Presto's Picks-- Conference Calamity...

College Football's Show Me Month wraps up this weekend as most conferences wrap up the non-league portion of their schedules... and it can't come too soon for the ACC. The League that pillaged the Big East is 18-11 outside its membership with more than a few bad (make that BAD) losses... and I'm not even counting Duke's 62-13 whitewashing by #1 Alabama. This year's rogues gallery: Florida State coughed up 47 points at Oklahoma... Wake Forest allowed 68 at Stanford... and Virginia Tech was shocked at home by James Madison (?). By comparison, the Big Twelve (soon to be ten) is 27-5, the Big Ten/Eleven (soon to be twelve) is 26-6, the Pac-Ten is 20-9 and the SEC is 19-3. Thank goodness for the Big East (12-10). Once again, any national title talk has evaporated as only Boston College and North Carolina State are unbeaten-- and only Miami's ranked in the top 25.


Alma Mater Update-- Syracuse's road to redemption continues with a Saturday matinee against old-school rival Colgate. My cousin Preston Williams (voted #5 uncle as a wildcard last year in my family favorite rankings) attended the upstate New York college in the 1950's and told me of tales about how he and his fraternity brothers would venture to the SU campus, kidnap random students and shave a "C" in their head. Good mischief in the 50's-- now probably 5 to 10 years in a maximum security facility.


Maryland entertains Florida International...looking to restore the early confidence it gained from wins over Navy and Morgan State. The offensive line is banged up (left tackle Justin Gilbert done for the year) and the quarterback quagmire is far from settled-- as Danny O'Brien's biggest benefit is we don't know what his limitations are yet. By the way, both O'Brien and current starter Jamarr Robinson are nicked up this week while third-stringer C.J. Brown's done for the year. And FIU came oh so close to beating Rutgers and Texas A&M...losing by 5 to the Scarlet Knights while blowing a two touchdown lead in the fourth quarter against the Aggies. They say disasters come in threes, right? Terps triumph, 22-18.

Virginia faces VMI after a much-needed bye week... as preparing for the Keydets takes the most out of any staff. Not to shortchange the opposition, but couldn't you have used a bye week better before Miami or Georgia Tech? Perhaps a bye month before they face the Hokies? Cavaliers cruise, 45-7.

Virginia Tech tangles with Boston College in the league opener for both... also known as the Big East Bowl. Ryan Williams' hamstring issues keep him on the sidelines as the runningback rotation continues for coach Frank Beamer. So far this year BC's beaten Kent State and Weber State-- what, no Holy Cross? Eagles quarterback Dave Shinskie has been shaky in the two victories...and we haven't seen bigtime Beamerball in some time. Hokies handle the Eagles, 24-14.

Elsewhere--Georgetown tops Holy Cross... James Madison over Liberty.

Last week: 4-1. Overall: 11-5.