The Book - Week 12 - November 15, 2014

Changes galore within this week's Book Top 20 as the Oregon Ducks have supplanted Ole Miss as the #1 team in our poll. Strength of schedule finally caught up to the Rebels and with current College Football Playoff leader Mississippi State, both dropping down the stack. Meanwhile teams getting hot and playing their best football right now besides the Ducks i.e. TCU, Ohio State and Alabama, have made their way into the top four.

Speaking of Alabama, they are the next logical team to have a great shot to rise to the pinnacle of the poll. With games against #8 Mississippi State and #9 Auburn on the docket, those will provide great strength of schedule points, but what about their win last week against now #14 LSU? In the past, the LSU game has taken a huge toll on the Tide. Did you know that Alabama hasn't scored a touchdown in the first quarter of their game in the week following LSU in 13 years going all the way back to 2001...only somewhat coincidentally vs. Miss St.

The Book is touting a huge Bama win this week at home, so let's see how it plays out.

The other really interesting game of note is in the ACC with Florida State visiting Miami. The 'Canes are considered one of the rising teams in the country, up to #25 in the Book, while the 'Noles have been mediocre by a lot of folks' standards, despite their undefeated record. Vegas shows FSU as a 2.5 point favorite, and that seems very low...so what do you think when the Book goes a step further, picking Miami outright, calling the 'Canes to win by a point?

BC's loss to Louisville was somewhat damaging, dropping the Eagles down into the low 50s again, now at #52, sitting just behind Brigham Young and just in front of Penn State. BC did maintain its #7 ranking in the ACC as the jumble that is the conference has moved its way toward the top 20, with five ACC teams now sitting between 19 and 29.

The loss also put a damper on The Book's success picking the Eagles, dropping us to 7-2 on the year in BC games.

Last week both the Sleeper and Toilet Bowl games lost, putting the Sleeper at 6-5 and Toidy at 3-7...stay away from crappy games. This week let's take a shot with #49 Cincinnati against #48 East Carolina (Book has UC by 6 with Vegas calling ECU by 1) and #124 Troy as a dog at #123 Idaho getting 5.

The Book has gone six straight non losing weeks, posting a winning record in five of those six.

This past week, 22-19-1 .536 with 6 games the same as the Vegas spread, for a total of 258-233-7 .516 with 33 games the same as Vegas put out.

Check out the polls and the spreads and enjoy your football Saturday!

Go Eagles!

Others receiving votes: Wisconsin, Arizona, Missouri, Clemson, Miami FL