The Telepathic Tabernacle - Week Five

Here is the deal – the coaches say it is too early to declare the Pac-10 as being "down" this year in football [minus USC, naturally] – but the results speak otherwise. The results say "Hey, the Pac-10 is down this year and you can't argue that because we're the results!" The Telepathic Tabernacle is not going to argue with the results. The Tab listened to the coaches last week and promptly took it in the shorts. No more of that foolishness. Oregon could not deal with big, bad Boise State, Arizona State had a full house of support and could not beat a mangy old dawg [on the road] and Stanford was barely able to squeak by the San Jose State juggernaut. The only team to win a non-conference game last week was Wazzu – and they had to go down a division to do it. It was 2-3 weeks all around for both the Straight Up and Against The Spread Divisions and the Nikes' ugly demise took the virginity away from the Gem of the Week - making it 2-1-1 on the year in that department.

Week Five has the same number of games in it but this time, the Tab is getting smart. No, not Maxwell Smart - but, would you believe it, actually smart with Scandinavian subtitles? This week, there are only two non-conference games but we have seen enough and are going with both non-con opponents in the ATS Division and one of them – Fresno State – to win straight up. For the Gem of the Week, it was a tough call in the conference games between USC and Oregon State and Wazzu and Oregon but after checking the shoe phone, the longer history of being a large home underdog sides with the Cougars. Don't believe the Tab? Well, here are the Tab's old pals – the results:

USC [2004] - +24.5 – Loss [ATS]

USC [2006] - +16.5 – Win

Oregon [1998] - +13.5 – Loss

Arizona [1999] - +13.5 – Win

UW [1996] - +10.5 – Win

Oregon [2000] - +9.5 – Win

UW [1998] - +9.5 – Win

USC [1998] - +9 – Loss

ASU [2007] - +9 - Win

So you see, once again the results do not lie – Wazzu is 6-3 ATS when suffering the humiliation of being a rather large home underdog over the last 12 years – and with humiliation being the Tab's middle name in the last two weeks, it only makes sense to crown the Cougars as the official Gem of the Week. The rest of this week's maidens of mangy machismo….

STRAIGHT UP

USC over Oregon State

Fresno State over UCLA

California over Colorado State

Oregon over Wazzu

Washington over Stanford

Last Week: 2-3

Overall: 21-8

AGAINST THE SPREAD

OSU [+26.5] over USC

FSU [-4] over UCLA

CSU [+26.5] over Cal

Wazzu [+21] over Oregon

Stanford [+3.5] over UW

Last Week: 2-3

Overall: 14-14-1

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