Reasoning: Pittsburgh may be the better team with Dion Lewis running the rock but Lewis has not been nearly what he was last season and with Dave Wannstedt out the door I'll grab some points here with a solid enough team from the big bad SEC.
Not having quarterback Brian Hartline won't make things easy but the Wildcats have played a ton without him over the last few seasons and have had ample time to prepare with their very skilled weapons led by Randall Cobb and Derrick Locke. UK is a team that can hang with anybody thanks to their explosive offense and more times than not are involved in wild high scoring and fun games. Joker Philips has done a nice job replacing Rich Brooks and the 6-6 record is truly not indicative of how good this team is at times, just ask Steve Spurrier and South Carolina who they beat despite trailing by three scores as well as Cam Newton and top ranked Auburn who survived in Lexington thanks to a late field goal late, 37-34.
College football bettors know that the Panthers finished 7-5 in what was an underachieving and not so good season. Lewis has got to be somewhat hurt as his production was not even half of what it should have been and Tino Sunseri is alright but nothing that really scares me. The Pitt defense can bring the heat as the numbers suggest but the Big East was very down this season so I'm really not all that sure if they are as good as it may appear.
The 'Cats will allow some points as they always do but they also will make some their fair share of big plays and in the end to be able to get what appears to be north of a field goal in an even game is just fine with me.
The pick: Kentucky (+4)
For more information: For Matt Rivers is was 500,000* of profit yesterday as my 300,000* on LSU along with the 200,000* on the Pacers cashed the ticket and did so with conviction! I'm ready to bash that Crookie one more time today as I have both NFL games along with a pair of college hoop locks. A monster 400,000* to kick it all off from the Great Northwest in this battle between New Orleans and Seattle along with a trio of 200,000* winners: New York-Indianapolis, George Mason-Old Dominion and Richmond-LaSalle. Ride me baby, I'm feeling it, I really am! Rivers card is ready
