ZAC JACKSON (1-6-1 last week, 15-18-1 overall): <\/b>I\u2019m in London this week for Vikings-Browns, and I\u2019ll be back home next week for UMass at Kent.<\/p>\n
Who\u2019s got it better than me? As long as you ignore my record last week, nobody.<\/p>\n
By my count, we head to October and Week 5 of the NFL season with my college record at 8-11 and my NFL record at 7-9. (Editor\u2019s note: close enough.) I won my pick of the month for millions upon millions* of dollars, but I crashed last week to a losing month.<\/p>\n
Browns-Vikings might head to penalty kicks at 3-3, so mark me down for under 36.5<\/b>. Otherwise, the floor is yours.<\/p>\n
JON GREENBERG (2-3, 9-13-1):<\/b> I\u2019m writing this at about 3 a.m. London time, which probably means you\u2019re just getting back to your hotel room from a night at the pubs. Meanwhile, I\u2019m winding down from an exciting Cubs playoff game and preparing for the holiest day of the year for me, Yom Kippur. I know the equivalent for you is Kent-Akron, but that\u2019s not until Nov. 11.<\/p>\n
For my two college games, I was going to take big favorite Michigan at home against Wisconsin, but last I checked, the line went up to -17.5, and that\u2019s a point too high. The Badgers are that bad, though.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll take Vanderbilt\u00a0+10.5<\/b> on the road in Tuscaloosa. Vandy, of course, beat the Crimson Tide at home last season. Hopefully, for them and my terrible record, they can do it again. Or at least come within 10 points.<\/p>\n
I was thinking about taking Oklahoma -45.5 over Kent State at home, but I don\u2019t know much about John Mateer\u2019s replacement, Michael Hawkins Jr. Is he 46-point win over the Golden Flashes good?<\/p>\n
JACKSON: <\/b>I\u2019m saving my Kent State anticipation for next week. I like your Vanderbilt pick, and not just because I saw a guy in a Vanderbilt sweatshirt outside of Buckingham Palace today. If Diego Pavia beats Alabama again, he\u2019ll become actual royalty.<\/p>\n
I like Navy -12<\/b> vs. Air Force, and only partially because I lost on Air Force last week. The Air Force defense is that bad and is 125th in rush defense EPA per the wonderful site, GameOnPaper.com. Air Force has given up 49, 49 and 44 points in its last three games. I\u2019ve learned my lesson.<\/p>\n
Cincinnati -1.5<\/b> at home\u00a0vs. Iowa State is my next winner. The Bearcats appear much improved and can score. Bettors smarter than we are have been hitting the over all week, and I think Cincinnati scores plenty in its biggest game in a while.<\/p>\n
Ohio State -23.5<\/b> vs. Minnesota. The Buckeyes are back at home and playing great defense. This is a talent mismatch and a great chance for Ohio State to get more work for its passing game and freshman quarterback Julian Sayin. With 38 here, they cover easily.<\/p>\n
GREENBERG: <\/b>OK, I\u2019ll make my second game Cincinnati -1.5<\/b>. That was one that caught my eye too. But then again, I spent Thursday fasting to atone for my recent picks, so it\u2019s probably not a good thing to have my seal of approval.<\/p>\n
I was going to do Vikings -3.5<\/b>. Minnesota is going to win, but I could see myself ruing the hook. Still, a rookie QB against a Brian Flores defense? In London or the U.S., the exchange rate on that transaction seems lopsided. So I\u2019ll join you on the under 36.5.<\/strong> The Vikings will probably win 12-3 or something.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve made fun of Spencer Rattler and the Saints in this space, but I think they get their first win this week at home against the Giants, who lost Malik Nabers last week. Saints -2,<\/b> with my nose plugged.<\/p>\n Finally, I\u2019ll go Ravens +2<\/b> at home against the Texans. Baltimore can\u2019t keep losing like this, right?<\/p>\n And on a dark, desert highway, cool wind in my hair, I\u2019ll take Eagles<\/b> as my survivor pick.<\/p>\n Editor\u2019s note:<\/strong> On Friday afternoon, Jon amended the above Ravens pick, writing: \u201cI initially picked the Ravens and then saw the book-length injury report. I\u2019m switching to Texans -1.5<\/strong>. This always works.\u201d<\/p>\n JACKSON:<\/b> The only way the under in London loses is with defensive touchdowns. There might be defensive touchdowns, so I\u2019m not putting this in the play-of-the-month category. But I do think that 13 points can win it.<\/p>\n I like Kansas City to win, but I much prefer the -3 to the 3.5. I think the Chiefs want offense to be actually fun again with Xavier Worthy back, and I think the Jaguars are due for some regression. I\u2019ll buy the hook and go Chiefs -3<\/b>.<\/p>\n So we\u2019ll finish with Raiders +7<\/b>. Yes, I know the Colts should have won last week. And I\u2019m terrified of a Jonathan Taylor 200-yard game, but I\u2019ll take the full touchdown here against Daniel Jones \u2014 and keep taking it until he proves me wrong.<\/p>\n My survivor is Arizona<\/b>.<\/p>\n Cheerio.<\/p>\n Zac Jackson\u2019s picksJon Greenberg\u2019s picks<\/p>\n (Photo of Diego Pavia and Richie Hoskins: Johnnie Izquierdo \/ Getty Images)\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ZAC JACKSON (1-6-1 last week, 15-18-1 overall): I\u2019m in London this week for Vikings-Browns, and I\u2019ll be back…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":275530,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[111958,8802,532,35594,1318,2505,8798,3570,535,9444,8812,35601,1317,1315,1316,9004,4716,4733,62,8930,67,132,68,50643],"class_list":{"0":"post-275529","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-air-force-falcons","9":"tag-alabama-crimson-tide","10":"tag-baltimore-ravens","11":"tag-cincinnati-bearcats","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-houston-texans","14":"tag-iowa-state-cyclones","15":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","16":"tag-las-vegas-raiders","17":"tag-minnesota-golden-gophers","18":"tag-minnesota-vikings","19":"tag-navy-midshipmen","20":"tag-ncaa","21":"tag-ncaa-football","22":"tag-ncaafootball","23":"tag-new-orleans-saints","24":"tag-new-york-giants","25":"tag-ohio-state-buckeyes","26":"tag-sports","27":"tag-sports-betting","28":"tag-united-states","29":"tag-unitedstates","30":"tag-us","31":"tag-vanderbilt-commodores"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115312342541923908","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}