My college football picking season started last week on the usual note, under .500. 7-11-1 to be exact.
And I was reminded way too often why I’m so glad I don’t put money on these things. LSU (-6 ½) had an easy cover over what was left of the North Carolina Tar Heels, only to see UNC score twice in the waning minutes and darn near win outright.
Virginia Tech +2 points?? No problem, yet they lose by three.
Missouri -12?? They’ll settle for winning by ten.
Some couldn’t order these results any better at Buffalo Wild Wings…
Then there were bad beats too bad to be possibly real. SMU facing fourth down, pass thrown into end zone deflects off two Texas Tech players into the waiting arms of an SMU receiver for what proved to be a covering touchdown.
And of course there was UNLV’s late score to lose by 20 when the books had Wisconsin -20 ½. It was not the first time something fishy occurred at Sam Boyd Stadium with those two teams playing.
In 2002 Wisconsin was headed to an easy cover over the Rebels, all that needed to be done was to run out the clock. Problem was the game didn’t get to that point.
A power failure (later determined not to possibly be done by human intervention) ended the game with 7:41 remaining, which meant that all bets were off due to Nevada Gambling’s ’55 minute rule’. It should also be noted that even if there was heavy Wisconsin wagering, the books didn’t necessarily benefit from the game being cut short, as those holding parlay tickets that were already losers were able to get a refund.
For those who play the Yahoo contest, you no doubt notice that the game is no longer necessarily confined to games involving top-25 teams. 20 games are chosen, and no doubt done to avoid including games where there is no line ( ie, FBS v. FCS games) and thus zero purpose in making the obvious selection.
Incidentally, you might want to check out a new channel ESPN has unveiled on college football game days, similar to the NFL Red Zone deal. The new channel was created as part of the agreement ESPN hammered out with Time Warner last week. Also, word is that ESPN is in the process of working out the details of making ESPN3 available on-line to Time Warner customers, another piece to the TW/Disney deal. ESPN says they plan to ‘launch as soon as possible’.
Hopefully I turn things around this week so I don’t spend yet another season frantically just trying to get back to .500…
Duke (+4.5) at Wake Forest (Noon ET/ESPN3) – Remember when Wake went to a BCS bowl??? That was all the way back in 2006. This game unlikely to make a sound. PICK: Wake Forest
Georgia Tech (-13.5) at Kansas (Noon ET/Fox Sports Net) – Looks like the transition to Turner Gill may take a while, as KU lost a listless 6-3 contest to FCS North Dakota St. last week. Rock. Chalk. Back to the drawing board. PICK: Ga. Tech
Georgia (+2.5) at South Carolina (Noon/ESPN) – Two teams have met to open conference play every year since 1992, UGA holds a 13-5 lead during that time. Has freshman receiver Ace Sanders become the Gamecocks X factor?? PICK: Georgia
Hawaii (+2.5) at Army (Noon/CBS College Sports) – The teams are similar talent-wise, have to go with the team not traveling 6,000 miles to get to this one. PICK: Army
South Florida (+15.5) at Florida (Noon/ESPN3) – Would you like to be a fly on the locker room wall after the Gators lackluster opening effort v. Miami (OH)?? USF is not a pushover, and won at Florida State last year. They may have picked the wrong week to go to Gainesville though. PICK: Florida
Florida State (+8.5) at Oklahoma (3:30/ABC-Regional) – Think about this?? Is this the game that FSU QB Christian Ponder makes a name for himself on a national stage?? What stinks is this game is not going out to the entire nation, if you happen to be in a Big Ten market, you may be stuck with the battle for Iowa, which does not mean anything outside of February of an election year. Not often I do this, but might have to find a bar to watch this one. PICK: Florida St.
Iowa St. (+13.5) at Iowa (3:30/ABC-Regional) – Good one I heard the other day. How many Iowa St. fans does it take to change a light bulb?? Answer: 4, one to actually change the bulb, two to tell people how good Seneca was, and one to re-design the team’s knockoff-USC uniforms yet again. PICK: Iowa
Miami-FL (+9.5) at Ohio St. (3:30/ESPN) – The two teams of course met for the National Championship following the 2002 season and also played each other in the 1999 Kickoff Classic, a contest in which Miami re-introduced itself to the scene with a 23-12 victory with the likes of Reggie Wayne, Santana Moss, Najeh Davenport, and Bubba Franks. Time does fly. PICK: Miami
Colorado (+7.5) at California (3:30/FSN) – Next year this will be a conference game, which means coach Dan Hawkins will have to revamp his famous rant (see below) – ‘IT’S NOT JUST DIVISION ONE FOOTBALL, IT’S THE PAC-12!!!!’ The Buffs find out Saturday that their new conference won’t be confused with intramurals. PICK: California
Michigan (+3.5) at Notre Dame (3:30/NBC) – The battle of teams trying to claw their ways back into national prominence. Not that the UConn Huskies will be confused with a national power, but you have to like a QB like Denard Robinson, who passed for 186 yards and then ran 29 times for 197 yards. Look for that speed to do the Irish in. PICK: Michigan
BYU (PICK) at Air Force (3:30/Versus) – Most annoying sounds in the world, (a) the vuvuzela, and (b) Versus’s PBP announcer. The Y did not exactly earn a lot of style points in opening win over Washington. Not much rushing game to speak of (last year’s starter booted out of school) and a quarterback situation in flux. Looks like a game BYU might need one of their patented FG/PAT blocks to win. PICK: BYU
LSU (-10) at Vanderbilt (7/ESPNU) – Someone remind me that LSU’s football program just isn’t that good anymore, and Les Miles dodged a potential career bullet when North Carolina couldn’t convert on either of the final two plays in the Georgia Dome, eerily in the same end zone as the Kevin Dyson ‘one yard short’ play. Also involving a team with gold pants v. a team with light blue in it’s paint scheme. PICK: LSU
Syracuse (+13) at Washington (7 PM/FSN Northwest) – Proof that the ORANJE once had a decent football program. They shut out Wisconsin 34-nil in the 1997 Kickoff Classic. And this just in, Jake Locker is not to be confused with Tim Tebow. PICK: Syracuse
Oregon (-13) at Tennessee (7/ESPN2) – Bad news for Mountain West BCS-busting hopefuls, the Ducks 72-0 dismantling of New Mexico will hurt that strength of schedule. Things gets slightly tougher for Oregon this week traveling to face a rebuilding Tennessee program. PICK: Tennessee
Louisiana Tech (+18.5) at Texas A&M (7 PM) – Tam-U, not unlike Michigan and Notre Dame, is trying to make it back to the top-25 stage after a couple of down years. Make or break campaign for Mike Sherman?? PICK: Louisiana Tech
NC State (+3.5) at Central Florida (7/CBS College Sports) – Best reason to watch this game, Mike Leach makes his broadcasting debut, for better or for worse, he may end up being college football’s answer to John Madden in the booth. And when he gets to work an East Carolina Pirates game?? He’s going to need a pair of Depends for that one. I may have to put Key West on my bucket list. PICK: UCF
Penn St. (+11.5) at Alabama (7/ABC) – As Musberger said the other night, ‘Two of the Blue-bloods…’ That about sums up this inter-sectional clash, below Jim Nantz calls one memorable finish from the past. PICK: Penn State
Mississippi (-21) at Tulane (9 PM/ESPN2) – Why you can’t script college football, in 1992 Arkansas lost it’s opening game to 1-AA The Citadel, and fired coach Jack Crowe the next day. That would be the same man who coached Jacksonville State to last week’s stunning victory over Ole Miss, whose coach Houston Nutt, used to coach Arkansas. Houston gets to keep his job for the time being, and his Rebels play a team that would likely be challenged to be competitive even in FCS ball. PICK: Mississippi
Virginia (+19.5) at USC (10:30/FSN) – I’m not totally sold on the Lane Kiffin era yet, if they couldn’t rout Hawaii then UVA should definitely be able to hang around. PICK: Virginia
Stanford (+6.5) at UCLA (10:30 ESPN) – Or joined in progress after the final participant in NASCAR’s Chase For the Cup is decided. What drama… (#sarcasm) Meanwhile does Rick Neuheisel or Kiffin have the real monopoly on being the screwiest coach in LA?? PICK: Stanford
