jordyn31 says:
I am very sorry for your baseball experience. My advice to you would be to just concentrate on college football(80-90 %) and just do other sports 10-20%

I have worked in a casino and have seen great black jack players win big and then give it back at craps, roulette, or texas hold em.

You are great at football, stick to that.

If I can be of any help, just ask. Bjorn Borg made a fortune in tennis and was managed by Mark McCormick, who handled Palmer. He begged Borg not to go into a clothing business, but Borg didn't listen and lost all his money. He also had drug problems, woman etc

STICK to college football

BOL

vandjinc says:
hey bibs. as usual, rarely post but try to help when/where i can. i'll give you the same free advice i got 16 years ago when i started gambling. 'only wager what you can afford to lose'. i would like to say that i have heeded that advice over the years but i haven't. started with 3k and turned it in to 14k in 3 weeks betting strictly college football. it only took me the next 2 weeks to lose all that plus the keys to my 87 grand nash. pops bailed me out and let me look at the car the next 3 years until i had paid every dime back...plus interest. trust me, i have broken more shit than i can think of after a tough loss. now i just keep old golf clubs that are already broke and break them again. it's a lot cheaper. i personally followed almost all of your picks from week 3 or so last year and made a nice little chunk of change. hit me with a message sometime and we can chat about a potential deal i'm looking at getting in to that can put some scratch back in your pockets. nothing illegal, just doing what you do best...capping college football. later.

bibendi23 says:
The first pitfall could come in week one, as Alabama will square off with a Virginia Tech of the ACC. "Virginia Tech has a very, very good team," admits Saban. "I think that regardless of who you open with, you're always concerned about anybody that has to play in that game that doesn't have a lot of experience, and I would say that probably gets magnified a little bit at the quarterback position."

That is without a doubt the variable in the Alabama equation. Their biggest question mark heading into the season is Greg McElroy. He will be making his first career start in this game. He unquestionably has the goods to be successful at this level. An awesome player in high school who was sought after by every major powerhouse school in the country. He now has his chance to shine. Helping him will be the dynamic wide receiver Julio Jones who is a freak. I love this guy. He is going to single-handedly eat secondaries apart this season. They also return Mark Ingram on the ground who will mash. A huge question mark will be the offensive line, who lose stud Andre Smith and center Antoine Caldwell. Remember that VT blitzes the shit out of teams and will definitely be high flying in the ATL.

On defense the Tide are going to be awesome. Sargeant “Mount” Cody is just an impenetrable wall. He stuffs the run by himself. But the Tide don’t get after the quarterback. They were not good at getting pressure last year and rarely sacked the QB. Combine this with losing their top sack man from last year and you have a problem. So yes, VT has given up a lot of sacks in the last few years. But lets remember it was Glennon getting sacked a majority of the time and Alabama does not get after the quarterback well. Now explain to me how this is a point of concern for the Hokies? They are returning both tackles and an interior lineman. They have the experience. Now with that experience on the outside of the line, you would think the Hokies would use their backfield speed and keep the running wide. This, however, is also a problem against Alabama b/c they have a terrific group of linebackers. McClain covers the whole field. He is a monster. So the Hokies are just going to have to grind it out on offense and look for some big plays. In the secondary for the Tide they return Arenas, but lost their leader in Rashad Johnson. This is pretty similar to the dilemma the Hokies face in the secondary. They have a lot of talent returning, but still looking for their new leader.

bibendi23 says:
So you are suggesting that a veteran in Taylor is going to make more mistakes than a guy with zero career starts? I agree that Tyrod is mistake prone. But also strongly believe that was b/c he was always looking over his shoulder. Appreciate the post, but disagree that you need to be worried about Taylor turning it over. McElroy's turnovers are the biggest concern for me

SECarson says:
I have to agree that mistakes will cause VaTech to drop this one. I just don't see the VaTech offense being balanced enough to keep the Tide defense confused. I also believe you are under estimating McElroy just a little bit. He is a RS Junior that is a film room junkie and very smart. I believe the Bama coaches and players are trying to sand bag a little bit on McElroy's ability. I look for him to open up the passing game more than they had last year.

The defense did lose their biggest sack man but have several more athletic rushers ( Upshaw, Anders, and Hightower on occasion) ready to step up. They also added LB coach Sal Sunseri from the Carolina Panthers. His background includes a focus on pass rush and utilizing different methods of creating the pass rush. I really feel like that will be a strength of the Tide defense.

I think this game will be very competitive out of the gate but see Bama pulling away in the 2nd and 3rd quarters.

Bama 24

VaTech 6

Best of luck to you this season Bibindi. I do enjoy your write ups and opinion.

Vegasbuster says:
bidendi.. That score is in-line with what I am expecting. Last year, in the games which the LT Smith didn't play, they struggled: Tulane and Utah. Now they have 7 new starters on O, with 3 of those being on the OL. If McElroy doesn't come out and gain confidence early, this will be a long day for him. They may try to have him throw a few quick long balls to Jones against the press and hope he comes down with it to put the VT D on its heels. However, it's a big step for anyone to come in during their 1st start and play well against a good D, especially with so many new players on that side of the ball.

jimmydafreak says:
Very nice overall analysis Bibendi.

That Ryan Wilson kid is an absolute stud, and will do great things at VT before it's all said and done!!! My buddy from Danville has been telling me about him for 2 years. He is the whole package: strong, quick, powerful, elusive and unbelievably fast. I don't think anyone will catch him from behind. As good as he is, however, he was a 4-star recruit (as opposed to a 5), and was not a top 25 national recruit. He was #40 overall and the #4 RB in the nation. He was on the verge of receiving a 5th star but it never happened for whatever reason. The only 5-star recruit on VT's roster is TT.

I think you are right on the money in identifying the key players on the Hokies' offense - TT, Wilson and TE Boone, with Wilson being the only true home run threat. These guys must absolutely produce for VT to have a fighting chance in this game.

Where I would take issue with you is when you automatically assume an "unknown" is tantamount to a "weakness." I don't think anyone would argue that experience is very beneficial for any o-line or QB to have, but by the same token, the lack thereof doesn't render them inept either. It is also beyond dispute the the odds don't favor a QB making his first collegiate start, particularly against a Bud Foster defense. Just look at the SEC last year. The teams that had experienced QBs prospered, those who didn't, didn't. But to characterize the team (Bama) that, from top to bottom, probably has the most o-line talent of any team in the entire nation as being weak in that department is way off the mark.

Yes Bama lost 3 o-linmen, but they also replaced them with 3 highly touted 4-star, blue chip recruits, while VT lost 2 o-linemen and replaced them with 3-star recruits. And one of the newcomers to VT's line is undersized center Beau Warren who will be outweighed by his counter-part by almost 80lbs. To put Bama's rich o-line talent into perspective, let's look at who the current starters beat out for their jobs; 5-star recruit DJ Fluker. Fluker was the #1 o-lineman in the country in 2009 and the #3 overall recruit. Many experts believe that he will be better than departed LT Andre Smith. 5-star recruit Tyler Love who was the #1 o-line recruit in 2008. Then there is 4-star Alfred McCullough, 4-star Taylor Pharr, 4-star David Ross, 4-star Anthony Steen and 4-star John Michael Boswell. Additionally, new starting RG Barrett Jones was the #1 recruit in the state on Tennessee in 2008. In sum Bama has seven 4 and 5 star blue chip recruits who are not good enough to crack the starting lineup at this time. Conversely VT has only two 4-star linemen on their entire roster and one of those is running with the 3rd team.

The bottom line is that Saban has stockpiled an insane amout of talent on the offensive line, and at pretty much every other position on the field as well. For example, I hear many people say that, aside from JJ, WR is a weakness for Bama, yet they have 9 (yes 9) 4 and 5 star receivers on their roster. VT has one, and he won't see the field. So to characterize Bama's o-line as weakness is quite presumptuous. Will they be tested in this game? Absolutely they will. But they go against bigger, stronger and faster athletes everyday in practice. I'm quite certain they'll make some mistakes, but overall they'll be more than ready for whatever Bud Foster throws at them.

Moreover, if you're waiting for Bama's defense to wear down, I think you're in for a very long wait. First off, to the wear down a defense, the offense must first be able to stay on the field. That, I don't think will happen. Secondly, Bama could put in their entire 2nd-team defense and it would not improve the fortunes of VT's offense, because, with a few exceptions, Bama's 2nd team defense is more talented than the first. There are many people who have seen both play (like me) that agree with that assessment.

In the end, we are all after the same thing - a winning wager. And as I have previously recommended, UNDER 38 should get you to the cashier's window. I absolutely, under no circumstances, would consider a wager on VT +7. They WILL lose this game, the only question is by how much.

Again Bibendi, excellent work, and I sincerely hope you are able to recover from your current circumstances. Your absence would be a blow to the Covers community!!!

BOL Buddy!!!

FREAK OUT!!!