Tap's Thursday Night Picks

Thursday night football can be entertaining, sloppy, and everything else under the sun honestly. I make picks to help clear your head. 

College Football
Rutgers at 8. Louisville 6:30 pm ESPN - Louisville might be the most interesting team in the top ten. Why is that?  Well you see, Louisville plays in a conference where they get an automatic bid, but they do not have much in terms of competition. It is Louisville and everyone else.  The question is this for the Cardinals, what happens if they are the only remaining undefeated team in college football?

The odds are this will not happen, but this is an intriguing hypothetical for the college football fans. Louisville is clearly in the weakest conference, but it would seem like they would virtually get the spot if they do have an undefeated record because their conference still carries more weight than the Mountain West or C-USA. It is only a notch above those two conferences, but still, if Louisville would be the sole survivor, the Cardinals would probably pull off one of the best collegiate season between the football and basketball programs. Now comes the fun question, what if there is a non-SEC unbeaten not named Louisville and a one-loss SEC team?

That's when it gets real. My assumption is it would all depend on what the loss would be from the unnamed SEC school.  Louisville schedule is not going to get any stronger overnight. Their three toughest opponents are Rutgers, UCF and Cincinnati. Two of those games are home including tonight's affair with Rutgers and next Friday against UCF. The Cincinnati Thursday road game appeared tough but the Bearcats have lost to lowly South Florida and Illinois. I would not be surprised if this is close for a little bit, but I see Louisville pulling away in the second half with a big Teddy Bridgewater performance. UL 38-17

Arizona at USC 9:30 pm FOX Sports 1 - You know that feeling when you are free? Whether it be from a significant other, a worthless job, a tough as nails semester, the feeling of being free is the greatest. USC is free from Lane Kiffin. They had treats on the training table to keep the lineman happy something they did not do with Lane. Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles catered dinner after a practice last week. Everything is changing. I always revert back to when Green Bay was 14-0 and headed to Kansas City where Todd Haley had just been fired. Kansas City played with a new spirit. Arizona is a fine team, but I feel the Trojans will be playing with a new spirit and attitude winning this football game. USC 27-21

NFL
New York Giants (0-5) at Chicago (3-2) (-9) 7:25 pm NFL Network - This could be a sneaky shootout no one sees coming.  The Giants defense is an absolute sieve and we can expect big days from Jay Cutler, Matt Forte, the emerging Alshon Jeffery and Brandon Marshall plus Marty B if he plays tonight. But the Bears defense is not the same defense they have been in the last couple of years. They are missing two interior defensive lineman and their secondary has been banged up all season. At the end of the day, Chicago has more skill players than New York does at this point. G-men cannot run the ball and Eli Manning will still have some turnovers even with a beat up Bears secondary. CHI 41-30

Charlie.