It's harder than picking hurricanes

Tom Garwood of North Charleston is a faithful participant in the "Beat Burger" football contest, but called last week hoping to change the rules.

Tom thinks he should be given the latitude of Dr. William Gray, the professor at Colorado State University who predicts hurricane activity in the Atlantic.

Just this past week, for instance, Dr. Gray announced that he was downgrading his 2007 Atlantic storms forecast. Before the start of the hurricane season in June, Dr. Gray predicted 17 named storms. Now, in September, he says he only expects 15 named storms.

"I think those of us who play 'Beat Burger' should be able to call you after the first quarter of the college football games on Saturday and adjust our predictions like Dr. Gray," Garwood said. "Then maybe after halftime, we can adjust them again."

Wouldn't that be nice.

Unfortunately, picking college football games is much harder than predicting hurricanes. Mainly because you don't get do-overs like the esteemed Dr. Gray.

So here's hoping you get all the games right this week and that Dr. Gray's predictions are all wet.

The picks

--USC at GEORGIA: A key conference game "Between the Hedges" for both schools. Steve Spurrier says the Gamecocks are ready to win the league title. To do so, they need to win this game. If Blake Mitchell has the game of his life, maybe they will. USC by 5.

--UL-MONROE at CLEMSON: How many hyphenated schools from Louisiana are there? If this one is anything like the team that played the Gamecocks tough last week, it could be trouble for the Tigers. CLEMSON by 21.

--WEBBER INT'L at THE CITADEL: Kevin Higgins' team will not get caught looking ahead to next week's game at Wisconsin. This mismatch should be a blowout. THE CITADEL by 35.

--S.C. STATE at BETHUNE- COOKMAN: Buddy Pough's team is back from the Rocky Mountains where it lost to Air Force last week. But there's plenty of air to breathe in Daytona Beach. Beware the Bulldogs at sea level. S.C. STATE by 15.

--CSU AT WOFFORD: The Terriers reside in the top half of the SoCon with the likes of Appalachian State. Remember them? WOFFORD by 18.

--NEBRASKA at WAKE FOREST: Cornhuskers fans have joined the Demon Deacon Club just to get tickets to this game. NEBRASKA by 14.

--MIAMI at OKLAHOMA: As previously mentioned, hurricane predictions are overrated. OKLAHOMA by 16.

--N.C. STATE at BOSTON COLLEGE: Tom O'Brien returns to Beantown for a bruising. BOSTON COLLEGE by 20.

--NOTRE DAME at PENN STATE: They are going to be very happy in Happy Valley after this one. PSU by 31.

--VA. TECH at LSU: Emotions aside, Bayou Bengals are better. LSU by 10.

Correction

Last week's Monday "Beat Burger" ballot reversed the FSU-Clemson game. That could have caused some people's ballots to be incorrectly graded. For this I apologize. If you beat me, just shoot me an email (kburger@postandcourier.com) and I'll send you a bumper sticker.