am not going to say anything about their 'game plan' or what they're running - which won't have any bearing on Rice because they won't do that game plan until after they close practice to public - but ....
I was impressed with the tempo. I've been to UCLA and USC practices for 5 years - this squad is quick off the ball - moreso than any UCLA team I've seen in practice. Jonathan Franklin is a fine, fine back; low center of gravity, cuts on a dime, burst of speed off the cut and strong - difficult to tackle. He'll average 4-5 yards a carry this year barring injury.
Brett Hundley throws a sweet ball. More importantly, he doesn't look or act like a RS freshman; more mature. Anything can happen first game, but, UCLA has a lot more talent than Rice, no question about that. I think Brett will quickly realize this and assert himself in the game and use it to establish is career at UCLA. He needs to do well (and he can against Rice) and Mora wants a huge first game to start his tenure at UCLA.
Impressed also with corrner play and defensive secondary generally. Bruins have athletes behind the front 7 and I think will get more than their share of picks this year.
Also I am impressed with how practice is run - more like a pro practice in how they move from sets and conduct themselves generally. It looks like a pro team; not a bunch of amateurs. I think the 2 weeks in San Bernardino really did help their cohesiveness.
Overall impression after practice - it is a quick team - even the linemen are fast -- nobody is 350 lbs with a gut -- everyone is 290 with no fat. Whether or not that works against Alabama or LSU I don't know, but against Rice ... :)
If anyone else on covers attends practice(s) of other teams, do us all a favor and report :)
GWJTF
I am posting the selections made so far by cappers - others will be added later - up to 5 pks by each capper. Pks are spread over successive posts due to post-length limits by Covers'....BOL to everyone in week 7!....
BADLANDS
WVU MOUNTAINEERS -10 LARGE
I’ve been waiting for
this game. This is a very bad south Florida team. I watched their
whole game last week against Syracuse. Jim Levitt and matt grothie made
this program pretty good but it’s taken a huge step back this year. South
Florida 3 wins have come against a 0-5 western Kentucky team, a 1-4 Florida Atlantic
team...and..Stony brook. I watched both their games against Florida and Syracuse
and they can’t do anything on offense and lost I believe 4 starters on d that
went to the NFL or graduated. Daniels has been awful at
qb. Against Florida he was 5-20 for 84 yards, 1 td 4 int. last week
against Syracuse he was 9-23 no tds and 2 picks. even against
western Kentucky he only had 57 passing yards and they only won by 12 at
home. he can run but it’s going to take a lot against wv. south floridas only chance is if they can run and wv is giving up 86 rypg. on the
flip side Florida ran for 250 yards on s. Florida so gl stopping devine. Unless
WV doesn’t show up or just kills themselves with turnovers and penalties, I don’t
see how they don’t win by 20+. west Virginia 31 s. Florida 10
Week 6 selections are below - submissions and writeups still pending in a couple cases. It's been an up and down season for many, but overall we are solidly in the black. ICE4BLOOD is having a *tremendous* year on top plays, as is Boom. BOL to all!
(NOTE: Plays continued over two postings due to Covers' post-length limitations)....GWJTF
BADLANDS
Submission pending.
BOOM_BOOM
Oregon -34.5 3 units
Alabama - 8 2 units
NCST -9.5 2 units
Wake Forrest + 5 2.5 units
Michigan S.T / Michigan Under 63.5 2.5 units
After another solidly profitable
weekend from our cappers, week 5 selections are below (continued on next
post due to Covers’ limits on post length)….Write-ups will be added when
available.
BADLANDS
WESTERN MICHIGAN +3
WYOMING +4
WISCONSIN -2
L.S.U. -16
ARKANSAS STATE +4.5
BOOM_BOOM
NAVY + 9.5
Clemson + 3
TCU -33
ASU / Oregon S.T over 56
Notre Dame -2.5
2 Bonus strong plays:
Wyoming / Toledo Over 48.5; NCST +4.5
(write-ups continued in next post…GWJTF)
Below are top pks for week 4 from four of the best cappers on Covers...writeups will follow when available...(picks continued on successive posts due to character limits per posting - GWJTF)...BOL to all
BADLANDS
Baylor -7
West Virginia +10
Wyoming +14
Georgia Tech -8
Fresno State +3
BOOM_BOOM
Stanford -3;
South Florida-27;
N.Texas / Florida Atlantic under 52;
Wyoming +14;
Oregon / ASU over 54
ICE4BLOOD
Pitt (+3.5)... gotta roll with Pitt in the Thursday night dog roll... they seem to do well as a dog... wish i was getting 4 points, and you might be able to closer to gametime... but then again, you might only get 3 if you wait... the best way to bet this game, is to do nothing until halftime... if, at HT, you can get Pitt at a line that gives you (+4.5) or even (+6), you are in business... prediction: Pitt 20-17
TCU (-18)... going with another primetime weekday game, which i try to stay away from... TCU is rolling, and somewhat under the radar... haven't been overly impressed with SMU... i think TCU will manhandle them... prediction: TCU 51-17
VT (-4)... buying price on VT is low right now... they are a hot and cold team, and so is their following... VT has started slow previous seasons and then gone on a tear... i can feel it coming here... prediction: VT 31-13
UConn (-18)... i remember how UConn physically dominated Buffalo a couple years ago in the bowl game... i think UC is still similar to that team, but Buffalo has dropped off... Huskies will be breaking off lots of long runs... prediction: UC 41-14
Pks continued next post....