We had a pretty good week as a panel, considering college games have become a real challenge the last few weeks. We did much better than Oklahoma, Missouri and LSU, the Nos. 1,3, and 4 teams in the nation according to the AP poll. They all lost. I took over the sole lead in the overall picking (55-15), following a 9-1 card, in which I missed Texas upsetting top-ranked Oklahoma, but did catch No. 11 Florida over No. 4 LSU and Mississippi State over No. 13 Vanderbilt. Jim Cushion, fell out of a tie for the top with misses on the Texas, LSU and Mississippi State wins, to go 7-3. Kerry Naylor, Christina Pryor and guest picker Fred Miller (Way to go Fred!) all were 8-2. Pryor matched me with the pick of Mississippi State over Vanderbilt, but muffed on Florida and Texas. Christina is tied with Cushion for the number two spot overall where both are 53-17 Both Fred Miller (8-2) and Kerry Naylor (8-2) missed the Oklahoma and LSU losses. Kerry Webster (48-22) missed on all three of his Lone Ranger picks and finished the week 5-5. The combined guests are now 49-21. Thanks for taking the time and consideration Fred Miller.
\nThis week our guest picker is Kellie Goodman, former Sports Director and Tyrone favorite at WTAJ-TV, and now Marketing Director as well as manager of the Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Association and the East West All-Star Football Game. Good luck, Kellie!
\nLewistown at Tyrone: Two teams definitely headed in opposites directions. Lewistown is winless and several other schools who have only one win can claim it against the Panthers, who haven\u2019t had a truly winning season since the middle 1970s. The Eagles have this week at home against Lewistown, and next week at Penns Valley, before what shapes up to be the game of the year in the MAFC against undefeated Central. Mark Mingle proved last week he is back from injury to team up with fleet-footed tailback Larry Glace and super passer Levi Reihart to give Tyrone one more offensive threat. The Eagle defense has allowed just three TDs other than the 35-34 thriller that they dropped to Clearfield.
\nThe picks: Miller Tyrone 45-0, Kerry Webster Tyrone 42-12, Kerry Naylor Tyrone 48-0, Jim Cushion Tyrone 42-0, Christina Pryor Tyrone 41-7, Kellie Goodman Tyrone 35-7.
\nJuniata Valley at Bellwood-Antis: On paper, this shouldn\u2019t be much of a ballgame, but then neither should last week\u2019s 21-14 B-A victory over Glendale that the Blue Devils just managed to escape with. Don\u2019t think John Hayes will let his players have that happen twice in a row. Valley was expected to have their usual super year under Mike Smith, who has taken the Hornets into the playoffs four years running. A slow start in which the Hornets won their first, but then dropped four straight have derailed that idea and Juniata Valley is fighting for a winning season, something impossible without a win over Bellwood-Antis this week.
\nThe picks: Miller Bellwood-Antis 35-7, Kerry Webster Bellwood-Antis 21-0, Kerry Naylor Bellwood-Antis 47-15, Jim Cushion Bellwood-Antis 35-20, Christina Pryor Bellwood-Antis 24-7, Kellie Goodman Bellwood-Antis 31-7.
\nPenns Valley at Bellefonte: This game was the opener for these teams for some time, but with schedules and league commitments, is a non-divisional game with the Raiders in the Seven Mountains and Penns Valley in the Nittany. Minus 22 seniors who graduated, Valley has been slow to get any momentum going, with only a week four win against Lewistown, although the start of the season, with close losses to Central (13-12) and BEA (14-11) held hopes that haven\u2019t come through. Bellefonte opened with a wins against St. Marys (24-20) and Brookville (33-0), but have only a win over P-O since.
\nThe picks: Miller Bellefonte, Kerry Webster Bellefonte, Kerry Naylor Bellefonte, Jim Cushion Bellefonte, Christina Pryor Bellefonte, Kellie Goodman Bellefonte.
\nMount Union at Northern Bedford: Mount Union (4-0, 6-1) handled Everett easily for one threat for the ICC South Division last week and now has another in once-beaten Panthers (3-1, 5-2). Everett shutout Northern 15-0 in week three, then Mount Union romped over Everett 28-12 last week. Trojans can\u2019t afford to look ahead to meeting Bellwood-Antis next week.
\nThe picks: Miller Mount Union, Kerry Webster Mount Union, Kerry Naylor Mount Union, Jim Cushion Mount Union, Christina Pryor Mount Union, Kellie Goodman Mount Union.
\nCentral at Clearfield: The first of three toughies for undefeated Central Dragons, with games following against St. Marys and Tyrone. Central has been proving they have it all on offense and defense. With the help of a dynamic offense, Clearfield has been scoring in bunches and pulling out games with big scores like those of the American Football League, for those of us old enough to remember before they joined the NFL. Bisons have scored at least 28 points in every game, and have given up at least 20 in five of seven.
\nThe picks: Miller Clearfield, Kerry Webster Clearfield, Kerry Naylor Clearfield, Jim Cushion Clearfield, Christina Pryor Clearfield, Kellie Goodman Central.
\nMercyhurst at IUP: Mercyhurst, a school near Erie, in its initial year in the PSAC is undefeated (4-0, 5-2) in the West Division. IUP is 0-2 in the PSAC West and 4-2 overall, and all but eliminated from post-season NCAA Division II playoff hopes. IUP must win out and get a lot of help from several teams to qualify. Crimson Hawks (not the Indians anymore) scored 17 points in a span of under seven minutes to tie Edinboro last Saturday, only to fall victim of a 55-yard TD pass on fourth down in a 24-17 loss.
\nThe picks: Miller IUP, Kerry Webster IUP, Kerry Naylor IUP, Jim Cushion IUP, Christina Pryor IUP, Kellie Goodman IUP.
\nMissouri at Texas: Texas is the new No. 1 team in the nation, after knocking off the previous top dog last week, while Missouri formerly No. 3, was falling to Oklahoma State, with the Cowboys going to 6-0 for only the second time since 1945. Missouri hasn\u2019t beaten Longhorns in Austin, since 1896, and are 1-13 against Texas since 1931. Can Colt McCoy and the Longhorns keep their place at the top. Missouri will be looking for a piece of the action and Texas has no time to enjoy their spoils.
\nThe picks: Miller Missouri, Kerry Webster Texas, Kerry Naylor Missouri, Jim Cushion Texas, Christina Pryor Texas, Kellie Goodman Texas.
\nPitt at Navy: Pitt (4-1) was off last week with one of three bye weeks in a long and strange season after upsetting South Florida, ranked No. 10 at the time. LaSean McCoy had his second straight 100-yard rushing game, after not getting one for the Panthers first three games, and QB Bill Stull threw for 228 yards and a TD. Pitt does have an offense, something we were not real sure of earlier. Navy (4-1) has played all but one game with only a 10-point spread or less, but has demonstrated ability to score, averaging slightly over 30 points per game.
\nThe picks: Miller Pitt 30-17, Kerry Webster Navy 28-20, Kerry Naylor Pitt 23-13, Jim Cushion Pitt 12-7, Christina Pryor, Pitt 34-17, Kellie Goodman Navy 24-20.
\nMichigan at Penn State: Michigan has won nine straight against Nittany Lions. New Wolverine coach Rich Rodriguez has admitted 2008 to be tougher than expected. This Saturday (4:30 p.m. start), Rodriguez may find out exactly how tough it can be. Penn State has an offense that has averaged loads of points and yards, and a \u201cno-name\u201d defense that has given just 11 points a game. Where ever JoePa coaches from, this one should be a bit of make up for the past nine years.
\nThe picks: Miller Penn State 35-14, Kerry Webster Penn State 42-14, Kerry Naylor Penn State 41-14, Jim Cushion Penn State 30-20, Christina Pryor Penn State 49-10, Kellie Goodman Penn State 48-13
\nSteelers at Bengals: Steelers should be healthier than last couple games, and winless Bengals just aren\u2019t very good this year. That said, Steelers need to guard against a let-down. The game must be won on the field, and now is not the time to let up. Big Ben has had some time to rest his beaten-up body, although his performance never let you know he was hurting! Ground game has to help out (translation-the offensive line has to do better). Defense is a must, but also the one rock-solid part of the Steelers game that has never let up from start to finish.
\nThe picks: Miller Steelers 28-22, Kerry Webster Steelers 28-7, Kerry Naylor Steelers 31-21, Jim Cushion Steelers 24-17, Christina Pryor Steelers 35-6, Kellie Goodman Steelers 28-20.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We had a pretty good week as a panel, considering college games have become a real challenge the last few weeks. We did much better than Oklahoma, Missouri and LSU, the Nos. 1,3, and 4 teams in the nation according to the AP poll. They all lost. I took over the sole lead in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area","category-excerpts-from-the-tyrone-daily-herald"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6227\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}