Posted Friday, September 17, 2010 01:35 PM
14-6 main picks
10-3 in Goofy Games
Boy, off of this nice start, I wish I felt better about this card. All sorts of game where I just don't understand the lines and/or the movement thereof. Even the lines for the Goofy Games seem about right. Anyway, let's see what we can make of this mess:
California -2.5 at Nevada - I think I've seen this movie before. There's a scene in one of the Indiana Jones films (I think) where a guy does all sorts of martial arts crap and generally looks menacing, and then Indy just shoots him. That's sort of how Nevada works. They have this really fun offense with all sorts of misdirection and weird formations, and it all works just great until the run into somebody with size and speed. Air Wolf meet California. 41-23.
Houston -3 at UCLA - There might be five defenses in the country that would shut down this offense , and the Bruins don't own one of them. Cougs actually play a little defense these days, and a little is generally all you need against what's left of this program.
Mississippi State +7.5 at Louisiana State - Halley's Comet shows up more often than Tiger home conference covers. Dogs get a couple of extra days to prepare for the Tiger's one-two punch of terrible quarterbacking and confusion in the defensive secondary . Bulldogs get this outright.
Florida State -10 vs. Brigham Young - A better BYU team fac... [More]
Posted Friday, September 10, 2010 12:36 PM
7-3 on the main picks thread.
2-2 on totals.
7-4 on the Goofy Games, including a nice call on Jacksonville State.
This week:
Frankly, I don't like this card much. I had a bad Week Two last year, so maybe it's not in the cards. Anyway, I like:
Mississippi -20 at Tulane - Ole Miss actually looked pretty good for much of the Jax State game, and that loss isn't as bad as it seems. I think the Cocks (light) will be pretty formidable this year. Gotta love that freshman QB. Tulane is a train-wreck, as the impact of Katrina is really being felt now. They might have 20 legit D-1 players, and they catch the Rebs at a bad time. Rebs fans, always in the mood for a party, might well outnumber the alleged Wave fans. This has disaster written all over it. 45-10.
Houston -20 vs. Texas-El Paso - I'm not sure the Cougs are going to punt in convference until November. 51-20.
Southern California -19.5 vs. Virginia - Hoos looked "good" against Richmond, but the Spiders aren't nearly as good as they've been in the recent past. UVa's offense doesn't do the sorts of things the Rainbows do, so I don't think Virginia gets north of about 13 against a Trojan defense that will be looking to make a statement in front of the beautiful people in the Coliseum. 41-10.
Eastern Michigan +17 (hook) at Miami University - Florida looked so bad last week, I kept waiting... [More]
Posted Thursday, September 09, 2010 10:15 AM
First, let me start with some musings on Week One:
Can we all agree that the ridiculous Lucy Van Pelt Rule has to go. This Rule, for those of you unaware, is the one that allows a coach to call time from the sideline approximately on millisecond before the kicker attempts a field goal. It was named for Linus Van Pelt's older sister, who did pretty much the same thing for years. Ridiculous and . Any coach who pulls this crap goes down about 10 notches in my book. Just because you're allowed to do something, doesn't mean you should. In my world, this would be flagged for unsportmanlike conduct, but notions of "sportsmanship" have long since disappeared from American playing fields.
Either of the two college games played Monday will be better than ANY professional game played this year.
A tip of the cap to UNC's T. J. Yates, who was my early pick for the Xavier Lee Award this season. He looked great on Saturday, and, I think he leads the nation in passing. Not bad for a kid who has spent the better part of his career looking like a deer in the headlights.
A note to certain of my Covers Bretheren: Teams that play in 1-AA (FCS) are 1) not "Division 2 teams," and 2) and, more importantly, they are not all the same team. I will confess that even I sometimes have trouble remembering whether Sam Houston State or Steven F. Austin is "the good one" (it's the ... [More]