The Pac-12 did what the Pac-12 does on Thursday night, and every reasonable outcome was thrown out the window by the country's most wacky and unpredictable conference. How did Stanford's fantastic defense give up 78 points to Oregon? How did Colorado blow out a Washington team that had just blown out Oregon State, who on Thursday night blew out California? And I won't even start with a Utah team that is probably the worst the conference has seen in a decade, that lost to Colorado by 40 points and then beat Washington State by 2. And Washington State had just beaten Oregon State! All Pac-12 games should have Yakety Saks running in a loop over the PA system.
Anyway, the point of that rant is that I went 1-5 picking the lines on Thursday night's Pac-12 games in our inaugural West Coast Edition! of this column. I went 3-2 on all other picks for a 4-7 total on the night, bringing me to 56-58-1 on the year.
Let's turn this ship around. All times Eastern.
2:00pm ESPNU: No. 15 Kansas (-4.5) @ Oklahoma
Kansas State is a better team than Oklahoma and the Jayhawks had little trouble with them last week.
2:30pm ESPN3: Boston College (+31) @ No. 4 North Carolina
I'm going with the Eagles because how depressing would it be to have your opponent cover a 31-point spread on you? Represent the LBC, Ryan Anderson!
3:00pm: No. 7 Ohio State (-11.5) @ Iowa
The Buckeyes are on a rampage and took their Indiana loss out on Nebraska on Tuesday with a 31-point blowout.
4:00pm ESPN3: No. 20 Marquette (+10.5) @ No. 1 Syracuse
This could be the one where the Orange slip up.
4:00pm ESPNU: Notre Dame @ No. 10 Louisville (-12)
Not enough firepower to hang with the Cardinals.
Plenty more picks after the jump...
6:00pm ESPN3: Seton Hall (-2.5) @ Providence
Let it ride!
7:00pm LHN: Oklahoma State @ Texas (-12)
I think the Longhorns make short work in a statement game.
8:05pm: Northern Iowa (-2) @ Drake
No question UNI is going through a rough patch but I believe they can find that groove again.
8:00pm ESPN3: No. 8 UCONN (-6.5) @ Rutgers
Huskies don't stumble in two straight games.
9:00pm: Memphis (-4.5) @ UAB
This is their "get right" game.
9:05pm ESPN3: Nevada (+4) @ Utah State
Tough place to play but I'm high on Deonte Burton.
2:0pm: Washington @ Utah (+14.5)
I'm taking all conventional wisdom into account. And then throwing it out the window when it comes to the Pac-12 tonight.
4:00pm: Washington State (+5.5) @ Colorado
See?
10:00pm: Stanford (+3) @ Oregon State
Beating the crap out of Cal makes Oregon State... the new conference favorite, I guess? So definitely pick against them tonight.
10:30pm: Arizona State (+11.5) @ UCLA
At this point, I can't trust any team in the Pac-12 to cover an 11.5 point spread against a JV team.
10:00pm: Fullerton (+7) @ Cal Poly SLO
Two teams that pride themselves on defense (Cal Poly is slower than a Prius stuck in quicksand), plus I think Fullerton is going to win.
10:05pm: Long Beach State (-14) @ Northridge
I'm 4-0 picking Long Beach State games this season.
Ryan ZumMallen writes about basketball and monkey bars racing in Long Beach, CA. Follow him on Twitter at @ryanzummallen.