9/30 Plays
It's a new beginning for me and hopefully for my betting fortunes in this college football season. September is not even over and there is plenty of time to make up for earlier mistakes. I have been doing some research at the games I missed last weekend and hopefully my homework yields some dividends. Buyer beware though because who the hell know what's going to happen. My favorite kind of college football season actually....
Top Plays
Navy +3 @ UCONN
Navy has been historically very good under Paul Johnson in this spot after a straight up loss (Tulsa last week). UCONN has been very so-so to this point. The key matchup in this game is UCONN Pass offense against Navy Pass Defense both of which have been abysmal for both teams. I think Navy controls the clock and wins this game outright at least I'm hoping....
@Ohio -6 over Bowling Green
Bowling Green has been just terrible so far and Ohio has beaten a darn good No. Illinois team. I think Ohio has all the incentive in the world to show up well in this game. Take the small number and be happy you did.
No Illinois -7 @ Ball St.
No. Illinois is a strong rushing team and BAll St. can't defend the run. No Illinois did slip up against Ohio but I don't think BAll St. will have enough to slow down the Huskies in this one.
@Iowa +6.5 over Ohio St.
I have seen Ohio St. in person and came away very impressed with their team. But Iowa has a crazy record under Ferentz at home. I'll take the points in what should be a classic game and say Iowa covers against the #1 team in the land.
Small Plays
Wisconsin -11 @ Indiana
Even after a loss to mighty Michigan, I like Wisconsin to rebound against perennial doormat Indiana who has very little rushing attack.
@ LSU -33 over Miss St.
I like Sylvester Croom. I really do, but the gap between these two teams is so great that I will still lay the 33 points and feel pretty good about it. This one should get real ugly.
@San Jose St. +3 over San Diego St.
Dick Tomey is doing some good things at San Jose St. and while talent wise SDSU may be the better team the results on the field show that San Jose should win this one.
@ WAZZU +17 over USC
I was thinking about this play earlier in the week and the news of Jarrett being out for SC makes me feel more confident about this play. There is always a blowout possibility when you play SC but I don't see this week. Expect a close one with WAZZU covering the number
Washington +3.5 over Arizona
For some reason, Arizona is one of the teams I have seen play often this year and I have not been very impressed at all with Mike Stoops squad. His team seems to make mistakes at the wrong times. Ty Willingham has Washington capitalizing on its opportunities this year and I think this another good spot for them.
Good luck to everyone this week!
Big D
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
I'm Engaged
I hope all of you loyal blog readers can forgive the lack of updates the last 10 days. While I know plenty has happened in the sports world since I last posted, my personal life has also brought about some big happenings. Last Wednesday, I got engaged to my girlfriend of 3 years, Sarah. I couldn't be happier to have her in my life and I look forward to spending the rest of my life with her. On top of the engagement, we both spent the last 5 days traveling up in the Pacific Northwest speding time in Seattle, Vancouver, and Whistler. What a phenomenal trip.
Unfortuantely or fortunately for those of you who follow my picks, I didn't post any plays this past weekend because frankly I had very little time to analyze last week's games and was content to just sit last week out. It seems like plenty of people did well last week, so I was happy to hear that news. I will post my plays for this upcoming weekend probably tomorrow or Friday.
Below is a recap of what has happened since I left last week
The US gets embarrassed again in the Ryder Cup losing 18.5 to 9.5 to Europe, and this result really should come as shock to noone.
The Ryder Cup is still one of my favorite sporting events, but until the American side finds some young talent who can match up to the European side who should be good for years to come. Sergio Garcia, Luke Donald, and Paul Casey are not going anywhere and noone on this US Ryder Cup team was under the age of 30.
I didn't get to see a minute of this game, but Notre Dame somehow managed to come back from a huge deficit and beat Michigan St. 40-37.
The Saints win an emotional game in their return to the Superdome and now stand 3-0 under new coach Sean Payton.
Bill Clinton Freaks Out on Fox News
Cardinals in Danger of Missing Playoffs
A once comfortable lead in the National League Central has now been trimmed to 1.5 games thanks to a seven game losing streak. The Astros are surging and I will be sick if the Cardinals manage to lose the division to the never say die Astros.
Weekend picks to follow soon.....
Unfortuantely or fortunately for those of you who follow my picks, I didn't post any plays this past weekend because frankly I had very little time to analyze last week's games and was content to just sit last week out. It seems like plenty of people did well last week, so I was happy to hear that news. I will post my plays for this upcoming weekend probably tomorrow or Friday.
Below is a recap of what has happened since I left last week
The US gets embarrassed again in the Ryder Cup losing 18.5 to 9.5 to Europe, and this result really should come as shock to noone.
The Ryder Cup is still one of my favorite sporting events, but until the American side finds some young talent who can match up to the European side who should be good for years to come. Sergio Garcia, Luke Donald, and Paul Casey are not going anywhere and noone on this US Ryder Cup team was under the age of 30.
I didn't get to see a minute of this game, but Notre Dame somehow managed to come back from a huge deficit and beat Michigan St. 40-37.
The Saints win an emotional game in their return to the Superdome and now stand 3-0 under new coach Sean Payton.
Bill Clinton Freaks Out on Fox News
Cardinals in Danger of Missing Playoffs
A once comfortable lead in the National League Central has now been trimmed to 1.5 games thanks to a seven game losing streak. The Astros are surging and I will be sick if the Cardinals manage to lose the division to the never say die Astros.
Weekend picks to follow soon.....
Friday, September 15, 2006
9/16 Picks
We all know this weeekend is big. An astonishing 7 Top 25 matchups on tap this weekend which apparently has been duplicated only one other time in October of 1993.
I'm obviously hoping my luck turns around this weekend. Since I'm on a cold streak, I'm just going to break out my games in two tiers. Top tier are games that I'm already locked into and would normally be lumpd into my top and medium sized play category. The other games are ones that I'm still researching and may or may not play based on how tomorrow goes.
Get by a TV starting tomorrow at 2:30 because the football should be unbelievable!
Top Tier
@Louisville -4 over Miami
Louisville's offense has looked as strong as ever in blowout wins over Kentucky and Temple. Miami's D should pose a much greater challenge but Petrino's boys should be able to score some points on the Canes even without all world back Michael Bush. The key question with this game will be the Cane offense vs. the Louisville D. I think Louisville makes enough stops and wins a huge game at home in front of a rowdy crowd.
@Oregon -4 over OU
Another strong home field team in Oregon going against an OU team that I still think has looked shaky in wins over Washington and UAB. Oregon has a thrashing of Stanford and a solid win at Fresno under their belts and i just think they are the stronger team with a huge homefield edge in this one.
@Okie St. -28 over FLa Atlantic
Okie St. looks to be a force this year with new QB Bobby Reid finally healthy. The offense is clicking at Florida Atlantic has a tough time staying within 30 of anybody. Expect this one to get ugly early.
San Diego St. +14 @ Wisconsin
San Diego St. has played some of the big boys tight on the road in recent years. Wisconsin looks decent under new coach Brent Beijama (sp?) but I expect the Aztecs to at least keep it interesting.
Navy +2 @ Stanford
Not sure about this Navy team yet, but they need a big win in this one to get their season rolling. Stanford hasn't looked very good in a convincing loss to Oregon and an upset at the hands of pitiful San Jose St. They are desperate for a win, but they better not take the Midshipmen lightly. I love Navy in a spot like this one as underdog.
BYU +7 @ BC
After a loss to Arizona in Tucson the opening week, BYU went out and throttled a decent Tulsa squad last week. BC struggled with Central Michigan and then won a marathon double OT game against Clemson last week. Expect some hangover after that big win even at home. BYU should move the ball on BC and has a chance for the outright upset.
Other Plays
@ Uconn -6 over Wake Forest
@ Central Florida +1.5 over South Florida
WAZZU -13 over Baylor
@ Nevada -3 over Colorado St.
Mizzou -14 over new Mexico
@USC -17.5 over Nebraska
@Florida International +5.5 over Bowling Green
I'm obviously hoping my luck turns around this weekend. Since I'm on a cold streak, I'm just going to break out my games in two tiers. Top tier are games that I'm already locked into and would normally be lumpd into my top and medium sized play category. The other games are ones that I'm still researching and may or may not play based on how tomorrow goes.
Get by a TV starting tomorrow at 2:30 because the football should be unbelievable!
Top Tier
@Louisville -4 over Miami
Louisville's offense has looked as strong as ever in blowout wins over Kentucky and Temple. Miami's D should pose a much greater challenge but Petrino's boys should be able to score some points on the Canes even without all world back Michael Bush. The key question with this game will be the Cane offense vs. the Louisville D. I think Louisville makes enough stops and wins a huge game at home in front of a rowdy crowd.
@Oregon -4 over OU
Another strong home field team in Oregon going against an OU team that I still think has looked shaky in wins over Washington and UAB. Oregon has a thrashing of Stanford and a solid win at Fresno under their belts and i just think they are the stronger team with a huge homefield edge in this one.
@Okie St. -28 over FLa Atlantic
Okie St. looks to be a force this year with new QB Bobby Reid finally healthy. The offense is clicking at Florida Atlantic has a tough time staying within 30 of anybody. Expect this one to get ugly early.
San Diego St. +14 @ Wisconsin
San Diego St. has played some of the big boys tight on the road in recent years. Wisconsin looks decent under new coach Brent Beijama (sp?) but I expect the Aztecs to at least keep it interesting.
Navy +2 @ Stanford
Not sure about this Navy team yet, but they need a big win in this one to get their season rolling. Stanford hasn't looked very good in a convincing loss to Oregon and an upset at the hands of pitiful San Jose St. They are desperate for a win, but they better not take the Midshipmen lightly. I love Navy in a spot like this one as underdog.
BYU +7 @ BC
After a loss to Arizona in Tucson the opening week, BYU went out and throttled a decent Tulsa squad last week. BC struggled with Central Michigan and then won a marathon double OT game against Clemson last week. Expect some hangover after that big win even at home. BYU should move the ball on BC and has a chance for the outright upset.
Other Plays
@ Uconn -6 over Wake Forest
@ Central Florida +1.5 over South Florida
WAZZU -13 over Baylor
@ Nevada -3 over Colorado St.
Mizzou -14 over new Mexico
@USC -17.5 over Nebraska
@Florida International +5.5 over Bowling Green
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Tupac
Because Hurst would be proud of me, I figured today would be a good day to pay tribute to Tupac Shakur on the blog.
In an ironic twist based on his own prophecy of an early demise for himself throughout his lyrics, Tupac died tragically 10 years ago today a full six days after being shot in the chest after a boxing match in Las Vegas. While I admit I'm not a huge music or rap fan, I always loved Pac's music and no telling how huge he would have been (only 25 years old at his death) if still alive today.
So everyone pour out some liquor today in memory of Pac! Or do whatever you want to do to remember a true legend.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
More You Tube
Did I mention that I like Scarlett Johannson. Here is Bob Dylan's new music video featuring the actress:
Keith Olberman rips George Bush after yesterday's speech to the country.
I thought this person from one of my many message boards summed last night's speech up best:
Great Article about the new clock rules in college football
Anybody else intrigued by these commercials that have been running since football started.
FATHEAD!
Finally,
Not happy times for Diddy aka Sean Combs
Keith Olberman rips George Bush after yesterday's speech to the country.
I thought this person from one of my many message boards summed last night's speech up best:
What Bush has ultimately resorted to is a hope that we will all be reunited again through the psychology of fear, i.e. "If we all drop our opposition to the mistakes that I have made in responding to Al Queda, and get behind those mistakes, we will prevail in our fight in its newly defined "front" in Iraq which, although it had nothing to do with 9/11, with WMDs, with any credible IMMINENT threat to the United States, with trying to exhaust UN diplomacy, is now the lynchpin of our war against terrorism" It is totally garbage.
Bush now cites OBL for declaring that Iraq is now where World War III is occuring; therefore we must continue the battle. He now compounds this by trying to sell the illusion that every insurgent is a terrorist, therefore our fight there is the true fight against terrorists. And in the most recent turn of events, he wants to sell the illusion that this fight is analogous to World War II, and invokes the image of FDR.
FDR postulated that the war we waged was based on the four freedoms. One of those was freedom from fear. It strikes me that what we are now doing is nothing more than a reaction to fear. Al Queda was NOT in Iraq prior to our invasion, yet we put an insufficient number of troops right in the middle of the Middle East where the few Al Queda fighters from abroad could engage them. This is the putting out cheese in the rat house theory that I've posted elsewhere on this forum. It is letting the enemy determine the battlefield and the stakes to be won on it-- not a credible strategy if your goal is to defeat the enemy, and certainly not a shrewd use of our armed forces.
By Bush's reasoning, if Iraq, weakened by a previous war and lacking a sympathetic government to supporting Al Queda, was a viable threat to us, then there were certainly other nations which posed, and still pose, a more tangible threat to us which were deserving of a preemptive attack. Korea comes to mind, as does Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. The difference is that two of these three possess atomic weapons. No wonder the Iranians desire the development of a nuclear arsenal -- in the new world of neocons, the best insurance policy against an American preemptive attack is a nuclear capability. And where is the "coalition of the willing" which would support our response? The British (who are having second thoughts)? Mongolia? Who has left us, who so willingly joined us after 9/11? Poland? Spain? Italy? Japan?
We are stuck in Iraq, but the way forward is not with this administration or its sycophants in Congress. Vote them out
Great Article about the new clock rules in college football
Anybody else intrigued by these commercials that have been running since football started.
FATHEAD!
Finally,
Not happy times for Diddy aka Sean Combs
Monday, September 11, 2006
3 Movies that Look Good
Well, it's fall and since I am basically a homebody who doesn't mind going to a movie on Friday night. These three movies I think look good coming out:
The Last Kiss with Zach Braff and Rachel Bilson:
Black Dahlia Scarlett Johannson among others
The Departed Scorsese -- This cast is just ridiculous.
The Last Kiss with Zach Braff and Rachel Bilson:
Black Dahlia Scarlett Johannson among others
The Departed Scorsese -- This cast is just ridiculous.
Black Saturday
When things go bad, they can go REALLY bad and that's what happened this weekend.
The trip down to Austin for the Ohio St. game was a fun one, but the outcome of the game was not so fun.
Here are some of my random comments on the weekend:
--The Defensive gameplan had problems from the start because of the Tarrell Brown suspension and Andrew Kelson being held out because of injury. I would need to rewatch the game (I was just happy to be in my seats corner endzone), but whatever we did on Ginn and Gonzalez did not work on the first half. Gonzalez was open the entire first half and the Ginn TD before half was a backbreaker. My girlfriend's 13 year old cousin told me this but why didn't UT just put one of the young guys on Ginn and have Ross go man on man against Gonzalez. Because what the secondary was doing in the first half was just ugly. One of the very few times I'd criticize Chizik but this was a bad gameplan.
--Offense had too many missed opportunities with the Jermichael Finley drop and the fumble on the goalline being too much to overcome on a night that produced very few big plays for the Longhorns.
--This Oline is still dominant. While the offense may have sputtered much of the night, you cannot blame the Oline which still opened up holes for the backs and gave Mccoy adequate protection. Selvin Young and J-Chuck played well and they were very close to breaking a long one on multiple occasions.
--McCoy is more mobile than I thought, but he needs to keep it on the sprint draw to loosen up the defense. I expect these adjustments will be made before OU.
--Those blaming this loss on Greg Davis need their head examined.
--Matthew McCouaghney was up to his usual antics. I saw him leading a whole section of students into a frenzy pre kickoff. And also showing up on Godzilla time sometime during the 3rd quarter when he was trying to inspire a comeback.
--Lebron James, Cris Carter, Lance Armstrong, and a bunch of others I'm forgetting were also in attendance at this one.
ND looked great in a thrashing of what I believe is still a pretty talented Penn St. 41-7 in South Bend.
. Charle Weis had his team more than ready for Penn St. and the Irish capitalized basically every mistake. A huge tilt with Michigan awaits this Saturday.
Some other games that I wish I would have seen Saturday
Tech/UTEP -- Tech escapes in overtime. UTEP deserves credit for taking Tech to the wire.
Fresno/Oregon -- You knew this one would be close and it was with Oregon winning 31-24 on a gutsy call by Mike Belotti. He calls a fake field goal with about 4 minutes left and the score tied at 24. The ducks convert the fake and win by a TD. And I had Fresno +4. Did I mention it was bad for me?
Tennesee/Air Force -- Have not seen one highlight from this game but the Falcons take The Vols to the gun and fail on a 2 pt. conversion to lose at the gun.
Georgia/South CArolina -- Would have loved to have seen Mark Richt's crew go in and blank Spurrier at Columbia. Must have been some kind of performance. HP Boy Stafford looks to be the starter now with the nice story but very mediocre Joe Tershinski out with injury.
SMU/UNT -- I had to mention this one because the Ponies my buddy Brian promised were going to be much better got steamrolled by the Mean Green in Denton. It's hard to hit rock bottom at SMU but Phil Bennett is trying this season. Expect an appearance on the Bottom 10 this week for the Mustangs. The Sam Houston St. bobcats loom on the horizon.
Doug Christie and his wife are getting a TV Show on BET
I have to watch this trainwreck waiting to happen.
Since going to the US Open last week with Sarah, I have begun to appreciate that sport.
Andy Roddick had a hell of a tournament and just got outlasted by Roger Federer in the men's Final. It was quite humorous while watching Roddick's semifinal match on Sunday in the UT law school lounge area. Sarah wants to see how Roddick is doing and turn it to the tennis match. Well, I'm controlling the remote and about 25 Texas fans are watching the ND/Penn St. game and OU/Washington games. Safe to say when I turned it to tennis, the channel got turned back to football at a very fast rate.
The Final Sign it's just not a good weekend to be associated with UT, Chris Simms throws 3 INTs and the Buccaneers get blanked by The Ravens 27-0 in the Tampa opener. Oh yea, one of those INTs was returned for a touchdown. Imagine that from Simms. I have found it interesting in hindsight that the Big 3 apparently were much of the reason holding Texas back from winning national championship. Their ridicule included making fun of Billy Pittman's bell's palsy and almost forcing Pittman to quit school. It wasn't until Vince showed up and instilled confidence in his teammates that the team made the jump the next level. At least something to think about when you consider the Simms era.
Major returns to Austin this weekend as the Offensive Coordinate. Somehow you don't have to envy that assingment.
Finally, I better comment on my pitiful gambling weekend.
I'll be the first to admit my picks were really were god awful this week. It's early in the season, but so far this year has not been anything close to last year's success. Gambling on college sports is a grind so I'm going to try and hang in there this week and hope things turn around. I don't want to make excuses but I've had to make my picks very early the last couple weeks because I've been traveling. A lot of things happen between Thursday and Saturday (i.e. Drew Tate getting scratched from playing right at game time) and there are many cappers around the internet who don't put their plays up until Saturday morning.
From now on, I am going to put up my early plays and update the blog accordingly before kickoff. Hope that will help the rest of the season for those that are following my picks. I know that's probably noone after this week but I'm confident things are about to turn around.
The upcoming week's games look just about as entertaining as a middle of September can possibly get. The following games are all scheduled for this upcoming Saturday:
2:30 Games Central
Auburn/LSU
Miami/Louisville
Michigan/ND
Oregon/Oklahoma
Later Games
Florida/Tenneseee
TCU/Tech
Nebraska/USC
Holy shit!
I have been away from Dallas the last two weeks, but I will certainly by the television for this week's action. It's either that or go to the SMU/Sam Houston St. game. Let's hope my luck turns around as well.
The trip down to Austin for the Ohio St. game was a fun one, but the outcome of the game was not so fun.
Here are some of my random comments on the weekend:
--The Defensive gameplan had problems from the start because of the Tarrell Brown suspension and Andrew Kelson being held out because of injury. I would need to rewatch the game (I was just happy to be in my seats corner endzone), but whatever we did on Ginn and Gonzalez did not work on the first half. Gonzalez was open the entire first half and the Ginn TD before half was a backbreaker. My girlfriend's 13 year old cousin told me this but why didn't UT just put one of the young guys on Ginn and have Ross go man on man against Gonzalez. Because what the secondary was doing in the first half was just ugly. One of the very few times I'd criticize Chizik but this was a bad gameplan.
--Offense had too many missed opportunities with the Jermichael Finley drop and the fumble on the goalline being too much to overcome on a night that produced very few big plays for the Longhorns.
--This Oline is still dominant. While the offense may have sputtered much of the night, you cannot blame the Oline which still opened up holes for the backs and gave Mccoy adequate protection. Selvin Young and J-Chuck played well and they were very close to breaking a long one on multiple occasions.
--McCoy is more mobile than I thought, but he needs to keep it on the sprint draw to loosen up the defense. I expect these adjustments will be made before OU.
--Those blaming this loss on Greg Davis need their head examined.
--Matthew McCouaghney was up to his usual antics. I saw him leading a whole section of students into a frenzy pre kickoff. And also showing up on Godzilla time sometime during the 3rd quarter when he was trying to inspire a comeback.
--Lebron James, Cris Carter, Lance Armstrong, and a bunch of others I'm forgetting were also in attendance at this one.
ND looked great in a thrashing of what I believe is still a pretty talented Penn St. 41-7 in South Bend.
. Charle Weis had his team more than ready for Penn St. and the Irish capitalized basically every mistake. A huge tilt with Michigan awaits this Saturday.
Some other games that I wish I would have seen Saturday
Tech/UTEP -- Tech escapes in overtime. UTEP deserves credit for taking Tech to the wire.
Fresno/Oregon -- You knew this one would be close and it was with Oregon winning 31-24 on a gutsy call by Mike Belotti. He calls a fake field goal with about 4 minutes left and the score tied at 24. The ducks convert the fake and win by a TD. And I had Fresno +4. Did I mention it was bad for me?
Tennesee/Air Force -- Have not seen one highlight from this game but the Falcons take The Vols to the gun and fail on a 2 pt. conversion to lose at the gun.
Georgia/South CArolina -- Would have loved to have seen Mark Richt's crew go in and blank Spurrier at Columbia. Must have been some kind of performance. HP Boy Stafford looks to be the starter now with the nice story but very mediocre Joe Tershinski out with injury.
SMU/UNT -- I had to mention this one because the Ponies my buddy Brian promised were going to be much better got steamrolled by the Mean Green in Denton. It's hard to hit rock bottom at SMU but Phil Bennett is trying this season. Expect an appearance on the Bottom 10 this week for the Mustangs. The Sam Houston St. bobcats loom on the horizon.
Doug Christie and his wife are getting a TV Show on BET
I have to watch this trainwreck waiting to happen.
Since going to the US Open last week with Sarah, I have begun to appreciate that sport.
Andy Roddick had a hell of a tournament and just got outlasted by Roger Federer in the men's Final. It was quite humorous while watching Roddick's semifinal match on Sunday in the UT law school lounge area. Sarah wants to see how Roddick is doing and turn it to the tennis match. Well, I'm controlling the remote and about 25 Texas fans are watching the ND/Penn St. game and OU/Washington games. Safe to say when I turned it to tennis, the channel got turned back to football at a very fast rate.
The Final Sign it's just not a good weekend to be associated with UT, Chris Simms throws 3 INTs and the Buccaneers get blanked by The Ravens 27-0 in the Tampa opener. Oh yea, one of those INTs was returned for a touchdown. Imagine that from Simms. I have found it interesting in hindsight that the Big 3 apparently were much of the reason holding Texas back from winning national championship. Their ridicule included making fun of Billy Pittman's bell's palsy and almost forcing Pittman to quit school. It wasn't until Vince showed up and instilled confidence in his teammates that the team made the jump the next level. At least something to think about when you consider the Simms era.
Major returns to Austin this weekend as the Offensive Coordinate. Somehow you don't have to envy that assingment.
Finally, I better comment on my pitiful gambling weekend.
I'll be the first to admit my picks were really were god awful this week. It's early in the season, but so far this year has not been anything close to last year's success. Gambling on college sports is a grind so I'm going to try and hang in there this week and hope things turn around. I don't want to make excuses but I've had to make my picks very early the last couple weeks because I've been traveling. A lot of things happen between Thursday and Saturday (i.e. Drew Tate getting scratched from playing right at game time) and there are many cappers around the internet who don't put their plays up until Saturday morning.
From now on, I am going to put up my early plays and update the blog accordingly before kickoff. Hope that will help the rest of the season for those that are following my picks. I know that's probably noone after this week but I'm confident things are about to turn around.
The upcoming week's games look just about as entertaining as a middle of September can possibly get. The following games are all scheduled for this upcoming Saturday:
2:30 Games Central
Auburn/LSU
Miami/Louisville
Michigan/ND
Oregon/Oklahoma
Later Games
Florida/Tenneseee
TCU/Tech
Nebraska/USC
Holy shit!
I have been away from Dallas the last two weeks, but I will certainly by the television for this week's action. It's either that or go to the SMU/Sam Houston St. game. Let's hope my luck turns around as well.
Friday, September 08, 2006
More Plays
Well, after reviewing the entire card and doing a little more research I have added some more plays. I have played these games listed below at different levels but for this blog I will just go ahead and post them all without designating which level. Because I'm not totally confident this week, I figured anyone who wants to pick some of these plays to use can do so without holding me accountable.
Here is the rest of my card:
Texas Tech -7 @ UTEP
This seems like a sucker play to me, but I'm going to go ahead and bit and play it small. UTEP has been improved under Mike Price but they face maybe Mike Leach's best TEch team. Even without star receiver Jarret Hicks who is having elegibility issues, Tech should move the ball easily on UTEP. And this play is more a testament to the improving Tech defense than anything else. I think it may be closer than some people are thinking but Tech should cover this number.
Penn St. +7.5 @ ND
I thought Anthony Morelli looked very good in his starting debut with the Nittany Lions in a 34-16 winning performance over Akron in a downpour at Happy Valley. Notre Dame is just trying to find a W and get some of their confidence. I'm expecting a very close game with ND probably pulling out a close win.
@ Cal -8 over Minnesota
Cal needs a good performance against Minnesota after their embarrassing debut opening up at Tennesee. I think Minnesota's 44-0 win over Kent was very deceiving as they benefited from 7 Kent turnovers. Now they travel to a very talented Berkeley squad and I think Cal gets back on track. I like this one.
@Fresno St. +4 over Oregon
Sure, Oregon looked fantastic at home in a thrashing of Stanford last weekend but this game is on the road in a very hostile environment. Dwayne Wright is the next in line of great Fresno tailbacks and I think Fresno is a live dog in this matchup. Small play at best.
Auburn -19.5 @ Miss St.
Mississipi St.'s offense is in all sort of shambles with their QB situation looking very bleak. Auburn got off to a nice start and should continue to roll on the road in STarskville. Large road favorites are risky but this looks like a decent spot.
Iowa -19 @ Syracuse Same situation as above. Very good looking team against a team with a terrible offense. Sytracuse might not score in this game even at home. Small play because of the large road favorite this early in the season.
@ Wake Forest -19.5 over Duke
Sure, Wake Forest lost their starting QB Ben Mauk in their first game which could prove to be a devstating blow later in the season. I was looking for WF as a sleeper team this year but losing Mauk will not bode well for them later in the year. However, I don't see WF having problems with an injury ridden Duke team that lost to a I-AA team last weekend. Small play because of Mauk's injury.
Here is the rest of my card:
Texas Tech -7 @ UTEP
This seems like a sucker play to me, but I'm going to go ahead and bit and play it small. UTEP has been improved under Mike Price but they face maybe Mike Leach's best TEch team. Even without star receiver Jarret Hicks who is having elegibility issues, Tech should move the ball easily on UTEP. And this play is more a testament to the improving Tech defense than anything else. I think it may be closer than some people are thinking but Tech should cover this number.
Penn St. +7.5 @ ND
I thought Anthony Morelli looked very good in his starting debut with the Nittany Lions in a 34-16 winning performance over Akron in a downpour at Happy Valley. Notre Dame is just trying to find a W and get some of their confidence. I'm expecting a very close game with ND probably pulling out a close win.
@ Cal -8 over Minnesota
Cal needs a good performance against Minnesota after their embarrassing debut opening up at Tennesee. I think Minnesota's 44-0 win over Kent was very deceiving as they benefited from 7 Kent turnovers. Now they travel to a very talented Berkeley squad and I think Cal gets back on track. I like this one.
@Fresno St. +4 over Oregon
Sure, Oregon looked fantastic at home in a thrashing of Stanford last weekend but this game is on the road in a very hostile environment. Dwayne Wright is the next in line of great Fresno tailbacks and I think Fresno is a live dog in this matchup. Small play at best.
Auburn -19.5 @ Miss St.
Mississipi St.'s offense is in all sort of shambles with their QB situation looking very bleak. Auburn got off to a nice start and should continue to roll on the road in STarskville. Large road favorites are risky but this looks like a decent spot.
Iowa -19 @ Syracuse Same situation as above. Very good looking team against a team with a terrible offense. Sytracuse might not score in this game even at home. Small play because of the large road favorite this early in the season.
@ Wake Forest -19.5 over Duke
Sure, Wake Forest lost their starting QB Ben Mauk in their first game which could prove to be a devstating blow later in the season. I was looking for WF as a sleeper team this year but losing Mauk will not bode well for them later in the year. However, I don't see WF having problems with an injury ridden Duke team that lost to a I-AA team last weekend. Small play because of Mauk's injury.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Texas and Ohio St. Preview; Week 2 Picks
Check this Link from one of the veteran posters on the Texas fan sites. This guy obviously has way too much time on his hands but he does some pretty incredible work.
As for the first week of college football, I spent the weekend in Boston and was not able to watch the entire weekend's worth of action. I was able to keep with up some of the more marquee matchups and was happy to see ND squeak by Georgia Tech in a very tight contest. Texas looked impressive in Colt McCoy's debut at QB.
Overall Record for the First Week
1-1 Top Plays
1-1 Medium Plays
2-3 Small Plays
1-1 Totals
Very underwhelming debut to the 2006 season but I'm just trying to get my legs underneath me so hopefully this week will show more promise. I really am not able to find that many attractive games this week so the card will be relatively small. Watch for next week's card to be fairly large with plenty of huge matchups occurring on the September 16th weekend. Onto this week's action:
Top Play
@Texas -2.5 over Ohio St.
I just think Texas will find a way to get the job done in Austin. This will be the biggest home game for the Horns in recent memory and I think the Buckeyes while hungry don't have enough on defense to slow down the Texas attack. I see Texas pulling away late in what has become customary late game magic as of late under Mack Brown. Sure it's a homer pick but so what.
Small Plays
@Arkansas -28.5 over Utah St.
Okay, so I blew it with the Arkansas pick last week against USC. What an embarrassing performance by the razorbacks at home against the Trojans losing 50-14 in front of a rowdy Saturday night crowd. Houston Nutt has decided to scrap his plan to play Robert Johnson at Quarterback and has inserted super recruit Mitch Mustain into the starting lineup. I think the Razorbacks find some rhythm behind Mustain and take out their frustration on an Utah St. team that got throttled 38-7 by Wyoming in their opening game.
Idaho +17 @ Wazzu
Washington State struggled in their opening game at Auburn and tries to rebound this week against an improving Vandal squad led by form Cane coach Dennis Erickson. The Vandals put up a game effort against Michigan St. last week and should be able to hang against a mediocre Cougars squad.
I don't have much else for this week and really haven't see much else that sticks out at me. The TEch -7 line against UTEP seems too easy so I'm passing on that one this early in the season. I may post a few additional games tommorrow but as for now I'm gonna stick with this 3 game card.
Good luck to everyone this week and Hook em..
As for the first week of college football, I spent the weekend in Boston and was not able to watch the entire weekend's worth of action. I was able to keep with up some of the more marquee matchups and was happy to see ND squeak by Georgia Tech in a very tight contest. Texas looked impressive in Colt McCoy's debut at QB.
Overall Record for the First Week
1-1 Top Plays
1-1 Medium Plays
2-3 Small Plays
1-1 Totals
Very underwhelming debut to the 2006 season but I'm just trying to get my legs underneath me so hopefully this week will show more promise. I really am not able to find that many attractive games this week so the card will be relatively small. Watch for next week's card to be fairly large with plenty of huge matchups occurring on the September 16th weekend. Onto this week's action:
Top Play
@Texas -2.5 over Ohio St.
I just think Texas will find a way to get the job done in Austin. This will be the biggest home game for the Horns in recent memory and I think the Buckeyes while hungry don't have enough on defense to slow down the Texas attack. I see Texas pulling away late in what has become customary late game magic as of late under Mack Brown. Sure it's a homer pick but so what.
Small Plays
@Arkansas -28.5 over Utah St.
Okay, so I blew it with the Arkansas pick last week against USC. What an embarrassing performance by the razorbacks at home against the Trojans losing 50-14 in front of a rowdy Saturday night crowd. Houston Nutt has decided to scrap his plan to play Robert Johnson at Quarterback and has inserted super recruit Mitch Mustain into the starting lineup. I think the Razorbacks find some rhythm behind Mustain and take out their frustration on an Utah St. team that got throttled 38-7 by Wyoming in their opening game.
Idaho +17 @ Wazzu
Washington State struggled in their opening game at Auburn and tries to rebound this week against an improving Vandal squad led by form Cane coach Dennis Erickson. The Vandals put up a game effort against Michigan St. last week and should be able to hang against a mediocre Cougars squad.
I don't have much else for this week and really haven't see much else that sticks out at me. The TEch -7 line against UTEP seems too easy so I'm passing on that one this early in the season. I may post a few additional games tommorrow but as for now I'm gonna stick with this 3 game card.
Good luck to everyone this week and Hook em..
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