Personal Finance Blog Roundup, and College Football Schedule

This is a shortened week for me.  I'm heading out of town Wednesday night, so this will probably be the last you will hear from me until Sunday.  Probably.

Here are my PF Blog reads of the week:

The Bogleheads' October Project has begun at All Financial Matters.  The first three chapter reviews are already up.  Don't get behind on your reading.

Attending weddings has put a dent in Mapgirl's budget this year.  But she found some potential business value at the last wedding.

Even the most die-hard buy and holders engage in a little market timing here and there.  Financial Freedumb is up front about his market timing in his 401k. 

And here are my college football picks:

All time Pacific, and ranking are LAMoneyGuy's Rankings.

Thursday, 4:30pm (29) Florida State at (67) NC State.  FSU remains ranked in the major polls based on name and tradition alone.  They barely beat Miami in a low scoring snoozer, which had all the ESPN pundits screaming about the terrific defense.  The next week they played the mighty Troy State Trojans to a 10-10 tie at the end of three quarters before winning 24-17.  They lost to a pretty good Clemson team and destroyed hapless Rice.  In the meantime, that Miami team that they beat in week #1 went on to lose badly to Louisville, and barely beat Houston.  I don't know what the spread is, but take the Wolfpack and the points.

Saturday (the day God intended for Football)

9:00am CBS (7) Auburn at (31) Arkansas.  In the debate over whom the #2 team in the country currently is, many are pointing to the fact that Auburn blew out WSU at home in week #1, and USC held on to beat them by six in the Palouse.  Well, Arkansas is the team that USC blew out in week #1.  We'll see how Auburn does againtst them this weekend.  My prediction:  Auburn will win, and not by nearly as much as USC beat the Hawgs, further proving that football is not transitive.

9:00am ESPN (15) Clemson at (24) Wake Forest.  Quick, who is the only undefeated team in the ACC?  Nope, not FSU, Miami or Virginia Tech.  Not even Clemson or BC.  That's right, it's Wake Forest.  Quick, what is their mascot?  Buzzzz!  Too slow, they're the Demon Deacons.  What, you knew that?  You must be a college basketball fan.  That's right, the Demon Deacons are the most surprising 5-0 team in college football.  Not that they have played anyone remotely good.  Still, five wins, no losses.  Doesn't matter.  They'll lose this weekend.  Clemson, despite their loss to BC is good.

11:30am NBC (107) Stanford at (9) Notre Dame.  Stanford just might be the worst Div 1-A team from a BCS conference.  Notre Dame is certainly not the #1 team that many predicted before the season, but this has ugly written all over it.

12:30pm CBS (19) LSU at (4) Florida.  If Florida wins this game it sets up the showdown for SEC supremacy next week when the Gators travel to Jordan Hare.  LSU's most impressive game to date was a 7-3 loss at Auburn.  Their other games were blow out wins, but against mostly unimpressive teams.

12:30pm Fox Sports West (17) Washington at (3) USC.  USC has shown chinks in the armour and more than a little mortality.  They have played three of their first four games on the road, and are looking forward to playing at home.  UDub has been the surprise of the Pac-10 so far this season.  Picked by many sports writers to finish 9th of 10th in the Pac-10 in the preseason, they are 2-0 in conference, and 4-1 overall, with a win over Fresno State, and a loss at Oklahoma that was much closer than most expected.  USC under Pete Caroll tends to get better as the season progresses.  They have shown moments of defensive briliance, and other times that remind you how many Freshmen are playing big minutes.  Isiah Stanback of UDub is a tremendous athlete and a growing QB, kind of like a Sophomore Vince Young.  Did Pete Caroll learn how to defend a QB like this since the Rose Bowl?  I expect that they did.  USC wins, but does not cover the 23 point spread that I have seen.

12:30pm ABC (18) Texas vs. (11) Oklahoma.  The Red River Shootout.  Until last year Oklahoma owned this game against Mack Brown.  With a gimpy Adrian Peterson, and a lights out Vince Young, Texas put a beat down on the Sooners.  Texas is still a bit of a question mark.  They lost to OSU more decisively than most expected, and have put a hurt on a bunch of also rans.  Oklahoma, in the meantime, is one proper referee's call away from coming into this game undefeated.  I pick Oklahoma to win.

1:30pm ESPN (51) Michigan State at (2) Michigan.  The Wolverines are playing as well as anyone in the country right now, save for their conference rival, Ohio State.  Michigan State almost pulled off the monumental upset of Notre Dame, which would have been the death knell for the Irish, but melted down in classic Spartan fashion.  Sparty won't rise up to beat big brother this week.

4:00pm FSN Prime Ticket (68) Arizona at (41) UCLA.  UCLA was 8-0 last season, on a magical undefeated run, looking forward to heading into the coliseum in a couple of weeks to face the Trojans in what would have been an unprecedented match up of both teams undefeated.  Just a couple of stops along the way.  First, a trip to the desert to take on 2-6 Arizona.  The Cats had a lot of optimism before the season as Litte Brother Stoops looked to be bringing a new attitude to the team.  After the disappointing start Cats fans were looking for something to cheer about.  Willie Tuitama and a pourous UCLA defense gave them just was the doctor ordered.  They didn't just beat the undefeated Bruins, they dismantled them 52-14.  Needless to say, the Bruins have had this weekend's game circled for nearly a year now.  Arizona still has work to be done and UCLA's defense is the one with a new attitude.  The Bruins take care of business and get their revenge at home.

4:45pm ESPN (8) Tennessee at (22) Georgia.  Another huge SEC conference game.  Tennessee has answered the call this year.  They deflated Lee Corso's preseason pick for the National Championship, Cal, in the season opener.  Their only loss came against a Florida team that needed a late 4th quarter TD.  Georgia, on the other hand, has probably been the least impressive undefeated team of this season, and that includes Wake Forest.  Tennessee wins.

5:00pm ABC (5) Oregon at (14) Cal.  Before USC's struggles against WSU, I would have called this game the battle for #2 in the Pac 10.  At this point, it's a three team race.  The winner of this comes out with pole position for the conference.  Everyone got down on Cal after their disappointing performance against Tennessee in week 1.  However, they have since risen to their pre-season expectations.  We all know how close Oregon is to being a one loss team.  I look for Lynch to have a big day and Cal to pull of a close win.

Alright folks, have fun.

Comments

[Debt Free]

Well,if the Huskies (4-1, 2-0) keep winning, they'll get as insufferable as they were before the back to back 1-10 and 2-9 seasons cut them down to size a bit. The cougs gave a valiant effort against the Trojans, but Smith was too good and the Cougs had a ton of trouble converting all the way in the red zone and had to use the boot too many times. 1st n goal from the 3 should get you a TD every time. Except for a few small miscues, such as the errant pass for the 2pt conversion, Brink had a pretty bang up day, though. Hopefully, the Beavs will feel the Coug's anger at the USC defeat this Saturday. You're 100% correct, Saturday is the day God intended for footbal.

[financial freedumb]

Thanks for the link up as always LMD!

[NCN]

It's Just Money,
Georgia will win! I'm calling it, here and now.

Loving the College Picks,
NCN

This comment is part of my 100 Comments Series over at NO Credit Needed.

[lamoneyguy]

Debt Free, we are finding that there are no weak links in the Pac10 this year, except for Stanford and maybe OSU. You've got some serious playmakers at Wazzou.

FF, no problem.

NCN, I didn't see most of it, but that looked like one of the wildest games ever seen in the SEC.

[NCN]

I hang my UGA head in shame...
Silly punter... take the SAFETY...
NCN