New year, new coach, same results for Notre Dame football. The Golden Domer’s record drops to 1-2 after a stomp on the balls 34-31 overtime loss to Michigan State. David Ruffer’s 33-yard field goal gave the Irish a 31-28 OT lead, and things were looking up for ND after the defense held the Spartans to a 46-yard field goal attempt. That’s when Michigan St. introduced Notre Dame to the “Little Giant” aka their fake field goal. Holder and punter Aaron Bates took the snap and then hit Charlie Gantt for the 29-yard game-winning TD. Exactly like they drew it up.. Minus the part about the first option being covered.

The East Carolina Pirates trailed the Tulsa Golden Hurricane 49-45 with five seconds remaining in the game when Pirates quarterback Dominique Davis connected with Justin Jones for a 33-yard game-winning Hail Mary. The 51-49 win is the first for ECU head coach Ruffin McNeill who last served as defensive coordinator and interim head coach for Texas Tech. Judging by the score of the game McNeill hasn’t gone over the finer points of defense with his new team. Thankfully the 6-8 Jones was waiting in the end zone to pull in the victory for McNeill and ECU.

Haiku is an unrhymed, syllabic form adapted from the Japanese: three lines of five, seven and five syllables. Because it is so brief, a haiku is necessarily imagistic, concrete and pithy, capturing a single moment in a very few words. I believe this is adaptable to the world of sports because the most mesmerizing of moments seem to happen in the briefest of seconds. These three short lines have the potential to define a game, player, or sport as much as any single unforgettable play.

Haiku:
The new Notre Dame?

BYU going indie

Spreading Mormon cheer
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Brett Phelps is a regular writer for The Golden Sombrero who splits most of his time between the Land of Enchantment and the Biggest Little City in the World and contributes weekly to You Been Blinded. Known in other circles as Slo-Mo and Captain Buck Nasty, he is a wandering gypsy and amateur conspiracy theorist. He likes skiing, getting thrown out of sporting events, and long walks on the beach. He hates being in handcuffs, as this is usually a sign he will spend the night in jail. Any questions, comments, concerns, love or hate mail can be sent to him at brettsta04@yahoo.com

Two weeks ago I almost went perfect with my 12 picks. I posted a 10-2 mark and felt pretty damn good about myself. Then last week happened. I almost went perfect again. Detroit Lions 2008-09 perfect. I went 1-11 and can’t make any excuses. I sucked. This week I swear I’ll win at least two games.

South Florida +7.5 at UConn

West Virginia -2.5 at Rutgers

Fresno State +3 at Illinois

New Mexico State +47.5 at Boise State

Arizona +7 at USC

California -7 at Washington

Cincinnati -2.5 at Pittsburgh

Wisconsin -12 at Hawaii

Houston -3 at East Carolina

Florida -5.5 at Alabama

Georgia Tech Pick at Clemson

Texas -14 at Nebraska

The college football regular season is almost over and we’re nearing the time when Boise St. and or TCU get screwed out of playing for the national championship. I’d like to see a 16-game playoff but that’s for another time. This is about picks.

I caught some lucky breaks with the lines and late touchdowns to go 10-2 last week. I had South Florida -11.5 and they won 34-22. I had Oregon State -31.5 and they won 42-10. Iowa St. +15 and LSU +4.5 were the only dogs I picked and both covered even with Les Miles being a Google-certified idiot.

Here are my picks in bold type. Enjoy your turkey.

Texas -21 at Texas A&M

Pittsburgh Pick at West Virginia

Wyoming +3 at Colorado State

Temple -2.5 at Ohio

Memphis +16.5 at Tulsa

Nevada +14 at Boise State

Wake Forest -4.5 at Duke

Tennessee -3 at Kentucky

Marshall +1.5 at UTEP

Florida State +24.5 at Florida

Notre Dame +10 at Stanford

UCLA +13 at USC

If you need some help with your NFL picks check out my picks or watch The Shaw from BetUS:

We’ve only got a couple of weeks left in the college football regular season. This is week 12 for the collegians but only week two for my college football picks. I went 7-5 last week. Don’t expect the same this week.

Tim Brown joins us via BetUs to break down the Oregon-Arizona game. I’ll give my picks after the video.

My winners are in bold type.

Akron +10.5 at Bowling Green

Louisville +11.5 at South Florida

Iowa State +15 at Missouri

Kent +10.5 at Temple

TCU -31 at Wyoming

Penn State -3 at Michigan State

California +7.5 at Stanford

LSU +4.5 at Mississippi

Oregon State -31.5 at Washington State

Colorado State -4 at New Mexico

Kansas +28 at Texas

Hawaii -3 at San Jose State

If you’re looking for a little help with your NFL picks you can lean on The Shaw who’s been hot lately:

I’ve been handing out some average NFL picks so I figured it’s time to prove I can be equally as mediocre with my college football picks.

Here are some videos of college and football picks before I get to the guaranteed goldmine also known as my college football picks.

If you’re looking for some NFL picks check out the Shaw:

My picks are in bold type.

Temple -4 at Akron

West Virginia +9.5 at Cincinnati

Northwestern +5 at Illinois

Syracuse +7.5 at Louisville

Iowa +16.5 at Ohio State

Michigan +8.5 at Wisconsin

Florida State +5 at Wake Forest

Texas -23.5 at Baylor

Notre Dame +6.5 at Pittsburgh

Florida -18 at South Carolina

Stanford +10.5 at USC

Arizona -3 at California

The Oregon Ducks beat Oklahoma State 42-31 to win the Holiday Bowl in San Diego using a physical running game and the two best plays came at the expense of OSU’s Quinton Moore. Quarterback Jeremiah Masoli ran over Moore on his way to a 41-yard touchdown, and running back LeGarrette Blount jumped over Moore on his way to the game sealing score.

You’d think a guy that goes 230 like Blount does would run through guys instead of jumping over them, but he leaves that to his quarterback Jeremiah Masoli.

• Freshman defensive end Emmanuel Livingston arrested for aggravated assault

Disputes between members of a football team are common during intense practices. There are instances such as Carolina Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith punching teammate Ken Lucas, or Steve Smith punching a teammate during a film session, or pretty much any situation involving Steve Smith and a teammate, but you get the point. Fights happen.

The Eastern Arizona College football time had a skirmish at practice result in an off the field aggravated assault charge. Defensive end Emmanuel Livingston was still pissed off about something that happened at practice when he encountered his teammate and took action.

From the Eastern Arizona Courier:

EAC Police were dispatched to the Mount Graham Regional Medical Center around 8:20 p.m. and made contact with the victim. He told the police Livingston approached him as he was leaving the dorm and they had a verbal confrontation that had been instigated during football practice earlier in the day. He said Livingston then grabbed his neck and choked him as he threw him against a wall.

Livingston tried to lie to the cops about being involved in a fight, and he got two witnesses to support his story. The police eventually broke the witsnitches and learned what really went down.

After initially hearing conflicting accounts from the witnesses, both admitted to seeing Livingston choke the victim with one hand while pinning him against the wall. They said the victim passed out and fell onto the concrete patio floor. Officers noted a large amount of dried blood on the concrete approximately 25 feet from the entrance to the dorm.

To tell the truth, the victim got off lucky. If this had happened at a high school in West Virginia he would’ve been choked until he passed out and when he woke up his ankles and wrists would’ve been duct taped.

• Florida St. Head Coach Bobby Bowden yells at a referee during halftime of FSU’s 26-17 victory over N.C. State

Bobby Bowden was pissed off about the holding calls going against Florida State in the first half, and had to let the referee know it before being interviewed by Erin Andrews.

We all know what’s going on here. Bobby was showin’ out because EA was in the house. He wanted to prove to the young lass that he’s still got it, in case, you know, she was wondering.

And apparently N.C. State didn’t pray enough, if at all, during halftime. Coach Bowden’s halftime mass helped FSU rally from a 10-6 halftime deficit to a 26-17 victory. Praise FreeShoes.