yards and WVU doesn't turn the ball over and squishes Marshall in their preparation for the Big East schedule.