Scout.com: 2009 CFN Indy Expert Picks, Schedules & More

2009 CFN Indy Expert Picks, Schedules & More

By Staff

CollegeFootballNews.com
Posted Nov 15, 2009

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Click on each team for game recaps, thoughts, schedules and more and scroll down for the games, results, players of the week and the conference roundup.

2009 Independents ... Week 12

	CFN EXPERT PICKS	Fiu	Rich	Matt	Michael	Clucko	PICK
2:30	Conn at No Dame -6	ND	ND*	ND*	ND	CT	ND*
4:00	Army at No Texas -1.5	AR	AR	AR	AR	NT	AR
	Straight Up	19-11	23-7	20-10	14-16	14-16	22-8
	ATS	11-16-1	12-15-1	11-16-1	12-15-1	16-11-1	12-15-1

Independent Standings
	Conf.	Overall
Navy	8	3
Notre Dame	6	4
Army	5	6
Players of the Week 11/14 Ricky Dobbs, QB Navy 11/7 Vince Murray, FB Navy 10/31 Jim Clausen, QB ND 10/24 Golden Tate, WR ND 10/17 Vince Murray, RB Nv 10/10 Ricky Dobbs, QB Nv 10/3 Jimmy Clausen, QB ND 9/26 Jimmy Clausen, QB ND 9/19 Jimmy Clausen, QB ND 9/13 Marcus Curry, RB Navy 9/5 Malcolm Floyd, WR ND Games of the Week 11/14 Pitt 27, ND 22 11/7 Navy 23, ND 21 10/31 Temple, 27, Navy 24 10/24 ND 20, BC 16 10/17 USC 34, ND 27 10/10 Army 16, Vandy 13 OT 10/3 ND 37, Wash 30 9/26 ND 24, Purdue 21 9/19 ND 33, Mich St 30 9/13 Mich 38, ND 34 9/5 Ohio St 31, Navy 27 Scoreboard at Army 22 VMI 17 Army holds on late to get by VMI CFN Prediction: Army 34-10 Line: No Line at Navy 35 Delaware 18 Navy gets 5 TDs from Dobbs in win CFN Prediction: Navy 41-16 Line: No Line at Pitt 27 Notre Dame 22 Notre Dame comeback vs. Pitt falls short CFN Prediction: Pitt 31-24 Line: Pitt -7

GAME OF THE WEEK

at Pitt 27 … Notre Dame 22
Pitt got a 36-yard touchdown catch from Jonathan Baldwin and a 50-yard Dion Lewis scoring dash on the way to a seemingly comfortable 27-9 lead, and then Golden Tate took over. The Irish wide receiver scored on an 18-yard pass play and took a punt 87 yards for a touchdown to pull the team within five, but the Pitt defense held thanks to a controversial forced fumble on a sack of Jimmy Clausen. The Panthers were able to run out the clock.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Navy RB Ricky Dobbs completed 4-of-6 passes for 78 yards, and ran 26 times for 100 yards and five scores in the win over Delaware.

CONFERENCE ROUNDUP

Army … at Army 22 ... VMI 17 ... VMI outarmied, Army with a strong ground game and fewer turnovers, but the Knights came through with the defensive stop they needed late to hold on for the win. The passing game worked for one of the first times all season long, with Trent Steelman completing 11-of-14 passes, but the ground game only managed 186 yards. That’s not a good sign with Navy coming up in a few weeks. Up next is North Texas, and a win over the Mean Green would set up a chance to go bowling with a win over the Midshipmen.

Navy … at Navy 35 ... Delaware 18 ... It was hardly a perfect game for the Navy attack, it struggled to get the ground game going against Delaware and it didn’t control the game in the first half, but the defense forced field goals instead of touchdowns and Ricky Dobbs was amazing. Now he’s on the verge of scoring the most rushing touchdowns in a season, needing two more to break the record of 23 held by Tim Tebow and former Air Force star Chance Harridge. With two weeks off before facing Hawaii, Dobbs gets a chance to rest his knee a bit.

Notre Dame … at Pitt 27 ... Notre Dame 22 ... The job status of Charlie Weis shouldn’t be determined on this loss. At least it shouldn’t be a tipping point. His team continues to battle and it continues to find ways to play well in the fourth quarter, but the problem is that the offense didn’t work well enough in the first three quarters. Golden Tate showed once again why he’s an NFL star waiting to happen, while Jimmy Clausen did the best he could do under intense pressure from the Pitt D. At 6-4, the season isn’t over. There are still chances against Connecticut and at Stanford to make a statement, and if the Irish beat the Cardinal, then Weis might be safe … maybe.