"Blue Chips" - NCAA Picks: Week 10

Definition – A nationally recognized, well-established and financially sound company. Blue Chips generally sell high-quality, widely accepted products and services. Blue-chip companies are known to weather downturns and operate profitably in the face of adverse economic conditions. This helps to contribute to their long record of stable and reliable growth.

Blue Chip stocks are the best of the best. They’re the GEs, the Microsofts, and the Exxon Mobils of the world. In investing, the Blue Chip stock is your best friend. It’s the safest gamble you can take if you are investing in the stock market. Now if you could turn the Blue Chip stock into the Blue Chip team, wouldn't you? Would you want to lay this week’s hard earned cash on the USCs or the Stanfords of the world?

This discussion leads us into this week’s list of winners. To be the best, sometimes you have to invest in the best....especially when the best had a rough one last week.

This week’s winners…

Southern California over STANFORD by 31

Last week the Trojans took a tough one on the chin. Although sometimes we forget that the Trojan soldiers are just men in armor, last weekend these mighty warriors forgot to pick up their sword. USC has been a horrible favorite this year struggling at 2-5 ATS. But did you know that USC is a remarkable 12-1 ATS when allowing their opponent to 14 points or less? We can back that up even further with the Trojans 7-2 ATS record versus losing opponents. With Stanford checking in at 0-8 and surrendering a whopping 34.5 pts per game, we’ll cash in with the almighty Trojans here today as they revenge last week’s disappointing loss to Oregon State. If you read last week’s Blog, you’ll know that ranked teams coming off of a loss are now an INCREDIBLE 10-0 ATS!!! This Trojan horse has room to spare…come on in.

FLORIDA STATE over Virginia by 17

Let me start off by saying that I hate Bobby Bowden. Let me continue my hatred towards the state of Florida by saying that I hate Florida State. I hope these comments didn’t give it away that I bleed Nittany Lion Blue and White. Florida State has a ton of talent, but even a team as well stocked as the Seminoles gets a little taste of the injury bug from time to time. Losing players and losing seasons are two different things though. Florida State’s 4-4 start equals their worst start since Bobby Bowden took the helm back in 1976. Virginia’s 2-13 mark ATS in it’s last 15 SU losses and 2-9 ATS in its last 11 as road dogs, makes the Seminoles look convincing here. Although I hate Bobby Bowden, I’ll learn to love him for this game...and this game only.

CLEMSON over Maryland by 40

No, you didn’t read my prediction incorrectly. Clemson could very well beat the Terps by 40 this week fresh off the heels of last weekend’s disappointing loss to Virginia Tech. Of the many teams that were embarrassed last week, Clemson took the biggest beating of them all. Last Thursday, Virginia Tech showed us why the Lion, not the Tiger, is still the king of the jungle. How the Tigers bounce back will determine if they have the chance to play on New Year’s Day. More importantly, Maryland right now is sitting on top of the Atlantic Division in the ACC standings fresh off a big time win versus my buddy Bobby. I hope that Maryland realizes that the Tigers are checking into this one with a brilliant 30-3-1 ATS mark in SU wins over a conference opponent. Back that angle up with an 18-1-1 ATS mark if they beat a foe in their last meeting, and we’ll eagerly take a stroll through Death Valley this weekend.

Arizona State over OREGON STATE by 7

What we have here is the makings of a MAJOR letdown. That’s evidenced by the fact that teams who won SU as an underdog against a 5-0 or better opponent in their last game, are just 58-37 ATS. This includes a 46-27 ATS mark if they didn’t get a week to rest after their monumental celebration. To make matters a little worse for last week’s hero, if their opponent this week checks in off a win in its last game, this key angle is now a nifty 21-7 ATS. And if that opponent is a winning team, like our cute little Sun Devils are, this mark zooms to 14-2 ATS by fading these let down losers! These beautiful numbers lead us to this week’s Pike’s INCREDIBLE Stat of the week! If our puffed-up favorite happens to allow more than 15 PPG on the season, we enter into an UNDEFEATED 11-0 ATS angle since 1980. Sorry God, but this weekend we may have to side with the Devils.

Best of Luck,

Pikes