The race is tight at the top, and Week Five is unlikely to lead to big changes as many of the picks were unanimous…especially at the local level. On to the picks!
| 10/29-11/1 Games | Jay Siegel | Chris Morelli | Rusty McCracken | Dustin Parks | Dave Glass |
| Bellefonte-Clearfield | Clearfield | Clearfield | Clearfield | Clearfield | Clearfield |
| Brookville-Punxsy | Punxsy | Punxsy | Punxsy | Punxsy | Punxsy |
| Mo Valley-So. Huntingdon | MV | MV | MV | MV | MV |
| Grove City-Dubois | Grove City | Grove City | Grove City | Dubois | Grove City |
| Michigan-PSU | Michigan | Michigan | Michigan | PSU | Michigan |
| Louisville-Pitt | Pitt | Pitt | Pitt | Pitt | Pitt |
| Michigan State-Iowa | Iowa | MSU | MSU | MSU | MSU |
| Missouri-Nebraska | Nebraska | Missouri | Nebraska | Missouri | Nebraska |
| Steelers-Saints | Saints | Steelers | Steelers | Saints | Steelers |
| Packers-Jets | Jets | Jets | Jets | Packers | Jets |
| Texans-Colts | Colts | Colts | Texans | Colts | Texans |
| Seahawks-Raiders | Seahawks | Seahawks | Seahawks | Seahawks | Raiders |
| Last Week | 8-4 | 8-4 | 8-4 | 5-7 | 8-4 |
| Year-to-date | 32-16 | 31-17 | 30-18 | 28-20 | 24-24 |
The Last Word
Jay: “Hoping that the BCS gets shaken up again by taking Iowa and Nebraska. Just can’t pick the Nits against a good team right now…”
Chris: “With Rob Bolden out, the Nittany Lions are in big trouble. Michigan is favored in this game and with good reason.”
Rusty: “The Cornhuskers running attack should be able to control the ball and keep the Tigers frustrated. The Steelers will have to perform better this week, especially since the Saints will be looking to get some confidence back after last week’s loss to the Browns. I hate to go against Iowa, especially at home, but the Spartans may be too much for them.”
Dustin: “The Steelers-Saints game is intriguing. The Steelers got lucky on a bad call by the officials by giving them the ball back to kick the field goal, and then the Saints are coming off a home loss to the Browns. The only guarantee is the Superdome is going to be absolutely noisy.”
Dave: “This is a very important game for Clearfield’s playoff hopes – if they lose, due to D9’s weird points system there’s a chance they could miss the playoffs entirely, and Bellefonte looks to be the best team they’ve played all season. Texans have a chance to assert themselves in the AFC South race, and who’d have imagined that this Seahawks-Raiders game would have playoff implications for both teams?”
***Editor’s note: Curwensville was not part of this week’s Challenge because some of us are officiating their game this week.