CIS Pick 'Em Week 6 — now with point spreads!

While you're thinking of Thanksgiving turkey, the cisblog.ca crew has been cogitating over the new twist to its weekly football picks — point spreads! Call it a way to spice up this weekly exercise in gridiron guruhood. Six of this week's 10 games have a line of at least 25 points, so good luck guessing which gang of lovable misfits and serial tackle-missers will rise up and keep the score almost respectable.

The skinny:

No. 1 Laval at No. 6 Montreal (+10), Saturday, 1 p.m.

The one thing this game will come down to is whether Montreal's offence can get anything going against Laval. Montreal won't have to deal with the road crowd as they have home field, and we should look for a good performance from their team but I still don't see this game being too close. Laval is too good, and Montreal has too many questions offensively.

Book's pick: Laval 28-13

Bishop's at No. 4 Sherbrooke (-16.5), Saturday, 7 p.m.

Sherbrooke should win, but Bishop's is not a pushover team. Believe it or not, the Gaiters and QB Jordan Heather lead the nation in passing yards (337.2 per game) and two of their losses have been close. They also score more on the road (30 points a game). It’s a bonechilling set of stats for Sherbrooke, but they have been very disciplined defensively this year. One last thought: with a match against Laval approaching on Oct. 23, how much of that is weighing on Sherbrooke at the moment?

King's pick: Sherbrooke 34-28.

No. 8 Saint Mary's at St. Francis Xavier (+34.5), Friday, 6 p.m.

Don't expect a shootout between these two teams, with St. FX being one of the nation's lowest scoring teams averaging just over 14 points per game. SMU, fresh off their forfeit victory over Montreal, and their actual victory over Acadia last week 8-3, the Huskies will be looking to set the tone in the first game of their home-and-home against the X-Men.

Daum's pick: SMU 24-10

Guelph at No. 2 Western (-35.5), Saturday, 1 p.m.

Western is far and away the better team even with starting QB Donnie Marshall out 6-8 weeks nursing an injury and young quarterback Ben Rossong taking over. The Mustangs will win and win big. Guelph does not have the offence to sustain drives and their defence ranks eighth in the 10-team OUA against the run; Gryphons coach Stu Lang joked this week that the only way his team could slow down the purple ponies is to use all 47 players on defence at once. The interesting part of this game will be watching Rossong and seeing how he adapts to the starting role.

Radoslav's pick: Western covers.

Queen's at No. 10 Windsor (-8), Saturday, 7 p.m.

Austin Kennedy, a dual-threat QB who is the OUA's most efficient passer across the first five weeks, leads resurgent Windsor into a measuring-stick game against one of the conference's name-brand programs. Two reasons to like the Lancers here are that they have the motivation, being at home and perhaps feeling doubted, plus their offence can gobble up yardage in many ways. Kennedy offers a rushing threat to complement Shomari Grant, while top receivers Jordan Brescacin and Cory Fernandes should also be a handful for a Gaels secondary in which cornerbacks Andrew Lue and T.J. Chase-Dunawa have been beaten on a few deep routes already this season.

Queen's homers, not that anyone on this blog could be described as such, probably had this circled as a trap game from the moment the schedule was released. It is the third consecutive week on the road for a young team, after all. Their offence can't be as bad as it was on Sept. 30 in a putrid puntfest at Toronto, when Big Arm Billy McPhee and the boys struggled to adjust in wet and cold conditions. (And it's supposed to be near summery conditions in Ontario this weekend.) Also, if you discount garbage time against Laurier, the Gaels' usually well-prepped defence has allowed only five touchdowns in close to five games. Whatever Windsor gets off the the Gaels will likely come by virtue of having more playmakers, which should be enough. Fortunately for Queen's, the game won't be decided by which city has a better Ontario Hockey League franchise.

Sager's pick: Windsor 23-20.

The rest of the schedule:

Toronto at No. 5 McMaster (-27.5), Thursday, 7 p.m.

Laurier at Waterloo (+32), Thursday, 7 p.m.

Acadia at Mount Allison (+29), Saturday, 1 p.m.

McGill at Concordia (-10), Saturday, 1 p.m.

York at Ottawa (-25), Saturday 1 p.m.




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2 comments:

  1. Pick Guelph to easily cover the 35 point spread against Western. Newish QB for Guelph and some wheels by WR's of Gryphons should give Western some troubles. The challenge of course for Guelph is their defense although Laurier has set the blueprint of defending against Western 2 games ago. If Guelph able to hang around awhile in this game this could be a surprise game from Western point of view as Mustangs have yet to have had a full out stinker this year. Even in the two years that they won Yates Cup they had several poor games that they got out of the way before playoffs. Injuries to some Western lineman and other key players may show.

    Stu Lang's team cannot be so bad as to lose by 35 points here. Gryphon's still were in game until they gave up big INT for TD against Windsor. Big Gryphon loss may stifle their ability to continue getting bigger names in recruiting in the future. Players for Guelph will be very up for this game as Western are the hated enemy of almost all OUA teams- shades of the 70's and 80's.

    Pick Western 27-23 in this near upset game.

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  2. Four point difference as it turns out which was a lucky guess although the 35 point spread predicted was preposterous. Western misses a couple FG's but gives up over 300 yards in passing- hardly a proud moment against a team with a losing record so far. Gryphons drive to inside the Western 30 in last one and a half minutes to nearly win the game!

    Either points to dopey Western defensive scheme and execution, excellent Guelph offensive game planning, or alternatively more parity in the OUA then one gives credit. I pick all three with the latter contributing the most.

    Biggest game this coming week(starting Oct 10th) in OUA will be red hot Laurier against a fairly steady McMaster team in Waterloo. Lancers losing to Queen's gives Mac some breathing room now in second place. Expect Laurier to give McMaster fits although this is the best offensive line that Laurier has faced this year. On the other hand Golden Hawks seem to be now one of the more potent offenses in the OUA with solid running and circus like catches and subsequent runs by Laurier receivers. I pick Laurier to win this one against McMaster in a high scoring game(over 70 point total).

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