I started the week 1 game under .500 but by the time Baylor rolled up Washington State I was actually even to start Saturday’s games. I had 17 games this week behind the DirecTV GamePlan picks and my other 7 games – this is how all 17 went down. With one game postponed (texas/arkansas) I put up a 12-4-1 record this week, losing a couple close ones and pretty much dominating the books in Week 3 – so far this season I’m 7 games over .500. Yhatzee. Stay tuned for next week, here’s this week’s review…
Washington State Cougars @ Baylor Bears (+2): (WINNER) “Rule of thumb for 2008 college football season: If the Washington State Cougars are ever favored, make sure to bet against them. More so, if the Cougars are on the road and favored, first make sure they are playing against, at the very least, a division 2 program or greater. If they indeed are, say Baylor for example, go ahead and pick against the Cougars and feel 99% safe about your bet.” Did I say 99%? I meant 100%. This was like buying a stock that had a 100% chance of doubling. Basically, it was a nice little bet.
Michigan Wolverines (pk) @ Notre Dame Fighting Irish: (LOSER) “Free Money!!! Hooray! Come one, come all, take the Wolverines and watch your account grow in funds.” Well, you can’t win them all right? I was almost as sure about this game as I was about the Baylor Bears. This just shows ya, even a guy on a nice little September weekend run can miss one from time to time. The Irish got me again!
Georgia Bulldogs (-7) @ South Carolina Gamecocks: (PUSH) Interesting and boring game. I don’t know how Coach Spurrier does it, but the guy was 1 goal line fumble away from tying this game up – unbelievable. Luckily for me the Bulldogs ended up covering despite getting equalled by the Gamecocks. Spurrier’s a tough guy to figure out, that’s for sure, unless he’s coaching in the NFL of course, then he’s a nice guy to bet against.
Rice Owls @ Vanderbilt Commodores (-7): (WINNER) “How can you not like it? Vandy has finally won me over, maybe just in time for them to crush my soul? Nan. Vandy plays tough defense, something the Owls haven’t faced in quite some time. Rice gives up a lot of points, something Chris Nickson and the track team skill positions in Vandy will take advantage of.” The Commodores outscored the Owls by 21 in the 2nd half, shutting Rice’s offense out completely. The final score was 38-21 as Rice just couldn’t match the Commodore’s speed.
Oklahoma Sooners (-20) @ Washington Huskies: (WINNER) “Free money!!! Thank you for scheduling this game so I could win free money. I am taking all the money in my accounts and putting it on the Sooners – at least if I get this one wrong I’ll lose it all. That’s right – my big risk and yours, should result in a big payoff. You think the Sooners are going to leave this game up to Pac-10 officials? Haha… Not after Oregon. Not after the call last week against Jake Locker. Sooners by 40. Free Money.” 55-14, Sooners by 41, not 40. I hate when I get it wrong by a point. The Sooners could have taken this game by 70, but they decided to grind it out and sit their starters in the 4th quarter. What does a one man team look like? Ask Jake Locker. I hope you took your free money!
Ohio State Buckeyes @ USC Trojans (-10): (WINNER) The Buckeyes were trounced and no, Beanie Wells wouldn’t have done anything about it. USC dominated this from the get go, as they were obviously the better team. This surely makes USC a favorite to win the NCAA Title.
UNLV Runnin’ Rebels (+23) @ Arizona State Sun Devils: (WINNER) Well, UNLV just touched up the home team Sun Devils for a HUGE upset, and I had all those points to play with. You can bet I loved this one.
Wisconsin Badgers @ Fresno State Bulldogs (+1.5): (LOSS) The Badgers won, but this was as tough a game as they’ll play this year. The Bulldogs were in for the fight, and they had lots of chances. In the end, Wisconsin’s resilience and consistent defensive play finished off the Bulldogs in Fresno’s biggest home game in their history. I lost this one, but the Bulldogs are going to win me some money this year, I’ll bet on that.
Temple Owls (+6.5) @ Buffalo Bulls (12:00pm EST): (WINNER) A hail mary answered – you can’t get really angry about that. The points made me feel better though, and I knew I had already won when Buffalo tossed up a 50 yard prayer that I almost knew was going to be answered. Both teams played well, but it was the hail mary last second touchdown win that gave the game to the home team, leving Temple out and in the loss column, and me just a friendly underdog cover.
North Carolina State Wolfpack @ Clemson Tigers (-17.5) (12:00pm EST): (WINNER) I get some bad luck later, don’t worry. That’s right, I won this one by a half of a point, but that was a big half a point. NC State’s only score was an interception return for a touchdown, so it’s not like they had much of a chance. Still, I was worried until late when CJ Spiller scored a late touchdown to get me over the spread. Thanks young fella.
UAB Blazers (+30.5) @ Tennessee Volunteers (12:30pm EST): (LOSS) Ugh. This was a 32 point game – what can you do? I took the Blazers, but Tennessee did a nice job of shutting UAB down throughout, holding them to just 3 points. I was wrong about this one, but just barely.
Penn State Nittany Lions (-27) @ Syracuse Orange (3:30pm EST): (WINNER)b”Penn State is too tough and Syracuse can’t play a 2-3 zone in this one, so they are SOL. Take the road favorites to score at will.” 55-13… Does that cover a 27 point spread? I said this one wouldn’t be close and it wasn’t. I was right. Hooray me, and hooray you if you were listening.
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (+7) @ Virginia Tech Hokies (3:30pm EST): (WINNER) Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech are now both 2-1, as the Hokies held on to beat the Jackets. The score was 17-20, and I covered. This was a tight one for sure. I still think G-Tech would win this game 7 out of 10 times, they have a better offense and a much tighter rushing attack (278 rushing yards against Tech on Saturday) but this was Tyrod Taylor’s day. The Hokies were helped out by some big GT penalties, as they got a much needed victory. They win, I win, can’t hate that.
Arkansas Razorbacks @ Texas Longhorns (-24) (3:30pm EST): (This game was postponed, so I’ll take it as a no bet, obviously)
Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (+28) @ Alabama Crimson Tide (7:00pm EST): (LOSS) Alabama was on fire to start this game, and they only needed 3 quarters of solid play to ice the HIlltoppers. Bama won, and I got one of my few losses on Saturday.
Middle Tennessee State (+17) @ Kentucky Wildcats (7:00pm EST): (WINNER) The Wildcats needed 10 points in the 4th quarter to beat Middle Tennessee State, and that still almost wasn’t enough. What am I talking about? Joe Craddock, MTS’s quarterback, put up a last minute hail mary that was caught, but came just a yard short of being a touchdown and State lost by 6, 20-14. It was a tough one, but I loved my +17 as it was an easy win and never left me in doubt throughout the contest.
Bowling Green Falcons (+17) @ Boise State Broncos (8:00pm EST): (WINNER) 20-7 – I was almost had, but the Falcons played tough after going down 20-0 in the first half. They never allowed another Bronco score, and they added a 4th quarter touchdown of their own to make me a winner. Hey, every once in a while that last quarter meaningless score sure helps me out. I’ll take this one with a smile.
Utah Utes (-24) @ Utah State Aggies (8:00pm EST): (WINNER) “Utah is more like Oregon than UNLV – and the Aggies lost to them both. I know it doesn’t work like this, but Utah beat UNLV by 21, and the Aggies lost to UNLV by 10 – that’s 31 – ha. Utah is a very good team that could make a run at undefeated. It’s time for them to rub that in their instate rival’s face. I’ll take the Utes here.” How’s 58-10? That’s not 31, that’s 48 folks. Utah is a very good team that would do some solid work in big conferences this year. They’ll have to win out to get a sniff at a BCS game, but I like their chances.