College football kind of snuck up on me this year. Suddenly it was Labor Day and Florida State and Miami were staging another epic snoozefest. Where's summer B?

Anyway, welcome to another year of college football picks. Here we go:

#18 Clemson at Boston College: Clemson, the most maddeningly inconsistent team in college football is ranked after losing 4-year starter QB Charlie Whitehurst. Huh. BC is lurking just outside the top 25. While the Eagles couldn't get 'err done in hockey (HA!) they will here at home. The pick: Boston College.

#19 Penn State at #4 Notre Dame: I'm no Notre Dame backer, but the comments after their win last week were ridiculous. The Fighting Irish were getting knocked for beating an almost-ranked Georgia Tech team on the road in their season opener. Hey people: they won. Penn State strikes me as an overranked team with no offense and no defense. Hey, what a combo! The pick: Notre Dame.

#12 Georgia at South Carolina: First, a word of caution - I seem to have a really hard time picking SEC games. That said, Georgia played 3, count 'em 3, QBs last week. That's a recipe for disaster and controversy. I stay from teams like that like the plague that they are. South Carolina, on the other hand, is one of those teams poised to spring a big upset. I think they will. The pick: South Carolina.

Western Illinois at Wisconsin: Yeah, so we scheduled a patsy. It happens. We need a blowout to practice our cheers. "O Sucks!". The pick: Wisconsin.

#1 Ohio State at #2 Texas: This is it. Saturday is the night of nights. Last year, Ohio State absolutely should have won, but for some poor clock management (as an aside, name me a college coach who has good clock management skills, they all seem to suck, don't they?). I'm sure Austin is a tough place to play, but so are Happy Valley, Ann Arbor, Iowa and Madison and Ohio State handles that just fine (well, except for the Madison part ;-). Here's what I think. Ohio State should have an explosive offense and Texas, like everyone else in their conference, has a suspect defense. Defense doesn't win championships. Scoring more points than the other team wins championships. And it'll win this blowout. The pick: Ohio State.