A few notes from Edsall's Thursday call before a few observations and the picks.

-- Lawrence Green could see action on Saturday. Edsall said he won't start, but he's ready to go if needed.

-- All other UConn players are fine. UVA, on the other hand, is hurting a bit. Cedric Peerman, one of the leading rushers in the ACC, is doubtful according to Al Groh. Starting cornerback Chris Cook could be out, too.

-- Mike Hicks will start over Dan Ryan at right tackle.

-- Virginia's Scott Stadium is sold out for Saturday. That's 61,500, first sellout of the season for the Cavs. Edsall has been pumping in crowd noise to simulate the atmosphere this week.

-- We all know UConn's top four receivers. Five through seven would be Ellis Gaulden, Marcus Easley and Kevin Poles, Edsall says. Rob Theoudele, whose been on the field a bit this year (and dropped a couple of passes), is still there. But he's been passed by the others.

For the randomness...

• Gotten a lot of feedback from my Wednesday story (and blog blurb) about the Huskies set to crack the AP top 25 should they beat Virginia. Some agreed. Most thought I was nuts. But it will happen.

• Relax Greg Robinson and Steve Kragthorpe. Last night may have clinched it for Dave Wannestedt as the worst coach in the Big East. I didn't watch the Navy debacle live, but the replays told it all. I can perhaps see the logic of passing up a chippy field goal to send the game to another OT and going for the win (well, if you really, really had a persuasive argument)...but putting it all on the line for a fade pattern? Why? Unless you have Randy Moss or Yao Ming, that's awful. You're taking the entire team out of the equation and resting the game on a jump ball (into double coverage, no less). Not hard to see how the Wannstache was run out of the NFL.

• Can't get on the Pitt defense too much for its struggle against the Navy triple option. After all, UConn had no clue how to defend it either last season.

• Navy's quarterback is Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada.

• Not only was Joe Paterno in a road rage incident, he was the instigator. Let's see. He's 80, wears coke bottle lenses borrowed from Mr. Magoo and has a reputation for being an old crank. I'm going out on a limb and guessing it was probably his fault.

• I couldn't get tickets to the David Lee Roth/Van Halen show at Mohegan Sun over the weekend. It sold out in less than 30 minutes, and I wasn't about to pay $300 a ticket on stubhub.com after paying $100 to see Eddie, drunk out of his skull, butcher every tune at the Hartford Civic Center back in 2004. But all reports are that Eddie was unreal, Dave was subdued but sounded OK (he's not much of a live vocalist) and 16-year old Wolfgang Van Halen held up just fine in replacing Michael Anthony on bass. It'll never capture the same magic as this clip from the glory days, but it's nice to know the guys still have it.

• Had enough of the Frank TV promos during the baseball playoffs on TBS? I love impressionists as much as the next guy, but this show is destined to fail. That's because the joke is in the impression, not the material of the impressionist. Don't see how this show can go 30 minutes without bombing like Dane Cook's stand-up routine (bad example. People in the audience laugh at Dane Cook for some reason. Maybe they feel obligated.) But I'll watch anyway. Incidentally, UConn football sports info man Leigh Torbin does a spot-on impression of Yankee radio broadcasters Suzyn Waldman and John Sterling doing the out-of-town scoreboard. Also heard a couple UConn football players do a pretty good Randy Edsall, too, though I'll withhold names to protect the innocent. But here's one of my favorite impressions...comedian Pablo Francisco doing the movie voice-over guy. Great stuff.

On to the weekly picks....

Game 1: Rutgers (-17.5) over SYRACUSE - Lost any faith I had in Orange covering after miserable games against Miami-OH and West Virginia. Also, odds on Greg Robinson returning to coach in 2008 are now 300-1.

Game 2: SOUTH FLORIDA (-12) over Central Florida: This is why spreads are tough. UCF nearly knocked off Texas last month, hammers two C-USA opponents, then gets drilled by East Carolina last week. Meanwhile, USF couldn't cover against Florida Atlantic. Good thing gambling is illegal.

Game 3: Illinois (-4) over IOWA: Leigh Torbin correctly warned me I was making a mistake picking Wisconsin over the Illini last week. I'm pretty sure Jeff George is back at QB, playing incognito (although it could be Kurt Kittner. Maybe Tony Eason). Either way, we'll go with Illinois.

Game 4: MICHIGAN (-6) over Purdue: Looking forward to seeing how Bloomfield's Kory Sheets stacks up against Mike Hart of Michigan. Saw Kory run for 403 yards in less than three quarters (in a state high school playoff game, no less) a couple years ago. He's pretty good.

Game 5: Connecticut (+3) over VIRGINIA: Huskies healthy. Cavs not. Could be the difference.

Game 6: Boston College (-14.5) over NOTRE DAME: If Notre Dame isn't pitiful enough, they've exhumed the remains of the Gipper (George Gip, not Ronald Reagan), presumably to play quarterback for the Irish in this game.

Game 7: Louisiana State (-10) over KENTUCKY: Did you see the piece on political commentator/Michael Stipe lookalike James Carville in Sports Illustrated this week? Well, it's not much of a piece. It's a page of Carville spouting off about how great LSU football is. Stick to pumping the Democratic party, James.

Game 8: Missouri (+10.5) over OKLAHOMA: I'm not a Mizzou believer just yet, but this line is too much to pass up.

Game 9: CINCINNATI (-10) over Louisville: If someone told you in August this would be the spread for this game, how much would you have laid down? A paycheck? A mortgage payment? Your kid's college fund? Now, I have little doubt Cincinnati will score close to 50 and cover.

Game 10: CALIFORNIA (-14) over Oregon State: A great Cal team against a Beavers squad that was lit up by UCLA.

Game 11: Auburn (+3) over ARKANSAS: Since I have nothing else to add...Red Sox over Indians in 5; D-Backs over Rockies in 7. Red Sox sweep the World Series. Get your vomit bags ready.

Last week's results (great for SeanO, lousy for almost everyone else)

1. SeanO's ghost: 9-2

2. caleb 8-3

3. Dan 7-4

4. Sam 6-5

6. Will 5-6

7. ian 4-7

tigershater 4-7

sturge-rock 4-7

pete 4-7

kooch 4-7

12. chip 3-8

mitch 3-8

Overall standings

1. SeanO's Ghost 41

2. Kooch 40

3. Ian 38

4. Chip 37

5. Sammy 36

6. Vinny from East Haven 35

7. DetroitTigersHater 32

8. Pete 28

Will L 28

10. Caleb Mandrake 27

11. Dan 26

12. Kevin 24

13. sturge-rock 22

14. Alex 16

15. Steve P 8

16. Mitch Kumpstein 3

See you in Charlottesville. Anyone can still enter, so get your picks in. Just click the "comments" key below, then cut and past the template.