Your Home of the Oregon ILLINI. Oskee Wa Wa!

I'm calling WEEK 3 the first real Separation Saturday of the season. For the first two weeks it's been a quagmire at the top. No movement really between 1st place and 10th place. If I had to draw rank groups they would look like the image to my right. Note, I basically see our group breaking down into 4 quadrants as indicated by the red lines. Those who chose to pass on a week make up bucket 4. Those who have done their early season homework seem to be in bucket 1. I should also note that moving up or down a bucket in PICK EM is almost as easy as FOCAL @ INTEL. So don't get too comfy if you're near the top. Conversely, don't sweat it too much at this point in the year if you are in bucket 4. Mid-year foca (PICK EM STYLE)l is still 4 long weeks away. Think of me as self-appointed rank manager - I'll be issuing my input on each member at that time. So, bring your 2nd-half imbos to the mid-year session.

I expect some serious movement this week in the pick-em ranks. There are too many tough games to pick correctly in WEEK3, not to mention how you have to distribute the points. I find myself putting more points on teams I would normally not feel so confident in at this point in the season given the WEEK 3 match-ups. Don't get me wrong, those who chose to sit out a week have their work cut out for them if they want to really get back in the race, but it is doable with 11 weeks to play in my opinion. I like how Butler calls it a 'bye week'. Rule #1 in PICK - EM: There are no 'bye' weeks in the race for the championship. Who knows how the list will look come Sunday morning. I believe there will be some upsets on Saturday; I only knew now which ones to pick. So enjoy the log-jam at the top for now; it may be the last time we see such a tight grouping for a while.