Weekly NFL and College Football Picks
Fearless Rick & Coin Flip Week 10 NFL Football Picks
Week 9 Results: Rick: 8-6; Flip: 7-7
Thursday, November 6
Las Vegas Raiders at Denver Broncos (-9, 43) 8:15 pm - First place (7-2) Broncos hosting last place (2-6) Vegas in an AFC West divisional game seems like a perfect time to catch the Broncos on a high note, winners of six straight, with the visitors coming in off a troubling, 30-29 OT loss to Jacksonville.
The Raiders traded wideout Jakobi Meyers to Jacksonville, opening up the possibility of a two tight end offense. Las Vegas has one win in its last seven games, and that was against NFL punching bag, Tennessee, but their defense is not awful, and Denver has a habit of winning close games late.
Coin Flip: Las Vegas
Fearless Rick’s Pick: Broncos 17 Raiders 13
Atlanta Falcons vs Indianapolis Colts (-7, 48.5) (Berlin, Germany), 9:30 am - One thing is certain about the Falcons: they are about as predictable as an earthquake. Thy win games they’re supposed to lose and lose those they should win. Last week they lost, but covered against New England, 24-23.
Playing at Indiana and a revamped defense might be more than the Falcons can handle. The Colts lost at Pittsburgh last week, 27-20, dropping them to 7-2, still 1 1/2 up on 5-3 Jacksonville in the AFC South. They’re 5-0 at home, a trend that should continue.
Coin Flip: Atlanta
Fearless Rick’s Pick: Colts 27 Falcons 17
Looks fairly academic. The Panthers are playing solid defense and growing confidence, especially after knocking of the Pakcers in Green Bay last week, 16-13.
Coin Flip: Carolina
Fearless Rick’s Pick: Panthers 35 Saints 10
The Bears are just 2-1 at home with a favorable schedule of home games upcoming. The Giants are hurting, though Jaxson Dart continues to impress. This contest between two young teams could be close, so the points may come in handy.
Coin Flip: Chicago
Fearless Rick’s Pick: Bears 26 Giants 23
Jacksonville topped the Texans, 17-10, back in Week 3, so a home-and-home return victory might save Houston’s season.
Coin Flip: Jacksonville
Fearless Rick’s Pick: Texans 23 Jaguars 17
It needs repeating that this is a divisional contest, with the home team getting excess points, not a condition to take lightly. Buffalo prevailed over the Dolphins back in Week Three, 31-21, and they appear to be moving in a positive direction. The Bills also would like to retake first place in the division, currently held by New England.
Coin Flip: Miami
Fearless Rick’s Pick: Bills 34 Dolphins 20
Not sold on the idea that the Ravens can continue making progress toward capturing the AFC North at this stop. At 3-5, it appears to be their best opportunity to make the playoffs. A loss here doesn’t exactly ruin their chances, because they have the Browns, Jets, and Bengals next up on their schedule before a December 7 game against the Steelers, in Baltimore.
Coin Flip: Minnesota
Fearless Rick’s Pick: Vikings 34 Ravens 31
The Jets are home and won last week at Cincinnati, 39-38. Can they make it two in a row? This is the NFL. Stranger things have happened.
Coin Flip: Cleveland
Fearless Rick’s Pick: Jets 21 Browns 14
New England has been a pleasant surprise this season under Mike Vrable and have won six in a row. Should be a bang-up contest.
Coin Flip: Tampa Bay
Fearless Rick’s Pick: Patriots 27 Buccaneers 25
This is different. The Seahawks are tied with the Rams in the NFC West and despite winning at Arizona earlier by a narrow 23-20 margin, Seattle is a serious contender for a trip to the Super Bowl.
Coin Flip: Seattle
Fearless Rick’s Pick: Seahawks 34 Cardinals 21
It would surprise nobody if this was another tight game, though the Rams’ defense has been stingy of late allowing just 20 points total over their last three wins - at Baltimore, Jacksonville, New Orleans. Scoring could be an issue on both sides.
Coin Flip: San Francisco
Fearless Rick’s Pick: 49ers 20 Rams 17
Might be a blowout.
Coin Flip: Washington
Fearless Rick’s Pick: Lions 38 Commanders 17
The 6-3 Chargers will have only three more home games after this, so getting a win is an imperative, but it surely won’ be easy.
Coin Flip: Los Angeles Chargers
Fearless Rick’s Pick: Chargers 26 Steelers 22
Philadelphia Eagles at Green Bay Packers (-3, 45) 8:15 pm - Eagles come off a bye with a three game lead in the NFC East and seem to have gotten their offense in gear lately.
Green Bay (5-3-1) holds a slim lead in the NFC Central, but the division is really p for grabs. Solid game, but the Eagles appear to be doing better at present.
Coin Flip: Green Bay
Fearless Rick’s Pick: Eagles 28 Packers 18
Cumulative: Rick: 64-71; Flip: 72-63
Sunday, November 9
New Orleans Saints at Carolina Panthers (-5.5, 40) 1:00 pm - New Orleans is 1-8, and of their losses, the smallest margin was five points and the last two road games they’ve lost by 12 and 24 points.
New York Giants at Chicago Bears (-4.5, 47) 1:00 pm - Yikes, there are a load of home favorites that appear extremely capable, the Bears being one of those. Chicago, at 5-3, is playoff hopeful and they’ve won five of their last six.
Jacksonville Jaguars (-1.5, 37.5) at Houston Texans 1:00 pm - Houston urgently needs a win, and getting a home win over a divisional rival could be a catalyst toward a better second half of the season.
Buffalo Bills (-9.5, 50) at Miami Dolphins 1:00 pm - The Dolphins shouldn’t really be allowed on the same field as the Bills, who are coming off a big win over the Chiefs, 28-21, last week and should be up to winning their third straight.
Baltimore Ravens (-4, 49) at Minnesota Vikings 1:00 pm - Not sure what the oddsmakers were thinking when they put the Ravens up as favorites on the road. After all, the Vikings got J.J. McCarthy back behind center, Aaron Jones rushing, and upended the Lions last week, 27-24, in Detroit.
Cleveland Browns (-2.5, 37.5) at New York Jets 1:00 pm - Realistically, this is not a game upon which one should wager anything more than the cost of a Wendy’s burger. Both teams are going nowhere, but, in the case of the Jets, they dealt a few key players away before the trade deadline - Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams - so they’ve given up on this season in favor of high draft picks the next two years.
New England Patriots at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-3, 48.5) 1:00 pm - Without Bucky Irving in the backfield and wideouts Chris Godwin and Mike Evans out, QB Baker Mayfield has limited options, but they’re currently 1 1/2 up on Carolina in the NFC West and they find ways to win.
Arizona Cardinals at Seattle Seahawks (-6.5, 45) 4:05 pm - On display last Monday in the Cardinals’ 27-23 win over the Cowboys was two mediocre teams that are probably not playoff-bound.
Los Angeles Rams (-4, 49.5) at San Francisco 49ers 4:25 pm - These two met just over a month ago (October 2nd) and the 49ers scraped by with a 26-23 win in overtime.
Detroit Lions (-8, 49.5) at Washington Commanders 4:25 pm - With Jayden Daniels out and a bunch of other players injured or questionable, the future doesn’t look very promising for the Commanders. They’ve lost for straight and the Lions are looking for a win after losing to Minnesota last week, 27-24.
Pittsburgh Steelers at Los Angeles Chargers (-3, 45) 8:20 pm - Steelers and Aaron Rodgers have been surprisingly solid, last week taking down the Colts, 27-20.
Monday, November 10
BYE: Bengals, Cowboys, Titans, Chiefs
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Fearless Rick & Coin Flip Week 11 College Football Picks
Week 10 Results: Rick: 3-8-1; Flip: 8-3-1
Friday, November 7
Northwestern at 19 USC (-14, 51) 9:00 pm (FOX) - The Trojans are 4-1 in the conference and 6-2 overall, with a perfect 4-0 home mark. They’re on the outside looking in at the post-season, unless Indiana or Ohio State lose a game, a pros[ect that appears less likely each week.
What the Wildcats lack on offense, they make up with on defense. They’ve allowed just 16.8 points per game. However, last week’s 28-21 loss at Nebraska cost the head coach his job. They have an uphill battle against the Trojans, whose 505.9 yards per game is tops in the Big Ten.
Coin Flip: Northwestern
Fearless Rick’s Pick: Trojans 31 Wildcats 16
Tulane come in off an ugly, 48-26 loss at UTSA. Trouble brewing against the high-scoring Tigers.
Coin Flip: Tulane
Fearless Rick’s Pick: Tigers 38 Green Wave 23
2 Indiana (-14.5, 50) at Penn State 12:00 pm (FOX) - Penn State was able to sustain some drives in the first half last week in their 38-14 loss to the Buckeyes, but it was hardly enough.
Indiana leads the nation in scoring at 46.4 points per game and they’ve shown no signs of slowing down.
Coin Flip: Indiana
Fearless Rick’s Pick: Hoosiers 45 Nittany Lions 17
Mississippi State has four SEC losses, but only one - a 31-9 whipping by Texas A&M has been by more than one score. At home, they can keep this one close and possibly upset the invading dogs. A real dogfight.
Coin Flip: Georgia
Fearless Rick’s Pick: Mississippi State Bulldogs 28 Georgia Bulldogs 24
The Red Raiders have lost only once, a 26-22 setback at Arizona State and are coming off a very convincing, 43-20, win at Kansas State, but the Cougars are undefeated (8-0) and won big at Iowa State, 41-27, so they should hang right in there. Hugh game which could go either way.
Coin Flip: Texas Tech
Fearless Rick’s Pick: Cougars 34 Red Raiders 32
Last seen blowing away LSU in the swamp, 49-25, A&M simply has too much offense for the Mizzou.
Coin Flip: Missouri
Fearless Rick’s Pick: Aggies 38 Tigers 21
The Ducks have not impressed voters sufficiently to move them to the upper echelons of the rankings and being on the road puts them at a serious disadvantage.
Coin Flip: Oregon
Fearless Rick’s Pick: Hawkeyes 24 Ducks 17
Four of Auburn’s five losses have been to ranked SEC foes, and all have been one-score games except tfor their 20-10 loss to Georgia. The defense should keep them in this one and maybe the offense can find a way to win it late.
Coin Flip: Auburn
Fearless Rick’s Pick: Tigers 23 Commodores 21
At issue here is Virginia’s sometimes open defense, which Wake can exploit. The Deacons have played well against some of the best ACC teams and this is an old-fashioned Tobacco Road rivalry. Despite last week’s 42-7 loss at Florida State, Wake Forest could easily upset here.
Coin Flip: Wake Forest
Fearless Rick’s Pick: Cavaliers 27 Demon Deacons 24
The Cardinals have plenty of offense and occasionally show up on defense. The huge spread is much to ask of them, however.
Coin Flip: Louisville
Fearless Rick’s Pick: Cardinals 34 Golden Bears 23
LSU usually puts up a good fight in these contests, but this is clearly not their year.
Coin Flip: Alabama
Fearless Rick’s Pick: Crimson Tide 34 Tigers 20
Last season, the Middies were unbeaten when they met the Irish, but the result wasn’t pretty, a 51-14, turnover-filled loss. The coaches and players who were part of that game surely haven’t forgotten and will emphasize ball security and field position. They may not win, but a blowout seems unlikely for 7-1 Navy.
Coin Flip: Navy
Fearless Rick’s Pick: Fighting Irish 31 Midshipmen 17
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Cumulative Results: Rick: 52-70-4; Flip: 66-56-4
Tulane at Memphis (-3.5, 54.5) 9:00 pm (ESPN) - Both teams have just one loss in the American Conference, but the Tigers have superior firepower on offense and can limit opponents effectively. Home field helps their chances.
Saturday, November 8
5 Georgia (-9.5, 57.5) at Mississippi State 12:00 pm (ESPN) - The Georgia Bulldogs have had just three road games this season, including last week’s 24-20 win in Jacksonville over Florida. The other two were a 44-41 win at Tennessee and a 20-10 victory at Auburn.
7 BYU at 8 Texas Tech (-10, 53) 12:00 pm (ABC) - Playoff implications galore as the loser of this contest is likely to fall short of the field of 12 for the national championship tournament.
3 Texas A&M (-6.5, 47.5) at 22 Missouri 3:30 pm (ABC) - Missouri has a very good football team, but they’ve proven no match for the SEC elite and none are more elite this season than the Aggies, who have a national championship-like swagger about them.
9 Oregon (-6.5, 43) at 20 Iowa 3:30 pm (CBS) - Outside of Ohio State, Iowa probably has the best defense in the country and their offense is on the improve. Two losses were to Iowa State, 16-13, and Indiana, 20-15, so they are as.ready a bunch as can be found.
Auburn at 16 Vanderbilt (-7, 46) 4:00 pm (SECN) - Last week’s 34-31 loss at Texas may have cost the Commodores a trip to the national playoffs, but they are still a high-quality team with significant upside potential. The season is far from over, so winning their remaining games is of paramount importance.
Wake Forest at 14 Virginia (-7, 47.5) 7:00 pm (ESPN) - The Cavaliers were upset, 35-31, at NC State back in September, but have strung together seven straight wins since them and exhibit a never-say-die attitude.
California at 15 Louisville (-18, 51) 7:00 pm (ESPN2) - The Cal Bears aren’t nearly the worst team in the ACC - far from it, but, they may not be able to get the Louisville offense off the field often enough to stay competitive in this contest.
LSU at 4 Alabama (-9, 50) 7:30 pm (ABC) - Sorry to say, but the Tigers are in disarray, while the Crimson Tide keeps rolling along. Wins by the Tide over Georgia, Vanderbilt, Missouri, and Tennessee - all ranked - have them set up for the SEC championship game and the national playoffs.
Navy at 10 Notre Dame (-26, 55.5) 7:30 pm (NBC) - The Irish lost their first two games of the season - 27-24 at Miami and 41-40 vs. Texas A&M, two quality opponents. Since then, they’ve won six straight and appeared dominant doing so.