Phoenix has to travel to Utah after playing an up and down game last night to Atlanta. In addition, Phoenix will be resting their players for a long time in the 2nd half because of the back to back games. Utah appears to be taking the preseason seriously as well, as they made a defined effort to beat the Lakers on Tuesday. I expect Utah to win this game by double digits rather easily.

Wake Forest has been one of the most undervalued teams in college football over the last three seasons. Jim Grobe has a done a tremendous job in turning around this program into a perennial ACC contender. He has combined a smart ball control offense with a physical, dominating defense into a very consistent winning team. On Thursday the Demon Deacons face one of the most over-rated teams in college football. Clemson begins almost every season with BCS bowl game hopes, but, just like every other year, those hopes were dashed within the first few games this year. Everyone was raving about Clemson’s quarterback Cullen Harper and running backs James Davis and C.J. Spiller. However, their offensive line had no returning starters and their defense was a question mark. As a result, Harper, Davis, and Spiller have had no time or space to do anything. I expect Wake Forest’s defense to have a tremendous amount of success against this struggling Clemson offense. There is also line value here because of Wake Forest coming off of a home loss to Navy. However, in that game Wake Forest made several mental errors and didn’t take Navy seriously before it was too late. The Demon Deacons are also in a huge revenge situation after getting blown out by the Tigers last season on the road. I expect a motivated Wake Forest squad to win because of home field advantage, a much better defense, and much more consistent offense. 2 UNIT SELECTION

This game features two excellent postseason pitchers. Cole Hamels has been near unhittable in his two post season games, including his performance against Milwaukee a few days ago. Meanwhile, Derek Lowe has been pitching very well in the second half of this season, and he held Chicago to only two runs with six strikeouts in game one of the last series. In addition, Lowe has been dominating in every post season performance. What makes this selection even better is Philadelphia’s lack of hitting in their last series, despite Milwaukee’s poor pitching. Most of their runs in the four game series were scored on two hits. Ryan Howard and Chase Utley are struggling once again in the post season. Both bullpens will be fully rested for this game as well. Game time temperature is going to be in the high 50’s, making hitting even harder. Look for both starting pitchers to go deep into the game, allowing five combined runs or less. 2 UNIT SELECTION