Week 1 of college football is in the books, and I went 12-7 on my picks in my Yahoo college pick'em league, to finish 1/14 by 1 point. In this league we're dropping the lowest week, so it's always good to start out strong. (Sorry to my competitor "karen's gonna win this year!", who went 5-14.)

Week 2 has some tough picks. USC is giving 19.5 to Virgina, and while the Trojans are a great team and play really well at home, the Cavaliers beat Richmond 34-13 last week. Michigan (+3.5) at Notre Dame also is a toss-up. The Wolverines and the Irish had two-score wins last week, and this Ohio State fan surely will have trouble deciding which one should be the favored in this contest. And speaking of Ohio State, the 9.5 they're giving to Miami (FL) is pretty tricky. I didn't expect Ohio State to cover their 29 points over Marshall last week, so I suppose we could expect Jimmy T to keep in the first string until the Buckeyes have a solid lead over Miami. But I'm generally a little unsure about what to expect from Florida teams. For sure, this will be a great game for two teams that haven't met since a triple OT national title game.

Do I sound like I actually know something about college football? I've been trying to trick the guys in The News-Herald Sports department and my boyfriend for the past two seasons.


-- Cheryl Sadler
CSadler@News-Herald.com